texts: What adjective would best describe this difference between two doctrinal stances?

texts:
What adjective would be suitable here to describe this particular difference between two doctrinal stances?

  ... Well, as the matter of fact, neither "Mormons" nor "Jehovah's
  witnesses" are Christians even though both of them claim that they are
  following Jesus Christ's footsteps. The reason is simple: both of
  these two groups refuse (and teach that it is wrong) to pray directly to
  Jesus Christ by calling on His name. They only pray to the heavenly
  Father and add in the end of their prayers "In the name of Your Son
  Jesus Christ we pray", which is a far cry from praying to Jesus Christ
  directly. Read the book of Acts, chapter nine - early Christians were being
  martyred for their practice of calling on the name "Jesus", which is praying
  directly to Him. Having said that, however, I still want to note that Mormons
  believe that many people who are not members of their group will still
  be saved in the eternity future, albeit in the "lower kingdom", while
  Jehovah's witnesses believe that only the members of their group will
  be saved and all others will go into eternal perdition. So, as you can
  see, Mormon's belief is less ______

Also, what adjective would be suitable if the last sentence in the quote went this way:

  So, as you can see, Mormon's belief is more ______


texts: Was "St. Bartholomew's Day massacre" what people used before Kristallnacht happened?

texts:
The New York Times' first article on Adolf Hitler, "Hitler New Power in Germany", written in 1922 (but still paywalled), referred to fears of a St. Bartholomew's Day massacre. Was that the standard way of referring to an incident of racist violence back then, before we had Kristallnacht?

Doing an NGrams search for St. Bartholomew's doesn't have a sharp drop after Kristallnacht occurred.


texts: What's the meaning of "off to an early start" in this context?

texts:
The context as below:

  but violent clashes between riot police and students at the end of September got the action off to an early start


texts: One word for bounced/dropped email address, besides "invalid"

texts: I am looking for a one word adjective that describes an email address that has bounced, been dropped, or otherwise blocked by an email server. I don't like the word "invalid", because that may imply that the email address is malformed, which is not the case here. This word would be used in a web UI to mark email addresses, as in "Invalid email". There is very little room in the UI so I need something short. Thanks!


texts: What does "Megyn Kelly promoted and teased the interview 'within an inch of its life'” mean?

texts:
Vanity Fair (May 19) carried an article reporting the most watched TV show held on May 17 on Fox broadcast under the title, “Megyn Kelly slams media “Bias against Trump” for criticism of her prime-time special.” In it, the writer says

  “Once she made good with Trump and got him to agree to sit down with
  her at Trump Tower for the special, she promoted and teased the
  interview within an inch of its life — sitting down with late-night
  hosts, morning show talking heads, and The New York Times in advance
  of the special in order to trump up their face-to-face.”

I cannot understand the line, “She promoted and teased the interview within an inch of its life.” What does “within an inch of its life” mean?


texts: I am trying to understand if the word 'instalments' has double 'l'. I googled it, but I did not manage to find an answer.


texts: How to use "have been" and be-verbs -- what's the difference between them?

texts:
Consider these two sentences:

  They have been disappointing.
  They are disappointing.

Could you tell me how can I identify when to use have been and when to use be-verbs in sentences like these?  Is it that I need to use have been when "they" disappoint me, during a period that extends up to the present? And that I need to use be-verbs like are when "they" disappoint me generally?


texts: A single word for talking about a subject at great lengths?

texts: I'm trying to remember a single-word that I Google'd yesterday (because I didn't know what it meant) which is a word for "Talking about a subject at great lengths", that's almost the exact definition that I still remember, but I can't find the word anymore. I remember that it may be used academically as well because there were some tutorials that I saw about "How to X" (X being the word).


texts: What is the difference between “Check it”, “Check it up” and “Check it out”?

texts: Is there any differences between "Check it", "Check it up" and "Check it out"?


texts: Is there a word for a "promise breaker"?

texts:
I'm somewhat vexed in that I cannot think of a word that means a "promise breaker" or "person who breaks a promise". There are words that may subsume that, such as "miscreant" or "liar", but I cannot come up with an English word that is limited to a person who breaks promises.

The closest I've come is "piker", which is (a) informal and (b) limited to Australia/NZ, but means (according to the dictionary on my Mac):

  a person who withdraws from a commitment.

Is there a more formal and common word that can be used to refer to people who break promises?


texts: What is a negative way to describe a person who is overindulged with Earthly life?

texts:
To the extent that the person becomes neglectful of all else, including ethics, rights, etc.?

Example: Those who are [word] are so indulged in satisfying their whims and desires that they forget that death shall soon arrive, separating them from all they acquired and delivering them to a stage of reckoning and justice for all the injustice and cruelty they committed.


texts: Usage: "Tell of", "report that" but is it only "relate that"? How about "relate of"?

texts:
Relate, as a synonym of report or tell (Roget's, 3rd ed., section 556.11): What are its usage limits?
Can one say

  Jane related that there had been a fire?

Just as one says

  Jane reported that there had been a fire?

Or is the structure similar to

  Jane told of the fire that had burned down the old barn.

Can one therefore say

  Jane related of the fire that had burned down the old barn?

I have searched (Google; Random House, Gardner), but I have not been succesful in pinpointing the usage of that  meaning of "relate".


texts:
To sort is  informally used with the meaning of:

[ T ] (uk informal ) to deal with something by repairing or organizing it:
Can you sort the car by tomorrow?
We must get the phone sorted soon.
I must get this paperwork sorted before I go on holiday next week. (Cambridge Dictionary)

Where does the above usage come from? It does not seem to be related to the original meaning separating things into groups. The online etymological dictionary provides no information about it. Is it common also in American English?


texts: On using a modifier with a (comma-separated) list

texts:
I have a couple of related questions, one of which is a concrete question and the other of which is more general/abstract.
My first question is in regards to the following sentence, which was taken from a government poster (USPS Poster 7):

  Photographs for news purposes may be taken in entrances, lobbies, foyers, corridors, or auditoriums when used for public meetings except where prohibited by official signs or Security Force personnel or other authorized personnel or a federal court order or rule.

Namely, is the phrase "when used for public meetings" modifying just "auditoriums" or the entire list? It would seem that public meetings would be most applicable to auditoriums (though certainly not inapplicable to the others), but, knowing bureaucracies, I'm guessing that "except where prohibited..." is intended to modify each element of the list.

Further, in general, is there a way to deduce from grammatical construction (perhaps, additional commas), and not simply context/intuition, whether a modifier at the end of a list modifies the entire list or simply the last element?

Thanks for your insight.


texts: What is the difference between 'secretive' and 'stealthy'? Can someone please cite some example to get it cleared?

texts: To me it seems that being secretive has more to do with speech and behaviour while being stealthy means you're up for something potentially wrong or illegal. I need to have a more clear cut understanding of these two words.


texts: What are some composite German words such as "Schadenfreude" or "Sauerkraut" that are commonly used in English and with no English equivalents?


texts: Does this phrase need to be wrapped in commas?

texts:
In the sentence below, does the phrase "deep inside" need commas wrapped around it?

  Moving has allowed me to view the incredible variety that the world has to offer, and it also has made me realize that, deep inside, humans have more in common with one another than one would initially think.

versus

  Moving has allowed me to view the incredible variety that the world has to offer, and it also has made me realize that deep inside, humans have more in common with one another than one would initially think.

versus

  Moving has allowed me to view the incredible variety that the world has to offer, and it also has made me realize that deep inside humans have more in common with one another than one would initially think.


texts: Do you "solve" a non-financial deficit? "Cure" it?

texts:
I have a list of things that are wrong with a training program. I put them in Column 1 and titled that column "Deficits" (deficit: a lack, shortage, or disadvantage). For example:

Training is too long
Training does not address associates' fear of
selling
Training is boring

In Column 2, I have listed ways to address each deficit. For example:

Create smaller chunks
Add training to help associates get comfortable with selling
Make it engaging

If Column 1 is titled "Deficits," what is Column 2's title? "Cures"? "Solutions"? "Fixes"?

I'm sure there is a better word. I just can't think of it.


texts: What is a word that describes a person who takes up a challenge

texts:
The same thing as the title. The situation is a person whose intent is against the protagonist's and is taking up a king's challenge.

I'm rewriting a fairytale from a different perspective. The fairytale being The 12 dancing princesses.

This has been answered. Thanks for your help!


texts: Professional Engineering-related Business Letter

texts:
For one of my Engineering Courses, I had to write a professional Business Letter to inform my hypothetical employer of my analysis about two alternatives, and which one of them is better.

For this letter, as I was communicating directly with the employer, and using my own calculations and results, I thought first person would the right way to write (I used lots of "I", some of "my" etc.). Although I think I did a decent job, the professor took lots of points off saying that my letter should always be in third person.

I hope someone who is familiar with this matter can help me shed some light on this matter. Should business letters always be written in third person? I am not compatible with the professor, so I figured I should check online first, just to be sure. I am not a native speaker, so any information and advice, no matter how trivial, would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you very much.


texts:
I'm looking for a phrase that describes the in-and-outs (purchase and sale) of inventory items, kind of like an account statement for bank accounts.

Some phrases that I thought about are 'inventory movement', 'inventory statement', or 'unit movement', I'm not sure if there's a specific term.

I'm looking for a phrase to be applied in a business application


texts: How to combine in a sentence two verb–preposition pairs that have the same TWO objects?

texts:
How could one combine succinctly two verbs with the same two objects with different prepositions? For example, if I can either add gifts to a box and remove gifts from the box, what would be the most natural way of saying that I can do both?

If I would only talk about the gifts, I could say "I can add and remove gifts;" if I would only talk about the box, I could say "I can add to and remove from the box." Now, how can I say both things at once?


texts:
Sorry, what does "Would it be so that it never sees the inside of a courtroom" in this context? I don't understand what it means. Please tell me. thank you.

-- excerpt from the movie --
  Why does a junior grade with six
                         months experience and a track record
                         for plea bargaining get assigned a
                         murder case?
                              (beat)
                         Would it be so that it never sees
                         the inside of a courtroom?


texts: what is the meaning of "game" in this context?

texts:
A - Awesome music. We'll improve it. You game?
B - I'm game.

I have no idea what "game" means here.


texts: Is there a term for words that when reversed, form other words?

texts: I'm aware of what a palindrome is. What do you call words that, when reversed, form other words, such as ton (not) and part (trap)?


texts: What is the term for subconsciously doing something that you think you're dreaming

texts:
A friend of mine has been having these weird bouts of subconscious life interruptions. Not sure how to explain it correctly, that's why I'm here, I've researched it but I don't know how to explain it properly to get a correct search.
He is sleeping,  dreams that his alarm goes off then in real life he gets up has his breakfast gets ready for work etc etc then realized its only 1am then goes back to bed, he's even got as far as getting to work and realizing its Saturday and they are not open on the weekends.
Does this have a specific name or how could I word it in a way that I can get a relevant search?


texts: Should corporations be referred to in the singular or plural?

texts: I keep coming across articles, especially technology related ones, where corporations are referred to in the plural. Example, "Oracle have decided to make G1 the standard ..." or "Google have become very cautious in this regard." It sounds awful. Oracle is a single company. So is Google. Why are people then referring to the entity in the plural when the only thing plural about Oracle and Google are the employees who work for them?


texts: How does one read out “viz.”? “Namely”, “to wit”, or something else entirely?


texts: What is the meaning of the phrase "to this end"?

texts:
Here is the entire sentence:

  To this end, we create two properties files with the correct root bundle name and the correct locale endings, one for English and one for Spanish.

(Emphasis added.)


texts: Is it correct to join two complete sentences with a comma without coordinating conjunction?

texts:
1) If, for whatever reason, you don’t think the quoted price is legitimate, please kindly inform us of your target price. Our sales teams would be glad to work around your budget.
2) If, for whatever reason, you don’t think the quoted price is legitimate, please kindly inform us of your target price, our sales teams would be glad to work around your budget.

Please kindly advise on the use of comma in the above two sentences. Any help appreciated.


texts:
I recently integrated Yoast SEO for my blog https://yogixi.com and immediately started getting a lot of these errors Transition words: Only 23.1% of the sentences contain transition words, which is not enough. Use more of them. Now the issue is how much I try I am failing to reduce it to the accepted percentage.
For example this paragraph.

We can access a remote Linux machine using an SSH Client, for example, Putty. We do our work and close the session by closing Putty, but sometimes our SSH client (whether it is Putty or other) closes due to unwanted reasons or maybe we want to keep the session running but also want to pack the laptop to leave from office.

Almost, the entire paragraph is highlighted in red, prompting me to correct it. I have already gone through this thread Transition words but still didn't get, how to fix sentences that are missing these.
What am I missing?


texts: Usage of definite article with nationalities

texts:
Bering's men found Eskimos in Alaska.

or

  Bering's men found the Eskimos in Alaska.

Which is right?


texts: Eulogy : Praise , what would be an equivalent to "criticize"

texts:
Usually a eulogy makes the dead person sound a lot more impressive
  than they really were.

A couple of less common synonyms for this kind  of "praise the dead"
speech are panegyric and encomium.

  Is there a similar noun (phrase) when the dead person is chastised and
  critised?


texts: Can you call someone a "leaf blower" without being offensive?

texts:
I understand that a leaf blower is the equipment you use to blow leaves.

Can you also call the person who uses such an equipment a leaf blower, too?

It seems that a "leaf blower" is used sometimes to refer to a Mexican gardener in a derogatory way in America.

Can you call someone a leaf blower without being offensive?  In other words,
is the derogatory sense always associated with this term when used to refer to a person who uses a leaf blower?

Thank you


texts:
I guess that expression is used when someone is talking about something that he/she doesn't want to care about, I mean, 'Why do I have to care about? I don't want.'
Is my guess correct?


texts:
I wrote this sentence one day.

"I agree with the author on that the structure of the poem is unusual."

I read it again and found it a little strange.

I knew that that-clauses cannot be used after a preposition directly except in special cases (like this one! except!).

So I did a quick check with one of my friends and had him read it, and he said it sounds fine. But I had doubts.

Is it grammatical to put that-clause after "agree on"? Or for that matter, with any other prepositions except "in" and "except"?

Thank you!


texts:
Lyric is:

  I ride an old paint, I lead an old dan
       I'm goin' to Montana to throw the hoolihan
       They feed in the coulees, they water in the draw
       Their tails are all matted, their backs are all raw

But what is a hoolihan, please?


texts: Statistics terminology: Is there a word for a flat bottom?

texts: I'm wondering about the opposite of a plateau. I mean, I tend to associate "valley" with a downward spike, as in peaks and valleys. I want to talk of "a flat bottom on the data graph" in the same way that you might talk about a plateau in the graph.


texts: Why is "envy" is considred a sin while "envious" is a rather desirable attribute?

texts:
We have two similar words in envy and jealousy. The American Heritage Dic. defines them as below.

jealousy:

  A jealous attitude or disposition.
  Close vigilance.

envy:

  n. pl. en·vies

  a. A feeling of discontent and resentment aroused by and in conjunction with desire for the possessions or qualities of another.
  b. The object of such feeling: Their new pool made them the envy of
  their neighbors.
  Obsolete Malevolence.

  tr.v. en•vied, en•vy•ing, en•vies

  To feel envy toward (another person).
  To regard (something) with envy.

  The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2015 by
  Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

We also see that envy is considered as one of the 7 deadliest sins:

  What it is

  Envy is the desire for others' traits, status, abilities,
  or situation.

  Why you do it

  Because other people are so much luckier, smarter, more attractive, and better than you.

  Your punishment in Hell will be

  You'll be put in freezing water.

(http://www.deadlysins.com/envy/)

Now comes the core issue as we glance the definition of envious:

  adj. Feeling, expressing, or
  characterized by envy: "At times he regarded the wounded soldiers in
  an envious way.... He wished that he, too, had a wound, a red badge of
  courage" (Stephen Crane).
  The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2015 by
  Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

It definitely comes out to me at least as a positive feeling. One of healthy competition. Our English teacher used to say, “It is much healthier to be envious than jealous.”

It gives me an impression as if the same word-root "envy" means a highly abominable emotion but when we convert it to "envious" [Adj.] it suddenly acquires a healthy demeanor. It is perplexing, confusing to me. Although I have a feeling that envy is a positive feeling while the feeling of jealousy has a negative overtone.


texts:
I frequently come across questions that don't actually read like questions, for example, "How to ask a question?" which to me, reads more like a direction than an actual question. I mostly see it when the writer is either from Europe or Asia.

It's something I see often enough that I'm wonder if it is correct in certain contexts. If not, I would appreciate alternative phrasings. My first thought in this example would be something like, "How do you ask a question?" or "How should you ask a question?" But in certain contexts, the use of the second person is inappropriate and I have no idea what to do there.

Any help or insight will be greatly appreciated. Thank you.


texts: What does "it" represent in the following sentence?

texts:
I read the following sentence on the leading corporation in a corruption-infested country.

Its path to the top was strewn with secret deals, price fixing,
bribery, tax evasion and more, all of it overseen by an
ultrasecretive, ultrarich family ready to use every means at its
disposal to stay in command.

What does the pronoun "it" refer to?
Given the pronoun "it" represents a singular noun, logically, "it" in the sentence apparently refers to "its path to the top."
But the phrase "all of it" somehow sounds plural.


texts: Pronunciation of "-st-". When is it "sd" and when "st"?

texts:
I recently found some words but I got confused and don't know whether to say sd or st. I am sure the following are pronounced as st:

sister
caster
ancestor
master

But the following are pronounced as sd:

mysterious
destiny
stable
staple

Is there a rule for changing the pronunciation of t to d following an s?


texts: Word choice for hierarchical groups of data: data point → data set →?

texts:
A data point is a single unit of information.

A data set is a collection of data points (also known as a data series).

Is there a word for a collection of data sets?

I don't simply want to use "data sets" because of the context; it is important they look distinct at a glance.


texts: Non-pejorative word/phrase for "social justice warrior"

texts:
The term "social justice warrior" appears to have been coined as a pejorative term, and Urban Dictionary defines it thus:

  A pejorative term for an individual who repeatedly and vehemently
  engages in arguments on social justice on the Internet, often in a
  shallow or not well-thought-out way, for the purpose of raising their
  own personal reputation.

Is there a non-pejorative term for actual proponents of social justice, who use logical/scientific arguments to back up their claims instead of the drivel that is so often characteristic of
"social justice warriors"?


texts: Also, the building will remain closed to all staff unless otherwise notified by your supervisor

texts: Do I need another comma between staff and otherwise?


texts: How correct is "quote, unquote" and where does its usage come from?

texts:
In the following quote, it seems (to me at least) quite difficult to figure out what exactly is being quote:

  “The best cure—quote, unquote—for aging is slowing disease,” Daniel Kraft, the chair of [...]

My questions are the following:

Isn't it better English to write (and say): "The best cure—quote— for aging—unquote— is slowing disease.”
How did the usage of "quote, unquote" come to be? In French, people say "ouvrir les guillemets" then "fermer les guillemets" (literally open/close quotes) which better delimits what is quoted.

By the way, I am surprise that this question hasn't been asked already: did I not enter to appropriate search terms?


texts: What does “it took one away” mean in the line, “For each superpower his brain gave him, it took one away” in encountering a gun attack?

texts:
There was the following sentence in the article of Time magazine, titled “Your brain in a shootout: Guns, fear and flawed instincts” dealing with the brain’s function in a life-or-death situation. As Jim Glennon, a lieutenant in the Chicago Police, found himself placed in, one autumn day in 2004 when he was assaulted by a gun-shooter:-
http://swampland.time.com/2013/01/16/your-brain-in-a-shootout-guns-fear-and-flawed-instincts/

  “As happens for most people in life-or-death situations, his brain
  began to manipulate his perception of time, slowing down the motion as
  he fled down the corridor.  But for each superpower his brain gave
  him, it took one away. In a flash, his brain reprioritized, shifting
  finite resources to the cause of survival.

I’m not very clear with what the line, “it took one away” means? What do ‘it’ and ‘one’ represent? Is ‘it’ a substitute for his brain or ‘a superpower’? Is ‘one’ “one of those superpowers” or “him”?

What does 'for" of 'for each superpower' function for? Is it grammatically or rhetorically wrong, if I take ‘for’ away from the line, and say “His brain took away each superpower it gave him”?

How can I rephrase it in a clearer way, without using substitutes, “it” and “one,” (even if the end result includes redundant expressions)?


texts: Expression for 'to persist through a situation unwillingly'

texts: I want to express exactly that, i thought 'to grind sth through' was a valid expression but Google says no. So I am wondering how to express to see through an endeavor unwillingly.


texts:
Is it common for an English speaking person to understand the word "integer" (i.e. the whole numbers ..., -2, -1, 0, 1, 2, ...)?

Or should I not use that word outside the domain of mathematics or computer science.


texts: Is there a term to describe inquisitiveness with a negative connotation?

texts:
This is basically the opposite of Is there a word to describe curiosity in a positive way?

I'm not looking for an antonym. I'm looking for a synonym for inquisitive or curious that is more negative, like the second definition here: http://www.dictionary.com/browse/inquisitive

I realize that this is a secondary definition of inquisitive itself, but in common usage the term is used in either a positive or neutral tone. The second definition is not usually inferred in written language.

The phrase might be "Asking too many questions might make you seem _____ to a potential employer". Currently I'm using "overly inquisitive" but it feels redundant based on the true second definition of inquisitive.

EDIT: The suggested duplicate is slang which is not what I'm looking for. See a different answer to the same question which also notes the issue with "inquisitive" and the need for the redundant "overly" modifier.


texts:
I am a little confused about the usage of 'would' in fiction-writing/translation.

So, here's a very simple example that confuses me.

"Why did you say that?" she asked. -- (my version)
"Why would you say that?" she asked --(editor's version)

I don't understand the difference.

Can anybody help?


texts:
What would be the indirect speech form of the following sentence?

  John told Sean, "Let me help you"

(It's not a homework question, I'm preparing for my exam tomorrow. I just stumbled upon this question in a book.)


texts: Can "run-through" be possibly a noun? Is it possible at all? If yes, can you, please, come up with a sentence that would contain this noun? Can you also, please,  describe a situation, in which that sentence would naturally apply? Please note that I don't need those cases, in which "run-through" would act more like a modifier to another word ("He chose a run-through mode for his system", "There is a need in a run-through program", "Another run-through strategy will ruin the whole project", etc.)


texts: How to punctuate a quote within a quote?

texts:
Duplicate of:
What’s the difference between using single and double quotation marks/inverted commas?
How are embedded quotations used?
And:
When should end punctuation go inside quotes?
Is it correct to use “punctuation outside of the quotations”, or “inside?”

Let me know if this belongs on Writers.se. Furthermore, I have a strong feeling this has already been covered, but I wouldn’t know where, since I don’t know what to name this situation.
Moving on, I will express a dialogue like this:

A:  “What did he say to you?’
B1:  “He leaned close to me, and said in a gravely and drunken voice, “It’s not easy.” ”

Or would it be,

B2:  “He leaned close to me, and said in a gravely and drunken voice, ‘It’s not easy.’ ”

Or,

B3:  “He leaned close to me, and said in a gravely and drunken voice, “It’s not easy”.”

I’ve tried to be helpful (and probably failed), but let me know.


texts: Singular or plural verb after units of measure

texts:
Should the verb in the following sentences be singular or plural?

Two cups of sugar [was or were] added to the recipe.

Fifty cubic yards of contaminated soil [was or were] excavated.


texts:
In this recently uploaded video by CNN channel, it shows that it is not clear as to whether we should use the possessive apostrophe or not, though Sue Mendelsohn, Director of the Columbia Unv. Writing Center, took part in the video and said, "There is no correct answer, but the common usage would suggest that, similar to the race card, it would be the woman card."

However, Ngram shows that the only usage there is is "the woman's card." And shouldn't "the woman's card" be the only correct usage since we say "women's health"?


texts: conditional use of "will" to indicate something that happens in the future

texts:
A friend of mine is not a native speaker and he often says the following:
"Make sure you'll do that."

I'm trying to explain why this should be:
"Make sure you do that."

My explanation is as follows:
"Make sure", in this context, already implies the "will" part of the sentence and so it's not necessary to add it after the "you".

What is the proper explanation behind this example? Is there any real grammar I can reference? If not then...
I'm from Australia and I know that anyone there (at least in Sydney) would know that my friend is a non-native english speaker from this example. Is this the case in all english-speaking countries?


texts: "This Vienna Red, an almost extinct style, is our contribution to Lager."

texts:
I (non-native English speaker) wrote this sentence as one part of a beer description. It feels right to me. Some people started insisting that Lager should actually be Lagers.

What I mean to say is a contribution to the style "Lager".

Are both version correct or only one of them? Please explain why.


texts:
I'd like to find a single word for a very gentle touch.

Example usage:

  "As he __________ (gently touched) the petals, ..."

(may not be the best example, but I believe it brings across the point)


texts:
What Old English (and by Old English I mean the language of Anglo-Saxons, recorded in written works from VII to X century A.D.) adjective is the most appropriate to describe the feeling of loneliness as opposed to just being alone?

I was unable to locate this specific meaning in any of the accessible English to OE dictionaries and came to question the very existence of the concept of "feeling lonely" in Anglo-Saxon literature.
Sadly, I've a very limited experience in reading OE literary sources, so I hoped to tap into yours.
I would appreciate non-adjective phrases as well, if you know any.


texts:
I have received an email from my boss to attend a course, can I reply to her email by this sentence:
Thank you for your email,
I will attend.
Best regards.


texts: English equivalent of the French "trompe-oreilles"?

texts:
The following is the translation of the French definition of trompe-oreilles as it appears on the Wikipedia page:

  A trompe-oreilles is a valid sentence that, when spoken out loud, gives the impression of being in a foreign language or having a different meaning.

Is there a similar concept in English? (Any examples?)

A rough example: "I fly to you" could be misinterpreted as "I've lied to you".


texts: They call me "Tater Salad." What is the part of speech of "Tater Salad"?

texts:
What is the part of speech of "Tater Salad" in the sentence 'They call me "Tater Salad."'?

What about "crazy" in "They call me crazy."?

For that matter, is "me" the object of the verb "call" in both of those sentences?


texts: What is the origin of the phrase a "hung jury"?

texts: As the title suggests, I'm curious about the origin of a "hung jury" when the jury doesn't come to a decision.


texts: A word for the meaning of "over-constrained"

texts: I want to express that I constrained something too much such that it is contradictory now. At first sight, over-constrained seems to fit, but I am not sure whether it is fine to use in a scientific publication. Can you help me?


texts: What is the relationship name of my sibling-in-law's sibling to me?

texts:
For example:

I have a sister named Charlotte.
Charlotte is married to Martin.
Martin has a brother named William.

Martin is my brother-in-law, but what is William to me?


texts:
I was learning about ACTIVE and PASSIVE sentences  and came across this particular example. I know a sentence is said to be Active when the subject of the particular sentence performs the action. For example, "The hunter killed an antelope." In the Passive form it will be "An antelope was killed by the hunter." A sentence becomes Passive when the action is acted upon the subject, and the subject becomes the receiver of the action like the second example I gave.

The book also said that the passive voice is use to express an action in which the actor is unknown, and gave this example "The food had been eaten before we came." What I'm confused about here is that, passive voice contains the preposition "by" which is preceded by the subject, but in this case, there was nothing like that, and I want to know if it's a valid one.


texts: Single choice and multiple choice questions helper sentences

texts:
I am trying to find the more appropriate helper sentences, e.g. for a single choice question:

  "check" only one of the options
  OR "check" only one of the answers

Is there a better way to say this!?

Also, for multiple-choice questions:

  You can "check" more than one option OR You can "check" more than one answer

Can I replace the word "check" with something better?
is it ok if I say "Select" instead! I'm open to your suggestions

P.S. this is in a questionnaire context, in a mobile app


texts: Why does "impregnable" mean 'cannot be impregnated'?

texts:
Well not exactly, but according to the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, impregnable means:

  ADJECTIVE:
  1. Impossible to capture or enter by force: an impregnable fortress.
  2. Difficult or impossible to attack, challenge, or refute with success: an impregnable argument.

Or, according to Wiktionary's short definition:

  (Of a fortress, wall, etc.) Too strong to be penetrated.

On the other hand, the meanings of impregnate, in addition to "make pregnant", include

  3. To fill throughout; saturate: a cotton wad that was impregnated with ether.
    4. To permeate or imbue: impregnate a speech with optimism. See Synonyms at charge.

  2. to make a substance such as a liquid spread all the way through something: a pad impregnated with natural oils

  1. a : to cause to be filled, imbued, permeated, or saturated
  b : to permeate thoroughly

which, at a stretch, are closer to the "penetrate" meaning. Hence the question in the title.

Why is this? I guess it's because, as with inflammable and flammable, the two words come from different meanings of the in- prefix; impregnable from a "negation" meaning and impregnate from an "into" meaning. (And indeed, the AHD gives etymology with in-1 for impregnable, and in-2 for impregnate.) Is this right?

Some dictionaries also list a meaning for impregnable that come from impregnate and seem the opposite (in a loose sense) of the meaning above: the same AHD gives, as its second definition for impregnable,

  ADJECTIVE:
  Capable of being impregnated.

and some Hutchinson's Dictionary of Difficult Words gives:

  impregnable
  a. able to withstand attack; capable of being fertilized; able to become or be made pregnant.

Are these "capable of being impregnated" meanings for impregnable common?

[Finally, if one does want to express the 'easily penetrable' meaning, as in "This badly designed bulletproof jacket is easily penetrable", can one use "pregnable"? "non-impregnable"? Is there risk of confusion that "pregnable" may mean "can be made pregnant"?]


texts:
I thought I've heard it being used as such before, but I cannot seem to find any dictionary (online) that details it as an adjective.

E.g. "The proceeding event is dinner. The preceding event was lunch." (assuming "now" is between lunch and dinner)

Is there no such usage for the word and I'm just making it up?


texts: 'push off the weight of Ira' vs 'push the weight off of Ira'

texts:
Moore makes you feel for him and, at the same time, she makes you want to push off the weight of Ira — all his exposed, sappy neediness — far away.

Source (emphasis mine)

I think this way.

It can be rewritten thus: "push the weight off of Ira" meaning "get rid of the weight from Ira."

To say "the weight of Ira" is "Ira's weight" is ungrammatical in my opinion. When "the" is involved, like this, it's normal to say "A's B"

So from this perspective, to interpret this "of" as possessive is wrong.

Am I right?


texts: Why is a presen participle (using) used here?

texts:
"Combine the following sentences using the conjunctions given in the brackets"

Can I use "by using", "use" instead?


texts: Any name for "focusing on the problem, not on the solution"

texts:
Do we have a term to describe the attitude which instead of solution, focuses on the problem. This attitude is encouraged in many places and there are some stories about it. Maybe the most famous story is "The Empty Soap Box".

I was thinking of Pluralism as a description for having many ways to get to one goal (not really relevant), or lateral thinking which is a superset of what I want.

What term is suitable?


texts: What is the correct pronunciation for "forever"?

texts: What is the correct pronunciation for the word "forever"? In this video I found it sounds like /fəˈevər/ but in dictionaries it is /fəˈrevər/. I believe there are many other examples like this word, but I can only come up with this one right now.


texts:
Slow has the adverb slowly. I tend to use fastly as the adverb for fast.

However, it is underlined in most spell checkers I use, which makes me wonder about the existence of this word.

Is fastly a correct word? If not, what should be used instead, and why is that different from its antonym?


texts: “Spent time for training” vs. “spent time on training” vs. “spent time on training of ”

texts:
We’ve spent X hours ?on training of the new employee.
We’ve spent X hours ?on training the new employee.
We’ve spent X hours ?for training the new employee.

Are these interchangeable?


texts:
What is the best position for the phrase 'if any' for the sentence below?Please explain the rationale behind your answer?

  What could be, if any, the benefits or disadvantages of something?

  What could be the benefits or disadvantages, if any, of something?

  What could be the benefits or disadvantages of something, if any?

Thanks!


texts: Dragons are "fantastic" creatures or "fantastical" creatures?

texts:
If I'm discussing fantasy as a genre, and I want to describe a noun as fitting that genre, should I call it fantastic or fantastical?

It seems both words exist in (say) Merriam-Webster, but the -al form is described as a variant.  Is it dispreferred or less common?  I fear Ngrams won't help here since "fantastic" also means "extremely good," a (likely more prevalent) meaning not shared by "fantastical."


texts: How do I correctly use the possessive apostrophe with a parenthetical citation?

texts:
Is the apostrophe in the right place in the following sentence?

  Pendleton, et al. (2002)’s research implies that extension of treatment allows for greater weight loss.


texts: Does the sentence "I'm on my knees" mean "I'm down" or "I'm sad"?

texts: I have seen this sentence in a few English songs. But I am not sure what it means. Does the sentence "I am on my knees" mean "I am down" or "I am sad"?


texts: What do you call a person who likes to chat/connect to new people

texts:
The one who likes/desires to know others(new persons)
such as on social sites etc.


texts:
When you are quoting someone's assertion, this happens the following way:

God answered, "The sun is not appropriated to catch up the moon, nor can night outstrip the day."

Notice the comma, followed by the quotation marks. Now take this example into account:

I am quoting you: "This verse is beyond a shadow of doubt representing geocentrism."
Another assertion of yours: “Your analogy of Copernican heliocentrism is abstract

Notice how I put a colon. I think it is more appropriate in this snippet. Am I doing this right?


texts: Verb question: 'check' vs. 'check out' in an invitation

texts: I have to make an invitation to some people. Is it correct to say "come check out our products" or "come check our products"?


texts: "The other side" to refer to the afterlife

texts:
Why did the chicken cross the road? To get to "the other side."

Now you can take this one of two ways. Either the chicken simply wants to arrive on the other side of the road, or he is suicidal and wants to reach the afterlife.

This is where my confusion sets in. According to a Wikipedia article, "The first known printing of this riddle was in 1847."

I'd like to know the origin of the phrase "the other side" being used to mean the afterlife.


texts:
From etymonline, in "oblivion", "ob-" means "over, and "levis" means "smooth", so how does the word have the meaning of  "lacking conscious awareness, not informed about, not aware of something"?

Also does "levis" relate to "levi" which means light, and raise, e.g. elevate, levity?


texts: What is the difference between saying a person is genuine, and saying a person is authentic?

texts:
I understand that the words genuine and authentic differ in some scenarios.

For example, if we say that a designer bag is genuine then it is not a replica; and if we say that an Italian restaurant is authentic, then the food is made the Italian way. But in English, we do not say that a designer bag is authentic and an Italian restaurant is genuine. We say that a cold caller is genuine if he's not scamming, and that a radio advert is authentic if the statements it makes are true. But we do not say a cold caller is authentic and a radio advert is genuine.

So when using an adjective to describe a person, not a specific behaviour they exhibit, but a person, what is the difference in calling a person authentic, and calling them genuine?

Example

  "You're such a genuine person Molly!" Meena told her

  "You're such an authentic person Molly!" Meena told her

What difference in meaning is conveyed by the two sentences?


texts: African wild donkey, African wild elephant

texts: In describing the African wild donkey or elephant, African is a noun functioning as an adjective, but is wild an adjective or a noun? Also, we cannot refer the noun African to animals, but can we say: The wild donkey is African or, The elephant is African?


texts: 'never peg the needle on your spending meter'

texts:
I've met the phrase in this article:

  Never peg the needle on your spending meter.

After some research I found 'What is the meaning of the phrase “moving the needle”?' here. Now the original phrase I encountered is somewhat clear.

Could you help say the same thing in another way so that I can understand the phrase as a whole? May be some equivalent saying?


texts: What is the word for the opposite of "preferred"?

texts:
Non-preferred sounds clunky to me and words like alternative, I feel, don't convey the sense of "the set of things I really don't like".

Edit: Perhaps the context will help. In this version, I've used tchrist's suggestion of disliked:

  Most parts of the brain have preferred patterns of input that those parts link to     characteristic patterns of output. Many disorders arise when a brain region receives patterns of input it dislikes or cannot link the preferred input to its characteristic output.

I want to avoid too much anthropomorphism because this is for a scientific paper. The field already uses the word "preferred". In the section intended for a general audience I wanted to avoid using technical words but not accidentally convey something.


texts: Derivation of "inside address" recipient of a letter

texts: Does anybody know the derivation of the word "inside address" as a part of a business letter also called recipient-address ?


texts: "agenda-driven": single-word synonyms and a good definition

texts:
I first encountered the term "agenda-driven" in description of cat breed's temperaments. While I sense the meaning, being non-native speaker makes it hard to understand term "agenda-driven" in various contexts. I see this term used more and more often. No dictionaries are defining it. I mentioned the cat's context only to show how widespread and strange the contexts can get with this term. I am looking for the most general definition fo course, not cat-related. Sometimes it means "following a defined schedule" and sometimes "being dense and pushing someones agenda" etc.

Could please someone offer some good single-word synonyms and a good dictionary-like definition for "agenda-driven"?

Thank you!

EXAMPLE:

  The Abyssinian cat is unlike the more mellow cat breeds. They have a lot of energy, can be mischievous, and often demand plenty of attention from their owners. Abyssinians are active, curious people-cats. They are also very loving, yet tend to be dominant over other animals in the household. The Abyssinian is a distinctively marked, busy, agenda-driven cat that will entertain you by the hour. It is inquisitive, affectionate and will enjoy just about any game. The first pairs of cats said to be of Abyssinian origin were brought to England in the 1800's.

SOURCE: https://www.cat-health-detective.com/abyssinian-cat.html


texts:
Are these the correct constructions?

Do any of the students write well?
Does anyone write well?


texts: What is the meaning of "ironically" in this passage?

texts:
A rocket launched and shortly afterward exploded, on Tuesday. Below is passage from a news article written about it:

  This was the second launch attempt for the mission. Monday evening's try was thwarted by a stray sailboat in the rocket's danger zone–ironically, the restrictions are in case of just such an accident that occurred Tuesday.

Please explain to me how ironically is used here. I don't see any irony in restricting an area for safety purposes then it turns out that place was dangerous, due to the explosion. Is there another definition or perhaps the author meant something else that I'm missing?


texts:
After doing some research, I have noticed I have been saying the word "to" as [tʃu:], while most dictionaries and sources say I should pronounce it as [tu:]. But I have the impression that "to" is not pronounced with a clear t, at least in the most common variants of English. This also seems to happen with other words beginning with "to", such as "tomorrow" and "today".

Is this pronunciation of "to", [tʃu:], valid?

Are there any variations regarding the "t" in this word (excluding the "quick" informal pronunciations, which I am aware of)?

I am not a native speaker.


texts: When do I say "I have seen people do it" and not "I have seen people doing it"?

texts:
What is the difference between
I have seen people do it and I have seen people doing it?


texts:
I found this phrase:

  So what is it about habits that makes something like biting your
  fingernails so hard to stop, while making something like running a
  couple half marathons per week possible? There’s three things to know
  about why habits develop whether you want them to or not.

Is that correct (in formal English/grammar)? Should not we write There are three things ... instead?


texts: I am looking for a wider expression for someone who is hyper-scared of pain and things that cause pain. I came up with “afraid of as much as a needle,” but I get nowhere when I search for it on Google books. “Agliophobia” sounds too complex to me. Would an average teenager in the USA understand Agliophobia? Any other ideas?


texts:
I want to confirm with my customer that they received an overshipment few days ago

Which one is correct? Or can i use all of them? For me 3 below sentences are seem to be okay.. but probably I’m wrong:)

As I understand correctly you have received product which has not been ordered by you.
As I understand correctly you received product which was not ordered by you.
As I understand correctly you received product which you didn't order


texts: Can you 'agree' with something in varying degrees?

texts:
When constructing a survey question is it correct to ask a respondent:

Which of the statements do you agree with more?

Agreement seems like it should be binary.  To agree with one thing more than another turns agreement into a sliding scale.  Is there a better way to ask the respondent's preference?


texts:
I'm struggling with finding an exact match for Russian word "Творчество" which according to Wikipedia is synonymous to the word "Creativity" in English. "Творчество" is defined an activity that yields something completely new, that never existed before; the result of this process is something which is valuable not only for creator but for the others too. That result also can't be inferred by simply applying some known rules to the known input data. Or to quote Niels Bohr - "This theory is crazy, but not crazy enough to be true" - meaning that logical inference is not equivalent to the notion of "Творчество".

While I'm not a native speaker I still doubt that "Творчество" and "Creativity" are completely the same, so my question is whether I'm wrong and "Creativity" indeed conveys the exact meaning of the word "Творчество".


texts:
Noun+Adjective; as, ... ... blood-red, skin-deep, sky-blue,

In the above, why is the comma used after as and what does as mean here?
And why is a semicolon used after title?
The extract (slightly amended) is from from High School Grammar and Composition by Wren & Martin.


texts: Word or phrase for someone who annoys you as soon as they walk in and start talking

texts:
Looking for both a journalistic and perhaps playful term. In a journalistic sense, how would I describe a CEO figure who holds a company meeting and the employees are either annoyed, bored, or rolling their eyes the entire time he talks.

In a playful sense, a similar personality walks into my office, but is the context is such that I can make the comment aloud, such as, "oh god, there goes my chance to get any work done", but in a declarative sense: "here comes the ..."


texts: How to avoid confusion when "and" is in a list

texts:
How do I avoid confusion when "and" is in a comma-separated list?

  E.g. "The guy eats, weighs a lot, and moves and jumps well."

If I don't use a serial comma, it would be:

  E.g. "The guy eats, weighs a lot and moves and jumps well."

As you can tell it may cause some confusion when "and" is part of a list.


texts: What's the difference between "incarnation" and "embodiment"? I didn't get a clear distinction from Webster. Is it like "incarnation" is more about a state and "embodiment" is more about an action? Or is it like "incarnation" is more about a living being and "embodiment" is more about an idea or a notion?


texts: What is the appropriate usage of this Who's and What's to imply possession of a property

texts:
Consider the following sentences:

Please consider the person who's shirt is red.

Please consider the car what's bumper is blue.

Please consider the car who's bumper is blue.

Number 3 sounds wrong to me and number 1 sounds right.  A car cannot be a "who" unless its a work of fiction. The question here is whether or not number 2 is correct form.
Is number 2 correct form? Why or why not? If not, what would be the correct form to refer to a specific inanimate object what's component is blue or based on some other criteria.  What rule specifies that it is correct or not correct.


texts: What does “it’s not going to suck itself ” mean?

texts:
In Goa, I see tourists wearing t-shirts that have the following text on them, along with a red arrow:

  It’s not going to suck itself

What does this mean?


texts: What does ' you can do me every day' mean?

texts:
If a girl is talking to a guy that she says she doesnt trust very much,  and the guy says

'you can do me every day ... Is that enough proof'

What does that mean?


texts: Word to describe object that can be physically passed through

texts: I'm looking for a word to describe something that can be physically passed through like a ghost, mist, or a gas. Initially, I was thinking of the work transparent, but I feel like this is better used to describe something that is see through.


texts: If "nice" is an adjective, what kind of word is "niceness"?

texts: Say you have the adjective "nice". If something is nice, then it has the quality of niceness. What type of word is "niceness"? Is it still an adjective?


texts: Meaning of " “fact-filled” in this context?

texts:
In North America and Europe, the rise of the “far-right” and
  “neonationalist” movements in the last two decades have triggered and
  relied on online belligerence of racialized joking, intimidation and
  “fact-filled” untruths (Banks & Gingrich, 2006; Hervik 2016). (Source)

What is the meaning of "fact-filled" in the above sentence. It seems a quite recently made-up word to me, and I couldn't find it defined anywhere.


texts:
http://www.sightwordsgame.com/spelling/words/open-syllable/

This website says that

-An open syllable occurs when a vowel is at the end of the syllable

but they include the word ache in their list of open syllables. Am I wrong to think think that this is a mistake because ache is one syllable ending in a consonant?


texts: Origin of figurative use of 'ugly American' in the pejorative sense of 'ignorant, arrogant U.S. citizen abroad'

texts:
The expression "ugly American" evidently became famous through a novel—William J. Lederer & Eugene Burdick, The Ugly American (1958). The title character, Homer Atkins, although physically unattractive, is a capable engineer and an honest representative of U.S. interests abroad (specifically, in a fictionalized Burma), but he is appalled and frustrated by the incompetence, greed, and arrogance of other U.S. representatives. One of the ironies of the book is that the physically ugly American is among the most admirable Americans.
But as the cover of a 1999 reissue of the novel observes, the book's title "became a synonym for what was wrong with American foreign policy." And at some point, the meaning of the term expanded to cover any rude, oblivious, entitled U.S. citizen abroad, whether the person is associated with the U.S. government or not.
My question is, when did this change in the understood meaning of "ugly American" from a literal description of Homer Atkins to a figurative description of a stereotypically ignorant, abrasive, entitled U.S. citizen abroad occur?
I checked a number of dictionaries of idioms, slang, and clichés, and could not find any account of when the pejorative sense of "ugly American" emerged. An item in the Congressional Record of June 9, 1960, however suggests that it may have happened rather quickly:

Mr. [Frank] BOW [of Ohio]. Mr. Speaker, the Department of State may well be proud of Miss Frances Knight, Director of the U.S. Passport Office.
In many instances State Department personnel are subject to criticism and ridicule, many times without justification. My knowledge of them is that they are generally a very fine group of devoted public servants, dedicated Americans.
However, Miss Knight's article "Don't Be an 'Ugly American,'" inserted in the Congressional Record of June 6, 1960, is proof positive of a sincere desire to create a proper and true image of Americans abroad. As in the State Department, so among our tourists abroad, a small minority cast unfortunate shadows on the unoffending majority.

Evidently, Knight's article, which appeared originally in Parade Magazine (June 5, 1960) was an argument and a plea for U.S. tourists to express their patriotism by improving their manners and respect for the countries and people they visited while traveling abroad.
Is there any evidence that the figurative meaning of "ugly American" that Knight invokes arose even earlier than June 1960?


texts: Is this proper usage? "I feel good despite not having had any coffee today."


texts:
This is really annoying me.  All over CBS/ESPN/EVERYWHERE I am hearing that today's NCAA basketball games are round 3 of the tournament.  When did the definition of a round in a tournament change?

I have helped put together literally 100s of baseball, basketball, and soccer tournaments in my life and a round has always been a level in a tournament.  I am sure that 10 years ago that today's games were the 2nd round because it was the 2nd level of the tournament.  Please see a simple google search for 3rd round.

So now they are using "round" to mean "day".  Yes it is the 3rd day of the tournament but it is still only the 2nd round.  Why did this change?  Is this the new normal?  Why is this driving me nuts?  When did the meaning of a round in a tournament totally change?


texts:
What is difference between "made in" and "made at"?
The example sentences are:

This thing was made in a factory.

This thing was made at a factory.

Are they both correct? Do they mean the same thing?


texts:
"Biden to revive/boost U.S Pakistan relations"
What is the meaning of "sub + to+ verb" structure.
How is it different from.."Biden going to"


texts: What are some other ways to say "more talk than walk"?

texts: I know I've heard variations on this phrase before. Like "all talk and no action". I think there's another one about ranchers and hats...


texts:
Read below a sentence

She must have gone.

I know it's a conclusion and it represents a past action, but if I want to convert it into a question, What should I say out of the following? :

(1) Have she must gone?
(2) Must she have gone?
(3) Have must she gone?
(4) Must have she gone?

According to me, #(2) should be correct. Let me know your points.
Also, If I say:

She might have gone.

Will it's question version be this? :

Might she have gone?

I hope so.


texts: Can a self studying college drop-out call himself a student?

texts:
I have dropped the college this year but I am still studying/learning without college using books and internet resources.

WordWeb defines student as "A learner who is enrolled in an educational institution". But I am not enrolled in any educational institution.

So, can I call myself student or not? If not, what should I call myself?


texts: Better adjectives to encapsulate this particular usage of "useful" and the opposite

texts:
I'm trying to find words to best differentiate attentions such as jobs, free time usage, and goals into two categories.

There are tasks that serve some level of reasonable necessity and most often provide some sort of tangible result.
And then there are instead tasks that are adopted for joy, interest, or expression.

Jobs like construction, farming, education, store stocker, or even table maker fall in the first category I'm visualizing.
Jobs like artist, clown, DJ, sports coach, or advertiser tend more towards the second category as a whole.
And fields like research, web design, typist, custodian, and city planner sit more upon the fence in what I'm reaching at, being less\not tangible in product and perhaps more marginal\varying in necessity typically.

I can see even now looking at those lists that some might find a few comparative groupings a bit perplexing, so perhaps further clarification of this "tangibility" would help?
The first class would involve primary connections... either creating objects (generally of at least some utility) or bearing central responsibility to allow it's existence\usage [manufacturer, airline schedule maker, architect].
The second class would serve as somewhat-less required intermediaries or be tasked with alleviating tertiary concerns to their existence [salesman, parking maid, waitress].

But despite how I can give some real boundaries to the distinction I speak of, I just cannot find great words to embody the ideas fully, especially the first group.  The best words from each set I can come up with are:

Productive, tangible, constructive, practical, purposeful
vs
Entertaining, frivolous?

Most of the words come off weak and so broad that they miss most of the idea.  Positive\negative connotation words are fair game (like frivolous), as it seems there's possibly some generally implied comparative benefit built into the first category versus the other, but non emotionless objective words are also of great interest.

Sample usages could be:
George is more interested in [more] _______________ disciplines.
or
Tom is more ______________ while Jerry is ______________.

Perhaps my standards here are pretty obscure or subjective, or I've found the best words, and so there's just not much left to find.  But if you do have any help I would greatly appreciate it, as it's a question that has plagued me for a long time!


texts: Should the preposition "of" always follow the verb "to approve"?

texts: When one says "The novel approves of the character's behaviour", the preposition "of" is compulsory. But when one says "The novel approves of the ideology" is the preposition compulsory? Is this preposition always used after the verb "to approve"?


texts:
The river was a calm, crystal-clear vein of peace.

Should there be a comma after calm or not?

thanks


texts: Is the common definition of "muckle-mouthed" a product of "The Catcher in the Rye"?

texts:
As my husband and I were watching a woman speak on TV, we were both distracted by the fact that the movements of her lower jaw seemed extraneous to the pronunciation of the words she spoke. I informed him that the term for that particular affectation was "muckle-mouthed". Then, I realized I had no idea why I was so certain of this. I looked it up and the references all point to an observance of Holden Caulfield in Catcher in the Rye, ch 11:

  She was sort of muckle-mouthed. I mean when she was talking and she got excited about something, her mouth sort of went in about fifty directions, her lips and all.

Is this an invention of J.D. Salinger, or was he borrowing a regionalism,maybe? Does anyone know of a prior use/definition to Salinger?


texts: Please parse the phrase "time is of the essence"

texts:
Working many years in the legal field, I've seen the phrase, "time is of the essence," many times; I fully understand its meaning. What has always bothered me, though, is that the phrase doesn't seem to parse.

How can time be "of" anything? This phrase invokes time, itself, as a concept, in a way that "time of day" or "time of your life" does not.

And how can anything be "of the essence" of something else?

Thanks


texts:
I have searched for the correct spelling of "macroregional / macro-regional" on the Internet, but there are used both variants (sometimes even on the same website).

Wiktionary spells it as "macroregional" but also suggests "macro-regional" as an alternative form.

Some other websites (like this one) use only "macro-regional".

I need to choose only one variant for an article. Which spelling is correct among those two? Or are they both interchangeable? I will be grateful for your help.

P. S. According to Wikipedia, as a noun it is "macroregion".


texts: Where did the term "fickle mistress" come from?

texts:
As you can see here, the phrase "fickle mistress" is quite common, especially in personifying something (life, love, time, etc). But I can't seem to find any real source on how far back it goes and/or where it came from. Neither the OED nor Etymonline seem to have anything as far as I can see.

Sorry if I've overlooked something obvious. Any help is appreciated with this!


texts: difference between suggest and recommend in a restaurant

texts:
When you are not sure what to order in a restaurant, do you say to your server, "What do you suggest?" or "What do you recommend?" I have read somewhere that you should ask what the server recommends, and not what the server suggests.
I don't understand the difference between "suggest" and "recommend" and why "suggest" is wrong.
Please clarify this probelem.


texts: Could you name some numbers that have a special meaning in English, like 666?

texts:
The question "What does the term “86'd” relate to?" made me wonder what similar cases we have in English. I'd like to know some other numbers that have a commonly understood meaning beyond their use as a mere number.

I have seen "666" used many times with a special meaning. It is written on fences, and used in US movies like "The Exorcism of Emily Rose": I believed that its meaning is commonly known. However, I was bewildered by an answer contending that the meaning of "666" was unknown. Is 666 commonly understood?

(For example, in Russian, the number 7 symbolises luck,
if anyone knows any Russian.)


texts:
When legal decision-makers
  like Justice Peckham, who are actually ...
  making a policy or political choice act as if there were no choice
  to be made—when they treat a policy choice as simply an exercise in
  knowing the plain meaning of a word—their behavior is sometimes described
  as formalistic. They act as if it is the form that matters, but in fact
  it is substance that is doing the work.

  It is, to be sure, formalistic
  to take the literal meaning of the words “prior to December 31” in
  United States v. Locke as dictating a result other than what seems to be
  the most sensible one, because it is to treat the form of a legal rule as
  more important than its deeper purpose, or more important than reaching
  the best all-things-considered judgment in the particular context of a
  particular case.

Is it definition 1 or 4 or something else at http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/form?q=form? I'm guessing that the meaning of form is the same in both examples?

Also, please explain your thought processes/deductive steps, so I can try to improve doing so and need not ask here?

Source: P30, Thinking like a Lawyer, Frederick Schauer


texts:
What does the specified sentence mean? How can it be rewritten without "unless"? I can not understand the role and meaning of "unless" here.

  Context:

  But in reality he has still not resolved the Cartesian mind/ body
  dilemma for though Lucy is made manifest physically – from aluminium
  with hair and fabric – she is essentially virtual and her sensations
  are synthetic. So that she may ‘feel’, the chemical processes that are
  intrinsic to human emotions are mimicked, triggered by an interaction
  with the environment certainly, but processed through computerised
  differential equations – dry code, not wet chemistry. This may result
  in an exact simulacrum of human responses and behaviours but it might
  be difficult to determine whether Lucy can become a real and fully
  conscious being rather than a cleverly constructed zombie.
  Unless, of course, we are all zombie manifestations of virtual instructions? While Steve Grand is building Lucy one neuron at a
  time, some neuroscientists can see the potential to extend the
  capabilities of our existing brains.


texts: What exactly does this strange sentence mean?

texts:
I was reading the Virtualbox coding guide, and I saw this. What exactly does this sentence mean?

Background: Virtualbox is basicly a virtualization application. You can run another operating system while running the first on your PC.

The term goto is a programming language keyword. It makes use of unstructured branching and this is considered to make the code unnecessarily complicated.

Dijkstra, Dutch computer scientist, was opposed to goto. In 1968 he wrote a paper, Goto Statement Considered Harmful.

What is the meaning of "That Dijkstra is dead is no excuse for using gotos."?


texts: Negative prefixes: Why impossible but unpleasant?

texts: I know that the negative prefix im- is used before b, m, p as an assimilation of the prefix in-. Then why can't we say imbelievable, inpleasant or inpredictable but we use unbelievable, unpleasant and unpredictable?


texts: "Write out a prescription" vs. "make out a prescription"

texts: Are "write out a prescription" and "make out a prescription" used more or less interchangeably?


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

texts: 'She walked through the forest, and who should she see, but the Big Bad Wolf!'


texts:
I was reading the book 'Emotional Intelligence' (by Daniel Goleman) and I saw an expression that I'm not sure I understood.

Is

  "bonding with a mate"

similar to getting married? Or starting a relationship with a girlfriend?


texts: meaning of "it's less of a drain on resources"

texts:
What does this statement mean?

  He's more comfortable, we are more comfortable, it's less of a drain on resources, the authority is ecstatic.

I can't understand what it means by "it's less of a drain on resources, the authority is ecstatic."


texts: Origin of “lacksadaisical” (misspelled and mispronounced for “lackadaisical”)

texts:
I was astonished to learn that the word lacksadaisical or laxadaisical is both misspelled and mispronounced. It is still commonly used in Southern Africa (with the same meaning), whereas it is rare to hear the correct lackadaisical in mainstream use.

Does anyone have insight into the origin of lacksadaisical?


texts:
So last night I saw a sentence on the Internet that went like this:

After you've done it once, it'll be much easier the next times.

Is "the next times" in this example appropriate? If not, are there any other way to phrase it?
P.S. If possible, please let me know whether the present simple tense or the future simple tense is more suitable in this situation.
Thanks for your opinions.


texts: Is there a term to describe an event which happens every 18 months?

texts: Obviously every year is annual.  Every two years is biennial.  Does the English language have a term for every 18 months?


texts:
Do you need to add "it" after "Let me know" so it becomes "Let me know it"? Or is this not really necessary?

Thanks!


texts: What do you call an awkwardly unfunny and cringeworthy person?

texts:
That person who tries to act funny or "cool", but he turns out to be cringey and tacky instead. What do you call that person?

Example: Look at Todd, interfering in our conversations, telling us jokes about chickens crossing the road and failing to make us laugh. I cringe when he does this. He is just so [insert word].


texts: Can "to ease the consideration of" be used in technical context?

texts:
Someone told me that the following sentences are bad English.
He specifically critized the bold words. Furthermore, he mentioned that the second sentence cannot be correctly understood.

  The distance d is measured from the ball center and reduced by the shift parameter s to ease the consideration of the ball radius r.
  That also motivates the default value r for the shift parameter s.

Can the phrase "to ease the consideration of" be used in technical context?
Does "That" create a sufficently strong connection to the preceeding sentence?

Context (simplified):

A computer program calculates the contact force between a fixed plane and a ball falling on the plane. The ball and the plane are part of a more complicated physical model.

The user has a set of parameters to specify the behavorial relation of the model. The ball radius r, the shift parameter s, and a contact force characteristic f belong to that set.

The formula that is addressed by the above sentences is

F = f(d-s)

whereas d is the computed distance of the ball center from the plane and F is the contact force.

If the shift parameter s would not be taken into account in the argument of f the user would have to right-shift his force characteristic along the x-axis by the ball radius.
That is not needed because of the argument d-s. If the user has a right-shifted characteristic given he can set s to zero. If the characteristic is zero-based he can leave the default value s=r. That is meant by "easing the consideration of the ball radius".

The above sentences are a small (slightly simplified) part of the user manual.

What I have tried so far:

I searched the net for the phrase "to ease the consideration of". That gives many matches.

But if I [restrict the search to sites .us, .uk, and .edu]("to ease the consideration of" site:.us OR site:.uk OR site:.edu) the results shrink to 6 matches.

That already indicates that the phrase is wrong.

EDIT: I added the parameter name r in the first sentence to make the connection between the first and the second sentence more visible.


texts: Birth of the word "tonite" and its popularity

texts:
Watching an old film dating back in the 1930s, I came across the word tonite, the wrong and more phonetic-like variant of "tonight" (it was written on the advertising poster of a night-club).

When was this variant first used?

Is this word commonly used in American or British English?


texts: origin and first use of the word "comforter" when used to describe something worn around the neck?

texts: What is the origin and first use of the word "comforter" when used to describe what, in the US, is known as a scarf?


texts:
So I'm currently writing an essay and I've run into a situation which I'm entirely sure how to resolve. I have asked a question which I am immediately answering (for effect). How do I structure it?
These are the three ways that I've considered doing it:

"What is the first thing that we see Tim doing, Tim does a backflip."
"What is the first thing that we see Tim doing; Tim does a backflip."
"What is the first thing that we see Tim doing? Tim does a backflip."

What would be the correct use of grammar here?


texts: Can you say Method A respects the privacy?

texts:
I have the following sentence and I need your help:

"Moreover, Method A respects the privacy of the residents"

This Method A is an optimization method that controlls flexible electrical loads in buildings without collecting personal data.

Can I use 'respects' in this context? Another option would be to say '... does not infringe on the privacy...' or 'preserves the privacy...'

I'd appreciate every comment.


texts:
I found that phrase applied a lot to women but then also to men (so that's probably not [only] related to being "in labour").  At first I thought it had to do with motherly/parenthood chores.  But now I understand it's also applied to various unrelated activities.

And do we know the origin of the expression ?


texts:
I would like to know how the punctuation in the following would be spoken when dictating letter by letter.

Although there are already some partial answers to the question when to say “point” and when to say “dot” there are still cases missing, and there is no comparison that connects it to the different usages of the symbol “.”.

Therefore my question: how would I read the points/dots in the following examples?

(In some cases they will usually not be pronounced at all.)

the number 3.42
the amount €156.76
the IP address 1.92.34.76
the enumeration 1. paragraph
the regular sentence Just because.
the unusual sentence Do. Not. Ask.
the abbreviation St. Germain
the abbreviation Main St.
the URL stackoverflow.com


texts: Does "intimate" = "imply + infer"? Or just "hint at"?

texts:
I'm not clear on how intimate (in verb form) is perceived. Until I looked it up, I never would have believed (never seen) it used with inanimate objects as subject...I thought to intimate something was only for people to do... Now I'm confused as to how it is perceived. There's an example below about the sleekness of a guy's pair of pants "intimating". Do his pants have volition, or is it the thought behind the choice that the pants wearer implied by wearing them, hoping that audience members would infer something about him...?  It feels like "intimate" falls somewhere between "infer" and "imply", or a combination of both somehow...

Am I just making too much of it?  Should I just simplify it and allow myself to understand rather that "intimate" = "hint at" in usage?

Here's where I want to use it:

1) "She had returned from fetching the medicine downstairs and asked him directly why the door had been locked.  "I don't have my gun nearby, and he ain't acting right," he said, (intimating or implying) that he would have shot her father if he had tried to come into the bedroom; but without his gun he simply locked the door."

OR

2) "...and he ain't acting right," he said. She (intimated or inferred) that he would have shot her father if he had tried...

I want something more sinister than "hinted at", but "imply" or "infer" seem too obvious...

OR a third option, possibly allowing the door to be the actor:

3) "I don't have my gun and he ain't acting right," he said. The locked door - usually left open for better air - intimated that her husband was truly capable of shooting her father, had only he'd been armed."

Could any of these work?  It all feels so clunky to me now...

From Vocabulary.com: Theodore Bernstein, in his classic The Careful Writer, gives us a way to keep imply and infer straight: "The implier is the pitcher; the inferrer is the catcher."

(Merriam&Webster) Examples of intimate in a sentence:

Is he really—as his advisers keep intimating to Western journalists—a serious reformer waiting to emerge from the closet? —Murray Scot Tanner, Newsweek, 6 May 2002

The dome tops look like pieces of the older ridged plains, intimating that the domes formed when the plains were pushed upward from below. —Robert T. Pappalardo et al., Scientific American, October 1999

He bounded on stage wearing a polo T-shirt and trousers whose sleekness intimated a large American Express bill. —Caroline Sullivan, Times (London), 15 Oct. 1992

"...trying to intimate that there was more going on than anyone knew..."


texts: I'm reading a book that was a translation to English from an original German text written only a few years ago.  The translation has the phrase "talking of which", in the sense of "Talking of which, XYZ is also true".  As a native English speaker, I have never once said "talking of which" and instead say it as "speaking of which".  Is "talking of which" a bad translation, or is that phrasing used in other contexts?


texts: Is "all 'day'/'week'/'month' round" proper English?

texts:
Searching on the Internet one can find a lot of occurrences of "all year round" and there are plenty of sites which explain what the expression means: throughout all the seasons of the year.

So, one would expect that "all [x] round", where [x] is day, or week, or even month, would be well established, too; but that is not the case, at least judging from Google results, which show the use of "all day/week/month round" mostly in some illiterate comments.

It's easy to deduce the meaning of "all week round" as "throughout all the days of the week". Can this expression be used like this? If not, why?


texts:
I've thought homophobe refers to the people and homophobic is just an adjective.
However I recently heard that homophobic is also used as a noun describing the people who have homophobia, meaning homophobe.

Is homophobic ― not the homophobics; I know this can be a noun ― used as a noun as well as an adjective?


texts: present perfect progressive with stop/start

texts: A student asked me: Can I say 'I have been stopping this project / I have been starting this project' to express repeated action (with present perf. prog)?  My answer was 'no', but I am having a hard time explaining why.  The student is in an ESL class.  Can I explain this without using complicated semantics?


texts:
Is there an official (or standard) order for footnotes in a single page or article?

The first footnote is usually marked with a: * (asterisk).

The second with a # (hash mark).

I've seen the third marked with a triangle but I can't seem to figure out what it's called.

Is there a list of offical footnote marks based on order?


texts: What is a word for "one who solves problems with physicality"?

texts:
I'm looking for a word to describe a person who approaches problems with physicality, as opposed to intellectually.

I'm having a difficult time describing what it is that I want, as I'm not necessarily interested in words like "brute", which, to me, imply a certain degree of aggression or a lack of finesse.  This doesn't necessarily have to be an angry or oafish person.  Just one who solves problems physically rather than intellectually.

EDIT: I suppose I wasn't clear in my original phrasing, but I'm looking for a noun.  I did say I wanted a word to "describe a person", but what I mean is a word that means "one who approaches problems with physicality".


texts: What does "to put things into prospective" mean?

texts:
Note that it's prospective, not perspective.

I'm reading a blog post and found below paragraph.

  It is impossible to resist the urge of exploring in-memory OLTP Engine (code
  name Hekaton) released as part of SQL Server 2014. This technology can provide
  you huge performance boost, assuming, of course, that you can live within
  surface area limitations. Nevertheless, internal implementation of in-memory
  OLTP is fascinating. Almost everything is done differently than what you get
  used to with SQL Server Storage Engine. To put things into prospective, I
  seriously considered to name this post as “Concurrency –
  upside down”.

There are two places that I can't fully understood.

that you can live within surface area limitations
To put things into prospective

I've looked up those corresponding words in dictionary but still have difficulty in understanding them. Can anyone help me on it? Great thanks.

Edit

There are some technical terms in the paragraph and you may not understand. Just ignore them and focus on the general parts.


texts: What does the intonation pattern on "online" mean or imply?

texts: What does the speaker mean or imply with the intonation on "online" at 0:31 around? A negative and doubtful query? Does the intonation pattern on "online" completely fall at the end? Or, does it slightly rise at the end because it occurs before a pause - intonation unit?


texts: What are these parts of the cheeks or face called?

texts:
Image source: http://neozeitgeist.tumblr.com/post/15761145451/hope-you-all-are-aware-that-for-my-life-being

Do these parts of the cheeks/face have a name? If not, how would you describe a florid face where these areas have gone especially red?

N.B. I'm trying to describe a drunk rather than a cute child.


texts:
I remember a word which means to have two things unlevel or off-kilter. I could have sworn the word was jalopitated.

I’m aware of the word jalopy, but this does not satify the requirements of being unlevel.

Does anyone know what word I am thinking of?


texts:
Can anybody explain what exactly a "sardine box" is ?
Here are a few usage examples:

"sardine boxes take us from here to there"
"the motorized sardine box"

It obviously refers to a vehicle,  but how does it look like ?


texts: How to denote a number if # cannot be used? (What are alternatives to # symbol?)

texts:
I have data file containing titles like

  Invoice #ZT-123456 June 2017

or

  Agreement #1_ABCD Foo Services

but I need to put these titles into an app where character # is not allowed. (Edit: And U.S. customer will see what I wrote there.)

What is the best alternative writing when I cannot use #?

I was thinking about something like this:

  Invoice Nr. ZT-123456

or

  Invoice nr. ZT-123456

Maybe I could use number but replacing symbol with complete word does not seem appropriate to me in this context.


texts:
I'm writing an article in Polish about game engine named "Unity". I constructed the following sentence:

Unity jest bardzo jednolita, jeśli chodzi o encje i komponenty.

This translates more or less to:

Unity is very uniform, when considering entities and components.

However, in Polish gender of nouns is somewhat more important than in English, because verbs and adjectives have different forms, depending on gender of noun they refer to. For instance, if Unity is masculine, I should write "Unity jest jednolity", but if feminine, "Unity jest jednolita". In Polish "Unity" translates directly to "jedność", which is feminine in Polish. However from what I know, I should follow the gender of noun in the original language rather than its Polish translation.

Hence finally the question: what is the gender of word "Unity"? And additionally, could you recommend some online English dictionary, which states gender of nouns?


texts: Is there a term that would work in the UK that is equivalent to "Norwegian bachelor farmer"?

texts:
Garrison Keillor introduced the term "Norwegian bachelor farmer," which is a bit like the male equivalent of spinster.
Is there a male equivalent of spinster that works in the UK?  I considered "confirmed bachelor" but rejected it as too neutral.
For reference, some definitions:

Spinster: An unmarried woman, typically an older woman beyond the usual age for marriage.  In modern everyday English, spinster cannot be used to mean simply ‘unmarried woman’; it is now always a derogatory term, referring or alluding to a stereotype of an older woman who is unmarried, childless, prissy, and repressed. (Oxford)
Norwegian bachelor farmers: A group of unmarried men who live on the outskirts of town and have little to no social skills or hygiene habits.  (lakewobegon.wikia.com)
confirmed: (of a person) firmly established in a particular habit, belief, or way of life and unlikely to change their ways.  ‘a confirmed bachelor’; ‘a confirmed teetotaller’ (Oxford)

Note: I don't care whether it's a single word, a phrase, an idiom -- anything is fine.  I have tentatively created a general term request tag for these situations.  If the moderators are not happy about the tag, I trust they will edit my tags and remove the new tag I made.


texts:
“Well … it is amazing,” said Bagman, rubbing his smooth chin and smiling down at Harry. “But, as you know, the age restriction was only imposed this year as an extra safety measure. (…The rest is omitted.)  (p274, Harry Potter 4, US edition)

NB – Before Triwizard Tournament, underage Harry Potter was chosen one of the representatives of three schools. No one knew the reason. Everyone was confused. Bagman is an organizer of the tournament.

The author has described Bagman's features a lot since he showed up. However, as far as I know, she refers to his chin in this sentence for the first time. I felt a little bit strange with its suddenness. How come she says smooth chin, not chin? Is smooth chin associated with his character? What’s the meaning of ‘smooth chin’ in the first place? Beardless? I might read too much, but I need your help to know whether I’m hairsplitting or not.

Let me straighten it out. I’d like to know

what 'smooth chin' is.
if 'smooth chin' is related to Bagman's character.

I’d be happy if you could help me.


texts: origin of "chuck" (as in throw and/or throw away)

texts:
I'm curious about the origins of the word "chuck" to mean "throw," as in:

  Billy chucked a snowball at the bus.

The Online Etymology Dictionary gives me this:

  "to throw," 1590s, variant of chock "give a blow under the chin" (1580s), possibly from French choquer "to shock, strike against," imitative (see shock (n.1)). Related: Chucked; chucking.

I'm familiar with "chuck one's chin", but can only guess how the word for that concept made the leap to throwing something, though apparently it did so quite quickly (1580s --> 1590s).

However, dictionaries are not in accord on the etymology of "chuck" meaning "throw." Merriam-Webster tells me:

  origin unknown; 15th century

Dictionary.com says:

  1575-1585; origin uncertain

Interesting to note the entry for the noun form in Online Etymology Dictionary:

  "slight blow under the chin," 1610s, from chuck (v.1). Meaning "a toss, a throw" is from 1862. Related: Chucked; chucking.

So, I'm led to believe that the verb use for the affectionate chin-blow preceded the noun use by 30 or 40 years, but that the verb use for the "throw" meaning wasn't followed by a noun use  until 270 years later.

Q. Can anyone give me a more authoritative / complete / certain explanation of this word's history? Does anyone have examples of "chuck" meaning "throw" from the 15th or 16th centuries?


texts:
In Microsoft Word, the following sentence is flagged.  It tells me to use "was" instead of "were"

  There were half a dozen books strewn about the floor.

I would think that you would use "were" since it's a quantity more than one.  You wouldn't say, "There was twelve books strewn about the floor."  Does the use of the "half" modify it somehow?


texts: What does pass on mean either move on/proceed or politely declined in the quoted sentences?

texts: I want to know whether the meaning of pass on is move on /proceed the idea in the future,even though, it is not interested to follow now  or politely declined the idea also in the future as mentioned in the quoted sentences:"The idea is interesting, but unfortunately it doesn’t match what we’re currently looking to fund or distribute. Therefore, we’ll have to pass on the opportunity to consider it further."


texts: What is the difference between to notify something to someone and to notify someone of something

texts: Many speakers find the construction 'to notify something to someone' incorrect (as opposed to to notify someone of something) - see for example http://www.proz.com/kudoz/English/general_conversation_greetings_letters/4167728-notify_to.html. Many dictionaries do not distinguish between the two (e.g. Macmillan, which gives both. The OED on-line distinguishes, without comment, between to 'Inform (someone) of something, typically in a formal or official manner' (= notify someone of something) and to 'Give notice of or report (something) formally or officially' (notify to). I would have flagged 'notify to' as wrong, but I am now confused.


texts: Connotations of trite, passé, and cliché

texts:
What are the differences between trite, cliché, and passé? They seem to all have a similar denotation, but what are the subtleties of their connotations?

The only difference I really see is that cliché is an expression that has become trite or passé, whereas trite and passé can be related to anything, e.g. ideas, words, fashion, etc.

I’d love to hear your thoughts.


texts: Word for something being a misnomer - "misnomerous"? "misnomatic"?

texts: What is the word used to describe something as being a misnomer?


texts: Single word for wrong choice of words explaining situation/something wrongly but unintentionally

texts:
Is there a word to imply that someone unintentionally chose the wrong words to describe/explain something/situation, which led to unpleasant consequences?
Example: He (the requested word) when talking about his colleagues.


texts: Is there a synonym of "deploy" in terms of sending military forces to a specific place?

texts:
The title is pretty much self-explanatory. I know you can say something like:

  The 101st infantry division was deployed to Normandy in 1944.

But I feel like there is another way to express that. How would you have said the above sentence?


texts:
In this passage:

  Got a feature request? Found a bug? Think our mother is cheap? We'd love to hear from you!

(source)

What do they mean by "Think our mother is cheap?" there?


texts:
A sage is wise.  That young woman is clever.

Both of them (I think) are good at not getting into unwanted trouble, and both are good at solving problems.

So.. Is there a difference between being clever and being wise?


texts:
Is it OK to use the amount of with countable nouns? I have come across the usage of it with people, but I am confused whether to use it with countables.

What about the proportion of? How different is it from the amount of and the number of ?

Thank you in advance for the answer.


texts: "Consists of" vs. "consists in": different meanings of the verb, or the same meaning applied differently?

texts:
Mark Twain said,

Good breeding consists in concealing how much we think of ourselves and how little we think of the other person.

What my question boils down to is this: Could Twain have used consists of there instead of consists in and still meant the same thing? In other words, are there nuances to the word consist that shade the meaning in such a way that a different preposition is desirable?
Note that a search of the corpus shows consists in steadily declining since the 19th century (Twain's), and consists of may be supplanting it in all meanings.


texts: Is there an adjective meaning "having membership in two social classes?"

texts: Just as we say "bilingual," "bicultural," etc, is there an adjective to describe someone who belongs to two soical classes? Think, for instance, a successful bourgeois who has now become just as much part of the upper class as he/she is of the middle-class. Thank you.


texts:
The following string appears in Jenks, E. "The prerogative writs in English law" Yale Law Journal 32:6 (1923):

  ...the accused in the meanwhile [was] to be kept in one of the new
  gaols ordered...to be built...in every county, in some borough or
  royal castle, at the King's expense, and if possible of the King's
  timber.

What does it mean for a prisoner to be lodged "at the King's timber"? Does it mean that the King pays for firewood?


texts: What is the fallacy called when person starts to lose an argument they turn to humor and deflect the topic?

texts: Let's say you are arguing and when you counter their point, and they have nothing left they start making fun of you. which is ad hominem attack. but it's also more specific. it's to use popular memes or move lines to give appearance of upper hand.


texts: Which one sounds more natural? "The most of them" or "most of them"?

texts:
I used to have a lot of games and the most of them were untranslated
I used to have a lot of games and most of them were untranslated


texts: Definite ariticle before "sunlight" and "air"?

texts:
Do you put the definite article "the" before "air" and "sunlight"? I know it mostly depends on context, so I have come up with example sentences.

Let's say I want to say these following sentences:

Sunlight is very strong in my country.

Strong sunlight isn't good for your skin.

The air is very fresh today.

Canada boasts fresh air.


texts: Etymology: 'as regards' and 'as concerns'

texts:
as regards = concerning; in respect of
2. regard  [with object] {archaic} = (Of a thing) relate to; concern

As per the above, because regard = concern, this question also applies to 'as concerns'.
I am guessing that as operates as a conjunction here, and regards a conjugated verb, but how did  as + regards combine to mean the above?
Please help me dig deeper than the definition, which I already understand and so ask NOT about. I heed the Etymological Fallacy, but what are some right ways of interpreting the combination of the 2 bolded words, to make it feel reasonable and intuitive?


texts:
I am editing a document that includes sentences such as "John Doe is a Professor of English" and "Jane Doe is the Director of Public Policy."
In this context, are the titles of their jobs, "Professor of English" and " Director of Public Policy," supposed to be capitalized?


texts: I'm working on a leadership concept that leadership is not about one heroic act, but rather the sum of lots and lots of smaller acts of leadership.  What word might I use to describe these smaller acts of leadership which are individually small but collectively powerful?


texts: Why is "lawyer" widely pronounced "loyer"?

texts: This pronunciation phenomenon appears to be more widespread than I'd thought.  I've always pronounced lawyer as it's spelled (law-yer), but I've often heard people say loy-er instead.  It's not dialectical as far as I can tell, since so many different people say it that way (plus, it's in the dictionary).  Why is lawyer so often pronounced loyer?


texts:
This is the context:

'The 21h00 draw features two Suzuki Ignis up for grabs.'

I don't know whether it's Ignis', Ignis's or just Ignis

Thank you.


texts: "I watched anime 3 days straight" — what does it mean?

texts: When some one says "I watched anime 3 days straight", Does it mean they watched anime for three days sitting in one place without taking bath, brushing teeth etc. for three days, or does it mean that they watched anime for three days including personal grooming, eating etc. but didn't do any other useful work (like school, office etc.)?


texts: Is it "front-end", "frontend", or "front end"?

texts:
Which is correct?

front-end engineering
frontend engineering
front end engineering

I looked over http://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/hyphens.asp, referenced in this answer, and I'm still not sure which to use.

Rule 1 under Hyphens Between Words says:

  To check whether a compound noun is two words, one word, or
  hyphenated, you may need to look it up in the dictionary. If you can't
  find the word in the dictionary, treat the noun as separate words.

"Frontend" is not found at reference.com.  "Front-end" and "front end" are both found, which "front end" as two words representing the software term, so I think this must be right.  However...

Rule 1 under Hyphens With Prefixes says:

  The current trend is to do away with unnecessary hyphens. Therefore,
  attach most prefixes and suffixes onto root words without a hyphen.

I think that "frontend" qualifies under this rule.  Compare that with "backend" and it sounds to me that "front" and "back" are prefixes to "end".

Also, the most common usage I've noticed is "frontend" as a single word when talking about software.  Common usage has to count for something, right?

What's considered the final say here?