texts: Sentences that begin with "To think that;" are they impersonal?

texts:
Sentences such as

To think that she did all that
To think that Messi and Cristiano Rolando are both out of the World Cup
To think that this could ever happen to me

Are these impersonal sentences (i.e. the infinitives have no subject) or are these sentences that have implicit subjects (because it's understood that "to think" requires someone to do the "thinking")?
My instinct tells me that they have implicit subjects; however, I can't add the implied subject (for example, I can't say For me to think that she did all that, or at least it sounds odd to me). It seems that these sentences, as written, reject overt subjects; why is that, and does that make such sentences impersonal?
Thanks in advance


texts: Most accurate affirmative form of a sentence

texts:
The sentence is

I can never forget you.

We have to find the affirmative form of this sentence without changing its meaning.

I can think of two answers for this question.

1.I will always remember you.

2.I can hardly forget you.

Which sentence is the closest to the original sentence in meaning? I feel it must be the first one, since hardly introduces a factor of uncertainty, though negligible.


texts: Meaning of "scan" in "that doesn't scan in English"

texts:
In an answer to another question this sentence was proposed:

  Was it specifically mentioned as part of their teaching, or they just happened not to have killed anyone?

In comment, another user wrote:

  That doesn’t scan in English. Sorry.

What does scan mean in this context? I've searched the online dictionaries I normally consult (NOAD, M-W, Dictionary.com, TheFreeDictionary.com, Oxford Dictionaries Online, Cambridge Dictionaries Online), but cannot find a meaning other than "(of verse) conform to metrical principles" (NOAD).


texts: Help in deciphering the meaning of this convoluted sentence

texts:
I was reading an answer on one of the sister sites of this site and came across this line :

  A common question, glad you asked it. Here is all you never thought
  you would ever not want to know about it.

I read the second sentence three or four times but still confused at what it means. Can someone break down this convoluted sentence and help me understand the idea behind this sentence?


texts: Emphasizing a noun using hyphening to create adjective

texts:
I am trying to emphasize the notion of (accumulation process) as an adjective using hyphening. I tried using accumulative-like but I am not sure if it does make sense!

My sentence is:

  This is accomplished by an accumulative-like training process by partitioning the large dataset into smaller subsets each fits the
  memory.

I appreciate in advance any suggestion or modification


texts: What's the English idiom for wanting something without the effort necessary to get it?

texts: What's the English idiom for wanting something without the necessary effort to get it? In German, we say "wash me but don't get me wet."


texts: Is comma needed before "and" in two connecting clauses?

texts:
I have the fallowing sentence (I've changed the content to keep it fairly understandable, the relations between the parts are the same).

  However, it states in the literature that green people love apples, which strengthens the idea that at least some green people would buy apples and that by opening a chain of apple stores great profits can be made.

I'm not sure if I should leave it as is, add a comma before the emphasized "and" or make the part after the "and" into a new sentence.


texts: What is a word/phrase for some who is not in a group, while most others are?

texts:
I am looking for a word (or phrase if word is not possible) that is the opposite of associate. The context being when you have a collection of people and they are all part of a respective groups, clubs etc because that is expected but then there is one new person who is essentially independent. Once a person is already in a group/club then it is easier to get accepted into another one because their reputation is based on the group/club they were in before. But when a person is independent the collection of people in their respective groups/clubs etc are skeptical about accepting them because they are by themselves and therefore do not have a reputation established yet, similar to when you are applying for the very first job and the employer is skeptical about whether to take a risk and hire you even though you don't have a proven track record.

"Independent" is quite close, but I am looking for something less formal like "outsider" that you could use to describe a person compared to several groups of friends for example. I am also not thinking derogatory like "loner", but more like a "lone wolf".

Example sentences:

"I don't know if we can accept him/her, they are ________."

"We haven't accepted a _______ for a long time, the rules are they have to be part of another group for at least 2 years first."


texts: "Washroom", "restroom", "bathroom", "lavatory", "toilet" or "toilet room"

texts:
I've always been confused by the terms washroom, restroom, bathroom, lavatory, toilet and toilet room. My impression is that Canadians would rather say washroom while Americans would probably say bathroom or Saint John's in the same situation.

I guess the difference here is not only in different kinds of English, but also in whether one is referring to a room in their house or in some public place.

Which do you usually use? Please specify the difference if you use more than two from those six with different meanings, and also where you are from (i.e. what type of English you speak).


texts: What's a single word for a situation where a person swears a lot?

texts:
It is not a commonly used word.
It's not a medical condition, but it's a noun that describes a person or the condition of a person who abuses when he is angry and calms down. I think it starts with an m.


texts: The prhase " I would like a dragon to heat my pool"

texts:
I was watching an american drama, and one of characters in it said

"I would like a dragon to heat my pool"

I just want to know the exact meaning of it. The context of this sentence is as below.

(Someone leaked a sensitive information of A and B)

A : If there is a leak I will find it, and Jason will get what he deserves

B: When you do find Jason, if it pleases you, I would like to conduct the interrogation.

A: I would like a dragon to heat my pool


texts: What is the phrasal verb for working hard?

texts:
I can't recall that phrasal verb and I'm upset.

It's like a 's**** away' phrasal verb.
Also, if I've got it right, it means to work hard, but it's not slave away.
Anyone?


texts: What is the meaning and origin of "cup of joy"?

texts:
A search on the web shows that this expression occurs mostly in religious texts. However, I have not been able to find meaning and origin of the phrase.  It sounds as if it came from the Bible, but so far I have not found a verse where it is used. Why a cup? Is this expression taken from the Bible?

The Bible talks about cups and joy, BUT NOT TOGETHER. How did all these cups became the fixed expression cup of joy?

These are some examples, taken from Google Books:

  Be filled with the spirit of God, and let your cup of joy overflow.

  He carried up Golgotha's hill for us. He bore them there so that we
  might have a cup of joy.

  Our cup of joy was nearly full when we received your welcome letter
  informing us that four other mssionaries and their wives would soon
  sail for the shores of Syria.


texts: Word for cohesive, focused, all parts working towards one goal

texts:
I really enjoy stories with a strong central theme, where all the character development, plot, worldbuilding etc. revolve around that one key idea or mood.

What is a good word I can use to describe such a story?

I want to capture the idea of 1) a strong central focus, and 2) every part having the same ultimate purpose of developing that focus. Preferably the word would have a complimentary sense to it that captures the satisfaction of the unity in such a work.

"Cohesive" just makes it sound like the different parts of the story work well together, not necessarily that they work well together towards a common goal.

"Focused" highlights how the story is very concerned with a particular subject, but not how all the different parts work together harmoniously to develop that subject.

"Unity" is close, but it's a kind of still, passive word; I'm not sure it adequately communicates the idea of actively working towards a common goal. It also feels strange to say that a story "has unity" or "is unified".

Sample sentence:

  "This novel is ____; every character's journey is about some aspect of responsibility."


texts: What does "have it bad" mean in this sentence?

texts: While playing Skyrim, Redoran guards may say this to me "you think you have it bad? Try walking the bulwark at night". I take it that he means walking the bulwark at night is terrible even for a tough guy like me, but dictionary.com shows that "have it bad" means "To be very much in love". This doesn't make sense to me.


texts: Hemingway's use of "benevolent" in "benevolent skin cancer"

texts:
In the following sentence, from Hemigway's The Old Man & the Sea, I believe the author used the word benevolent when he meant to use the word benign.

  The brown blotches of the benevolent skin cancer the sun brings from
  its reflection on the tropic sea were on his cheeks.

Have you ever seen this discussed anywhere?
It would be difficult by any stretch of the imagination or poetry to believe the author purposely used benevolent in that sentence. Maybe he was drunk. :)

But it's also a bit difficult to believe his editor missed it. Of course, maybe the editor thought Papa purposely used the word and he didn't want to raise Papa's ire.

Here are some definitions of benevolent from merriam-webster.com

  1 a :marked by or disposed to doing good – a benevolent donor

  b :organized for the purpose of doing good — a benevolent society

  2 :marked by or suggestive of goodwill — benevolent smiles

Has benevolent changed meaning since the book was first published (1952)?
Is it possible that benevolent was used, in 1952, in the same way that benign is used today?


texts: What word would be a good replacement for the use of "licensee"

texts:
A lot of my clients do not natively speak English. Because of this, confusion has arisen over what is meant by the term licensee.

Each product requires its own unique license key and the licensee's name entered. The non-natively English speaking clients tend to enter another license key which they purchased from us — which means the product cannot be activated.

I need a different word to refer to the name of the license holder (the licensee's name) to avoid the confusion that arises.


texts: Grammar Question Regarding "Are the" or "Is the" When Referring to Something that May or May not be Plural

texts:
I'm revising procedural documentation and checklists for my work. One of the checklist questions are written as "Is the equipment in the work center calibrated, and operating within specified parameters?"

I feel like it should be written as "Are the equipment in the work center calibrated and operating within specified parameters?"

But in this case, the term "equipment" can refer to one piece of equipment or multiple pieces of equipment. The latter is most often the case in this context. I know it seems kinda silly, but it's still driving me crazy.


texts: A word or phrase for phone service working only one-way

texts: I have a monthly phone subscription, and I need to recharge it. Since I have not yet paid for it, the service is only working one-way. Meaning that I can only receive calls, but I cannot make any calls. Is there a word or phrase to for this situation?


texts: Subscriber is to subscription as provider is to ...?

texts:
As the title suggests I am looking for a noun which describes the connection between a person (the provider) and the objects or services he provides.

It will be used in the same context as the pair “subscriber”/“subscription”.

“Provision” sounds right, yet has a different meaning (the one of reserving).


texts: Which one is better to use keep silen t/ce

texts:
How it'll be better to say:
Keep silent or keep silence.


texts:
I found the answer to this question interesting in that he referred to a "75 cent word". I would have called it a 50-cent word, not because I undervalued his answer but because that is how I have heard the phrase. I thought at first that am old enough that inflation caused the difference, but  I found a 1976 reference to 75-cent word from 1976, the earliest reference to the phrase I found in a quick ngrams search.

What is the "right" value to use in the phrase "?-cent word" (or, what was the original)? Has it changed over time? Do non-American English speakers have alternative expressions in local currency?


texts: Even after + present perfect vs present simple

texts:
I came across the following sentence posted at the city of Melbourne public transportation rules, referring to the duties of the transportation officers:

  They can check your ticket and concession entitlement, even after
  you’ve left the vehicle or station.

Why the verb in the dependent clause (following even after) is in Present Perfect? Would this sentence be grammatically incorrect or possibly have a different meaning when Present Simple were to be used instead, i.e.

  They can check your ticket and concession entitlement, even after
  you leave the vehicle or station

?


texts:
Fellow wordsmiths - when would you use the one noun over the other?

In the following sentence:

  Science seeks to classify nature; Emerson rather directs focus towards nature's emotional (resonance/resonation).

Dictionary.com does validate resonation as a word, though it is not referenced in other dictionaries.

Thanks!


texts: Word or expression for a shared feeling of constant distrust, paranoia and anxiety of failure within a group of workers

texts:
I am looking for a word that would describe a feeling among a group of workers who are distrustful of one another and overly paranoid of an impending group breakdown & failure.

For context, imagine a group of people who are so concerned with looking out for their own personal welfare & job security in the context of a set of work procedures and regulations that they meticulously follow instructions to the letter, even if they know that they are ill-advised or wrong. Furthermore, they would meticulously document every piece of communication they could, from whom, to whom, in the (to them, seemingly very likely) event that an impending failure will occur that they want to have maximum plausible deniability to distance themselves from it when it occurs, and also to pin the blame on someone else if possible.

Is there a single word for this? I was thinking maybe "Kafkaesque" but I think that this word has more to do with a feeling of lack of control in an oppressive system.


texts: words/phrases/idioms meaning either mundane/repetitive tasks, or inefficient methods?

texts:
What are some words, phrases, or idioms meaning either mundane or repetitive tasks, or inefficient methods?

For example adding up numbers from 1 to 1000, the repetitive way would be adding them 1 by one i.e. 1+2+3+...+1000, where as (1001)*(1000)/2 gives the answer in 3 steps.

Can "Donkey Work" be understood to mean a repetitive or inefficient way of doing things?


texts: What is "the layers of experience" ? I'm confused about this phrase

texts:
Can anybody help me to describe "the layers of experience" in the context below. The author was talking about the similarity between the early human and the modern human. i'm very confused about the using of this.

Context

Under the layers of experience that we call progress, we're still driven by the same instincts and desires that ruled us right at the beginning of the human story. Today we're armed with gadgets, computers, phones, and what do we do with them? The same shopping, gossiping, consuming and sometimes protesting that we've always done.

Source: History of the world by Andrew Marr - Episode 8.


texts:
When I was flagging a post on English Language & Usage Stack Exchange, I found this statement containing phrase "belongs on":

"This question belongs on another site in the Stack Exchange network."

I didn't find "belong on" on any dictionary, even its usage percentage is zero as compared to "belong to" on Google ngram site.

Is it still fine to use preposition "on" instead of "to" to refer anyone's relation with others?


texts: Single-word metaphor that means "to be very bad at?"

texts:
Example:

  Metaphors. I always been a [...] at deciphering them."

I think I'm looking for the antonym of whiz, but when I checked them on Thesaurus, I didn't find anything that could fit the sentence. Any suggestions?

(I thought of chickenhead, but I think it's also a derogatory term.)


texts:
Is the following sentence grammatically correct?

  It is not feasible to dedicate attention to all the topics I would like to.

The final "to" sometimes sounds "off" to me because of the one before "dedicate", but that may just be a false impression.


texts:
The usage of "between" and "among" after the singular noun "difference" is quite clear to me. I'd choose the former when contrasting two things and the latter for more than two.
But, apart from those, it seems to me that the use of "in" and "on" after the plural "differences" is totally optional. Is that right or is there a difference (lol)?


texts:
If I had to phrase "Load logic", where "loading" has to happen for multiple instances of "logic", how would I do it?

For context, I am a programmer, and writing a method called "loadLogic". That method loads multiple units of logical statements and takes an action on them.


texts: Word for trying to isolate an opponent player in association football

texts: In association football (soccer), when one or more players are assigned the task of isolating an opponent player by trying to prevent him from getting the ball or by even circling him if they are more than one, is there a slangish word to express that in British English?


texts: Connecting two relative clauses in one sentence

texts:
I would like to write an essay which gives information about the charts but because I am not native English speaker, when I started to write down my essay I came across the similar problems that I do sometimes.

Here my sentence:

Figure 1 and figure 2 show the percentage of people, WHOSE age is between 25-44 and over 65, WHO purchased concert, cinema and theater tickets online over the first three months of 2006 in three countries, WHICH are Australia, the UK, Malaysia.

Here is my questions:

1.How can I give the information of age and of what do people buy in one sentence?

2.Such vital and important information on the figures can be used as indefinite relative clause?


texts: Dispatch jobs TO or FOR automatic risk assessment?

texts:
Do I need to

  Dispatch jobs TO automatic risk assessment

or

  Dispatch jobs FOR automatic risk assessment

UPD

Dispatching a job is a correct way to say it. It's from software development :)


texts: What's a word for extreme, insatiable thirst for knowledge?

texts:
I'm writing an essay for a grad school application detailing my unique characteristics as an individual. I am leaning towards words & phrases like "thirst for knowledge" and "earnest curiosity". I feel these phrases are underselling this attribute though - I feel so genuinely interested and invested in how things work and how people think, and thus how others perceive stimuli in comparison to my response.

Is there a word for this constant absorption of external data in order to think critically and formulate theories for why the world works?


texts: Usage of the phrase, "when this" when referring to a condition

texts:
Consider this statement.

The maximum number of solutions is given by the formula, x * x. For example, consider the case, x = 2, when this maximum is 4.

I thought there is a minor ambiguity in the above sentence with the phrase, "when this". I can intuitively get what is meant, is there any mistake or is any of the following formats better?

For example, consider the case, x = 2, the maximum is 4.
For example, when x = 2, the maximum is 4.

I want to know the correct usage of the phrase, "when this" used to refer a previous condition in the sentence.


texts: Is there any dictionary look-up frequency list?

texts:
The Online Portuguese Dictionary Dicio offers a (arbitrarily long) list of words ordered by look-up frequency. I find such a list very useful when selecting words to learn as a native speaker because the words that top the list are common (i.e., useful) enough that many native speakers meet them in their daily activities, but are at the same time rare enough that the same native speakers feel the need to look up their meanings.
Is there such a list for English?
I performed a cursory search online, but was only able to find very small lists for the most well-known online dictionaries. I imagine that Wiktionary would offer such information, but I was again not able to find anything promising.


texts: What is the origin of "you made my day"?


texts: Is there a set phrase for being polite to a person only when they are present?

texts:
Is there a saying or proverb for when a person or group of people act politely and with respect towards a certain member of a group in front of a person of respect or elder, and then acts with disrespect and completely differently towards that same member of the group when the respected elder is not around? It involves being two-faced and a kiss-ass.
"When the cat's away, the mice come out and play" isn't a good fit, yet has some elements of what I'm trying to describe. Is there a saying in another language that might work?


texts: What rule of grammar, or etymological history, makes "prophe-cy" (noun) become "prophe-sy" (verb)? What causes the C to become an S when the word usage changes?


texts:
What is the proper way to pluralize acronyms ending in the letter 'S'?

The particular acronym under study in this case is T.A.R.D.I.S.

The various forms I believe are correct are:

TARDISes
T.A.R.D.I.S.es (is it even correct to pluralize this)


texts: Is there a word for a person who uses the thesaurus too much?

texts: I have a friend who uses the thesaurus all. the. time. and ends up using unnecessary words and looking silly.  Is there a word for this kind of person? Or a person who is constantly trying to impress people with their vocabulary?


texts: Single word for 'being one step ahead of others'

texts: I am looking for synonyms as single words having the meaning of 'being one step ahead of others'.


texts: What does “be textured and fraught” mean?

texts:
There was the following passage in Time magazine’s (October 12) article titled, “Why ambition isn’t working for women:

  “While American women and men have similar levels of ambition (51% of
  men and 38% of women would describe themselves as very / extremely
  ambitious), the whys and the wherefores are complicated. This subject
  of women’s ambition and how we deal with it has long been textured and
  fraught.

As I was unclear with the meaning of the words, “textured and fraught,” I checked the definition of “texture(ed)” and “fraught” on English dictionaries at hands. But I was unable to get any hint of interpretation of this phrase from them. As I googled “textured and fraught,” there were a couple of examples of sentences using this phrase. For instance:

  Johns' art has always existed with a foot in both worlds, as it were.
  The surfaces of his paintings are masterfully textured and fraught
  with the psychic intensity of an inner compulsion in the manner of
  such ab-ex pioneers as …. Baltimore Sun. 2001/08/19

  For this reason, this “juxtaposition between panorama and myth,”
  Donald argues, bespeaks the “doubly textured” nature of ... which is
  associated with power, and a “pedestrian” view of the city, which is
  densely textured and fraught with the rich experiences of the
  individuals occupying and traversing that space. - Leaving China
  -Media, Migration and Transnational Imagination, by Wanning Sun – 2002

What does “the subject and how to deal with it has been long been textured and fraught” mean?

Is “textured and fraught” an idiom or a pair words? Could you rephrase it for me with simpler words?


texts:
could you please maintain silence for a while?

-so, I have to find the error in this sentence? The book in which I found this says: the error is with the 'could you' part, but doesn't explain it further. As a result of which I am confused now. Isn't 'could' used in making requests as in this sentence :Could you lend me five pounds until tomorrow? I know there is nothing grammatically wrong with the sentence just mentioned . So, how using 'could' in the first sentence be considered wrong? Is using 'could' in a sentence where there is also a 'please' considered wrong? Thanks in advance.


texts: What is the meaning of ‘ accommodate ‘ in this context?

texts:
The concept of indoor farming is not new, since hothouse production of tomatoes and other produce has been in vogue for some time. What is new is the urgent need to scale up this technology to accommodate another three billion people.

From Solution for: Crop-growing skyscrapers


texts:
On Academia SE, there is a proposal to create a tag covering leniency and penalties towards students, where leniency is about not applying penalties or giving exceptional allowances or a bonus to a student due to mitigating circumstances or similar. Since leniency-and-penalties is pretty clumsy for a tag name, I am wondering whether there exists a better term covering both cases.

Given that in these context, penalty (or malus) is an antonym of the result of leniency (or bonus), it seems plausible to me that such a term exists. It feels as if it the term on the tip of my tongue (though I might be wrong about this or it may be in another language).

Indeed, the word handicap as used in sports and similar¹ fits these requirements, but this is usually not applied the intended context nor is it suited as a tag name, as it is also a synonym of disability, which is another, distinct tag.

Therefore I am asking for another umbrella term that generalises penalty, malus, allowance, bonus, and so on.

¹ “An allowance […], granted in a race (or other contest of skill) to the competitor possessing disadvantages; or an additional […] hindrance imposed upon the one possessing advantages, in order to equalize, as much as possible, the chances of success.” (Wiktionary)


texts: A single word for an inanimate object that is very old and held in high esteem

texts:
What is an adjective for an inanimate object that is very old and held in very high esteem?

Especially in the context of buildings for example:

The government building is ____ . Many people flock to visit it every year.

Antique doesn't seem to be a good choice as it doesn't always give the meaning of something being held in very high esteem.


texts: Should I use a "the" in front of this proper noun?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Definite article before proper nouns

Do I always have to put definite article "THE" in front of the name of university? For example,
Kiev National University
OR
THE Kiev National University?


texts: Can the phrase "reveling in the past" also mean "to live in the past"? Also, is it spelled "reveling" or "revelling" as the online Merriam-Webster dictionary shows it both ways?


texts: What is it called when you say something but it does not imply for the other?

texts:
I'm really lost for words...

For example, I like people with short hair. But then someone could say, so you hate people with long hair? But, of course, I did not give any information on people with long hair. I could've liked/hate it. What is this called? I'm sure there was a name to this, maybe an expression?


texts: "Yard" in the sense of pulling hard on something

texts:
I'm from New England. Here we use the expression to yard on something meaning to pull hard on it. For instance, you might hear

  She's stuck up in that tree. If you want to get her down, you're going to have to yard on her tail until she comes loose.

I was curious where this sense of the word came from, but I can't so much as find a dictionary that has this definition. Most don't have yard as a verb, and of the ones that do, it is defined in a way I am not familiar with ("To enclose, collect, or put into or as if into a yard.")

Does anyone have a reference or more information about this sense of the verb yard?


texts:
I often see "replace with" and "replace by" used interchangeably, but this doesn't sound right to me:

  I replaced that component by this one.

I would use "with" in such a sentence. "By" only seems reasonable in passive, although "with" sounds like it would there work too:

  That component was replaced by this one.
  That component was replaced with this one.

In my native language, the equivalent of "replace by" can only be used in passive, and even then it's a bit weird unless a person is the object replacing something – perhaps this affects my judgment?

Web searches haven't come up with anything conclusive; the results are contradictory and speculative at best.

Are "replace with" and "replace by" interchangeable in active context? What about passive? Are there stylistic reasons to prefer one over the other?


texts:
Should we say "local expenditure" or "local expenditures"?

I have seen both in academic papers:

  A pure theory of local expenditures

and

  The politics of local expenditure

I assume that both are correct. Can you explain why?
Thanks.


texts:
I know that there is an adjective with that meaning. I just cannot think of it or find it online. I'd be very grateful if someone pointed out a word that means "easy to dismiss" or something similar.

It intend to use it in a sentence similar to this:  "His criticism is ______."


texts: What word describes a policeman who is not wearing a uniform?

texts: How do you describe a police officer on duty, who wears casual clothes because he/she doesn't want to disclose his/her identity?


texts: Can I say "something in your vibe" as an alternative idiom to "to vibe with something."

texts:
I am searching for a slogan for my website named "Vibeware", and as you might have guessed, it is about software (the name itself being a result of playing around with the first letters in my name parts until it made sense).

In a dictionary, I stumbled up that there is an idiom going like "to vibe with somebody.", which means that you understand this somebody very good and are in a good relationship with him.

I thus wanted to use the slogan "Software which vibes with you", but that is a bit long and also sounds dull because of "which" and "with" so near beyond each other.

Is it possible to rephrase it to "Software in your vibe"? I am not sure if the idiom is still recognizable or if it sounds uncomfortable to native English speakers.


texts:
I suppose 'the number of' is followed by a singular, but what about the following sentence where they are two subjects:

Both the number of entries and exits is/are high.


texts: "singing and dancing" is singular or plural?

texts:
Singing and dancing is fun!

Singing and dancing are fun!

Please tell me which expression is correct.


texts: Crime instrument, is there a term or a common phrase?

texts:
As per the title. The problem is that I need to find articles relating to a specific artifact (Machine Learning algorithms) that can be used for crime. If that artifact was a gun, the search "gun crime" would yield good results. However, a search for "Machine Learning crime" mostly returns articles concerning Machine Learning used to detect crime.

Is there a technical term or phrase that I can use that refers to the instrument used in a crime? Thanks!


texts: What is the meaning of "We have outfoxed the fox, which makes us very bloody foxy." in the TV series Misfits?

texts:
In the episode 5 of season 1 of the British television series Misfits the character Nathan Young says:

  We have outfoxed the fox, which makes us very bloody foxy.

Transcript.

What does it mean in the context? My understanding after searching is something along the lines of:

  We were more clever deceiving them than them to us, which makes us way more deceitful than them.

Is that interpretation correct or is there something different in the context?

Asking since Kelly Bailey laughed when he said that, to which Nathan said:

  You like that, huh? Yeah.

YouTube episode (clip from 5:31 to 5:38).

My search results are below with the parts that I believe matter.

Definition of outfox:

  TRANSITIVE VERB
  informal
  Defeat or deceive (someone) by being more clever or cunning than they are; outwit.

Definition of fox1:

  NOUN
  2 A cunning or sly person.

Definition of bloody2:

  ADJECTIVE
  British
  1 informal attributive Used to express anger, annoyance, or shock, or simply for emphasis.

Definition of foxy:

  ADJECTIVE
  1.1 informal Cunning or sly in character.

Definition of cunning:

  ADJECTIVE
  1 Having or showing skill in achieving one's ends by deceit or evasion.

Definition of [deceit][10]:

  NOUN
  The action or practice of deceiving someone by concealing or misrepresenting the truth.


texts: When is it appropriate to refer to someone as Dr. [Surname]?

texts:
I know that the title  Dr. is often used to refer to those who practice medicine. For example, today I am going to see Dr. [Surname].

But are we in general expected to use the title when we refer to the following other professions too?

Psychoanalyst
Veterinarian
Lawyer
Any other?


texts: What's the difference between "People are all doing ..." and "People are together doing ..."

texts:
There is the question that the difference on these meanings below.

  When we are in a dinner, then I have found a couple who eating a dish.
  I say that:

  That couple are both eating a dish.
  That couple are together eating a dish.

These could be the same meanings, but I have found the meanings of "together" on Oxford Learner's Dictionaries

  with or near to somebody/something else; with each other
  so that two or more things touch or are joined to or combined with each other

I suspect that the meaning of "together" is only physically close to the people who are in a context/sentence. What is "both" for?

Would you help me on this question?

Thanks,
Yuichi


texts:
I'm using an application to improve my English. The app had the word 'fabric' and one of its meanings was:

  The walls, floor, and the roof of a building.

The example used to explain the meaning was:

  Decay and neglect are slowly eating away at the building's fabric

What I couldn't understand was why did they use the word at in the sentence. Shouldn't the sentence be Decay and neglect are slowly eating away the building's fabric?


texts:
When we are writing a report or a formal article, do we say "The next steps are to ..." or "The next steps are: ..."?

Which one is more formal and suitable for a report?


texts:
The article of Time magazine (June 23, 2014) titled “Don’t blame fat” says “New science reveals fat isn’t what hurting our health, and wraps up with the following sentence.

  How we eat –whether we cook it ourselves or grab fast-food takeout –
  matters as much what we eat. So don’t feel bad about the cream in your
  coffee or the york in your eggs or the occasional steak with béarnaise if you got the culinary
  chops – but don’t think that the end of the war on fat means all the
  Extra Value Meals you can eat.

I don’t find the word, “culinary chops” in neither Cambridge nor Oxford online dictionaries.
Google Ngram doesn’t show this word either.

As far as the word, "chop / chops" conscerns, OALED at hand gives only four definitions of “chop” as a noun:

A thick slice of meat with a bone attached to it.
An act of cutting something with a quick downward movement using axe or knife.
An act of hitting sth with the side of your hand in a quick downward movement.
(informal / Pl.) The part of a person’s or animal’s face,

and no more.

What does “culinary chops” mean? Does it simply mean a butcher’s or carving knife, or chunk of meat, or skills / knack of cooking? If so, why doesn’t the author use more common word?


texts:
What is the difference between "rate" and "grade"?

When I am awarding points 0-20 for a homework assignment, do I rate the homework or do I grade it? Or perhaps both are appropriate?


texts: Do meteorites really land on Earth, or did the interviewee mean that ironically?

texts:
Technically speaking, landing is coming to rest after making contact with the ground.

Yes, but isn't it supposed to be smooth rather than violent?

Ships land, as do planes, drones, and skydivers.

Meteorites crash, fall ... uh ... collide with ... but land?

  Mazurek said the meteorite came with a barn he bought in 1988 in
  Edmore. He said the farmer who sold him the property told him it
  landed in his backyard in the 1930s.

Did he mean that ironically? "Meteorite landed": a quick google search returns 30,000 results.

I mean, come on. John Harrington comes to mind:

  Treason doth never prosper, what’s the reason?
  For if it prosper,
  none dare call it Treason.

Any thoughts?


texts: Noun for someone fun and caring and compassionate

texts: What is a noun for a person who is nice and caring and fun to be around (a noun to refer to the person, as in "Bob is a _____".


texts: How can I deliver the meaning of "within a specified range"?

texts:
I am writing a manual for user to use a web application.

One of the function requires user to key in the date, and then the number of weeks before that date, the number of weeks needs to be smaller than 52 weeks and greater than 25 weeks. But I think the phrase "smaller than 52 weeks and greater than 25 weeks" is a bit too clumsy, is the following OK?

  Number of weeks for data retrieval is limited within 25 to 52 weeks.

I wonder if limited within or limited between is grammatically correct.


texts: "I saw your lesson request, but when I saw *it* it was late"

texts:
If I want to say:

  I saw your lesson request, but when I
  saw it it was late.

Is it correct to use the first it? I know that in this sentence the first it function as a pronoun, and the second as an idiom. If this sentence looks awkward, please give me a suggestion to improve it.


texts:
Is "stepstone" a valid abbreviation of "stepping stone"?

Is this a good way to form abbreviations in English?

Research done

Searched some online dicts but they don't have the word "stepstone":

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/spellcheck/american_english/?q=stepstone

https://www.ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=stepstone

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/spellcheck/english/?q=stepstone


texts: What is the difference between "chasing" or "catching"?

texts: What is the difference between "The police are catching the thief" and "The police are chasing the thief"?


texts: What is a good antonym for "infest"? I thought of "cleanse" but I'm hoping there is a better antonym. The context I'm thinking of is when an exterminator gets rid of an insect infestation.


texts: Can't understand the meaning of 'blamed exertion' in this sentence

texts:
Doctors blamed exertion and said there was nothing to worry about.

I knew exertion means attempts or try.

But here what does that mean by 'blamed exertion'?


texts: Someone is having a bad (or good) day, and from the events that happened to him/her, this person thinks that the universe is against (or very good with) him/her. Then, an event happens that is so good (or bad) that it seems to make this day suddenly seem to become the opposite of what it was. It could be anything like winning the lottery, his/her crush deciding to date him/her, this same crush rejecting him/her when it seemed that such a thing wouldn't ever happen, or a relative dying. What word defines this event that seems contrary to how the day initially seemed to be? I'd like the word to be an adjective but if it can't be an adjective then I guess I'll need to accept another type of word besides adjectives. The word needs to be used to say things like "What a(n) [...] event" or "This event really is/would be [...]". Thank you in advance.


texts: "Overseas", as far as I am concerned, is an adjective or an adverb. If "from overseas" is a correct phrase, why is it grammatical? "From" is a preposition, and it should be followed by a noun, not an adjective, nor an adverb.


texts: Some problems with present perfect tense

texts: I have read all the questions and i have answered them. Or I have read all the questions and answered them. Which one of these two perfect tenses is correct. Do keep using have many times to represent that it is in present perfect tense?


texts: Do "operative" and "valid" have the same meaning in legal terms?

texts:
I found this question when reading a machine manual.  In the part about Guarantee, it said "The guarantee will not be operative if any of the following apply:"

My question here is that can operative be used in here or is valid a more appropriate choice for this situation.

P.S. The manual is a translated version.

Thanks


texts: What are the open rooms called in business environment?

texts: We work in an office which does not have rooms but instead has compartments which are split by dividing walls and have open tops. The walls are at shoulder height. What are these compartments called in business environment?


texts: When to use inverted word-order like "great an option"?

texts:
I heard this in a movie yesterday:

  That is great an option!

Why didn't he say:

  That is a great option!

How does grammar desribe such inverted phrases? Where should I use this inverted order instead of the usual "an [adjective] [noun]"?


texts: "of utmost importance" vs "of the utmost importance"

texts:
Which one is the correct form between "of utmost" and "of the utmost"?

  Your attendance at the meeting is of the utmost importance.
  Your attendance at the meeting is of utmost importance.

I've found an old forum discussion here, but they don't really conclude anything. The second answer to the question is

  They mean the same thing. Use with the article seems far more
  prevalent.


texts:
I came across the following:

  As he had been deceived by his friends he lost all hope.
  He was deceived by his friends and so he lost all hope.
  Deceived by his friends, he lost all hope.
  He lost all hope because he was deceived by his friends.

It was said that only sentence 3 has a participle in it. But all 4 has the word deceived,
Why is "Deceived by his friends, he lost all hope' is said to have participle?


texts: In the sentence "I stand corrected", the word "stand" seems like a stative (a state of being) rather than dynamic usage. Similarly, "I can't stand eating liver" seems like a stative form of usage. Or does the allusion to physical action (i.e. to stand up) mean it remains a dynamic form of usage?


texts: "The stitches hurt too much not to be tight as a drum"


texts: Origin and variants of phrase: "let's blow this popsicle stand"

texts:
I'd like to know the origin and precursor or derivative variants of the phrase "let's blow this popsicle stand". Reliable, conclusive, source-supported, authoritative and consistent information about that phrase would be valuable to me, although information that satisfies all those criteria in one go is not required.

The usual suspects yielded the usual unreliable, inconclusive, conflicting and uninformative dreck. For an example of the dreck, the notion that the popsicle was invented in 1924, a claim repeated at a number of the sources I checked, can easily be disproved.

I checked Wiktionary, Urban Dictionary, The Dictionary of American Slang (2007) as reproduced at dictionary.com, Answers, the Straight Dope discussion forum, an ELL posting, an archived reddit Etymology post, and a Quora posting, as well as background sources (the OED, other dictionaries).

In hardcopy, I checked NTC's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions (1989), by Richard A. Spears; The Pocket Dictionary of American Slang (1960), compiled by Harold Wentworth and Stuart Berg Flexner; The Random House Thesaurus of Slang (1988), by Esther Lewin and Albert E. Lewin. The last-mentioned work bore some fruit, in that 'pop' was listed as a synonym of 'popsicle', with no further explanation.

Many thanks to anybody who will complete or advance this research for me.


texts: Is English "genderless" or are inanimate nouns just neuter by default?

texts:
Some questions on ELU already touch on this subject, and they pose that English does not have grammatical gender which means that most of its inanimate nouns are referred to with it rather than he or she. I wonder if this is true.

When a language used to have a three-way gender system (neuter, masculine and feminine) and then slowly evolves into a system that only supports neuter grammatical gender, why does this mean that it has no grammatical gender? What are the arguments against saying that English has evolved into a language which has neuter as default and masculine and feminine as exceptions to the rule - for certain animate cases?

In other words, nice and simple, is English a language that has no grammatical gender or is it a language that has grammatical gender which in most cases is neuter by default?


texts: The use of tense with words ending -ed and -ing

texts:
When attempting to write a story, I get a little jumbled up, especially on tenses and the correct usage. In particular, I get confused over the usage of seemingly past tense (words ending in -ed) and words ending in -ing used in the same sentence. For example:

  Standing up straight, John relaxed tense muscles. Much like Sylar, he had been alarmed when first the beast appeared over the mountain’s crest. Slowly, it had trekked down the snow-laden landscape towards the two, pausing only when it was fifty or so feet away. There it perched itself upon its throne of snow and ice, staring with piercing eyes at the two humans who had intruded into its domain.

My beginning sentence starts in the present, but quickly slips to what the main character had seen just moments prior. I utilize what I believe is past-present (had trekked), then present (pausing). If someone could correct my sentences and explain why that would be much appreciated.


texts: What is the origin of the idiom "Hong Kong dog"?

texts:
Does anybody know the origin of the idiom "Hong Kong dog"?

EDIT: I'm more interested in how the idiom came into being rather than when it first appeared in mainstream media. Something like the guess made in the following comment is most welcome except that trusted sources would be greatly appreciated.


texts: What is a general term for an organism with more than 4 legs?

texts:
A Unipedal organism has 1 leg
A Bipedal organism has 2 legs
A Quadrupedal organism has 4 legs
A Hexapedal organism has 6 legs
An Octopedal organism has 8 legs

But what is a general term that combines anything with more than 4 legs into one word?


texts: Slang word for transferring money from one card to another

texts:
Ok, so there is an Online Money Transfer Service. It allows for quick money transfer from one card to another. The advertisement of this service describes how it is convenient for parents to transfer money to their's children card in a very short time.

Now, is there a Slang word for "transferring money" in the context of parents transferring money from their card to their children's card? This slang word should be much less formal.

For example in Russian "transferring money from one card to another" could use a slang word and it would sound something like "throw money from one card to another".

P.S. "Send" money is the simple option that comes to my mind. Any other ideas?


texts: Is there a word that means "like a cathedral"?

texts:
I would like to describe a certain orderliness found in music like Bach and elsewhere, that I find to resemble (in metaphorical terms) the architecture and construction of a cathedral. It would be for use in a sentence such as the following:

"The music he wrote had a cathedral-like orderliness."

Instead of "cathedral-like," however, I would like to use a word such as "cathedraline" or "cathedralesque." But I'm not sure a word like those actually exists. Any help welcome, many thanks.


texts: Word for someone who blindly follows a religion or government

texts: What word describes a person who blindly (unquestioningly) follows a government or religion? I am looking for a specific word that I came across recently but have since forgotten what is was and where I found it.  It is similar to zealot in definition but it is not zealot or any of the synonyms typically presented in a thesaurus.  I believe the definition more emphasized the unquestioning aspect rather than the fanaticism.


texts: What is it called when an interjection (aside) is insert into a sentence?

texts:
When an aside is inserted to add information to a noun, it's called an appositive.
For example, "Bob, my dad's friend, had dinner with my uncle yesterday."

But what about when the aside is an interjection?
For example, "the project, if successful, will revolutionize the way we see the world"

"if successful"... is there a name for such interjection?

This can be quite intrusive to the sentence.  It can split a noun from its adjective modifier.  For example, "I have a smart, albeit slow, cat" or "This decision is a sensible, if belated, one".


texts: What preposition should I use with "flying"?

texts:
I want to say that I loved flying, but I also want to add the name of the airline company in my sentence.

So, what should I say?

  I loved flying with American Airlines

or

  I loved flying on American Airlines.

I've found on my Googling both "with" and "on", and now I'm even more confused than I was before...


texts: Is this sentence grammatically correct? (tenses)

texts:
"I know. You dreaded our meetups because my condition would always
have worsened by the time we met again."

Is the use of "would have" here correct? If so (or if not), would someone mind explaining it to me? I'm really struggling to grasp the past tense.
Thanks in advance for your help!


texts:
That young man was absorbed in his big camera. He was shooting a short movie of people and passers by who were singing and reading the poems under the trees.

If I use with instead of in, does it change the meaning?


texts: Word Meaning "A single thing that's an indicator of greater overall trends"?

texts:
What's a word that means "a single thing or a subset of things that could be used to represent greater overall trends"?

I work for a bookseller. The other day I was discussing a subset of several books that have consistently been bestsellers for the past few months. These books could be used to represent sales trends on a larger scale - something like "blue chip" books. In the conversation I referred to them as "bellwether books", but later on I doubted this was the correct usage of the word. "Bellwether" is defined as "an indicator or predictor of something". Is there a more appropriate word?


texts: Adjective for serving as a typical example, validity of exemplative

texts:
I want an adjective that describes a noun as something that serves as an example of something.

I viewed this ESE discussion but I feel that exemplary doesn't suffice, because it implies bias approval. Like if I used it in a sentence like:

  Joe is an exemplary citizen

It doesn't imply that Joe is a typical or representative citizen, it implies that he's a great one that people should model themselves after.

I think that exemplative is a great word. Especially for the context I wish to use it in, which is something like:

  Her work is an exemplative narrative on this particular subject

However my concern is that when I searched for the definition of exemplative, there were open content sources such as Wiktionary definitions for it. So is it a valid and proper word that I can use or should I look to another adjective? If so what?

Thank you all for your help.


texts:
I would like to translate this sentence below into Japanese, but I don’t know what “the defective effect” in the sentence means like.
“As some psychologists point out the unhappy experience in one's childhood has a defective effect on his later life.”
1,Does this sentence sounds natural? If there are unnatural points, I would like to know them.
2,What is ”defective effect”?
I know that the usage of “defective” like, “I think that theory is defective.”,but I can’t understand what will be lacked from “his later life”.
Thank you in advance.


texts: A phrase or expression for: Work on task 2 is dependant on task 1 finishing

texts:
Task 1 should be finished in order to start working on task 2.
Task 2 is not done yet.

I want to convey we haven't even finished task 1 so task 2 is indefinitely delayed.

I do not exactly know but I think there is a phrase for that.

Can anybody put this in a format similar to -

  Forget about task 2 even task 1 is not finished


texts: How many words differ only by letter duplication

texts:
I'm working with football (the European variant) commentary, looking at word frequency. Often enough, the commentary will spell their excitement by writing 'Gooaal', which for the purposes of my word frequency is different from the properly spelled 'goal'. I'm considering capturing these cases by removing all successive duplicate letters. This question is not about how to do that, but I need a guess of how big an error will I create with this technique.

How many words collapse to the same word (string) if one remove duplicate letters? I need a just rough estimate. My guess is less than 1‰ but I'm not a native speaker so I may miss cases.

To make it clearer, here is the first paragraph of this question after running it through the algorithm:

  I'm working with fotbal (the European variant) comentary, loking at
  word frequency. Often enough, the comentary wil spel their excitement
  by writing 'Goal', which for the purposes of my word frequency is
  diferent from the properly speled 'goal'. I'm considering capturing
  these cases by removing al sucesive duplicate leters. This question is
  not about how to do that, but I ned a gues of how big an eror wil I
  create with this technique

(I have no idea what tags are appropriate, please add more relevant ones.)


texts:
Sometimes writing sentences feels like algebra; if I start with one thing I have to make sure the rest of the sentence works. This time, I seem to have really put myself in a difficult position.

  Policy expectations _____________ the deadline to be extended.

vs

  Everyone expects policy makers to extend the deadline.

While there is nothing wrong with the second way, and indeed, both sentences are prosaic. However, the second sentence is too prosaic. I really want to start the sentence with "Policy expectations" if possible. Seems almost impossible since expectations are abstract and can't "do" anything. But maybe I'm wrong, so I'll just ask to be safe.

Question

What would be an appropriate verb or verb phrase to place after expectations?  Would like to keep "Policy expectations" as the first words, but can change the latter parts of the sentence if needed.


texts: How do I punctuate a question within a statement?

texts:
What is the proper way to punctuate a question that is posed within a statement like in the following example?

  Associated with my interest in the patterns that structure aquatic ecosystems is the question of what factors control the distribution and cycling of resources in aquatic systems.

The second part of the sentence (after the what) is a question, but the sentence as a whole is a statement.  Is the way I have it punctuated correct and what rules govern this sort of thing?


texts:
What is the phrase or word for this type organizational useless/pointless work based on either half baked ideas, of just o appease the higher ups.
Example:
An organization have three tier management

CEO
Oper. Manager
Dept. Manager

Suppose CEO gives a strategic instruction and fails to followup much of the time. But with a imaginary deadline (within 2-3 days), at the cursory instruction of the CEO, the Oper. Mngr initiates action telling Dept. Manager to work on an assignment based on strategic idea provided by the CEO.
As a result, Dept. Mngr. instructs his staff to start working on the assignment, assigning resources to it, etc ASAP.
Now as the day comes to submit the deliverables, the CEO has initiated a contrasting idea to the initial one. So the work done on the initial one goes to waste.
What is the phrase or word for this type organizational useless work in business setting.I suppose there must be an apt Wikipedia styled phrase for this phenomenon. I searched online for "Redundant work" which is usually used in some articles in passing, but on google, the search prompts for Redundancy rather than redundant work. The point is to read more article (pros, cons, effects, perils) or Wikipedia information on this subject phrase.


texts: Are the names of game tokens capitalized?

texts:
Are the names of game tokens considered proper nouns, and hence need to be capitalized? Apparently not for chess, as king, queen, bishop etc. are written in lowercase. But what about games whose terms and conventions are less ingrained, for example Settlers of Catan? Which would you use?

A. If you roll a seven, you can move the robber. (treated as common noun)
B. If you roll a seven, you can move the Robber. (treated as proper noun)


texts:
Since this, how much more another[.|?]

I would have used a question mark to end that sentence; however, I've seen two different, recent authors end it with a period. Is this type of sentence a question or a statement?

I'm assuming that from the answer to this question, the punctuation flows simply, that there are no hidden rules for punctuation in this case.

Examples that prompted this question:

  "Since this principle is true of the OT Scriptures written before the end of the ages has come, how much more is it true of the NT Scriptrues written in the period of the end of the ages in which we today and they who originally received it both live."
  (George W. Knight III, "The Scriptures Were Written for Our Instruction," Journal of the Evanglical Theological Society 39, no. 1 [1996]: 12)

  "Now if people normally take the validity of the communication process for granted in regard to daily human discourse, how much more plausible is the notion that the infinite, personal God can communicate literal truth verbally or propositionally."
  (Robert L. Reymond, A New Systematic Theology of the Christian Faith, 2nd ed. [Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1998], 20)


texts: Is it acceptable to use "them" with two objects?

texts:
Is this allowable? It is fairly clear what is meant, and yet one cannot know for sure which object is being referred to each time "them" is used.

e.g.

  Sweets are bad for your teeth. If you eat them, it could damage
  them.

or even the other way around....

  Sweets are bad for your teeth. You could damage them if you eat
  them.


texts:
Here's two ways I've seen the "all, but" idiom used:

"Close all tabs but this one" (Any modern application with a number of tabs might have this as an option.) It means "close all the tabs, but not this one".

"With that goal, the championship is all but decided". This seems to mean "you can say/do whatever (all) you want, (but) it won't change who wins the championship."

Is one of these usages more correct than the other?


texts: Why is it “a defeated Napoleon, not “the defeated Napoleon” who rode off the battlefield and into exile?

texts:
I noticed an infinite article; ‘a’ was used before ‘defeated Napoleon’ in the following sentence of Jeffery Archer’s novel, "Fales Impression" :

“General Sir Harry Wentworth sat at the right hand of the Iron Duke that night, and was commanding his left flank when a defeated Napoleon rode off the battlefield and into exile."

I’m curious to know why it should be “a defeated Napoleon,” not “the defeated Napoleon” or simply “defeated Napoleon.” Isn’t it only one Napoleon who was defeated the battle and exiled (to St. Helena). It looks like as though there were many (defeated) Napoleons who were exiled.

It’s always headache for me to handle articles as we Japanese (I think Chinese too) don’t have article as the basic part of speeches in our language system. I’ve studied it on English grammar text books at school, but have never reached full understanding of the usage of articles, because we don’t have that practice. Is there any special knack to master how to use articles?


texts: What does “high letter, low letter” mean in contrast to “low number, high number”?

texts:
There was the following passage in New York Time’s (May 17) article describing the scene of Sandy Bem, a Cornell psychology professor getting diagnosis of whether she has the sign of Alzheimer’s or not by a neuropsychologist. She chose euthanasia to confront the progressive decay of her self-identity due to Alzheimer’s in the end:

  “He (doctor) read her a list of words and had her recall as many as
  she could. He gave her two numbers and two letters and asked her to
  rearrange them in a particular order: low letter, high letter, low
  number, high number.”
   - The New York Times

I know lower case letters and upper case letters, but I’ve never heard of ‘low letter’ and ‘high letter.’

I searched the meanings of ‘low letter’ and ‘high letter’ on Google, but found no source telling the definition. What do they mean?


texts: Usage of "in our house" vs "at our house"

texts:
Is the following sentence correct?

  We gathered in our grandparent's house

can "in" be replaced with "at"?

What if "house" is replaced with "home", does that make any difference?


texts: What part of speech is "asleep" in "sound asleep"?

texts:
My husband was sound asleep.

According to Merriam Webster, the word "sound" in "sound asleep" is an adverb. What part of speech, then, is "asleep"? ("Asleep" can only be an adjective or adverb, and not a verb?)


texts: "Ensurance" isn't a word, so what can I use instead?

texts:
I want a word that means exactly "The action of ensuring something."

Example sentences (with the coined word ensurance):

"The neophyte may claim competence at the task, but your ensurance of its completion would ease my mind."

"...tasked with ensurance of a clear path through the debris."

"His duties consisted primarily of ensurance rather than active personal labor."

"Ensurance" itself does not appear in the dictionary; is there another word which means exactly this that I could substitute?

("Supervision" comes close but does not always connote a promised outcome for which the supervisor is directly accountable.  It's the best substitute I can think of, personally, but fails to imply an actual guarantee.)


texts:
I have a little problem of understanding how to pick the preposition of "at" ,"of" or "in" in Illogical comparative : e.g.

  The climate in the north is colder than that of the south.

Why do we us "of" the south instead of "in" the south.
I am thinking it should be

  The climate in the north is colder than the climate in the south.

So why "of" ?


texts: Would you write this sentence : "there is nothing a busy man is less busied with than living"?

texts:
This is a quote from Seneca’s essay “On the Shortness of Life”. I find this sentence a little complicated.

  There is nothing the busy man is less busied with than living; there is nothing that is harder to learn.

What is the meaning of there is nothing here?

Why can't we write:

There is no busy man less busied than living.


texts: Using 'Respectively' in a form of a question

texts:
I saw the following question in one of my exam papers.
What is a volatile and non-volatile memory, respectively?

ROM and RAM
RAM and ROM
Flash and RAM
Magnetic and Flash

Is this usage correct? Or is there a better way to form the question? Is it a must that we need to use the word 'respectively', when asking a question like this where order of words in the answers matter?


texts: Mutually exclusive and not mutually exclusive

texts: I have found on website that when an event is mutually exclusive it means occurrence of one preclude of the other. So is it grammatically correct to write not mutually exclusive when it is already negative?


texts:
I have observed that I use a lot of sexist terms; it comes naturally to me! I have resolved to be "perfectly" non-sexist from now onwards. I would like to know how to avoid sexist language.
Yes, I've googled and found a lot of useful resources.
But I am looking for suggestions based on personal experiences.


texts:
Is it popular, how often, and in which cases does "do" take place of other verbs? Can it be used in written and in spoken English? Can we use "do" instead of any verb? Should we often provide context in such situations?

Examples:

  Hey, John. Do the window. It's cold in here. (Close the window)
  Johanna, would you please do the dishes? The sink is full already. (Wash the dishes)
  Ron did the ground all morning. He's dug up the entire garden. (Dug the ground)
  Susan should do the papers before the office calls. They are in such a mess. (Pile up the papers)
  I did the door last night. She always had trouble opening it. (Fixed the door)
  Somebody, please do the light. It's so dark in here. (Turn on the light)


texts: A word for a non-famous person/thing you have heard a lot about

texts:
Someone or something you have heard a lot about. Not really a widely known person, but a friend of a friend or a local person (from your school/workplace/..). A thing you have discussed before, but is not well-known to outsiders.

Similar question: Looking for a word to describe someone who is famous to a small group of people

Cult hero from above question does NOT apply, and the best fit is the awkward and nondescript demicelebrity.

In my experience, people tend to colloquially use infamous with that sense (cf. The Infamous Swoosh) even though this does not match the dictionary definition.

  infamous: well known for some bad quality or deed

I think peeps use infamous because they think of the word famous, but would feel silly using famous (the object in question has a more limited sort of "fame"). Familiar is close but not quite specific and expressive enough.

Contrived example:

  I can't wait to meet your son Logan! I've heard so much (good stuff) about him! He's ________ [= well-known to me].

Actual examples from me texting:

> Me: https://68.media.tumblr.com/0dc47d322a9f8615dada2510ce522d20/tumblr_ojpmf5nYc41uy57v5o1_400.jpg
> Them: lol, I thought about the fast-food chains first, too!
> Me: i thought about Domains in the context of haskell
> Me: the infamous 'Dom' chain >_>

> [talking about modular smartphones]
> Me: that black guy from yesterday even has a video on them
> Me: next to techaltar's infamous video on them

What would be a better fit in this situation? Or am I stuck with demi-famous?


texts: How to covert "My belief was shattered by the same rock called reality" to active voice?

texts:
The Hemingway editor asks me convert all passive voices to active voices. Is it recommended to do that
1. in all cases
2. in this case

Why is it stressed that we use active voice?


texts: What is a word to describe a lifestyle of few possessions?

texts:
I think there is a word that exists, though it won't quite come to me, that describes the life of someone who purposely leads a sparse existence, materialistically, and has few, if any, possessions.  The only word that comes to me is "monastic," but that's not quite right, and I'm thinking there exists a word that doesn't have any religious connotations.  The right word could possibly, but not necessarily, indicate a nomadic quality, as well, or, at least, the quality of not being tied down to a particular location or domicile.

Example sentence:

  Living in an easily-collapsed geodesic dome, and owning only a laptop, futon, table and a few sets of clothes, Ms. Hilgers' [single-word] lifestyle was envied by some and perplexing to others.


texts:
I'm sorry if this question is somewhat basic. I have a sentence here that goes like this:

  Be like night, in covering others’ mistakes
  And like the earth, in being humble;
  In love and friendliness, be like the sun;
  And during anger and rage, like a mountain;
  Be like a river in generosity and helping others;
  And in coping with others, like a sea.

But the "like night" part, sounds somewhat off to me.
should I use the here as well, or this is OK as is?


texts: A word for the basic concept of the literary inadequacies to describe intangible feelings, thoughts or emotions

texts:
I know this is extremely convoluted but  it has been bugging me all night. I remember learning of the word (or phrase) in something similar to a "Word porn" post. I remember it was a very strange looking word, like it wasn't even English.

All I have found so far is "Alexithymia" but that seems to pertain to a metal disorder. I am looking for the general inability to explain thoughts or ideas due to the other person having to figure out what you mean based on what you say. There's a disconnect between what you feel you are saying and what they feel you are saying. I am specifically looking for a word for that disconnect.


texts: How to punctuate "from [this is a list] to [this is a list]"?

texts:
Here is an example of my specific sentence and a few idea's I've come up with.

I experienced art in a variety of mediums, ranging from the traditional—gallery art and theater—to the informal—street murals, graffiti, and comedy.
I experienced art in a variety of mediums, ranging from the traditional: gallery art and theater—to the informal: street murals, graffiti, and comedy.
I experienced art in a variety of mediums, ranging from the traditional: gallery art and theater, to the informal: street murals, graffiti, and comedy.

Are there any hard and fast rules to punctuating this type of sentence? If not, which punctuation seems most natural?


texts: Full stop following initials (British English)

texts:
I am purchasing a gift for a colleague, a pen with his name engraved on it.

Unfortunately my command over language has declined significantly since I last studied English during my GCSEs!

I was wondering for British English what would be the correct way to get his name engraved on the pen.

The first name is James Daniel. The surname is Atkins. He is a doctor by profession.

Would it be Dr. J. D. Atkins

Dr J. D. Atkins

Dr. J D Atkins

Dr J D Atkins

Any other combination that I may be missing ?

Any help would be greatly appreciated! With all this covid on our minds, it's one less thing to worry about haha


texts: What is the origin of using particular initials such as AJ, JJ etc as a first name?

texts: In the English language (and predominantly American English), it is relatively common to see a (limited) set of first and middle names that form initials used as a shortened version of the given names. (ex. TJ, JT, DJ). Thomas John Washington becomes TJ Washington. Where does this practice come from and why those handful of specific initials?


texts: Is the word "refueling" ever used in the US in a sense of filling up a gas tank of a car?

texts:
I need to proofread a text about statistical analysis of the average time drivers spend on gas stations. The text was not written by a native English speaker. I'm not a native speaker either, but a frequent use of the word "refueling" throughout this text struck me as weird. Some examples:

  "Do the gas stations with the longest refueling times differ from the rest?"

  "Those lengthy refueling times aren’t just happening at one gas station."

  "Since they aren’t actually refueling visits, they don’t count toward our research."

  "By including stations with such entries in the data set, we risk incorrectly evaluating the refueling duration."

  "What remains is enough to calculate the average refueling time."

  "Most of the gas stations have shifted to the refueling time in range of 150 to 300 seconds"

I asked for advice from Americans I know, and they told me that the word "refueling" indeed does sound strange in this context. They suggested me to use "gas refill" or "fill up", or at least "fuel stop". It sounds like a good suggestion, but when I tried googling the phrase "refueling time", I found quite a lot of hits, including some articles that seem to be close in context. I'll probably go with the suggestions given, but I'd like to hear if anyone has any more advice/opinion on this.


texts:
This one has been bothering me the past couple of weeks.

On many (most!) people's email auto-responders, when they go on holiday, they set it to something along the lines of:

  I am currently on annual leave, for emergencies contact xyz.

What do they mean by annual leave?

My understanding was that "annual leave" would be leave you take once per year, but many of the people that do this have multiple holidays.

What is the correct usage of "annual leave", or what should these people be saying instead, if my understanding is correct?


texts: Are dictionary definitions for words with multiple meanings ordered based on chronology, hierarchy, or frequency of usage? Is/was there a standard format?


texts: Term for not taking a stance or non-stance on an issue

texts:
I am looking for a noun that represents someone's lack of stance on an issue (either political, religious, etc).

Used in a sentence, it would be something along the lines of:

"His _____ has failed to garner the support of either party."

I'm not aware of a single word that meets this definition; however, I'm open for your suggestions.


texts: Words that are both Anagrams and Synonyms

texts:
So my father and I were talking, and I commented that it is supremely satisfying that the words it's and 'tis are synonyms that have the exact same distribution of characters (they are anagrams). He responded with evil and vile, which got me wondering how many examples there are of words that are both synonyms and anagrams.

My two questions:

1) What other examples can you think of? Post them as comments!

2) How would you go about trying to find these examples in an intelligent way, i.e. without simply picking up a thesaurus and going line by line (or more specifically, making a computer do it for you)? Is that really the only way to do it?


texts: A verb for someone who isn't really listening

texts:
I've been asking everybody I know about a verb that has been stuck on my mind, but I can't find the right word.

I'm looking for a verb for someone who listens with reluctance. For example, I'm talking about something that happened to me, but the listener simply agrees that everything I say is true. In other words, suppose someone is busy using the computer, not knowing that they're busy, I start telling them about something that happened to me; however, they don't stop me from talking so as not to hurt my feelings, nor do they ditch me. They nod their head and say for example, "Oh" or "Really?"

I'm looking for a verb to fill the blank:

  Me: telling a story

  Someone: "Oh"
  Me: continuing the story

  Someone: "really"/"nice" / or any meaningless response.

  Me: If you're busy just tell me , you don't have to __________

  Or the other way around:

  Someone : telling a story
  Me: I'm not actually listening, I'm just __________


texts: Can I ride this motorcycle to an island?

texts:
A friend and I do not understand the following sentence in the same way:

  This motorcycle can bring you and others riding with you to where you need to go in a brief time, no matter how far away or how accessible the area is to land transportation.

First, some context about this quotation. This sentence is taken from a rule book for role-playing game. It explains a game mechanism to make temporal ellipses in the narration of the game. If you have trouble to grasp how a motorcycle can ride on water, just replace the word "motorcycle" with "vehicle" or "ovni", whatever, that's not the point of my question:

I understand that one can ride this motorcycle anywhere as long as it is by land transportation. Thus it cannot reach an island.

My friend understands that one can ride this motorcycle no matter if it is by land transportation. Thus it can reach an island.

For both of us English is not our mother tongue. What is the correct interpretation of the sentence?


texts: Can I say “to be a person (man) of something”?

texts:
In Russian, we have a popular poetic construction that can be literally translated as to be a person (man) of something. For example, if some person is very active, we can say that he is a man of action. I try to translate this construction in English so that it wouldn't lose its poetic character. I try to be a personification of something, but it sounds odd and pretentious.

Example:

Tatiana is a personification of broken dreams.


texts: as in I spoke off the cuff or an off-the-cuff kind of response.


texts: "He cooked me a soup with a lot of hot oil"

texts: I'm looking for an English equivalent to a Persian expression which means this person got me in a lot of trouble. Literally translated, the expression is this person cooked a soup for me that had too much hot oil.


texts: Single-word request: something like "inappropriately and embarrassingly public"

texts:
I'm writing a story about a guy who is really fussed about his appearance. I'd like to describe him as having a relationship with his mirror, and I'd like to describe this relationship using a single adjective, or maybe two, if I can make them flow together nicely in the sentence. But I can't think of one that captures what I'm trying to say.

I'm trying to impart that his relationship is unseemly, something that should be kept private but that he makes embarrassingly public, like an inappropriate public display of affection between lovers. I've been all over my thesaurus but can't find a word that really nails it.


texts: Origin of "strafe" meaning "move sideways"

texts:
The word strafe originally meant "punish, attack, bomb heavily" and since WWII most commonly describes low-altitude aerial attack on a ground target, especially with front-mounted machine gun fire from a fighter plane.

In first person shooters (first appearing 50 years later*), however, the word strafe has been used to describe the player character moving sideways relative to the orientation of view pretty much since the dawn of first-person gaming (at least on the PC).  How did the word come to be used this way, and what/who was the first?

* Wolfenstein 3D released in 1992, possibly the first use of strafe with this meaning


texts: to name a business model which behave like chicken pecks

texts:
I am describing a business model of doing a lot of buying and selling in very small quantity.

Retailing is not the right word. In my case the small buying and purchasing is not due to demand being small, like retail, but that demand is unknown.

It's like if you supply a hungry man who cannot speak (or an animal), you can only supply bit by bit, until he refuses to eat more. It is not retailing, it is the only way to satisfy unkown demand without oversupplying, especially if the over-supplied part is expensive to return to storage, and repeated supply is, seeming onerous, actually cheap to achieve -- seemingly impossible but it works in the Internet era when the supplier is a software program.

How can I name this market behaviour or business model? A phrase less than 4 words should be idea. The concept is only debated a dozen times in the project, so it doesn't have to be squeezed down to a single word. I thought of "food-pecking", like a chicken pecks food little by little. Any more ideas?


texts: Are tin-skinned and teen-skinned correct words?

texts:
I will upload a photo as a primary to my Facebook profile on my birthday. Then, I am writing a good caption for it. Are tin-skinned (metal skin) and teen-skinned (teenager skin) correct words? Here will be the caption of the photo:

  Photo Caption might be thin-skinned cheek, thin-skinned chick, thin-skinned chick, teen-skinned cheek, teen-skinned chick, teen-skinned chick, tin-skinned cheek, tin-skinned chick or tin-skinned chick. If thin-skinned cheek then the skin is not thick but thinnish else if thin-skinned chick then it might whether have a feather or flock together with another else if thin-skinned chick then the chick is not thick-skinned but either touchy or tetchy such a girly else if teen-skinned cheek, teen-skinned chick and teen-skinned chick then their age might be between thirteen and ninteen else if tin-skinned cheek then simply tinned cheek not tinned can else if tin-skinned chick then feather is not needed during bad weather else the chick might be an android. #wordplay

I am a programmer and loves to play words.


texts: What is a single word for a "generic place something is mentioned in"?

texts:
If X mentions Y, then that Y is mentioned in X.

For example, if a post mentions a user, then that user is mentioned in a post.

Or, if a comment mentions a company, then that company is mentioned in a comment.

Another way to consider it is a:
1. Story has many mentions, a User has many _______.?

Is mention reflective here? Does it work both ways?

Other synonyms to mention are cited and referenced


texts: What does the following phrase mean: "pursuing invariably the same Object"

texts:
Given the following sentence in the American Declaration of Independence:

  But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably
  the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute
  Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such
  Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

I understand the sentence as a substantiation for the making of a new US government, however what does the particular highlighted phrase mean?


texts: how can I express enforcement in past tense

texts:
How can I express enforcement in the past,please looking at below sentence

present  : He has to wait for a long time.
past :He had to wait for a long time (it's not past perfect i want to mention an enforcement in the past)

Is second sentence true?


texts: Please help me understand the difference

texts:
In a local newspaper, I read the following three sentences in the same article. I wonder if they have any difference in meaning.

The woman wanted to know if she was to wait there.
The woman wanted to know if she should wait there.
The woman wanted to know if she might wait there.


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Should I say 'What I wanted to say is' or 'What I wanted to say was'?

Which one is correct:

  Introduce additional user interface widget so that it was possible
  to enter phone number

or

  Introduce additional user interface widget so that it is possible
  to enter phone number

I noticed that the first form is often used by my english-speaking manager when he asks me do do something (defining tasks), but on the other hand, the second form seems to be more widely used elsewhere.


texts: What do you call devices which passed the test successfully?

texts:
Say we have two lists (or two buckets. whatever is easier for you to imagine)

List of the devices under testing.
List of the ones which passed the test successfully and moved from list (1) to list (2).

What do you call either of these lists, especially the second one?

e.g. for the 2nd list:

Passed Devices (but it's ambiguous what they passed).
Devices which passed the test! (two descriptive for a title of a list)
Passed Test Devices! (sounds wrong)...


texts: What term can be used to express the detail at which one studies an event in history?

texts:
I am looking for a term used to describe how much in detail one is studying a historic event.
For instance, if one studies a college course called "History of the World" in one semester, one gets just surface knowledge of a given event, e.g. the Bolshevik revolution might be described but not in much detail.
On the other hand, if one takes a course called "History of the Bolshevik Revolution" one if going to study much more detail about it.
Furthermore, if one does a PhD, one could pick one tiny aspect of that.
The word "depth" is close, but I am wondering if their is a more scholarly term for this used within history. In other words, one can use "depth" in science to mean how detailed one studies a area of science, but because history is a continuum and is measurable by time, so that actual depth can be studied on a scale, I think the concept of "depth" is special to this study so there might be a unique term applied for use in historical studies.


texts: An attack on a king is called "check", why is an attack that guarantees the capture of a king called checkmate? What is the origin?


texts:
Which is correct?

  append parts c to parts b

or

  append parts c too parts b

I know too is used when there are supposed to be amounts, but appending something to something else is adding something to / too it.

Can someone please explain this to me.


texts: When to use this construction: so Adjective a Noun

texts:
In "The Quiet American" by Graham Greene, Mr Fowler says:

  I watched her closely while she asked how I was and touched my splinted leg and gave me her shoulder to lean on, as though one could lean with safety on so young a plant.

From what I learned in school, I would have written: "such a young plant", but apparently "so Adjective a Noun" is correct English.

What is the name of the construction above (if there is one)?
When is it used?


texts: "Don't cry." is universally accepted sentence form. But I also notice some books also provide "Don't you cry." Both means "not to cry". Are they all correct?


texts: Word for a document to reflect upon an event

texts:
So, we're having an event and have been tasked with creating a booklet (2/3 page PDF) to show categories, nominees and winners

Between us, we're sure there's one word that encapsulates this type of document.

Overview suggests something before. Reflection doesn't fit right.

  Hey, have you got a copy of the {document}

Any ideas?


texts: 'Empathetic,' but relating to one's environment/surroundings instead of to people

texts:
If to be "empathetic" is to have a strong understanding of people and their thoughts and emotions, what would be the equivalent adjective for one with a strong understanding of their environment, the events and interactions within it, and their consequences? "Intuition" comes to mind and speaks of the predictive angle, but is broader than I'd like, as it could be considered an umbrella term under which empathy falls. I'm looking for a word that also falls under that umbrella but is focused on environmental intuition.

In tune and synchronized with X get closer, but a one-word counterpart of empathy would be ideal.


texts: Is the comma needed in "additional, custom apps"?

texts:
I saw the phrase "additional, custom apps." Is the comma correct? Or would you delete the comma:
"... additional custom apps ..."
The whole sentence is a bit complex, so I'll give a simplified version:

Customers and partners can improve the functionality of their workspace with additional, custom apps within the platform.


texts: A proverb that means "using big measures/actions for small things"

texts:
In Vietnamese we have a proverb that would translate as "you dont kill a chicken with a blade that you would use to hack a buffalo".

It's been in my mind for some work-related stuff and i cant think of an equivalent proverb or phrase in English. Any idea? Thanks!


texts: Is it preferable to generally use nested prepositional phrases or a hyphenated adjectival phrase?

texts:
I've recently run into some sticky situations involving how to write out complicated concept descriptions. Take this example:

  Which metrics are appropriate for evaluating the accuracy of a prediction of difficulty level?

My visceral response is that the nested prepositions ("for...of...of") bog down the reader. One option is to wrap one of the prepositional phrases into a hyphenated adjectival phrase:

  Which metrics are appropriate for evaluating the accuracy of a difficulty-level prediction?

If I wanted to compress this even more, I could fold in another prepositional phrase:

  Which metrics are appropriate when evaluating difficulty-level-prediction accuracy?

Unfortunately, these hyphenated cases look ugly and are arguably (especially in the 3rd case) as hard or harder to understand than the original sentence. Have any style guides or other sources justified using nested prepositional phrases over hyphenated adjectival phrases, or vice versa?


texts: "I spilled water on the table and [the] floor"

texts:
Compare the sentences:

  I spilled water on the floor.
  I spilled water on the table and floor.
  I spilled water on the table and the chair.

Is the missing the before floor in the second sentence correct?
If so, is the the before chair in the third sentence optional?
What is the general rule applicable in such cases? Is it rule related to the conjunction, or the nature of the noun like floor, or both?


texts:
Most resources I have read state that verbs are content words (excluding helping verbs).

I was just wondering whether copulas are considered content or function words. To me, a copula seems more like a function word.

Also, would the same thing be true of linking verbs in general?


texts: Specific English term for the type of work is flexible and one position can be held by two people

texts:
I need help to find the term for this definition:
"The type of work is flexible and one position can be held by two people".
Would you kindly help me with this term?


texts:
Is this sentence grammatically correct?

"The application site comprises an existing care home which has 59 bedrooms and 85 registered bed spaces"

I was under the impression that 'comprise' would indicate plural, eg

"the playground comprises a slide, a climbing frame, and a swing"

and that using it singularly is incorrect, eg

"the playground comprises a slide"


texts:
I'd like to know whether the word gig (temporary job) is formal or colloquial.

Always that I've read it, it has been in forums. I have never heard it or read it somewhere else, just in forums, which make me wonder about the formality of this word.


texts: Formally introducing yourself in an email

texts:
I am composing an email to a work associate who I have never had any dealings with before. I'm struggling to think of a formal yet succinct way of introducing myself.

In person, I would probably say:

  "Pleased to meet you"

But this feels wrong because I am not actually meeting him- I'm just sending an email.


texts:
I am not sure which one is correct in the following situation...

"The video I watched on Youtube yesterday WAS in Mandarin."
OR
"The video I watched on Youtube yesterday IS in Mandarin. "

The video is in Mandarin no matter when I watch, but because it was yesterday, should I use past tense for the sentence? Thanks!


texts: Word for the money that is paid for a carpool – equivalent word to the German informal word "Spritgeld"

texts:
In German there's the word Spritgeld which is a compound of petrol/fuel and money. So, the verbatim translation is petrolmoney or fuelmoney, respectively.

This is an informal word which is commonly used when talking about the money that one owes someone else for a drive that they took together. Example sentence:

  Wieviel Spritgeld schulde ich dir?
  ≈ How much money do I owe you for the drive?

I'm looking for a translation for Spritgeld. I couldn't find anything on the Internet. I found some words like

gas/fuel/petrol allowance/reimbursement
mileage reimbursement/allowance
travel expenses reimbursement

but I feel that all those terms are of a pretty formal register. I consider them to be the counterparts to the German (more or less) formal terms Fahrtkostenerstattung and Kilometergeld/-pauschale.

Is there an informal term that you would use when you ask or tell someone how much money your/their share for the drive is?


texts: How to properly tell a customer he/she is not allowed to modify software interface?

texts:
How can I properly tell a customer that, although he/she knows how to do it and he/she has the possibility, he/she is not allowed, by contract, to modify the layout of the software we just sold him?

First thing we came up with was:

Sir/Madam, no visual changes are allowed in our system.

But this seems so short, too concise. I was looking for something more formal, prolix.

Any suggestions?


texts:
Referenceable isn't a real word, but is there a word that means the same as "able to be referenced" that I can use?

An example of how I'd like to use it:
"The nice thing about written information, is that it's referenceable."

Thanks!


texts: Which is correct: "web host" or "web hoster"?

texts:
Which is the best way to refer to a company that hosts your website:

  My web host supports Ruby.

or

  My web hoster supports Ruby.

or

  My web hosting service supports Ruby.


texts:
What is correct between "bests" & "best", when used in the context as per title.
To clarify, there is no noun after this term.
i.e. it's not "one of the best [XYZ]s".

Example:
I had been to that restaurant. It's indeed one of the best/bests (?)"


texts: Is there anything wrong with asking what 12pm means?

texts:
I was preparing an application, where the specified deadline was today 12pm. My understanding of 12pm was 12 noon, but I found it a little odd for a deadline to be at 12 noon. So I sent the following email to the staff handling the application just to make sure if my understanding was correct (this was a reply to a previous email from her where she mentioned the deadline):

  Dear B,

  May I just confirm whether by 12pm you mean 12 noon?

  Looking forward to hearing from you.

  Sincerely,

  A

From B's reply below, it seems that she was a little annoyed:

  Hi A

  12pm is 12 noon.

  12 midnight is 12am.

  So 12 lunchtime today please, thanks.

  Kind regards

  B

I would like to know if there was anything wrong with my question, and how could I have asked it better.


texts: Is the "for" in "for too long" necessary?

texts:
Is it correct to say:

  The night she passed away, I sat in front of the TV too long.

Or must I say

  The night she passed away, I sat in front of the TV for too long.


texts: What's the difference between "turn out" and "end up"?

texts:
I would like to know when I must to use "turn out" and "end up". I notice that the "end up" is more universal than "turn out".

See an exemple:

I’m sure it will all turn out well in the end.

or

I’m sure it will all end up OK in the end.


texts: Possessive for a third person and a first person

texts:
Bob and I are working on a project. I want to refer to "Bob's work" and "my work" collectively, without referring to Bob and myself collectively. (This will be the first reference to Bob and myself in my writing.)

How do I do this, without resorting to the ungainly "Bob's and my work"?


texts:
What relevance has the word "dead" to being "straight"?

It should be noted that any adjective would form a tautology, since something is either straight or it's not straight (there is no possible qualification).

That notwithstanding, the addition of "dead" is used to emphasize, or rather confirm, that the object being described is in fact straight.

But why "dead"?

Usage examples:

  The road between here and the next town is dead straight
  That piece of steel is dead straight
  You must draw the line dead straight for the geometry to work


texts: Does or Do? (This is a dissertation’s initial research question)

texts: How does Russia’s soft and hard power strategies impact on Georgia’s current political, social and economic environment under the rule of the Georgian Dream government?


texts:
I look forward to getting first-hand insights and behind-the-scene perspectives from XXX’s professors  who are thought leaders and experts in their fields.

Should I replace to getting with to get ?

I checked on other forums regarding to + -ING vs infinitive form, but I didn't find a satisfactory answer.

The to getting doesn't seem correct while speaking.


texts: Term for a problem that you are trying to solve is already solved by others

texts:
I've come across that term once. It was from an article. And the term is somewhat like "Collective" or "Crowd" + some other words.

Basically, a problem that you are trying to solve is already solved by others. Just that the solver isn't aware of the solution existed.

I've read through the following thread, but I still can't find the word I am working for. I will be much appreciated if anyone can help me find the answer.
Thanks.

An English idiom for "solve a problem that has been solved"?


texts:
"I like to travel alone with my wife"

Does this sentence make sense?

According to Merriam Webster, alone (adj) is  without anyone or anything else, not involving or including anyone or anything else, separate from other people or things, without people that you know or that usually are with you.  So I suppose that "alone" shouldn't be used to mean "together with another person".

But when I googled "alone with my wife", the result showed that some people did say that.  I want to know whether they use the word "alone" correctly in such sentence, and whether it makes sense to be written in an essay.  If it is not correct, then what should the sentence be when the writer means he only enjoys travel when it is done with his wife?