texts: Word for two or more feasible yet opposing explanations for the same observations?

texts:
Is there a noun for when there are two or more feasible yet opposing explanations or interpretations of the same observations/evidence? For example, two people look at the arrangement of the balls on a billiard table. They each come up with separate scenarios of what occurred in the game to create the current arrangement. Both explanations are valid possibilities, however they oppose each other; they cannot both be true. One or both of them are incorrect.

So we might say, "My my, Dr. Geometrigonomestein, we have here a ___, for both explanations, while contradictory, are each quite complete and believable indeed."

Similar to the word "paradox", except that paradox refers to a seeming contradiction that turns out to be true, such as a beginner bicyclist finding it easier to ride fast rather than very slowly.

Really I'm thinking more about ideological frameworks where multiple frameworks can feasibly and thoroughly "make sense of the world", even though they can hardly both be true. (I find this phenomena fascinating.) (Though I recognize that there are also many cases where two seemingly opposed explanations can actually be reconciled as both true in different senses.)


texts: Why is there paternal, for fatherly, fraternal, for brotherly, but no similar word for sons?

texts:
If paternal is "relating to someone's parents", and fraternal "relating to someone's brothers", is there, or why isn't there, a word for "relating to someone's sons", i.e: sunternal
Sentence example: "sunternal love"


texts: Should the sentence be in the present perfect or simple past with "last week"?

texts:
When I was studying English Grammar, I was asked to spot the error

  I've submitted my documents last week.
     Vs.
  I submitted my documents last week.

What is wrong/the difference between both of these sentences?


texts: What term would describe the current form of discourse that involves preaching to the choir while aggressively attacking those that disagree?

texts:
I am thinking about the current style of public speaking where the speaker addresses many claims and attacks against those who do not agree. All the while pretending to be trying to convince their audience but know full well that their audience is already on board and willing to cheer whatever they say.

Preaching to the choir doesn't capture the negative and aggressive aspects of this rhetorical style.


texts: "to mimic" something, what level of precision does it mean?

texts: This is about technical context (i.e. not theatre or performances). The phrase - "should mimic the functionality of ..." - how it can be interpreted? From dictionaries it is not very clear - can it mean exact copy, or just a "similar" thing?


texts: Why is the Internet being considered a person now?

texts:
This is not an isolated case; I've been noticing quite a bit lately that news articles are referring to "people in general" or "a lot of people" as "the Internet." Here's the latest example I've seen (from the News app on my iPhone):

Naturally, the Internet cannot be amazed at anything. It is not a person; it is not a sentient entity.
So why are reporters/writers now calling "people" by the medium they access to respond to things or events?
Before the Internet, a newspaper would say, "Our readers seem to be amazed by Nixon's love for his dog Checkers"; a radio announcer might say, "Many of our listeners find the music of Me First and the Gimme Gimmes to be derivative" (or something like that).
What's with the Internet being treated like a collective mass of humanity?


texts: In the context of the word exercise, e.g. in a textbook, is it more common to say answer or solution?


texts: How to guess the pronunciation of some inconsistencies in English?

texts:
I’m not a native English speaker, and I have a lot of problems when is comes to pronouncing words like archive, archon, zealot, heal, health.

Why is the ch sometime pronounced like a k?

Why is the ea sometime pronounced like a French i or è?

Are there rules to follow when it comes to pronouncing these words, or do we just need to know them?

Edit

This question is not a duplicate — sorry if I was not clear. I was not looking for an history course; I wanted rules or tips to help myself when it comes to pronounce these words. @brick's comment was pertinent.

I found something in Wikipedia that might be interesting English spelling for this question. But after looking at all these rules and exceptions, I understand why everyone fallback to the easy answer  that you just have to know how it is pronounced.


texts:
I know "due" can mean expected, owed, deserved..but I do not get it in this context (subtitles for the Walking Dead):

We've made it 500 miles.

Maybe this can be the easy part.

**Got to think we're due.**

Give us 20 minutes to check in.


texts: Why use "will" instead of "would" in this case

texts:
My teacher of Grammar at university told us that when we report a speech that was said in the past, we replace "will" by "would". However, in this example, she used "will" in the reported speech as well.
Here is the example:
"He won't come on time," she said.
--> She didn't think he will come on time.
Can someone explain please?


texts: Is "Signifying nothing" an example of litotes?

texts:
In Macbeth's Tomorrow speech

To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death.
Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more.
It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury
Signifying nothing."
— Macbeth (Act 5, Scene 5, lines 17-28)

is the last line Signifying nothing litotes?
I have to analyze this segment for school, and I'm a little unclear of what litotes is in practice.


texts: What's the origin of the idiom "to be left holding the bag"?

texts: We were recently discussing the idiom "to be left holding the bag" and couldn't come up with a proper idea about where that might come from initially. Our possible solutions were somewhat goofy and involving a failed drug deal where the seller was left holding the bag of illegal material...


texts: A short, colloquial way of saying "make up your own mind"

texts:
I'm trying to find a short (1-2 word) way of saying "make up your own mind" (as opposed to having other people unduly influence you). I want a positive connotation, so "figure it out" doesn't work.

More specifically, a really short way of saying: "examine the evidence about this contentious subject and form your own opinion". "You Decide" is along the right lines.

Any ideas?


texts: What does the phrase "threading the needle" mean?

texts: I saw this phrase in the book MySQL: The Complete Reference as the title of a paragraph.  Though my reading is related to something like system design of MySQL server that also includes the word thread, I think it is somehow related to regular everyday English. I have googled for this but I can't find anything definite and reliable.


texts: Is "irrehensible" or "irrehensibly" a word?

texts:
I thought that irrehensible was a word like "morally irrehensible" would mean something so bad it is beyond forgiveness, or "irrehensibly damaged" would be damaged beyond hope of repair.

None of the dictionaries I've tried looking up this word in like it.  Am I spelling this wrong? Or thinking of a different word?

EDIT: If I google "morally irrehensible" I get 75 results all being used as a really terrible act.  It says "did you mean morally rehensible" which gives 195 results all seeming to have the same meaning.  So it seems like every 3rd or 4th time this word is used, people incorrectly add in the "ir-".  Not sure why this is such a common mistake, but irrehensible is how I've always heard it.


texts: What's the difference between "governance" and "management"?

texts:
I am a programmer and I always heard about there're some systems called themselves as Service Management System and some other called Service Governance System.
I understand both of the two words are trying to express the meaning of "control something", but I'm not sure what's the actual difference between the meaning of the words.
What's the difference between them?


texts: What are good synonyms to "not to speak of"?

texts:
I wanted to use some other phrase for "not to speak of". What could be a good synonym for that? For example,

  "international community" is a political contrivance; it doesn't exist! And what doesn't exist cannot act, not to speak of influencing Russia's policy.

Thanks.


texts:
I was trying to parse out whether separating yourself from vanity can be a release from a populist mindset and a transition to a more mature mindset. My thesis is that being less vain is more mature.

But then I thought of perfectly happy seeming people I know who are older and who still care about their appearance. I imagined if I were to ask them why they care so much they might say that the effort they put into looking good is a form of expression through, fashion, makeup, etc.

My question: what would be a good word to describe a healthy or creative habit of vanity?

I found vanity’s definition to be too negative and not an endearing term.


texts:
In the OED, archaic again, under def. 1a, is 'In the opposite direction; back.' The last example given there is from John Bunyan, with "turn again": "Come then, Neighbour Pliable, let us turn again, and go home."
But in def. 1b, there are a few quotes with "turn again", from the same 1612 source (def. 1b: "Back to or towards the point of starting; all the way back; = back adv. 5. Frequently with verbs of motion, such as bring, come, go, turn, wend. Now archaic (in continued use of the expressions illustrated in quots. 1611, 1612) and Scottish (north-eastern)."):
1612   R. Johnson Crowne-Garland Goulden Roses sig. Bvv
"London bells sweetly rung... Euermore sounding so, turne againe Whittington: For thou in time shalt grow, Lord Maior of London."
1846  C. Dickens Dombey & Son (1848) iv. 32
"Turn again Whittington, Lord Mayor of London, and when you are old you will never depart from it."
1983   V. E. Neuburg Pop. Press Compan. to Pop. Lit. 81/1
"He was inspired by hearing Bow bells ring out a peal which seemed to say: Turn again Whittington, Lord Mayor of London."
So, I'm wondering why the Bunyan quote isn't in 1b, and if it is properly in 1a, then how is it different from the "turn again" 1b example(s)?


texts:
Here is the sentence
- Living in a foreign country isn’t strange to me now. I got used/ I have got used to living in a foreign country

Which one is correct and what the difference between them?


texts:
I am looking for a more expressive way to say that something takes time/delays something important. Does the following expression make sense in English?

a tech glitch that eats time (of an important meeting, for instance)


texts: Are 'lose time' and 'waste time' different in meanings? If so, how does it use the first and the second in different contexts? If not, what is it preferable?


texts: Word or phrase for doing something poorly so that someone else does it for you?

texts:
Let's say that I abhor doing a particular chore such as the dishes. Let's then say I intentionally do the dishes poorly. That way when my significant other sees the bad job I've done they stop asking me to do the dishes because they believe me to be utterly incompetent.

Is there a word or phrase for such behavior?


texts:
Please help me to understand the meaning of "least of all" and how to use it correctly in a sentence.

Is it correct if I use it like this?

  Least of all are politicians.


texts:
These sentences are from some data set used for evaluating programs that automatically process languages, but I am doubtful about their grammaticality.

(1) A man and woman are talking
(2) The boy and girl are not playing on a playground.

I guess they should be written as (1a) and (2a):

(1a) A man and a woman are talking
(2a) The boy and the girl are not playing on a playground.

Otherwise the noun phrase of form 'Det N1 and N2'  will talk about things that are N1 and N2 at the same time, like in (3,4). Am I right?

(3) The student and artist is sleeping.
(4) Every student and artist is smart.


texts:
I am trying to write a long list of awards in a sentence, and have an issue with one of the items in the list. The sentence goes:

"ABC is the recipient of Golman Fellowship (2012), Andrew Bell Best Thesis Award (2013), Quaker Forum Challenge (2015), and Gryffindor Prize (2016)."

The sentence goes well with the first two and the last awards, but I am not sure of the third ("recipient of challenge" sounds weird). I could have written "ABC is the winner of Quaker Forum Challenge". But it would require a separate sentence that I am trying to avoid.

I can't replace "recipient of" with "winner of" either, as not all the items in the list were obtained in a contest. So, what could be a good way to include "Quaker Forum Challenge" in a single sentence with other awards?


texts: Word order: "dear my lord" in Shakespeare

texts:
I'm revisiting my old question [#167151]. The original question was about the word order: “dear my love” or “my dear love”. I hold a position that we say “my dear love”.

But when I was saying a prayer yesterday, I heard myself say “dear my lord”, and it just sounded smooth to my ear. I looked up the phrase and I found it in Hamlet by Shakespeare. That made me think, what was in my mind when I asked the former question.

The linked site above for Hamlet lists line-by-line translations into modern English and the page shows the following dialogue in Act 3, Scene 2, Page 2:

[Shakespeare] CLAUDIUS: Thanks, dear my lord.
[Translation] CLAUDIUS: Thanks, my dear lord.

And my question here is not about which order is correct. Instead I wonder: If the word order was turned the other way around, when did the change occur, and why did it happen?


texts: Are there suffixes akin to -phobe and -phile that are less extreme in meaning?

texts:
The suffix -phobia means fear of, often irrational fear of.  For example, according to Wikipedia:

  Ophidiophobia or ophiophobia is a particular type of specific phobia,
  the abnormal fear of snakes.

Is there a suffix attachable to ophidio- which would describe a person who is not afraid of snakes, except for, say, a coiled rattler encountered on a trail, but who dislikes them and would not willingly share space with one?

Similarly, an arachnophile (don't click here if you are at all arachnophobic) is someone who loves spiders.  Is there a suffix for someone who likes spiders but does not love them?

These are Greek suffixes, and the Greeks, theoretically, were in favor of moderation.  So, are there suffixes in use in English, derivable from Greek or not, for moderate like and moderate dislike?

Edit to explain why the question:  "Is there a suffix for loathing" does not answer my question.  My question is NOT about fear and/or loathing.  My question is about moderate dislike (and moderate like).  I can watch a snake cross my driveway with interest, but would not want it in the house or lounging on my patio.   A person who loathed snakes would not be able to admire the smooth motion of the snake as it glided over the rough gravel and disappeared into the woods.  Loathe is very different from moderate dislike; Phobia is very different from caution.


texts: Is it acceptable to call teachings such as "How to behave as a Muslim" a science? If not, what should we call them in English?

texts: In the Muslim world, it is very popular to call the teachings of the religion a science. As we all know, the God and resurrection cannot be proven or rejected in a lab or through scientific methods. Therefore, is it acceptable to call teachings such as "How to behave as a Muslim" a science? If not, what should we call them in English?


texts: Single word meaning either "liked" or "disliked"

texts:
I have a forum where you can Like a reply. After you press that button it changes from Like to Liked. Now I want to add a Dislike button so I would like to replace the "Liked" text for something that would also include "Disliked". I think the word should be close to something like "Done", "Voted", or "Pressed" but also related with the original text.

Do you have any suggestions?


texts: Usage of `it` or `this` to refer to previous clause

texts:
Recently, I've been helping a friend with some essays. I'm not a teacher in any way, but I've done a lot of english reading in my life, and because of that I can (somewhat) spot wrong/misused expressions and grammar errors by experience alone. As I was revising her text, I came across the following sentence:

  If abortion has not been legalized until now, this is not due to the absence of debates on the subject, but because of the fact that after years of discussion, abortion continues to be rejected by the population.

I suggested the following correction:

  If abortion has not been legalized until now, it is not due to the absence of debates on the subject, but because of the fact that after years of discussion, abortion continues to be rejected by the population.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I assume that this doesn't properly identify or correlates with the previous condition -- at least if compared with the use of it instead. But again, that suggestion was given based on my own experience; I couldn't give her a grammatical background and/or reason why it's better to use it. Hence the question: which one is wrong (if any)?

Also, what exactly are the types/roles of this/it on each of the samples in this specific case (e.g. noun, pronoun...)?

Feel free to suggest any further corrections to the sentence's structure, it'd help us a lot! :)


texts: What's an adverb meaning "focused on one thing/goal"?

texts:
Sample sentence: (may not be factually true) "The American Federation of Labor ___ campaigned for higher wages throughout its existence."
Words like "intently" don't embody what I'm looking for; they don't connote industry towards a singular goal; and they have the extra meaning of eagerness and attention (human qualities), while the word I am looking for should be used with like a nonhuman actor like a business.
"Singularly" does not work because it means something else entirely, but if it didn't it sounds like it would work.
"Specifically" and "precisely" don't work because time-wise they seem perfective, like a single point in time, while the adverb I'm looking for should describe a process or otherwise something happening over a long period of time. And "—used to indicate the exact identity, purpose, or use of something" says "purpose", like a passive quality, while I want a "goal", something that is able to be achieved (and so there should exist someone achieving it).
"Resolutely" does not work because it has that extra "determined" and "unwavering" flavor, and it seems like it is a human quality. And having a single goal does not mean you are "marked by firm determination"
"Dedicatedly" doesn't work because it doesn't seem like a real word (less than 0.00001% on ngram) and "devotedly" means  "in an extremely loving and loyal way". Similarly "staunchly".
I want something that means "concentratedly" like "focus one's attention or mental effort on a particular object or activity." (from Google) or "targetedly" like "select as an object of attention" (also from Google). Related phrases: "focus on", "devote oneself to"
It should also contain "solely" or "uniquely".


texts:
How official is the word "subpar"?

Is there a reason not to use it in a document and are there any circumstances under which I should avoid its use? Could the phase "subpar performance" confuse the reader?


texts: Etymology of 'teaching grandma to suck eggs'?

texts: This is such a strange idiom, all I could find with a Google search was the meaning of it, but not where it came from.  When you're telling somebody something they already know well, it's sometimes said that you're "teaching grandma to suck eggs".  Where did this phrase come from, and what is 'suck eggs' referring to?


texts:
Something about to happen: If something is about to happen, it will happen very soon.

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/be-about-to

"My phones about to die. Luckily, I have a charger. I'll be right back."
Shouldn't we not use "about to" if we are going to not let it happen very soon? According to the definition, you use it when you think it will happen very soon. Can someone explain?


texts: Should I place "me" and "I" in the same sentence?

texts:
I'm helping my stepdaughter write a cover letter and we are at odds as to whether this sentence is structurally and grammatically correct.

  My experience in customer service qualifies me for this position and have attached my resume for your review.

I've run it through a number of grammar checkers online, but I'd love some "human" input.


texts: in terms of being / having been + past tense

texts:
Good day to everybody.
Let's say we describe a tennis match that happened a couple of weeks ago.

Despite a bad start for Federer in the fifth set, in terms of being one break down, he won the set and the match.
Despite a bad start for Federer in the fifth set, in terms of having been one break down, he won the set and the match.

Although it seems to me that the second statement is correct, the first one sound more natural, but I do not know if it is correct.
Are both ok to use?
Not a native speaker.


texts:
Should there be a comma after "no" in "no thank you"?

Would you like some coffee?
No thank you.


texts: Another way to say "you can't get away with it"?

texts:
What is another way to say "you can't get away with it"?

In the context of someone not complying to the rules, and will get a penalty.

I need a phrase in conversational English (everyday use or slang).

"You can't get away with it" is too long to speak. Could I have a variety of choices of the same meaning in a more of a native English speakers would say it please?


texts:
How should 'beseech' be used in a sentence?
Are any of these correct?

I beseech you to help me find Magrathea.
I beseech your help in finding The Silver Bail of Peace.
I beseech to you help in saving the universe.

Or should it be used in a different way entirely?


texts:
I am unsure on how to cite a court case. The one I am trying to cite is Riley v. California. The information I can plainly see is

  Court of Appeal, Fourth Appellate District
  Division One
  State of California

Looking at Appendix 4 on the courts.ca.gov site, it gives an example:

  Albertson's, Inc. v. Young (2003) 107 Cal.App.4th 106, 113.

I don't know what the volume number is (I've checked justia.com and it only seems to go up to 2002). I've also taken a look at law.cornell.edu and other examples but it is all very confusing. So far using easybib this is what I got, but it seems wrong.

  Riley v. California. Court of Appeal, Fourth Appellate District of
  California. 8 Feb. 2013. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Feb. 2014.
  <http://www.courts.ca.gov/opinions/nonpub/D059840.PDF&gt;.


texts: What is "the exception that proves the rule"?

texts: I've heard the phrase, "the exception that proves the rule," but it's not clear to me what it means. It sounds self contradictory. What is a good example of "an exception that proves the rule?" Can this phrase be used effectively in formal dialog, or is it only colloquial?


texts:
I have a sentence: "Whatever scant motivation she had for talking to this moving wreck of a man died away entirely."

Is it correct to place "she had" before "for talking to this..."?

Initially, I placed it after, so the sentence was like:
"Whatever scant motivation for talking to this moving wreck of a man she had died away entirely."

But it seemed to me, that "she had" and "died away" were weird neighbours.
Please explain.


texts:
After the incident he dwelled on the issues surrounding the incident.

What would be other substitutes to express the idea conveyed by "dwell on?"

I considered "mull over", "ruminate", "moped about", etc., but these terms don't communicate the thinking at length about something negative, a frustrating aspect of the term "dwell on." Some of these are too formal or don't have association with the negative frustrating nature of the event.


texts: A word to describe things that reduce control

texts:
I'm writing about the concept of "that which has a chance of preventing the intended or desired result". I refer to it frequently and it's very inconvenient to define it every time so I need to find a phrase or (preferably) single word to use as a label for it.

I've considered terms like "obstacle" or "challenge" but some obstacles can be reliably overcome and the word challenge implies that skill is a factor. So far I've used the word "uncertainty" but I think it's too extensive as it applies to things that have no bearing on the intended or desired result.

Is there a word or phrase to describe that which reduces control or produces the opposite of control?

Edit: I need to use the word consistently in several sentences. So let me give you a paragraph instead: "When a users interact with software there are always X. If you're designing a software tool you want to minimize X to provide the user a reliable tool. But if you're making a game you need X to make it exciting for the player."

If you replace X with "things that which have a chance of preventing the intended or desired result" you get the correct meaning but the sentence becomes incredibly awkward. It's hard to find a word/phrase with a good match since it's so precise. If there's no word like that I'll use the closest thing.


texts:
When someone says: "buy me cake", what's his meaning? Does it mean anything except its normal meaning?
Thanks

Edit: I've seen this in a language file of a computer program: "Buy Me Cake :)"
http://singularlabs.com/software/ccenhancer/


texts: What does it convey?....or which one is right

texts:
I waited for Him to be free.

Are both the following meanings conveyed?

I waited until he got free.
I waited for him so that I could get free.

How do I construct a sentence with the same structure for the second meaning?
Is it correct to say I waited for he to be free?


texts:
Please advice on how to correctly abbreviate name.

Which are grammatically correct? (if there are more correct forms please kindly add them as well)

NOTE, If there is no correct way, please point out the acceptable/common form.

Case 1

First Name and Last Name

Mr. John Smith

Mr. John S
Mr. John S.
Mr. J Smith
Mr. J. Smith
Mr. JS
Mr. J.S
Mr. J. S
Mr. J.S.
Mr. J. S.

Case 2

First Name, Middle Name and Last Name

Mr. John Lamar Smith

Mr. John L. Smith
Mr. John L. S.
Mr. John Lamar S.
Mr. J. L. Smith
Mr. J. Lamar Smith
Mr. J. L. S.
Mr. J.L.S.
Mr. JLS

Thank You


texts: A term for someone who distributes flyers

texts:
I am looking for a single word to describe someone who distributes flyers.

Distributor doesn't seem right, part-timer may not be true, labourer is too generic. Is there a job title for such a role?


texts: As a noun, "abandon" is almost always preceded by the word "reckless".

texts:
Feel free to correct me if you don't share the same experience, but in my own experience, usage of the word "abandon" as a noun without being apart of the phrase "reckless abandon" is extremely rare.

Is there a name for this situation where a noun is almost exclusively paired with the same adjective and is it a unique phenomenon?


texts:
My wife and I have a question about the phrase "to lick a knack". But we can't find anything on the net, any ideas?

My interpretation is that it may mean "to fix something that is a little thing".


texts: What's the word for someone who keeps everyone calm?

texts:
This word would describe the person everyone goes to when they are stressed.
The person is behind the scenes, keeping everyone else functioning at their best.  Someone who never reveals what is learned in private, and is a supportive listener.  The person may never actually fix the situation, but everyone feels better for having met with her.


texts: What is the word(s) used for someone who no one would suspect to do anything bad/evil?

texts: For instance: a very quiet person, who does good deeds all the time and out of nowhere they turn out to be a completely different person. In animal terms, the hippo looks to be innocent, but is actually extremely poisonous and dangerous.


texts:
I was thinking that there should be a word for a 60th of a second, is there?

Our hours and minutes are split into 60ths so it makes sense to me. Also, 60fps (frames per second) is a common framerate in game development.


texts: Word for the fallacy that something good for someone must also be bad for someone else

texts:
Trying to find the word or the term for if something is good for someone or something, then by virtue of that supposed logic (I don’t see this as logical but as a fallacy - I just don’t know which one) it must be bad for someone else”

A very simple example to illustrate my point:

Immigrants moved into a town and this was good for them but bad for the towns people.

Now I don’t inherently believe if something good happens to someone there must be an equal and opposite reaction happening to someone else.

Is there a term or a concept for this? What I do know or think is that it could be a fallacy but again I just don’t know which one.


texts:
If the publication you are proofing for uses the serial comma, and an essay you're proofing includes a quotation from a biography that does not use a serial comma, is it permissible to silently add serial commas for readability?

The relevant rule in The Chicago Manual of Style (13.7.5) explains:

  Obvious typographic errors may be corrected silently (without comment or sic; see 13.59), unless the passage quoted is from an older work or a manuscript source where idiosyncrasies of spelling are generally preserved.

In my case it is not.

Obviously this is ultimately up to the editor. The essay is a work of history and literary criticism.


texts:
When referring to the infamous Japanese criminal organization, which sentence would be correct?

  The yakuza member picked up his glasses, scooped some of the jewelry and loose change into his pockets, and whistled a tune as he excitingly strolled away from the scene.

or

  The Yakuza member picked up his glasses, scooped some of the jewelry and loose change into his pockets, and whistled a tune as he excitingly strolled away from the scene.

Yakuza seems like it's a proper noun so I'm inclined to say it is capitalized, however, I've seen lots of media in which they do not capitalize the term. This even includes works from Japanese companies, so it makes me wonder if the word should be capitalized or not.

Thank you in advance for answering!


texts: Are units like newton, metre etc considered as proper or common noun?


texts: "Females under the age of..." instead of "Women under the age of..." Is that offensive?

texts:
Is it offensive to refer to women as "females", as I've seen posted at the entrance of a night club:

  "Females under the age of twenty-one will have to...."


texts: How does 'for all that' mean 'in spite of that'?

texts:
I already understand and so ask NOT about the definition, below which I want to burrow. I heed the Etymological Fallacy. 1. What part of speech is for all that ?

  for all that = in spite of that

2. How does the juxtaposition of  for + all + that  effect/imply/induce this meaning?

Footnote: I encountered the above while reading p 249, Zizek's Ontology ..., by Adrian Johnston.


texts: Glasses - countable or uncountable noun?

texts:
Is word glasses countable or uncountable?
Are these sentences correct?
These glasses (referring to one pair of glasses) are my favourite!
I have quite a few glasses in my drawer, however, my favourite ones are red, dark blue and black.
I have lots of glasses in my drawer.
I have lots of pairs of glasses.

Which question is correct when pointing at the picture of one pair of glasses ?
What is this? or What are these?


texts: Why do "streamers" always use plural form to refer to "we" when they mean "I"?

texts:
I've been watching a lot of live video streams on Twitch in the last couple of years.

One thing I've noticed and which bothers me is that they frequently say things like:

  We've almost beat this level now!

  Last week, we almost finished the painting.

  We only need a few more subs to get new emotes!

Etc...

Always "we" -- not "I". After all, it's the person streaming who is doing all of the gaming/art/ASMR/work. I assume that they must all read some kind of list provided by Twitch which tells them "tricks" to make people more willing to pay them money, and stay around, but it really bothers me when they use "we" and pretend as if they are a "multi-person operation" or that the chatters/viewers are somehow part of it, other than money-providing entities.

It seems so silly somehow. Us viewers/chatters are supposed to feel like we are part of the streamer's "thing" by being included in a "we" or "us", ultimately for the goal of providing them with more money? To me, it just feels embarrassing and weird, yet it's so extremely common that it's become expected or even an "unwritten rule".

Even the smallest streamers seem to have the mentality that they are supposed to and will grow in viewers and thus "subs" (subscribers, meaning people who pay them money), using every trick they can think of to make that happen. It just seems disingenuous to me.


texts: Are the following terms correct: "internal worker", "external worker"?

texts:
I am searching for two opposing terms:

How to call a person who is employed by a company?

How to call a person who is not employed directly be a company, but cooperates with this company, for example, a freelancer?

Would these terms "internal worker" and "external worker" be appropriate?


texts: Use of Modal Verbs 'Must' and 'Will' to Express Certainty

texts:
When I see examples of 'must' or 'will' showing certainty, I find that the main verb is either a stative verb or a present participle preceded by 'be'. How different are the two sentences in the following pairs:

He will be coming (now). VS He will come (now).
He must be working. VS He must work.

Can we use 'must' to express future certainty like 'will'?


texts: What is an Idiom for badgering by asking if a person is well when no illness present?

texts:
Continually asking an individual questions below when there is no reason to believe a person isn't okay with the purpose of picking on them. Or to question sanity of an idea.

Are you feeling okay?
Are you Well?


texts: What do you call a psychologist who works with the criminally insane?

texts: I was just thinking about Harley Quinn and how she works in Arkham Asylum and it got me wondering, what type of psychologist works with criminals (like gives them therapy) who suffer from a mental health disorder at a maximum security mental hospital/asylum. An example would be I work Has a -type- psychologist at Arkham Asykum which is a maximum security mental hospital.


texts:
In French there is a clear distinction between the

the word compromis which describes an agreement obtained by mutual concessions (and thus often has a positive connotation) and,
the word compromission which denotes an agreement reached by giving up moral values or earlier promises (and this is negative).

Unfortunately, the English substantive compromise, can have both meanings according to context:

  A settlement of differences in which each side makes concessions.
  A weakening or reduction of one's principles or standards: a compromise of morality.

  American Heritage

This can be a problematic ambiguity, in cases one wants to make a short sentence that expresses the negative meaning of the French compromission in the following context: a contract into which one party engaged by weakness or relinquishing its values:

  The Munich Agreements of 1938 where a ___ with the Third Reich.

Clearly the word compromise would convey the wrong meaning, as if Britain and France had judiciously settled their differences with Hitler (note: that is not for historical debate; merely for the sake of example). The synonyms I could find were rather uninspiring:

  accomodation, accord, bargain, deal, concession, etc.

The only candidate I could find was sellout, but it belongs to the slang register; it would not fit well in formal text.

This one is perplexing: usually English dictionaries provide a rich variety of synonyms for every nuance, but not for the essential distinction between compromis and compromission!

Subsidiary question:

Could someone venture an explanation why compromission did not make it into common English dictionaries, even though there seems to be a semantic gap waiting for it?


texts: What is the word for using one word to replace another for cosmetic reasons?

texts:
I'm sure this is a dumb question, but I am having a total mental block.

Is there a word for when you alter the verbal description of something in order to make it appear better? I'm thinking about something along the lines of "Despite the ____ changes to the law, nothing really changed".

I don't think cosmetic works, but that's all I can come up with.


texts: Another phrase for "Working As Designed" or "Not implemented"

texts:
I work at a software company. We use the term "Working as Designed" when a client/user reports an issue that is not really a bug but is an issue that was not accounted for in the original programming.
We are looking for a better term.  "Working as Designed" may imply that we intended the behavior.  "Not implemented" may be a better term but is very programmer centric.
Does anyone have any other ideas?
Thanks!


texts: Stench, reek - any difference in connotation / denotation?

texts:
Is there a qualitative difference to what the words stench and reek describe?

Reek seems to be more often used with fumes, while stench I would expect with rotten food or a person putting off his shower for too long. Is the intuition correct?


texts: Phrase or one word request for 'Bitch pass'

texts:
I want to say that some people are allowed to be mean and rude, because we know the struggles they are temporarily going through and we are willing to put up with the drama for their sake. Put crudely, we give them a 'bitch pass'.

Is there an alternative way of phrasing this that doesn't depend on insults or vulgar terms?


texts: "Was" and "were", which is correct in this context? Can a mood be established in a terminating clause?

texts:
I'm not sure I understand what establishes a mood. Does a sentence have to establish a mood at the begining or can a mood be established in a clause at the end?

  And, that's if he could get elected after 35% of Americans turned out in opposition to both parties and a new popular movement was seeded.

Or,

  And, that's if he could get elected after 35% of Americans turned out in opposition to both parties and a new popular movement were seeded.

In both of these we're talking about a scenario that doesn't exist. The top one clearly sounds more right to me.


texts: Question about the order of events in a sentence

texts:
Is the sentence:

  "We felt we had let our coach down because we hadn't  won the match"

correct?

I read a sentence "We felt we had let our coach down because we didn't win the match" in an English textbook.

I wonder that, when we compare the happening time of the three things:
A "feel"
B "let our coach down" and
C "did not win the match"

it will be C> B> A.

So is it possible to say:

  "We felt we had let our coach down because we hadn't won the match"

also?

If it is ok, too, are there any differences between the two sentences?

Thank you very much in advance.


texts:
I do exercises on articles and came across two expressions that are correct according to keys:

She has really good taste in books
He has a great sense of humor

Both "taste" and "sense" are nouns. Could you please explain why don't we put an article before "taste" and put it before "sense"?


texts: Is the phrase ‘think past something to something’ an idiom or just a plain verb ＋ adverb combination?

texts:
I was caught with the phrase, ‘I was thinking well past it,’ appearing in May 25’s New York Times’ article, titled “How I fell for Lisbon.”

The text reads:

  I met Lisbon in a snit. I was exhausted and impatient and thinking well past it, to the northern Portugal city of Oporto and the wine country nearby, my ultimate destination and real interest.

I understand ‘think well past it’ here means that the author’s thought jumped to Oporto, skipping Lisbon.

As I was unfamiliar with the expression, “think past something.” I looked for it in the headword of ‘think’ in Cambridge, Oxford online dictionary and OALD. None of them registers “think past something.”

I think I was confused with the insertion of ‘well’ between ‘think’ and ‘past,’ which can be interpreted both ways of ‘think well’ and ‘well past’

Is “think past something” an idiom like ‘go past (oneself)’, or a plain verb ＋ adverb combination?


texts: What colloquial word is used when you don't remember a word but you want to use something for it?

texts:
I checked some dictionaries and found out the following words to be used for objects whose names are forgotten:

  whatsis,  whatchamacallit, thingummy, dohickey, dojigger, doodad,
  doohickey, hickey, gizmo, gismo, gubbins, thingamabob, thingumabob,
  thingmabob, thingamajig, thingumajig, thingmajig.

Which of these words are really used in colloquial cases? What colloquial word do native English speakers use when they don't remember a word at that moment but they still want to use a word instead of it?


texts: How do I punctuate dimensions in this sentence that uses lbs. feet and inches?

texts:
For example, Nat Young’s Surfboard. 8’5”, 14lbs. circa 1969
Is the comma in the correct place?


texts: Is there a word to describe "being formal for the sake of being formal"?

texts: I was recently chastised at work for using the word "cool" in an email chain--an act that I attribute to being overly-formal for no other reason than to uphold an unnecessarily perceived "law" of formality. Is there an English word that would better describe this?


texts:
Which sentence should I use?

  The potential for wind energy in Germany?
  The potential of wind energy in Germany?


texts:
But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that
  is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a
  railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not
  to eat.
  (1 Corinthians 5: 11)

Would you please explain to me how no not works at the end of this verse?


texts: Word for the ability to keep seemingly unrelated concepts/facts immediately in mind to form a greater whole

texts: Basically, the specific ability to keep multiple distinct points in mind, at the same time, so as to formulate a better understanding of their interrelation (allowing them to see the bigger, unifying picture whilst others see seemingly unrelated points, and thus, miss the point altogether). Picture a tinker toy set but instead of wooden rods, spools, and connectors, you have words and concepts coming together to form an ever increasing whole.  There is consilience, the "the linking together of principles from different disciplines especially when forming a comprehensive theory" -- but I am thinking more of a cognitive aspect, i.e., what goes on in the mind when these diverse factors start coming together to form that cohesive whole.


texts: Is it grammatically correct to omit prepositions sometimes?

texts:
I have seen quite a few people using these sentences:

I have been frequently flying Jet Airways.

I believe the above sentence is wrong unless the person, saying this, is the pilot themselves.
The correct sentence, IMO, should have been:

I have been frequently flying with Jet Airways.

Similarly,

He never graduated college.

I think it should be:

He never graduated from college.

So in Modern English, are we being more forgiving of omitting prepositions or I'm the one who's missing something here?


texts: Does "trial" collocate with the verbs "win" and "lose": can you "win/lose a trial"?

texts:
I know that "case" collocates with the verbs "win" and "lose".
But do these verbs also collocate with the noun "trial"? Are the phrases "win/lose a trial" and "win/lose a case" synonyms?


texts: Can/should I put a comma before a phrase's time specifier?

texts:
For instance, consider the sentence, "I ate lunch today." Is it necessary or acceptable to put a comma before "today?"

Generally speaking, some of these time phrases look wrong to me when used with a comma, while others do not. I think the central question and the source of my confusion is, "When is the time not critical to the meaning of the idependent clause?" Is there a better rule of thumb?

"I ate lunch, today."
"I ate lunch, while the others were out."
"I ate lunch, at the same time the others did."


texts:
Reality check is a very common expression that refers to:

a corrective confronting of reality, in order to counteract one's expectations, prejudices, or the like. (Origin 1970-1975 - Dictionary.com)

an assessment to determine if one's circumstances or expectations conform to reality, as in : Time for a reality check—wasn't this supposed to be a money-making enterprise? (second half of 1990's. The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary)

Ngram shows an increase in usage of the expression from the 80's, but there are usages as early as the 50's such as:

An artist has to have some reality- check. If you don't get it from nature, you have to turn to an audience." (Charmed life, Mary McCarthy 1955.)

It is a kind of reality check on the possibility of what can be done. (Administrative Medicine: Transactions of the Conference. 1955).

Questions:
When was the expression "reality check" first coined?
What context was the expression originally related to? Was it a military jargon first?


texts: Something always promised, never fully realized

texts:
I'm searching for a term or phrase for something which is always promised but never delivered. The way nuclear fusion is always 10 years away. Or how companies keep making jet packs, but never sell them.
Thanks!


texts: What do you call this kind of entrance with a roof?

texts:
I have recently become fascinated in observing these "towers" used as a front-gate entrance for a house.

Do these have any special kind of name?

(For a slightly larger picture, click on this link)

They of course vary in appearance, especially the styling of the roof (i.e., roof angle and material).


texts: using the for words like father or mother or cousin or brother

texts:
i wanted to ask you if in a novel there is a family, and we want not to mention
the name of characters_ for exam in a room characters are members of family_ should we use the word "the" before the name just conveys their position in family, for exam, father said," i'm tired." mother got into the room. cousin helped her to wash the dishes. this way of writing is true or using "the" behind them is necessary


texts: Past subjunctive Vs. Present Subjunctive

texts:
The verb be is the only one that has a past subjunctive form. In some cases, be, as a subjunctive, retains its present form even if the sentence is in the past tense.

Example:
Present: It is essential that she be present.
Past: It was essential that she be present.

However, in other cases, namely, conditional sentences and subordinating conjunctions, we use the past form of the subjunctive

Example:
If there were a death penalty for corporations, Enron may have earned
it.

So two questions here:

Is there a reason the subjunctive be remains in its present form in some past
tense constructs, yet is converted to the past form were in some
others?
And if we use the were-subjunctive to express contrary-to-the-fact
clauses, then why Shakespeare said this?

If music be the food of love, play on.


texts: Are the questions "Would you like to do something useful?" and "I will remember it" rude or offensive in English?

texts:
Are these two questions rude or offensive in English:
"Would you like to do something useful?" (referred to somenthing that needs to be done urgently)
and
"I will remember it" (said to a person but referred to an unpleaseant fact happened)


texts:
Is the 'dangling modifier' concept always associated with Adverbial participles? Is it not applicable to Gerunds?

Consider the following sentence, please:

You waste most of your time doing unnecessary things.

As far as I know, the participle 'doing' is acting like a Gerund here, and therefore, I think, its passivisation is also possible:

Most of your time is wasted doing unnecessary things.
Am I right?

Active: I spent a lot of time cleaning that room.

Passive: a lot of time was spent cleaning that room. (??)

Active: You can adjust the temperature by turning this button.

Passive: the temperature can be adjusted by turning this button.

Stir the ingredients until well blended.

In the last example, I think a 'being' is missing. For example,

'Stir the ingredients until being well blended.' To make the second part a Gerund phrase. Am I right?


texts: Origin of "All right, what's all this, then?!"

texts:
Wonder where is the origin of this phrase? I first heard it on Monty Python. Typical scenario being, a sort of clueless Scotland yard cop enters the scene and asks "alright... what's all this then?"

Since it looked like it was being used satirically in Monty Python, I suspect the origin of it must be older.


texts: E.g. when you want to say that this piece of software has a lot of bug. Can I use something like buggy or bugged?


texts: She sets off for India or She set off for India

texts:
I want to say she's going on a journey with the words "set off". Should it be 1 or 2?

She sets off for India.
She set off for India.


texts: Using multiple compound adjectives in single sentence

texts:
Can one use multiple compound adjectives in a single sentence? Example:

  Packed with energy-rich power, these batteries are specially formulated for power-hungry, high-drain devices.


texts: What word means "things that can't coexist togther"?

texts:
I am writing an essay and I wanted to say that the things I like about a large university and the things I like about a small university can't exist together. For example the small supportive community comes at the expense of meeting new people every day, etc.
a word like irreconcilable maybe ?
The sentence says
"... the best features of each university seemed ............. (can't coexist together)"

Thank you!


texts: What means "wolf-call" in context of dating?

texts:
On Hacker News user bertil wrote interesting  comment (bold mine):

The idea that a meeting is a date or not has to be clarified. You can’t just have a drink with a colleague, and let the romantic interest to-be-determined. Americans, as I understand it, tend to have “the talk” which is a clear idiom for an actual conversation where they mutually decide to “be exclusive”, i.e. not take dates with other people. Timing, number of dates and all that are also fairly established.
I have regularly seen in several countries in Europe a relationship going from inexistent to committed, public and exclusive in a matter of hours. “Having the talk” is often understood as an intent to break-up (because it sounds like “We need to talk”). Whether a meeting has a romantic interest is never really expressed: it’s generally either obvious or purposely vague than anything. That has lead many American friends in Europe very frustrated with the dating scene, because it comes off as unreadable. Europeans in the US can find the formalism icky, but they generally adapt more easily.
There are also far more differences between European countries (wolf-calls are apparently common in Italy; Scandinavia can come of as the opposite) than with the US — but formalism is certainly the big one.

What does means "wolf-calls" in the last sentence?
Is it some new idiom?
I've tried to google it, but had no luck.
Thanks.


texts: What does "so" in "I am so out of here" mean?

texts:
Ok,

The idiom "out of here" means going or leaving (source)

So, I am out of here=I am leaving (not sure it means "I am moving out right now" or "I will move out shortly")

Now, we also have "I am so out of here".

My question is: does "so"="extremely" in this case?

So, "I am so out of here" = "I am extremely out of here".

But, seem noone says "I am extremely out of here", right?


texts:
What  does the prefix  "aff" mean in the following words:

  affine, affirmative, affirm, affable, affection, affluent.

Do they have some meaning in common?


texts: What is the difference between "nevermind" and "never mind"?

texts: I never remember the appropriate use of either of nevermind and never mind. What's the difference and how can I remember?


texts:
I got the below mentioned line from the site 'erikalust.com/films/the-good-girl'

Erika Lust’s indie debut burst onto the scene of adult cinema and turned it on its head.

May one explain me what the last part of the sentence (turned it on its head) mean?


texts: Is "rejectance" a proper / legitimate word?

texts:
Is rejectance an actual word that is interchangeable with rejection? I have not found it in any of the dictionaries available to me.

I heard this word from a startup owner, who said the phrase: "Celebrate rejectance day". I googled this word and found it mentioned 3,260 times. I even found an indie movie that was entitled "Rejectance".

My guess is some people tend to use this word because it plays more "in tune" with the word "acceptance" (due to their suffixal similarity).


texts:
To what time do such sentences refer? I mean the part after should.
1 I'm surprised he should complain about your stay there.
Does it mean that the stay is in the past/present/future?
2 I'm surprised he should be giving lecture in a church.
When is the lecture? In the past/present/future?


texts: I was taking a quiz in which there was a series of question about access to common objects (TV, computer, washing machine, etc.) and the two answers were "have" and "haven't". Is the usage of the latter correct? It felt really unusual and I would use "don't have" instead.


texts: Does the term "metric" (or plural "metrics") apply only to the metric system, or can it be used to define something that does not apply the metric system?


texts: Is there a concise word for "cough tea"?

texts: I'm looking for the word that describes a tea making coughing more productive. Is there any concise word for that?


texts:
I have searched for how to write lengths of time, but all I have found is how to write what time it is.

Let us say that we wanted to fully write out the length of a movie. The Revenant is 2h 36m. Would we write, "The Revenant is two hours, thirty-six minutes," The Revenant is two hours thirty-six minutes," or "The Revenant is two hours and thirty-six minutes?" How would adding seconds look?

The most common way I have seen it written is without the comma, but I have seen the "and" in there also.


texts:
Please help me with commas in the following sentence:

  As an example of the successful use of such a model [,] one can mention SymPy computer algebra system [,] which uses Python as a main user interface.

Is it necessary to write the comma after model? I am not sure whether we can consider "As an example of the successful use of such a model" as an introductory phrase. Also, I am not sure about the second comma.


texts:
I want to describe tasks specifically. A task that I feel drawn to do is 'attractive' or 'alluring'. The best word for the opposite case seems to be 'repulsive', but that seems too strong. I want to say 'repelsive' but that's not a word! Any suggestions?
I am looking for an adjective.
In a sentence:

"I have a tendency to procrastinate on ________ tasks."


texts: should I use "maintain" or "maintaining"?

texts:
In the sentence below:

Whether it is of more importance to maintain old friends for a person than it is to make new friends.

Is it correct to use "maintain" as considering "maintain" is part of the infinitive "to maintain", or to use "maintaining" by looking on the preceding "to" as a proposition?

Essentially, I guess I don't know how to distinguish "to" as a preposition or part of the infinitive.


texts: Power drill vs. electric drill vs. electric screwdriver

texts:
Is there a commonly-accepted distinction between the either power drill or electric drill and electric screwdriver, whether semantic, dialectic, sociolectic, or something else? — For myself, power drill seems most unmarked, followed by electric drill and then electric screwdriver. To me, they all mean the same thing, namely a gun-like device which accepts bits of various types, either for drilling or "screwdriving". However, there have been times (admittedly mostly by non-native speakers of English yet also by some native speakers) when I ask:

  Me: Have you got a power drill?

  Someone else: No, I'm sorry.

  Me: (surprised) Well, I can't screw this in by hand: The material is just too hard.

  Someone else: I think I might I have an electric screwdriver somewhere.

  Me: (confused) Okay... thanks.


texts:
Saw a lot of such sentences (examples below). What does the "it's long past time to..." mean?

Example:
It's long past time to ditch the use of the ubiquitous bulleted-list templates found in both Powerpoint and Keynote


texts: What do you call a cycle which is used to sell items on its back on the roads?

texts: I want to know what a cycle is called which one uses to sell items on the road at the back of the cycle.


texts: "Germany is a too dangerous country." - is this grammatically correct?

texts:
If we can say

XYZ is a very dangerous country

can we also say the following:

  Germany is a too dangerous country.

Is the above sentence grammatical? If not, why?


texts:
Not only is my seventh grader using this phrase, but her teachers are as well.

I suppose it means I totally agree with you and you totally agree with me but it sounds like there is a subtle Is that okay? at the end with the right part.

What do you think?


texts:
When we ask an indirect, closed question we usually use if:

  Will he be home soon?
  Can you tell me if he'll be home soon?
  Do you know if he'll be home soon?

Why do we not use if with do you think?

  Do you think he'll be home soon?


texts: What part of speech is "atom" in "hydrogen atom"?

texts:
What is the type (adjective, noun, etc.) of the word atom in hydrogen atom?

I think that atom here does not qualify hydrogen in any way and we can use it or not, and the meaning of the word hydrogen will not change. So, hydrogen atom and hydrogen are equivalent.


texts:
A user made a comment on my question here:

  O and I are the esperanto of switches: they're made for everyone, but
  only experts understand them.

The definition of esperanto, according to Merriam-Webster is:

an artificial international language based as far as possible on words common to the chief European languages

So I don't exactly understand the context of using "esperanto" in that comment.


texts: Whether the "take a little thing and turn it into a phenomenon" is equal to "turn a little thing into a phenomenon"?

texts:
Advertisers and producers have developed a theory of "viral" marketing, which assumes that a great idea is self-distributing, and word of mouth can take a little thing and turn it into a phenomenon. (excerpt from Time Feb. 18,2017)

My question is: whether the "take a little thing" can be deleted? So may I say "take a little thing and turn it into a phenomenon" = "turn a little thing into a phenomenon"?

Why do not just say "turn a little thing into a phenomenon"? Is there any special meaning?


texts: Is this the right usage of word 'sprain'?

texts:
There has come a sprain on my foot mysteriously through the night :),
  not able to walk comfortably.

Also, is there any other general grammatical mistake in the above sentence?


texts:
I came across this problem in my textbook, and I don't understand why the answer is 'as' and not 'that'.
"We are attracted to people who have a sense of humor, who can laugh at the same things ____ we laugh at."
In the sentence above, the word that goes in the blank is 'as' according to the textbook.
Could someone explain why?

Thank you in advance.


texts: Word for the behavior of people who complain at everything you do

texts:
I usually tend to see the behavior in which someone takes an action, and people criticize, and even suggest what they should have done, yet when they take that same suggestion people still criticize.

For instance: I'm slim; when I eat with my family, everyone exclaims at the amount of food I'm eating. When I eat normally, they ask "Don't you know, you should eat more so you can grow better?" When I don't eat, the same shouting takes place. So in other words, is there a word I could use to describe them or their behavior in this regard?


texts:
He couldn't even enjoy the school holidays and spent his time moping around the house.

Is the word "around" in the above sentence used as a preposition or as an adverb?

I think it is used as a preposition. However, others disagree.


texts:
ALL, I had met the phrase “make sense” many times, But I still can't understand its meaning and usage even if I had review it in some online dictionary many times, And I still be confused about it every time when I came across it in some read. Here is a example, Please review it .

  In fact, the order of selectors in your CSS does play a role and the
  "further down" one does in fact win when the specificity values are
  exactly the same. For example:

.favorite {
   color: red;
}
.favorite {
   color: black;
}

  The color will be black... but I digress.

  The point here is you want to be as specific as it makes sense to be
  every chance you get. Even with the simple example presented above, it
  will become obvious to you eventually that simply using a class name
  to target that "favorite drink" isn't going to cut it, or won't be
  very safe even if it did work. It would have been smart to use this:

Could you help me? Anyway, I don't know if the title is right way to use it , please correct me if it is wrong.thanks.


texts: Meaning of "Only a waning candle sheds its light around"

texts:
I found this sentence in an article. Is it some proverb? What does this mean? Below is the paragraph where I found this:

  Only a waning candle sheds its light around. It is related that Abul
  Hassan Ali, a jurist and friend of Al-Beruni visited him when he was
  terminally ill. Al-Beruni requested him to repeat the mathematical
  problem he was once discussing with him. Thinking that it was not an
  appropriate occasion to talk about it, the jurist remained silent.
  Al-Beruni insisted upon having a reply and said: “Is it not better to
  die with knowledge then to die in ignorance?” Abul Hassan repeated
  that problem to which Beruni listened intently and grasped it. A few
  moments later he passed away at the age of 75 in 1048 A.D. and was
  laid to rest at Ghazna. Thus, he acted upon the saying of the Holy
  Prophet Muhammad (Peace and blessings be upon him): “Acquire knowledge
  from the cradle to the grave.”

Note: I have googled but didn't find anything helpful.


texts: What is the name of the base form of and adjective?

texts:
Adjectives are found in different forms, among which comparative and superlative. However, is there a term to describe adjectives' "base form" (is "base form" the right term to coin them)?

Example:

  Circle adjectives with different colors depending on whether they are
  written in their comparative, superlative or base form.


texts: A recent question has reminded me of something I’ve been wondering about for a while: what is the correct way to pronounce tuple?


texts: "Exorcised" vs. "exercised" as a synonym for "agitated"

texts:
I saw this sentence in The New York Times and thought it was incorrect but now I'm not so sure:

"That's part of the political calculation that has party benefactors and leaders exercised."
The G.O.P. Tosses Steve King Overboard

My thought was that "exorcised" would be correct in this context because I remembered similar use of the term  from many years back. I always thought "exorcised" as an adjective or adverb had a secondary meaning of "overly agitated," as in "having a fit" but I can't find any reference that confirms my memory, nor do I find a definition of "exercised" that is synonymous with "agitated." I'm 68 years old and can't always count on my memory to be perfect any more, but this just looks wrong to me.


texts: What's a better word for "pensive" in this situation?

texts:
I just used the word "pensive" to describe the feeling of a system administrator's state of mind while waiting for a long-running task to complete successfully, but I don't think that's the right word. I am trying to describe the feeling of waiting for the results of a task; a feeling of anxious anticipation, hoping things will work out for the best but planning one's next move in case things don't turn out as one had planned. Is there a better word than "pensive"?

EDIT: I am questioning my word choice because Merriam Webster defines pensive as:

  suggestive of sad thoughtfulness

and sadness isn't part of the emotion I'm trying to convey.


texts: Is there any English word starting with "gh" and "gh" is not pronounced as /ɡ/?

texts:
Gh is a digraph in English (and in some other languages). In English, you can see it at the beginning, in the middle and at the end of the word.

If ⟨gh⟩ is not at the beginning of the word, it is almost always either silent  or pronounced as /f/. (silent if in the middle --> light, /f/ if at the end --> tough)

Some exceptions are:

lough (and certain other Hiberno-English words) where ⟨gh⟩ is silent. [⟨gh⟩ historically represented [x] (the voiceless velar fricative) and it still does in some words.]
Edinburgh - ⟨gh⟩ is occasionally pronounced [ə]

Note: The locals pronounce it like "Edinburrah" and all the other "burghs" (Fraserburgh, Musselburgh etc.) rhyme. But there is an exception to this exception which is Pittsburgh (well, it is in US and not Scotland but shares the same suffix "burgh"). Another good question that comes to mind is "Why doesn't Pittsburgh rhyme with Edinburgh?" and there is a good answer in Quora if you want to check.

When gh occurs at the beginning of a word in English, it is pronounced /ɡ/ as in "ghost" and it does not derive from a former /x/. One might ask where it derives from. So, I checked the etymology of ghost and found this explanation in Etymonline:

  The gh- spelling appeared early 15c. in Caxton, influenced by Flemish and Middle Dutch gheest, but was rare in English before mid-16c.

After all the information I provided, the main question is:

Is there any English word starting with "gh" and "gh" (at the beginning) is not pronounced as /ɡ/ ?

I couldn't find any exceptions but English has a lot of surprises. There might even be a dialectal exception.

For example, I thought ph is always pronounced as /f/ when it is at the beginning of the word. But there are some exceptions like phthisis, phthisic, phthalate which I saw in this El&U question.

Sources:

- Wikipedia / GH digraph
- Etymonline / ghost
- Phonics from A to Z: A Practical Guide By Wiley Blevins


texts: "Parametrise" or "parameterise" a curve?

texts: In British English, which one is correct? Does one parameterise a curve or parametrise it?


texts: Phrasal adjective before/after noun. US/UK usage split?

texts:
Over on ELL I was a bit surprised by a (competent) native speaker of American English saying Books hard to find can be expensive is to my AmE ear no less idiomatic than Hard-to-find books can be expensive (to my BrE ear, the former sounds very poetic/stylised).

I know there are contexts like The meteorites contain organic compounds vital to life, where ...vital-to-life organic compounds would be extremely unlikely, but I've no idea why that example doesn't reflect my preference for, say, Well-written books are a joy to read over Books well-written are a joy to read (where the latter sound to me like a "stylised dictum", rather than "natural colloquial English".

Per the question title, what I want to know is whether there really is a significant US/UK distinction about whether to position what I'm calling "adjectival phrases"1 before or after the relevant noun - or is this just a matter of two individuals having different opinions?

1 I'd also like to know what I should really call them, and I'd really like to know if there's some simple reason why my vital to life example doesn't match the others (to my ear, at least! :)


texts:
Which is the correct way to tell someone that I have errands to run?

Are all of these fine to say in person and in an email?

  I got some errands to run

or is it

  I have errands to run

or

  I need to run errands


texts: Are there recognized restrictions or categories for spoonerisms?

texts:
I enjoy thinking up spoonerisms in my spare time and came up with "why, indeed" and "dyin' weed."
But I don't know if this can qualify as a spoonerism, because

although the sounds are switched, they are not the first sounds of each word
the "g" in dying is wiped out.

Would either of these disqualify my two phrases from being a spoonerism, and if not, are there special sub-categories for spoonerisms that aren't straightforward?
ETA: another possible subcategory might be "In-groups grin. Oops." Where sounds aren't swapped but rather the "gr" is shifted from one word to the next, as opposed to a more standard construction "See, well, we sell."


texts:
I am writing a formal letter to a business colleague, and I know that I may have misspelled someone's first name. I do not have a way of checking if my assumed spelling is correct, but would like to at least acknowledge that I may have misspelled it.

I will often see such errors acknowledged like this:

  misspeeled (sp)

  misspeeled (sp?)

Is there a better way I can professionally acknowledge this possible error, since all other means of verifying its spelling have been exhausted?


texts:
Consider this sentence

Both of my friends are blond.

What it implies is that obviously I have only two friends and they are both blond.
Now, if I say

Every friend of mine is blond.

Can I still have only two friends? That is to say does the use of "every" block the use of "both"?

Would #2 be felicitous if it's taken for granted I have exactly two friends?


texts: Is it OK to use two consecutive 'that' in a sentence?

texts:
Is the usage of 2 consecutive 'that' in the following sentence correct, because it looks a bit odd? Should these be separated by comma perhaps?

"While I agree that strength and size definitely gives an advantage but I don't believe that that advantage holds up against a highly skilled fighter!"


texts:
I'm a native Spanish speaker who's trying to grasp some of the subtleties of (American) English pronunciation. I think the sounds that give me the most trouble are the triplet of low back vowels: /ɑ/, /ʌ/ and /ɔ/. The word "gone" is especially tricky, because each time I hear it I hear something different:

Sometimes I think it's with a /ɔ/, as if it was "gawn". From my very limited experience, it would seem like this is more common in Southern accents.
Other times it sounds like a /ɑ/, the same vowel as in "pot".
The third option would be /ʌ/, like "gun", but I'm pretty sure this is not it.

Which one of these is it? Does it depend on the accent?


texts:
I understand that typically an en dash ( – ) is used when presenting a range of numbers. For example, when representing a range of years such as "1990 – 2000."

My question pertains to instances in which you have a range of years but choose to shorten the latter year by dropping the century. Do you still use the en dash in this instance, or is a hyphen instead correct?

Specifically, which is correct:  "1950 - 60" or "1950 – 60?"

As a follow up, is it proper to include spaces in this instance or to leave no spaces?

For example: "1950 - 60" or "1950-60?"


texts: Can you say "an epitome of" grammatically, or is "the epitome of" the only proper phrasing?


texts: What do you call languages with words that are pronounced the same way they are written?

texts:
In some languages such as Korean or Japanese hiragana, the pronunciation of words is exactly derived from the characters in the words. On the other hand, for languages such as English, you cannot accurately pronounce the words simply based on the spelling of the words.

What do you call each of these languages?


texts: Why do americans say "Nice to meet you" just when they meet someone, shouldn't it be said while ending the conversation?

texts: In movies and TV series, I have seen Americans saying "Nice to meet you" when they meet someone. Its really weird, why would you say that in the beginning and not while ending the conversation? You barely know that person at the time.


texts: Does the phase "what's an honest man to do?" have a specific literary origin, or is it simply a common-usage rhetorical question?

texts:
I have seen the phrase used in this form or as a template for other rhetorical questions - e.g., "what's an honest economist to do?"; "what's an honest business owner to do?";"what's an honest Nigerian to do?"

I cannot find any reference to its original use in literature, but was asked recently "who said that?" - and didn't have an answer.


texts: Word for “all the groups an item belongs to”?

texts:
To expand on the title slightly: all of the groups to which an item belongs directly or indirectly? That seems to make "parent groups," my first choice, ill-fitting.

The key concept here is membership, but that term generally refers to the items in the group, not the groups themselves.

A bit more explanation:

An item's relationship to a group may be direct or indirect because groups are hierarchical. The term would describe all of the relevant groups in the hierarchy.

An example:

Fuji is an apple. Apples are fruit. Fuji belongs to apples and fruit.

The phrase I need to construct is along the lines of: Fuji and "the groups to which it belongs."

Edit

As Barrie pointed out, my example involves categorical relationship, but that won't necessarily be the type of membership I'm referring to. The membership is arbitrary and changeable.

Edit 2

My example caused more confusion than good. The best metaphor for what I'd like to express is: a child has parents and grandparents, who are collectively his ancestors. I want to say: a user has groups and (super?) groups, which are collectively _?_.


texts:
In my article, there's a part that I want to say that we should keep some of our old buildings because of its historical value and implement our city development plans in another area. so is this sentence correct or not:

we should assign a special and limited area for these old buildings.


texts: “kinda”, “sorta”, “coulda”, “shoulda”, “lotta”, “oughta”, “betcha”, "tseasy" etc. What are these?

texts:
In linguistics, is there a term describing this phenomenon, i.e., when the syllables of two words are slurred together in the spoken language?  They are not contractions. While contractions are acceptable in any register, this combination of words is very informal and hardly ever found in formal writing.

  kinda (kind of)

  sorta (sort of)

  coulda (could have)

  shoulda (should have)

  lotta (lot of)

  oughta (ought to)

  betcha (bet you)

  lemme (let me)

  tseasy (it's easy)

  willya (will you)

Inasmuch as English Language speakers (just like the speakers of any natural language) have a tendency to join word sounds in speech, examples abound and a complete list would be hard to produce .

I’m looking for a word or phrase describing this linguistic phenomenon as it occurs in speech.


texts: usage of article/singular/plural noun when listing two things

texts:
I was reading this book, and I came across the following sentences whose usage of articles and singular/plural nouns I couldn't understand.

A Days Inn in West Palm Beach had to pay $70,000 in penalties and restitution for overcharging customers.

-> In this sentence, I was wondering why only the word "penalties" were used in a plural form and "restitution" in a singular form.

A just price, determined by (why no the?) tradition and the intrinsic value of things.

-> Also, why is there no article in front of "tradition" but there is "the" in front of "intrinsic value"?
I'm always lost whenever I come across sentences like these which seem to go against the parallel rule in English grammar. I would greatly appreciate any help on this.


texts: What's the difference between "Beware" and "Be careful"?

texts:
I have seen different kinds of notice in Computer games like "BEWARE!!!" and "BE CAREFUL!Watch your step!"

and What's the difference between them?


texts:
I want to make a contrast in the following question.

  Transfer the storage manager to the domain layer as far as interaction
  with the local storage - is its responsibility, not the view-layer.

I feel that something is missing at the end of the sentence, this part - not the view-layer. In other cases of making contrast between two objects I add one at the end. But in this case I am not sure if I have to use it or maybe some other grammar structure.

I would be grateful for any help to make this sentence sound correctly.

P.S. If have made any other mistakes please let me know as well.


texts: What is the/a word to describe an overly-authoritative author/writer?

texts:
What is/are the word(s) for a person who writes/speaks with the attitude of always being right, having the final answer(s), never having their position or interpretation questioned, having the final say on a subject? One who positions him- or herself as the ultimate and final authority on a subject, who entertains no possible alternatives to their interpretation of a subject?
"He writes as though he is the ______ on this topic." Not the authority, but a word meaning the presumed authority - seeing this as a negative trait.


texts: Does this ‘be going to’ have an emotional meaning?

texts:
Here is a skit from a radio English conversation program, dealing with American English.

A: guest B: front desk clerk C: A's wife
(at the front desk of a hotel)
A: I have a reservation for a room under the name of Hal Lloyd.
B: I can't seem to pull up your reservation. Do you have a confirmation number?
A: It's 7228.
B: Here it is. We don't have any more standard rooms available. I'm going to put you in our deluxe room with a kitchenette.
A: That's fine with us.
(in the deluxe room)
A: The room is decorated very tastefully.
C: It's very nice! I'm going to sit down in this plush sofa and read.

I understand the difference between 'be going to' and 'will' like this.

I'm going to go fishing today. (I planned it yesterday.)
I'll go fishing today. (It suddenly occurs to me.)

However, two  'be going to' in the skit seem to be said without plan; it seems to me that two of them are exchangeable with 'will'. Therefore, I took it that 'be going to' is sometimes used in … kind of … will-using-like situations. That’s fine enough. However, …
What feeling makes you decide to choose 'be going to' over 'will' in this skit?
I'd like to know the emotion you express by choosing it. (or, are they equal in every way?)


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Words that are pluralized in the middle?

I was asked to write the plural of daughter in law in an aptitude exam. I wrote it as daughters in law. Please tell me the right answer.


texts: "Hypocrisy is the compliment vice pays to virtue" -- what does this mean?

texts:
I heard Christopher Hitchens say this in a debate, and he attributed it to someone I hadn't heard of.  But I fixated on this quotation and thought about it for a while.

Hypocrisy is the compliment vice pays to virtue.

I think my command of English is reasonably strong, but I cannot make sense of this.


texts:
I am wondering if there should be a comma before the word "except" in this sentence. The research I have done reveals that commas usually aren't used, but I think that it depends on the sentence. I cannot find a significant explanation as to when commas would be used or not. My instinct is that this situation would be the same as a comma before "because:" add a comma if necessary to avoid confusion. Is the sentence below correct?

"I have been the judge of hundreds of card tournaments, and I do not have any disciplinary actions on my record, except for two warnings that were given years ago."


texts:
I have seen these structures being used several times in York, UK (by native speakers).

a. "He will lived at address Y."
b. "He be staying at address Y."

I am wondering if it is:

grammatically correct?
poor English, but colloquial.
totally wrong and strange, representing speakers lack of English literacy.

Thanks you guys


texts: Any word for this habit defined in following sentence?

texts:
If one do his assigned work always, and correctly.
is there any single word for this habit?


texts: What literary device/term is this? "To die would be an awfully big adventure."

texts:
What literary device does this show (if any)?

  To die would be an awfully big adventure.


texts:
According to Phrase Finder, the idiomatic expression name and shame  was originally used as a noun phrase,

From the Pennsylvania newspaper The Warren Ledger, October 1884:

"None are willing to father the name and shame of being beer or whisky men."

and only from the ‘90s its contemporary usage has increased considerably as a verb phrase:

following an initiative by the UK Government. On Oct 8, 1996 The Independent (London) reported that:

"The Home Secretary [Conservative minister Michael Howard] is also expected to suggest a scheme to 'name and shame' young offenders by giving courts the power to remove the automatic anonymity for under-18s."

I couldn't find other details about the origin of the expression, and the information provided by the above source, though interesting, are inconclusive.

Can anyone provide more precise details about its earliest usages?

Is the expression a British English or an American English one?

What actually triggered the considerable spike in usage visible from the ‘90s?


texts: How should a long sentence with multiple "or"s and commas be understood?

texts:
I'm trying to get a proper understanding of exactly what a long, run-on sentence really says.  The actual text is from Michigan law, but I'm not seeking a legal interpretation rather a full understanding of the grammar.

The full text is ADVERTISEMENT OF AGRICULTURAL ADVANTAGES, but the part which of interest is

  ... an amount to be used for advertising agricultural or industrial
  advantages of the state or county or any part of the state, or for
  collecting, preparing or maintaining an exhibition of the products and
  industries of the county at any domestic or foreign exposition, for
  the purpose of encouraging immigration and increasing the trade in the
  products of Michigan, or advertising the state and any portion thereof
  for tourists and resorters. ...

For what specific things may "an amount" be used for?

More to the point, is/are "for the purpose of encouraging immigration ..." (an) enumerated activity (activities) of its own?  Or, is does it qualify the activity before it?  Is the text is any way ambiguous?  If this were to be re-written as a bulleted list, how would that look?

The detailed technical reasons supporting any particular reading would be quite useful.


texts: Where, if anywhere, should the colon/semi-colons go in this sentence?

texts: Details about the costs (if any) of starting up the service and maintaining it, spreading awareness and gaining a user base, timelines, or counsel on any other challenges you faced and think might be helpful to us, would be greatly appreciated.


texts: What does "a constant drip-drip of information" mean?

texts:
What is the meaning of "a constant drip-drip of information" in this sentence?

  I have a constant drip-drip of information from any of the 750 online friends and followers that I associate with.


texts:
Possible Duplicates:
  English questions and negation with do in syntax
  What is the origin of the 'do' construction?

I vaguely remember hearing that using "do" to create a question is almost unique to English. Other languages would simply reverse the verb and subject.

However, as I asked a similar question (mistakenly) 30 min ago...I'm not certain whether this is right or not. Could speakers of other languages comment and set me mind at rest? Could anybody point me to a website on this?


texts: How common is it to use the term "overland" to refer to transport by either land or sea only excluding flying?

texts:
I know I've personally used the term "overland" in the context of travel to mean travelling by any means other than air travel. In fact I thought I picked up this usage by seeing others use it this way.

But when I look it up, dictionaries do seem to say "overland" does not include travel by sea.

So is it just me or is it a case of a colloquial usage that's relatively established and widespread but just not acknowledged by dictionaries?


texts: Is it common for native speakers to put a question mark at the end of declarative sentence?

texts:
Sometime, people put a question mark at the end of a sentence and use it to ask something. Instead using an interrogative sentence:

  Do you like it?
  You like it?

I think it is more often to someone who is not good at English.

As I am Korean, however, I realized that I also often and frequently violate Korean grammar. And I can't keep that all.

So, my question is:

Is it common for the native to use a declarative sentence as interrogative?
Is it hard to understand in a short time?
How are your societies tolerant to this?

Is this regarded as impolite or rude?


texts:
How do I write "all-in-one"? Should it have capital letters? Should it have hyphens?

I have done some googling, but I have not found a consistent result.


texts: Is it correct to say: "is just this what/all I'll leave behind me?"

texts:
I'd need help from English native speakers to  check the following phrase:
"A fleeting smile captured on a torn, yellowed snapshot, is just this what/all I'll leave behind me?" The words "what" or "all" are both ok to me so can be interchangeable.
It should be part of a lyrics so it doesn't need to be polite or formal, just correct.
Thanks in advance
EDIT:
thanks to Greybeard and Ammu.
Ok, so it seems that the problem is the word "just". My concern, other that without the "just" word, I have a missing syllable regard the original melody, is that I used the word "just" to emphasize the meaning of the phrase. Is "just" a photo what will survive me once I'll be gone? Does the phrase mantain this meaning without that word and/or is there a way to reprase the whole line in order to keep the meaning and hopefully the number of syllabes? Thanks


texts: Are there regional distinctions in how hiccup/hiccough is spelled?

texts:
So I was a student of English was taught English right on the border between the US and Canada.  My husband (who is from the Southwestern states) was reading something I wrote where I used the spelling hiccough and laughed at the spelling as he had not yet encountered it.  I was wondering if there was any regionality behind how one spelling gets chosen over another in how the spelling is taught.  I actually know and use both spellings (I don't know why I choose one over another in any particular circumstance).

To draw an analogy, all over BC Canada, you find "cheque" spelled as I show here.  However, all over Washington State US, you find it spelled, "check."  Pronunciation is the same.  I'm just wondering if any one knows if there is a similarity in regard to hiccup/hiccough.


texts: "New contributor indicator" misunderstanding

texts:
I have just seen a link to a Meta question: Come Take a Look at our New Contributor Indicator!

For a second I understood the "new contributor indicator" part as "there is a contributor indicator, and that indicator is new". But then I realized that the post is about an indicator that tells if a given post is from a "new contributor".

So my question is: can the title of the post be understood in English as I understood it in the first place? If so, how can the sentence be reworded to avoid the misunderstanding?


texts:
The expression is from "Better Call Saul". It was defined in the season finale:

  defecating into a car through an open sunroof as a prank

So far, the only resource I've found that corroborates this is Urban Dictionary, which isn't very reassuring.

Did this expression exist before the show? Is this a common American expression? For that matter, is this a common prank? And what is it called, if not "a simple Chicago sunroof"?


texts: Difference between "lots of" and "a lot of"

texts:
What is the difference between lots of and a lot of?

I've got a lot of apples.

I've got lots of apples.


texts:
What are the grammatical rules behind the construction using “so” in the following examples?

A: “I like chocolate.” B: “So do I.”
Alice likes chocolate. So does Bob.

Both examples seem to be correct. But which of the following are correct?

Alice's car is very expensive and so is her dress.
The flower is nice and so is the garden.
A house is only well-kept if so is its garden.
A house is nice if and only if so is its garden.

In particular, it was suggested to me (by multiple people) to reformulate the last one as:

A house is nice if and only if its garden is.

So, I am wondering: Is the last example (with the original formulation) actually grammatically wrong or is the suggestion purely stylistic? What are the grammatical rules here anyway?
Also the suggested reformulation sounds a bit odd/not very fluent to me. Would you agree with this feeling? Is there some correct way to express this more elegantly?
I am also interested in regional differences (e.g. British English vs American English) if there are any.


texts: On explaining weird applications of something in a scientific/technical context

texts:
I'm going to write a paper on weird and unusual applications of tool A. Is there any appropriate term/single word or idiomatic phrase to point to such odd applications in the scientific context?
Specifically, the option is needed for the title:

  On ------ applications of "A".


texts: Is 'what' both relative adjective and relative pronoun?

texts:
The body was no longer twitching. The skin had taken on a milky bluish
  tinge. The corner of the mouth seemed to have stopped bleeding, and
  what little blood was still visible now appeared very slightly darker
  and thicker, although the red, green and amber bulbs of the footlights
  might be influencing my color perception.
  [The Weed That Strings the
  Hangman's Bag]

There are two verbs after what-phrase. In this case, (1) is relative pronoun ‘that’ omitted after blood, or (2) does ‘what’ take two roles of a relative adjective and relative pronoun?


texts:
I'm looking for the etymology of words like godparent, godchild, etc. In particular, why "god" is added as a prefix? So far I haven't found an explanation. Wiktionary (for godfather) states:

  From Middle English godfader, from Old English godfæder (“godfather”), equivalent to god + father. Cognate with Old Saxon godfadar (“godfather”), Middle Dutch godvader (“godfather”), Danish gudfader, gudfar (“godfather”), Swedish gudfader, gudfar (“godfather”), Icelandic guðfaðir (“godfather”). Morphologically god + father.

Not very helpful. Wikipedia does not provide clues either. It states:

  ... by the end of the 6th century, they were being noted to as "compaters" and "commaters"

which is Latin. Spanish and French terms follow a similar structure, without adding the "god" prefix (eg. "com-padre" and "co-madre" in Spanish). It seems the German word also does not contain the particle "god" in it. Any idea about the origin of such word?


texts:
In some podcasts (it seems the speaker was from California) I heard that the word "especially" was pronounced with "ks" sound like "ikspeshally".

What was it likely to be, personal way of pronouncing this word or a local dialect?


texts: What is the difference between two words "amorphous" and "mercurial"?

texts:
The meanings in the dictionary are as follows:
amorphous:
without a clearly defined shape or form.

mercurial:
subject to sudden or unpredictable changes of mood or mind.

What is the origin of the word "mercurial"? If the chemical element mercury is it's origin, then since mercury is amorphous, should both of these words not mean the same?


texts:
In the national English language test (equivalent to A-levels), exam sitters were supposed to fill the spaces in the sentences with a word of some grammatical function.

One such sentence read: 'Some major junctions even have a special set of traffic lights for cyclists, allowing ___ a head start ahead of motorists.'

The key of the test says the correct answer is 'them'. However, what I did choose was 'for'. Is 'allow for something' a reasonable construction in this case?


texts:
I'm confused about how to hyphenate two locations in a single sentence. For instance:

"A New York and London-based agency focused on making brands heard."

or

"A New York- and London-based agency focused on making brands heard."

Which one is the right way to hyphenate?


texts: When and how did the criminal sense of 'grooming' arise?

texts:
In a recent CNBC article on Ghislaine Maxwell they say:

Sternheim wrote of Maxwell, who is accused of crimes related to allegedly recruiting and grooming underage girls who later were sexually abused by eccentric investment advisor Jeffrey Epstein,...

Looking up which sense of groom is meant in the article I found the following definition, probably a legal one, in the Cambridge Dictionary:

groom verb [T] (CRIME)
to become friends with a child with the intention of trying to persuade the child to have a sexual relationship.

The above sense does not appear to  be related to the more common usage of groom:
looking up its origin in the Online Etymological Dictionary  provides no clear information on where the above usage may have come from.
So how and when did groom evolved into a criminal  act? Is it an AmE usage?


texts: Are uncountable nouns considered irregular plurals like man men?

texts: Is "rice", for example, considered an irregular plural?


texts:
I seem to have trouble deciding whether or not to use 'a' or 'an' when followed by quantities:

  Built (a/an) 120 lb. robot.

and

  Built (a/an) 18"x 18"x 18" robot.

In terms of pronunciation, the first case could go like:

  Built a one-hundred-and-twenty pound robot.

or, like:

  Built an a-hundred-and-twenty pound robot.

Which would it be?


texts: Can a semicolon be used here? "Hello Justin; this is Rebecca." Or is it just a comma that should be placed there? Or do of them both work in a sentence?


texts:
They were playing here while you were gone.
They have been playing here while you were gone.

Can you please tell me Which one is correct?


texts:
Which of these sentences would be correct, or are they both correct?

"A shortcut to finding the inverse of a 2x2 matrix is..."

"A shortcut for finding the inverse of a 2x2 matrix is..."


texts: Name for a tool to customize a product online

texts:
On ecommerce websites (and some others), sometimes there is a tool that shows an image of the product which uses a system of drop downs or check boxes to specify characteristics to customize the product and have the image update to match.

An example of this is changing colors of a hoodie, but there are many uses

What is this tool called? All that I can think of is "product customizer" or something along those lines.


texts: What type of phrase is "I'm telling you," when used for emphasis

texts:
Consider the following sentence:

  I'm telling you, I left it right there.

In this sentence, the phrase "I'm telling you" is used to emphasise the truth of the clause that follows. What is the correct description of such a phrase? Is it an introductory adverbial clause?


texts:
I have a question about the word pro. Some software apps are called pro versions. What does it really mean?

When I google the meaning of pro, it shows me the result professional and prostitute. Then why are they using the name pro for software apps?


texts: Why is “accidentally” pronounced “accident-ly” instead of “accident-tal-y”?

texts:
Why is accidentally  pronounced accident-ly and not accident-tal-ly?

Incidentally, some other adverbs have this same phenomenon, where some dictionaries show the second-to-last syllable as being optional.


texts: Two instances of when to use the word "the"

texts:
I have two questions about when to use the word the via example.

Question 1:

"A comparison of the blue, red and yellow groups was also conducted."

Do we need "the" there?

Question 2:

The original sentence is: "At the 5% significance level, there was no difference between groups.".

Can you just take out the word the and state:
"At 5% significance level, there was no difference between groups." (that sounds awkward to me).

However the following sounds ok:

"At 5% significance, there was no difference between groups."

Which one is right?

Thank you for your help!


texts: When listing the ingredients of a meal, should a group of a one-half onion's chopped pieces be referred to as "chopped onion" or "chopped onions"?

texts:
Example:

Pico de gallo:

onion, tomato, and cilantro

or

onions, tomatoes, and cilantro

when one or less onion and one or less tomato has been chopped for use in the recipe.


texts: Are there other words whose connotation has changed over time?

texts:
I was writing an essay a while back and my teacher advised me not to use the word "queer" to describe something out of the ordinary because nowadays it is a LGBT related word that wouldn't portray what I wanted it to. In case I decide to write another essay, are there other words whose connotation has changed over time/ words I should look out for if I want to use them?

I don't know about ten years from now, but right now, are there any words I should look out for?


texts: Is there a term for words that super narrow in usage? I.e. "Figment"

texts:
There are few other ones I've thought of and forgotten, but it seems there are some words in English that although seemingly very general, are actually very narrow in usage.
Like the word "figment" - it's always followed by the same 2-3 words in 99.9% of cases.
I had a list of others, but forgot them at the moment.
It's most common to discover when teaching someone else English, I've found.
Is there a list of these, and do they have a name, or are they just a random musing? Just curious.
And can you think of other examples?