texts:
You say 'I like to do something' or 'I like doing something' to refer to something in general, as in "I like to watch movies." or "I like watching movies." Can you use like in more specific situations showing some kind of intention as in "I like to watch the/this movie."

Does the sentence "She doesn't like to admit she's wrong." refer to a general or a specific situation? Is it that she generally doesn't like to admit she's wrong, or that in a specific time and place she is refuring to accept she's wrong?


texts: Usage of "Sufferer" in Diseases and Disorders

texts:
So I've recently seen a few people use the word "sufferer" to describe themselves having a certain mental disorder. I know that a person thinking that they are suffering a certain disorder may be quite subjective, but their usage is still questionable.

The best exhibit I have for this question is somebody calling themself a "sufferer" of the mental disorder "misophonia". To save you a Google search, basically it means that you become pretty annoyed or even enraged at noises like people chewing ice, people chewing food loudly in general, and et cetera. I too have this disorder (if you can call it that) and I did not relate to the word "sufferer" at all, so I disagreed with the usage (not verbally; I didn't want to start an argument).

To elaborate even more, I will include another example. I have seen people call themselves a "sufferer" of a disorder called "visual snow". Basically, this disorder causes static to cover one's vision in a way almost relatable to TV static (not really). It's very hard to explain and it is rare, but I suggest you Google it because it is interesting. Once again, I too have this disorder and have had it for my entire life. Seeing people describe their experience as "suffering" almost baffle me. I only notice my static if I am in a situation that has solid color (like pitch black or looking at a whiteboard) or if I purposefully pay attention to the static. It never obtrudes life in any way and many who tolerate this disorder will agree that it is not obtrusive.

With all of this I do not understand why one would say they are suffering from a disorder that does not inflict physical, mental, and/or social harm. Each side of health is arguable, as neither of these technically cause harm on either end (referring to a commenter, you becoming enraged and punching a wall is not direct pain from the disorder "misophonia).

So my main question is, after seeing that Google defines the "dated" usage of the word as a "tolerator", would the word "sufferer" be acceptable in cases in which one does not necessarily "suffer" anything? I'll apologize that this question is really subjective and may not have any answer, but really I am just trying to get a consensus. Thank you in advance!


texts: Why does the ending -ough have six pronunciations?

texts:
There are cough, tough, bough, through, and though (and "hiccough", if you're not from the U.S.); each of which has a different pronunciation for the ending "-ough".  Why is this?

Edit for clarification: I'm trying to figure out why cough is spelled with an "-ough", if it's pronounced with an "-off".  And then tough, pronounced "tuff".  Why is that not spelled "tuff"?  Bough, through, and though should be spelled "bow", "thrue" (or "thru"), and "thoe".  Where did "-ough" come from?  And then hiccough.  Since that derives from cough, it should be pronounced "hickoff", but it isn't.


texts:
In my language, there is an adjective that is ascribed to men and women who want to have many different sexual partners. In other words, they seek to have a great degree of variety in terms of their sex partners. This adjective literally translates to "variety seeking".

Example: She is a variety seeking woman. She has slept with many different men.

Is there a word, adjective, expression or anything in English with the same meaning?

I already know polygamous. But it's a bit scientific!

And what is the opposite? A person who only wants to have one sexual partner?


texts: What is an idiom for "a supervening act that renders a course of action unnecessary"?

texts:
What is an idiom (or a proverb) used in situations where a person calls upon another person to carry out an order (mostly of a non-official or non-enforcing type), which the second person tries to stall carrying out (could be any reason but usually it's sloth), until someone, or something (usually in the nature of an act of nature), supervenes and deflects the onus of carrying out the order from the second person —that is, the second person, much to his or her delight, is naturally exempted from carrying out the order?
The expression (idiom) I am looking for is uttered by the first person in the question, often sarcastically or humorously, to remark on the fortuitous (for the second person) turn of events coming to the "aid" of the second person. The sought expression might carry an undertone of mild disapproval as well.


texts: What do you call the stores on the front of a building?

texts: What do you call the stores on the front of a building(department stores or apartment) (on ground floor usually) that face the roads with its own entrance?


texts:
However, we haven't gone through the details of OO language in PHP.

A friend of mine, who is a native English speaker, says that this sentence sounds okay to him - you don't need an article. Nevertheless you do say THE English language or THE Spanish language in English. Why is it not the case here?


texts: What is the different between remain and retain?

texts:
I have a sentence: "In this study, we basically retained the functions of these core software components intact during the development phase. "
Can we use remain instead of retain in this sentence?

When I checked the usage of remain in a dictionary, it said

  You can say that something remains when it still exists.

E.g.
1.Many of the differences in everyday life remain.
2.The wider problem remains.
3. There remains deep mistrust of his government.

So I want to say the functions of these software still exist in the development phase. They are not removed. How can't I use remain?

Thanks!


texts:
What is the difference between the following two sentences?

  She goes to the forest three times per week.

  She goes to the forest three times a week.


texts:
Is the meaning of "only that" similar to "unless"?

For example:

  This does not mean that it is freely chosen, in the sense of the autonomous individual, only that there is popular agency in the hegemonic valuations of marketplace society, unlike in customary and command societies.


texts: “a rabbit’s foot” vs. “the rabbit’s foot”

texts:
I’m confused about the use of the indefinite article a in the following passage:

  My lucky charm is a rabbit’s foot that I received as a gift on my birthday. I don't really know if it has ever brought me good luck, but I always carry it in my pocket.... People have believed that carrying a rabbit’s foot will protect them.

We know that to represent all members of a class or group of people, things, etc. a plural count noun or a singular noun with a definite or an indefinite article may be used. So can I use the rabbit’s foot instead of a rabbit’s foot in the above passage?


texts: Correct form for Past Progressive(?) of Arrive using Have

texts:
I am a software engineer writing comments about the behavior of a certain section of code.  While doing this, I found myself wanting to express an idea that I couldn't figure out how word in a sensical manner.
The sentence in question is as follows, and concerns the use of Past Progressive arrive using has been:

This is an event that happens when a device is detected as having been arrived (e.g. plugged in)

I know the approach above is grammatically incorrect.  A few other attempts are:

[A]... is detected as having recently arrived ...

[B]... is detected as arrived ...

[C]... is detected that is in the "arrived" state ...

[A] is my favorite option so far but something about the wording still feels off, like it needs a been before arrived. [B] appears to grammatically incorrect, though it is more succinct. [C], while grammatically correct, seems unnecessarily verbose and "robotic".
Note:  Due to external requirements, the usage of the word "arrive" is necessary
What is the correct way to word that something is just recently present, using the word "arrived"?
Edit 1:  As an example, the syntax I am attempting to emulate is as follows:

This is an event that happens when a device is detected as having been removed (e.g. unplugged)

Edit 2:  Rewording the statement, rather than keeping the sentence structure in my example, is certainly acceptable.  The main requirement is the usage of arrive.
Edit 2.1: Correcting the "which" vs "that" grammar error present in the initial example and initial question as pointed out by @tinfoil hat


texts:
The word adult appear to have derived from the Latin term adultus, meaning grown up, mature, adult, ripe.

Adulterate (and its cognate adultery) is reported to derive from the Latin adulterare - to falsify, corrupt.

Are the meanings and derivation of adult and adulterate, directly related, or is this just a coincidence of spelling?


texts: What is the origin of the idiom "jig is up"?

texts: In the novel I'm reading there's the phrase "the gig is up," said to a villain who has just been caught.  The form with which I'm familiar is "the jig is up."   A gig as in a jazz performance?  A jig that's a form or template for making an object?   What is/are the origins of the phrase?


texts: Cannot understand some sentences from GK Chesterton

texts:
I read Chesterton and cannot understand the following places:

  Dr Boyne was a big dark Irishman, one of those rather baffling Irishmen to be found all over the world, who will talk scientific scepticism, materialism, and cynicism at length and at large, but who never dream of referring anything touching the ritual of religion to anything except the traditional religion of their native land. It would be hard to say whether their creed is a very superficial varnish or a very fundamental substratum; but most probably it is both, with a mass of materialism in between.

[Taken from THE DAGGER WITH WINGS]

and

  “Why, didn’t you notice,” answered Brown, “at that first meeting in the office, the lawyer played with a pen and not with a paper-knife; though he had a beautiful bright steel paper-knife in the pattern of a stiletto? The pens were dusty and splashed with ink; but the knife had just been cleaned. But he did not play with it. There are limits to the irony of assassins.”

[Taken from THE GREEN MAN]

I want to be explained the meaning of these quotes from Chesterton.

After translating the first quote to French and looking up in English-French dictionaries I thought that it means that if Dr Boyne has any respect for religions then it must be only the religion of his native land. While at the same time he has no respect for  other religions.

As for second quote, it is the last sentence from the long passage in which Father Brown explains how the murderer of the story made a slip and allowed himself to be caught. As I understand it, it may mean that murderers cannot consider all little details and that's why they get caught.

I want to know if I understand these quotes correctly!


texts: How to say "I'm sorry" to express sympathy for misfortune without inviting "It's not your fault"

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Does apologizing entail recognizing being at fault?

Often, in conversation, something like this will happen:

  A: I didn't sleep well last night; My dog ran away; or A family member passed away last night.
      B: I'm sorry.
      A: Why are you sorry? It isn't your fault.

How do you succinctly and conversationally express that you feel sympathetic for the other person's misfortune without inviting the response (or a variation thereof) "It's not your fault"?

The closest I have to that are "My condolences" or "You have my sympathy," but those phrases don't feel particularly conversational.


texts: "30 day span", "30-day span", or "30 days span"

texts: As in, "for each 30-day span, a late fee will be charged." I think the hyphenated version looks best, but is there some sort of authoritative word on that in a style guide?


texts: The meaning of a quote from The Great Gatsby

texts:
There is that sentence at the beginning of The Great Gatsby that I find difficult to understand:

  He didn't say any more, but we've always been unusually communicative in a reserved way...

My first question is about "any more". Is it simply a printing mistake? Or does it have a different use than "anymore"?

My second one is about the sentence in itself. I don't understand what the author means. By "unusually communicative in a reserved way", does the author mean that the narrator rarely talks with his father and when they do, they do it in a reserved way? Or does he just describe their communication in a reserved way as unusual because they're father and son?

Thank you in advance.


texts: What is the difference between didn’t get to sleep and “toss and turn”?

texts:
I saw this saying in a conversation book:

  I didn’t get to sleep for two or three hours. Then after that I tossed and turned all night.

And I’ve consulted Merriam Webster dictionary.

Doesn’t “toss and turn” mean not able to sleep?


texts: Short exclamation to mean: "This is driving me crazy."

texts:
(Edit: Any American English (or dialectically non-specific) alternative for "bloody hell!" Or "blimey!"?)

I'm looking for a short exclamation that implies that the character has been "driven up the wall." It has to be short (preferably one word) because the protagonist, a chimp, mimics this oft used expression of his keeper; and should be a "word" instead of a "sound" because it is the first human word uttered by the protagonist (the chimp).

I don't really have much choice with the phrasing since it's a text I'm translating (from Korean). The writer is going for a rather poignantly funny effect. The word the keeper uses (really short expression in Korean (that means "this drives me nuts") is widely used by people and is not an expletive. The humor lies in that the very first word the chimp happens to speak is this rather pithy but expressive word.

The context is as follows:

  You might think I am being too sensitive to what is merely a fictional account. I do not deny it. The chimpanzee Eugene is a being of my dreams after all. He is my dream in the literal sense of the word. Compared with his splendid, sublime soul, mine is but insignificant and pathetic. It was that way right from the first human word I uttered: “Nuts!” A word the keeper in charge of me would spit out at the drop of a hat. The keeper's eyes popped as he stared at me. Disbelief was clearly written on his face. I held his stare in silence, with my chin raised and the corners of my lips curled up in a faint smile. The keeper, who was boring into me with his eyes, turned ashen; it had sunk in. I had not simply mimicked his voice. Yes, I fully grasped the significance of the word I had uttered. This took place five years after I was captured by humans who shot me with a tranquilizer gun. I can picture that day in my mind’s eye like a dreamscape. It took only minutes for me to lose consciousness after the dart hit me, but it felt like a lifetime.

Two words I could think of were "Jesus!" and "Nuts!". I have ruled out "Jesus!" because of the religious connotations that I want to avoid. "Nuts!" also could be problematic because of the sexual connotation of the word. Any ideas?


texts: Should the asterisk of a postscript correspond in size to the first asterisk, or be the same font size as the postscript's lettering?

texts: The former makes sense in terms of its intent--which is to take off where it leaves off, the reason why an asterisk is used on both ends--but perhaps this is trumped by the importance of font size?


texts: Help reworking a sentence to make it less ambigious

texts:
Are there any rules governing what the "which" refers to in a sentence like this:

  Every five minutes, the Node.js application posts a JSON document to
  my CouchDB instance which looks like:

Above, the meaning of "which" was meant to refer to the "JSON document", but I feel that people might interpret it as referring to "CouchDB instance".

I would like to retain the active voice, but feel like rewording it is awkward:

  Every five minutes, the Node.js application posts a JSON document, that looks as follows, to my CouchDB instance:

UPDATE: What follows the colon is an example JSON document like:

 { foo: bar,
   key: 2
  }


texts: Is there any difference between how and that?

texts:
Is there any difference between "how" and "that" in the following sentences?

It’s a funny thing how most people that meditate don’t use the word
meditate.
It’s a funny thing that most people that meditate don’t use the word
meditate.


texts:
What is the correct word for a fixed list of choices?
Something that appears in a select box in a computer application or as titles around a knob on a device. Like, music genre list in iTunes or equalizer presets on a guitar combo.
These are lists that would be held in a single-column database table. I would like to have an encompassing word for all such tables.

Is it codebook? There is no encoding taking place.
dial? Too much resembling an actual piece of hardware.
lookup table may sound good, but there is no lookup. It is just a list of choices.

What word do software/database architects use to describe those? What is the label of a menu item in an administrative interface of an information system?


texts: Less formal equivalent of " like a gentleman "

texts:
There is " like a gentleman ", as in : " Act like a gentleman " / " You're a gentleman, act like one ".

Is there anything less formal ? " Like a dood " maybe ? or simply " behave " ?


texts: A single word for "stuck between a rock and a hard place"

texts:
expression "caught between a rock and a hard place" describes the meaning and origins. I'm looking for a single word that means the same thing.

The answer mentions the word "dilemma". This fits, but to me it would usually just suggest that there is a problem, rather than being in a situation where you need to choose between two bad options. I also found "quandary" and "predicament". I don't think these fit well, either.

Are there any words that work better?

Examples:

  This left me between a rock and a hard place.

  This left me in a dilemma/predicament/quandary.


texts: Word that implies membership to multiple organizations/associations

texts:
When an individual belongs to an organization, they can be said to be a member of that organization. From the organization's perspective, they may have 1 or more members who have joined their organization. So the word that means all the individuals who belong to them is simply members.

However, the individual may of course belong to many different organizations. I am looking for a word that correctly describes all the organizations an individual belongs to.

In other words:

Jane is a member of Org A, Org B and Org D
John is a member of Org B
Jack is a member of Org B and Org C

Given those memberships above:

Org A's member(s) are: Jane
Org B's member(s) are: Jane, John and Jack
Org C's member(s) are: Jack
Org D's member(s) are: Jane

I'm looking for the word that describes all the orgs that a particular individual is a member of, so:

Jane's ??? is: Org A, Org B and Org D
John's ??? is: Org B
Jack's ??? is: Org B and Org C

I'm looking for a single word that exists in both single and plural form (member/members, etc.), not something like "is a member of", etc. Thoughts?


texts:
I thought I knew the correct definition but now I was told I'm using it wrong. I was trying to describe a certain (rescue) dogs personality to someone and I said that he can be a bit feisty when playing and when getting him out of the kennel and at times will snap and try to bite. What I was meaning is that he can be a bit nervous and a little snippy sometimes and gets wound up a bit but isn't an all out vicious dog. Just some occasional aggression here and there. Otherwise is playful and happy. This person said I'm using the word wrong. That feisty means happy, excitable, mischievous playful, spirited. Like it's a positive, not a negative. I honestly thought it could be both depending on the context. Can it be both? Is one more correct than the other?

Have I been using the word wrong this whole time???


texts: Does "cottage industry" have a negative connotation?

texts: If I say that somebody's idea started a cottage industry of such-and-such, does it necessarily imply that I am criticizing them? Is the phrase itself demeaning?


texts: Where does alphabetical order come from?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Is there a reason behind the ordering of letters in the English alphabet?

Alphabetical order seems something obvious, we do not usually ask ourselves if it is the best possible one, why it is this way, and most of all what is its origin. As the title says, what is the historical origin of the alphabetical order?


texts: During a period of time "I get better" or "I'm getting" better?

texts:
As title, which one is more correct between:

It seems this month I'm getting better at something
It seems this month I get better at something

Or maybe both are grammatically correct, are just different in what they mean.?


texts: Why is the initial "ts" sound (e.g "tsunami") pronounced as "s"?

texts: Why is the word "tsunami" often pronounced as "sunami"? Can English speakers pronounce "ts"? Is it because the initial "ts" looks foreign?


texts: When you need to begin conversation with some one normally people begin the conversation with a greeting such as hello, good day/morning/evening, sup, what's going on and so on and so forth. All of wich are are considered greetings. But what do you call the words, phrases, or sentences used for say goodbye to someone. Such as well goodbye, see ya, catch you later and etc. Would they be called farewells or is there another word for them.


texts:
I often use dictionary.cambridge.org for checking the pronunciation and many times I found they used a dot between a consonant and a vowel (ex, limit "/ˈlɪm.ɪt/", or lemon /ˈlem.ən/).

Other dictionaries do not use a dot like that.

I think it means that that consonant is shared between its preceding and following vowel.

So, we have to pronounce "/ˈlɪm-mɪt/" and not "/ˈlɪ-mɪt/". That means we say "/ˈlɪm/" when the upper lip and lower lip touch to each other (1st half of M sound) & then the upper lip and lower lip will release to make "/mɪt/" (2nd half of M sound).

so, Why do they have a dot between a consonant and a vowel (ex "/ˈlɪm.ɪt/") in dictionary.cambridge.org?


texts: What is the right way to say "has recovered to within a threshold"?

texts:
Let's take the following sentence:

  X has recovered to within the maximum threshold of Y.

What's really the right way to say this?  Some ideas that come to mind are:

  to within the maximum threshold
  to the maximum threshold
  within the maximum threshold
  to be within the maximum threshold

But as a native speaker, something just honestly seems a little bit off about each of these, as if there's some sort of semantic disconnect.  If there's some sort of threshold - or limit - and if a certain measurement has gone past that limit somehow for a certain amount of time, then has come back within it, then what's really the right way to make the sentence above (or a similar one) work?

EDIT

I'm about to accept the currently posted answer, and I want to add a little bit of context.  When the measurements fall out of range in this particular scenario, things like this are logged:

  X has dropped below the minimum threshold of (an average of?) at least Y.
  Y has dropped below the minimum threshold of (an average of?) greater than Y.

And the equivalent for maximum thresholds.  If it falls back into range, it has to do so consistently for a certain amount of time without failure, then it'll yield logs like this:

  X has sustainably recovered to within the minimum threshold of (an average of?) at least Y.
  X has sustainably recovered to within the minimum threshold of (an average of?) greater than Y.

And the equivalent for maximum thresholds.

So now, with the accepted answer, in the recovery log lines, recovered to within the minimum/maximum threshold of would become recovered to be within the minimum/maximum range of, though this might get tweaked slightly later.


texts: Suppose I want to quote a text that begin with a word embedded within quotation marks. Let the text e.g. be: "House" is a four letter word. Should my quotation of it be ""House" is a four letter word.", or is it better to use different quotation marks or is there some better solution?


texts:
Can we say "admitted to the mistakes"?   I think it should be admitted the mistakes and admitted to the hospital.

The sentence that I am working on is

  it has not admitted to the mistakes in the monetary policy, nor it has sought to explain

Also I have some doubts regarding the usage of "has" after nor— the correct answer given says "has it"

Could someone explain the reasons for these usages.


texts: Why is the "-wise" suffix popular in computing only in the expression "bitwise"?

texts:
In computing, one particular use of the -wise suffix is very common: bitwise.

It seems that, as a suffix, -wise it is not currently used very often (I recall only clockwise and likewise in common parlance), not even for the very closely related term bytewise.

Merriam-Webster claims the first known usage for bitwise is from 1896, and that it would be related to horse bits (the part which the horse bites; unrelated to Shannon's adoption of bit, related to binary digit, in 1948). I could not find the actual usage, nor when did it transition from horses to computing.

Also, bitwise seems an exceptional case; for instance, I never heard filewise (instead, file-by-file) nor functionwise (instead, per function).

Is it known when and why bitwise became related to computing, and why no other -wise term became popular?


texts:
Recently I came across this sentence:

  [... allegations that such information had been used elsewhere]
  This is particularly since you were given access to the information.

I have been trying to think of why I think it is wrong and I guess maybe it is just missing a so:

  This is particularly so since you were given access to the information.

But my question is whether the original sentence is grammatically correct.


texts: "These are my children who want me to..." or "It's my children who want me to..."? And why?

texts:
Which of the following two lines is correct?

These are my children who want me to learn cooking.
It's my children who want me to learn cooking.

I am not very familiar with the codified rules of grammar, but based on my reading experience, I am pretty sure the second line is correct. But then, I don't know why it is so. Isn't "children" plural?


texts: Can "nighttime" be used instead of "night-time"?

texts:
I forgot where but I saw the word "night-time" written like "nighttime". Now is that correct or accepted?  Can it be written as a single word? I am specifically concerned about British usage.

I did check the dictionary before posting but a dictionary can't tell me about real-life usage frequencies.


texts: What would be the word to describe the following

texts:
You are working in your office. There is a candidate who is waiting outside to be interviewed.
Its been half and hour and nobody has gotten up to go and conduct the interview.
You are feeling uneasy because you kind of feel bad because the poor candidate has been waiting for so long even though
its not your fault. So you finally ask your colleague to go and interview the candidate.
What would would describe what you are feeling at that moment that prompted you to ask your colleague to go and conduct the interview?

It's not guilt, its not pity.


texts: Why do we say "ahead of" but not "behind of"?

texts:
It just occurred to me that even though "ahead/behind" mean opposite things, their usage is slightly different. Say we were talking about time zones. Why is it that I could say either

I'm two hours ahead of you.

or

You're two hours behind me.

But both of these are wrong:

I'm two hours ahead you.
You're two hours behind of me.

Since these words are perfect opposites, it seems like they should follow the same pattern. So that either "ahead of you" and "behind of you" would both be correct, or "ahead you" and "behind you" would both be correct.
There are even other cases where these two words do match each other in the prepositions they use. For example, if I'm no longer talking about time zones, and I'm instead talking about my progress at work, I could say either

I'm ahead on my work.

or

I'm behind on my work.


texts:
I want to say "he stuck the wheel" or "the function stuck the browser" or "the function is stucking(sticking?) the browser".

But "stuck" is the past tense and the above examples happen now, what would be the right expression for this?


texts: Why is plural -s used in "collecting stamps", but not in "stamp collecting"?

texts:
I was wondering why in some cases, both phrases mean the same thing, and one phrase has the plural -s and the other does not?
Eg:

  Collecting stamps (plural -s)
  Stamp collecting (no plural -s)

Is that in the 1st scenario, the word "stamps" is a complement to the gerund "collecting" and in the 2nd scenario, "stamp" acts as an adjective and the linguistic structure of an adjective does not have the plural -s?


texts: "Contribute for" or "Contribute to" or "Contribute on" or "Contribute in"

texts:
We said :

  I do want to thank Mr. Foulen and Mr. Felten who contribute for
  server hosting .

or

  I do want to thank Mr. Foulen and Mr. Felten who contribute to
  server hosting .

or

  I do want to thank Mr. Foulen and Mr. Felten who contribute on
  server hosting .

or

  I do want to thank Mr. Foulen and Mr. Felten who contribute in
  server hosting .


texts: What's the rule for punctuating quoted words or phrases?

texts:
Please bear with me as I am not an English expert, only an aspiring amateur!

I'm mostly aware of the rules regarding punctuation and quotes. Something like the following sentence makes sense to me:

  She was so rude that I felt compelled to say, "I hope you act that way toward everyone."

However, where I get confused is when quotation marks are used simply to emphasize a single word or phrase:

  Nobody really knew what he meant by "feature".

(I'm not really sure what to call this use of quotation marks. Is this still a quotation?) Should punctuation go inside the quotation marks?

I should clarify that I am interested in the common or accepted American usage.


texts: Is there a word for people who love everything?

texts: The closest I could get was xenophile. Also, optimistic would be a close second and I say that because I don't think that optimistic is a better description than xenophile because xenophile actually includes love.


texts: "Why should we pick you as staff?" vs. "Why should we pick you for staff?"

texts:
Why should we pick you [as] staff?
Why should we pick you [for] staff?

Which of the above sentences would be correct? Should "as" or "for" be used with the meaning "to be a member of"?

Context: it's for a job interview.


texts: How do I explain why an infinitive verb is important to this kind of sentence to a friend

texts:
I have a friend who has a grammar style I don’t understand. They use the setup “Noun Present-Tense Verb Past-Tense Verb-Turned-Subject.”

Some examples:
I want laid.
You need hugged.
They like serenaded.

I feel like those sentences are grammatically incorrect.
I feel the sentence structure should be:
I want to get laid. OR I want a lay.
You need to be hugged. OR You need hugging.
They like to be/get serenaded. OR They like serenading.

But every time I try to explain this my friend says that my way sounds unnatural. Am I crazy? What rule of English am I thinking of? I feel like there is a tense agreement issue here and an issue of infinitives too but I cannot articulate it well enough.

Also we’re both native English speakers from America. Why is my friend convinced it’s “You want decorated.” Instead of “you want to be decorated”?


texts:
In the following sentences, adjectives are used as if they are adverbs.

The child listened to the story spellbound.

They left the party happy.

We wanted to choose some shoes but we left the shop undecided.

He came to the office annoyed.

Could you please elaborate this usage?


texts: Is the meaning of "This is it" figurative?

texts:
The phrase "kick the bucket" is a figurative phrase - it means "to die", although using it does not imply any actual kicking or any actual buckets.

The question I am asking is if the phrase "this is it" is figurative or literal?

Let us look at an example:

  Well boys, I reckon this is it.

(from Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, written by Stanley Kubrick, Peter George, Terry Southern and uncredited Peter Sellers and James B. Harris; based on Red Alert by Peter George)

I take the meaning of the phrase as literal, as I can interpret the meaning straight from the definitions in dictionaries; without a need to reach for metaphorical explanation.

NOTE: this is related to this question/answer.

EDIT: I am looking for good arguments to either side.


texts: Is there a grammatical mistake in this sentence:- The owner as well as his servants is honest.?

texts:
What is the grammatical error in the following sentence:-
The owner as well as his servants is honest.


texts: Use of a possessive noun in place of a location

texts:
My friend and I have been arguing about the following sentence:

  "I left my trainers at my relatives’ in London"

He believes this is correct as colloquially it is obvious that he has left his trainers at the home of his relatives.
But I still think that this sentence is incomplete and should read:

  "I left my trainers at my relatives’ home in London"

Could someone please tell me who is correct (if anyone) and explain why?


texts: What preposition should follow enamour? Is one enamoured with something, or enamoured by something or enamoured of something or is it anything else? If more than one of the above is possible, is there any difference in their meanings? Or is one of them more prevalent or commoner than others?


texts: What is "the virtue long gone from the flannel"?

texts:
In Victor Canning's 1950 Bird of Prey, I encountered this sentence:

  Spadoni nodded, his eyes dropping from Mercer's face, taking in the tweed jacket with leather-bound cuffs, the neatly pressed gray trousers with the virtue long gone from the flannel and the well-worn, highly-polished shoes.

As it should be, the general meaning of 'virtue' in this context is clear; however, I felt there must be a more specific meaning I was missing. As a metaphor, the use is understandable but general, and encompasses everything about 'the excellence of new flannel'. This did not seem sufficient to explain the use, but perhaps it is sufficient.

I searched the OED for some specific definition of 'virtue' pertaining to a quality of new as opposed to old cloth, and hoping for something pertaining particularly to flannel, with no good result.

Is there a definite virtue, unique to flannel, that is lost with age? Was or is this a description of flannel specific to a particular quality, or a general metaphor that might be applied to any cloth?


texts: "Is" versus "are" in regard to a proper noun that sounds singular but is actually plural ("The Song of Albion Trilogy")

texts: I am writing a book review. I've encountered a problem with my sentence, "The Song of Albion Trilogy are the best books I’ve ever read". Even though I am talking about a trilogy or series, it is not only the best series I've read, but also the best books I've read including stand-alone novels. I want to say this using proper grammar. Should I be using "is" or "are" and can I use "books" or do I have to say it differently? I understand that if I said "trilogy" instead of "books" that I would use "is", but I am wondering the correct verb to use if I keep my original sentence. I can't do "The Song of Albion Trilogy is the best books I’ve ever read.", can I?


texts:
I am having trouble deciding the correct phrase. Which of these two is correct?

  Is gold worth as an investment?

Or

  Is gold worth of an investment?


texts: How should I understand 'an alarming new normal' based on given context?

texts:
"One particular challenge with lone wolves(terrorists who are inspired by ISIS, but not directly connected with the terrorist group) is that they are harder to detect. If there is no initial conversation between the new recruit and a known terror subject, there is no conversation to intercept, there is no meeting to observe before that terrorist is recruited and carries out an attack."

According to given context that is written above, what does the sentence below means? especially "An alarming new normal"??

"This means a near constant state of alert -- what has been described to me repeatedly as an alarming new normal."

I am working on translating these materials in my mother language, and for me it is hard to get the meaning of "An alarming new normal"


texts: "Sit in the back." vs "Sit at the back." - differences between American and British usage

texts:
As a British English speaker, I was reading a manuscript written by an American English speaker and came across a sentence in the form:

  "She had long hair and so had to sit in the back [of the animal that
  the group were riding]"

As a British English speaker, I'd never use the phrase "sit in" to describe anything other than a person inside a vehicle or object. So I ended up with the comical image of a young lady sitting inside a riding animal, complete with doors and wheels.

I suggested that the sentence should have been:

  "She had long hair and so had to sit at the back [of the group/of the animal that the group were riding]."

On reading this, my friend commented that she'd never use the phrase "at the back" and that the construction didn't even feel grammatical to her. I was very surprised to hear that, since the phrase "sat at the back [of a lecture theatre perhaps]" is an utterly standard phrasing in my idiolect.

We were wondering if this is a common difference between American English and British English, since our responses were so different.


texts: What's the difference between "to herald" and "to announce"?


texts:
I read this sentence and I don't understand what "punch line" means here:

  Most people recognize this Amazon:
  Jeff Bezos's hyperproficient
  Borders-killer; one of the few dot-com
  initial public offerings that didn't
  end up a punch line; ......

I know the literal meaning of "punch line". So in this sentence, does it mean that most dot-com IPO companies failed like jokes, so they "end up a punch line"? This explanation sounds awkward to me. Could somebody please explain the usage of "punch line" here?


texts: Does Santy (Santa) exist outside Ireland?

texts: It's common at this time of year for adults to ask small children What's Santy bringing you? (awkward as this is for those of us who don't celebrate Christmas). Is this pronunciation of Santa unique to Ireland?


texts: Do you always need a comma before 'and' when there are two independent clauses?

texts:
I thought the answer was yes. Threads on this site in indicate the answer is yes....but then I frequently see constructions like this on news sites from writers I'd assume would be implementing language's best practices. Here is an example I came across while reading in article in CNN this morning:

"The country is notoriously difficult to get information on and its sanctions-hit economy is said to operate on a number of different levels, including a black market, with the government not even releasing official trade statistics."

I've seen this on many, many occasions. Either my understanding of independent clauses isn't correct or there's some rule I'm not aware of. While browsing for an answer in existing threads, I saw the concept of connecting clauses brought up a few times. Some respondents said that you don't need a comma before 'and' if the next complete idea is hinged on the same verb as the preceding one? Or something like that. I didn't entirely understand but wonder if this is an example of that.

Thanks you for your time.


texts:
I've always said things like "If you ate the said candy." and "If you count the said rocks."

I've also heard many people say "If you ate said candy." and "If you count said rocks."

This always sounds to me similar to "If you grab chair." It makes sense sometimes, like in instruction manuals, but you don't hear people say that in real life.

Which one is correct?


texts:
I was doing my chemistry homework and came across this sentence: "Atomic radius increases down and to the left of the periodic table."

It seems awkward to say "to the down of," but, because left and down are the same part of speech, is it grammatically correct?


texts:
While taking a PSAT practice test, I was told by the answer key that the underlined sentence below is grammatically correct and does not need to be changed.

In my experience "reasons," when used in this context, is usually followed by the phrase "as to why bees are vanishing" "for why it is that bees are vanishing," or "for the vanishing of bees." Will simply a "that" suffice here or is my answer key incorrect?

Thank you!


texts:
I am following English Grammar in Use by Raymond Murphy: unit 43, and I encountered the term “perfect infinitive”. I googled this term and I found most of the results talk about the usages, not definition. Cambridge Dictionary explains the “to have done” form well and it writes

  We form the perfect infinitive with to have + the -ed form of a verb.

But the Grammar book also gives examples in form of modal + have + done:

  I should have received the letter by now. It might have been sent to the wrong address.
  If you had locked the car, it wouldn’t have been stolen.

Now I am confused about the definition of the perfect infinitive. Based on all the information I have collected, I prefer to understand it as to/modal + have + past participle.

Is this a correct understanding?


texts:
I am struggling with whether the following should have a comma or not:

The details we have can be linked to and used for your profile.

or

The details we have can be linked to, and used for your profile.

My instinct would be without a comma; however, I cannot find a rule for this after searching online.
Concerning the title of this post, I was not sure about how to describe the elements in question here, so please forgive me if these are not examples of adjectival phrases. Not knowing this may well have led me to stuggle to find an answer.
Any help here would be greatly appreciated.


texts: What are other alternative ways of saying "how are you?" in business email

texts:
I'm looking for an alternative ways to ask my email recipients about themselves before we go into more serious discussion. I think "how are you" does not sound professional when you are emailing to authority departments/ hotels/ other professional bodies.

Thank you.


texts: Adjective for someone who doesn't react when someone insults them?

texts: What's a good adjective to describe someone who doesn't react when someone does something immature or insults them?


texts:
Can I use the word concrete as a synonym to real in a phrase like this?

  Russian beer is a concrete shit.

Maybe this phrase sounds like drivel for a native speaker?


texts: Is it OK to put a fragment of a quote within a paragraph?

texts:
For example:
She recommends an au pair, a surprisingly more affordable alternative to a nanny, “to take on the role of caregiver when both parents work outside of the home.”

Or should the sentence be reworded entirely?


texts: What do you tell a girl who shies away from expressing her feelings and avoids saying what you expect her to?


texts: "We choose each other as partners" or "as a partner" [plural or singular]

texts:
My fiancee and I are drafting our wedding contract.  There are many things it's important to get right in such a document, and grammar should hopefully be among the easier ones.

One portion of a sentence in the draft contract currently reads:

"we choose each other as partners for all life's journeys"

Is "as partners" (plural) grammatical?  I see an argument for "as a partner" (because we're choosing only one partner), but for reasons I'm having trouble articulating, that formulation (with "partner" in the singular) sounds funny to me.

One way to resolve this would be: "We each choose the other as a partner..."  That one very clearly sounds right only when "partner" is singular.  But the overall phrasing seems clunky, so I'd prefer not to use that sort of formulation.


texts: Yesterday I heard someone saying "If I were born in 1920s, my name would have been Margaret" and I was confused why she didn't say 'If i had been born in 1920s', what's the difference here?


texts: Why is "now and then" used to mean the opposite of its logical meaning?

texts:
Why and when did the expression "now and then" come to mean sometimes or occasionally? Logically it means just the opposite! "Now" and "then" means "presently" and "in the past", the future will soon become the "now" and then the "then." So if something happens "now and then" it happens all the time, and will continue to do so.

When did we start using it to mean "occasionally"?


texts: What does the term "economics of discovery" mean?

texts:
The Internet transformed the economics of communication. Then other technologies, like the Web, were built on top of the Internet, which has become a platform for innovation and new businesses. Similarly big data, though still a young technology, is transforming the economics of discovery—becoming a platform, if you will, for human decision making.

The sentences are extracted from chapter one "How big is big data" of the book DATA-ISM by Steve Lohr. (The full text can be read on the following webpage: https://archive.org/stream/DataIsm-SteveLohr9780062226815/Data-Ism_%20The%20Revolution%20Transforming%20Deci%20-%20Steve%20Lohr_djvu.txt)

According to Macmillan Dictionary, there are two meanings for "economics": 1. the study of the way that goods and services are produced and sold and the way money is managed. 2. the conditions that affect the economic success or failure of a product, company, country etc (http://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/economics)

And the word "discovery" has 4 meanings: 1. the process of learning something that was not known before, or of finding someone or something that was missing or hidden 2. something that is found, or something new that is learned 3.someone whose ability is recognized by another person who helps them to become famous 4. the process of making evidence and other documents available to the people involved in a legal case (http://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/discovery)

Even if I looked up all the meanings in the dictionary, I just can't understand what the author intend to say. In addition, I googled the term "economics of discovery", no satisfactory answer that can fit in well with the sentence could be found. Besides, I don't think there really exists some discipine or subject for study named "economics of discovery". I get rather confused about the term. Could someone please tell me what it means here? Thank you.


texts: Meaning of "beneath the dignity of the office"?

texts:
Last year CNN issued a statement saying Trump was "beneath the dignity of the office" because he was attacking a CNN anchor in a spoof video.

What exactly does "beneath the dignity of the office" means? Does it mean Trump's behaviour bring shame and lose people's respect on the US government?


texts:
In the closing of an English L&U question, one of our users, Cerberus, used what I'm sure is a marvelous construction full of history, pur sang, as in:

  "...he is trying to argue here why it should mean something other than it does, which is argumentative pur sang."

Now I know "sang" means blood in Latin, and "pur" probably means "in order to" or something, but I don't get the feel of this phrase by breaking it down into its constituents.  What does pur sang mean in this context? Is there a particularly famous literary usage?


texts:
After answering a question in SciFi if the Big Brother existed as a real person, I got responses that the last chapter, the Appendix (which can be found here), definitely proves that Oceania ceased to exist because it describes Newspeak from a historical perspective. One proponent cited an essay to put the argument forward.

As a non-native speaker and unsure about the exact usage of English, especially during the time the novel was written, I would like to ask if the argument is correct.

First I find the usage of the word "Appendix" strange which indicates normally a technical description outside the given text. The whole text sounds for me more like Orwell had worked out the technicalities of the Newspeak, but could not find a place in the novel where it really fits. Second I believe to remember that several old German books used past tense in descriptions, so I wonder if this might have been used in WWII English, too.

So:
Does the text (especially "Newspeak was the official language of Oceania and had been devised to meet the ideological needs of Ingsoc, or English Socialism") in the Appendix definitely and unambigously prove that

a) the Appendix really belongs to the story and
b) Oceania ceased to exist in the future of 1984 ?

Further clarifications are welcome.


texts:
We got a problem with this slunt, Ingrid, again. She’s off her brake
  fluid. Banging her head against the wall.

Is there another meaning of 'brake fluid'?

The speaker is a prison officer. And there isn't any other context.


texts: Does/do any group want to give their presentation?

texts:
1.Does any group want to give their presentation?

The above sentence looks grammatically correct to me. However, I am confused between the use of do and does here. (The presence of "their" and "any group" which is singular). Could anyone suggest me?


texts: Does "shooting for effect" have contradictory meanings in different areas?

texts:
I only know one meaning for "shooting for effect". It's the sort of thing a SWAT team commander might say to indicate that no one is terribly interested in interrogating the subjects. Basically, it means two in the chest and one in the head.

This is the first item returned by Google for the search "shooting for effect"

  When shooting for effect in a combat situation, there needs to be a good balance of speed and accuracy. We need to aim small to miss small. Larger targets are easier to shoot fast because we have a smaller margin to miss, but the smaller the target gets, the harder it is to control our shots at faster speeds. We have to slow down to make sure we can make the smaller shots.

  This is mostly evident when trying to transition from a body target to
  a head target. In the Mozambique Drill we see this the most. After two
  shots to the body, we transition to a smaller, harder-to-hit target
  (the head) for one shot. This smaller target is much harder to hit
  than the body shots we just took.

  In competition, shooting headshots or shooting smaller steel plates is
  the same thing. We need to slow down after the transition and
  concentrate on the smaller, harder plates, especially at farther
  distances.

However, there seems to be some confusion about this, and this really isn't something you want to get wrong. There appears to be an alternate interpretation that shooting for effect means an ineffectual show of smoke, noise, and commotion. Basically, it's an attempt to scare someone without actually hurting them.

I was a bit surprised to find this:

It's from Reports of Cases Determined in the Supreme Court of the State of Missouri, Volume 170, apparently from a 1902 decision.

I think we would be doing everyone a service by clearing this up.

What was the first use of the phrase as it pertains to firearms?

Did it have an established legal meaning as suggested by the above court index extract?

Does it retain an established legal meaning?

When was it first used to mean shoot with deadly intent?


texts:
Pregnancy has stirred up feelings I didn't know existed!

I guess the subject of existed is feelings and I kind of understand the meaning but I can't work out the structure of this sentence.

Where is the subject of existed?
Why is it "ed"?
Is there any
grammatical rule for using this structure?


texts:
Is there an adjective to qualify something as being able to contain physically other objects? Something like the quality of a container or a storage device. Normally when objects can be classified as storable, containable, holdable, etc, it is refered to their capacity of being stored, contained or held; but what about the capacity of storing, containing and holding other objects?

My point here is to find an adjective that enables me to ask a question regarding something's capability of containing other objects: "Is it _______?" If yes, then it can contain physically other objects (like a container, box, or bag)


texts: Proper way to cite Wikipedia according to the Chicago Manual of Style?

texts:
In The Chicago Manual of Style, 16th ed., it actually lists two ways to cite Wikipedia content. The first, in section 14.245, is of the form:

"Style Guide," Wikipedia, last modified July 18, 2008, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Style_guide.

The second, in section 14.248, is of the form:

Wikipedia, s.v. "Stevie Nicks," last modified July 19, 2008, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stevie_Nicks.

It's not clear which form to use when. That aside, what if I want to refer to a particular section for an entry. For example, assuming I use the second form above, I could do:

Wikipedia, Origin of the Term, s.v. "Trolley Pole," last modified Mar 22, 2014, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trolley_pole.

In order to put the name of the section in italics, I thought it best to un-italicize "Wikipedia." Thoughts?


texts: Why is 'hyper-' considered a prefix, but 'tachy-' is considered a combining form?

texts: I am learning medical terminology. My medical terminology textbook has me all confused about roots, prefixes, suffixes, and combining forms; so I have been doing some research. I've found that most dictionaries I've referenced have a different concept of a combining form versus a prefix or suffix. But even using the concept proposed by the dictionaries, I'm having trouble. Follow this link to see how Merriam-Webster distinguishes combining forms and affixes: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/combining%20form. For example, the online Merriam-Webster dictionary refers to 'hyper-' as a prefix, but "tachy-" as a combining form. I don't understand how Merriam-Webster came to that conclusion. Any insight you can provide would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.


texts:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTK8c69c1fE#t=38m27s

Hi. Would somebody be able to tell what the daughter is saying around "we've been all to church and the sermon lasted for oooo "  (oooo part)

I searched for the script but all the scripts I found are different from the actual movie dialogue.


texts:
Traditional Irish song "The Foggy Dew" contains following lines:

"And the world did gaze in deep amaze at those fearless men but few

Who bore the fight that freedom's light might shine through the foggy dew"

Is such usage of the word "amaze" as a noun acceptable in contemporary English? Or should "amazement" always be used instead? Was it acceptable back in the days?


texts:
Working on a wedding invitation, small conflict between interested parties resulting in the need for an alternative to the wording "Semi-Formal" Attire.
The conflict arises from the overall theme of the wedding being rustic. The key words would be "Not Jeans" that led to the use of semi formal in the first place.


texts: What does "my flesh begins crawling with suspense" mean?

texts:
The phrase was come upon in the following context:

Show me a character whose life arouses my curiosity, and my flesh
begins crawling with suspense.
By Fawn M. Brodie (italics added)


texts: What's best/correct English? (something) isn't consistently in place, OR (something) is inconsistently in place?


texts: "Ain't ... no more" is "am not ... [any more]"?

texts:
First of all, I ain't a native speaker.
And one of the most confusing sentences to me is

  I ain't going to this place no more.

Ain't in this sentence basically means am not, so it translates to I am not going to this place no more.

What exactly does no more in this sentence mean? Does it have the same meaning as any more?


texts: Alternative term/phrase to 'Rule of thumb'?

texts:
I like using the term 'rule of thumb'.
e.g., "As a rule of thumb it takes 10,000 hrs of practice to master a skill"

However it has come to my attention that it it may have a less than favorable origin

Therefore I would like to use a different phrase to indicate the same thing.

So what would be an an alternative term/phrase to 'Rule of thumb'?


texts: What is a word for the items that are found in one's pockets? Or more generally, on one's person. Examples include: wallets, keys, cell phones, pens.


texts:
This was said by one of my mates while retelling a story. The story runs that there was a court being held, and there was a recording-clerk as well. But this was a humor story, and the story continued that everybody was telling the recording-clerk to take out what was previously said, to the point that the clerk lost his temper and "dropped the pen and threw up the sponge."

Does this saying mean that he resigned?


texts: Is "running" a gerund or a participial adjective?

texts:
An enlightening experiment

Google Books yields only 39 results, and instead asks me if I wanted to say “an enlightening experience”, and eagerly shows an impressive 10,000 results when I click on their suggestion. But for my purposes, I want the noun experiment

A running experiment

Dictionary.com suggests that running in 2.  must be an adjective

  adjective

  prevalent, as a condition or state:
  running prices.
  going or carried on continuously; sustained:
  a running commentary.
  extending or repeated continuously:
  a running pattern.

We normally hear the plural form, running experiments, but the singular form is grammatical, and Google Books produces about 54 results.

Enlightening in "An enlightening experiment" is an adjective because I can use "very" to modify it:

  A very enlightening experiment (YES)

but in sentence No.2, running cannot be modified by "very"

  A very running experiment (NO)

It makes no sense, even though "running" appears to be an adjective. The comparative form,
 “A more running experiment” is evidently wrong,  but with enlightening, the comparative is acceptable:
“A more enlightening experiment”.

Does that mean running in sentence No.2 is a gerund?
How can I prove that running is a participial adjective or a gerund?

This question was inspired by this ELL answer


texts: What is it called when reversing a phrase doesn't mean the same as the original phrase?

texts:
What is the rhetorical device/argument called when one says:

  All surgeons are doctors, but not all doctors are surgeons.


texts: Why was the flow of this sentence changed?

texts:
One editor of mine changed the noun order in a sentence of my article. It seems minor, but I would like to figure out the reason. Is it just because the revision makes the sentence flow sound better? Like, we had better put a word of more vowels at the end of a sentence instead of the middle?

Below please see the change. Please kindly advise. Thanks!

Original Version:

  “The path of Chinese discipline to internationalisation is heavy and long!”

Revised Version:

  “The path of Chinese discipline to internationalisation is long and heavy!”


texts:
Hello native speakers,

Could you please teach me how to use will/would correctly?

There were a few times I saw people use would+verb+if+present tense.

For example, '

  The premium would increase if a claim is made.

If this is correct, what is the difference between the sentence above and the following sentence?

  The premium would increase if a claim were made.


texts: What does "while" refer to in this sentence?

texts:
The scientific organization -----the newspaper for prominently covering the predictions of a psychic while -----to report on a major research conference.

Without getting any hint as to which subject (scientific organization / newspaper) the second verb after  while refer to, from the two verbs supposedly placed in the two blanks.

My thought: the scientific organization.


texts:
I say:

  A) What a good heart you have!

  B) How beautiful a girl she is!

  C) What awful weather!

  D) How I wish to have a long vacation these days!

  E) How little money we have!

Do these following sentences make sense ?

  A1) How good a heart you have!

  B1) What a beautiful girl she is!

  C1) How awful weather!

  D1) What I wish to have a long vacation these days!

  E1) What little money we have!

  F1) What nice music it is!

  F2) How nice music it is!

  G1) What beautiful girls they are!

  G2) How beautiful girls they are!

Thanks.


texts:
I'm speaking of the noun having to do with an interval of time.

I need this for programming purposes and it appears some people use "time span" and others "timespan" so I assume both are correct.


texts: Difference between "hop the rocks quickly" and "quickly hop the rocks"

texts:
I'm trying to decide which sentence is correct, or if they both are. which would you recommend as easier to read/understand for the average reader?

  Hop the rocks quickly and get the star.
  Quickly hop the rocks and get the star.

I'm using this in a promo for a game I made. Assuming both are valid, would it be better to use the first sentence since it begins with a shorter word?


texts:
I know that the verbal and verbal-noun forms of pixel are pixelate and pixelation, respectively, but what is/are the adverbial form(s) of the term?

I looked on the OED, ODO, Merriam-Webster Online, and even Dictionary.com, and no such forms were listed. Is there even an adverbial form? If not, what would you suggest I use?

Some ideas I’ve thought of have been

pixelly
pixally
pixelatedly

Here’s an example sentence (just made up on the spot, so don’t try to look it up or anything):

  The colour of the object depicted on this LCD television screen is
  red, green, and blue [insert adverb here], but from proper viewing
  distance the colours produce a bright purple.


texts: What single word could be used in place of "long drawn out procedure"?

texts:
I'm thinking of something like ceremony or ritual - but without the implication of significance.
More like a large collection of tasks in an everyday context like a meeting or a series of medical procedures, say prior to surgery.

I'm thinking of a word that's not necessarily formal, or that the tasks have to be rigidly adhered to in a specific order. It could just be a large number of a tasks say, a shopkeeper may have to do prior to opening a store say.

An example sentence may be say, the chairperson of a meeting saying:

  Please people, we need to keep moving if we want to complete the      __________ of this meeting

The closest things I can think of are

long drawn out procedure - (but a single word with the same meaning as this phrase)


texts:
I understand on the other hand.

But what's on the grasping hand?

Source: Stack Overflow blog.


texts:
I start with a simple sentence:

“I climb the ladder.”

This contains a nice transitive verb with a clear direct object.  If I slightly modify the sentence:

“I climb up the ladder.”

I believe that I have not changed the essential nature of the sentence ( climb is still transitive); I have only added an adverb indicating the direct of the climb.  A friend believes that the new sentence is fundamentally different.  She believes that climb is now intransitive and that up the ladder is a prepositional phrase!

Which of us is correct?


texts: What's the meaning of "his jaw was set."

texts:
This is a passage from a novel:

  "No," he said again, standing up straight and wiping his palms on his pajama pants. "We've already got plane tickets." (Both quotes are Neal's)
  "Neal, I'm serious. I can't miss this meeting." (Gerogie said this)
  "I know," he said, turning toward her. His jaw was set. Permanently

What does "his jaw was set" mean?


texts: Is Venice built on poles, piles, or pilings?

texts: Which term should be used to describe the wooden support system of Venice?


texts: Inequality vs. Inequation, Equation vs. Equality

texts:
When talking about statements that two terms are mathematically (un-)equal (e.g., 1 = 1, 1 < 2, or 1 != 2), what is the correct notion for such mathematical statements? Are there special cases w.r.t. "mixed" relations like x <= y? Can some notions be used interchangeably?

It seems many online sources use "equation" and "inequality" but there is also a Wikipedia page about "inequation". Apart from personal posts in forums, I have not found any sources using "equality" in such a situation, yet. Systematically, I would think that "equation" and "inequation" would make more sense than "equation" and "inequality", but not everything (probably very few things) in natural languages have developed according to a purely logical system.

Note that this question is more general than How to express the relationship that two numbers are not equal? for that it particularly asks for the relation between the notion for equations and the one for inequalities. Equations are not part of the existing question at all.


texts:
"Like all men not really up to their job, he was a stickler for externals and petty quotidian things; and in lieu of an intellect he had accumulated an armoury of capitalized key-words like Discipline and Tradition and Responsibility." The Magus by John Fowles

What does "really up to their job" mean in this sentence?


texts: What do you call someone who specialises in tea?

texts:
Someone who is qualified at wine is a sommelier and someone who is qualified at coffee is a barista.

What do you call the equivalent of someone for tea?

Also, I'm thinking there might be a word buried in someone's culture, like Asia maybe, but I have not yet found it and I've been looking for a while now.

I don't think the word would be brewer as that isn't really specific to tea because you can brew many things. Nor an infuser for the same reason.


texts: I expect John to x vs I expect John will x

texts:
I expect John to reply to your email.
I expect John will reply to your email.
I expect him to reply to your email
I expect him will reply to your email (ungrammatical)
I expect he to reply to your email (ungrammatical)
I expect he will reply to your email

Why do some of these sentences take will and others take to?

There is a question "Expect to" vs "Expect will". That post doesn't ask the question I've asked in this one.


texts: Referring to "the assertion made in the US Supreme Court's majority opinion"

texts:
I want to refer to an assertion that is part of the written majority opinion in a particular case, put forth by the US Supreme Court's majority for that case.

Question spurred by my attempts to do this in a comment to Non-religious mentions of God (or religious concepts) in the American English language .

How can I say this succinctly and correctly?  I'm assuming that there may be legal terminology and journalistic conventions I should be aware of.

I don't think "the Court's majority opinion's assertion" is especially desirable, for instance.


texts: Comparisons with the word "twice" — i.e. twice as expensive vs. twice more expensive

texts:
Why is it that it's okay to say "This dress is twice as expensive as this jacket" but not okay to say "This dress is twice more expensive than this jacket" ?

Furthermore, it seems okay to me so say, for example, "This book is two times more expensive than that dictionary" though "This book is twice more expensive than this dictionary" seems wrong.

Any ideas why?


texts: What is the meaning of the subclause of 'goes off the deep end'?

texts: If a real-time program goes off the deep end, the system can become unresponsive.


texts: Origin of Albert Einstein's 'Three Rules of Work'

texts:
Does anyone know from where Albert Einstein's 'Three rules of work' is from?

  Out of clutter, find simplicity. From discord, find harmony. In the middle of difficulty, lies opportunity


texts: Putting adverbs such as "on Wednesday" in the beginning and at the end of sentences

texts:
What's the difference between the following two sentences:

On Wednesday I went shopping

I went shopping on Wednesday


texts: Confusing phrase suggestion. "Gates open!"

texts:
I recently had a brief Skype chat conversation with someone. Skype tends to automatically suggest a few phrases to use as responses to questions or messages you receive.

So the conversation was like this:

A: "Can we postpone the meeting by 15 minutes?"
B: "Hi, yes no worries!"
A: "Great, thx"

Then Skype suggested three phrases I could use to respond:

"No problem!"
"My pleasure!"
"Gates open!"

Now, (1) makes perfect sense. I guess (2) is also quite OK. But what in the world is (3)?

I'm not a native English speaker and asked some friends but they have no idea, and Google is no help.

Is it a phrase at all in English? The current best hypothesis is that it is a normal expression in this context in a different language which has just been automatically translated to English and suggested. Would anyone be able to verify this?


texts:
I am writing an account of something, and I'm not sure whether I should say "passed day", as in "Day that has passed" or "past day", as in "Day in the past".

  In the evenings we would get together to discuss the passed day, what challenges we faced and plan for the next day.

Note: I noticed a few similar questions but they did not answer this question.


texts:
He is one of the men who do the work.

Could someone explain why it is "do" and not "does" up there? I'm sure this question has been asked before and I've memorized what to do with such sentences. But still I'm confused as to the reason why "do" is correct.

Is the subject up there "men" and not "he"? Why isn't it possible to make "he" the subject?


texts: A way to describe the sound a car makes when you're cranking it over, but it won't start?

texts:
What words or phrases can be used to describe a car unsuccessfully starting, i.e. a car that won't start when the key is turned in the ignition.

I am writing a satire on the dependence which people feel towards technology and would prefer it if I could describe the failed attempt at starting a car using auditory imagery.

I know that when the key is turned in the ignition, there is a "revving" sound, but I don't have a word to describe the sound when the revving dies down.


texts: I need a word that describes a person who is hard to love

texts: Example: "It's not that I hate you, but rather that you're just a __________ person." I'm looking for a word that means 'hard to love' when referring to unconditional love for a family member.


texts:
Example:

  Our emotions aren't something we experience, but who we are. Hence the
  [...] to get rid of them.

I thought of the word futility but I think it denotes more 'uselessness' than impossibility?


texts:
I just posted a question over in the Mythology SE and used this sentence:

  I'm tagging Greek and Roman mythology, but open to other mythologies as well.

I wanted to say:

  I'm tagging Greek and Roman mythology, but open to other ____ of mythology as well.

I couldn't think of the proper word to go in the blank. 'Branches' didn't seem to fit because the different world mythologies don't really branch from each other. 'Types' didn't feel right either--there really aren't types of mythology. Same problem with 'varieties' and 'variations'.

What word would fit in that blank?


texts: Is the sentence: "The longer I worked, the worse my career." A correct sentence?

texts:
In the English translation of Cixin Liu's The Three-Body Problem by Ken Liu there is the sentence in chapter sixteen, The Three Body Problem, that reads:

  The longer I worked, the worse my career.

Which to me feels like an incomplete sentence: the worse my career [__ what? __]? Perhaps it could be helped with a became -or- a got? I went back to look at the original sentence which just says:

  越混越次

It's an acceptable translation, but sounds very chinglish-y.

Is this a proper sentence?


texts: Why does Germany's English name differ from its German name?

texts: Germany in German is Deutschland and the language is Deutsch.  I'm used to words being anglicized, but why is there a complete replacement in this case?


texts: I am working on my PhD thesis. I would like to have section title like "What is x"? (Specifically, "What is Information Flow Security?") However, I wish to avoid rhetorical questions in my academic writing, and so I was wondering if there is a way in which I can word this title such that it is not a question. Something like "Defining Information Flow Security" but not that, because definitions are something else entirely and I won't be offering a formal definition at this point in the work.


texts: How should I search information on the origin of a country on Google?

texts: I'm trying to find some information on how the very first country came into being. I'm not sure what keywords I should start with. I've tried synonyms like state and nation as well, but none of them works. From my vague memory, I guess this topic is related to history and sociology, but I don't know the correct English wording for it.


texts:
While searching for an alternative synonym for the adjective starving, I found the word ahungered and I was intrigued by the use of the prefix a in this case.
I looked up the etymology of the prefix a- .
Edit: While I am aware that there are similar questions concerning this prefix, I would need an explanation for this particular word:
When I first came across ahungered, I intuitively thought that here a- implies that the noun it describes was made hungry, as opposed to simply getting hungry. Is this intuition correct? Can the prefix acquire a grammatical meaning, if I can use this expression?


texts: Is there a word or phrase for "running away from home to avoid an arranged marriage"

texts: In the olden times, a woman would need parental consent to get married, or worse, her groom would be chosen by her father. As a consequence of such element of culture, she would sometimes run away from home either to avoid an arranged or forced marriage or to marry a man her parents disapproved of.  Is there a single word, a phrase or an idiom to define this action?


texts: Origin and correct meaning of "make political book"

texts:
Re-watching old episodes of the X-Files. In which Agent Mulder says: (paraphrasing)

  just pseudo-science used to make political book

(Transcript here)

(FYI The Episode was written by Mat Beck)

I can infer that it means, to add (false) weight to a political agenda or argument. (ie. making it a safer bet.)

I recall hearing the phrase before, sounds like a Hunter S Thompson, or beat era style phrase, but I'm unable to find any reference to it.

Can anyone help with definite meaning and/or etymology?

Edit: Please don't offer conjecture, I can guess all by myself.


texts: The military uses robots? Or the military use robots?

texts: Some comments: I use robots. You use robots. The people use robots. Everybody uses robots. The school uses robots, but schools use robots. So perhaps the military uses robots. I saw a previous thread where the military was thought to refer to the military for the country where you reside perhaps. It is a specific military. But I'm still left with sentences like: the armed forces or military forces use robots. My best guess is it is still singular and therefore the military uses robots.


texts: Contemporary written usage of "whom" in objective case

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  What's the rule for using “who” or “whom”?

I was writing a LinkedIn recommendation one day, and ended up pondering for a while which of these forms to use:

  … is a great developer whom I always
  found easy to work with.

  … is a great developer who I always
  found easy to work with.

Both are basically correct in contemporary English, right? But is one or the other preferable, and if so, why?

(In this case I went with the latter, as it seemed more common (Google)  and I wanted to avoid sounding unnecessarily “archaic”, although I’m not sure whether that would have been the case. Also note that I try to write in a “friendly professional” style instead of overly formal one. :-)


texts: I am looking for a term for someone who points out problems in a positive way

texts:
I saw a similar question but that is very negative: Is there a word for someone who tends to find faults in others?

I am looking for a term for someone who has the skills to determine the main problems, who can look at complex systems and point out the (main) flaws and (ideally) has the moral integrity to keep personal advantages out of her judgement and the guts to voice his opinion.

The word could be a noun, a verb or even an adjective:

they called in a <....> to help analyze the problem
Alice was very good at <...>, so she was uninvited from the meeting because hearing the truth was not what they wanted.

The "outsider" from the Disney Method does fit here, but I guess if people are not familiar with the method, the word would have a very misleading meaning.

I guess, a "consultant" is someone who does this, but the term is a bit too broad.

If there is no word for this, a phrase would be useful here, as well.


texts: Why is the plural of "number one" "number ones" and not "numbers one"?

texts:
There are two imaginable plurals of number one:

numbers one
number ones

The resources I found on internet say that number ones is the correct plural.

Why is it so? Is there a more general rule from which this is deductible? I would understand it if the first noun (number) would have a function of an adjective, such as in race car. However here the first noun sounds to me as the main noun, with one as a kind of an adjective. Hence I would feel more logical to pluralize number rather than one.

As @CarlWitthoft noted in his answer, what confuses me is that as the software programmer I feel very natural to use sentences like "the table contains three numbers one", "the string contains three characters/digits one".

For me as a mathematician and software programmer one is clearly a kind of a type of a number, not the opposite. So I don't think this question is primarily about "pluralizing noun phrases", but rather about what is the head of the noun phrase number one.


texts: A word describing the a mix between new & old

texts: I have a website that discusses modern technology however as part of that site I focus on vintage colours & styling. Months back I had a visitor describe it as X. I can't recall the word they used but it was a word I hadn't heard as an English native before.


texts: What is it called when experts think they only know a small part of a topic and amateurs think they know almost all of a topic?


texts: Difference between calibration and tuning

texts: What is the difference between "calibration" and "tuning"?


texts: Can you say "Please don't try to get in contact with us"

texts:
A mailbot sends some files and should notify the recipient that this mailaddress can only send and not receive messages. This notification at the moment is:

  Please don't try to get in contact with us by answering to this mail!

Is this correct or should I change it?


texts: Is "whatever is left can " correct grammar?

texts:
Whatever is left can be given away.

Initially this seems like a complete sentence, but it seems odd to me that the verb phase involving "is" is used as a subject. Could someone explain why or why not this is correct?


texts: What does 'vibrations in the muck' mean?

texts:
My question: Does the expression have a figurative meaning? (Basically, what does it mean?)

I'm also curious about the origin and when it is usually used. Any ideas?

The expression is used in the following sentence:

  It’s often by listening for the vibrations in the muck that one can pick up on the big moral conflicts looming ahead.
  — Rachel Marsden: Can Mankind Survive the Onslaught of the Robots


texts: Adjective for "doesn't need to be explained/justified"

texts:
I am looking for an adjective that means "doesn't need to be justified" as in:

His actions, which don't need to be justified.
His ??? actions.

The person who makes the actions will never be held accountable for them, no matter how good or bad. The majority of the actions by all people will be acceptable but no consequences will happen to an individual who makes harmful actions. Imagine if everyone could literally get away with murder. Perhaps most people would never murder anyone, but a few people would. The families of the victims would be upset, but the rest of society wouldn't care because the system works most of the time, i.e. people can be trusted not to murder.
Perhaps another way of describing it is an abuse of privileges, or actions which are free to be abused, because you don't believe that anyone will.
I've looked in my thesaurus (full Macquarie) but the closest I've come up with is unjustifiable (can't be justified) or carte blanche (very close, but a noun).
I'm aware that nouns can be used as adjectives, so perhaps His carte blanche actions, but I would prefer a straight adjective, if one exists.


texts: "Tommyknockers": why the "tommy" prefix in AmE?

texts:
From The Tommyknockers by Stephen King:

  Late last night and the night before, Tommyknockers, Tommyknockers,
  knocking at the door. I want to run, don't know if I can, 'cause I'm
  so afraid of the Tommyknocker man.

But aside from the slang meaning of knocker(breast), the knocker is really a creature related to mining lore (NED, Century, as follows):

  The Knocker, Knacker, Bwca (Welsh), Bucca (Cornish) or Tommyknocker (US)
  is a mythical creature in Welsh, Cornish and Devon folklore.

  [ Wikipedia article ]

  -2. A spirit or goblin supposed to dwell in mines, and to indicate the
  presence of rich veins of ore by knocking.

  The miners say the Knocker is some being that inhabits in the concaves and hollows of the Earth, and that it is thus kind to some
  men of suitable temper, and directs them to the ore by such this
  knocking.

  Hooson, quoted by R. Hunt in British Mining.

  [ The Century Dictionary Online ]

But accounts may vary... The French version of the article discloses that the German  Meister Hämmerlinge (maître marteleur) is also a Knocker. And King's Tommyknockers will tell you where to dig, yet their motives may be questionable.

Why is the word prefixed with "tommy" in AmE, where does it come from? Does it mean something different? The word tommy refers either to Thomas Atkins1, or to a diminutive of the name Thomas, a ration, or is related to the truck system i.e. the tommy would be the wager paid in goods instead of money. How is that related, if at all, to the knocker?

1. From the entry: [...] a familiar name for the typical private soldier in the British Army; arising out of the casual use of this name in the specimen forms given in the official regulations from 1815 onward. [...] Now more popularly Tommy Atkins or Tommy [...]. From wikipedia on the name Thomas: based on the Biblical Greek Θωμᾶς, which is itself a transcription of the Aramaic te'oma תאומא "twin", the Hebrew cognate being tə'ōm תאום.(Reference to citation being required, omitted.)


texts:
I came across a website that says using a past perfect continuous is a good way to show cause and effect. The writer then shows an example.

He was tired because he had been exercising so hard.

But later on he said using a past perfect continuous could cause an ambiguity. He gives an example—that was almost the same as the first sentence.

Jason was tired because he had been jogging.

He says the sentence could either mean Jason was still jogging at the moment, or that he had finished.

Here's my question: if using a past present continuous to show cause and effect could lead to ambiguity, why not use a past perfect instead if you want to show the action is completed? And past continuous to show the action is still ongoing?

He was tired because he had exercised so hard.
Jason was tired because he had jogged.
He was tired because he was exercising so hard.


texts: "It isn't" vs "It is not" (Google suggestion) - which one is more common?

texts:
Everyone agrees that:

  Semantically "It's not" and "It isn't" mean the same thing: "It is
  not".

No doubt here. See: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110704115859AAmQmxZ

The reason why I'm asking is because Google is suggesting one way regardless the fact the one other one has more hits, see: "that isn't my problem" and "that's not my problem"

In general: which one is more common and what examples where it makes difference come to your mind?


texts: I'll let you know what I ended up with or what I end up with

texts:
Should one say:

"I'll let you know what I ended up with"

or

"I'll let you know what I end up with"

Which is the correct form to use?


texts:
When I apply less amount of paint, how is the resulting color (or paint) called?

Reduced color? Mitigated color? Diluted color? Modified color? Limited color? Decreased color?

In other words, when I literally put less paint on the paper (for example, by applying it in thiner layer or by making lots of tiny dots), how to describe it in one word?


texts: Word for a compliment that is disguised as a question

texts:
A term for question that is asked in public with intention to make the questioner or the person being asked appear in a better light.

As an example, a question asked in British parliament to the Prime minister from the member of the same party, complimenting the prime minister via the question itself.


texts: "To delete" is to "deletion" as "to discard" is to what?


texts: A formal English word or phrase for "badass?"

texts:
This is an odd question, but I was wondering if there is an English formal word connoting the same concept that the word "badass" conveys. To be exact, I mean "badass" as in someone who is maybe arrogant, morally bad, wicked, perhaps disrespectful, yet, at the same time, secretly admired for his energy, over-confidence, taking the lead, conquering qualities, etc.

Thank you.


texts: Is the term "expendable capital" superfluous?

texts:
I want to use the term...

  "expendable capital"

...to describe...

  "a company's available budget for a particular thing"

Am I using the the word "capital" innaccurately and is all capital not expendable therefore rendering my use of the word "expendable", superfluous?

Alternative recommendations are welcome.


texts: Words for a garbage man who takes waste material to throw away and the one who takes them to sell?


texts: A word that means that a germ or disease can affect a species

texts:
I swear I've read a sentence like "Mosquitoes don't die of the diseases they transmit because those germs are not _____ to mosquitoes" or "Dragons' mouths aren't really clean, but they're generally not harmful to humans because the germs in a dragon's mouth are not _____ to humans".

Does this word exist?


texts: What does dialogue from “Prison Break” “you look like you could use a few sharp edges knocked off your world” mean?

texts:
In prison break Season5 Episode2,after being beaten up by prison officers, Michael Scofield was returned to his cell. He looked at his Korean cellmate(being in withdrawal) and said “ you look like you could use a few sharp edges knocked off your world.”And the Korean guy said “you don’t look so good yourself.”

I figure Michael must’ve  meant “you look in bad shape.”But what does “knocked off”mean here? And how does “knocked off”define “a few sharp edges”?


texts: "The right to life" and "the right to die"

texts: Why do we say "the right to life" but "the right to die", instead of "the right to live" or "the right to death"?


texts: Is to "tell off" a particularly British expression?

texts:
I'm translating a short story from Spanish into English. A small child says (literally):

  Why don’t we knock?” I asked. “They’re gonna tell us off.”

(The Spanish is: Nos van a regañar.) I've already translated the story into a mostly American English and would like to keep that register, but can't think of another expression to use.

Is "to tell off" a normal, acceptable American expression, or is it specifically British?


texts: Making question and negative form with "used to"

texts:
According to the various grammar books that I have read, the question and negative , with "used to" starting with "did" has two forms. One for example is "Did he used to smoke Cigars?" and the other is "Did he use to smoke cigars?".
 I would just like to know which form is correct and widely used.


texts: "There are books in/on the shelf": which option is correct?

texts:
I've lost my ability to discern whether the following sentence is correct.

"There are books in the shelf."

Personally I would say "on the shelf" (which seems to be the most common way to say it) but I'm still not sure if "in the shelf" is incorrect here. Any help would be appreciated.


texts: It has been a long time + present perfect

texts:
Could anyone tell me whether my following sentences make sense in English?

It has been a long time since I have played this game = I haven't played this game for a long time
It has been a long time since I have seen her = I haven't seen her for a long time

Thanks


texts: Should you start a new paragraph for a new speaker if both speakers are contained in the same quoted passage?

texts:
This manuscript quotes a passage from the Bible that has more than one speaker:

Job 1:6–7 says:

  One day, when the angels had gathered around the Lord, and Satan was there with them, the Lord asked, "Satan, where have you been?" Satan replied, "I have been going all over the earth."

Normally, whenever a new speaker is introduced in dialogue, it starts a new paragraph. But does that rule apply when those speakers are contained within the same quotation?


texts:
I'm looking for a word that is used when someone talks about ordering something custom-made. I've heard it mostly associated with buying art, like paintings only made for the buyer.

I've thought about order, procure, purchase, but they're not quite it.


texts:
First of all, apologies if this has already been asked. I've done some searching however have not been able to find a like topic.

My question is pretty straight forward.

How, if possible can I use multiple semicolons in one sentence? I'm quite uncertain whether this is some sort of literature taboo, since I've never really come across more than one semicolon used in a single sentence.

Some guidence would be very much appreciated (:


texts:
The meaning for bassinet in Oxford Learner's Dictionaries reads:

  a small bed for a baby, that looks like a basket

while that in Merriam Webster Learner's Dictionary reads:

  a small bed for a baby that looks like a basket and that usually has a hood or cover over one end

Is the comma before "that" in OLD deliberate? Is there any grammatical explanation for this?


texts:
I sometimes see this phrase. I'm not sure when to use it, is it about a place that is geographically low?

For example (taken from Ludwig):

  It's not going to be nice down there.

  She's down there crying.

  It's nice to be down there and not watch TV.

Could it be used interchangeably with "Over there"?


texts: Clasping arms when cold: how does one say that?

texts:
How does one say in English when, as a reaction to cold, a person crosses their arms, grabbing their own shoulders? It is a very common gesture, not shrugging as "I don't care", but to keep the cold off.
I believe there is one verb, but I can't remember it.


texts:
What does the word "feewing" mean?
I heard it in an animation, "Zootopia".
At first I thought it was feeling, but it turned out I was wrong and the word is "feewing".
Is it an English word?!
Is it slang? Or what?


texts:
I'm trying to figure out which one is the right way, grammatically:

Why won't you admit cheating in the exam?
Why won't you admit to cheating in the exam?

Thank you!


texts:
What does the word "gatefold" mean?

Sure, I know what it is (the whole internet is very eager to tell me what it is), but where does it come from?

The "gate" part that is, I can guess the "fold" part. But I can't find any sense of the word "gate" that would pertain to a way of folding paper.


texts: What is the correct form after "as well as"?

texts:
What is the correct form after as well as?

  App lets you send free messages (SMS, MMS, location-sharing) as well as make free calls to other App users on iPhone.

or

  App lets you send free messages (SMS, MMS, location-sharing) as well as making free calls to other App users on iPhone.

Any suggestion?


texts:
So we've already discussed at length whether it's okay to start a sentence with a coordinating conjunction, and it's pretty clear that it is (and I've already done it in this sentence). But (there we go again) it's very common to start a sentence with a conjunction followed by a comma, like this:

  So, here I go writing the first example.

This isn't limited to the beginning of a sentence. Although I've mostly seen it in the beginning of sentences, it's also common to see things like

  I wrote the first example, and, then I wrote the second example.

The origin of this is pretty clear; it's the fact that we take often pause in such situations in spoken English, and people who see commas simply as punctuation sprinkled about to create pauses would never second guess putting a comma here.

It's my understanding that this is incorrect—that a comma should not follow a conjunction like this—but I don't have any definitive sources, so I wanted to make sure.


texts:
What could an expression pea's knees mean in the following text?

  Can you see how he is loved in this place? Can you hear how these
  fishy folk think that he is the pea's knees?

  (David Almond)


texts: What did the first "day of reckoning" refer to?

texts:
The original meaning of "Day of reckoning" refers to:

  the Last Judgment of God in Christian and Islamic belief during which everyone after death is called to account for their actions committed in life. (Wikipedia)

the expression is metaphorically more commonly used in reference to:

  a day or time in the future when people will be forced to deal with an unpleasant situation which they have avoided until now, as in
  "The day of reckoning is coming for the water company directors". (Collins)

Etymonline says that the expression is from the 17th century:

  Day of reckoning,  attested from c. 1600.

It appears that the expression was probably coined in King James Bible even though English versions of the Bible had been written well before the 17th century.

Questions:

Can anyone confirm the religious origin of the expression, given that "reckoning" had been used from the 14th with reference to accounts and obligations?

Or was it originally a  layman's expression and later adopted by religious preachers?


texts:
I'm writing a song and I'm having trouble with the verb take away.
I understand that to take something away means to remove it. But I have also seen that to take away memories can mean to take them with you.

Lyrics:

  When it's time to spread my wings
  Take away the memories

I want to express "spread my wings (as in "leave and start a new chapter in my life") and take the memories with me".

Does it work, or does it mean the exact opposite?


texts: What do we call a company that provides the services that were outsourced?

texts:
If my company outsources some manufacturing site (pharmaceutical plant) auditing functions to a third-party company, what is the most generic term for that company? I found outsourcing provider, is that okay?

Example sentence, in my translation from Russian:

  The QPPV assesses the potential of the outsourcing provider to properly perform the pharmacovigilance functions chosen for outsourcing. For this purpose, the QPPV requests standard operating procedures available at the outsourcing provider, and other relevant information from its Qualified Person for Pharmacovigilance; if necessary, the QPPV may initiate an audit or develop other methods to evaluate the pharmacovigilance processes at the potential contractor.

The Russian term is аутсорсинговая организация (outsourcing organization).


texts: Can "grew warmer" be used as a replacement for "became warmer" anywhere? I've started to think of the phrase "grew warmer" and it seems kind of strange. Things can become warm, but it sounds strange to say that some things grow warm. Like for an inanimate object that doesn't grow, how is it ok to say that it grows warm? Can someone explain this?


texts:
How can I convey to my manager that I feel upset when I am not chosen for some critical activities?
Is the following sentence correct?

I feel that I am sideline for major/critical activities.