texts:
I have never seen the following expression : only that’s ….. ( I understand “only that” grammatically instead of “only that’s “….. )

  ‘Have you seen her yet?’  he asked.

  ‘Not yet.’

  ‘But you’ve heard something about her?’

  ‘Only that’s she’s an expert in her line.’

  [Source: From Dashiell Hammett, Red Harvest]

I wonder if this is grammatically correct (common usage) or a kind of dialect used among English-speaking people.

I have searched the similar expression on the Internet. And I found some.
So it doesn’t seem to be less frequently used. I would appreciate it if you could give me a piece advice on this. (This is way over my head.)


texts:
On the website http://web.ku.edu/~edit/that.html, there is the sentence

  "The senator said that he might run again and that, if he did, Myra Henry would be his campaign manager."

I don't think there should be a comma after the word "that":

  The senator said that he might run again and that if he did, Myra Henry would be his campaign manager.

Which one is correct?


texts:
I am trying to understand how to move the expression having been better to past perfect case in the following sentence:

  They consider some period in the past having been better than the times we live at.

Something like this (although sounds odd)?

  They considered some period in the past having had been better ...


texts: Are there English affixes for left/right?

texts:
Is there an affix that means left (right)? E.g. Imagine it was the prefix lef-. We'd be able to generate the following words.

lefcars (cars in which the steering wheel is on the left-hand side)
leffoils (foils with the grip set-up for a left-hander)
lefpoliticians (politicians associated with the political left)

etc.


texts: What is another word or phrase for someone who is unconsciously inconsiderate?

texts: I have a roommate who doesn't consider how his actions affect others, although it is not malicious. Whenever something is brought up he is apologetic and tries to change his ways. I'm wondering if there is a succinct word or phrase that describes this behavior?


texts: Is "have been being investigated" in the following sentence grammatically correct?

texts:
I need to know whether the following sentence is grammatically correct or not. Specifically, I am unsure about have been being investigated part.
Do the times that I am using match each other?

  The interest in researching X has been growing in recent years, and as its applications to various fields have been being investigated,
  it has been realized that X which can directly deal with Y is desired in several fields.


texts:
I bought a sweater for myself.
I don't have any money with me.

My books tell me that I cannot use a reflexive pronoun in #2 because the preposition in that sentence has "a purely local meaning."

What does that mean?


texts:
In the following sentence, is using of yet correct?

  Inserts settlement in a duty that needs it, in the most suitable yet available place.

It seems to me that I must use still instead of yet but at the same time the sentence with still does not sound right.


texts: What English dialect adds an 'r' after a 'w' in certain cases?

texts: While watching videos online I've heard multiple brits pronounce "drawing" as "drawring". What dialect does that? Please contribute more examples of this as well, as that is the only one I can currently think of.


texts:
I saw this advertisement while waiting for the subway in a town in Germany:

  English fit for travel, as if you have your teacher with you.

Is this proper English? I would have said it should be as if you had your teacher with you.

EDIT: The context is an advertisement for an English language course. There is a guy sitting on a suitcase next to the sentence. I guess it means your English will be so good, it will be as if you had (have?) a teacher with you.


texts: Why my teacher said my sentence wasn't correct?

texts:
My sentence:

  The Exchange between the teacher and the student promotes learning far different from that which results as the student listen but does not participate.

My teacher said "when" is more appropriate than "as" in this sentence, since "as" marks a duration, and "when" an instant or a shorter duration.

I don't understand the difference.


texts: How did 'belay' semantically shift to mean `forget I said that'?

texts:
word choice - Is it proper to ask to belay a request to a superior? - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange

In the sea services (Navy, Marines, Coast Guard), "belay" means to ignore a foregoing statement or order that a person has given. If it's an order, only the person giving the order or someone above him or her can belay an order. One would never use the term "belay" when attempting to persuade a superior to cancel their statement or order.

I can't spot this meaning  on the OED, but chanced upon an explanation on Quora. Can someone please expound it and fill in the gaps?

It is a very specific expression to the NAVY, and meaningless to anyone else. To ‘belay’ means to STOP, and comes from wrapping a running line around a cleat. Such a line is called ‘belayed’ once it has been so secured. This term has been tranferred over to other purposes, such as to stop an action, or impending action (just like stopping a line from running). In the Army, the command is ‘as you were,’ or if a wrong order is given while marching, the countermand is ‘continue to march.’

belay (v.) | Origin and meaning of belay by Online Etymology Dictionary

"to secure or fasten," from Old English belecgan, which, among other senses ("cover, invest, surround; afflict; accuse"), meant "to lay a thing about" (with other objects),
from be- + lecgan "to lay" (from PIE root *legh- "to lie down, lay").
The only surviving sense is the nautical one of "coil a running rope round a cleat or pin to secure it" (also transferred to mountain-climbing), first attested 1540s; but this is possibly from Dutch cognate beleggen.

Belay | Definition of Belay by Oxford Dictionary on Lexico.com also meaning of Belay

nautical slang [usually in imperative] Stop; enough!

‘“Belay that, mister. Man your post.”’


texts: How do you punctuate a list of lists of names?

texts:
I am not sure how to punctuate this sentence (the punctuation below is my best guess):

  We refer to the classical research of Oleinik-Petrovsky, Thom and Milnor.

How it should be understood: The original research was a collaboration of two researchers, Oleinik and Petrovsky. Two additional papers were published independently later, one by Thom and one by Milnor.


texts:
I've heard this construction a few times.
What does it mean exactly, and is it grammatically correct?
For example:

"it underwent a number of changes until it got to being exactly what I wanted it to be."
"I got to thinking about old times"

It seems to me it's just about synonymous to get around to doing something, or (start doing something)


texts: Is there one word for both horizontal or vertical, but not diagonal, adjacency?

texts:
I'm trying to describe a grid and I want to say that the adjacent grid square is chosen if it's horizontally or vertically adjacent, but not diagonally adjacent, to the current grid square.

I was thinking maybe, laterally adjacent?


texts: "Languorous" and "languid" have similar meanings. Are there any subtle differences in usage, due to connotation perhaps, that make one more suitable than the other under certain circumstances?


texts: In many computer games (usually role playing games), there is an item called a bastard sword.  Why is this name used, and does it bear any relation to the usual meaning of the term bastard?


texts: A person who is biased to person x's advice

texts:
What do you call a person who is biased towards ones opinion or advice.
For example, Person will mostly reject an opinion from person x and never from person y.

I know of 'Opinionated' and 'Biased'. But looking for a more specific word.

For example, King X is biased towards the opinion of his adviser x than adviser y.


texts:
I am looking for a word or phrase to capture the notion that too much diversity can backfire. Here's the context. In some technical fields (such as programming), there may be hundreds of possible ways to solve a particular problem. In such cases, it may be better for a community use a small set of common patterns. (In spoken and computer languages, these patterns are often called idioms.)

An example sentence is: "If we drive adoption of Standard X, we can prevent incompatibilities that would likely arise from uncoordinated solutions." The underlying logic goes like this: the benefits of standardization and coordination outweigh the "freedom" or "diversity" to express a solution in hundreds of ways.

To clarify, I'm not talking about artistic expression or freedom of speech; I'm talking about technical standards like HTML. As the argument goes, it is better to have a (more-or-less) standardized version of HTML so that tools can be built on top. (It is better to have almost everyone agree on the standard so we can all communicate using a common format.)


texts:
A student had this sentence in her paper, and I think it is wrong:

  Breakfast or sleep: that is the question.

I think this would be correct:

  Breakfast or sleep? That is the question.

Are there any other options?


texts:
I come across this expression in this public lecture "Analogy as the Core of Cognition" by Douglas Hofstadter. (http://shc.stanford.edu/events/calendar/2006-2-6-douglas-hofstadter-analogy-as-the-core-of-cognition.html). Roughly 15-20min into the video.

When Doug made this humorous remark, laughters erupted in the room. I do not quite get the joke though. Could anyone explain the significance of Delaware here?

EDIT

The video in the link above is gone. The video of the talk is now available on youtube. The phrase 'Analogy is the Delaware of Cognition' is used shortly after this point of presentation It is the actual beginning of Douglas Hofstadter's talk. Prior to this point it is all introduction and chat.


texts: How did 'cigarette paper' shift to signify strife?

texts:
Source: Rebecca Gowers. Plain Words (2014 ed). p. 208 Middle.

    Note. Gowers also wrote under this heading: 'About the age-
  long conflict between it is I and it is me, no more need be said
  than that, in the present stage of the battle, most people
  would think "it is I" pedantic in talk and "it is me" improper
  in writing'. Now, however, most people would find 'it is I'
  disquietingly fey in any modern context, written or not. By
  contrast, the grammatically needless use of myself is
  flourishing. The Deputy Prime Minister, for one, clearly
  believes that myself confers a certain something that I and me
  both lack: 'Myself and the Prime Minister are saying exactly
  the same thing'; 'There is not a cigarette paper between
  myself and the Prime Minister on this issue', 'But all of us in
  this government, including the Prime Minister and myself,
  are not willing to compromise ...' etc. ~


texts: Term for doing something little by little?

texts:
Looking for a single word that means doing something but not totally finishing whatever it is. Like if one is studying for an exam, that person won't review everything, he/she will just review certain parts of a lecture for the time being.

Edit: I don't mean it like it is a bad thing. What I'm trying to say on the example is to review for an exam little by little on multiple times.


texts: I want to find a word (actually an adjective) that describes an event which is now occurring

texts: Is there an adjective to describe an event which is being occurred now? for example, a football game that is being played now, a conference that is being held now and so on.


texts: What is a common expression in English that a person might say when one suddenly got shocked by sound?

texts:
What is a common expression in English that a person might say, when one suddenly got shocked by sound?
For example, while a woman was walking on the sidewalk in a dark place, she suddenly heard someone yelled at her "DON'T MOVE!". what is likely going to be the first word or phrase that comes out her mouth? And what would you say to the person who yelled at you, if you recognized immediately that the person is your brother or sister.


texts: Word that means married but also includes pre-marriage relationship?

texts:
First, some background.  My wife and I dated for 9 years before we got married.  We've been married 19 years, so we've been together for a total of 28 years.

I am running for my local school board and needed to come up with a candidate statement to be printed in the voter guide.  There is a strict limit of 200 words for the statement, so brevity is critical.  I listed my quantitative qualifications as bullet points, including my relationaship with my wife, a 25-year veteran public school teacher.

When I have the luxury of being more loquacious, I would write/say something like

  My wife — we've been together for 28 years — is a 25-year veteran public school teacher.

which indicates we're married (my wife) but also specifies the total length of the relationship (the use of together implies that it is not 28 years of marriage alone).  If we had been married the whole time, I could have simply referred to her as my wife of 28 years, but that is not the case.

For the more taciturn statement, however, I need something shorter.

Now, the whole being married thing is not significant to me, but there are voters, even here in San Francisco, who view unmarried couples as less valid or even immoral, so when running for office, since we did actually get married, I might as well include that.  But I also wanted to highlight that we had been together for the whole of her career and even before she went into the classroom.

So, is there a word or very short phrase that implies being married but also includes the time of the relationship prior to getting married (both dating and engagement)?

I checked for synonyms of married, but they all refer strictly to the post-marriage period.   I also tried the synonyms of together, but didn't find any that really applied well to a relationship, let alone specifying the period before and after marriage.

I ended up leaving out the pre-marriage time in favor of specifying that we're married:

  19 years married to a 25-year public school teacher

What I would have liked to have said was:

  28 years _____ with/to a 25-year public school teacher

where the missing word would have included the notion of being married but not exculively so.

Any thoughts?  I would also be open to rewording the statement as long as the word count is basically the same.

While this might be mostly curiosity on my part at this point, I will need to do another candidate statement in four (if I'm elected) or two (if I'm not elected) years.


texts: Are there any three syllable words which exist as a noun and verb?

texts: There are several word pairs consisting of a noun and a verb that are written and articulated the same; the noun generally has stress placed on the first syllable, and the verb on the second. For example, implant vs implant; subject vs subject; present vs present. However, I can't think of any three syllable word pairs which follow this pattern, including the stress shift. Are there any?


texts:
I can say "I will go", or "I'll go", and the both mean the same thing.

However, if you ask me "Can you go?", can I respond with "I'll" instead of "I will"?


texts:
I am looking for a word or phrase that means I am happy that something will be happening. Existing phrases along this line already exist in popular writing:

  Movie Y is the most anticipated since Movie X.
  I am really looking forward to Christmas this year

Look forward to and anticipate are synonyms  but nether spells out the mood in which one looks forward to something. Really, what does "most anticipated" actually mean? A load of people expect that a movie will be made? Great, but it doesn't mean they want to watch it.

I respect that these phrases have built up a convention for meaning positive things,
I'd just like something more explicit.

Edit: I did notice this question hit the wall before posting. I'd like to think I've been more objective but point out issues and I'll try to fix.


texts: Relative clause "both dynamic and stative examples of which"

texts:
I am simply interested in whether this sentence is in correct English. Especially, I am unsure about the use of the relative clause in italic.

  The specular reflexions of the glass beads, both dynamic and static examples of which occur in the image sequence, were a real issue for the correlation algorithm to produce accurate results.

Maybe I can give this question a better title, suggestions are welcome!


texts: What does the word 'fully' mean as a noun?

texts:
Movie 'Half Baked' (1998) has these two phrases:

  Fully, man.

and

  This is an official fully.

Jim Breuer playing the main (always stoned) character said this while looking at a woman's bare breasts at about 1:13:50 into the movie.

What does fully mean as a noun?


texts: The use of ‘and’ after ‘where’ in a mathematical statement

texts:
Which of the following is correct:

... where c is a constant, f(.) is a monotonic function, x and y are random variable.
... where c is a constant, f(.) is a monotonic function and x and y are random variable.

This always gets me confused. Because x and y are of one kind (I don’t know if that is the proper word) and there should be an ‘and’ in between, but I’m not about whether not I should write an ‘and’ before the phrase too because it is the last item in a list (I mean it’s like saying: I bought apples, oranges, and bananas.).


texts: "Best of" vs. "Best" / "Worst of" vs. "Worst"

texts:
I came across this sentence and was curious what purpose the word "of" serves:

  They were not the best of messengers.

Searching terms like "'best of' vs. 'best'" brings up discussions about phrases like "best of luck." In the same sense, is the example sentence saying they were not the best suited to deliver the message out of all possible messengers?

Would saying "They were not the best messengers." change the meaning?


texts:
Which is correct, to say I'm just chilling out in front of the TV or I'm just chilling in front of the TV without using out
Also, can I say he's chilled out on the beach?


texts: What’s the geographic distribution of different pronunciations of the word "experiment"?

texts:
ᴛʟᴅʀ: Which regions say the word experiment with its stressed syllable sounding like the word spare, and which regions say that word’s stressed syllable like the word spear?
PLEASE NOTE: This is NOT a survey question!

When it comes to pronouncing the word experiment, there appear to be two dominant North American pronunciations that are rather distinct from one another.

Many people have the SQUARE vowel, as though the word spare were embedded in it. Discounting the rhotic, this appears to be the FACE vowel. (But sᴇᴇ ʙᴇʟᴏᴡ if you don’t merge merry–marry–Mary.)

Some people have the NEAR vowel, as though the word spear were embedded. Discounting the rhotic, this appears to be the FLEECE vowel.
(I’ve used Wells lexical sets here instead of the International Phonetic Alphabet in the hopes of making this question more accessible to a broader readership.)

Is there any geographic data on the distribution of these various different pronunciations?  If not, can we surmise or infer any?
Does it matter whether it’s a noun or a verb?

Burying Barrie’s berries
Listening more closely, those from the first set aren’t all quite the same: a minority have the DRESS vowel there, not the FACE vowel. These speakers do not have the merry–marry–Mary merger, so they say it with the stressed vowel of berry, which for them is different from the one in Barrie or bury.
For me, those are all the same. Because my own accent ignores the tense–lax distinction before a rhotic, I still perceive both of those subtypes as having the same phoneme, and it is only when listening carefully as one does when transcribing an unknown language that I can make out a FACE/DRESS distinction between some sets of speakers.
After listening to a hundred samples, I’m now certain that there are a few speakers with the NURSE vowel there, as though the word spur were embedded. There might be some who shorten up FLEECE to the KIT vowel, but due to tense–lax neutralization, I’m not very accomplished at distinguishing tense vowels like FACE or FLEECE from lax ones like DRESS or KIT before phonemic /r/. Wikipedia notes:

In many North American dialects, there are ten or eleven stressed monophthongs; only five or six vowel contrasts are possible before a following /r/ in the same syllable (peer, pear, purr, par, pore, poor).

It’s the first two (or three) of those that I’m talking about here.
Research
An earlier version of this question narrowly transcribed the SQUARE version as [ɛksˈpʰeɻəmɛnt] and the NEAR version as [ɨgzˈbiːɻəmɪnt].  That's probably over-exaggerating differences of assimilatory voicing, aspiration, and reduction — aspects that are not the main point of my question. I’m just trying to divvy people up into the SQUARE group versus the NEAR group to see whether there are specific regional patterns in these two variations.
Dictionaries are a poor source for geographical data of finer granularity than grouping an entire country or even continent together, but here’s what they said:

The OED has /ɛkˈspɛrɪmənt/ for both noun and verb.

Cambridge
has UK /ɪkˈsper.ɪ.mənt/ US /ɪkˈsper.ə.mənt/

Collins
has UK /ɪkˈspɛrɪmənt/ (noun), /ɪkˈspɛrɪˌmɛnt/ (verb) and US /ɛkˈspɛrəmənt/,
/ɪkˈspɛrəmənt/; also, & for v. usually, /ɛkˈspɛrəmɛnt/, /ɪkˈspɛrəmɛnt/; often,
/ɛkˈspɪrəmɛnt/, /ɪkˈspɪrəmɛnt/.

MacMillan
has noun /ɪkˈsperɪmənt/, verb /ɪkˈsperɪˌment/.

What I’m looking for here is more finely-grained geographic grouping than just US-vs-UK the way those dictionaries provide.
Any Geographical Data?
I’ve looked to see whether the usual suspects for such things have any geographical  descriptions of these two versions, preferably maps, but came up empty-handed.
I suspect that even in the absence of such maps, the distinct phonological processes at work in the two versions may be sufficiently characteristic of one or another region of North America that a good answer to the question of which regions say which of these could be formulated.


texts: Using quotation marks to describe technical terms

texts:
Consider:

  DNS has a similar feature, but instead of “Work,” “Home,” and “Fax,”
  it has special record types that indicate which IP address you want
  from the server.

I'm British, but am publishing in the US. I'm aware that in British English, these commas would go outside the quotes surrounding Work, Home and Fax. In US English, they should go within the quotation marks. My question is, does this example look odd to Americans? It looks terribly chaotic to me, but if that's solely because I'm used to a different convention, then that's no problem.

If it does look strange to Americans, how would you recommend including these terms in my sentence? Is it perfectly valid to just italicize instead?

Another example:

  In this case, “litmus.com” resolves to “199.182.122.119”.

Placing the period within the quotation marks actually makes the statement incorrect, from a technical perspective. Should I just refrain from trying to quote technical terms? Is there a convention for including terms such as those used above?


texts:
I cannot help but perceive the [i:] in be as "lighter" (higher in pitch) than the [æ] in cat.
Boot sounds even lower (when not altering the pitch intentionally).

Is that self-persuasion or could a more closed mouth (or tongue) position lead to a higher pitch?


texts: "I have to go soon" or "I'll have to go soon?

texts:
In the sentence "I don't have much time. I ___ to go soon"
what should I use:"have" or "will have"?


texts: Connecting two "makes" together: can I leave one out?

texts:
Must I repeat the same word twice if the meanings or usages are different? For example, conjugating the following two sentences is easy.

  I make donuts. + I make muffins. = I make donuts and muffins.

Then is this valid?

  I make robots. + I make them move. = I make robots and them move.

I intuit that “I make robots and make them move.” is better if not paraphrase, but want to revisit the reason again in a more general way. Thanks for your reading.


texts: In "losing weight" and "gaining weight," are "losing" and "gaining" gerunds or adjectives?

texts:
I saw countless youtube videos and grammar books but -ing is too hard.

losing weight

gaining weight

are "losing" and "gaining" gerund or adjective?


texts: Preposition "of" or "to": "a challenge of/to modern Europe"

texts:
I am wondering which one is correct:

"Secessionism as a challenge of modern Europe"
"Secessionism as a challenge to modern Europe"

Thank you! :)


texts:
I want to say something like "the antibacterial activity of these three drugs is the same".

I am not sure whether i should use activity or activities in the above sentence, since three drugs are mentioned.


texts:
If you have a word with an abjective between parentheses where you would normally use an instead of a, should you do this in this case too?

It's a little hard for me to explain, so here a concrete example: (acoustic) piano.

Should it be a (acoustic) piano or an (acoustic) piano, since you can choose to not pronounce acoustic?


texts: Noun describing the property of being tricky to reason about

texts:
I am looking for an English word that would describe, for a concept, the property of being tricky to reason about. Something that does not fit naturally in the mind and causes us to reason incorrectly.

The closest I have come up with is "inscrutability" or perhaps "abstrusity". However, both convey the idea that the concept feels immediately opaque upon inspection. I would like a work that also works for describing concepts that may seem easy to reason about, but which end up being tricky.

Edit: some good suggestions already. I'm looking for something that doesn't necessarily have to be tricky, counterintuitive, or deceptive, but that could. The problem is that abstrusity seems to exclude concepts which may seem superficially simple. Complexity gets close, but it conflicts with another use of the work in the domain I am writing about (programming language theory).

Edit2: equivocality is a possibility, but too much emphasis is placed on ambiguity and it seems to exclude obscurity which can also be a source of confusion.


texts: Is there a word to describe an irrational demand?

texts: For the longest time, I have been searching for a word to describe irrational demands. Any ideas?


texts: Is there a word for someone who does favors for others because they want something in return?

texts: I know there's a certain word for it in an actual English dictionary that I seem to have forgotten. But what is a person called when they do favors for people only because they want something in return?


texts: How to emphasize pronunciation of a specific letter?

texts:
I have a client whos business name is TradOut — pronounced like “Trade Out”.  What would be the best way to show that the pronunciation should sound like “trade” and not like “trahd”?

We looked into using a diaeresis (so TrädOut), but we found conflicting statements about what that diacritic means. I’ve having trouble finding a clear answer, so I thought I’d ask here.


texts: Is there an another word for past due? - NOT overdue

texts:
When an invoice is not paid before it's due date arrives, then the payment and the invoice is considered past due. The phrase feels awkward to use, is there another?

There is another word, "overdue", but I don't think that would fit well in terms of an invoice.


texts: Movie Title, Director, and the Use of an Apostrophe

texts:
Which sentence is correct:

"Menace II Society co-director Allen Hughes liked the location."

"Menace II Society's co-director Allen Hughes liked the location."


texts: Can we use should /would and /could in Future perfect tense

texts:
I would have finished my home work by evening .

He should have been more careful.

Can these be used as future perfect tense ?


texts: What adverb can I use to describe a slap that intends to get someone's attention?

texts:
"Listen to me," Samuel says, swatting the side of Cal's face '_____'.

It's not a playful or deliberately hurtful slap. It's somewhere in the middle - irritated. Considering the character's personalities, it's rather a gentle gesture for them but shocking enough to say 'get ahold of yourself!'
If not an adverb, how would you word this?


texts: "Turn on the radio" or "put on the radio"?

texts:
Are both of these correct?

  "Turn on the radio"

  "Put on the radio"


texts: “A new brand is introduced in the market” or “A new product is introduced to the market”? Which one is correct? Thanks in advance, folks.


texts: How do I know when a verb should be followed by a gerund or an infinitive?

texts:
A few weeks ago I posted a question about the usage of a verbal in a particular sentence. But now, I have another question on the same topic, gerund.
Sometimes I don't know for sure if I need to use the gerund or the infinitive form, so I searched on web to find the answers for my questions; I found this. In this article I found a list of common verbs followed by gerunds and another list of common verbs followed by infinitives.
So, I was wondering if the words that compound one list has some characteristic in common that determine if the following word will be a gerund or an infinitive.

From the referenced PDF file:
1. Following a verb (gerund or infinitive)
Both gerunds and infinitives can replace a noun as the object of a verb. Whether you use a gerund or an infinitive depends on the main verb in the sentence. Consult the lists below to find out which form to use following which verbs.

I expect to have the report done by Friday. [INFINITIVE]
I anticipate having the report done by Friday. [GERUND]

Some common verbs followed by a gerund
(note that phrasal verbs, marked here with *, always fall into this category):

acknowledge — She acknowledged receiving assistance.
*accuse of — He was accused of smuggling contraband goods.
admit — They admitted falsifying the data.
advise — The author advises undertaking further study.
anticipate — He anticipates having trouble with his supervisor.
…

Some common verbs followed by an infinitive:

afford — We cannot afford to hesitate.
agree — The professors agreed to disagree.
appear — The results appear to support your theory.
arrange — They had arranged to meet at noon.
beg — I beg to differ with you.
…


texts: I wish to know the difference between "ain't" and "isn't" and since I'm not a speaker of english as first language, I can't tell.


texts: I need clarification on the use of the word "either"

texts:
In two different text the first one I used to "combine" the elements in the "or" sentence in the other I only have 2 choices.

Both sentences are from boardgames:
"Play if at least 3 Imperial systems contain EITHER a sabotage marker or a Rebel unit"

In my understanding this can be used (play) when I have 2 sabotage marker and 2 rebel units on Imperial systems.

The second one:
"You may EITHER exchange your cards with another player or discard any number of cards and draw en equal number of cards"

In this case the rulebook clarify the ruling saying you "CHOOSE" one action.

I think the key is in the "or" placement in the second one you select actions in the first one items that can be combined.

If I'm wrong in my interpretation (I'm not English native) excuse me and thanks for any help in this matter if I'm correct: Is the wording in the first one ambiguous or bad wrote?

Thanks again

(In forums about rules of the first game the community say this is a correct use combining BUT my friend don't like it because the "either" word about choices I tell him is about "grammar" or phrase construction not about only that word, even some "people that knows English" say he is right but, as we, not English natives)


texts:
I did not really attend the online conference, but I knew what they were doing from/through the conversation I had (with someone) earlier.

Which of these (from/through) is correct preposition?


texts:
I'm having trouble with some parts of speech in this sentence in order to diagram it:

In the past, working took up most people's time six days a week.

The part I am having trouble understanding is "six days a week."  I can figure it out if I add in some prepositions, turning the sentence into:  "In the past, working took up most people's time for six days in a week."  How does the last part function in the sentence?  What word(s) do they modify?  Do I add in the prepositions?


texts: a term for back-and-forth communication?

texts:
Is there a term for back-and-forth communication that is both concise and professionally appropriate?

Additional context:
In writing documentation for a company process, I want to encourage people to share full scheduling information in the initial communication in order to minimize the amount of back-and-forth that occurs. This is formal writing, so I'm looking for a phrase or a term that is less casual than "back-and-forth."

For example, if I am trying to schedule a meeting with a John Doe, I could do it the short way or the long way. I want to use this documentation to explicitly encourage staff to do it the short way.

The short way: I send John Doe all of my availability in a particular time window, and he selects one that works for him. Finished.

The long way: I propose that we meet on Tuesday at 3pm. He can respond that he is busy all day on Tuesday, but how about Wednesday morning. I can respond that I am free on Wednesday morning at 11:30. He can respond that he has a call at 11:45, so how about 11:00? I can respond that I'd prefer to have my meetings later in the morning, so I can do it after his 11:45 call is over. He agrees. Finished


texts:
I'm Looking for a phrase that means putting your back or muscle into a task, like rowing.

Is there another word for "it", as in "put your back into it"---is there another way to say it, such as "leaning into..."


texts:
I am a non native speaker of english. I doubt If my following sentences are correct. I actually don't know if I should use any
with singular or plural nouns in if clauses. I run a business and I want to say these to my customers. Can any english teacher or anyone who has good grasp on the language please answer this. And tell me in the given context which ones sound more natural.

If any customers are dissatisfied with the product, they are requested to return it to the store for a full refund.
If any customer is dissatisfied with the product, he/she is requested to return it to the store for a full refund.
We are sorry if any customer is unhappy.
We are sorry if any customers are unhappy.


texts: What does "pray" mean in phrases like "pray proceed"?

texts: Is this an archaic form of "please proceed"? I have never heard in in speech but sometimes it appears in novels. My version of "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" is full of it, apparently in place of "please".


texts: grammatical-number when subject and verb are separated by prepositional phrase

texts: Is the following verb selection correct: "None of the 200 hospital patients was discharged today."


texts: Which verb tense should I use in the sentence below?

texts:
I'm writing a report about actions that I have taken. Which form is the correct one?

  were,
  have been or
  have?

I have used the first tense were in the sentence:

  "The minutes of the first coordinating and consultative committees meetings were translated into English and then sent back to the manager"

If it's incorrect then how should I write it?


texts: Word that refers to both input and output devices

texts:
I usually refer to the term throughput when referring to both the inputs and outputs of a system. But right now I need a term/word/phrase that summarizes both an electric system's sensors (input devices) as well as its actuators (output devices).

I could cop out and use throughput devices but was hoping something more scientific/formal/semantic was available. Ideas?


texts:
I wondered if the structure of these two sentences was correct :
1. And what self-narrative would this person engage in?
2. In what narration?

The last sentence refers to the previous one.


texts: What is the verb 'to be' for the phrase "The mechanics of the mind"?

texts:
Should one use "the mechanics of the mind are" or "the mechanics of the mind is?

The term "mechanics", used in this sense, seems to be an uncountable noun.


texts: Elision of "it" and "what" at the beginning of sentences

texts:
I am reading American Accent Training. I find sometimes either 'it' or 'what' at the beginning is omitted.
e.g.

It's in the bag. [tsinə bag]
What's in it. (Though labeled [w'ts ..] I only hear [tsini])

I have learned some rules about elision of /t/ and /h/, but I googled and failed to get rules about the elision at the beginning.


texts:
Let's say you have three nouns separated by "or" or "and", and all three are always used together and have the same attibutive noun :

Example:
market force, market strategy and market segmentation

do you have to

1) use the article, and if yes, repeat it for each of them

2) repeat the attributive noun for all three.

More clearly, which alternative is correct:

1) market force, market strategy and market segmentation

2) market force, strategy and segmentation

3) the market force, the market strategy and the market segmentation

4) the market force, strategy and segmentation


texts: Is there a word for a person who has lost their sibling?

texts: Is there any word that applies to a person who has lost their sibling, such as widow/widower for a married person who has lost their partner?


texts: What do "agent" and "agency" mean respectively in "moral agent" and “moral agency”？

texts:
“Agent”, OED says, could mean “an active and efficient cause, capable of producing a certain effect”; “agency” could mean “a thing or person that acts to produce a particular result”. It seems they are synonyms.

Then I come across two related phrases: moral agent, moral agency. “Agent” in “moral agent”, though means simply a subject, an “actor”, can be understood in a sense as a cause of an act.

Since “moral agency” is used to mean the inner dynamics of the moral agent, “agency” is to be understood as “cause” too: what makes the agent act morally? To treat them both as meaning “cause” cannot justify them representing two things different in order.

Therefore I doubt that maybe “agent” refers to the causes which are of natural kind, such as human or corporation, while “agency” can mean the inner cause that explains how the causes work as a cause. Sorry, this may be a very immature thought, please feel free to correct me!


texts: Is there a word to describe two people who have perfect "anti-chemistry"?

texts:
Abbot and Costello
Jaime Hyneman and Adam Savage
Conan O'Brien and Jordan Schlansky

You can say they are perfect foils for each other or are perfect rivals, but that's not really what I'm getting it. What word describes the perfect level of acrimony between two people, which would be the opposite of "chemistry"? Thesaurus suggests "repulsion" but that doesn't really capture the inherent feeling in the room when you see these people together. It's not that they have "bad chemistry" (don't work well together), it's that their hatred of each other motivates them and pushes them to succeed, so in the end they accomplishes as much as a pair with perfect "normal" chemistry. Maybe another way to describe "anti-chemistry" is bad chemistry that mutates into to good chemistry.

  Born from a mutual dislike, Adam and Jamie have great _________.

or

  Adam and Jamie's _________, born from mutual dislike, is tangible.


texts: Is there a difference between "less ambiguous" and "more unambiguous"?

texts:
Relevant examples:

If you make the following changes your sentence will be less ambiguous.
If you make the following changes your sentence will be more unambiguous.

Do these sentences have a significant difference in either meaning or connotation?


texts:
What's the difference between these three words? If the general case is hard I'll give an example:

One points to the dish and says "If you like ____________ food then
you should try this."

Can I use any of the them in the gap? would the meaning be the same?


texts: The word's "mage" possessive form comes up as a mistake

texts: So I've been up and about writing my own little novel and I noticed that the word's "mage" possessive form comes up as a mistake. The example would be the following — "mage's tower". The word "mage" itself appears to be in the LibreOffice dictionary (English UK) yet the possessive form seems to be invalid. Though now as I'm writing this question while using Google Chrome with the spellcheck of English (UK), "mage's tower" seems to be valid. So I'm very keen on knowing whether I'm using the word "mage" wrongly or if it's an issue with the software that I'm using.


texts: traceable vs trackable: What is the difference (if any)?

texts:
The title of this question is clear:

  "What is the difference (if any) between traceable vs trackable?"

Thank you in advance!


texts: What does "the stable saving truth" in this passage mean?

texts: A computer would wait forever to receive my command but would process it the very moment I hit Enter, no questions asked. No teacher had ever been so patient, yet so responsive. Nowhere else—certainly not at school, and not even at home—had I ever felt so in control. That a perfectly written set of commands would perfectly execute the same operations time and again would come to seem to me—as it did to so many smart, tech-inclined children of the millennium—the one stable saving truth of our generation


texts: Is there a word to describe an individual who has complete control over his negative and positive emotions?

texts:
Let's say examples of negative emotions are sadness and despair, and
example of positive emotions are happiness and pride.

So is there a word that describes a person who has total, complete control over his negative and positive emotions? I'm talking about someone who can manage his emotions in a long-lasting way, not just temporarily. Generally speaking I'm looking for an adjective, but a noun will also be useful.

Example Sentences:

1.When images of scenes that normally trigger strong emotions were shown to him he demonstrated no emotion

2.His face did not display any emotion despite the [sad]news just relayed to him.


texts: What is the meaning of the expression "A one paper kid" or "One paper kid"

texts: This is a country song title by the late Walter Martin Cowart and has been covered by several artists.  Is this a local expression or slang term perhaps used in the American southern states?


texts: What’s the difference between “shrimp” and “prawn”?

texts:
What is the difference between shrimp and prawn?

Does it refer to different species of creature, to usage (for example, one as the animal itself versus the other as the meat of that same animal), to language level or region or register, or to something else altogether?


texts: How to make the genitive of a person's name with "OF"?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Why is it usually “friend of his”, but no possessive apostrophe with “friend of Peter”?

We built an engine for the boat of Mr. Sander

or

We built an engine for the boat of Mr Sander's

?


texts: Can a noun be both a subject and an object at the same time?

texts:
John Knight, who/whom I spoke to yesterday, seemed to be rather irritable.

In this sentence, John Knight is an object because I (the subject) am speaking to him; however, he is also a subject since he is performing an action, which in this case, is being irritable. Is he both a subject and an object? If not, which one of these is he?

Furthermore, which is correct: who or whom?


texts: can we point o an animal and "what animal is this ? or which animal is this? which one is correct?

texts: I just wanted to know if its gramatically correct to say what animal is this? or which animal I this?


texts:
I don't really understand the meaning of this term in this text: "Industry sources" please aware me thanks
Details of the agreement have yet to be made public, but industry sources have said Noble and Delek will be allowed to keep control of Leviathan, the world's largest offshore gas discovery of the past decade. The government's decision makes use of Article 52 of the Antitrust Law, allowing them to circumvent the antitrust regulator and approve the agreement with the gas companies. The only member of the government to oppose the deal has been Minister of Environmental Protection Avi Gabay. "The state must listen and understand the companies' claims and demands and then utilize its authority and sovereignty on this matter in order to arrive at the plan that is best for the citizens of Israel," said Gabay.


texts: Difference between dependent clause, comma splice, adverbial clause?

texts:
For example in this sentence:
Brett reads a massive textbook, scribbling notes at his desk.
The second park, scribbling notes at his desk, has to be some sort of dependent clause because it can't stand on it's own. But is it valid or do you need some sort of conjunction, like replacing the comma with "while" or something similar?

Someone said a phrase like this might be considered an adverbial clause or something similar but I'm not familiar with them. I feel like the sentence format is common, but is it correct? Thanks!


texts: "Could" with verbs of perception (was/were able to) vs Expressing specific action in the past

texts:
I'm puzzled about the usage of a modal verb could. My book "LONGMAN ENGLISH GRAMMAR PRACTICE" by L.G Alexander says that

  We use was/were able to or managed to (not could) to describe the successful completion of a SPECIFIC ACTION, for example, We were able to (we managed to) get tickets for the match yesterday (not could)

It was all okay for me till I read another thing about can/could with verbs of perception. There was a sentence which you had to change from

  I understood what he said

to

  I could understand what he said.

I thought that correct answer should be

  I was able to understand what he said

It's so confusing, above it says that when we are talking about SPECIFIC ACTION in the past we can't use could and in the next exercise the key says to go for could.?


texts:
Rock (v):
  6.
  Slang. to be very good, impressive, exciting, or effective: This show really rocks.

So where did this odd usage originate?


texts: Is there a word or collocation for an unwanted person?

texts: I'm looking for a word or collocation we use in British English when we want to refer to someone who's interested in you, attracted to you, but whose advances at you are not welcome. Thank you! :)


texts:
I am very sure about the use of contractions in positive and negative sentences. But I am not sure about their use in questions. I've seen many examples of the use of contractions in questions, but I want to know whether or not they are standard English. Consider, for example, the two following sentences:

  What's he done today?
  What has he done today?

How different are these two options? What register or style do they belong to?


texts:
This is one instance of the use of 'hysteric' as verb (I think):

  Natalya Stepanovna: He's dead. [Pulls Lomov's sleeve] Ivan Vassilevitch! Ivan Vassilevitch! What have you done to me? He's dead. [Falls into an armchair] A doctor, a doctor! [Hysterics]  "The Proposal" or "The Marruage Proposal"
   by Anton Chekhov

However, Merriam-Webster's dictionary, or any standard dictionary on the internet does not mention 'hysteric' as a verb. So, can we use 'hysteric' as a verb? Has it been used in the past?


texts: When did 'smoking gun' become a set phrase?

texts:
Smoking gun:

  The term "smoking gun" is a reference to an object or fact that serves as conclusive evidence of a crime or similar act, just short of being caught in flagrante delicto. (Wikipedia)

All  sources appear to agree on the idea that the saying  comes from a similar expression in a  1893 Sherlock Holmes story, The Gloria Scott, in which  Arthur Conan Doyle wrote:

  'The chaplain stood with a smoking pistol in his hand,'

Checking with Ngram the expression seems to have become popular only from  the 70's, probably during   the Watergate investigation:

  Nixon defenders insisted that while much impropriety could be observed, no proof of presidential obstruction of justice - 'no smoking gun' - had been found. (The Prase Finder)

Questions:

When did the expression actually become a set phrase? Was it 80 years after Conan Doyle story, or is its origin unrelated and only accidentally similar to the one used in the 1893 story? And if that is the  case, where does the expression come from?


texts: Is a "misspelled" word which subsequently creates another word still considered misspelled?

texts:
According to Dictionary.com:

  mis·spell·ing   [mis-spel-ing]
  noun

  the act of spelling  incorrectly: Note his misspelling of that word.
  an incorrectly spelled word: You have three misspellings in your letter.

Some people have told me that as long as the letters actually create a word, it's spelled correctly. This doesn't make sense to me, though. The example I'm using occurred in a recent Stack Exchange blog. They had accidentally typed in "word" instead of "world." I pointed out that "world" was misspelled (missing an "l") and another person said that it was technically not misspelled.

So when do we consider a word misspelled?
Only when our computer puts a red zig-zag line below it?

Isn't the word "word" still considered misspelled since it was meant to be "world" and it is not spelled correctly, and just happens to become a different word when this particular misspelling occurs? Is there perhaps a better definition of the word "misspelling" out there somewhere that can more accurately represent what exactly the word means?

Note: This isn't meant to be subjective. I'm hoping for factual information that supports it one way or the other.


texts:
This question looks like a mirror of a question I asked hours ago,

A TOEFL textbook gives me this verb, saying

  Condenscend

"Their synonyms" are "stoop, design" ( according to a text )

According to Merriam Unabridged Online,

Yes, 2 would be used "according to a text" in common, if I guess.

But the definition of 3,

  To assume an air of superiority ( as to one inferior or less fortunate )

Does it comes from, "lower oneself in social rank or designation etc, or descend from the status quo to the lower ( inferior ) rank so that the person looks to assume an air of superiority?

I have never been quizzed by a dictionary so much today :)

Thank you.


texts: When using the word “you” to mean a group of people (like in a blogpost) what sense of the word is it?

texts:
I cannot remember the proper word to use, and it’s driving me batty. I can imagine the sentence in my head “I’m not saying you, as in you, Katherine, I mean “you” in the _____ sense of the word. I mean you as in society in general.”

Can anyone hazard a guess at what I’ve forgotten? Thank you so much.


texts: What's the best way to solve this run on sentence (lots of "and"s)?

texts:
I have to change a description for something in our app, and I was given this sentence:

  Create, edit and delete camera assignments and camera and DVR settings.

Now the lack of an Oxford comma is obviously going to need to be updated, but I'm having some trouble with the subject of the sentence. camera assignments is one subject, but camera and DVR settings seems to be another, compounded from camera settings and DVR settings.

So far my fix for it would be:

  Create, edit, and delete camera assignments, camera settings, and DVR settings.

Is this sentence grammatically correct? It still seems like a repetitive mouthful. Could something be done with camera assignments and camera settings (both being a property of a camera) to compound this more neatly?


texts: Image is to pixelated as a song is to ___?

texts:
The closest I could think of is "low quality" but that is not as specific as I'd like, it could also mean that the music is bad.

Example:

  I like this song, but you should really get the CD. This sounds _______


texts:
Stumbled across this on a photography forum.

  All the bells, dials and whistles on this one. I handled her once.
  Nice! But surprisingly heavy. The impression of weight (and a lasting
  impression of value.. what a make!) was increased by its
  relatively compact size.

Am I getting it right that "what a make" here might mean something like, what a great composition of the impression of weight and the lasting impression of value?

I did a quick google research and found absolutely nothing in the Internet on this usage of the word. And it's definitely not "what make is it?" sort of a thing.


texts:
The CLR under .NET is referred to as the "Common Language Runtime." It seems that the convention is "runtime" for a noun and "run-time" for the adjective. Is this correct or should it be "runtime" also? I'm inclined to think it should be like the following:

  The variable is typed at runtime.
  The runtime variable is null.


texts: When using multiple verbs that typically use different prepositions, which do I choose?

texts:
This is the sentence I wrote:

  It is as simple as adding or removing an item to/from the list.

Now I'm wondering if I should use "to" or "from" or "to/from" in:

Written English,
Spoken English.


texts: Can predicative complements not be bare noun phrases in English? That is, are clauses such as “I am student” incorrect?

texts:
In Chapter 4 of the book A Student’s Introduction to English Grammar, written by Rodney Huddleston of the University of Queensland and Geoffrey K. Pullum of the University of Edinburgh and published by Cambridge University Press in 2005, it was stated that

  A bare role NP [noun phrase] is a singular NP that is ‘bare’ in the sense of lacking the determiner which would elsewhere be required, and that denotes some kind of role, office, or position. A PC [predicative complement] can have the form of a bare role NP, but an O [object] can’t:

  i  a.  She became the treasurer.   b.  She knew the treasurer.

  ii  a.  She became treasurer.   b.  *She knew treasurer. [ungrammatical]

On the contrary, there is a question (Is this proper English: "I am student"?) I found here on StackExchange on the similar topic, in which the OP was wildly discredited, and the question was closed for lack of research.  I have the same problem, and here I am posting my research, which is also the origin of my question.

Before I read this book, I also believed that it was wrong to say things like “I am student” without any determiner.  However, it became clear to me that apparently in numerous Indo-European languages, clauses like je suis étudiant (French) and Ich bin Student (German) are completely grammatical, whereas somehow the version with the determiner (je suis un étudiant or Ich bin ein Student) is less preferred, if not completely ungrammatical.  So, why, for some curious reasons, is it definitely deprecated, if not ungrammatical, to say things like “I am student” in English?


texts:
The United States Department of Agriculture defines “food deserts” as “parts of the country vapid of fresh fruit, vegetables, and other healthful whole foods, usually found in impoverished areas” (emphasis added). Neither OED nor M-W defines vapid in a way that seems to fit this usage at all. Is this just yet another case of our federal government’s “cold-blooded murder of the English tongue,” or is this some usage that is gaining currency but that dictionaries have not yet caught up with?

P.S.: I draw a blank searching the actual usda.gov site for this definition, but it seems pretty widely quoted around the Web, including in an issue of the American Nutrition Association newsletter from four or five years ago. Maybe the USDA corrected a usage error when it was pointed out to them.


texts:
I came across the following sentence while reading "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee. Is it correct

Everybody in town’s father
was playing, it seemed, except Atticus.

Or it should be rephrased as

Everybody's father in the town was playing,  it seemed,  except Atticus.

Thanks in advance.


texts: Word for everything 'around' the central game screen or core of an application?

texts:
What do you call this? Say you have a small webgame, is there one common word for things like the startscreen, registrationscreen, endscreen, options, etc.

So you have the 'Game Core' and 'XXX'.
It's being used for writing an offer.

I thought about the word chrome that is sometimes used, but I have the feeling that refers more specfic to the UX elements on i.e. the game screen.


texts:
How should the phrase social disparity be used in a sentence?

  There was great social disparity between A and B.

  The social disparity was great between A and B.


texts: How to determine which part attributes which in a complex context?

texts:
I'm not sure what the grammatical terms are called so please accept my apology if I explain it a bit unsophisticatedly (is that a word?).

First, let's take a simple example.

  living room
  work method
  dog party

Those are self-explanatory. It's a room used for living (activities), a method of conducting a work and a bunch of four-leggers getting together. But how about constellation of three word, such as this?

  human computer interaction

Of course, we know what this means, because there's a consensus on the term (and it's vastly known from it's hyphenated correspondent). But what implies that it's not an interaction between computers (across the web using services) which is humanized? Or a cyborg (humanized computer) that's interacting?

So, the question pondering me is this. How should one interpret grammatically based correctly an ambiguous phrase on the following form?

  something-a something-b something-c

Are there any rules or preferences as to whether it's:

a-b'ish c,
a'ish b-c, or
something else'ish?


texts: Is there a word for a woman going away from home to learn etiquette

texts:
I was wondering if there is a word that describes either the act of a woman going away to learn etiquette from someone outside her immediate family, or describes a woman who is going away to learn etiquette from someone outside her immediate family?

Old fashioned words are fine, it would be especially good if the word is tied to feudal culture.

Update: I have been asked to provide context.

This is part of a conversation between a witch and a faerie queen. The faerie has stolen the witch's granddaughter and naturally enough the witch wants her back. Their conversation is a combination of courtroom argument and a magic battle over the granddaughter.

The witch has said being a blood relationship gives her custody of the child, the faerie is making a counter argument that children leave their families all the time:

“You are old and all your sons and daughter have grown. A boy must learn a trade. A girl must ___ and find a husband. The Child may be of your blood, but blood is not so fair.

Since it has come up in the comments, I'd also like to add that in this setting finishing schools do not exist. Instead one to one mentorship with an older woman is used, I know that happened in the real world. Elizabeth Báthory is rather infamous for killing the girls sent to her to learn etiquette. I'm just hoping there's a specific word for it.


texts: What's the opposite of “cradle-snatcher”?

texts:
If a cradle-snatcher is someone middle-aged or older who has a romantic or sexual relationship with a much younger partner. What do we call the much younger person in that relationship?
What do we call a person who is physically and romantically attracted to much older people?


texts: When charting on a patient, and a choice is high cholesterol, should both be capitalized?


texts:
The legislation recommends, but does not require, that women make up at least 40% of the board. The legislation is ___________.

I think there's a perfect word for this, but it eludes me at the moment.


texts: What is the word for "a defined sequence or order"?

texts:
This is driving me crazy. There is such a wonderful word and I haven't been able to come up with it after trying for days. It is similar to "naming convention" but that is not right.

Example would be that you have to make a spreadsheet with columns listing data in the correct sequence.  Style, then color, then size, then location. Once you make that sequence you have defined the ____ for the list. The prescribed sequence to follow.


texts:
Which short phrase or abbreviation could I use here to mean and other things?

  The medulla oblongata controls respiration and cardiovascular rhythm ____.

Etc. would not fit as it carries the connotation of the continuation being obvious, while the phrase I'm looking for would mean that it was omitted for other reasons, e.g., brevity.

The text is intended only for me, but I'd still prefer a phrase or abbreviation that would be recognised by others, too.


texts: Colon vs. Semicolon? "Lydia's father is a master chef;/: he oversees the kitchen at a five-star restaurant."

texts:
From Grammar Workshop:
"Lydia's father is a master chef he oversees the kitchen at a five-star restaurant."

Can someone explain whether to use a semicolon or a colon?


texts: US and UK English: queue or wait in line?

texts:
What do you usually say, depending on the context and depending if it's US or UK English?

wait in line or queue


texts: It seems as if both words mean to humiliate and degrade?


texts: Did "user" have positive or negative connotation in 1950?

texts:
Since the advent of ubiquitous technology, the meaning of "user" is best know as the person sitting in front of the computer or similar device.

I am studying the history of computing and want to question the meaning of this word choice.

I understand two connotations available with this word:

Negative

User is a person that interacts with a thing. They are not able to control that thing (an operator). They are not the owner of that thing (an owner). They are not able to change that thing (a tinkerer). Basically, the user is restricted in what they can accomplish with the thing and they are powerless over it. A common phrase drug user also illustrates this context, drug users never compound or negotiate with drugs, they are only taking drugs and the all-powerful drugs are doing what they are doing.

In every context I can think of a more flattering word than user. A public transit user is a rider. A facebook user is a viewer or a poster, maybe even a member. If you are an advertiser then maybe they are a pair of eyeballs. A user of government services is a recipient. A user of a machine is an operator. But if a mouse is inside a maze then that mouse is a user -- the maze is utterly unaffected by the mouse and the mouse will only act inside the maze in the ways that the maze was designed for.

Neutral / positive

A user is the receipt of services from a machine/thing. Insofar as the receipt has the power to stop at any time, we assume the recipient is being served by the machine and they are receiving value and worthwhile experience.

Or if we are more dispassionate, there is a machine and a user. We don't really care much more than that. Basically a user is the one that sits on the chair in front of the machine. We might as well just call them a machine sitter.

Back in the 1950's before ubiquitous technology, which was the prominent connotation of the word?


texts:
Which one of these is correct and why? Is there a difference between American English and British English? Or spoken vs written English? To drop the "to" or not?

24-hour access to your Personal Account and the 24-hour Support Desk will help solve every possible online issue.

24-hour access to your Personal Account and the 24-hour Support Desk will help to solve every possible online issue.


texts:
The spelling for the adjective derived from the name Shaw is Shavian and not Shawian. Similarly you can find Arrow → Arrovian and Harrow → Harrovian. This strikes me as odd.

First of all, I accept that the adjective for /ʃɔː/ is pronounced /ʃɔːvɪən/, so this is not about the word, just the spelling. Now, I see two possible rationales:

Shavian is phonemically closer since v usually represents /v/ in English orthography and w represents /w/.
Shawian is etymologically closer, without being too distant phonemically since /v/ and /w/ are pretty close.

What strikes me about this is that English orthography usually champions etymology over phonemics, in particular when it comes to proper names. Thus, my question is: Has phonemics just won for once, or is there any other argument for spelling these adjectives with a v?


texts: looking for the exact expression "There is no wind you can't blow"

texts:
I am looking from an english phrase, I heard it several times already, but probably did'nt catch it. I understood it like a way to make fun of someone who is proud of a ridiculous achievement (e.g. a small kid). It would be like "there is no weed/wind you can't blow".
I can't find it anywhere.


texts:
What is the opposite of ad hominem. I mean when something is given more credence than it deserves because of who's saying it.
"Appeal to authority" comes to mind but is not exactly what I am looking for.

Edit: Appeal to authority is not what I am looking for because the person making the statement is not the "authority" on the subject, for example Einstein  making a statement about optimal seating arrangement in his office.


texts: Why is it okay for word initial /ɪ/ to sometimes be voiced as a /ə/ but not always?

texts:
For example  what is the rule that says that,
 "Enough" (ɪˈnʌf) can be pronounced as /ənʌf/
But for "Introduce" (ɪntrəˈdjuːs) the /ɪ/ can't be pronounced as a /ə/?


texts:
I was wondering, how should I refer to the plural of an email body?

Obviously what pops to mind is bodies.

However as it's an HTML email that I'm describing, the body is actually the content of a <body></body> markup element (and it's being written in a moderately technical context), so something more like "body"s feels more technically correct.

Is there a standard way to describe these?


texts: Term for an argument that is only valid because of another view that the person you're arguing against holds, that you disagree with

texts:
Couldn't think of a better title.

But this is is the gist: an argument that is only valid because of another view that the person you're arguing against holds, that you disagree with.

You said cats are no. I say dogs are no. But don’t even try and tell me cats are yes because you already said cats are no.


texts:
I would need a verb (or a phrase) that describes what a plough does to the earth (literally) and can apply to the earth of our heart in a metaphorical way. This is a positive connotation that may involve pain, but leads to a good result. The context could be something like:

Hardship and afflictions ____ the earth of our heart(, plough it), uproot all the weeds so that we may be delivered of every regret, so that we may be able to look forward.

What word would you suggest after "afflictions"? Whatever the plough does to the earth reveals things that were concealed underneath. This is the meaning the author is trying to convey.
I would be grateful for any suggestion, even if it only partially covers all the connotations that I have given.


texts: What is "and" in "I got A,B,.... and Z"?

texts:
Is there a name for "and" used in  "A,B,... and Z," e.g.

  "I got an apple, orange, watermelon,...  and a Boeing 747"

is there a name for final "," transmogrifying gloriously into an "and" miracle?


texts: I take great pride or I take a great pride

texts:
Which one sounds better grammatically?

I take a great pride in my family.
I take great pride in my family.

I know that pride sometimes can be a count/noncount noun. But I am not sure about the case above.


texts: Difference between "instantly" and "instantaneously"

texts: Is there a case in which "instantaneously" can be used in which "instantly" cannot? If not, why does the former exist? If so, what are the circumstances dictating that usage?


texts: Expressions of time: "...by the time" vs "...the moment"

texts:
I phoned her_____ I heard the news.

  minute
  during
  by the time
  the moment

I know that correct answer is "the moment"; yet I don't comprehend why it is right answer. Can we substitute "by the time" in the place of "the moment"?


texts: I was informed earlier today that the word ago is actually a postposition and the only one  of its kind in English. Is this correct? If so, why do dictionaries not use this classification and prefer to label it an adverb instead?


texts: Is using a colon before a table of values correct?

texts:
Is it correct to use a colon before a table? For example:

  The required configuration is provided in the table below:


texts:
Example: “Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves.” – Henry David Thoreau

Can someone explain the structure of the aforementioned sentence?
Can someone name this type of sentence??


texts:
This question just popped into my head yesterday. I guess it might be too basic (or too impossible) for EL&U; but I thought I'd give it a shot.
How come these two words managed to evolve to different spellings? Surely in the days when the grammar nazis ruled the earth with their gimlet eyes and blood-red pens, they should have caught this?
From etymonline.com:

deign - c.1300, from O.Fr. deignier (Mod.Fr. daigner), from L. dignari "to deem worthy or fit" (cf. It. degnare, Sp. deñar), from dignus "worthy" (see dignity).
disdain (v.) late 14c., from O.Fr. desdeignier "disdain, scorn, refuse, repudiate," from des- "do the opposite of" (see dis-) + deignier "treat as worthy" (see deign).


texts:
1.He has been watching TV.

What does this sentence mean?

Does it mean that the person started watching TV sometime before and still watching it or the person started watching TV sometime before and has stopped watching it?
does it mean something else rather than my options?


texts:
I was wondering if the phrase "in the organization of" might possibly be understood with the meaning "organized by". The phrase is a literal translation of the phrase we use in my mother tongue, so I was wondering how far it was from being a natural collocation in English. For example:

  The event was held in the organization of the company I previously worked for.

where "in the organization" part would be interpreted as "..was organized by the company.."


texts: Why do two adverbs follow come in the phrase, come on in? I know come in, come on, go away, but when I hear "Come on in" in American movies, I can't figure out its grammatical structure.


texts:
Don't make an issue of inconsequential things.
Don't make an issue out of inconsequential things.

Which of them is right and why?


texts: Pronunciation of "-" sign, particularly in Unix commands

texts:
While talking about commands for command-line interface, I sometimes need to pronounce how command should be typed, like this one:

nc -l -p 1234

I used to pronounce - sign in this context as a "hyphen", or "dash", or probably "minus". But recently I got the video in which woman pronounces it like "tak" (starting from 3:00). I tried to explore the dictionary for words like "tack", "tuck", etc, but still can't find anything what would mean the - sign.

So, what is this word? And, what variants of pronunciation would be actually correct in this context?


texts: What should be the proper term when someone wants to "give back" to the community

texts:
I recently asked this question on Programmers.SE:

  Ways to use your skills as a developer
  to give back to the
  community/charities.

You hear a lot about "giving back", but is it really what should be used?  I got the following comment on my question that spurred some thoughts:

  Hate the term "give back". To "give back" means that you took something in the start. "Donation", "Endowment", "Charity" are much better descriptors.

Is "giving back" correct when:

I was originally given the same thing? (they gave me a can of food, and I give back the can of food later on in life)
I was originally given something different? (they give me a can of food, I build them a website later in life)
I was never given anything? (they give me nothing, I build them a website)


texts: What does “Lose the whiny entitled air” mean after the sentence “Say, ‘could you warm the soup up,’ Not, ‘How dare you serve me cold soup!’”?

texts:
There was the following sentence in New York Times’ (May 3rd) article titled, “Complaining is hard to avoid, but try to do it with a purpose,” http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/04/your-money/the-satisfaction-and-annoyance-of-complaining.html?_r=0
And I stumbled on the ending phrase “Lose the whiny entitled air.”

  “Instead of using a complaint as a conversation opener, he (Will
  Bowen, an ordained minister who has written the book “A Complaint Free
  World”) suggested, “talk to them about something good or positive.”

  He is not arguing that you can’t note when something is wrong. He says
  you should just do it directly in a neutral manner to the person
  responsible, not to everyone around you and not with a voice of
  outrage.

  “Say, ‘The soup is cold, and could you warm it up,’ ” said Mr. Bowen,
  “Not, ‘how dare you serve me cold soup!’ ” Lose the whiny entitled
  air.

As I wasn't able to understand what “Lose the whiny entitled air" means, and its connection with the preceding line, I first looked for the idiom “lose the air” in both Cambridge and Oxford online dictionaries in vain.

Questions:

Is “Lose the whiny entitled air,” here an imperative form? Can we order someone to “lose the air”?
If this is not an imperative form, what is the subject of this phrase?
How is “Lose the whiny entitled air” connected with the preceding sentence, “Say, ‘the soup is cold, and could you warm it up,’ ”? To me it doesn’t flow smoothly.
In essence, what does “Lose the whiny entitled air” mean?


texts: "Have X, will travel" - what kind of grammar is this

texts:
The meaning of the expression "Have X, will travel" is explained quite well here. However, I was wondering how to analyse this expression grammatically. It's certainly an abbreviated form, and a few ideas come to my mind, but I'm not sure which one, if any, is correct:

Not grammatically correct - since it's a tongue-in-cheek expression it might not be strictly correct
[I] have X, [and] will travel [if it gets me a job involving X]
[I] have X, [and I am] will[ing] to travel [if it gets me a job involving X]

Bonus question: do expressions following a similar template get used in real life or is this just a literary construct?


texts: What is an overall term for a service that publishes digital publications?

texts:
I'm looking at what I am calling Digital Edition Solution Providers (ways of taking a PDF of a magazine and turning it into a website, and content for sale on Apple Newsstand, Android, KindleFire etc.), and trying to compare them.

But the term "Digital Edition Solution Provider" is one I came up with on my own because I didn't know what these things were called in general.

Any idea what these are called generally?


texts: Pejorative terms for children or teenagers using the Internet

texts:
In Poland we have got many names for young children or teenagers using the Internet. For example we could see on the Internet that many have mangled the mother tongue and have been writing like this:

  I’m CoOl, dON’t yOu ThInK :* swEEt

The point is that they mix capitalized and normal letters. We call these people pokémons.
I can see that this way of typing is also spread around the world so what do you call such people?

Second issue. Spotty teenagers flooding the web, asking over and over what had been answered, disregarding net etiquette. Someone forged the term of ‘neo child’. neo stem from the name of the product — Neostrada — a broadband Internet from the largest Internet provider in Poland: Telekomunikacja. Neostrada was and probably has been the most popular way to connect to the Internet so in some period of time we experienced such neo children.

Please watch this YouTube video to better understand what I mean:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6DZOq2hulk
(hope you like it :D)

So, do you have a name for such stupid behaviours? Ah, what is more interesting is that not only children can be called ‘neo’. Adults can too if only their behaviour is similar.


texts:
I know several questions were asked about the difference between "going to" and "will".
Based on several answers (see, for instance, here, here and here), I understood that "will" is more spontaneous and "going to" is used with more planned actions.

So, it seems that everything is pretty fine. However, in this question, Kosmonaut has an answer in which he states:
"Let's say that tomorrow you will walk your dog from 7 - 8 AM".

On the one hand, you probably planned to walk your dog long before and thus I should use "Let's say that tomorrow you're going to walk your dog from 7 - 8 am".

On the other hand, since I'm saying "let's say...", I'm deciding right now (thus, unplanned) that you will walk your dog. So, even though in this hypothetical situation you made a plan, I'm in a more spontaneous mood deciding right now that that's what you will do tomorrow, and, thus, I should use "will".

Which one (if any) of the above explanations is right?


texts: "Knowledgeable" needs an "about" in the end?

texts:
In the sentence:

  "There was nothing he wasn't knowledgeable, which made him a great hire."

Do you need to add an "about" in the end?

  "There was nothing he wasn't knowledgeable about, which made him a great hire."

In which situations do you add a preposition?


texts: "That's all your guesses used up" is correct?

texts:
I saw this in a TV programme:
"And that's all your guesses used up"

I get the meaning but I'm not sure if it is "that's" instead of "those're".

Maybe it stands for "that has", but I am not sure about that.

Can you help me? This is getting me crazy.


texts:
One of the sections in the technical manual I am working on describes the maximum length of filenames and paths. According to the document, the maximum length of filenames is 31 character and the maximum length of paths is 255 characters.
I am trying to decide which heading would be the best.

The maximum filename and path length - It is very easy to mistakenly assume that there is only a single one maximum length for both filenames and paths.

The maximum filename and path lengths - It is possible to mistakenly assume that there are multiple maximum lengths for filenames and multiple maximum length for paths.

The maximum length of filenames and the maximum length of paths - Clear but cumbersome.


texts: "Never tell a lie." In this sentence, lie is listed as an abstract noun instead of a common noun. Why?

texts: In Wren & Martin's solutions, the above sentence has lie as an abstract noun. However, I think it should be a common noun. Can there ever by abstract nouns which are also common nouns? I know abstract nouns can be taken from common nouns, for example, how slave turns into slavery and child into childhood.


texts: In a scientific article, should I write "3m", "3 m", "3 meters", or "3 [meters]"?


texts:
Is there a pejorative synonym for tradition?

For example:

  The execution of "witches" during the Salem witch trials is now generally known as a ______.


texts:
I'm writing a paper about the practice of programming by scientists and engineers, but I find it increasingly tedious to always refer to my subject as "scientists and engineers".

Is there a single word that can refer to these two groups? I was thinking of "techies" but that would not do in a formal publication. Perhaps "technologists"?


texts: Confused while reading Stephen King's Pet Sematary: "It just went feet up one day"

texts:
But if it’s all the time crossing back and forth, its luck will run out, and it’ll end up there with the Ryder kids’ coon and little Timmy Dessler’s cocker spaniel and Missus Bradleigh’s parakeet. Not that the parakeet got run over in the road, you understand. It just went feet up one day.

Really confused what did he mean? His feet were blowed?


texts: Which one is more correct in this case? He or They?

texts:
What is more correct?
"A chef who's not an expert should never cook pufferfish, ______"
1.for he may be deadly poisoned if he does.
or
2.for they will be surely poisoned if they do.
I know that both "he" and "they" can be used when you don't know the gender of a person. But, if you have to choose between the two of these choices, which one will you choose?
I think #2 is more appropriate but "be surely poisoned" sounds weird to me. Like, the grammar sounds so weird
Which choice is more correct? Thanks in advance!


texts: Difference between "spruce" and "fir" when used in "Christmas tree" context

texts:
What is the difference between the words "spruce" and "fir" (or even "fir tree")?

Could they be used interchangeably, for example, when referring to a kind of evergreen trees people decorate on Christmas and New Year holidays?

EDIT (more details about the roots of question):
I've had a conversation with my North American friend about species of trees that are symbols of the holidays in different cultures and was confused about discovering that in some dictionaries both "spruce" and "fir" could be translated similarly into Russian.

Thanks to @TimRomano and @deadrat, I see now that those are clearly distinguished species from the botany point of view. Therefore, let me narrow the question down a little.

When you want to say "Christmas tree", but more specifically in terms of a kind of the tree, could you say, for instance:

  Christmas fir (spruce) is the symbol of Christmas in this country.

Or it sounds unnatural as the phrase and better to say something like:

  They use fir trees as Christmas trees in their country.


texts:
A man, a woman and a dog were in the park.

or

  A man, a woman and a dog was in the park.

...and what's the rule please?

Also, is there a difference if we write

  A man, woman and dog were in the park.

?


texts: Another term for "controlled like a puppet"?

texts:
What's another word or phrase for "being controlled like a puppet".

eg., "to be manipulated by a more powerful force" . . . what the puppet is enduring?


texts:
How to punctuate and make concise a sentence that contains a list and then describes each item in the list?
One possible structure of the sentence I would like to punctuate is:

I do not have any formal experience in research aside from papers in XXX, YYY, and ZZZ [?][?] in XXX I explored xxx [?] in YYY I researched yyy [?] and in ZZZ I wrote about zzz.

I was thinking about putting a colon for the first blank and semicolons for the rest, but I think this repeats words unnecessarily.


texts:
I remember once hearing a theory--first promoted, I believe, by Freud--that words develop to mean their opposite, and that eventually the new, antithetical definition takes primacy.

Cleave is a mid-process example, as cleave currently means both to join and to separate.

Fast is another example, as it comes from feast.

I don't really care so much about the authenticity of these etymologies but would like to know the history and name of this theory. Was it Freud? Where can I read more about it?

This is related to auto-antonyms, and I have read the wiki article there. That does not address the theory that a word develops its own antonym.


texts: I need to draw a structure tree model for " My mother was looking at the baby on the horse with one eye".


texts:
I have been wondering about the rising pitch used in almost every sentence, by especially young Americans.

What is the purpose/intention of
rising pitch except in questions?
Is it friendly and polite, or condescending?
Is it proper to be used in
presentation and teaching and other
professional occasions?

For example: In this video, starting around 0:40, when Amy Chua introduced herself.


texts: A word for extreme feeling sorry for someone?

texts:
I'm looking for a word that describes making a passionate expression of how sorry you feel for someone.
A bit like "sanctimonious" means making a big show of how moral you are.
Or "outrage" is a passionate display of anger or disapproval.
I'm looking for similar to express compassion or pity in an exaggerated or passionate way.
For example:
"as a display of his [extreme compassion] Bob wept when discussing the plight of the victims"


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Do I travel “up” or “down” to London from north of the city?

Except where there is obvious difference in elevation e.g. on a sloping road, how do native speakers decide whether to use up or down in phrases like up the road when referring to a location along the same road?


texts:
What does which we have mean here?

  In the end, will you be looking over your shoulder for the rest of your life wondering if your time is up? The short answer is yes. The long answer is definitely yes. The truth is, there’s a bull’s-eye on your back, and committing to this new life is your best shot at staying alive. And while you may never be able to remove that bull’s-eye, you can certainly cover it up with a Buzz Lightyear spacesuit and jetpack. Which we totally have.


texts: A question about the sentence "And boy, have we patented it."

texts:
In 2007, Steve Jobs announced the first iPhone. During the presentation, he introduced a feature called Multi-touch; he said,

  "And boy, have we patented it!"

What I am wondering about is the reason why the subject "we", and the auxiliary "have" are inverted here. It doesn't seem to be an interrogative sentence to me, or is it a rhetorical question, by any chance? I have no idea of it. I would really appreciate it if you answer my question.


texts: Why is "has come from" used in this sentence rather than "comes from"?

texts:
In the sentence:

  "Pinewood is wood that has come from a pine tree"

Why is the phrase "has come from" used rather than "comes from"?

Are the two phrases grammatically different? Do they have different meanings?

The sentence comes from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary.

Another example of this usage which I have found, and confuses me is:

  "Much of the opposition to this plan has come from the media."


texts: "What are Liam and Noel's jobs?" versus "What are Liam's and Noel's jobs?"

texts:
This question is about use of the group genitive versus joint possessives in a phrase and/or list.

  Where two or more distinct persons, animals, etc., are in the genitive, the group genitive applies only when there is joint possession, responsibility, relationship, as in 'William and Mary's reign' and 'Jack, Tom, and Mary's uncle.' If two separate possessions or other relationships are concerned, each noun must clearly be shown in the genitive.

(Eric Partridge, You Have a Point There, Routledge, 1978)

In this case there is the example of a grammar question on a Jetstream (ESL) test.  There are two possible questions, A: "What are Liam's and Noel's jobs?"  versus B: "What are Liam and Noel's jobs?"   (Answer: They're singers.)

Jetstream claims that 'B' is the correct question, i.e. group genitive.
Why would 'A' NOT be correct given that 'jobs' is plural and Liam and Noel each have their own respective jobs?  Is this because 'singers' here acts as a type of job and they both share the same type of job?   Or could Jetstream be wrong on this one?  Or is it an ambiguous case?

Absent the answer, one might not presume when asking the question that both Liam and Noel have the same type of job, so could it still be correct to use the joint possessive form?

The test simply had the following list without possessive forms and the student had to supply the apostrophes and s's where appropriate. The italicized answer in parenthesis was the only correction the system made and it specifically indicated that "What are Liam's and Noel's jobs?" was incorrect.

  Is this your umbrella? –  No, it isn't. It's my friend's umbrella.

  Are these your keys? –  No, they aren't. They're Peter's.

  What are Liam's and Noel's jobs? (What are Liam and Noel's jobs?) –
  They're singers.

  Is your husband's name Sam? –  Yes, it is.

  What are your daughters' names? –  Their names are Tracy and Lily.

  Is this the teacher's computer? –  Yes, it is.

  That's a nice phone! –  Yes. It's Colin's. It's the new Samsung.

  When is your parents' anniversary? –  It's on November 17th.


texts: Passive voice in (object) relative clause with infinitive sub-clause: "...that you would like to be mentioned."

texts:
I was writing this sentence and then it occurred to me that it probably isn't right and might be a case of a dangling modifier:

Is there any topic [that] you would like (to?) be mentioned here?

With or without the to, this sentence doesn't sound correct... or is it?
Obviously (I hope!) the intended meaning, phrased as a statement instead of a question, is: I would like the following topic to be mentioned here:...

I'll be rephrasing the sentence, so this is more of an academic question concerning the boundaries of relative clause enthusiasm than a request for help expressing what I mean here.


texts: Is there a word for making something or someone confess?

texts: I am seeking after a single word for describing "make something or someone confess". Apart from a single word, welcomed are also idioms.


texts:
My son was just describing something as being germaic and I corrected him to say germanic, at which point he pulled up germaic on the internet.

Is there any reason to use germaic instead of germanic?


texts: Is it correct to end the following sentence with a question mark? I am asking a question about end punctuation. "I wonder how old he is?"


texts: What does the word "as-yet-unknown" mean?

texts:
What does the word as-yet-unknown mean in the following sentence?

Andrews, 31, plans to sue the as-yet-unknown person who shot the
footage -- and anyone publishing the material.


texts: "He loves baseball like his father does" OR "He loves baseball like his father"?

texts:
When I was learning English (non-native speaker here), I was taught that there is concept called "parallelism" in English grammar, which in my own understanding means that if I want to combine two or more ideas into a sentence, the ideas need to have similar forms and structures.

Therefore, the following sentences conform to the parallelism:

  He loves baseball like his father does.
  He can play baseball like his father can.
  He plays baseball as good as his father does.

However, as I grow up, I keep encountering spoken and written sentences that omit the final verbs:

  He loves baseball like his father.
  He can play baseball like his father.
  He plays baseball as good as his father.

Now, the latter forms sound as naturally fine to me, to the point that the first of the following sentences sounds better to me than the second one:

  He is a good baseball player like his father.
  He is a good baseball player like his father is/was.

Is it alright to omit the final verbs from the "X like Y" and "X as [adjective] as Y" sentences?


texts: What is the name for this "..." punctuation?

texts:
When I am writing, and I want to leave something out, so that it gives an implied effect, I use this: ...

What is it called?


texts: Indian English: What usage is allowed for "doubt" (meaning "question")?

texts:
I have a doubt about having a doubt. I learned from this question that in Indian English the word doubt is used to mean question, that is, as a countable noun. If my understanding is correct, the following is grammatical in InE:

  I have two doubts about SQL. 1. Can I type in lower-case? 2. Does null equal null?

I’m curious about what other usages this has. Can you ask a doubt?

  ? I captured a spy and asked him many doubts.

Is it a verb?

  ? I captured a spy and doubted him for hours.

Are there other uses that are possible or things you’d think should be possible but in fact are not possible?


texts:
I couldn't gush over him enough
  I can't gush over him enough

Which one is correct and why?


texts: I want to say Stories of goodwill or stories about goodwill, which is real and interesting. Need a strong word which sound good to ears


texts: Adjective to suggest X's being either an "additive" or "multiplicative" function of A and B?

texts:
In a non-math context (i.e., where readers would not be expected to know the formal definitions of very advanced mathematical terminology) I am trying to express the relationship between three concepts in a precise way. Here's what I want the reader to know.

X is some function of A & B
X is never less than either A or B, individually
Knowing the precise functional form or relationship is otherwise unimportant.

In fact, the last bullet could be even stronger: it's important not to assume anything else about the relationship. The key thing is that X is at least the greater of A or B. It's never less. It may be A + B. It may be A + only part of B. It may be A * B. It may be A * only part of B. We don't know. So I'm looking for a term that basically means the whole is not less than its parts.

Simply expressing this by saying "X is a multiplicative function of A & B" would impose too many assumptions on functional form, even if by some analysis it's mathematically correct. Writing "X is a multiplicative or additive function of A & B" is better but is cumbersome, still places untoward emphasis on the actual form, and introduces even more technical terminology. In researching this, I have discovered that "arithmetic function" may(?) cover both additive and multiplicative cases but I don't know that it explicitly excludes the possibility that X being less than A or B. Even if so, it is almost certainly too specialized a term.

In any event, the sentence that I'm hung up on currently reads like this: "The total amount of i in X is always some ______ function of the i in A and the i in B."

My questions, then, are: 1) is there an adjective or adjectival phrase that can fill that gap for my purposes; 2) if you think "arithmetic" works, do people actually use and understand it in the way I'd being using it, and; 3) if you don't think it's possible to express this relationship in the form I'm currently imposing, how might you succinctly do so otherwise?


texts:
I just listened to this news: http://one.npr.org/i/592647800:592647801

(Please listen at 00:10)

And I am not sure whether she is saying “South Korean officials who broke a deal” or “who brought a deal” at 00:10.
I think she said “broke a deal”, but I don’t understand what deal the Korean official broke.
Could you please help me?
Thank you so much.


texts: I want to use the word staticness but can't find it on a dictionary. I've seen it though been used in my google search.


texts: idiom for warning someone who has entered a place without permission or invitation?

texts:
Suppose that you are in your room. suddenly someone enters your room without permission. Is there a term or idiom which means "It is wrong
 to enter a place without permission and invitation" ? (You want to blame him/her for entering the place without permission and invitation)

We use this in our mother tongue: Here is not a stable so that you cannot enter here without permission.


texts: What is the origin of the phrase "This is why we can't have nice things"?

texts:
The phrase "This is why we can't have nice things" shows up in TV, films, and memes. I asked Google where it came from and got some specific examples that are too recent, like Jane Austen's Mafia! (1998 film) or an early Simpsons episode. But others said that their parents or grandparents had used the phrase at least as long ago as the 1950s.

How far back can we trace the phrase? And what are some of the more iconic examples that have perpetuated it in common usage?


texts: Can someone respond to a question by just saying "I´ll" instead of "I will"? Why or why not?

texts: My friend keeps on responding to questions by just saying "I´ll". This doesn´t seem grammatically correct to me. However I would like to know what would be the proper use of that contraction.


texts: What's a phrase for when: to do A, you first need to B, but to do B you first need to do C, etc?

texts:
Say you need to change a light bulb, but to do that you need to get a ladder, but to get the ladder you need to get into the tool shed, but to get into the tool shed you need to find the key, etc. This kind of quest where you are being presented a new task at each step before you can even start the previous one. I feel sure there's a phrase that represents this but I can't remember it.

Edit:
I think I'm thinking of a story where an adventurer is seeking an object A, so they ask person 1, who is willing to give it but only if they receive object B. So the adventurer goes to person 2, who will only give up object B for object C, etc.


texts:
It seems to me that both 'weight' and 'weigh'  can be used  metaphorically.
en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/weight

I think it's important to recognize the cost of war and to weight that cost against our raison d'être.’
Thus, two countries with vastly different populations, like Ghana and China, for example, are weighted equally.

sentence.yourdictionary.com/weigh

Common bowling alleys are privy moths that eat up the credit of many idle citizens; whose gains at home are not able to weigh down their losses abroad; whose shops are so far from maintaining their play, that their wives and children cry out for bread, and go to bed supperless often in the year.
to weigh one thing against another, a term applied in English law to a number of different forms of legal reparation;

What is the difference?


texts: What is the word for "something that needs prompt attention and resolved quickly"

texts: We usually encounter some cases at workplace "something that needs prompt attention and resolved quickly" ,is there a professional word we can use for this casE?


texts: What is a proper response to a joke about visiting dentist at 2:30/tooth hurty?

texts:
I advised my client that I would be unavailable on a particular day because I have an appointment with the dentist to remove a tooth. The client responded

  What time is the appointment? 2:30?

The second before I wrote correct time of my appointment, I realized, that this might be a joke :)

How should I respond, if I want to be funny? Is there another "language joke" I can use in the reply?