texts: If something fell out of Mars' sky onto the Martian surface, would it have "crashed to earth"?

texts:
In some fantasy writing I'm working with, it says "those citadels have crashed to earth and their secrets wait to be discovered" at some point.  However, the story's setting is not on Earth, our planet in reality.  It's also not named Earth.  Is "crashed to earth" correct here?

I asked the writer the question in the context of something falling out of the Martian sky and crashing onto the Martian surface, as I believe that to be a direct parallel to the situation in this fantasy story.  It would seem a little unusual to me to read "crashed to earth" in the context of Mars, and that is how it seemed in the context of this fantasy writing.


texts: How is "plenty" a pronoun in "plenty of time"?

texts:
The Oxford Dictionaries list "plenty" as a pronoun. Example sentences include:

I would have plenty of time to get home before my parents arrived
There are shops in plenty

But pronoun by definition is a word that substitutes for a noun or noun phrase. How is "plenty" a pronoun in these examples? What noun/noun phrase does it substitute for? In contrast, Merriam Webster lists it as noun, not pronoun. I think in the sentence You will have plenty to draw from "plenty" is a pronoun, but it being a pronoun doesn't make sense in the two sentences above. How is the usage of "plenty" in those sentences different from that of these ones:

I need a large amount of money.
There was food and drink in abundance.

Both "amount" and "abundance" are listed as noun in dictionaries.


texts:
There's a reasonably common idiomatic phrasing in the form "Way <infinitive phrase>!" that denotatively means "You did a good job of <whatever>", but is almost always used ironically.

Examples include "Way to go!" or "Way to bury the lede!".  (These are actually ironic in different ways, in that the first, presumably, is encouraging a good action when the action was bad, whereas the second is ironically encouraging a bad action.)

This has been touched on before in Way to do something, but my question is:

What is the grammatically-correct complete sentence version of this formation?  Or is it already and I'm not understanding how?

(Bolded because I've buried the lede.)

I can't actually think of an instance where you'd need to use that basic formation formally; I just can't figure out its basis.


texts: ''We average 8 hours’ work a day.'' Is this a correct sentence?

texts:
"We average 8 hours’ work a day." Is this sentence correct?
This is just a sentence written from my friend and I'd like to know the usage and form of the word, "average")

Please give me some examples to explain the usage.

Thanks, everyone!


texts: "Decide/Intend on [gerund]" vs. "decide/intend to [infinitive]"

texts:
In analogy with "plan on [gerund]", do the gerund constructions above have any currency in AE, or are these chiefly dialectal and might sound folksy to most ears?
E.g.

We decided on taking our next vacation to France.
We decided to take our next vacation to France.

.

We're intending on visiting Italy on our next vacation.
We're intending to visit Italy on our next vacation.


texts:
Which would be more appropriate when asking for address verification:

  Can you verify with me you mailing address?
  Can you verify for me your mailing address?

Though I believe this requires no preposition, so "Can you verify your mailing address?" would sound sensible as well.


texts:
If you do a search for chandler, most of the results are for suppliers to boats. Dictionaries suggest that one of the meanings of the word is a dealer or trader for a specialized market. Both dictionaries there mention a ship's chandler as one example, without saying that it's the predominant example (the other example given is corn chandler). Both of these dictionaries, and the Online Etymology Dictionary also define a chandler as one who makes or deals in candles. The etymology dictionary gives only this definition.

My guess is that chandler broadened from a dealer in candles to a dealer in any specialised trade and then narrowed to a supplier for boats. Is that right?

Just to confuse matters further, Wikipedia does not mention the any specialised trade definiton, suggesting the word moved directly from describing a candle-maker to describing a ship's supplier.


texts: "Automata theory" vs. "automaton theory"

texts:
The theory of groups is called group theory, not groups theory; the theory of functions is function theory, not functions theory; the theory of lattices is lattice theory, and so on.

  How come the theory of automata is called "automata theory" and not (or hardly ever) "automaton theory"?

A StartPage search for "automaton theory" got two (2) hits. Is "automaton theory" wrong or just unusual? Is there a rule for this, something like "regular English plurals ending in -s aren't used attributively but this doesn't apply to foreign plurals like automata and data"?


texts: Looking for a word to describe ineffectual people who would like to be effective

texts:
I need to create names for four categories of people - people who score either high or low on measures of environmental concern and pro-environmental behaviour. I have three sorted so far:

High environmental concern + high pro-environmental behaviour = pro-environmental individual
Low environmental concern + low pro-environmental behaviour = non pro-environmental individual
Low concern + high behaviour = honeybee (having unintended beneficial effects)

And I'm stuck on naming the fourth group:

High concern + low behaviour
This group is very concerned about the future of the environment, and presumably would like to prevent global climate change, but isn't acting on these concerns.

Any suggestions would be very much appreciated, either for the fourth group or alternatives for the first three :)
Thanks so much!


texts:
Context:

These specialty jobs are integral to the daily well-being of the
entire population, which lives in near isolation, what feels like
light years away from a hospital, a department store, and the
internet.

I understand that which lives in near isolation refers to the entire population, but which part of the sentence does what feels like light years away... refer to? Is it a relative clause, same as which lives in near isolation?
How should I paraphrase this sentence?
--
Thank you


texts:
What would you call a place where several boats are kept on a river? "Harbor" sounds wrong to me, as I associate it with the sea.

Here is an example of such a place in Brazil, from this Google Street View photo sphere:


texts:
I have known for a long time that there is noun called “catch-22” in English. In some cases, I really would like to use it but I'm not sure if it is a well known term.

AFAIK, it is used when you are stuck between two things. For instance:

  You can't get a job without any
  experience and you can't get any
  experience without a job. It is
  catch-22.

How widely is “catch-22” used?


texts: Has 'dreich' surreptitiously crossed the pond and does it lurk, somewhere, in AmE?

texts:
The word dreich has only made one appearance on EL&U, that I can find, and it was a questionably brief appearance in answer to a single word request.

This unassuming word did, however, top the polls five years ago in a Scotsman survey to find the most favoured word in the Scots language by its own speakers.

Merriam Webster, at least online, has a minimal note on dreich which states only 'dreary' and misses the breadth of the word in its spoken usage.

Born in the far north of Scotland in the early 1950s, not far from where the last wolf was killed in Britain and almost within sight of the ruins of a Pictish broch, I learned the word almost as soon as I was able to drink my free school milk unaided, for the weather in that area (one hundred miles north of Inverness) is almost always dreich.

As the saying goes in those parts, 'if you can see the hills it is about to rain and if you cannot see them it is raining already'.

The EL&U answer which quoted dreich was accurate in comment :

  Your dictionaries, Martha, are inaccurate. The word dreich explicity implies humidity and dampness. It would never be used to describe dry conditions.

This agrees with my own usage (and the usage in the north of Scotland) to describe dark overshadowing clouds, persistent (though never copious) drizzle and a cold (though not frozen) wind.

It is such a suitable word for Scottish weather that I am surprised it has no foothold in other parts and I am convinced that it must have crossed the Atlantic - in the Mayflower or later - to lurk, perhaps little noticed, in some dreary location where it is whispered over mugs of steaming cocoa as the cold dampness knocks quietly at the door.

Is there any sign of it, in any shape or form, in AmE ?


texts: How fitting is the term "Unruly allies" to describe a group of people with different alignments/interests

texts:
English is not my native language, so I have a bit of a hard time figuring out how fitting the term is:

Can "unruly allies" / "unruly alliance" describe a group of people with completly different alignments/interests forced to stick togheter for some reason? Can it be used to describe a temporary alliance that will fall appart as soon as it's possible?

The easiest way I could describe something like this is (in the D&D alingment sence) something like a "neutral evil" (completly self centered) character allied with "good" aligned characters, both sides depending on each other to get through some sort of otherwise unsolvable scenario.

Would the term "Unruly Allies" fit that, or are there better choices?


texts: where to put the possessive "s" with an appositive parenthetical

texts:
Say I have a gym instructor called Anne and it's her birthday. I want to convey that to someone who doesn't know who Anne is in one sentence.

In speech, I would probably say, "it is Anne, my gym instructor's, birthday." But, in writing, that seems wrong; it puts the possessive "s" in the subclause only.

So what is the correct way to write a sentence like this? "It is Anne's, my gym instructor's, birthday"? "It is Anne's, my gym instructor, birthday"? Something else?


texts:
Also seen as "noobie", "n00b", etc.

Etymonline gives an origin by 1969, possibly in the military. Is there a more definite origin anywhere? I know it is was also common on the Usenet, but of course any such use must have been post-1979 when Usenet was invented.

I know that the suffix "-bie" (as in freebie, etc.) is not uncommon, but I'm looking for specific usages of that suffix with the word "new".


texts: In the context of a video game, should we say a player is "on a level" or "in a level"?

texts: Is it safe to assume that the correct word is "on", because someone is usually on a stage and not in a stage?


texts: What's does poetry mean in 'Leave the poetry in what you make'?

texts:
I'm reading Jason Fried's book Rework, and I don't understand what poetry means in these sentences:

Pare down to the essence, but don't remove the poetry.
Leave the poetry in what you make.


texts: Difference between "What time do you come to class every day?" and "What time do you go to class every day?"

texts:
Could someone please explain me the difference between the following?

  A: What time do you go to class every day? B: At 8:00
  A: What time do you come to class every day? B: At 8:00

I understand them as

  In 1, B leaves home at 8:00 to go to class every day.
  In 2, B arrives at class at 8:00 every day.

Do I understand them correctly?


texts: Is it grammatically correct to use his, her, or his/her?

texts:
I've always thought that using the word "his" as a gender-nonspecific pronoun has been acceptable; in recent years, however, I've been told off by people when I do this, saying it is now "politically" correct you use "her" for a gender-nonspecific pronoun. I've always have, since these occurrences, used "his/her" (or "his or her") instead, though I am now pondering which of these to use, for I am currently writing a paper, and have no idea which pronoun to use; the "his or her" seems a little clunky, and I would much rather prefer an alternative.

This is not a duplicate of this, because I am asking which is generally accepted; also I am unable to use the word "one," as my paper should be understood by little ones. I already know that the use of the singular "they" is frowned upon (by English professors, both mine and others'), and that using a plural noun doesn't work for a good deal of my sentences that encounter this problem.

Any clarification is appreciated!


texts: Two "which"s, two "what"s, or a mix of "which/what"?

texts:
{I would say}: Which antibiotic works best against what type of infection – you need to have that knowledge under your belt.

I myself would use the combination of "which" and "what" in this instance, but do I actually need to use the same interrogative pronouns:

Which antibiotic works best against which type of infection – you need to have that knowledge under your belt.
{or}: What antibiotic works best against what type of infection – you need to have that knowledge under your belt.

These two both sound odd to my ears. I think that the interrogative pronoun "which" usually applies to a narrower range of choices than "what" indicates. Here the number of types of infections that I have in mind is quite large, so "what type of infection" seems a better fit.
And then, we go on to consider which antibiotic we should choose from several different (rather limited) options against a given infection.
Of course, in an instance like "I can't tell which is which", the two "which"s are the choice by default.


texts: What does "entrust a character" mean in the Supreme Court's gay marriage judgment?

texts:
I'm translating the Obergefell v. Hodges judgment into another language. As a non-native speaker, I really struggled with this sentence:

  The nature of injustice is that we may not always see it in our own
  times. The generations that wrote and ratified the Bill of Rights and
  the Fourteenth Amendment did not presume to know the extent of freedom
  in all of its dimensions, and so they entrusted to future
  generations a character protecting the right of all persons to enjoy
  liberty as we learn its meaning.

What does "entrust a character" mean here? I know that "entrust" means assigning responsibility, but what does "character" mean? A distinctive mental quality? How do you entrust that to someone?

Thank you so much!


texts:
I'm an Indian who has huge mother tongue influence while speaking English. I have to talk to Americans due to my job.

I frequently use "like this only" & "like that only" while speaking to emphasize "we have been doing some actions in certain manner/fashion".
I also use "at that time" frequently to convey that "Earlier we have done in that fashion/manner due to certain circumstances"

What are the equivalent phrases used by Americans for the above items?


texts: What word(s) can be used to discriminate between an audio recording and a 'video' recording?  For example, I used an ipad to record my students' group work, but I think that if I said, "I recorded my students' music", that could easily be understood as an audio recording. But I didn't 'videotape', because I used an ipad, however it is both audio/visual. Should I just use the word filmed? Like, "hey, let me show you a film I took of my students?" I feel like that sounds so old fashioned. When we watch Youtube what are we watching? "Do you want to watch a youtube video"?  Should we just agree that recordings that show visual are videos?


texts:
My current plight is that our dog has gone missing! I am creating a poster, and am asking anyone who may be reading to provide any information they may have.

Essentially what I am trying to convey is "We plea that you inform us on anything you may know"; quick and simple.

I find myself irritated, knowing that an expression for this exists but I cannot remember it.


texts: "More can be done yet" - correct use and position of the word "yet"

texts:
I want to say, despite the good progress, there are more that can be done.

Are the following use and position of the word "yet" correct and convey the intended message?

"More can be done yet." or

"More to be done yet." - seem like an incomplete sentence.

"More is yet to be done." - seem less impactful.


texts: A word/phrase to describe cooperation of scientists who lived in different times

texts:
Let's imagine that Scientist A works in some field but obviously they don't do everything from scratch but rather built upon past discoveries of, for example, Scientist B who lived 200 years before Scientist A was born.

I'm looking for a word or a phrase that would describe this situation. I thought of "intergenerational cooperation" but wouldn't the word "intergenerational" imply that it refers to cooperation between of e.g. a 20-year-old and a 80-year-old living in the same times? Can I use this phrase in this context?

Do you have any beter ideas for a phrase?


texts:
Researchers' communities think bananas have a lack of reliability.

How should I say this?

  There was a lack of reliability in the bananas, from the researchers' communities.
  There was a lack of reliability of the bananas, in the researchers' communities.

Or none of the above?


texts: If someone says, "Shoot, it was a great day to be alive." , what does he/she mean?

texts:
A example sentence from Oxford dictionary:

  Shoot - exclamation
  North American informal
  used as a euphemism for ‘shit’:

  shoot, it was a great day to be alive

What is the tone of this sentence? How to paraphrase it?


texts: Word for covering yourself with something while slouching?

texts:
It's what you usually do when the weather is cold. Example:

  We walked through the snow, [...] is within/inside our coats.


texts: Can one explain the different distributions of the Saxon and the analytic (Norman) (periphrastic, 'of') genitive

texts:
I gave a quick answer to part of this question which had not been covered by previous answers, trying to clarify the reason you would say time of decoding but not decoding’s time. I said it was ’s usually indicates possession, but of course there were several counterexamples that would have occurred to me after a moment’s consideration, and these where helpfully supplied:

Britain’s climate
two days’ time
a day’s work
the sun’s rays

I am still of a mind to say that possession of some sort is what allows the ’s. Even though the sun does not have title to its rays, they do belong to the sun. Now, at the risk of duplicating the original question and/or being pigheaded, I am curious as to why time of decoding but not decoding’s time is correct, if not for the reason I gave.


texts: Word for traffic running slower due to road impediments

texts: What is the word for when traffic or trains run slower and with multiplie unscheduled stops because of not really being congested but because of (rail)road works or change of pattern?


texts: Do I need to write [sic] when including a quotation with a number less than 10 that isn't written out?

texts:
I know you have to write out numbers less than 10. However, if you're quoting a source that doesn't do so, do you need to write [sic] after each number less than 10 that isn't written out?

For example, should “nationwide, 25.4% of students got 8 or more hours of sleep on an average school night” be written as “nationwide, 25.4% of students got 8 [sic] or more hours of sleep on an average school night”?

I'm using the MLA format.


texts:
Closely related to my other question, I am searching for an open/spaced compound noun for which the following properties hold:

Its constituents have a well-known association. Such as "honey" and this picture
The meaning (and association) of the compound is unrelated to the associations (and meanings) of its constituents. Or in other words: the open compound noun is not obvious given the two individual words (seems considerably harder than finding closed compound nouns).
The actual origin of the compound noun is irrelevant: it's about the general association that we have when looking at the words individually. Looking at "honey" individually, we think of honey. Looking at "moon" individually, we think of the moon. So "honeymoon" is the sort of compound noun of which the meaning is different from its constituents (too bad its not open).
The compound is open/spaced, such as tennis shoe

Note that "tennis shoe" is an example of exactly the opposite of what I'm looking for. Tennis has a certain association. Shoe has a certain association. So the meaning of "tennis shoe" is obvious.

Nota bene: even though my question is closely related to my other question, the answers to my other question were mostly closed compound nouns. This question specifically targets open compound nouns, so it is different both from my previous questions and it needs (satisfactory) answers that were not given in the other question.


texts:
What is the difference between the following.

  "You know where he is"

and

  "You know where is he"


texts:
I have a sentence that I would like to complete. The sentence is:

  "I was drawn to this moving creature like _______ "

Let's say the moving creature is an insect I had never seen before.

I am searching for a phrase that describes curious attraction or just attraction. All I could come up with right now are: like moon to the earth, and like a kitten to a ball of wool. Any suggestions people?


texts:
According to the site metro.co.uk, during a recent speech the British PM said:

Theresa May: "Our resolve will never waiver".

Though it is clear what she means by that sentence, "waiver" is generally used as a noun and most likely  the term  here is just a misspelling of "waver". Curiously the same mistake can be found in other sites like that of   The Financial Times for instance:

But today we meet as normal – as generations have done before us, and as future generations will continue to do – to deliver a simple message: we are not afraid. And our resolve will never waiver in the face of terrorism.

As clearly stated here in the Grammarist waiver is a noun, while waver is a verb, and actually, the only source I could find that mentions "waiver" as a verb is the AHD:

To waiver:  (waivered, waivering, waivers):

To provide with a waiver or issue a waiver for.

And  Wiktionaryoffers a usage example suggesting that it means to waive:

To waiver (transitive) To waive.
US Department of Defense, AR 195-3 04/22/1987 Acceptance, Accreditation, and Release of United States Army Criminal Investigation Command Personnel.

The USACIDC Accreditation Division will conduct an annual reconciliation of the individual's academic achievement, through his or her unit commander, until he or she meets the waivered civilian education requirement.

Questions:
Is the the usage of verb "waiver" in the British Press just a misspelling or a new idiomatic usage of the term?
Is waiver a common verb in AmE?


texts: The use of the word "out" twice in the same sentence

texts:
Is this sentence correct or could one avoid using "out" twice:

  I have something important to say that's been stressing me out these days and I need to let it out


texts: Is the expression "You the Man" gender neutral?

texts:
The expression "You The Man" is generally used to compliment a male.
Can this expression be used to compliment a female? If not, what is a suitable alternative?


texts: How do you pronounce Nekot (as in Nekot Cookies)?

texts:
Lance Crackers™ has a type of cookie called "Nekot" and we were having a discussion in our office about the correct way to pronounce it. We each say it in different ways: "Knee-cot", "Knee-coat", "Knee-co" and "Neck-it".

Which way is the correct way/is there a correct way?


texts: Is article and auxiliary verb omission in modern English an emerging phenomenon?

texts:
I am obviously not talking about newspaper headlines etc. in this question.

I tried looking it up online but wasn't able to find much. In many instances of spoken English (and, probably, making its way into written English as well), I notice people omit articles where they grammatically shouldn't.

An example from Daredevil which I just watched and remembered I've had this question for a while: "Kid's half an idiot! – It's the other half that counts." I'm positive you know what I'm getting at here. One could say "Dude is built like a tank" when the dude in question has been addressed already (and technically should have a "the" preceding it).
I have an intuition that the longer the phrase is, the less natural the omission sounds. For example, it's harder for me to imagine a phrase like "Dude flipped the table like it was made out of carton" without wanting to slap a "the" at the beginning.

I swear I've heard someone say "less you know about this, the better."

And finally, something that is probably the most widespread: dropping auxiliary verbs. It is so normal to ask a question like "sleep well?", meaning "did you sleep well?".

Yet, I cannot find any articles on this topic, and sometimes it makes me question whether I'm mishearing things. Yet, it is so widespread, there is no doubt it is a real phenomenon.

Is it a new phenomenon? Has anything like this happened before, either in English or in other languages? Are there any particular rules governing it?

Notes:

As of January 4, 2018, it is not listed as a type of grammatical ellipsis on Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellipsis_(linguistics)#Types_of_ellipsis).
It is not an example of Headlinese.
Questions like this one boil down to variations of headlinese / computerspeak, which is, again, not the case.
Examples of archaic and/or poetic usage may not be relevant here, but it would be delightful if there are parallels.


texts: What is it called when two unrelated clauses are joined and make no sense

texts:
I'm find this very hard to describe, but as it's something that I find grating I'm trying to find a word to describe it so I can discuss it with people.
Here is a conversation that to me makes sense:

Me: Do you like butter?
Someone else: No I don't, but I can spread it

This is not jarring. Maybe they could have said 'but at least I can spread it', but that feels implied.
Here is an example where the two clauses feel jarring:

Me: Do you like butter?
Someone else: Yes I do, but I can spread it

Here, you expect but to be a counter to the first clause, but in this example it's not countering anything. It feel clear the speaker meant to say 'and', but regardless this formation feels jarring.
Here's another example:

This is not isolated to but, however I can't find good example.

What is this called?


texts:
We are familiar with addendum (and addenda), which we take directly from Latin to mean

"something (or things) added"

This is used especially in regard to written work such as books.

Today I was writing/editing a summary of a meeting I had attended,  and gave a draft of the summary to one senior colleague (who also had attended the meeting) for him to review, before I send it out to a larger audience.

He pointed out several items (small sections)  in the summary, which actually were discussed at the meeting, but which he felt it would be ill-advised to publish, for office-political reasons.

I edited the summary, removing those parts and setting them aside in a separate file.  It made sense to me to title that file Subtrahenda, on the arithmetical model:

Addend* + Addend = Sum

Minuend – Subtrahend = Difference

I then used an online dictionary metasearch  and found that subtrahendum apparently does not appear in any of the "usual" dictionaries. But it does appear in the Urban Dictionary, in the sense I expected.

http://ru.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=subtrahendum

However, that definition mentions "a list", which, it serms to me, would better be described as subtrahenda (from the latin plural, like agenda and addenda).

I am well aware of redaction, but my understanding is that this refers to striking of text after a document was printed. (An aside: I learned today that many of Secretary Hillary Clinton's email messages were just released, and one part of one of them was redacted because it was retroactively declared  "classified" by the FBI, though that information was not "classified" at the time it was sent. So the topic seems timely, although her case differs from mine; hers seems clearly about redaction.)

I realize that the process of removing text before publication (by the author( is a kind of_prior (self) censorship_, but I am not looking for a word for the process, but rather for the part that was removed and set aside.

So my question is this: is there an existing word that means exactly that—the portion that is intentionally removed from a document (by the author) before its publication, and saved as a separate smaller document?  Or should I use the neologism subtrahendum, or my variant of it subtrahenda?

*(sometimes called the augend)


texts:
I ran into this expression when reading Jon Meacham's Art of Power,

  He(Jefferson) was usually a master of his emotions. "I know of no gentleman better qualified to pass over the disagreeables of life than Mr. Jefferson, as he makes his calculations for a certain quality of imposition which must be admitted in his intercourse with the world," said a friend of Jefferson's. "When it shows itself in high colors, he has only to count ten and he is prepared for the subject."

I have checked the word "color" in Merriam-Webster, it contains the meaning of "nature, character" when used as plurals. But I feel it's not quite right and I don't know which definition is better fitting here in this context.


texts: What does ‘“I don’t know if there’s a cloud name for where I am right now,” mean?

texts:
Christian Lopez, a New York student who retrieved Derek Jeter’s 3,000th hit and simply returned the ball to the Yankees shortstop was lauded for his honorable and unselfish act. He became the limelight of American baseball fans on the sudden. Tim Stelloh reports in the New York Times’ article (July 13) titled “Yankees Fan’s generosity is returned, With $50,000 to ease his debt,” as follows;

  “At the news conference, Mr. Lopez appeared stunned. “I don’t know if
  there’s a cloud name for where I am right now,” he said.”

What does “cloud name” mean in this particular context. I find the word, “cloud name” in neither English Japanese dictionaries nor Oxford Advanced English Learners Dictionary at hand. Does it mean Lopez was dismayed with the great fuss around him and wished to hide from the mess that turned him out a baseball fan superstar?


texts: vocabulary related to phone put down or something else

texts:
What's the word in English when in a phone conversation, one party suddenly put down the reception without saying goodbye or completing the conversation, just because of a tense conversation?
Thank you


texts: Is there a word or phrase for video games in which the goal is to maximize your score?

texts: Most (but not all) of those old arcade games were about collecting points and maximizing your score, usually in some kind of endless loop that kept getting harder and harder. Think Pinball, Tetris, Space Invaders, etc. Is there a word or short phrase for such games?


texts: Is the pronunciation of "secret" /ˈsiːkrət/ or /ˈsiːkrɪt/?

texts:
Under the entries for secret in Cambridge, Oxford Learner's, and MW Learner's dictionaries, the recordings of the word are clearly saying /ˈsiːkrɪt/ but the IPAs transcriptions are /ˈsiːkrət/.
The Free Dictionary gives the transcription as /ˈsiːkrɪt/.
It is very uncomfortable for me to pronounce /ˈsiːkrət/. On the contrary, it is very comfortable for me to pronounce /ˈsiːkrɪt/.
I think the dictionaries made a mistake by transcribing the pronunciation as /ˈsiːkrət/, because I hear it clearly as /ˈsiːkrɪt/. There is no possible way to pronounce /ˈsiːkrət/.
So, is the pronunciation of secret  /ˈsiːkrət/ or /ˈsiːkrɪt/?


texts: word usage in academic writing - possesses, beyond, ability

texts:
Could you help me to check if this sentence is ok?

  Beyond having similar osmosis potential to polymer sponges, it is desirable that the covering material possesses the ability of being dispersed by the environment while being continuously replaced by the structure beneath

Can I use the words beyond and ability in this context in a academic paper?
Is possesses employed right?


texts: What is the origin/formal definitions of the phrase "pros and cons"?

texts:
The phrase "pros and cons" is often used to weigh the positive and negative effects that would result from taking a particular course of action. When trying to explain to someone else why only actions (and not objects or people's reasons for doing things) have pros and cons [e.g. there are no pros or cons for grass; there are pros and cons for having grass], I realized that I have no idea why this seems to be the rule.

I have so far come to the conclusion that both "pro" and "con" are probably abbreviations, but I can't figure out what they are abbreviations of. Does anyone know? How does this create the usage rules detailed above?


texts: Which preposition to use with "stay current"?

texts:
I am unsure what preposition should be used with "stay current" (staying up to date). Are all these variations valid and have equal meaning?

stay current with
stay current on
stay current in

The sentence that this will be used in is:

I stay current [with/on/in] different topics of the computer game industry.


texts: What does the expression "old soldier" mean?

texts:
In the story "An Unprotected Female at the Pyramids", one of the female characters is twice referred to pejoratively (by men) as an "old soldier".

It's clearly an idiom, since she's young ("about thirty years of age") and she's not a soldier.

Here are the two instances, for a bit of context (emphasis added):

  With what income Miss Dawkins was blessed no one seemed to know. She lived like a gentlewoman, as far as outward appearance went, and never seemed to be in want; but some people would say that she knew very well how many sides there were to a shilling, and some enemy had once declared that she was an "old soldier." Such was Miss Dawkins.

and

  "Hah! ha! ha!" laughed Mr. Ingram; "I must say she plays her game well; but then she is an old soldier, and has the benefit of experience." What would Miss Dawkins have said had she known that Mr. Ingram called her an old soldier?

What does "old soldier" mean here?


texts: Is "meaner, minor things" a sensical phrase?

texts:
I have in my diction this phrase:

  Meaner, minor things

that I've always understood as a way to say "things that are less important than other things."

Before using it in a work email today, I googled the phrase to make sure I was spelling it / understanding it correctly. However, Google yielded no confirmation that this is even a real phrase that people use.

Am I making this phrase up? Does it make sense? Perhaps my spelling is incorrect and google did not throw me a bone? What am I missing?


texts:
I know that this sentence is grammatically incorrect, and I know of a few ways to fix the problem, but I don't actually know why it's incorrect and that bothers me.

  Climate change is a biological threat, if not constrained it will be a key danger to health and life on Earth.

Any explanation would be appreciated.


texts: "On the last week" or "In the last week"?

texts:
I'm planning a trip. My plane lands on the 29th of August. Should I say:

  I'll arrive on the last week of August.

or

  I'll arrive in the last week of August.

Web searches show that both prepositions are used; reading a reference website made me more inclined towards "in", though I am still not sure.


texts: Habitual activities within a limited period of time

texts:
It is a well known fact that habitual activities are expressed by the Present Simple.

I go to the movies once a month. (it is a very simple and clear example)

But I have come across tricky contexts where I am not sure what guidelines to use to make the right choice. Here are two examples taken from two grammar books.

1) ... "I can't stand people who never stop apologizing all the time" - she told me. And besides I know he is deceiving poor Helen. He is seeing Betty Wills from the overseas department. And plenty of other interesting things are currently going on. For instance, every week we are experiencing more and more problems with theft. "

The book says that every week we are experiencing is correct. So, we have the Present Continuous here. Another text from a different book.

2) "I am having a great time here in England. My college term doesn't start until next month, so I am taking the opportunity to earn some money. I am staying with my English friend Robbie. His parents own a software business. In the evenings I drive into London with Robbie to go clubbing. I am making a lot of new friends. On weekdays I help Robbie's dad."

The book says that In the evenings I drive and On weekdays I help Robbie's are correct.

My question is: Why is it correct to use the Present Continuous in the first example and the Present Simple in the second? To me they have a lot in common. They happen within a limited period of time. It seems to me that the authors of the first book don't see "experiencing" as a habitual action while the authors of the second book see drive and help as habitual actions.

Would it be possible to use the Present Simple in the first example and the Present Continuous in the second and why not if not?


texts: Word that means earliness and lateness at the same time

texts:
I'm looking for a word that means "something not being at the expected time"
An example would be:

I was expecting my package tomorrow and it arrived today. The package was ____

or

I was expecting my package yesterday and it finally arrived today. The package arrived ____


texts: When to use wrong or wrongly as adverbs?

texts:
It seems that wrong is not only an adjective, but is also a proper adverb ("You're doing it wrong!", right?). There's, however, an adverb wrongly, which probably means the same thing.

Talking about adverbs, when does one use wrong or wrongly?


texts: What word/phrase can I use for "Arson card?"

texts:
Many years ago at a corporate training event we were playing a simulation game where each team had an "arson card" they could play during their turn. It doesn't take much imagination to understand what this card does: it turns the game into a scorched-earth strategy where the intent is to destroy the other team.

What work or phrase can I use to represent this idea? Something like, "if they don't agree to term x, we can take action y as our arson card."


texts: Idioms for saying when one's bad situation compounded with more problems

texts:
Any idioms in English for describing a person's, who is already in a bad situation confronted with new difficulties?

In my native language, we say "A man already stuck by lightning, bitten by a snake'

I am aware of 'From frying pan to fire', but that is when situation is going from bad to worse. Here he is facing additional difficulties.

thanks


texts: Are these PPs or non-finite clauses – or something else entirely?

texts:
I'm wondering about the construction for [NP] to [VP], as illustrated in the following examples:

(1) I waited for you to come here

(2) He arranged for me to go there

(3) For him to do that took courage

(4) For you to apologise is not enough

My questions are:

what is this construction from a formal point of view? I can't see how for can be anything other than a preposition, which would suggest that it is a PP – but prepositions can't take infinitive clauses as complements, can they?
if it's not a PP, but rather a non-finite clause, then what function does for have in the clause, and what is for from a formal point of view?
are we dealing with the same formal construction in all four examples?
what are the functions of the relevant construction in (1) and (2)?


texts: Why is the word "cello" pronounced with CH /tʃ/ and not S?

texts:
I have always been pronouncing the word "cello" and "ciao" with a /s/ sound but today I found out that they were actually /tʃ/ ⟨ch⟩.
It is /ˈtʃɛloʊ/ and /ˈtʃaʊ/. The letter C gives /tʃ/ sound rather than /s/ (which is what it should give before E and I). Almost all other words in which C comes before the letter E and I give /s/ sound. Examples: cell, fence, cent, city etc., the only common exception is "Celt" which has a /k/ sound.
I searched my question on Google and it gave me some similar questions in other platforms.
Same question on Quora:
One answer on Quora says:

It comes from Italian, and in Italian spelling, a c in front of an e or i is pronounced /tʃ/" but we have many other words that are from Italian in which the C comes before E and yet it gives /s/ sound like "concert" and some other.

It didn't convince me.
Wikipedia was also of no help.
So why is it pronounced with ⟨ch⟩ /tʃ/ and not /s/ ⟨s⟩?
Note: I know that English spelling is weird and does not represent English pronunciation but things have causes and reasons. I just want to know what "caused" it.


texts: Should we use `personal pronoun` multiple times in a sentence?

texts:
Example 1: Should we say this

  The authors study the load balancing problem and present greedy algorithms for it.

or this

  The authors study the load balancing problem and they present greedy algorithms for it.

Example 2: Should we say this

  We design algorithms for the problem and then we show that these algorithms are efficient.

or this

  We design algorithms for the problem and then show that these algorithms are efficient.


texts: Usage question: "I hadn't drank any coffee before I lived in Italy."

texts:
Ok, so as an English teacher, I know that in the present and past perfect tenses, the auxiliary verb have is followed by the past participle form of the verb.
Using most verbs, I find that this is true for all sentences I have heard. However, on several instances, I have run into a native speaker using the past form of the verb (drank) where the grammar calls for the past participle (drunk).
For example: "I hadn't drank any coffee before I lived in Italy."
According to grammar norms, this sentence should be: "I hadn't drunk any coffee..."
More and more, I noticed that people tend to use drank instead of drunk after perfect aspect constructions. This construction was used across all communities of practice and wasn't subject to dialect boundaries.
According to results from http://www.phras.in, have drank and have drunk are clear, with the standard have drunk being 4x more prevalent than have drank. However, with an instance rate of about 200,000 for the non-standard form, that is nothing to scoff at. However, the opposite was true with the negative form haven't drank vs. haven't drunk with the non-standard being almost twice as prevalent.
EDIT: As for the dialect variant idea, I have researched into the various dialectal changes involving the past participle. Most constructions involving the variant are indicated to be dialectal or just plain bad grammar. However, when I started hearing it from people from the UK, this is when I started asking questions. Looking into it further, I have found some linguistic research papers involving corpora and frequency analyses of this phenomena and have found that there is definitely a shift among non-standard verbs to use the past instead of the participle for perfect aspect. At least according to the BNC and COCA. This is usually with germanic-root words such as bid/bade/bid, drink/drank/drunk, bit/bit/bitten.

Research Paper: I haven't drank in weeks
Another Example

So, my question, then, is whether or not there is some sort of construction that is the exception for this particular situation, i.e. some construction where perfect tense does not use past participle after the aux. verb, or if this is simply some crazy, non-standard phenomenon with the verb drink in the perfect tense.


texts: Is "To [Adverb] [Infinitive]" Still a Valid Infinitive form?

texts:
This question is specifically for I work to nearly get success, but the question is also asking in general.

I shouldn't use nearly to get because that would detract from from my purpose of working.


texts:
Is "get the run around" a US idiom or is it widely understood throughout the English-speaking world?

I'm an American and recently I was in Argentina making a domestic flight connection from Buenos Aires to another Argentinian city.  My flight's gate-time was repeatedly delayed (we finally left 6 hours late) and when I asked gate attendants and other airline staff what the problem was and when the plane would arrive at the gate I either got conflicting answers, or was referred to other staff who kept referring me to others, etc, with no useful information.  I sometimes got the sense they knew more than they were saying. I could see on the departure/arrivals board that many flights were affected.  (the next day I found out in the news that there had been a short air traffic controllers' strike).

In the US we call the experience I had with the airline staff "getting the run around".  I'm writing an email to an Australian friend in which I want to describe my experience and my question is, is "getting the run around" an idiom that is understood throughout the English-speaking world or is it unique to America?    Is there another widely-used expression that might substitute?    Is there an Australian slang or idiomatic phrase that expresses my experience?


texts:
Many years ago I translated a document and wrote "he was assigned to an operation" (context: hospital operation, the assignee is undergoing one). An English professor who volunteered to copyedit my translation said that this was incorrect. I checked real-world usage and found that indeed, such a phrase was not used.

The question is, why is this incorrect? For example, "he was assigned to a class" is widely-used and (I assume) correct. Is it because one can only be assigned to a group? Or is there another reason?


texts: Is there a sentence that begins with “them”?

texts:
An online retail store is asking its customers to construct a sentence beginning with them in order to win a voucher. I just can't believe there's  any such sentence, at least I don't know of any!

I've had enough laughs with friends coming up with Americanisms that fit, so that's not what I'm looking for.

I'm just very curious, is such a sentence grammatically possible or is this store just being mischievous?


texts: Is there a difference between 'spite' and 'malice'? Are they interchangeable? Is there an instance where one would be more suitable than the other?


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  What is the difference, if any, between 'art', 'the arts', and 'Art'?

Which is more correct in describing a software developer: art developer or arts developer? If you have additional ideas, please choose one from these two first and then post what you think.


texts:
I was wondering if it was the correct way to use 'Particular'. Correct me if I am wrong.

"it is good for us to focus on basic things in particular before we go in deep."


texts: What expression to use when a wave hits the beach and fades away?

texts: I am looking for word or expression that refers to the moment when a wave, with all its strength, closes itself, hits the beach and fades away.


texts:
Dear EnglishStackExchange users,

I have been reading a book written by S. King, "Under the Doom."
The author is from the New England--if I am not mistaken--and the story in the book unfolds in the same state.

On this book, I have read a way to tell the time of which I have never heard. It uses "of" and I have read on this chapter of stack.exchange its meaning: e.g. fifteen of three = 2,45. Without that explanation I would still be wondering whether "fifteen of three" meant 2,45 or 3,15.

My question now is the following: is this a New England expression to tell the time?

I have this doubt because I asked the meaning of "fifteen of three" to some Americans (from Minnesota, California and Colorado) and none of them has ever heard of it.


texts: Is 'I speak to what... [+complement]' the same as 'I speak of/about... [+complement]'?

texts:
While working on a translation (AmE to Por-BR), I came across the following sentence:
'I feel the need to speak to what I think of the book some three years later.'

I don't think I've ever heard this form before and, were I to choose a way of communicating (what I suppose is) the same idea, I would probably choose 'speak of what I think...' or 'speak about what I think...' Does that sound alright? Is it a matter of collocation? Is it because 'about' is more often used with 'talk' rather than 'speak'? I don't know, it just feels weird to me.

Here are some examples I found listed on Google's search results:

'... of human biology, of human evolution, that all speak to what's special about the human species.' [speak to what + VERB]

'... I speak to what appear to be features of Chomsky's views of science...' [speak to what + VERB]

'... I'd like to speak to what's wrong with your car...' [speak to what + VERB]

'Speak to what you want to create.' [speak to what + PRONOUN]

'I am without OED access, so can't speak to what they may have.' [speak to what + PRONOUN]

'I can't speak to what Korean-Koreans think of Kyopos...' [speak to what + NOUN]

'I can't speak to the history behind the words "low level programming", but I can speak to what it means.' [speak to + ARTICLE + NOUN]; [speak to what + PRONOUN]

Am I overthinking this? Is it just a way of saying 'talk about', or 'speak of', or is there a different usage to it? Could it be that 'speak to (what)' may only be used in specific situations?


texts: Usage of an article in a specific sentence

texts:
"It also affects the general mood and happiness of a smoker".
If I am writing about smokers in general, do I need to put the definite article before the word general?


texts:
I've looked up each and every possible meanings of sound. I've reduced the options to two or so. But I still find it hard to ascertain the meaning of sound and the way its is used in this context.

Here it is:

We cannot, like fear-ridden peasants of antiquity, hope to load all our crimes onto a goat and then drive the hapless animal into the desert. Our everyday idiom is quite sound in regarding “scapegoating” with contempt.

Naturally, I can't come up with an intelligible meaning or paraphrasing of the relevant sentence.

My trials:

The idiom we use everyday is highly reliable to despise "scapegoating".
The idiom we use everyday has very valid reasons for looking down on "scapegoating". (The idiom has reasons??? I don't know.)
The idiom we use everyday gives us very valid reasons to disdain "scapegoating".

Obviously, I'm confused and need help.

Thank you.


texts:
Question:

Is it possible to start a grammatically-correct English sentence with the word "Than"?
If no, what other English words share this property?

Background:

Trevor claimed that it is impossible. This is an attempt to verify or repudiate Trevor's claim.


texts: Can I use “You say Tomato, I (we) say X,” in the exactly same manner as “We agree to disagree,” in day-to-day conversation?

texts:
I found an interesting phrase, “You say Tomato, I say X” in the headline of the article of Time magazine (June 9).
The headline and lead copy read:

“You say Tomato, I say Bailout: How Spain agreed to be rescued. Knowing how bailouts doomed the governments of other countries, Madrid insists it has accepted a massive "loan" to recapitalize its banks. Others, however, are calling it as they see it.”

I found out also that “You say Tomato, I say Bailout “ is a twist of the phrase, “You like tomato and I like tomahto;” in the verse of the song by George and Ira Gershwin, "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off" (1937), through Google.

It says the song was pretty old, from 1937. Is this still a popular phrase that I can use in day-to-day conversation, or even at a formal meeting to express that “we are different in opinion”?

For instance, people’s opinions are sharply split in Japan today as to which should come first, government’s spending cut, or consumption tax increase. Can I say to our government “You say tomato, we say government’s spending cut”?


texts:
I've often seen the words graf and paragraph used seemingly interchangeably, but I've never read or heard it explained when each should be used (or if they are indeed interchangeable).

Are they equivalent, or are there circumstances in which one makes more sense than the other?


texts: Is "War needs heroes" grammatically correct?

texts: It's intended to be used as a slogan of a war-type game. Should the subject be "war" or "a war" or "wars"? And what the verb form should be accordingly?


texts: A person who isn't skilled in a particular field, a common (wo)man

texts: For example, you're a fashion designer who wants to get the opinion of both a professional and someone who doesn't know much about fashion. What's a term for the latter person?


texts: Is there a word for when a usage change orphans a definition?

texts:
Is there a simple way to describe the phenomenon when usage of a word or expression changes in such a way that it leaves the original concept without a word to describe it?

As usage evolves, sometimes the a new meaning orphans an existing definition. For example, cadence is used when schedule, period, or rhythm is meant.

"We are on a weekly cadence for planning meetings" vs. "We are on a weekly schedule for planning meetings."

At some point, we will no longer have a word meaning "a sequence of notes or chords comprising the close of a musical phrase." There is no alternative word for this definition of cadence.

Another example: "Begging the question" is used all the time to mean "suggesting the question," rather than its original definition of the logical fallacy of assuming the conclusion in the premise.


texts: What is the difference between the words curiosity and curiousness? How and when do you use them?


texts: Can the word ‘genius’ be used as an adjective?

texts:
Can the word 'genius' be used as an adjective?

For example: 'A genius plan' or 'This is a genius piece of work'?


texts: What is the origin of "rock" meaning "utilize"?

texts:
Urban Dictionary example:

  "you can have the bed, I'll rock the couch"

Earliest example I can think of:

  RUN D.M.C. "It's Tricky" -- "It's tricky to rock a rhyme . . . "

Now it seems pervasive.  Is there something else that put it on the map or did it just take 25+ years to slowly filter into the mainstream from Ebonics (unlike, e.g., "Word Up," which seems to have risen and fallen over the same period).


texts: Why adding s to the sentence ".. to groups"

texts:
I am confusing with the following sentence from a writing book,

  People were randomly assigned to groups.

Although I agree and I think it is correct (instead of "to group"),
but I don't know the reason.

Since the subject is plural, the verb should be without 's'.
However, using verb+s, feel more natural for me.


texts:
Can anyone tell me about the meaning of the sentence?

  The walker presents chains to the compiler in terms of bytecode-level actions

Does it mean:

  The walker presents chains to the compiler, and these chains are in the format of bytecode-level actions?

or something else?


texts:
I’m working on translating some email templates for my company, and in those, we refer to our case processing times (on our website).

I originally wrote “read more about our case processing times”, but because we already have a “read more about…” right above it, one of my coworkers suggested I should use “see also our case processing times”. I’m not a native English speaker, but this sounds weird to me.

Is this correct? Do you have a better suggestion?


texts: What's the correct phrase to use? In our app or on our app

texts:
This new service will be available in our app.

This new service will be available on our app.

What's correct? Second one feels wrong but interested to know what's right here.


texts:
Is there a good phrase or word that means the opposite of "coexist"?

The phrase I am using it in is similar to "these two ideas need not (be) __."


texts: The usage of study to be or learn to be. Can you say study to be a hairdresser?

texts:
I had a discussion with my colleagues about studying and learning.

I thought that you can say studying to be a hairdresser and not learning to be one. Or can you? Is it the same?

The problem is the word study and my colleagues think that involves only the studying to be a doctor, for example. That you don't really "study" to be a hairdresser.

Thanks


texts: Difference between Grandma and Grandma-ma?

texts:
This is my first question here so please be gentle with me. I have a relative staying with me from Mississippi who says things about manners and behavior in reference to his grandma-ma. It goes a little like.

  My grandma-ma always said X.

or

  My grandma-ma raised me better than to do X.

Now I've just kind of assumed that grandma-ma was a southern way of saying grandma but recently I've been lead to believe that it refers to a great-grandmother.

Sadly my relative has continued their travels and I don't have a way of touching base with them to ask.

Can someone explain to me this difference and maybe include a source where I can find out more about how it came to be. Running a google search on this kind of took me to a bunch of places that didn't answer my question.


texts:
What's the meaning of backwards here? Does it mean it's going towards a worse state?

  English is hands down the most comprehensive and efficient language. The language of an advanced civilization

  lol I know you are goofing around but after learning Spanish and being able to speak it fluently for almost 15+ years now, English is such a backwards piece of s***.


texts: I am looking at the question "What do you think is in the box?". If a child trying to ask this question says "what do you think what is in the box?" with intonation reflecting that they are not reformulating their sentence (no pause in the middle), is their use of "what" a second time a reflection of difficulty with subordinated clause structure or something else? I appreciate the input.


texts: What does a restrictive ‘as’ clause modify?

texts:
We discussed socialism as allowed by law.

A learner on ELL asked whether it is “socialism or the discussion itself” which is allowed by law. I responded that the phrase could only be understood as involving “legally allowed discussion” if “set off with a comma (or expressed with corresponding comma-intonation in speech) or moved to an earlier position”;

  without a comma, as allowed by law is understood to be a restrictive modifier on socialism: what we discussed might be expressed as “legally allowed socialism”.

I think that absent some contrary context I was substantially correct. On consideration, however, another angle on this occurs to me: that the meaning of the as clause does in a sense ‘overflow’ onto the verb: it is not merely socialism which is restricted to a specific aspect of that topic but the discussion of it as well.

I was in part prompted to this reflection by another question, raised first on ELL and subsequently in somewhat different form on Linguistics: Do predicative adjuncts modify nouns or verbs. The very cogent answer provided may not be directly relevant but it is at least suggestive.

How do we parse as clauses like these?

  We discussed socialism as allowed by law.
  As written, the sentence implies that it is socialism which is allowed by law.

ADDED:

  That is, supposing that it is given that we are discussing socialism only insofar as socialism is allowed by law and not as it is in other contexts, does not that also imply that discuss as well as socialism is modified by the clause as allowed by law? And if it is given that it a sentence has certain implications only insofar as the sentence is treated as a written text and not under other categories, does not that also imply that implies as well as sentence is modified by as written?

And does it make any difference if we write

  We discussed socialism as it is allowed by law.
  As it is written, the sentence implies that it is socialism which is allowed by law.


texts:
I am a marketing writer and am working on a product description, which would be as follows:

  We track cool metrics like location, duration, speed and steepness.

Is that use of the word correct?  Any insight would be wonderful.


texts: Is this sentence correct; "Thank you for your letter about the missing items in both yours’ and your mother’s homes"?


texts:
I've been writing some stuff to my English classes, and in between them, I found myself with a question. There are a lot of ways to divide a word, meaning for example at the end of the sentence - when the space is over, it is a well-known criteria to break-up the syllables, as in any dictionary.

However, I've always been taught that words in English could NOT be separated (as Spanish and Portuguese - my birth languages), and when I began reading and studying the language closer, I noticed that YES! They can be. So, in conclusion, my teachers always said I was never to divide them, which means I do not have a lot of knowledge about this.

Running through the question (which is the main point here), how do I break a word if it's a verb terminating in -ING?

For example:

  She was talking.

Can I say the infinitive verb and follow it by a hyphen, allocating the -ing on the line under? E.g.,

  She was talk-
  ing.

Or am I supposed to don't do anything, and continue dealing with them as it is impossible to divide them?

(Making my test look a little bit messy and informal).

I hope some of you can help me, I really struggled to find this information on the internet.


texts:
I have a sentence in this form:

  The product uses an example system to show how a fully featured system can be built-up.

It's been suggested that in this context, built up (without a hyphen) is more correct. I have a feeling that the difference is quite slight. I want to convey a layered approach to the design process.

If it makes a difference, this is a technical document, and intended to use American English (which is not my native language).


texts: Single word for: calculator "for whole dataset at a time"

texts:
I am writing a title for a research paper, which presents a new calculation method (calculator) for identifying patients comorbidity status. This method allows calculating comorbidity statuses for all patients in data at once (no need for one-by-one calculations). Basically, insert your data and this will add comorbidity statuses for all patients.
How to write the "whole-dataset" characteristic in English?

Novel dataset/dataset-wide/whole-dataset/... calculator for identifying patient's comorbidity status


texts: Do people mean "*flea market*" is like the dirty market which has a lot of fleas?

texts:
A flea market (or swap meet) is a type of bazaar that rents space to
people who want to sell or barter merchandise. Used goods, low quality
items, and high quality items such as collectibles and antiques are
commonly sold. Many markets offer fresh produce or baked goods, plants
from local farms and vintage clothes. Wikipedia

My question is the word "flea", which is "a small wingless jumping insect that feeds on the blood of mammals and birds. It sometimes transmits diseases through its bite, including plague and myxomatosis." Source, is not a nice term.
SO, do people mean "flea market" is like the dirty market which has a lot of fleas?


texts: What do you call someone who shoots fireworks professionally?

texts: What is the name of the occupation for someone whose job it is to set up a fireworks display, fire it off for an event such as July 4th, and then tear it down? I have informally heard them called "pyros" but this seems to be more jargon than an actual name of an occupation.


texts: Best word for.....different types of physical constructs

texts:
I have a triple request but they're related.

Word for a solid filled object in a given shape (ie triangle made out of steel sheet)
Word for object in a given shape with only the outline (ie. A set of steel beams that form a triangle)
A word like shape to refer to something that has x number of sides and/or is made with y shape


texts: Was "oop" really more common than "oops" till 1990?

texts:
Google Ngrams shows a marked preference for oop over oops up until 1990:

Is Ngrams to be trusted here?  Is it strange that I've never seen oop in writing?  Even Dictionary.com doesn't have anything more than acronyms under oop.


texts: "As I was to learn was the case with so much in Iran, everybody just turned a blind eye."

texts:
I came across a sentence while reading a book and couldn't figure out both the meaning and the structure of it at all. The sentence is:

"But, as I was to learn was the case with so much in Iran, everybody just turned a blind eye."

What's confusing me is the first part, "as I was to learn was the case with so much in Iran." I guess it's the inversion of " With so much the case in Iran as I was to learn." Am I right?


texts: Term for the ending consonant of one word connected/disconnected from the next leading to different yet related meanings?

texts:
In his 2013 TEDx Houston talk The tyranny of the rocket equation, astronaut and International Space Station Flight Engineer Don Pettit humorously introduces two categories of mass launched from Earth into space:
At about 10:46 in the video:

So this brings me to my final slide.
The tyranny of the rocket equation; it involves the magnitude of gravity, and the energy in chemical bonds, which hold this tyrannical grip on our ability to even make rockets, and it’s very difficult to even leave Earth, and it’s particularly so to leave Earth with significant payload.
If the magnitude of Earth’s gravity were slightly larger you could reach a point where we couldn’t even get off the planet using rockets.
So the question that I’d like to plant in all of you guys and gals minds is something to do with rethinking rockets. Is there some other way to get off of Earth without using a rocket; hence you could break the tyranny of the rocket equation, or if we’re not clever enough to think of an answer, and we have to use rockets, could we minimize the tyranny simply by we don’t bring our dumb mass.

"smart mass": computers, life-support..
"dumb mass": (extra) air, water, bricks...

An ongoing question in space exploration is that of the smartness of sending people versus robotic spacecraft to space. And so a twist on astronaut Pettit's last line in his talk would be:

we don’t bring our dumb ass

meaning that all of the air, water, life-support, humans and waste can be avoided. Leave your dumb-ass on Earth and just send the robot to space, implying it's stupid to send humans to space.
Question: What is it called when the ending consonant of one word being connected or disconnected from the next word can lead to two different but related terms?


texts: What meaning is "legitimate(ly)" gaining?

texts:
I'm familiar with the following meanings of legitimately

  In a way that conforms to the law or to rules

and

  In a way that can be defended with logic or justification; fairly

(both from ODO)

But recently I have seen legitimately and legitimate used to mean something else. I can't tell if it's just an intensifier, like very (adv) or extreme (adj) or if it's being mistaken for another word, or what.

Below are some examples. Can someone pinpoint this emerging meaning?

  TIL some children have such a legitimate fear of math that brain scans actually show their amygdalae (fear centers) activate when faced with a math problem.

(reddit)

This isn't using legitimate to mean a fear that conforms to rules, nor is justifiable, because neither of those things would affect how it shows up in a brain scan. The strength of the fear would affect that.

  I look like I'm legitimately scared of food.

(BuzzFeed)

This isn't about legality or justifiability because that cannot be conveyed by a look.

  I legitimately think whoever designed Yeezys did it for a bet. "I bet you can't design the worlds ugliest shoe and sell it for $2,000."

(Clint Evans, twitter)

This isn't about legality because we don't have thought police. It could be about justifiability, but semantically is seems more likely to mean honestly or really.

While the uses are different, they seem to be converging to a similar meaning. I just can't quite figure out what it is.


texts:
The word wavelength has the figurative usage with allusion to radio reception, implying (mutual) understanding especially in the idiomatic phrase to be on the same wavelength (as someone else).
What idiom was used before "to be on the same wavelength"?

OED's earliest citation for the figurative usage of wavelength is from 1927:

Have one's wave length, know one's sentiments.
American speech (American Dialect Society)

Another idiom that comes to mind is to be on the same page but interestingly it has a later original date than to be on the same wavelength in OED:

‘He..finally told me what page he was on’. ‘Is it th' same page you thought it was?’]
1965 H. Rhodes Chosen Few 179

OED gives a cross reference to the following idiom from the idiom to be on the same page:

to sing the same song (also tune) and variants: (of a number of people) to express the same view, to say the same thing; (also, esp. in to sing from the same hymn (also song) sheet) to present a united front, esp. by being seen publicly to agree. Freq. in political contexts.

The idiom singing the same song predates both idioms mentioned above but the meaning and the usage are a bit different.
Here is OED's earliest citation from 1846:

Priests, greybeards, Braccios, women, boys and spies, All in one tale, each singing the same song, How thou must house, and live at bed and board.
R. Browning Luria iv, in Bells & Pomegranates No. 8. 15/2

Can we say that to sing the same song is the earlier form of to be on the same wavelength? or is there any other idiomatic phrase that was used in the past for the same meaning (perhaps along the same lines of the idiom to be on the same wavelength where there is a figurative usage)?


texts:
I want to know the word or phrase for rubbing a piece of wood on a stone or a rough surface to get a paste.
Example Sandalwood emits fragrance only when it is ------(fill) on a stone.
Or shall we say Sandalwood emits fragrance only when it wears out?


texts: Analysis of "It is like a dream come true"

texts:
I've been unable to grammatically analyse the sentence

  It is like a dream come true.

To me, it should either be

  It is like a dream that has come true

or

  It is like a dream comes true.

Or peculiarly, to come true could be used as a phrase here, and come true should be seen as a modifier.

Which interpretation is correct?


texts:
I have a question about this sentence:

The guy who is my brother is playing the piano.

Is it okay to remove "who is" and turn it into this?

The guy my brother is playing the piano.

I wanna make sure when the relative pronoun and beV are together, is it okay to remove them under any of circumstances except for being behind a comma?
Thanks!


texts:
Mike is one of those rare individuals who excel in all aspects of his life.

Is it excel or excels?


texts: What is the meaning of the word "this," all by itself?

texts:
I suppose this one might qualify as an internet meme, but I'm not sure.

I recently have begun seeing people use the word "this" as a single word sentence, such as in response to someone else's post. It seems like it might be a way of expressing agreement, but I am struck by how awkward it seems to me.

Unfortunately it's hard to search for anything about it, since it is such a common word.

What exactly does it mean, and where does it come from?


texts: Participial phrase separating main verbs

texts:
Let's say you have the following sentence:
I stood there and wondered what to do next.
Now, let's say you insert a participial phrase after "there."
I stood there looking at her and wondered what to do next.
Does the verb "wondered" have to become part of the participial phrase (i.e., "wondering what to do next"), or can it remain "wondered"?
I stood there looking at her and wondering what to do next vs. I stood there looking at her and wondered what to do next.


texts:
Which of the following would be correct?

"Improve the population quality of life" or "Improve the population's quality of life?"

I could bypass this whole situation by simply using "Improve the quality of life of the population", but I'd still appreciate your help.


texts:
Is there any way to say the following more elegantly:

  The argument relies on an unsupported, but likely correct, claim?

The intention is to say that some argument relies on a claim without providing an evidence. However, it is not a big problem, because the claim is likely correct. Can we say it in one line?

Thanks.


texts:
Could you please let me know if the following excerpt of a sentence is grammatically correct (specifically the preposition after "effort"):

"Should there be anything that you feel we are missing, your insight would be invaluable to our effort in improving our products(...)"

An explanation on why it is/isn't correct would also be highly appreciated.
Prepositions are tough. :(


texts: What is gatcha short for? Is it standard English, or is it used in the spoken language only?


texts:
When tieing two things together, e.g:

Two distinct ideas, but with a common theme tieing them together
Tieing shoe laces is easy.

I have always spelt it with an ie. Now I am being told by Microsoft Word that my spelling is incorrect and should use a y. Google seems to largely agree with Word... one of the top hits is this forum thread:
tieing instead of tying
which in summary, is the same question as I am, but without the bias I have. The answers all seem to suggest that everyone thinks the ie spelling is valid but weird.
I thought I would ask the experts...

Is there any distinction?
Is it possible that the ie is a UK spelling and y is US?


texts: Can I spell a voiced "th" without using IPA?

texts:
Is there a way to unambiguously convey that the "th" in a word should be voiced, like in the word "the", but without using the International Phonetic Alphabet (or any non-alphabetic characters)?

Example: If I want to show the correct pronunciation of the proper name Umelmehey in this fashion, I can write "uh-MEL-mah-hey".

If I want to show that a word, e.g. "lather", should be pronounced so that it rhymes with laser (meaning one who lathes), and there is no word that rhymes with it, how can I do that?


texts: Single word for the one who completes his tasks at any cost

texts:
My research shows possible term for the one who completes his tasks at any cost.

Stubborn - Adjective -

The Cambridge Dictionary: a stubborn person is determined to do what he or she wants and refuses to do anything else.

Additionally, the Urban Dictionary (UD) a stubborn person always thinks he's right. These words made me confuse to select this term or not for the one who, whether or rain or shine, completes his tasks.

I don't mean that the term must refer to the who thinks he is right all the time. But, I need that term, that refer to the person completing his tasks such as homework, duty, etc, and is not rude to others.

Is it okay to regard this type of person as determined or tenacious?


texts:
Is it correct to say "Better call Saul!"? Or do I need to say "It's better call Saul!"?
Or even "It's better to call Saul!"?

I guess the third one is the correct one.

Obs.: "Better call Saul" is from the "Breaking Bad" crime drama of AMC.


texts: Failing to + infinitive / Failing of + gerund / For lack of + noun

texts:
I want to express the idea that if had a girlfriend, I would love to travel with her, but failing that, I will travel just by myself.

Which of the followings sounds better to you:

Failing to have a girlfriend, I will travel alone.
Failing of having a girlfriend, I will travel alone.
For lack of a girlfriend, I will travel alone.
None of these but rather something else?

Thank you


texts: Semicolon in "These reasons show why England even went to America in the first place [?] god, gold, and glory"

texts:
Should there be a semicolon between place and god in this sentence, in place of the [?]?

  These reasons show why England even went to America in the first place [?] god, gold, and glory.


texts: Origins of the "‑cede/‑sede/‑ceed" suffix

texts:
Somewhere in the back of my mind I seem to remember that cedere meant “to go or yield” in Latin. Presumably this gives us the words concede and accede. (?)

But what about the words supersede and proceed? Are they derived from the same source? If so, why the different spelling?


texts: The word or phrase to send a message, knowing that it's being eavesdropped on/leaked, to trap the eavesdropper/leaker?

texts:
Let's say I'm the boss of an organisation, and I think one of my executives is a mole for a rival organisation.  One way to test this out is to give a different bit of (fake) information to each of my executives.  Each piece of information should be devised so that if it reaches the hands of my rivals I can tell somehow, by their subsequent actions.

I sit back and wait to see which bit of fake info is acted upon by the rival organisation, and I then know which of my executives is the mole:  the one to which I gave that particular bit of information.

Does this technique/tactic have a name?  A "something-trap" perhaps?


texts: Which is correct, "sales price" or "sale price"?

texts: I have a list of items with their details such as item name, quantity, purchase price, sales price/sale price, etc. What is more correct to write in the heading, sales price or sale price?


texts: Does the "boiling the ocean" date to the mid-1800s, or is it more recent?

texts:
I was reflecting on Lewis Caroll's "The Walrus and the Carpenter", considering the line:

And why the sea is boiling hot--

from

To talk of many things: Of shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax--
Of cabbages--and kings--
And why the sea is boiling hot--
And whether pigs have wings

It made me wonder if this phrase has a meaning and origin related to the modern expression of "boiling the ocean".
Several sources say that the modern expression may have originated from Will Rogers during WWI, while other offer that Mark Twain may be the source.  Neither being assertive in these positions.
When I consider Caroll's usage, it is paired with a portion of the poem that makes allusions to foolishness.  "pigs have wings" and 'pigs flying' are commonly used to refer to impossible (and thus foolish) ideas.  It can be argued that "cabbages and kings" draws a comparison between two things that are whimsically irreconcilable.
So then can we understand that a "boiling ocean" was a concept in some level of usage as far back as that period in time? Or do we have a predominance of consideration that Caroll's absurdist style plucked these from the æther?
tl;dr: Do we have any way of knowing if Caroll's use of these words may have influenced the modern expression?

edit: it does seem that we are seeing evidence that a "boiling ocean" was a mythological concept of some antiquity, and usages seem to be attributed to things that are beyond the hands of humans.


texts: What is a term for someone who has a rather frown face?

texts: With tensed muscles and looking "difficult" (as I don't know how to describe this any better...) Not done most excessively (a face frown as much as possible), but kind of like someone who (pretended or not) is having a hard time. You may have seen this kind of face before from young people who take a lot of "selfies".


texts:
Yesterday I was going through my son's books and at one place it was written

  I have a long neck, I have spots on my body — what am I?

I thought it should have been

  I have a long neck, I have spots on my body — who am I?

Can somebody please clarify which one is correct?


texts:
In this clip, Lex Luthor says, "Bruce Wayne meets Clark Kent."

Could he have said instead, "Bruce Wayne is meeting Clark Kent." in the same context?

What's the reason for going with the present simple tense in the actual dialogue?

EDIT

Maybe I should have laid out some backdrop against which this question is posed, in order to solicit a better, more fitting answer.

As far as I know, there's this general rule of the English grammar that is nicely presented as follows:

  In particular, we often use the simple present ("I walk to the store") to refer to habitual actions, and the simple progressive ("I am walking to the store") to refer to currently ongoing actions.

Which was quoted from the most upvoted answer to this question.

Doesn't BW meeting CK refer to a "currently ongoing action", as opposed to a "habitual action"? Then, why the present simple?


texts:
I came across the following sentence on a website:

  Deaf children's emotional development differs from that of hearing
  children.

I am guessing that the sentence simply mean that deaf children's emotional development differs from hearing children. But I may not be aware that the phrase "from that of" could have changed the meaning of the sentence.

How does the phrase "from that of" add meaning to the sentence?

What does "that" refer to in the sentence?


texts: What is the English counterpart to 'Binboyusuri' - keep jiggling one’s legs during conversation sitting on the chair?

texts:
There are persons who keep jiggling their legs sitting on the chair during conversation or being interviewed. This motion is annoying and seen as the indication of the speaker’s tension, weakness to pressure, timidity, and lack of self-confidence.

We call it derogatorily ’貧乏ゆすり/ binboyusuri - poor man’s (leg) shake’ in Japanese, and were told not to jiggle legs when sitting on chair before people, even during a meal from the childhood by parents.

Kenkyusha’s English Japanese Dictionary translates ‘binboyusuri’ as ‘tap one’s foot nervously.”

When you do ‘binboyusuri’ in front of interviewer(s) while job interview in Japan, you are 150 % sure to flunk.
Is this 'leg-specific motion' seen as negatively in western world too? Are there short words to express
‘Binboyusuri’ as a noun or verb, say in two words?


texts:
Shenanigans, or shenanigan, also with several variant spellings, can be dated to 1855 USA in both the OED and Etymonline, but the OED simply says "Origin obscure" and Etymonline throws a few guesses into the ring:

  Suggestions include Spanish chanada, a shortened form of charranada "trick, deceit;" or, less likely, German Schenigelei, peddler's argot for "work, craft," or the related German slang verb schinäglen. Another guess centers on Irish sionnach "fox."

Can anyone provide anything more concrete?

(Note: Another question asks specifically about “I call shenanigans” but not shenanigans itself.)


texts:
what is the meaning of "peg out" in this sentence?
Some times i "peg out" on junk food.
I have tried many forums. but i did not get my answer.


texts: Talking about not talking about the topic—name of figure of speech

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Is there a name for “I don't mean to…, but” phrases?
  Term for mentioning X by saying “I will not say X”

I am looking for a name of a figure of speech which expresses a desire to recommend something by talking about not talking about the action.

Example (coined from a real example that happened on IRC). The topic is a certain animation which the speaker would like to recommend to another person.

  Well, ok, it is not a drama, so I am not going to try convincing
  you it is worth watching. I understand that people have different
  preferences as to what to watch. Not knowing its plot is not
  punishable after all… (yet). And the authors haven't got a Nobel
  prize for it either. So, don't worry, I am not going to say how much
  you are losing by not watching it right now.

I think it's related to Suspiciously Specific Denial TV trope, but I've seen this specific way of recommending things many times and I am wondering if there's any nice description of this kind of figure of speech.


texts: What are the differences between "null", "void" and "invalid"?

texts:
I am a German law student and I am writing a thesis about the Arbitration Act 1996. I was asking myself what is the difference between "null" "void" and "invalid". I already found some answers, like this What's the difference between "null" and "void" in legal language?
I have already learned that there is a difference between to void and nullify something.

But I cannot find anything about "invalid" or "invalidity".
Maybe it is more difficult for me because I am from another country.
My main question is: Is "null and void" = "invalid"? Or are there reasons an agreement can be "invalid" but not "null and void"? Or do you use "void" for agreement and "invalid" for contract?

Thank you very much for your answers :)


texts: Use of the preposition "by" along with "which"

texts:
There is a difference in the difficulty by which the two different objects can be lifted up.

Is "by" correct here? Does "difficulty by which" sound natural? is there maybe a better alternative?

Thanks a lot in advance!


texts: other ways of saying 'to want something bad enough'

texts:
I've been surfing the web looking for an alternative to 'want sth bad enough' but I haven't found anything useful.

I've got a dialogue between two characters who are a couple. They're facing difficulties and, even though they're in love, they don't know how they can ever make it work.

I wanted him to say something like:

  If we both want this bad enough, we can make it work.

However, I want to avoid the word 'bad'. I have tried "if we both really want this", but I already have enough 'really's around and I was hoping for something more emphatic.

Are there other alternatives that retain the idea of 'wanting something so bad' that you're willing to make all type of sacrifices in order to get to the objective?

PS: I'm adding the single-word-request because there could be a single word that would fit my purpose, even though I don't think it's likely.

In response to the comments: you have made your point loud and clear, so I will reconsider my stance. Nevertheless, just to avoid leaving this dangling without an answer, are there other alternatives?


texts:
I want to combine two sentences:

  where upper(A) is the upper bound of A when (34), (35), and (39) are satisfied and upper(B) is the upper bound of B when (34), (35), and (39) are satisfied.

I rewrite it as:

  where upper(A) and upper(B) are the upper bounds of A and B when (34), (35), and (39) are satisfied, respectively.

Is this expression (especially the location of "respectively") right?
Thank you very much!


texts:
It would make sense if both of these sentences were grammatically correct; but is anything different between them meaning-wise?

He acted very strange when I told him about the missing amulet.
He acted strangely about the whole deal.

What difference is there between using an adverb here and using an adjective?


texts:
A euphemism is a word used to replace another worse sounding word. For example, 'pass away' for 'die', 'battle fatigue' for 'shell shock', 'PTSD' for 'battle fatigue', often a word created to replace a taboo word.

A dysphemism is a bit of the opposite, a synonym that sounds -worse- than the original, for example 'boneyard' for 'graveyard'.

But there are other directions to take in creating synonyms. Medicalese tends to euphemize to make things palatable, but often there are medical synonyms where the process seems to be more obfuscation or obscurantism than euphemism. For example, 'urinate' is a perfectly neutral technical term, but it is not uncommon to see or hear the (exact) synonym 'micturate'. Unless I am misreading, there is no euphemizing going on, just hiding through a more obscure word.

What would the process/describing word be for synonyms that are in another register, colloquial vs. formal (though naturally there is a lot of overlap here with euphemisim/dysphemism)?

So what I am looking for are synonyms for euphemism, that go in different directions than just good/bad.


texts: If someone calls something by a wrong name, what are they actually referring to?

texts:
I was in an argument where an analogy was raised concerning animals often called by technically incorrect terms. Let's say the case in question was "panda bear".

It became clear we were using the analogy differently, so it actually confused the situation. We agreed on these statements:

I know a panda is not a true bear.
I expect that a person using the phrase "panda bear" probably doesn't know that.

So the question is, if someone says "panda bear", what are they referring to?

My interpretation: I don't care what family they think it's in. They're visualizing the same black and white bamboo-eating creature you and I am. They're referring to the giant panda.

His interpretation: They're using a phrase that means something that is both a panda and a bear. Since there is no such animal, they're referring to something that doesn't exist.

Is either of us wrong here, or is this a subjective question? (And is this actually an English question or a philosophy question?)


texts: Word or phrase that describes when a fictitious character quotes real writing/speech etc

texts:
Is there a word or phrase to describe when a fictional character quotes/references something that exists in the real (our) 'universe' (but can also therefore exist in the fictional 'universe'). Either a piece of fiction, like Shakespeare or something real like  Martin Luther King Jr.'s I have a dream speech etc.

That reads as complex but it is a pretty simple idea really, some examples (and please note that it isn't limited to film and TV):

in Star Trek "The Voyage Home" McCoy quotes Hamlet: "Angels and ministers of grace defend us!".
in Star Trek "First Contact" they refer to Moby Dick - Lily compares Captain Picard's desire to kill the Borg to Captain Ahab and Moby Dick (also an extended metaphor in the film), and then Picard also quotes from it "And he piled upon the whale's white hump the sum of all the rage and hate felt by his whole race. If his chest had been a cannon, he would have shot his heart upon it."
in the TV show Lost, Sawyer and Ben discuss Of Mice and Men by Steinbeck
in Die Hard, Hans quotes Plutarch's Life of Alexander "And when Alexander saw the breadth of his domain, he wept, for there were no more worlds to conquer." (though if you search online there is debate about the accuracy of the quote)

Please note - I actually intended on using the word/phrase to describe how ineffective it can be, how it can break the illusion, to have fictional characters quoting etc.


texts: Is there a difference between: "The coming year" and "next year"?

texts:
If it were now January, would "the coming year" be taken to mean this year?
If it were November would "the coming year" refer to the next calendar year or a period running from November to November?


texts: How to handle ambiguity caused by long clause and compound?

texts:
I am composing a sentence:

  People who have children who score A's in school and have good health are very happy.

In this sentence, 'have good health' is intended to be a clause of 'people'; however, it can also be a clause of 'children'.

How to revise this sentence to make it unambiguous?


texts: why does "perturbation" mean small change while "perturb" means greatly disturb?

texts:
I only recently looked into the etymology of the word "disturb", which means "per-turb", completely (through, thoroughly) + disturb, which translated into "disturb greatly in mind".

My question is that how did the word "pertubation" get the meaning of "small changes" as in "perturbation in Jupiter's orbital" and "perturbation theory" in physics?


texts:
Is this a correct English sentence?

  The once inviting deciduous flora of northern Minnesota had left but a skeleton of its former self in its place; The ominous branches of which stretched across the dimly-lit road, as if they were only mere seconds from snatching on-coming vehicles from off the ground.

My grandmother thinks otherwise but I believe it is.


texts: Why do we use past perfect instead of past tense here?

texts:
"We couldn't put down the floor until the plumber HAD finished."

When 'finished' would do the same job much more perfectly instead of confusing.


texts: What's the difference in meaning between "grandiose" and "elaborate"?

texts:
What's the difference in meaning between adjectives:
"grandiose" and
"elaborate" ?


texts:
What is the reason of using "the" in the following sentence?

For example:

  "It is from a report of the giant software company Microsoft."

I know that articles are not used with names of companis. Would not it be better to say like this:

  "It is from a report of giant software company Microsoft"?


texts: What do you call a person who gets a referral?

texts:
I am applying for a job that my friend has told me about. He spoke with the employer about me and then told me I should send that employer an email. Because this will be is my first contact with the owner, I thought of composing a formal letter.

As the title says, I want to put the subject of my letter as:

  Michael’s Referee(?): Job Application

What is the correct word instead of referee?


texts:
A company is using the term "Milanese Loop" for one of the watch armbands for the digital Watch.

I understand that Milanese is related to the Italian city of Milan. Yet my Internet research has not brought up any other use of the term "Milanese Loop" other than in relation to the said watch.

Is this term made up by the company, or has it existed previously?


texts:
Let's say I have the following sentence:

  Yesterday the stock market crashed, which resulted in social collapse.

Is it grammatically correct to change the above sentence to the following form?

  Yesterday the stock market crashed, resulting in social collapse.

If so, what is this progressive substitution called?


texts:
It seems like the word is used in several different senses in the following excerpt:

  I think that’s why I like the work of Michel Foucault,
  because the subject’s always being constituted by external forces.
  Some people think that that’s overly deterministic, that it removes
  the agency of the individual. But I don’t really think it removes
  their agency. I think their actions constitute the structures that
  shape them. I don’t know if that really answers your question, but
  I always look at individual actions as constituted by larger social
  processes and I think that’s why in my work the global and the lo-
  cal are always together and they are not separate processes.

Is the following interpretation correct?

being constituted by = being shaped by

constitute the structures = create the structures

actions as constituted by = actions as shaped by

Also, I see the word used a lot in the sociological literature -- Does the word have a special meaning in sociology (or is it a ruse to appear intellectual)?


texts: What does ‘One’ in “Detectives slapped handcuffs on her. “You know you did it,” she said one later shouted at her. “Just admit it.” mean?

texts:
I felt the article of New York Times N.Y. Region section (July 25) titled “A Revenge Plot So Intricate, the Prosecutors Were Pawns” reporting a woman being framed by her boyfriend into the charge with carrying out a series of armed robberies very intriguing. But I was hung up on one minor point – the function of the word, ‘one’ in the following sentence of the article:

  “One night, Ms. Sumasar was pulled over by the police. Before she could speak, detectives slapped handcuffs on her. “You know you did it,” she said one later shouted at her. “Just admit it.”

What does ‘one’ here mean? Does it mean ‘one of the detectives’ or ‘a second later’? I am confused.


texts: What's the meaning and structure of this sentence?

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In the last sentence, I don't understand this meaning and structure 'They might, but who, bar a tiny majority, would want to hear the answers'.

Could you expain this? Thanks!


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Possible Duplicate:
What term can be used to describe Yoda's speech?

What is the structure of Yoda's sentences? Are they grammatically correct (US english)?

"Size matters not, ... Look at me. Judge me by size, do you?"
"Try not. Do or do not, there is no try."
"Always in motion is the future."
"Help you I can, yes."

FYI: Yoda is the most famous Star Wars character.


texts: I have 3 brothers and I am the youngest. I am writing an email in which I have to mention the brother who is immediately older than me. How do I say? Should I say, "He is immediately older than me?" That sounds incorrect to me.


texts: Is there a term that means "surgically extract"?

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Example sentence:

  She decided to _ the tumor in her breasts.


texts: Explanation of the proverb "Beauty is only skin deep...."

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Can someone help me understand the following proverb?

  beauty is only skin deep but ugliness cuts clean through to the bone

I know it means something like true beauty is on the inside, but I want to understand it more "deeply"


texts: Is there a word for "love of open spaces"?

texts: As distinct from "love for public spaces" which I understand agoraphilia to mean. Since I think the Greek agora means an "assembly" or "market place"; not "open spaces".


texts: One word for doing something in a certian way while missing the essential point of doing it in such a way

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For example, people in South Korea love measuring your knowledge through a standardised test.

There are thousands of study aid books and private tutors to help students get high scores in tests.

Some study aid books advertise that you will only have to study what is on the test to minimise the effort that you have to put in.

If it were an English test, the purpose of the test should be to make sure that whoever gets a high score is fluent in English.

So rather than helping you become more knowledgeable, it analyses the questions that have been on the test so far, and then it shows you what the answers to the questions are.

Another example could be those people who use the leaked exam and answers to pass some certificate exams.

I was thinking if there was a word like

  you-missed-the-whole-point-ism

.


texts: I am not sure whether to put a comma after "so", which is at the beginning of a sentence

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Some people say since "so" is a transitional word, it should have a comma after it like all the transitional words have. And some say if "so" is there for logical continuity, then no comma should be used.

The particular sentence I am writing is:

  Moreover, I have completed my senior secondary studies in English and won 1st place at the regional stage of English Olympiad. So, I am confident that I will be able to complete a degree in English.