texts:
The Austrian Federal Railways recently translated some (more) of their automated onboard announcements, one of the new automated announcements now welcomes passengers at the train ("Welcome at the train to [destination]") rather than aboard or on the train – the latter propositions seem much more common in this context, but is at technically correct as well (as they claim on Twitter)?

(Related but not addressing at: "on the train" or "in the train"?)


texts: Is there a term for words filling in for body language (*sigh*) and/or for typography being used to express tone or intonation (THIS IS SHOUTING)?


texts: The usage of 'Yours sincerely' and 'Yours faithfully'

texts: I need some help in why you need to use 'Yours sincerely' when you do know the name of the participant receiving the letter and 'Yours faithfully' when you don't. To simplify it what is the history or reference that set these rules in English language.


texts: Need a word for having rewritten something after translation

texts:
I have written a book.

Well, actually, my mother-in-law told the story of her experiences as a German forced laborer in the Soviet Union after World War 2.  This was given in German and recorded onto audio tape a number of years ago by my sister-in-law.  My S.I.L. later transcribed the story in German onto twenty or so tightly typewritten foolscap sheets, and a few years ago she gave us a copy of this.  My wife and I eventually translated this into very rough English (we both speak German, my wife being a native speaker).  It is quite a story and we have determined to self-publish it as a book.  So this is what I need: a word (or two) for having put it into a final form for the book.

See, the original telling was done pretty much as it occurred to her to tell it, and it tends to get lost in parts, backtrack, go forward, and around the bend at times.  The final version is still her story, but it has been reworked into what I hope is a readable and understandable whole, with a beginning, a middle and an end.  I've also a spot of research on historical matters pertaining to the story, and because some words she used were Russian, I used Google Translate and the Russian Language SE to get some more information.

On the title page, I am giving the title of the book, followed by the subtitle, then the author attribution: by Gertrud Baltutt.

Below the author attribution (she is now deceased, btw), I want to indicate that the work is a transcription and a translation of the original tale, and the word I need is for the really hard part, putting it into a coherent form for publication.  Here's what I got, so far:

  by Gertrud Baltutt

  As told to her daughter Cyberherbalist's Sister-in-Law. Translated by
  her daughter Mrs. Cyberherbalist and XXXXXXed by Cyberherbalist

What is that word (or words)?  Arranged?  Edited?  What?

A secondary question is this: my mother-in-law did not actually write this book.  It's her story, but when it comes down to it, I wrote it, or at least co-authored it.  I tried to maintain the flavor of the original German, but is it really her who is the author?  Or me?  With her being deceased, there's not danger she'll get upset with me about it, so whatever.


texts: Using Past-tense or Present-tense for verbs

texts:
I found a perfect example on the internet about what I am trying to ask. Take a look at this:

  "Mr. Dilger wants to see you." Mr. Bruce went on to say. "It's about the same thing. I thought I'd tell you before you saw him. A little bit easier facing the Big Boss if you're wised up beforehand, you know." I thanked him and went down the long aisle of desks to Mr. Dilger's office, the directory manager.

and this:

  “I thought I'd tell you before you get to the office tomorrow."

Do you see the difference? The first quote and the second quote are both talking about the present time, yet the first quote has the verb "see" in past tense, while the second one has "get" in present tense. They both seem to be okay, but how?

The first quote is obviously taking place before the main character "sees" Mr. Dilger. So why would it be in past tense?

Does the English language not specify which tense that we must use when sentences are constructed like this?

I'd love everybody's opinions.


texts: When to capitalize "certification titles"?

texts:
At my company you can take a course where you can receive training in being a "Super Helper."  (Real program name anonymized to protect the innocent.)  When, if ever, should we capitalize "Super Helper"?

Like a title, I imagine if we were to say "Super Helper Dave," it should be capitalized.

What about if we say, "Come to this class so you can become a Super Helper!"  Should it be capitalized then?

Does being plural make any difference?  For example, should it be capitalized in a sentence such as, "We have twenty-seven Super Helpers"?

My instinct was to capitalize Super Helper like a person's title, which I would normally only capitalize before a person's name, but I'm not convinced this is really a person's title.  Maybe it's a "name of a program"?  Is it more appropriate to capitalize it in order to distinguish it as a particular, specific program?

Thank you!


texts:
I understand that "Deal breaker" is an expression used for a feature/characteristic that would make one not go for a deal (or terminate a contract), even if the deal's other features are great.

What expression would be the opposite of "Deal Breaker"? I'm looking for an existing expression that would describe a feature that would make one go for the deal, even if there are other not so great characteristics.

The expression could fill the sentence below:

  I know this phone carrier has higher rates and everything, but if
  they are offering free iPhone to us if we switch, that would be a <expression
  here>! We would totally go for it.


texts:
I came across this phrase while reading an article by Paul Krugman on the New York Times website. Here's the quotation (emphasis added):

  … non-GIPSI [the group of Eurozone nations – Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Ireland – that are grappling with the debt crisis, my note] European leaders should realize that what the GIPSIs really need is a general European reflation. So let's hope that they get this, and also give each of us a pony.

Now, I understand that this is a sort of witty remark, but I cannot figure out what he's referring to. I know that there's a horse breed named “Gypsy”, but I suspect there may be another reference—an idiomatic one, perhaps—I don't know of.


texts: How do I tell the difference between 'dd' and 'tt' in words?

texts: I have a spelling bee today and I would like some tips on how to differentiate 'tt' and 'dd' in words.  Words like bottle and prattle have a 'tt', but most people pronounce it like a 'dd', like in waddle or ruddle.  Is there a way to tell by pronunciation alone which double letter it is?  Thanks! :)


texts: Clear way of saying that one set of rules overrides another, if contradicts

texts:
I'm working on updating a constitution, but as it is for a non-incorporated entity it doesn't have to be legally perfect.  I'm much more interested in clarity.

Here is what I have at the moment:

  If any of the regulations of the Guild, the rules of Societies
  Council, or other provisions enrolled upon the Guild Statutes Book
  should disagree with this any portion of this Constitution or with any
  Regulations, then those rules shall be overruled.

Regulation is defined earlier in the document as

  a rule or law that is passed by committee, with on going consequences to the club.

Basically:

  If A,B, or C contradicts X or Y, then uses A, B or C instead


texts: Is it proper to say "nor scarce" in this sentence?

texts:
Oh, were you never a schoolboy,
  And did you never train,
  And feel that swelling of the heart
  You never can feel again?

  Did you never meet, far down the street,
  With plumes and banners gay,
  While the kettle, for the kettledrum,
  Played your march, march away?

  It seems to me but yesterday,
  Nor scarce so long ago,
  Since all our school their muskets took,
  To charge the fearful foe.

Regarding the third paragraph, Oxford Dictionary states that hardly and scarcely should not be used with not or other negatives, e.g. can't hardly. Is that proper to use nor before scarce?

And is it right to use "long ago since..."?

I can't make out the structure of this paragraph though the meaning seems clear to me.


texts: A guy walks into a bar. His buddy laughs and says, "Don't worry, I didn't see it either."

texts:
A guy walks into a bar. His buddy laughs and says, "Don't worry, I didn't see it either.

What is the meaning of this joke? What makes it funny? (Is it supposed to be funny?)

I saw this joke in the mood message of a British guy.

It is a kind of bar joke but there is usually a connection. (For example: a guy with dyslexia walked into a bra).

I didn't get this one. Can it be a meta-joke?


texts: Can I actually say "he is being sick"? Does it sound natural?

texts:
Here is my question: Can I say "he is being sick"?
I was looking for how to use been and being.

What I have found:

  The word being is the present participle form of the verb be.
  It is not used after have. As a rule, being is used after a form
  of be (is, am, are, was, were).

  He is being sick. (= He is vomiting.) (NOT He has being sick.)
  Who is being a silly baby, then?
  I was being careful.

(English Practice: Difference between being and been)

Some guy said I could not use "he is being sick" because it sounds unnatural.


texts: Is the phrase "by way of notice" an acceptable use of the idiom/expression "by way of"?

texts:
Oftentimes when I write emails to notifying co-workers of any planned absences I will say something along the lines of:

  By way of advanced notice, I will be out of the office on Tuesday, April 1st.

Is this proper English? Is there a better way to say this?

If this is improper, is there ever a valid sentence in which you could say "by way of notice"?


texts: What does "bite" and "quarter-backing" mean in this context?

texts:
It's from the first few lines of the foreword to Karl Llewellyn's "The Bramble Bush":

  These lectures grew out of an attempt in 1929 and 1930 to introduce
  the students at Columbia Law School to the study of law. They were
  privately printed in 1930, and met with reasonable favour. But I
  found out early that their bite for a beginning law student lies
  rather in November than in September; and a man's own
  ideas--especially on perspective and whole view-- change as he gains
  experience Hence for ten years I planned and worked over a rewrite.
  Then it slowly became clear that I have no business to rewrite. The
  young fellow who wrote these lectures just isn't here any more, and
  the job he did had its own virtue, and I have no right to mess it up
  with Monday morning quarter-backing which has used two decades in
  getting from Saturday to Monday morning.

Can someone give me an explanation of, if not some interchangeable words/phrases for, 'bite' and 'quarter-backing' in respect of the above context? Thanks.


texts: What is the name of the construction used in the sentence below?

texts:
What construction is used in this sentence?

  I was having some photos taken.


texts: Which preposition to use in "lack of knowledge __ the manager"

texts:
The preposition by is faulty in this sentence but I don't know which preposition I have to replace it with.

  The inaccurate planning is caused by the lack or insufficient presence
  of relevant technical knowledge by the responsible software
  manager.


texts:
Usually, when there are two things, we say "one", and "the other".  However, I came across the following expression:

  one twin to another.

Of course, a pair of twins is made up with two people. Therefore, if we say "one" pointing to one of them, the one left should be called "the other", right?


texts: Term for phrases which are synonymous as a whole but antonymous on a literal reading

texts:
Is there a term of phrases where there are multiple ways to say the same meaning (that is, the phrases are synonymous), but on the surface, the structure of at least some of the phrase components have opposite meaning (that is, at least some components of each phrase are antonyms)?

For example, "fill in" and "fill out" mean the same thing (in the context of a form, e.g.). However, "in" and "out" are antonyms.

This is sort of the opposite of Auto-Antonyms. Whereas those are single words/phrases which have at least two meanings which are antonyms of each other, I'm looking for two phrases which are synonymous but are made up of pairwise antonyms.


texts:
In Anthony's speech there is a line that goes like this:

"When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept."

Why the present perfect?


texts:
On my profile I wrote:

I'm 19 years old developer.

my friend respectfully corrected me and said that this is correct form:

I'm 19 year old developer.

Why is that so?


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  What is the correct way to pluralize an acronym?

I was in Middlesbrough yesterday and spotted:

CJ’s Cafe

So far, so good, I thought. A selection of the delights within were listed:

  Pizzas      Parmo’s      Breakfasts

The second, on the face of it, looks like a standard greengrocer’s apostrophe, surprising in a sign where everything else is correct.

But parmo is an abbreviation for parmesan.

Is it correct to use an apostrophe there to indicate missing letters? Or would one normally expect to see parmos?

When forming other words from parmesan one would write parmesanish or parmesany. Would one then write parmoish and parmoey or parmo’ish and parmo’y?


texts: Can I say a spirit conveyed by something?

texts:
Confucius already manifests a spirit perfectly conveyed by these words of a much later text : “ If a foreigner comes to China, and lives like a Chinese, then treat him as a Chinese. (self-made)

I am not sure about the notion that "a spirit conveyed by these words" is a good expression, although I know "message conveyed in.." is good. Shall I changed it into:

Confucius already manifests a spirit best embodied/best illustrated in these words of a much later text?


texts:
"You invest time, energy, and read goods like money or stuff that you own that you share."
I read an article this morning and got confused with the sentence above.
Which word does each that-clause follow?
Thanks a lot!


texts: what do you call the crust of the bread in your dialect?

texts: We in Nottingham, call the crust of the bread the nobby. What do other dialects call it?


texts: Why is "police" referred to using the singular pronoun "it" in this sentence?

texts:
With reference to this question Collective noun "police" — singular or plural? and as per my understanding police is always plural. But I got shocked after seeing police used as a singular noun in this article:

  Two days after the death of the 23-year-old gangrape victim, Delhi Police on Monday said it has finalised around 1,000-page chargesheet in connection with the incident and plans to submit it in court on Thursday.

I can't figure out why they have used police as singular. It's one of the prominent newspapers in India. I doubt myself about its usage. Could anyone elucidate it further?


texts: What's the meaning of 'faithful colour pigments'?

texts:
CERAMIC ART - NOT FOR FOOD USE - FAITHFUL COLOUR PIGMENTS MAY POISON
FOOD.

I'm trying to translate something written on a plate in my native language but I cannot find a meaning of faithful that makes sense. From what I can
see it's a collocation. Even so, I still can't come up with a proper definition of faithful in this sentence.


texts: Is there an alternative way decorate year of death?

texts:
I have written short biographies of various scientists from all backgrounds. I have used the format

Stephen Hawking (* 1942 † 2018)

to denote year of birth and death. Since the cross is a Christian symbol, and many of the scientists I'm covering are from non-Christian or irreligious backgrounds, I wonder if there is a more appropriate symbol to be used.


texts:
What does the phrase "play the ... card" mean? For example:

  "She played the victim card."


texts: Is there a synonym for “day” that can go with “at night”, “at dusk”, “at dawn”?

texts:
I need a word (ideally) or phrase that means "daytime" that can be used in a sentence "the event happened at dawn/dusk/night/day"

"The event happened at day", and "The event happened at daytime" don't seem to really sound right.

The key thing here is fitting into a sentence that has the word 'at' in it, because it is going into construction of a sentence on a web site that has to cover these possibilities.

A typical example might be "The battle occurred at night in the rain", or "The battle occurred at day in the mist".   The latter doesn't sound right.


texts:
What does 'assumed' mean in this sentence?

  Practitioners may perceive constraints and challenges to providing high levels of confidentiality to young people, in the form of assumed duties to report child abuse, under-age sexual activity, and the need to obtain prior parental consent for counselling.

Is it the verb assume where it means to 'take on a duty' or does it mean 'false, pretended and accepted as true without proof'?

Thank you.


texts: "zh" vs. "j". Are these pronounced in the same way?

texts: I've seen some Chinese words like "YUEZHONG". Also in some other languages like Persian and Arabic I've seen words written with "zh". Are these two sounds pronounced in the same way? Is there any word in English using the same combination of letters? Is it right to use "zh" to imply the letter "j"?


texts: Can copula+adjective be transitive or intransitive?

texts:
The beginning of the article What is consciousness, and could machines have it? (full text PDF is a google search away) contains the following:

  The word “consciousness,” like many prescientific terms, is used in
  widely different senses. In a medical context, it is often used in
  an intransitive sense (as in, “the patient was no longer
  conscious”) [...]

  [...]

  This corresponds to the transitive meaning of consciousness (as in
  “The driver is conscious of the light”).

Is this the correct distinction to draw between these two occurrences of the word "conscious"? Is there a more precise way to draw this distinction, since transitivity is usually a property of verbs, and there's (yet) no verb  with a root "conscious", as far as I can tell.


texts: Word/phrase for a feature that could be both good and bad for something

texts:
Take this scenario:

  a tool has a specific feature that could be regarded as an invaluable benefit for. However, this feature, if used in opposite direction may be counterproductive. In other words, the strength point may be the weakness point.

For example, feature X of a security mechanism could be leveraged to break that if used maliciously. So, what's the word/phrase to describe this feature? I think it should be something other than Achilles heel.


texts: punctuation for "2 point something billion dollar job"

texts:
How would you punctuate this:

  "2 point something billion dollar job"?

I'm editing for a court reporter and he says this: "That's not much on a 2 point something billion dollar job." I am unsure how to punctuate that correctly. This is my guess: "2-point-something billion dollar job."


texts: The word "perplexed" in academic writing

texts:
Can I use the word "perplexed" in academic writing? If not, would you please suggest another word?

Example sentence: When numerical examples provide different results, audience will be left perplexed on how the issue is solved.


texts: What verb tense do I use in this question?

texts:
I had a student ask about verb tense in the following question. "Live" is used with "the President", but I can't figure out why I don't want to add the "s". It doesn't "sound" right to me and I can't explain why.
Ex.-Is it important that the President live in the White House? OR Is it important that the President lives in the White House?


texts: I have seen the word ragtag in various places. Just want to be sure about Ragtags.


texts: What did Cyrus Beene mean when he said "sausage factory" on Scandal?

texts:
It's a flashback scene from episode seven, "The Trail."  In it, Cyrus Beene is arguing with the then not yet President, Fitzgerald Grant, about Olivia Pope.  Beene had just hired Pope, and Grant, having just met her, didn't like what she had to say and wanted Beene to fire her.  Trying to persuade Grant not to fire Pope, Beene said (and then Grant responded) as follows:

Beene:  Let's be clear about something, I run a sausage factory.

Grant:  Which makes me, "sausage"?

Beene then launched into a diatribe about why he needs Olivia, which wasn't particularly relevant to the usage of "sausage factory."  It could have been, but it wasn't.

My question is this: What did Beene mean by "sausage factory"?

I have two theories:

"Sausage factory" refers to the reputedly disgusting practices involved in making sausage and Beene is referring to the fact that he needs Olivia because she's a white hat.
"Sausage factory" refers to the fact that Grant's a man, Beene's a man, pretty much everyone that works for them is a man, and the predominantly male campaign needs to avoid the optics of firing a woman.

The second definition cited above gives, aside from being a gathering with no women present, a political definition, which would make sense given the show, but it doesn't seem to fit; I say "seem" because maybe it does and I don't see it.

What was meant by this reference?  Can anyone suss it out?


texts: What would be the best phrase for meeting on-site (in contrast to remote / web meetings)?

texts:
As far as I understand there are several phrases possible:
"We want to ..."

"meet in person"
"meet on site" / "meet on-site"
"meet locally"
"meet physically"
"meet face-to-face"

Is there a difference in the meaning?
Is there helpful guidance when should I use which phrase?


texts: 'If' conditional - present tense vs future tense

texts:
I was driving with my dad and we saw a bumper sticker that said:

  If my dog doesn't like you, then neither do I

My dad said a more grammatically correct version would be:

  If my dog doesn't like you, then neither would I

I think the first is better because 'doesn't' and 'do' are both in the present tense, while in his version 'doesn't' and 'would' are in different tenses.  He says that the statement is conditional and the 'if' requires an increment of time for its answer to be fulfilled - at that point in the statement, it should become future tense.


texts: Is a word like 'thx' a contraction or abbreviation?

texts:
Putting aside that the use of 'thx' is bad, and it isn't really a word.  Would 'thx' be considered a contraction or abbreviation?

Contraction: a shortened version of the written and spoken forms of a word, syllable, or word group, created by omission of internal letters (actually, sounds).

The page also states that a contraction "shouldn't be confused with an abbreviation or acronym.  My logic says that it would be an abbreviation since a contraction would also change the phonetic version of the word while an abbreviation does not.


texts: transference of meaning by use in an expression

texts:
I seem to find several cases like this:

"forensic scientist" is a scientist who investigates a situation with regard to its relevance for a legal court (forum). The word "forensic" then acquires the meaning of "scientific", as we hear in crime dramas, "bring in the forensics", meaning, "bring in the science specialists".
There seem to be several other cases where (at least the way that I analyze it) one word takes on a quite different meaning from its frequent association with another word.

"Samaritan" meaning a good person from the phrase "good Samaritan"

"discrimination" meaning invidious action from "invidious discrimination"

Perhaps this is similar to what goes on when a syllable bears the meaning of the whole word, as "-thon" for "marathon" or "-ate" for "Watergate"? Or in the construction of rhyming slang? But I guess not.

I am not complaining about the phenomenon. What I am asking is whether there is a linguistic term for this kind of transfer of meaning.


texts: Is there an idiom like "stepping on someones toes" but way more serious?

texts:
I was look for something a little more damaging. Like..." stepping on someone's guts". The context is a sentence like "Don't you dare....[insert idiom]".

Any ideas?


texts: What's the word for someone who is prepared in advance

texts:
What will you call someone who is prepared in advance for all the events/things?

I want a word which i can use in context where it's good to be prepared in advance.

Ex. If a person is well prepared for any event/meeting then it's a good thing. I want to use it as a adjective.


texts:
According my second grade teacher, when you have an e in your word, the letter 'one skip' behind it is pronounced hard. For example, the word name. In 'name', the fourth letter is e, the letter behind it is m, and the second letter is a. Because a is just past e, it is a hard a, pronounced aye.

I am following this rule, ergo, are should be pronounced aye-r, right? I've been stuck on this for a while now.


texts: Is there a difference in pronunciation between "wood" and "would"?

texts: My friends and I were debating whether would and wood are pronounced differently.  Are they?


texts: When a question is nested within a question: two question marks?

texts:
If you have two questions, one embedded in the other, should there be a single, final question mark covering both the main question and the nested one, or one for each?

Here is an example:

  A) Does anyone know the answer (or can anyone explain?) if there should be one or two question marks in this sentence?

Here is another example just to clarify:

  B) Does anyone know the answer (or does anyone not know?)?

I am mainly concerned with the embedded question coming at the end of sentence like this: ...(...?)?

That looks really odd to me. It doesn't seem right; however, I feel that it looks fine if I have the nested question in the middle of the sentence, i.e. of the form:

  C) Does anyone know the answer (or does anyone not know?) to this question?

The punctuation in C looks correct to me, if I take the first question mark out then it looks looks wrong, but it seems that B and C are exactly, but for the position of the parentheses, the equivalent of each other.

P.S. One last point, are single and double quotation marks considered to be parentheses?


texts: Is there an expression for cutting ties or calling off something that is ultimately unfavorable to both parties?

texts:
In particular, ending something that one of the parties is still attached to. For instance, in a relationship, if one person doesn't want to go through the short term struggle of a breakup (and is therefore unwilling to take action), but the two both know they are better off separated for long term happiness. The other person has more sense and calls it off.

Apologies for being rambly and for any grammar mistakes.


texts: What do we call the noun to which a pronoun refers?

texts:
For example, if I say

We shall go from here to there.

and we are in New York intending to go to Boston, what would we say New York and Boston are to here and there, respectively?


texts:
I have come across many sentences having the following structure:
{ WITH+SUBJECT+VERB-ING }
This type of sentence starts with "WITH"
For Example :

With many of the tourists returning from the site due to bad weather, we decided not to visit there.

Can anyone elaborate on this type of sentence structure?


texts: Is this a faulty parrallelism or is there an expression like this?

texts:
A gardener can't just wish for a beautiful garden and one suddenly appears.

I happened to see this sentence on an article about the importance of making an effort, and i can see that the sentence means you can't get something only by wishing for it.

Is this sentence grammatically wrong? Or it's just a common expression ? Help!


texts: Which words in a title should be capitalized?

texts: Are there any concrete rules that say which words (parts of speech) in a title should start with a capital letter? What would be a correct capitalization for the title of this question?


texts: Word for "A symbol that means a word/phrase"

texts:
This article about using Ћ to stand for the made me think about how different symbols represent words or phrases. For example: @ means at; % means per cent; # can mean pound or number; ♥ can mean love, as in "I ♥ NY".

It seems right to call these abbreviations, but:

Abbreviations can include non-symbols, like AZ for Arizona
The symbol may have characters not found in the word (like $ has an S shape in it, even though s is not in dollar), contrary to some definitions of abbreviation

One word I found was ligature, which seems to describe & and the proposed Ћ well. But:

Ligature does not describe some symbols shown above (like #)
Ligature describes symbols that do not mean words (like æ)

The symbols listed above are what one might see in informal (but standard) shorthand, and it's these I want to describe. Mathematical symbols (like using = to mean equal or the same) can be in the same category. Alphabetic symbols, like X or O to mean kisses or hugs, may be included too.

Is there a name for (and only for) symbols like these?


texts: What does the phrase "ungodly hour" really mean?

texts:
When I hear people speak of "this ungodly hour" they are usually complaining about being awake (or especially working) earlier than they are accustomed.

But why is this called ungodly? It would seem that the diligence to arise early and begin work would be a mark of godliness. It seems that an "ungodly hour" would be a time, perhaps after midnight, when being awake is often associated with ungodly behavior, such as drunkenness and debauchery.

What is the history of this phrase?

Edit: 'ungodly hour', does carry the connotation of early, not just different than expected. Otherwise, ungodly means immoral. http://www.google.com/search?q=ungodly+definition

  un·god·ly

  adjective /ˌənˈgädlē/
  ungodlier, comparative; ungodliest, superlative

Irreligious or immoral
    - ungodly lives of self-obsession, lust, and pleasure

Unreasonably early or inconvenient
    - I've been troubled by telephone calls at ungodly hours


texts: Which is correct: "drive safe" or "drive safely"?

texts:
When someone is going to drive their car somewhere, I always used to say "drive safely" to them. Recently I was told I should say "drive safe."

(From: Would you ask someone to drive safe or to drive safely?)

Which one is correct?  Similarly, is "do good" correct?


texts: What is a single word for mouth, eyes, ears and nose?

texts:
These are essentially all the organs which are attached to a creature’s head.
The closest phrase I’ve come across are head sensory organs, however I was hoping there was a more formal and scientific single word to describe these.
To give this context: I’m busy programming a system class structure which I’d like to use the proper scientific names for. This should therefore be such that a nose, eyes, ears and mouth are all types of word. In this case, “face” would not work, since a nose is not a type of face.


texts: What's the deal with "thank you kindly"?

texts:
Other questions on this site have established that kindly can be used as a sort of please.  This usage was in my mind when someone said "Thank you kindly" to me, but "thank you please" doesn't make sense.  However, characterizing one's own thanks as kind also sounds unlikely.  The actual usage appears to be the sixth definition by Dictionary.com:

  kindly
  6. cordially or heartily: We thank you kindly.

However, I still have questions.  Is this usage of kindly only used with thank you?  How did this usage occur?


texts: Proper way of saying about continuous time range starting in present and ending at given point in past

texts:
I would like to stress that something starts now and finishes in the past using the shortest possible form. For example:
How can I indicate that given time range relates to amount of time someone can move back or rewind a movie ?

I am considering following constructions:
 - "20 seconds from now"
 - "20 seconds since now"
 - "20 seconds ago"

Is it enough to use any of above form as is or should they be surrounded by some additional words ?
Does any presented form indicate in which time direction speaker/user has to move ?
Does it make sense ?


texts: In this context, is 'all' singular or plural?

texts:
Here are three sentences to help me ask this question:

The cats are all that they own.
All that they own is the cats.
All that they own are the cats.

The first sentence is definitely correct as written. However, I'm not sure whether 2 or 3 is correct.

To explain my doubt, take another couple of examples:

The clothes on their backs is all that they own.
The clothes on their backs are all that they own.

To my ear, both of these sentences sound correct, but their meanings are different.

The first sentence is saying, "The only clothes that they own are the ones on their backs."

The second sentence is saying, "The only thing[s?] they own is[are?] the clothes on their backs."

The fact that it's difficult for me to word this second sentence in the inverted format is why I think I'm having trouble.


texts: I am writing a story about my Barbie do I use a capital

texts: I am doing an assignment and I have to say my barbie doll. Would the word barbie be a capital?


texts: An idiom meaning "sticking fingers in your ears does not change the fact"

texts: I am looking for an idiom which means sticking fingers in your ears does not change the fact; the fact remains so, even if you don't listen to the one who is mentioning it.


texts: touching others’ lives or touching other lives?

texts:
Which of these is correct/more appropriate:

touching others’ lives

OR

touching other lives


texts:
Is it natural for a man to call a woman "honey"? It seems to me that the word is mostly used by a woman to call a man, in an intimate relationship.

But I wonder if it is strange or not for male to use the word.


texts: What tense to use when writing about an ongoing action in a text which will be published / read in the future?

texts:
What is the correct form, if any? If no form is correct, please advise.

  I'll start by underlining that this article is typed on a Logitech G15 keyboard.

vs

  I'll start by underlining that this article is being typed on a Logitech G15 keyboard.

vs

  I'll start by underlining that this article was typed on a Logitech G15 keyboard.

The article will be published a few days after I write the text, and, of course, read anytime between then and the next year.


texts: "Something that work" or "something that works"?

texts:
Googling both sentences I find many references with or without -s. Should I add the -s to the verb after "that"? Is it considered a third person singular?

I'm searching for a rule to apply to the verb after "that".

Another example could be this:

  people that work (56,100,000 hits)
  people that works (710,000 hits)


texts: Difference? "I sleep during the day." and "I sleep by the day."

texts: What is the difference? Assume I am a night owl, what subtle difference I should be aware of when I think of these two sentences.


texts: Does using the word "crony" necessitate a negative connotation?

texts:
I have always heard the word "crony" in the context of acquaintanceships between people exploiting their closeness for less than noble means. Despite its definitions in the usual places as simply long-standing friends and close associates, the examples on m-w are both loaded with the aforementioned baggage.

Is it possible to use the word as a neutral (if not positive) synonym for friend?


texts: Meaning of dialogue in “Madam Secretary” episode

texts:
I am watching American Drama "Madam Secretary" season 1, episode 14. And there are some dialogues I can't understand. I wonder what the meaning of last two sentences is. Please help me!

Russell:I'm sure it goes without saying that the president wants this microloan thing put to bed before it gets any bigger.

Elizabeth:We're in complete agreement about that.

Russell:I hear you're bringing Mike B. in to help clean up the mess.

Elizabeth:Nothing gets by you. Got it.

Russell:He's the right son of a bitch for the job. You know him?

Elizabeth:Yeah. We taught together at UVA.

Russell:I almost feel sorry for your staff.

Elizabeth:   Well, a little cold terror over job security never hurt anyone.

Russell: You should have that embroidered on a pillow.


texts: I get the sense that the interjection nay is seen as outdated and used only for humorous effect.  Is this assumption true, or is it still acceptable in serious writing?


texts: Just come across the eggs/prunes bit in a book. Is "to compare eggs with prunes" an idiomatic expression meaning "to juxtapose totally different things", or just a licencia poetica by the author?


texts: Is there a term for the part of a sentence that is in the form "Customers who ..." or "Products that ..."?

texts:
For the purpose of building a dynamic user interface within an software application I wish to separate parts of a set of phrases which would be in the form of the examples below.

Examples:

Customers who have never paid a dime.
Vendors who are not very reliable.
Products that are way too expensive.

Doing this is easy enough however I'm struggling for a term to describe the different parts of the sentence.

The first part perhaps would be the subject but what about the pronouns who or that (relative pronouns). Is there a phrase or term to describe the combination of the subject plus the relative pronoun that I could use as a single unit in discussion or documentation or am I better just to refer to it as something like a "customer pronoun pair" or "customer relative pronoun combination".

As far as the second part of the sentence (the non-bold parts in the examples above) I'm sure there must be a more common phrase but I could use some help in identifying what it is.

Another option perhaps would be to split the sentence into three parts to better describe the pieces but I'm not sure there is much value in it unless I could be convinced otherwise. My goal is to use these parts flexibly so that I can dynamically produce lists that appears something like the one below.

  Customers who:

  have never paid a dime.
  are way too cheap.
  always pay on time.


texts: Rule for the pronunciation of the letter O as /ʌ/ vs. /ɒ/

texts:
If the letter o in a word is pronounced as a monophthong, it will fall
into two types:

pronounced as /ʌ/ as in color ("/kʌlə/")
pronounced as /ɒ/ as in lock ("/lɒk/")

What I would like to ask is that is there a rule to determine which word will fall into which type?


texts: My usual sources have failed me in finding the origins of the phrase "rape and pillage". I can't even find anything claiming the oldest written instance. The reason I ask is that depending on the times, the term "rape" has a bit of a different meaning. We take the "rape" in "rape and pillage" today to mean the modern sense. However, I've heard it claimed that the word used in the phrase was using one of the earlier meanings. I don't really want to debate it so much as figure out some actual solid citations for its early use.


texts:
I had thought factoid meant "a brief or trivial item of news or information"
But now I googled the meaning and it says,

In most examples of janus words online the meanings are quite exactly opposite. In this case I was not 100% sure. The opposite of a fact or news is an untruth. So since the alternative meaning is only unreliable news and not reliable untruth. Is this not a janus word? what do you all think?

factoid
/ˈfaktɔɪd/
noun

an item of unreliable information that is reported and repeated so often that it becomes accepted as fact.

"he addresses the facts and factoids which have buttressed the film's legend"
NORTH AMERICAN

a brief or trivial item of news or information.

"how does the brain retain factoids that you remember from a history test at school?"
I did not find it in this list.


texts:
I looked up possibility on Thesaurus.com,

but what I want to know is where the 'i' in possibility comes from?

Why not have 'possibile' or 'possiblity'?


texts: Should I use "multiple" and "at once" in one sentence?

texts:
I need to describe an app that lets users post to many social services at once.
Is it correct to say "update multiple services at once"?

I'm open to alternative suggestions.


texts: Word frequency list from contemporary young adult fiction?

texts:
I'm looking for a resource that has frequent words found in young adult fiction.

Something like: http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Wiktionary:Frequency_lists/Contemporary_fiction_in_60_categories#Consumption


texts:
Under entry *buy" in Longman it reads:

  buy off-plan    if you buy property off-plan, you buy a house, flat etc that is just starting to be built, with an arrangement to pay part of the cost of the property at that time and the balance when the property is finished.

I think "that time" in the paragraph should have been the time, as it seems we usually write: "at the time and balance when ...". Has "that" been used in an article-like sense here? Or does it have another role in the sentence?


texts: Films/Series that are extremely good to understand (and that are not...)

texts:
Some time ago I asked "Why are movies so hard to understand (and what can you do about it)?"

To my surprise even many native speakers answered that they had difficulties understanding some movies and series.

My question:

Which films/series do you think are extremely good to understand (I don't mean learning videos or the like but "normal" films/series)

I for myself often find many of the Star Trek episodes (e.g. Voyager) very good to understand. Counterexamples, which are even for native speakers incomprehensible, are also welcome.


texts: Plays a role "in" or "at" doing something?

texts:
I am writing a scientific article, in which I need to describe the main drivers of a certain phenomenon.
I would like to say that the driver X plays an important role at modifying Y. But my supervisor corrected me to: driver X plays an important role in modifying Y.
Which one is correct? None of us are native English speakers, which makes it a bit tricky.


texts: Word to describe what an academic degree is "in"

texts:
I am trying to describe the individual components of a a list of academic degrees:

  AS Accounting

  AS Marketing

  BA Sociology

  BA Economics

  BS Accounting/Finance

  BS Information Technology

The first 'word' is a two-letter code indicating the degree level (associate's, bachelor's, etc.).

Is there a word to describe the remaining content of the degree?  Normally, I hear this described as "An Associate's Degree in Accounting", or "my bachelor's in Sociology."  Other words I have considered but am unsure about include:

  Concentration

  Focus

  Specialization

I am looking for a word or phrase that could complete any or all of the following sentences:

  "The _____ of my associate's degree is Accounting"

  "The _____ of my bachelor's degree is Sociology"

  "The _____ of my master's degree is Education"

EDIT:
A bit more context for my request - I am constructing a database holding information about a university, and trying to name the field containing the second portion of the values listed above (Accounting, Marketing, etc.)


texts: Usage of the colon in this sentence (and alternatives)

texts:
Is the colon used in the following sentence correct? If so, would it be better to replace it with a semicolon or a period?

  As CPUs get faster and faster, it is important that the performance of the memory system keeps pace: otherwise, the speed of the overall system will be compromised by the memory system bottleneck.


texts: Is it wrong to use "genocide" as a verb?

texts:
Just so you people don't think of me as a monster. I ask this question because recently I was playing NetHack and there is a magic scroll that allows you to genocide a species of monsters (usually evil bad ones that want to hurt you, like a master mind flayer).

I was trying to convey this to my friends by saying. I am having a good game so far I genocided over 16 types of monsters. They scoffed at me saying this was incorrect as genocided is not a word. What word should I use then in this case?

I've also noticed the game itself uses the word genocided, so I am not sure If they are correct or the game is correct with the usage.


texts: "Enter code you were provided with" - Is the "with" mandatory? Should it be omitted here?

texts:
EDIT: The main point of my question is about whether it's better to avoid ending a sentence with a preposition in this case.

As text explaining to some software's user that they need to enter a code that was supplied to them, what would be the correct text? [I know the difference between providing a car to someone and providing someone with a car, and I'm referring to the latter. I'm asking if it's more correct to leave out the "with".]

Enter code you were provided
Enter code you were provided with

or maybe something else altogether?

(I didn't include a "the" after "Enter" because it seems like software text is usually succinct like that, but perhaps that should be added as well?)

EDIT

This is unrelated to "provide" vs. "provide with" .
I know the difference between providing a car to someone and providing someone with a car, and I'm referring to the latter. My question is just whether it's better to leave out the "with" at the end of the sentence.


texts: I know that the next week is usually used to refer to either the week after any reference time (to mean the same as 'the following week') or the seven days from now (the period of seven days starting at the moment of speaking). But I was wondering if the following week could mean the week starting today as well as the week immediately following whatever week has just been referred to. I haven't been able to get any help elsewhere.


texts: What is the word for the feeling you get when everything you've believed (in any particular topic) is no longer true to that belief? It feels like your stomach fell to your feet and you suddenly lose your trust in what you once believe. It isn't disappointed or devastated (but it is that severity of emotion).


texts:
The option of using simple past vs. present perfect in situations like the following has been bothering me for quite some time.

I sent you a letter a few days ago; I was wondering if you have received it.
I sent you a letter a few days ago; I was wondering if you received it.

People use both of them, in most cases I would say interchangeably. I also searched it on google books, which turned out to be used in roughly the same way. I was wondering if someone could shed some light on what the difference between the two was? Which one is used more often and seems more appropriate over the other?


texts: I'm looking for a business term to be applied to companies that are the only known providers of some good/service. "One-of-a-kind" and "unique providers" come to my mind at first, but they does not sound "business" enough to put on a contract or bid, for example.


texts: Omitting whether (if): Not sure if we can do this

texts:
I'm not sure if(or, whether) we can do it.

Can this sentence be written in this way...

I'm not sure can we do it.

Can whether, or if, be omitted like that and still be understandable?

Thanks.


texts:
What is the term for 2 persons having the same last name?

and, please, add some examples of usages


texts: What's this syntax called: "Him being the nice person he is, helped her."?

texts:
Or "He, being the nice person that he is, helped her."

Which one is correct and what's the construction called?


texts:
In a recent interview, that Mark Levin had with Victor Davis Hanson, Hanson uses the word psycho-grammatic in reference to how Donald Trump ran his campaign.

My Oxford dictionary does not recognise the word (nor does this website - assuming my spelling is not the culprit).

Is it a legitimate word and what does it mean exactly?


texts:
In the movie called Big Hero 6, the white robot Baymax is the inflatable healthcare companion robot. He takes care of whoever needs help. And once done, the person taken care should say,

  I'am satisfied with my care

I'm not native english, so that a question came up: why the person received care from the robot saying "my care" instead of "your care"?


texts: Is "jipped" a politically incorrect word?

texts:
I recently read a line of chat conversation, where somebody said:

  … get jipped by some guy …

A different user construed this as "casual racism", even though the whole conversation was completely unconnected to racial issues. It seems that the problem is the word "jipped" which Wiktionary says is

  Probably from the term gypsy (“Roma”), due to a stereotype of the Roma as swindlers.

(emphasis mine).

So I wonder, is this really a politically incorrect word to use? Do speakers and listeners generally connect the word with actual Roma stereotypes? Or is it a rarity to think about its origins, and people generally just use it without thinking of the possible historical etymology, just like people use malaria without ever thinking of bad air?

I heard/read the word for the first time, and did not make a connection to "Gypsy" at all, even though I am European and I am generally aware that "gypsy" is a pejorative racial term.


texts: "We have to be hard on you, you have to be cured"

texts:
"We have to be hard on you, you have to be cured," is grammatically correct?

Shouldn't it be "We have to be hard on you; you have to be cured," as these are two independent clauses. I've seen it in an Anthony Burgess novel.


texts: Is there a word to describe the ‘reign’ of an earl or other member of the nobility?

texts:
The period of rule of a monarch is known as a reign.

I have been trying to find the equivalent word for an earl (or other member of the nobility) to describe the period during which he held this title and was in charge of his landed estates.  It would be used as follows:

  During the [insert word] of the second earl, many improvements were made on the estate.

So far I have been unsuccessful in coming up with a word – is there an equivalent?


texts:
What is the meaning of wrt in the following text?

  I think this is an excellent idea, but I'd like to see this explicitly reframed under the banner of providing Drupal.org data through publicly-accessible APIs. We started kicking off at least one discussion like that wrt Git over at http://groups.drupal.org/node/126529, which also led back to "#112805: XML-RPC Interface".


texts: What is the suitable word here? "granted" loan or "allotted" loan, or "provided" loan or any better word?

texts:
Imagine this situation: the minister of a state announces, "from the next month onwards, all the employees of the Municipality can avail education loans for their children from any of the government banks." (He announces this on behalf of the government)

'education loan' is something that the employees avail only when they need money for their children's education. So, even if the government makes the announcement in 2017, the employees might not use it immediately. They would use it only when their children grow up and need that money(say sometime in 2019 or later, when their children got admission in any college).

so, If I am a reporter asking the municipality employees, how should I frame the following sentence?

Has the Government sanctioned education loans for your children?
or
Has the Government granted you the education loans for your children?

Is there any better word?

I think we use the word 'sanction' only after we apply for the loan in any bank and the bank approves it, but not when the govt. passes an order about it.

please help.


texts: What is better, 'double connected domain' or 'doubly connected domain'?

texts: 'Doubly connected domain' returns more in google search, but it looks more strange for my ear. Which is the correct form according to rules so far?


texts: What is the difference between "at least as surprising as" and "more surprising than"?

texts:
According to Wikipedia, P value is defined as

  the probability that data at least as surprising as the observed sample results would be generated under a model of random chance

Why is it stated this way, and what's the difference between the previous statement and the following one?

  the probability that data more surprising than the observed sample results would be generated under a model of random chance


texts:
Suppose there is a chemical composition that contains 5 g of sugar and 45 g of water.  One way of expressing the amount of sugar in relation to the whole would be to say the sugar content of the composition is 10%. And I am considering different ways of conveying the same idea.
Would it be correct to say:

(1) The amount of sugar relative to the whole composition of 1 is 0.1.
(2) The ratio by weight of sugar relative to the total amounts of sugar and water in the composition of 100 is 10.

The idea I want to convey with these sentences is that if the weight of the composition is first normalized or adjusted to 1, then the amount of sugar would work out to be 0.1. I know these are a bit clumsy but wonder if they need to be rewritten to be grammatical.


texts: To forcefully do something you're not supposed to do

texts:
What's the correct verb to say to forcefully do something you are not supposed to do or to attempt acts in the attitude of 'just go for it'? Here, "forcefully" does not necessarily mean physical force. E.g.

You push a pin into a plug, the plug does not fit, so you ____ and push it harder than you should, possibly deforming the pin in the process
There is a traffic jam ahead. You ____ and switch to a different lane to continue the journey. There is enough space, but the markings on the road say you cannot switch lanes there.
Someone asks you to perform a difficult piece at a concert. You promise to perform despite being well aware that the piece is beyond your ability and you're ____-ing, hoping that perhaps you have practiced hard enough and the audience will not notice.

The important elements in those examples are:

You are well aware that the act is against the odds
You are well aware you are not supposed to act like that (i.e. an alternative solution with a lower risk exists, but it's likely more complicated and you're lazy)

Note that the outcome of the attempt is uncertain. Sometimes you succeed, sometimes you fail.

For those who know Cantonese, it's "格硬黎".

Thanks everyone for their suggestions. Unfortunately I cannot give credit to multiple answers, but many of them are good:

force
brute-force
put a square peg into a round hole
just fake it
brash

Improvise doesn't really fit - the action may be well planned but still against the odds.


texts: I am looking for a word resembling "Coralline"

texts:
We are two partners about to launch a product that is currently called "Coralline". We are inspired from the animal and its habitat in underwater. Since this will be an international product I am having second thoughts about this word because it is hard to pronounce and transcribe for non-native English speakers. Also I believe it is not a commonly used word in English so even native English speakers will not grasp the meaning at first glance.

I am looking for a word that resembles Coralline or coral reefs, like "seaweed" etc. My criteria are:

Unique
Easy to remember
Easy to spell

Any help would be much appreciated.

Additional information: We ended up with Coralline through a research on fractals. That might be a cue for any suggestion.

We are going with underwater/reef theme some words related to that can also help.


texts: Is there a phrase, word or saying when one 'has the thought or feeling of causing hurt of mischief" despite never dreaming of acting on it?

texts:
For example I was assisting my sister in photographing a wedding. We were taking pictures as the bride was getting ready and I noticed a ketchup bottle on the kitchen table and the following popped in my head "you should totally spray her wedding dress with that ketchup" or one time when I was on a fishing boat (in shark infested waters), the thought popped into my head of"why not just knock that lady there in the ocean?"

I would obviously never do these things nor do I claim to having edgy or mischievous thoughts half the time or even ever but I can't recall any other examples for myself but when speaking of them to other people, very often someone will have similar experiences. A friend of mine confessed to having a thought (which still upsets her if she remembers it)

She was walking behind her Grandmother while very young and holding a pair of scissors and she thought

"Why not stick those in her back?"

I may even be able to google this I just can't articulate it well enough to get the right search results.

Someone in my office said the phrase of this may be something like Hand of the Imp? but I couldnt see anything

Thanks!


texts: What are the differences between the following?

texts:
What are the differences between:

I did this for the first time in Tibet.

I did this in Tibet for the first time.

Which one should I use if I have done 'this' before, but it is my first time doing 'this' in Tibet?
Which one should I use if I have never done 'this' before, and it is my very first time doing it and I am doing it in Tibet?


texts: How to name something that is common for two competing theories?

texts:
Geocentric and early heliocentric models of cosmos were different at the very core of theory, but they did share some elements: circular orbits, epicycles, uniform speed of celestial bodies.

What words/phrases can be used to refer to these things that they had in common?

In my native language I could say "obszar wspólny", which could be literally translated to "common area", "shared field" or similar. But scientific theories obviously does not have any "area" that you can measure and I am unsure whether metaphorical meaning of word functions in English.

Is "commonalities" ("commonalities of geocentric and heliocentric models") good enough?


texts:
Is it correct to say:

  it's very important to assist to the meeting?

Is it similar to say

  It's very important to attend the meeting?

if not, in which context is the word "assist" used?

I read this list of synonyms:  http://www.wordreference.com/thesaurus/assist

As you can see if clicked, "attend" is listed as a synonym for "assist", then, is it correct to use it insetad of "attend" in the sentences above ? or it will be correct/not formal, incorrect, correct/slang ?

That's why I got confuse


texts: Which is correct in this sentence, I or Me

texts: "...illustrates another philosophical divide between you and [I/me]." I'm currently in an argument with a friend about this little bit here. Which is the correct pronoun for this sentance, "me" or "I"?


texts: Term for the smaller words to be ignored in a textual analysis

texts:
I am using a text analysis tool to analyse a number of academic texts. The tool provides a list of words used, and a count for each. When describing the results, I want to distinguish between the meaningful/significant words, and the rest - which are generic words such as 'the', 'and', 'a', 'of', 'to', 'is', 'in', 'that', 'for', 'be' etc.

I need a word or phrase that can best describe these generic words, so that I can say that I have eliminated them from my review.  My sentence as it stands is:

  ‘Risk’ was the third most frequently used word, after eliminating the generic words from the analysis.

I am looking to replace generic in this sentence with the correct term.


texts:
How would you change the time expression in the following sentence into a reported-speech form?
"We have not been to London since last January?"

What about "the last January?" Or, is there no change?


texts: What is proper word for "get into some place secretly"

texts:
I was trying to write a line like

  The commandos got into the building without anyone knowing.

But I think that there's a single word for "without anyone knowing". Can anyone help me with this?


texts: The solution to the problem is more complicated than the problem

texts: I thought there was a word for this. Where you take a basic problem that exists and the best solution already exists and any effort we put into solving the problem would actually cause more work for us thus becoming a bigger problem.


texts:
"Quite" is probably the most ambiguous word in the English language. Merriam-Webster defines it three ways:

1:  completely, wholly, totally (quite mistaken)

2:  to an extreme :  positively (quite drunk)

3:  to a considerable extent :  pretty, rather (quite near, quite ill quite rich)

So if someone tells you someone else is "quite drunk", how do you know this person is: a) completely drunk? b) very drunk? c) pretty drunk?

Or how about "quite difficult?" Does it mean rather difficult? Or extremely difficult?


texts: A word meaning or having to do with "love of fighting"?

texts:
What nouns are there meaning "love of fighting", or "excitement caused by getting into fights". Adjectives would also be useful.
Example sentences:

His ...... (love of fighting) will be the death of him.
His ....... (fight-loving) wife will take that as justification to smack him round the head.


texts: Is the construct "[subject] allows for [object] to [verb]" correct?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  What’s the difference between ‘allow’ and ‘allow for’?

...or should it be "[subject] allows [object] to [verb]"?

I am asking specifically for sentences in the form "allows for X to Y". Does it make any difference or is that basically equivalent to "allows for X Ying"?

The original sentence that got me thinking about this was from a documentation manual of a programming language: "This allows for named functions to be used before they are defined." I feel like "for" shouldn't be used in that sentence. Is my intuition correct?


texts:
We had a discussion with our collegues about this.

They think "to wise" means something like "the way to wisdom" but I really can't put it in my brain since it sounds off to me. I proposed that the closest one would be "to wisdom" but since we're not native English speakers, we can't be sure.

Is "to wise" appropriate to use in English?

Example sentence:
For a rookie, road to wise is long and exhausting.


texts: What's the difference between "apparel" and "clothing"?

texts: Those two words seems referring to one thing.


texts: Two oatmeal pies a day keep the doctor away?

texts: Is it "two oatmeal pies a day keep the doctor away" or "two oatmeal pies a day keeps the doctor away"?


texts: “He is master of none” vs. “He is a teacher of history”

texts:
John is [a] master of none.
  John is a teacher of history.

I am wondering why the indefinite article is often missing in the first case but must be present in the second case. Is there any rule at work?


texts:
I’m writing an essay on Homer’s Odyssey, and I was wondering whether the correct adjectival form would be Odysseian or Odyssean according to etymology, as I’ve seen both used in academic contexts. I know that, for example, Plato becomes Platonic because of the Greek suffix -ikos (and in Greek Plato is Plauton), but does the ian/ean formation come from somewhere?

This leads me into some broader questions: is there a rule that y should become i when used with the -an suffix (I’ve seen both Tolsoyan and Tolstoian, but I’ve only seen Shelleyan a is this a Russian thing?). If there is, where does this come from? I’ve also seen Marlowe become Marlovian or Thoreaux become Thoreauvian - does this v sound have a source in a root language? And, interestingly, Foucault becomes Foucauldian, and I’m guessing that this might come from the morphological changes in French?

Would greatly appreciate if someone with knowledge of etymology/linguistics could help me uncover the oddities of eponymous adjective formation. Thanks!


texts:
I understand the simple distinction between "due to" ("adjectival") and "because of" (adverbial), but I get a little confused when the sentence includes modal or complex verbs. For example, could one write: "Participants may be excluded due to any of the following transgressions....."? ("due to follows "may be + excluded")

Or should one stick to a more strict "Participant exclusion may be due to any of the following transgressions...."?

Or is that even wrong, and they should both be "because of"?

This is NOT a duplicate of any other question because it addresses a particular use of "due to" that at least one response suggests is acceptable - but for reasons that actually add confusion!


texts:
Is there a synonym for "leaderboard" that implies less of a value judgement of the criteria by which the items on the board are ranked?

I need to describe a dynamic table of ordered data (with the highest value at the top) about a sensitive and controversial topic without appearing to suggest approval or disapproval. I also want to avoid a using term that could be construed as flippant or ironic.


texts:
Should I use

What fraction of the residents are married?

or

What fraction of the residents is married?

Technically, as fraction is singular, I would use the latter version. Am I correct?


texts: "People survived" vs "People were survived"

texts:
Is it correct to say "People were survived", or its better to say "People Survived"?

For example yesterday there was a war between government & people, people were survived at last.


texts: Adjective for a thing done without regard to the situation

texts:
A police officer pulls over a driver whose vehicle has gone past the speed limit.

The driver explains -- sweating and grimacing -- that he is racing to the hospital to be treated for an unbearable sudden pain.

But the officer writes the driver a speeding ticket anyway. After all, the driver has broken the law, and his pain is another matter entirely.

In the scenario above, the officer has ignored the context around the driver's misdemeanor. Instead, he has acted _____.

Later that night, facing an astronomical medical bill, and a hefty fine for his traffic violation, the driver laments the _____ nature of the law.

I'm looking for a word that could fill in those two blanks. That is, a word that describes a thing done, an action taken, or a decision made without being shaped by its context.


texts:
Can we put the adverb of time on the present perfect tense?
i have just moved here last month.


texts: Style Guide: Bold, Italic, or Quotes When I Want to Emphasize Something

texts:
Let’s say I have many lists of this kind on a page:

Click on the Foo button.
Tick the Bar box.
Click on the Save button.

How should I emphasize Foo, Bar, and Save?

Bold?

Click on the Foo button.
Tick the Bar box.
Click on the Save button.

Italic?

Click on the Foo button.
Tick the Bar box.
Click on the Save button.

Quotes?

Click on the “Foo” button.
Tick the “Bar” box.
Click on the “Save” button.

NOTE: I want the lists to be read as easy as possible.


texts: Does "oath" have an implied religious connotation?

texts:
In Singapore you don't have to swear an oath in court if you are of certain religions. Instead you affirm that you're speaking the truth:

  Circumstances under which affirmation may be made
  16.   Any person who —(a) is a Hindu or Muslim or of some other religion according to which oaths are not of binding force; or(b) has a conscientious objection to taking an oath,and who is required to take an oath of office or judicial oath under any written law may, instead of taking the oaths referred to in section 15 (1) or (2), as the case may be, make an affirmation in the form of those oaths, substituting the words “solemnly, sincerely and truly declare and affirm” for the word “swear” and omitting the words “So help me God”.

I'm curious if that means oaths in British English have an implied religious meaning? It seems to be the case that you swear to God usually, but an oath in itself is irreligious, no?


texts: “The most of” as in “the biggest portion”?

texts:
I am not sure if this type of usage of “the most of” is correct.
If someone can help clarify, I would really appreciate it.

Ex: Out of the three siblings, John received the most of the estate their father left.

Is this an incorrect usage of “the most”? I was corrected by someone that I can’t use “the most” and “of” together to mean the majority share/largest portion of a given specific thing etc. is this advice correct? I see many Google results where such a combination is used.
For example, I found this following sentence from NHS.UK (Analysis by Bazian Edited by NHS Website):

... the researchers compared what happened to the people who ate the most of the type of fat being studied, compared to the least.

https://www.nhs.uk/news/heart-and-lungs/claims-that-butter-is-safe-and-margarine-deadly-are-simplistic/
If such is incorrect, should omitting the definite article “the” solve the problem and actually have the intended meaning of ‘largest portion/share or highest number of’ the given thing?
Thank you.


texts: Is "retard" offensive when used as a verb?

texts:
Obviously calling someone a "retard" or "retarded" is considered offensive.

  As a noun, it is considered a dated, offensive and pejorative term when used to refer to a person who has a mental disability.

-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retard_(pejorative)

However, is it offensive when used as a verb?

Google (Oxford dictionary) labels the noun as offensive, but not the verb.


texts: Vocabulary: an event, usually an unplesant one, that might or might not happen

texts:
I kept searching for an English word whose definition I remember,  but not the specific term. I have searched but cannot not find it. This is the definition:

  an event, usually an unpleasant one, that might or might not happen in the future

Could you give me some hints?


texts:
This question is way too vague

Why not just: "This question is too vague"? What's the meaning of 'way' in this sentence?


texts: Adverb -> Adverbial; Adjective -> Adjectival; Verb ->?

texts:
The noun "adjective" yields the adjective "adjectival"; the noun "adverb" yields the adjective "adverbial"; but the noun "verb" does not yield the adjective "verbal".

What is the word I am looking for?

And, while we're about it, what adjective does the noun "noun" yield?

I guess I would be pushing my luck in asking for the verb-related and noun-related equivalents to "adjectivally" and "adverbially"...


texts:
As the title question asks, and particularly in light of the Old English word wælisc apparently used to refer to "Welsh", when, why, and how did the English adjective meaning "of or relating to Wales" become "Welsh"? In particular:

Which of the apparently l Old English forms made it into Middle English?

Where (ie, what's the first Middle English appearance)?

Did the vowel change already worst) appear by the first appearance in Middle English, or did that come later?

Is there a general rule converting Old English æ to Middle English e?

In other words, when I ask "when, how, and why", I'm looking for a many details as possible of the historical and phonological process involved.


texts: What is the difference between "claim" and "redeem"?

texts:
These words are usually used in the context of promotional codes, or top-up cards. They seem to be used both in the same context of "converting code to actual value" (e.g. code→account balance, code→gift). Is there a difference in their meaning or connotation?

For example:

Claim/Redeem your code
Claimed/Redeemed rewards


texts:
During a recent conversation with one of my friends, whom I had not been regularly speaking to, I asked her whether her sister had applied for a job as I knew she’d graduated some months ago. She told me that it’s been almost two months since her sister started working, mildly surprised at my unawareness. ‘Out of touch’ is the expression she used. On searching for its meaning, I found that it can either mean ‘not in contact with someone and hence unaware of their life events’ or ‘unaware of current major events/trends in important areas of modern life’. I want to know any word or words that can be used to describe a person’s state of being out of touch in each of the senses.
Thank you beforehand.


texts:
Is it correct to write "Good to hear from you" ?

I have seen it many times but I feel it should be "It feels good to hear from  you" or equivalent.


texts: Word for splitting something into two parts and joining them together using a new element

texts:
Here are some examples I can think of:

Cutting wire in half and adding extension in the middle joining up to each halfs.
Adding a pressure meter segment to an exisiting pipe.
Inserting an instruction into an existing fetch/execute pipeline.

Examples:

If a verb

"We will need to ___ between the controller and actuator subsystems"

or if a noun

"We will need a ___ between the controller and actuator subsystems"

Closest word I can think of is "tap" but that doesn't quite cut it for me.

Thanks!


texts:
How are the wife and kid?
  How is the wife and kid?

Which is more correct?


texts: Passive form of verb + preposition + gerund

texts:
What would the passive form of this sentence be?

Brian is working hard on improving his vocabulary.

Brian's vocabulary is being worked hard on improving?


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

texts:
Me and my sister are arguing over an English assignment. Can somebody say which of the following sentences is correct or if they both are?

  This has been proven obvious at the Colorado Center for Reproductive Medicine, where it is not uncommon for anticipating grandparents to come along and offer support and quite...

or

  At the Colorado Center for Reproductive Medicine it has been proven obvious that its not uncommon for anticipating grandparents to come along and offer support and quite...


texts:
The following sentences all involve the verb "show" followed by a noun phrase. Number 6 sounds a bit weird, and the last one is just wrong — but why is that?

  The video shows the differences between them.
  The video shows them being different/the same.
  The purpose of the video is to show the differences between them.
  The purpose of the video is to show them being different/the same.
  The video shows the effects of smoking.
  The video shows smoking being unhealthy.
  The purpose of the video is to show the effects of smoking.
  The purpose of the video is to show smoking being unhealthy.

These are "grammatically correct", meaning they meet the expectation (as of now) of how verbs/nouns/etc go together. I'm interested in the reason why the two sound awkward. In particular, I want to know what it is that people expect to hear after "show" which distinguishes 6,8 from 2,4, for instance.


texts: Why is 'transparent' tactic ‘‘counterproductive and contrary to one’s belief in the First Amendment’?

texts:
In New Yorker’s article (August 6) titled, ‘Bezos and the Washington Post: A skeptical view,’
the writer, John Cassidy wraps up his article with the following statement:

  Will he (Bezos) be ordering his editors to publish articles defending
  Amazon’s business tactics and criticizing those who question them? - -
  -. Such a tactic would be transparent, counterproductive, and, quite possibly, contrary to his belief in the First Amendment. But through
  the editorial columns of the Post, -- he will be able to have his
  voice heard much more clearly. And that, surely, must be worth
  something to him. Two hundred and fifty million dollars, perhaps?
   http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/johncassidy/2013/08/bezos-and-the-washington-post-a-skeptical-view.html

I stumbled with the line, “Such a tactic would be transparent, counterproductive, and contrary to his belief in the First Amendment.”

Why “transparent tactic,” that is thought to be very productive and commendable as against opaque intent, or cover-up attempts and tactics familiar with political, business scandals, can be “counterproductive and contrary to the belief in the First Amendment” as well? I’m afraid I’m reading the sentence in too immature way, and perhaps nitpicking.

What does ‘transparent’ here mean? Would you clarify why ‘transparent’ is laid in parallel with ‘counterproductive’ and ‘contrary to the belief in the freedom of speech” as a business tactic, or an executive order?


texts: Word for emotional culmination, climax in work of art

texts: There is a word for highest point in a work of art, at which hero reconciles with, for instance, his long-time alienated relative, or forgives someone or in some other way gets a relief and release to his long-tormented negative emotions. This is like climax, but mostly climax with emotional relief.


texts: A phrase for ignoring the disparity at a low level, while seeking commonality at a high level

texts:
I'm having a hard time describing the phrase I'm looking for, so I think the best way to ask the question is to simply present the problem.

At work I've been tasked with merging the guidelines (the topic is technical, so for the sake of this question let's assume the topic is on "HR ethics") used by three major branches of an organization into a single guideline. Sounds like a great idea, right?

The problem is that each office (one branch has several offices) has their own set of rules pertaining to HR ethics.

So I'm now trying to make a "master" guideline in a system where everyone has their own rules anyway. Is there a phrase that would summarize this paradox?

I think the phrase I'm thinking of would be (I think) the opposite of the one discussed here:

Phrase for focusing on unimportant details


texts: Is there a word or phrase for a nursing mother not biologically related to the baby she breastfeeds?

texts: Nowadays he have human milk banks.  In the olden days, however, it was not unusual to see a woman nurse the child of another mother who couldn't produce her own milk. Is there a word or phrase for a woman who did it and was not biologically related to the child?


texts: Word for supporting something that is harmful or not beneficial to you

texts: If a person supports a group of people based on their own perception of that group. When in truth by supporting them they bring hardship on themselves whether it is physically, emotionally, or economically. Could even be supporting a political party that doesn't in truth cater to them.


texts: What do you call someone who sends an email?

texts: I searched for sender synonyms but I'm not satisfied with the results


texts: What would be a word that describe the sound of a sweaty foot walking along a laminated floor

texts: I'm looking for a word that describes  the sound of a sweaty foot walking along a laminated floor. Another instance of this noise being produced would be when you walk along the tile after having just come out of the pool.


texts: The difference between "have got" and "have got to"?

texts:
I have been asked about the difference between
Have got
Have got to
Are they considered as present perfect forms?


texts: Does the indefinite article "an" apply to vowel sounds from foreign languages?

texts:
When adding an indefinite article to English nouns, you either select a or an depending on the sound of the first letter of the noun that it precedes.

In some languages vowel sounds occur that do not exist in the English language, like ui in Dutch or ы in Russian. I know Russian doesn't have any words starting with ы, but I would still need an article if I discuss a/an ы vowel.

If I use a foreign noun in English language, like when I explain this word in English, does "an" only occur for vowel sounds that also exist in English, or does "an" apply to all vowels, regardless of its existence in English?

For example, which of the following is correct:
- A uitzondering is an exception.
- An uitzondering is an exception.


texts: Should there be a space between name initials?

texts:
In writing authors' initials in research papers (either in the author by-line or the bibliography), should there be a space between intials?

R.P. Feynman
R. P. Feynman

What's the preferred way of writing it?


texts: Term for an event being referred to by its location or date

texts:
Is there a term for referring to an organization by its city rather than by its name? mentions synecdoche and metonym as terms used when an organization is referred to by its location.

Do these terms also apply when an event, rather than an organization, is referred to by its location? For example, Chernobyl, Fukushima, or Hiroshima.

What about when a date is used to refer to an event, such as 3/11 being used for the Japanese earthquake and tsunami?


texts: Please explain the meaning of the word "distance" in the sentence

texts:
Distance sometimes lets you know who's worth keeping and who's worth letting go

Unless the distance is playing games with the vision and its all a mirage, a vagueness of a dream


texts: Relating to multiple possessions of multiple objects

texts: Is it correct to say doctors specialties when referring to the (multiple) specialties of multiple doctors?


texts:
Talk to him is what I did.

(this sentence is from forum.wordreference.com)

"Talk" is a verb here that is not in the imperative mood. I suppose, it's in the infinitive form. But then how can it stand alone, without "to"?

What will be if we add "to" to "talk"?

To talk to him is what I did.

If we can do so, then what will difference be between the initial sentence and the new one with "to"?

Maybe, there are some omitted words, after inserting which the sentence will immediately become understandable? I mean, maybe, there is an ellipsis?

Thanks!

To make it clearer:

Upd.1: if we type "bare infinitive" in google, we can't find any sites that could explain the absence from "to" before "talk".

Upd.2: Why can we replace "to talk" with only "talk" in "To talk to him is what I did."

Upd.3: I have my own logic but I don't know whether it's right or not:

1) I think that without an ellipsis "Talk to him is what I did." is to look like "I did talk to him is what I did do."

2) Also I know that we can't use "to" before "read" in "What we must do is read the manual." because in the left part we don't have "to" before "do".

By this logic, we can't use "to" before "talk" in "Talk to him is what I did." because in "what I did do" we don't have "to" before "do".

Am I right or not?


texts: Is it appropriate for me to pronounce words ending in "ths" (e.g. "paths") with a "z" sound at the end?

texts: It feels natural for me to pronounce words like "paths" with a slight "z" sound at the end. Others close to me do not. What sort of accent am I mimicking? Or, am I making up my own accent?


texts: Do these audio files sound natural to you?

texts:
I would like to know if the audio in these files sounds similar to a native speaker in terms of pronunciation. If not, please tell me why. Also, would you use audio like this to train your English pronunciation?

Male audio
Female audio


texts: The difference between these two sentences?

texts:
Would you mind arranging to travel with us
Would you mind to arrange travelling with us


texts: What single-word adjectives exist to describe something as "capable of using language"?

texts: I am looking for an adjective to describe linguistic/symbolic capability in the most general sense, e.g. humans are x, rocks are not x. Certainly, there may be several words that fit the bill at greater and lesser levels of analysis, depending on what is meant by "language", and whether or not particular criteria of "capability" or "use" are being privileged. As I hope is clear in the above example, I would prefer a word that would be appropriate to designate the difference between a human and an inanimate object purely on the basis of linguistic capability. However, I am also open to using words that would be more at home in denoting more specialized differences in language ability, such as those which hold between different animal species, phyla, etc. — or even such differences as may be said to separate people with certain cognitive impairments from the general population — provided they could be used, at least metaphorically, to describe the general difference between those things that are capable of using language and those that are not.


texts: What is the etymology of "dope" meaning excellent, great, impressive?

texts:
Dope is a rather new slang word that is used to define someone or something excellent, great, impressive. OED says that it is originally in African-American usage and chiefly among rap musicians and enthusiasts. However, you can hear it outside the rap realm nowadays.
OED's first citation is from 1981:

Yo, man, them boys is dope... This record is dope.
J. Spicer Money (song) in L. Stanley Rap: the Lyrics (1992) 301

On the other hand, OED says "of uncertain origin" for the etymology of dope for this sense; but probably from the noun dope meaning:

Any thick liquid or semi-fluid used as an article of food, or as a lubricant. U.S. [OED]

For the etymology of noun dope, OED gives:

apparently < Dutch doop dipping, sauce, etc., < doopen to dip.

But what is the connection between the earlier meanings and last meaning of the word?

Dope has a variety of  meanings:
First sense:

From 1872: a preparation, mixture, or drug which is not specifically named
From 1912: a varnish applied to the cloth surface of aeroplane parts
From 1923: more widely: any kind of material applied to a surface or used in an operation.
From 1930: a substance added to petrol or other fuel, etc., to increase its efficiency; an additive.

Second sense:

From 1880: an absorbent material used to hold a lubricant; the absorbent element in a high explosive.

Third sense:

From 1851: colloq. (orig. dial.). A stupid person, a simpleton, a fool. Also (U.S. slang), a person under the influence of, or addicted to, some drug

From 1886: Opium, especially the thick treacle-like preparation used in opium-smoking’ (Cent. Dict. Suppl. 1909); hence applied to stupefying drugs and narcotics in general, or to alcoholic drink. slang (orig. U.S.).

From 1900: A medical preparation administered to a race-horse for the purpose of affecting its performance.

From 1915:  [Perhaps arising from the ambiguity of the abbrev. coke = (a) cocaine, (b) Coca-Cola.] Coca-Cola or some other carbonated drink. local U.S. slang.

Fourth sense:

From 1901: Information, esp. on a particular subject or of a kind not widely disseminated or easily obtained; (a statement of) facts or essential details; also, information, a statement, etc., designed to gloss over or disguise facts; flattering or misleading talk. slang (orig. U.S.).

From 1915: gen. Something designed to deceive or bamboozle; a fraudelent design or action; a piece of deception or humbug; also, a person employed in a fraudulent transaction.

In the end, did dope meaning excellent originate as an allusion to drugs? The third sense of the word is related to using drugs but originally meant a stupid person; then applied to the drug addicts.


texts: Are there prefixes which have the meaning 'originating from within', or 'originating from outside'?

texts:
I'm looking for prefixes which mean that something emanates/flows/comes from inside / outside, as opposed to existing / being located inside' ('endo-'), or 'existing / being located outside' ('exo-').

Thanks.


texts:
I was reading this piece and couldn't find a definition for "perceived activity". I brought a screenshot for some context.

I hope someone can clarify what it means, as I need to translate that part in Albanian.


texts: I am searching for a word or phrase that describes reflected light, dancing light etc

texts: I am trying to find a word or short phrase that conveys the idea of reflected light, dancing light, flickering light. It is for an artistic project to name an artwork piece I am constructing where light throws patterns and colours onto a wall or surface through transparent colored film.


texts: Derogatory word or idiom for city dwellers or people who aren't adapted to country/rural life

texts: I'm looking for something people from rural area would use, especially when they refer to that person's inability to adapt to the country life.


texts: The meaning of ‘How’ in this conversation

texts:
I am not sure about meaning of “how” in the below conversation. (English is my second language so I can’t understand details)

Someone: Do you remember we invited people to our house last month?
Me: Of course. That was so fun.
Someone: And you remember {how} Alice and John brought over their kids?

When I saw this sentence I thought it is more appropriate to use ‘that’ at the position of ‘how’. Because I just said about that experience Alice and John came with their kids. Is that different if I use ‘that’ in place of ‘how’ this case? And how is the meaning changed if I use ‘how’ instead of ‘that’?

Thank you for your help.


texts:
If I have only one front door, and only one back door, and they are both red.

Which is correct:

  The front and back door are red;
  The front and back doors are red.

I feel that (1) looks wrong and that (2) indicates that there are a plurality of both front and back doors.


texts: Negation of progressive tenses in questions

texts:
I want to conjugate the verb "accept" in the progressive form for past, present and future tenses AS A QUESTION IN THE NEGATIVE. But I am confused about which approach is correct:

Scenario: Given the pair of verb and object (accept,challenge),  form the questions for all types of personal pronouns.

So here I go:

PAST:

  Was I/she/he not accepting the challenge?

and

  Were  we/you/they  not accepting the challenge?

OR

  Wasn't [Was not] I/she/he accepting the challenge?

and

  Weren't [Were not] we/you/they accepting the challenge?

PRESENT:

  Am I not accepting the challenge?

and

  Is he/she not accepting the challenge?

and

  Are we/you/they not accepting the challenge?

OR

  Am not I accepting the challenge?

and

  Isn't [Is not] he/she accepting the challenge?

and

  Aren't [Are not] we/you/they accepting the challenge?

FUTURE:

  Will I/he/she/we/you/they not be accepting the challenge?

OR

  Will I/he/she/we/you/they be not accepting the challenge?

Simply put, I want to create regular questions using the progressive tenses. I am a bit confused of where to put the NOT expression within the question, either directly before the progressive form of the verb (here "accepting") OR directly after the appropriately conjugated "to be" expression?

Thank you!


texts:
What exactly is "Ethical Witnessing"? What does it mean?

Some Context

We're reading a poetry book in school - about the Holocaust. So these Jews, and other people being abused and tortured played a part in the "Ethical witnessing." I also have to relate it to a personal experience, but what is it?


texts: How do I say "my car is broken" idiomatically?

texts:
Hmm: the version I give has never sounded quite right to me, but as a non-native English speaker, I don't know how native American or English people say this.

So I'd be really glad if you could provide me with examples of more common ways of putting this in American and British English.

Somehow it doesn't sound right: I'd say something is broken if it's broken into pieces or something, but if it's not functioning properly it just doesn't feel right.

I've tried googling, and indeed in some forums this has been discussed, and some native speakers said that they don't say it that way (but that it actually is grammatically correct). Yet none has explained what they use instead! That's what I want to know. How would you put it as a native speaker?

The sources that I checked out before posting:

http://www.usingenglish.com/forum/threads/98310-car-is-broken-vs-has-broken-down
http://forum.wordreference.com/threads/my-car-has-broken-broke-down.2721741/


texts:
We kind of fought with each other.

What part of speech is 'kind of' in the sentence above?


texts: Scientific-sounding Adjective meaning long duration

texts:
I would like to find a one word adjective that means: long duration

  The astronauts prepared for a __________ space mission.

Ideally it would sound scientific. I do not think "lengthy" has the feeling I want to convey.


texts:
I am interested in the different usages of "here I go" when used in a more abstract sense.
It apparently used some times before death, examples here – Famous Last Words
or also in some lyrics – AURORA: Murder song
Is this usage archaic or still permissible nowadays?


texts: what does the term calculated promises means?

texts:
It was said in a song called "all stars are closer"
so I wanna know what does it mean exactly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvOh7vVqlaE


texts:
I know that there are similar questions here, but I still don't understand everything.
I wrote 4 almost identical sentences below with a place for an article marked as "...". Please tell me what are correct articles here. I know that these sentences can be rewritten without articles and with keeping the same sense, but I am interested in these particular examples. It is not a homework or something like that by the way.
We must keep it at ... higher angle.
We must keep it at ... high angle.
You must drive at ... high speed.
You must drive at ... higher speed.


texts:
Do you think the highlighted sentence is grammatically correct? I haven't known the phrase " to come up for" before I read this passage .The phrase means "to reach the time when something should happen". Because it already suggests an end or kind of deadline do you think the word termination is redundant?

The sentence has a semantic confusion also for me because , what I understand from the article so far is that peasants get freedom and don't have to do land work but I get from the sentence is that their freedom comes to end ( come up for ) in 1863.The second part of the sentence ( after comma) makes sense for me but I cannot relate to the first part.I am probably wrong. So could you explain to me this sentence meaning especially with the usage of the phrase " to come up for". By the way I know " ...not only but also..." structure.My question is not concerning it.

  This "emancipation", however, was barely related to what the peasants
  themselves were expecting. While the 360-page statute did give them
  "the status of free rural inhabitants," peasants were still subject to
  considerable taxes and a passport system to restrict movement
  throughout the country. In addition, the land settlement was equally
  as unfulfilling. Not only did freedom from land obligations only
  come up for termination in 1863, but also those so-called "temporary
  obligations" could continue until both the peasants and their local
  landlords came to a mutually agreeable settlement. When and if that
  moment ever came, the peasants would receive a small portion of the
  land through government- financed redemption payments to the
  landlord--a sum the former serfs would have to repay over a forty-nine
  year period.

http://www.sparknotes.com/history/european/1871/section7.rhtml


texts: Is this sentence grammatically sound? "He was thus capable of great erudition."

texts:
"He was thus capable of great erudition."

The phrase " ... capable of great erudition ... " is confusing me. I am not sure of the context regarding this; it might be an aphorism.


texts: Is there a word, phrase or idiom saying the opposite of a fair-weather friend?

texts: As a noun or adjective. For example as in the sentence: He proved to be a fair-weather (antonym?) friend.


texts: What is the meaning of "match for" in this sentence?

texts:
I am translating error messages for a company (unfortunately I cannot reveal too much context here).

The message is "This optin does not match for this user". It it not clear to me 1) whether "optin" means "opt-in", or if it's a misspelling of "option", and 2) whether the phrase "match for" can be replaced with the word "match", or whether the meaning here is "the user has not selected this option"/"the user has not opted-in yet". The Google search results for "this optin", "optin does not match", etc. seem to be pretty divided on whether "optin" means "opt-in", or if it's simply a misspelling of "option", too.


texts: Describing breathe quickly due to exercise?

texts:
I want to describe breathe quickly because of exercise.

I Googled, but the two suggested answers are not proper.

to breathe deeply is to inhale the fresh air. link
to gasp is to inhale shortly due to being scared or shocked. link

What is the proper description?


texts:
I am developing a program, which splits data into small messages. I send these messages one by one to another program in a random order. The other program can restore the original order of the messages.

Can I use reinstate the order or only restore is an appropriate word in this context?


texts:
My middle school was nervous.

Like the above sentence, can the the word  nervous be used for a thing?


texts: Interpretation of a quote from "Easy A" (the 2010 film)

texts:
In the 2010 film "Easy A", there is an exchange between several characters:

  Rhiannon: George is not a sexy name. George is like what you name your teddy bear, not the name you wanna scream out during climax.

  Mr. Griffith: I hope by "climax" you weren't talking about...

  Olive Penderghast: The stable and self-perpetuating end-stage in the evolution of a plant community. Like "by George, that tree has reached the final stage of ecological succession".

  Rhiannon: And it only took 20 seconds.

What does Olive mean here by "The stable and self-perpetuating
end stage in the evolution of a plant community."?

Please note: English is not my native language, so the simpler and clearer you can make your explanation, the better.


texts: "Human feelings are quite complex than of animals" - What should I put after "than"?

texts:
I want to write something meaning "humans have more complicated feelings than animals have." I wrote the following but I am not sure if "of" is the correct choice or not.

  Nevertheless, human feelings are quite complex than of animals.

If this sentence is not grammatical, why isn't it?


texts:
I'm writing a book in which one of the major events is a day that separates two major forces in the world.

It's meant to be a punishment from a high power, so at first I wanted to call it The Day of Punishment, but honestly that sounds like I put a minimum of effort into it and it just doesn't sound good.

I looked up a few words in a thesaurus and found sunder. So I thought of using The Day of Sundering, but I'm not quite sure if it makes grammatical sense, and whether it's the best choice available.

So in short, did I use the word sundering correctly? Or is there a better choice out there that I'm not thinking of?