texts:
I find it difficult to understand the meaning of 'This I can do without' in the following script excerpt from the movie 'Fellow Traveller':

Kaufman: This whole town is full of phoney acts that are charging 20 bucks an hour to tell some poor schmuck that his problems have nothing to do with the screwed up system we live in, but because he saw his father's prick in the shower when he was five or something.
Leavy: I charge 25.
...
Kaufman: I grew up in a 3-room railroad apartment on the lower eastside.
Leavy: You must have had plenty of opportunities to see your father's prick.
Kaufman:  Oh-ho. This I can do without.

Is he saying that he just doesn't want to talk about that in the conversation (regardless of whether he's actually seen it or not), or that he doesn't want such a situation in his life, or some other sense?


texts: Bank cards: the same as debit card, or catch-all for debit and credit card?

texts:
I've been asked by a student whether 'bank card' is a common synonym for debit card.
I started by checking wikipedia whose article on bank cards points towards it including both debit, credit and other cards. However, the article on debit cards seems to imply that bank card is indeed a synonym of debit card.
While searching EL&U, I found an answer to the question that clearly states that, at least in Canada, bank card is a synonym for debit card.
So...
Is bank card a general synonym for debit card, or is this true only in some English-speaking countries? And if so, which countries? In the countries where this is true, which term is preferred in everyday speech?


texts:
Why does the verb to cabbage mean to steal?

cabbage
STEAL, FILCH
They also cabbaged our bats, balls, and gloves.
— H. L. Mencken
[Merriam-Webster Dictionary]

Incidentally, M-W is perhaps the only dictionary (of the many online dictionaries) that lists this use of the word: hence the question.
It interests me greatly  how a simple word I had always known to be used for only a vegetable can also mean all these things:

A person with severely reduced mental capacities due to brain damage.
A stupid person
Money
Marijuana leaf
To do nothing; to idle
To steal
grab and hold onto someone with one's hands (cabbage onto someone or something)

And why does it mean all these seemingly unrelated things?


texts:
I was doing my online banking and reading through their material, when I noticed a blurb " we offer you a wide range of savings account and fixed deposit products and services.....". Should this not have read " we offer you a wide range of savings accounts and....", as there are multiple types of accounts offered. further on they stated numerous savings account, again should this not have been numerous savings accounts.

My question is what is the correct usage of adding a s when dealing with definition that may have multiple or singular preferences,e.g

This is my savings account, as I've indicate a singular person. We offer multiple savings accounts, indicating plural types of accounts. However what is correct when stating "we offer a current and savings (account or accounts)" as in this case there are two accounts in the sentence.

Somehow when reading that I started to question the correct usage of plurals in singular or multiple forms.


texts: I've seen other questions on the usage of "few", but I'm wondering if there is an official definition on the numerical value of the word. The common rule seems to be a couple is two, a few is three or more, and several is something bigger. So is there an official number assigned to the word from some reputable source?


texts: what's different between “head to” and “head for”？

texts:
in what context should I use these two phrase ?

e.g.

He is headed to town.
He is headed for town.


texts:
It is the word used in a play. The paragraph in which it is stated is the following:

Why does everybody sabotage me, Frank? I give work, I pay
well, yes ? They eat what they want, don't they ? I don't
know what more to give a man. He works, he eats, I give
him money. This is life, isn't it? I haven't made a mistake,
have I ? I live in the right world, don't I ?

(to Peter)

And
you've stopped this world. A shnip! A boy! You've stopped
it. Well why? Maybe you can tell me something I
don't know —just tell me.

What I've found is that this word can be used in place of any word we don't remember. I personally guess it's something like "you little piece of shit" in this context.
Can anybody tell me the equivalent?
By the way, Peter is German. Is it possible that the word refers to that?


texts: Should I use subjunctive or indicative mood after "makes it possible that"?

texts:
I am editing a text in analytical philosophy, and I came across the following sentence:

Such a mechanism for a term’s designation makes it possible that the idea designated by the term be distinct from those assigned to the term.

As you can see, the clause following "that" is written in subjunctive mood. As far as I know, the subjunctive mood is used after verbs expressing a desire, a demand, a formal recommendation, or a resolve. In this clause, however, no verb of such nature can be found. That said, the sentence still sounds correct to me, and I don't think I should change it.
Can you explain which one (subjunctive or indicative mood) is grammatically correct in this clause, and why?


texts: How are double consonants pronounced in Old English (Ænȝlıſc/Eald Englisc/Anglo Saxon?)

texts:
Doubles for Alternate Sounds Per Letter -- Preface to Actual Subject:

I am aware that, with the exception of the letters ess, thorn, eth (by extension, though not historically), b (older manuscripts*), and f (later manuscripts) [this list is all off the top of my head], if those appear in between vowels and voiced consonants, unless they be at the end of a syllable and then the start of another (e.g. "bookkeeper," in E.M.E. and Contemp. Eng.), then they make a voiceless sound [save for "b (older manuscripts)"].

*"b" was always /b/, but where "f" now makes the /v/ phoneme, "b" was used in some old manuscripts--such is to be expected.

Actual Subject of the Question:

I am aware that double consonants are supposed to be pronounced independently, except in the aforementioned case, but how is this done? Is this done the way we tend to do in spoken contemporary English, in sentences? E.g. "Ship pan."

There are two ways I can put across pronunciation of that: the way I hear most commonly here in America, and how I pronounce it, as something along the lines of "shim-pan." Not quite an /m/, not really, but an unreleased, slightly held /p/.

Or, as what I hear more commonly, it seems, though admit I don't hear it much, the received pronunciation, where one would hear along the lines of probably "shiph-pan;" "Ph" not standing for the aspirated consonant /pʰ/, but a normal /p/ with breath--the same breath would be replaced with a vowel, if one were to be.

So, for example, the word scieppan. Without using I.P.A., the way I would write I currently say it is "shim-pan," but "m" is not: /m/, as opposed to saying, again, as I would spell it: "shi-phpan."

In short, I cannot comprehend how two of the same plosive consonants can be next to each other without a vowel, or an extremely slight exhaling of air, like /h/, which, at least to me, should be written with an "h" or other equivalent letter.


texts:
I'm looking for a A 17th century colloquial term for children, in the way we use 'kids' today.  The best I've yet found is striplings, which seems to connote male teens more specifically, or possibly goslings.

edit:  Great suggestions.  Thank you very much.  All are helpful.  Really appreciate the link to the Canting book.


texts: parallel structure - in a "rather than" structure

texts:
I am doing some researches to understand clearly the usage of rather than. However I found myself even more confused by some peripheral stuff.

In this post (Past tense and "rather than"), the American Heritage dictionary was being quoted to illustrate the proper usage of rather than.  It is stated that, in some cases, rather than can only be followed by a gerund. It gave as an example this sentence:

  "The result of the study, rather than ending the controversy, only added to it".

It states that if end or ended had been used, the sentence would be wrong because "...the main verb has a form which would not allow parallel treatment of the verb following rather than."

I am confused by this statement. Could someone explain to me, what does "the main verb has a form which would not allow parallel treatment" in this context mean?

By the way, I am still very confused about the usage of rather than, can anyone point me to a comprehensive source so that I could really grasp the idea?


texts: Help settle an argument, question mark placement

texts:
So, I posted a picture in a group chat and one of the members of the chat questioned the placement of the question mark (attached for reference).

Where's your plane, peasants? (original)

or..

Where's your plane? Peasants. (what he thinks it should be)

To my knowledge, the second would be grammatically incorrect purely for the fact that it contains a single word sentence, is this correct?


texts:
Does it mean something like I wish?

  If only I had time to do this.
  If only I could do this.


texts: I was taught in school that Sir is the appropriate addressing for a formal letter to say a head of institution or principal. Dear sir shows familiarity which is not preferred. Does this hold today?


texts:
Breaking the set

What does this expression mean? I hear this expression often used in the context of alternative media reports and debates. Here's the link, right at the beginning the host uses that phrase:

  Hi, I'm Sean Stone, today we're breaking the set on Buzzsaw


texts: Is there such a thing in English as "other payment for use of land" that is not, in the broad sense, "rent"?

texts: I ask this as an inquiry into the validity of the logic behind the currently accepted answer to Do you still pay 10x the dice when getting the chance card that takes you to the nearest utility if the property is mortgaged?. The argument is made that such a concept exists, which I challenged in another answer.  Does anyone know of any antecedents for such an interpretation, and in particular if they date to before World War 2?


texts: How do you understand this sentence as a native English speaker?

texts:
I and my colleague, we tried a photo app. After taking a photo, there's a "Cancel" button. A popup says "Are you sure you want to delete the photo before sharing it" is shown when you choose "Cancel".

How do you understand it in this context, it asks to delete then share or to delete without sharing the photo?


texts: Converting impersonal reporting verbs from active to passive

texts:
I have a question regarding impersonal reporting structures.
The task is to complete the second sentence beginning with Bob as a subject so that it has the same meaning as the first sentence:

  Bob's friends said that he had been a champion swimmer at school.
  Bob is or was said to have been a champion swimmer at school.

Which tense should be used in the second sentence, present or past?

The key in the coursebook says the correct answer is Is. However, I would say Was is correct, but since I am not a native English speaker, I'm not sure how to explain this to my students.


texts:
As "none" and "some" are pronouns, so can specific numbers function as pronouns:

How many students failed?

In "none failed," none is a pronoun.

In "seven failed," seven is a pronoun.

But in what category of pronoun do numbers belong? The categories I know of are personal, demonstrative, interrogative, indefinite, possessive, reciprocal, relative, reflexive, and intensive—and specific numbers would not seem to belong to any of these.


texts: Trust him about as far as I can throw him?

texts:
Here is a quote from The Avengers, 2012 film.

  Coulson : But first, we need you to talk to the big guy.
  Natasha : Coulson, you know that Stark trusts me about as far as he can throw me.
  Coulson : I've got Stark. You get the big guy.

I know what "Stark trusts me as far as he can throw me" means: he doesn't trust me. But I'm not sure why the sentence includes about. What does about mean here?

Plus, What does I've got Stark mean in the exchange? Maybe Coulson meant I will take on Stark?


texts: "Come to my roof" - does it sound awkward and/or ambiguous to natives?

texts:
From the allegedly official English subitles to a foreign movie.

Confidentiality hinders me from disclosing further context.

Character A addresses Character B, by saying:

  Come to my roof.

Is A simply inviting B to his house?

In my experience, this is usually the case in phrases such as "under one's roof" or "a roof over one's head(s)", where a certain, ehm, altitude is implied.

Or is his dwelling literally situated on the roof of some other building?

As a whole, does it sound weird to natives?


texts: how to conjugate verb in dependent clause inside subjunctive mood

texts:
In the sentence

  I pretended that I understood, lest he think I am stupid or deaf.

the "he think" part is definitely present subjunctive, but I'm not sure how the "I am" part should be conjugated. I'm thinking it might also be present subjunctive:

  I pretended that I understood, lest he think I be stupid or deaf.

or past subjunctive:

  I pretended that I understood, lest he think I were stupid or deaf.

All three sound all right to me. Is there one correct conjugation to use in this case?


texts: Definite article in Maths: "(the) function f"

texts:
Is the definite article correct/necessary in sentences like the following?

A line that intersects (the) circle C.
We can see that (the) function f has a maximum at x=0.
Draw a line past (the) edge E.

I am aware that definite articles must not be used in things like "in Figure 3" or "see Equation 7", because here "Figure" and "Equation" are treated as proper nouns (and thus capitalized). But in other kind of sentences as the previous ones, I am unsure about whether it is also correct to omit the definite article or not.


texts:
"It never crossed my mind that if I'm walking from A to B anything could happen in the middle. If I got caught [with the gun] I would have said no comment and took the bird with me." GUARDIAN

What does it mean?

Take the blame?
Keep a secret?
...

And why bird?


texts: Should an adverb go before or after a verb?

texts:
For example:

  The word rarely turns up outside of those contexts.

  The word turns up rarely outside of those contexts.

Which one is correct and why?


texts: Where to put the comma on the following sentence?

texts:
Where do I put the comma in:

  It would be pretty implausible to make a claim of your distributed patch
  that while directly intended to modify GPL source it wouldn't itself
  be GPL when that's precisely the requirement.

In there?:

  It would be pretty implausible to make a claim of your distributed patch
  that while directly intended to modify GPL source it wouldn't itself
  be GPL, when that's precisely the requirement.

Or nowhere?

I require assistance.


texts: Difference between the meanings of "textbook" and "technical book"

texts:
Is there a difference between textbook and technical book? Are they different or is there any overlap between them?
For example, consider Introduction to Algorithms. I think this is a textbook.
Now consider The C++ Programming Language. I think this is a technical book but not a textbook.
How can we accurately define textbook and technical book such that it becomes easy to classify books into one of these two categories?


texts: What does "the private comes well" mean in the following context?

texts:
Sharing the cycle with Elisabeth Leonskaja and Khatia Buniatishvili,
  among others, to Douglas has fallen the massive Hammerklavier and the
  Waldstein sonatas, as well as gems such as Op 90 and 101. The private
  comes well to Douglas, who in person proves to be as reticent in
  manner offstage as he appears confident onstage.

Full article http://www.theartsdesk.com/classical-music/qa-special-pianist-barry-douglas


texts: How should one pronounce the "rofl" in "roflstomp" or "roflcopter"?

texts:
"ROFL" stands for rolling on the floor laughing but has been mushed into other words with their own meanings. Two examples:

Ouch, that was a roflstomp.
I'm on a roflcopter!

While these are in questionable status as English words, should I pronounce them?


texts: How did oxytonic come to mean “final accent” rather than “acute accent”?

texts:
In Samuel Martin's Reference Grammar of Japanese (1975), the author describes the location of lexical accent on Japanese words using the following terms:

Prototonic: The accent is at the beginning of the word.
Mesotonic: The accent is somewhere in the middle of the word.
Oxytonic: The accent is at the end of the word.

Prototonic and mesotonic seem clear enough to me, literally meaning something like “beginning tone” and “medial tone”.  But oxytonic is less obvious to me.  It seems like it should mean something like “final tone”, but when I look up oxy- in dictionaries I instead find something like “sharp, acute”.
This is explained somewhat in The Oxford English Dictionary in the definition for oxytone:

oxytone, a. and n. Gram., chiefly Gr. Gram.
(ˈɒksɪtəʊn)
Also oxyton.
[ad. Gr. ὀξύτον-ος having the acute accent, f. ὀξυ- sharp, acute + τόνος pitch, tone, accent.]
a. adj. Having an acute accent on the last syllable. b. n. A word so accented.

So it seems that oxy- refers to an “acute” accent. But I must confess it's still not entirely clear to me.  How did this word come to be used for an acute accent on the final syllable specifically?  Weren't acute accents used historically on non-final syllables as well?  Was there a language where acute accents only fell on final syllables?
In short, how did oxytonic come to mean “final accent” rather than “acute accent”?


texts: What words should be capitalized in "to whom it may concern"?

texts: I'm writing a business recommendation, and since it's a proxy for a proper name, it seems like capitalization might be in order, but it looks odd.


texts: How can I reliably and accurately identify the passive voice in writing or speech? I'm not interested in advice about whether or not to use it yet... I just want to know for sure what it is, so that I don't look as stupid as these people.


texts:
I don't understand this passage from a Sherlock Holmes story (the second stain).

  It was only upon my representing to him that I had given a promise
  that “The  Adventure of the Second Stain” should be published when the
  times were  ripe,...

What does Watson mean by "representing to him"?


texts: South American users or South America users

texts:
I work with IT user support in South America and I'm writing my CV in english.

In my job, I assist users from Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Peru, whats the correct form to put this on my CV :

Support for South America users or Support for South American users ?


texts: Are there rules of pronunciation for words in English?

texts:
I know that there is at least one language we can pronounce based on the word's form (Vietnamese) which means that once you know how to write it, you will also know how to pronounce it.

But in English, are English words like Chinese words, meaning that we can't pronounce the word based on its form and we must know the sound of the word in order to pronounce it correctly ? (like Pinyin for Chinese). For instance, the word read you must know it's sound is /ri:d/ in order to pronounce correctly.


texts: I was recently reading this article on the use of "math" vs. "maths" as a collective noun (Americans use the former, Brits the latter).  However, the trend seen in "math/maths" is reversed in "sport/sports", with Brits using the version without an "s" as a collective noun, and Americans using the one with the "s".  What is the origin of this?


texts:
There are some adjectives like valuable and rich has used as a noun as
Riches
Valuables.
But the meaning of these adjectives used as a noun is different .
Is there any other adjectives are there which are used as nouns.
What is the meaning of those words


texts:
I read somewhere that the expression "I'll do my best" doesn't sound very positive.
Is this true? If so, how do you say to assure the listner of your enthusiasm and determination to perform to the maximum extent of your ability.


texts: Ways to Memorize "Discreet" and "Discrete"

texts:
I have a question about discreet and discrete. People tend to get these two words mixed up, and I would like to help them memorize these two words.

Discrete: unconnected; separate
Discreet: judicially reserved; prudent

(Definitions from Word Smart...)


texts:
Why isn't read spelled reat?

I mean build, building, built -> read, reading, reat?

PS I have dyslexia and I'm not native in English.


texts: The Usage of Generic Article "a" Plus Singular Noun

texts:
I would like to ask the following question about seemingly generic article "a" plus singular noun as I could not find posts that sufficiently covered this topic.
I read short passages about JK Rowling:
"Many publishers, however, thought that her book had two problems. A 90,000-word book might be too long for children. In addition, boys might not read a book written by a woman. [emphasis mine]"
I think that "a 90,000-word book" and "a book written by a woman" are generic nouns, because those sentences would make general explanations, rather than about a specific book. Even if they indicate a certain unknown book which meets the condition, this non-specification suggests a kind of general tendency. I also searched for the term "a book written by a woman" and found it used probably as a generic noun notably in the feminist literature. For example, "the difference between a book written by a man and a book written by a woman is..." It is occasionally used to argue that prejudices exist against female writers' books in general.
On the other hand, Dr. John Lawler has argued in his post (see also http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jlawler/000001.html) that "a + singular noun" is indefinite generic, which refers to the definition of a species. According to this explanation, the usage of "a + singular noun" as indefinite generic might not be applicable to the sentences I show above, because indefinite generic is too strong for these sentences, which would give general, not definitional, accounts. In addition, all the examples he showed begin with "a + singular noun" as a subject. So, I am wondering if "a + singular noun" as indefinite generic can be an object and others than a subject.
I would appreciate it if someone could let me know whether the nouns of the sentences are indefinite generic (if not definitional), and if they are not, how they should be interpreted. Also, does avoiding to use plurals, i.e. "90,000-word books" and "books written by women" have any implications? Thank you in advance.


texts:
Does the sentence "Can I not try that?" mean:

I want to try that but I'm not allowed to
I don't want to try that


texts: "Four window layout" or "four windows layout"

texts: To indicate a multiple object layout should I use four building layout or four buildings layout? Maybe they are both correct?


texts: Term for something you don't know you'll like until you discover it?

texts:
There is a situation where a person has no idea that something is exactly what they are looking for, desire or like until they discover it.

Is there a term for something you don't know you'll like until you discover it?


texts: Does the term "prose" have stylistic connotations?

texts:
I am trying to find a good word to refer to "colloquial, free-flowing speech formatted in paragraphs." I believe the word for this is "prose" but I am concerned that this word has stylistic connotations and that I'm not using it correctly. Here is an example of what I would consider to be "prose":

  This was one of the simpler parts of the assignment for me. Once I had
  a solid understanding of how to encode and merge the segments it was
  simply a matter of programming and debugging. Something that I learned
  along the way was that there were a number of corner cases for the
  algorithm that weren't addressed in the paper, likely because the
  paper was working at a high level.

Is my understanding correct? If not, is there another term I could use to better express the style of the quoted paragraph?


texts:
The definition of  slim odds by Webster 1913 Dictionary is :

  low odds; poor chances; as, there are slim odds he will win any medal.
  - W. Irving.

The above definition is similar to that of slim chance:

  a small possibility There's still a slim chance that we can win. (Merriam-Webster)

We know what low and high odds refer to:

  Low odd means something is likely, and "high odds" means something is unlikely, but many people get the two confused.

Now, if  odds refers to a ratio as suggested by ODO:

  The ratio between the amounts staked by the parties to a bet, based on the expected probability either way.

High odds would be something like 42-to-1, that is one chance out of 42 that something may happen, while low odds would be something like 2-to-1 that is 1 chance out of 2 that something may happen.

Given all that, my question is about the above definition of “slim odds” as low odds. If low odds refer to something that is likely the above definition appears to be wrong, especially because they later add “poor chances”. In other words, it appears that “odds” is used as a synonym of “chances.” But that would add even more confusion to the usage of low vs high odds.

Questions:

1) Is “odds” in the “slim odds” definition  used as a synonym of chance? If so, is that a correct usage?

2) What does “slim odds” really mean in the end?


texts: I am using MLA 7th edition. I am citing an article published April 10th and edited April 12th. Which date should I cite? Thank you!


texts: Difference in usage of 'explanative' and 'explanatory'

texts:
I found myself using 'explanative' recently, then had to double-check that it's actually a word.

The dictionary lists 'explanative' as an alternative of 'explanatory', but is there a reason to prefer one or the other in specific circumstances?


texts: A word for mutually and simultaneously influential

texts:
I am writing a paper on how the imperial Russian state used its discursive power to shape and define the deviant nature of hooligan behavior. However, likewise, hooligans used published discourse—media, newspapers—to also shape perceptions of hooliganism even while being subjected to the state's discursive control. I am looking for a word that describes the mutual and simultaneous influence of the state and hooligans—despite their opposition—on public discourse.
Thank you.


texts: Is there an intuitive noun for this type of business transaction

texts:
In the domain I am working in (business accounting), I'm struggling to find a term to explain an event which takes place.

Supposing we have two sides to this business accounting we want to represent:

your cash movements at the bank
your cash movements with goods and service providers (which usually relate to the cash movements)

In a split screen, I have "Bank Transactions" on the left hand side. On the right is where I'm confused and currently have "Trading Partner Transactions".

I'm not confident with this as "Trading Partner Transactions" does not seem intuitive to the user. It could also include employee wage transactions, which are not really "trading partners".


texts: Looking for a word for concealment of faults

texts:
I'm looking for a word for concealment of faults.

In this case, someone has a specific fault and actively, purposefully hides it from others, going out of their way to conceal these faults from others.

It's a close-opposite of hypocrisy or deceit, where one pretends to have a good quality that one does not possess.  This would be a superimposition of a non-existent good quality, while the word I'm looking for would be the deprecation of an existent fault or negative quality.

Also, not a mere denial or non-acknowledgement of the fault, but an active secrecy or pretence.

Is dissimulation my best bet? That doesn't seem to necessarily include concealment of a fault, just concealment in general.

Examples:
1) Fearing what his parents might think, John pretended to be a non-smoker.  When they asked him directly about it his words faltered, not wishing to lie but also not wishing to reveal his shortcoming.  In the end, the best he could manage were a few unclear words denying the fact and, hoping his parents believed him, quickly changed the subject.
2) John thoroughly enjoyed hunting, but in the company of others, from fear of damaging his reputation, was scrupulous in concealing this and even went out of his way to appear outspoken against hunting.

The close-opposite (hypocrisy) would be:
For fame and fortune, John pretended to be able to read others' minds and offered his services at a reasonable rate.  To avoid being discovered as a fraud, he kept his readings vague and used intrigue to keep his clients hooked.

So I hope these help give a clearer idea of what I'm looking for.  I am not so much looking for a word to slot into those sentences, but rather a word for what such an attitude or behaviour is called.

Many thanks for all the work!


texts: What is the etymology of the term piracy (in respect to intellectual property)

texts:
Wikipedia claims that it dates to 1603, but it doesn't explain how this came to be.

Is Wikipedia correct, and how exactly did the word "piracy" become associated with copyright infringement?


texts: What is someone who for non-malicious reasons always interprets words in the least generous way?

texts:
I recently made the unfortunate mistake of apologizing for having been "disingenuous" towards a friend. Luckily my friend was generous enough to assume that I had mis-spoken and ask for clarification; because somehow I had gotten the notion that disingenuous was based on the root of generous rather than genuine. While I had been sincere enough in everything I'd said, it was a lack of generosity in repeatedly assuming the worst intentions in everything they did that I needed to be apologizing for.

Since then, I've been wondering if there even is an English word that means what I wanted to say. I've come up with many individual words that apply to one degree or another, but not something that easily sums up the demeanor I was trying to describe.

Is there a single word that would carry the connotation of "always thinking/assuming the worst" in someone, not in the sense of being deliberately malicious but merely in the sense of being distrustful and bitter and hence reading the worst possible connotations into every situation?


texts: Looking for a way to say that no buses or trams are arriving

texts:
I am creating an app for Android in my locale language (French) and in English. It will display when the next buses or trams will be coming in real time. I would like to know if this sentence is correct :

"There are currently no arrival for the Baggersee (it's a stop name) stop starting at 3:00 AM."

I want to say that there is no bus starting at the time asked by the user.

I hope you can help me.

Thanks


texts: Is there a word to describe a compulsion to eat a particular food, or the food item itself?

texts:
A recent conversation I had went along the lines of:

Me: You don't need to have [food X] every day. We can eat something else instead.
Family member: Yes, I do.

Is there a word to describe either such a deeply felt conviction related to food on which the individual is fixated? It is not a physical compulsion, but an held conviction "I must do this" with no particular basis in fact.
If there is no such word for that, is there a word for the specific food on which the person is fixated? It's not a "craving" in the traditional sense.


texts:
First sentence:

  I contribute to projects I love.

Second sentence:

  I contribute to projects that I love.

I used to use the first one, but I am not sure if it is right or wrong when omitting "that".


texts:
When i can to use copy that, just to response of "do you copy" ?

tanks for your helps


texts:
Fact or fallacy?

It's one of those things you hear or casually read somewhere that sticks with you. The word penguin is derived from Welsh; pen refers to "head", while gywn means "white". Well, it's not as clear cut as that, as I discovered when my English boyfriend objected and said penguins didn't have white heads. He's right, they don't.

Online Etymology Dictionary says

  1570s, originally used of the great auk of Newfoundland (now extinct), shift in meaning to the Antarctic bird (which looks something like it, found by Drake in Magellan's Straits in 1578) is from 1580s. Of unknown origin, though often asserted to be from Welsh pen "head" (see pen-) + gwyn "white", but Barnhart says the proposed formation is not proper Welsh. The great auk had a large white patch between its bill and eye.

According to  An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English (1922) By Ernest Weekley

  The fact that the penguin has a black head is no serious objection,
  as bird names are of very uncertain application (cf. albatross,
  grouse, pelican, bustard). F. pingouin, earlier (1600) penguyn, if not from E., may be Breton pen gouin, white head.

The earlier Etymological Dictionary, dated 1888 and  written by  Walter W. Skeat asserts

  Another story (in Littré) is that some Dutchmen, in 1598, gave the name to some birds seen by them in the straits of Magellan, intending an allusion to Lat. pinguis, fat. But this will not account for the suffix -in, and is therefore wrong; . . .

Latin trail

pinguis adjective

  From Proto-Indo-European poid- (“to abound in water, milk, or fat”), from Proto-Indo-European poi- (“sap, juice”)

  pinguis m, f (neuter pingue); third declension
  1. fat, plump
  2. thick, dense
  3. (of taste) dull, insipid, not pungent
  4. (of wine) oily, rich, full-bodied
  5. (of land) fertile, rich

Other Languages

In Welsh it is called pengwin
In English, and Hmong it's penguin
In Albanian and German it is  pinguin
In Basque, and Italian  it is pinguino
In Bosnian, Croatian, Danish, Hungarian, Norwegian,
Slovenian and Swedish it is pingvin
In Catalan it is pingüí
In Spanish it is pingüino
In Dutch it is pinguïn
In Estonian it's pingviin
In Finnish it's pingviini
In French it's pingouin
In Irish it's piongain
In Polish and Maltese it's pingwin
In Portuguese it's pinguim
In Turkish it's penguen

Did all these languages borrow the term from English (Welsh)?
Was Walter W. Skeat correct in dismissing the Latin term pinguis?
Couldn't the term be a composite of pinna + wing (pinna is also Italian for fin and penguins are exceptional swimmers!)


texts:
I'm looking at the financial definition of series: a group of stocks or options that have common characteristics. Source
How would I form the possessive and plural of this term? I'm guessing it is series' and series respectively.
Sample sentences, not sure of correctness:

He purchased one series.
He purchased multiple series.
This one series' characteristics are worth researching. <- This feels like it should be series's, but it looks so wrong.
These series' value is unmatched.


texts: Looking for a formal equivalent phrase for “the above”

texts:
I like to know a formal equivalent phrase for "the above". I'm writing a scientific paper, and someone told me that phrase is not correct for a scientific paper.

An example is the following.

"Taking into account the above, the new formula is better than the other one."


texts:
Could anyone please clarify this specific use of the Present Continuous for me? The following two excerpts are taken from movies:

1) Malcolm in the Middle

He's giving that same lecture to younger classmen. I can't let that happen. I'm stealing his slides.

2) Groundhog Day

[Phil has been brought to a hotel by his manager]

Phil: I hate this place. I stayed here two years ago. I was miserable. It's a fleabag. I'm not staying here.

This doesn't seem to me like a future arrangement. It's more likely a spontaneous decision. Shouldn't Future Simple be used there instead: I will steal his slides; I will not stay here.


texts: How interchangeable are the adjectives in the comparative “the closer/nearer, the …”?

texts:
In an allusion to Dave Starr’s magnificent¹ cover art,
I had the opportunity to use its title idiomatically, and said:

“The closer the bone, the sweeter the meat.”
… and was promptly corrected: “Nearer.”
That kept me wondering:

In what semantic instances do we have to specifically use ‘closer’ or ‘nearer’ respectively?
For ‘near’ as well as ‘close’, there are plenty of non-specific and/or interchangeable uses (e.g. “a near/close friend”, “stay near/close”), but also definite distinctions (e.g. “close/near quarters”). Consequently at least, we could say “We’re close to/near the bone”, couldn’t we?
There is also a question here asking about differences of the adjectives themselves, which I couldn’t apply to the construct in question (adverbial comparative with ‘the’)—it’s all about physical distance.
Curiously, the digram suggestes a transition in frequency by 1947, lacking explanation of course.
¹(For the actual cover art, see Discogs or Amazon.)


texts: Is there a word that describes this gesture of interlocking hands on the lower stomach?

texts:
Specifically, I am referring to the traditional gesture some female service staff members seem to do, when demonstrating their work or their readiness to receive orders.

Also, this is the gesture Alice Cullen performs in Twilight movies on several occasions (if I remember correctly).

I could not find a photo with this exact gesture.
It is similar to the one shown in the first photo, but the hands are held higher with demonstrativeness, tension, sharpness of movement and gesture itself (possibly with emotion and a smile), and military-like demeanor. The main difference with with the second photo is that in the gesture I refer to, the hands are held in the front and not in the back; also, the way the hands are interlocked is different (more like in the first picture).


texts: Is there a resource, a dictionary perhaps, that gives the appropriate preposition to use with a verb - an alphabetized list of verbs with corresponding prepositions and example sentences?


texts: Why isn't the preposition "from" used to form self-sufficient phrasal verbs?

texts:
Let's define a self-sufficient phrasal verb as a phrasal verb that does not require a complement. For example, "come in" is a self-sufficient phrasal verb because you can say, "Come in!" Analogously, "get by" is a self-sufficient phrasal verb because you can say, "It is not difficult to get by." The test is simple: if you can construct a sentence without any word referred to by the preposition of the phrasal verb, then the phrasal verb is self-sufficient.

Many prepositions are used to form self-sufficient phrasal verbs, but there are some prepositions that seem to be never used in this way, e.g., the preposition "from." If you say, "He comes from," you need to add the location he comes from, so "come from" is not a self-sufficient phrasal verb, and I was unable to find any self-sufficient phrasal verb with "from."

I am looking for a logical, etymological, or historical reason, if there is any, as to why some prepositions, especially the preposition "from," are never used to form self-sufficient phrasal verbs. To put it simply, I want an explanation that is deeper than answers like "that's the way it is" or "that's just how English has evolved." After all, I already know that it is the way it is and that it is how English has evolved. The question is why. I am a curious Japanese student learning English and humbly hope that native speakers can shed some light on this apparent mystery, as I see nothing really special in "from" as compared to "on," "in," "off," "around," etc. and found no explanation in Google.


texts: When did "the pub in Bleecker Street" become "the pub on Bleecker Street"?

texts:
In the streets is still used universally.

As is out in the street.

The casual fan of Sir Arthur's writings will recall, of course, that Mr. Holmes and Dr. Watson lived in Baker Street:

  ...while Holmes, who loathed every form of society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in Baker Street...

Flashback:

Here's a passage from a turn-of-the-20th-century American author, O.Henry:

  They were seated where they had a habit of meeting—in the little, Creole-haunted café of Madame Tibault, in Dumaine Street.

Back to the story:

When, walking north on Sullivan, you reach the corner, you don't turn into Bleeker; you turn onto it. And the pub you've been looking for is on Bleecker, not in Bleecker Street.

When did this happen? When did people start staying "on Bleecker Street"?

P.S. I hear that in the U.K. both prepositions are used. Really?

UPDATE:

With @JDM's help, we've narrowed it down to sometime between O.Henry's career and the 1960's. I hope that eventually we'll be able to:

a) narrow it down further
b) figure out what caused the change

From Jack London's Martin Eden:

  “Say, Joe,” was his greeting to his old-time working-mate next morning, “there’s a Frenchman out on Twenty-eighth Street.  He’s made a pot of money, and he’s going back to France.  It’s a dandy, well-appointed, small steam laundry.  There’s a start for you if you want to settle down.

But, from the same book:

  Few like me, I imagine, in the university pond.  Sometimes I am fairly sure I am out of water, and that I should belong in Paris, in Grub Street, in a hermit’s cave, or in some sadly wild Bohemian crowd, drinking claret,—dago-red they call it in San Francisco,—dining in cheap restaurants in the Latin Quarter, and expressing vociferously radical views upon all creation.

Yes, I know that "in Grub Street" is a metaphor.

Mark Twain to the rescue! From Puddin'head Wilson:

  Well, las' Monday I 'uz pass'n by one o' dem places in fourth street whah deh sticks up runaway nigger bills, en he'ps to ketch 'em, en I seed my marster!

UPDATE (10:52 p.m) January 21 2016:

Getting closer. Theodore Dreiser, writing in 1925:

From The American Tragedy:

  Finally, after a second hymn and an address by Mrs. Griffiths,
  during which she took occasion to refer to the mission work jointly
  conducted by them in a near-by street, and their services to the
  cause of Christ in general, a third hymn was indulged in, and then
  some tracts describing the mission rescue work being distributed,
  such voluntary gifts as were forthcoming were taken up by Asa--the
  father.


texts: How to express desires in English so that they don't sound like commands?

texts:
At that time I won't want you to again land up in the thread to tell me the rules.

With the above statement, I wanted to express my desire, but it was interpreted as a command.

How can I rewrite the same statement so that it doesn't sound like a command?


texts:
Pursuing this analogy further might help us to understand how voices change over a person’s life, with some growing older with the voice-hearer, others frozen in time.

What does with refer to in that sentence?


texts:
I was writing something in English when the word clumsy came to my mind to describe a French concept "inélégant". However, I use clumsy to describe an object and I am not sure it is appropriate. Here is the beginning of the sentence:

  While active tags are big and clumsy


texts: Possessive of "it" when used as a noun to name itself

texts:
When speaking of the word "it", "it" is a noun and can double as a pronoun for itself.

For example, I can say something like the following:

  It's first letter is an i. Its second letter is a t. It's spelling is
  now complete because its spelling is quite simple. It's really quite simple.

Is that correct?


texts:
Speaking about bedtime reading... Please, help me with my grammar

  "As a rule, I don't take handsome dead conductors to bed, but if it is Bernstein, my husband doesn't mind".


texts: Why is it "in the university" rather than "at the university" in these examples?

texts:
The title of an 1848 book is The Organization of Industry, Explained in a Course of Lectures Delivered in the University of Cambridge in Easter Term 1844.

The cover page of this 1864 book states that William Edward Hearn is "Professor of History and Political Economy in the University of Melbourne".

But according to the answer here, it should be at the university. Was this just some archaic 19th century thing and we now always use "at the university" rather than "in the university" in these contexts? Or was there something special about the above contexts?


texts:
Movie scene: girl has back turned to 'dreamy' leading boy and is talking softly about, moonlight, white picket fences, and footsie sounds of little scampering children in onesies - and maybe holding a flower with a smile plastered across her face.

Probably cast Sandra Dee.  (The more melodramatic and kitsch the better.)

“There is this old movie where the girl is all ________.”


texts: Am I the only person to use "punch up" to mean "remind someone"?

texts:
I have always used "punch up" in the context of reminding or prodding someone for something such as:

  "I just punched up Jane that she needs to turn in her vacation schedule"

When I used this expression recently, my slightly younger colleague said he'd never heard it before...so I looked it up.

There is...

  "punch out" for hitting someone

  "punched" as in a time clock

  "punched up" which refers to improving one's writing

  "punch up, not punch down" as a reminder to not use comedy to be cruel to the oppressed

...but I can't find a single example online nor in Google Books for "punch up" or "punched up" as a reminder.

I'm in the US and have been in the workforce since 1978 - can the expression be completely extinct?  Does anyone have any idea whether that expression was ever used by anyone other than me?


texts: Origin of the word "shill" ("shillaber")

texts:
I was recently looking up word origins for various types of tricksters, in honor of April Fool's Day.  Interestingly, I couldn't find much about the word "shill" other than that its origin was around 1916 and it came from "shillaber" or "shilliber."

Wikipedia notes that "Shillaber as a surname was known in the US during the 19th Century."  But then this blog says "not one of the etymological sources I’ve looked at considers the two connected" and offers that it might instead be a Yiddish word.

I am intrigued. Does anyone have more information about the origin of this word?


texts: How to explain an extension of a certification

texts:
The international branches of the company I work for was awarded with new quality standards. The Italian Headquarters already had these certifications, hence these were extended to the branches. What's the noun for extension with regard to this topic? Is it correct to say:

  Extension of the certification to the international branches

I'm not sure if extension is the right word to use here.


texts: Is "doll" meant to be used only for human like toys? What alternatives for non-human toys are there?

texts:
I want to say something like a teddy bear, but it is not a bear. For example a cat.
I guess "cat doll" is the literal translation from my language, but sounds wrong to me because I understand doll to be human-like. Am I right?
Is "cat shaped doll" something a native English speaker child would say?

I want something a child might say, not an adult description like "cat shaped stuffed toy".
Also, the toy might not be stuffed, eg. It could be made of plastic or wood.

"Cat toy" sounds to me like a toy meant for cats, but perhaps for none-pet animals it works fine?
eg. Would "monkey toy" describe it, or must I say "monkey shaped toy"?


texts: While translating a text I came across the expression: "cross down". The whole line (It's a play) is: "Beautiful. Cross down." And expresses kind of approval. Do you know the phrase? does it come from sporsts? Like "one point" or something alike? I cannot find it on the net.


texts: What is the English culinary term for the meat in a dish?

texts: For example, the ground meat in Bolognese that is absent in Puttanesca. Or when you decided to make salad "sinful" you added pork rinds to it.


texts: What is the place of "say" between 2 direct speeches

texts:
I read a book, and I see that:
"Oh - the black hat," I say. "No!" says Shami. "The blue hat is nicer." We watch and wait. In the end, the woman takes the blue hat. "Hurray!" says Shami.
‘Where is she?’ Leon says every day
‘Oh stop it, Leon,’ says Shami.
I want to know what is the situation to use "say + S" and "S + say"
Thank you


texts: A word that means you need to be better or do better but not necessarily better than others

texts: I am looking for a word or phrase that means that you have a feeling or need to improve or enhance yourself just for the sake of it.


texts: The grammar restriction of dash and parentheses

texts:
This is a follow-up to my previous question.

The answerer mentioned that when parentheses are used for inserting contents in a sentence, the grammar flexibility is assumed to be higher.

If that is true, what sort of flexibility is applied to other punctuation, especially em-dashes? Are parentheses and em-dash considered to be "universal" for this matter?

Another question: is it recommended to assume such flexibility in formal wiring?


texts: One word, preferably short, that describe "quantity limited"

texts:
I run an e-commerce site and I want a word or very short phrase that convey the meaning of quantity limited that's easy to understand and also convey a sense of urgency.

This word or phrase will display over the product image.

However, I cannot display actual number quantities due to site performance reason.

Thanks in advance.


texts: Right phrase to request for introduction

texts:
I have been hearing some podcasts, in every podcast I hear, the anchor asks the guests

  Why don't you introduce yourself?

And, in some other I heard this phrase

  Can you kindly introduce about yourself?

It seems that second one seems to be convincing. Can we use the first one, in professional communication?


texts:
There are many similar sentences, such as:

On Christmas Eve, townspeople...
After lunch, he often...
One January morning, we were returning from...

Are the commas compulsory here?
Or can they be omitted?
Or where such information can be found?


texts:
A scholar writes: A transparent adverb can only be used after sentence negation or after another sentence adverb if it carries a stress:

  Conrad has not really left.
  Conrad has probably really left.

I do not understand why "really" in those sentences is called a "transparent" adverb.


texts:
My niece had to change the following to Passive Voice:

  Who broke the vase?

She answered:

  The vase was broken by whom?

The teacher says this is ungrammatical and the answer should be:

  Whom was the vase broken by?

Can someone explain the difference between my niece's answer and the teacher's and exactly why is it incorrect.

Thanks in advance


texts: Need samples of different "English" styles

texts:
I'm developing an application that requires samples of various forms of the English language. Each sample must be at minimum 2-3 paragraphs long and preferably be of a conversational manner, for example, it can't just be "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet" over and over, neither can it be "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" repeated 100 times.

At the moment the list of language styles I'm looking for includes, but is not limited to, the following (forgive my cringe-worthy attempts at examples):

Contemporary (21st Century) every day language - "Hi Bob, how are you?"
Pirate speak - "Ahoy there Bob, me hearty, how sails you on the 7 seas today?"
Txt / Sms Lanuage - "Hi Bob, how r u?"
"Leet/1337 Speak" - "|-|1 7|-|3r3 b0B, |-|0// R j00Z?"
Shakespearean / Elizabethan language - "I bequest thee, Bob - tarry a moment and tell me of thy comings and goings."
Add your suggestions here...

My question is, where on earth could I obtain such samples of the English language? I welcome users providing samples in their answers(!), or pointing me to resources that may help me.

Short of copying down text from books that use each of these language styles I'm completely stumped about where to obtain the text I'm after.


texts: What figures of speech are common in "roasts"?

texts:
When a celebrity or personality is "roasted", lots of bad things are said about and to the (un)fortunate guest; at the end usually there is a change in mood and the person is acknowledged by the reasons that make that person important.

Are there figures of speech that define or explain that style of rhetoric?


texts: Is "in (an) ever pursuit" correct English?

texts: Was writing it naturally and wanted to double check but couldn't find any use of it on the net so now I'm doubting my language skills. Am a native speaker.


texts: "Conductive to achieving" or "Conductive to achieve"?

texts:
So there is the sentence:
"The current environment is not conducive to achieving the best results"
The usage of "to verb+ing" is very confusing.
What is the difference between "to achieving" and "to achieve"?

Thank you!

Thank you Ricky! I mistakenly typed the wrong word "conductive". You are totally right.

Thank you sooeithdk! You answered my question here. Now I have a clear sense of the gerund phase :)


texts: A prediction made in the past that affects something we will do in the future

texts:
Please ignore the factual accuracy of this sentence and focus on the tenses used.

  If the Mayans were wrong to end the calendar on Dec. 20, 2012, we'll use your donation to fund 2013 programming.

I’d like to know:

if it is correct, and
what it would be called.


texts: What do you call a piece of dead skin next to your nail bed?

texts:
What do you call a piece of dead skin next to the nail bed of your finger?

Usually this piece of dead skin is rather thin — and it isn’t very wide, either, but the longer it is, the more it hurts. I usually start noticing these pieces of dead skin when one of them gets to be about half an inch long and hurts whenever I touch it.

Is there a better way to describe this piece of dead skin? I’ve tried to find a picture of it on the internet to link to, but I found some rather disturbing pictures instead.


texts: What is the appropriate single word for describing an over clean person?

texts:
Assume we have a person who

always washes his hand before using his gadgets,
don't like others to touch his belongings,
always makes sure the chair surface clean before sitting,

Is there an appropriate single word, either noun or adjective, to describe his characteristic?


texts:
Just out of curiosity I would like to ask. By searching through the web I could not find an answer yet.

Can "most of which" be used in the beginning of a sentence? Here is an example of a sentence for which I would like to know whether I can make two out of it.

  Numerous articles were published on the topic of "Self-Assmebled Monolayers", most of which indicate that isocyanide binds through its terminal carbon atom.


texts:
Can you call a vegetable plot "a vegetable bed"? Or is this usage uncommon?

For example a bed of flowers is called a flowerbed.


texts: When was "off-world" / "offworld" coined?

texts:
"Offworld" meaning "not on the main, current planet" is a term in some sci-fi works, and several works have been named using it, like "Offworld Trading Company" (a video game).

The word definitely dates to older sci-fi, though, and I'm wondering where/when it originated. I couldn't find information in any dictionaries, although several listed the word.


texts:
This is the day where I will arise to redeem your life and fully
restore it back to Me.
I Hear His Whisper Volume 2: 52 Devotions
Brian Simmons · 2016

M-W Learner's Dictionary: Where
The dictionary says that both are interchangeable, but to what extent and is this true at all? I often hear "the day where" used to mean "the day when", is this grammatical or not?


texts: A quandary on the etymology of "quandary"

texts:
The etymology of "quandary" is uncertain; among the main assumptions  there are:

1) the quasi-Latinism assumption:

Quandary :

  "state of perplexity," 1570s, of unknown origin, perhaps a quasi-Latinism based on Latin quando "when? at what time?; at the time that, inasmuch," pronominal adverb of time, related to qui "who" (see who). Originally accented on the second syllable.

(Etymonline)

2) the "qu vs w" spelling assumption:

Quandary:

  an evil plight. .   This curious word is almost certainly a corruption of the M.E. wandreth, wandrethe, used in just the same sense of evil plight, peril, adversity.
  The use of qu for w is not confined to this word; we find such spellings as squete for swete (sweet), squilke for swilke (such); Cursor Mundi, 76, 372; and the confusion of quh, wh, qu, and w, at the beginning of words is well known.
  Thus Halliwell gives quarof for whereof; and quhar for whar (where) is the usual Scottish form, whilst the same word is also written war or wer.   β. Examples are:  'welthe or wandreth' = prosperity or adversity.

(Etymology Dictionary)

3) the dialectal evolution  assumption:

Quandary:

  ....this word, of unknown origin, which is attested from about 1580 on, revealed itself etymologically identical with conundrum! There are English dialect forms such as quandorum, quondorum whch serve to establish an unitererrupted chain: calembredaine becomes conimdrum, conumdrum, quonundrum, quandorum and give us quandary.

(Linguistics and Literary History)

Question:

Is there more evidence to support one of these three assumptions?
specifically   the second one which   appears and sounds more credible to me.

-


texts: Hypernym for "for sale", "for rent", etc

texts:
What do you call the category whose members include "For Sale," "For Rent," "For Lease," etc.?

To put it another way, how would you fill in the blank:

  When we see a signage for an apartment for sale, we say that the apartment's _________ is "For Sale".


texts:
Is it true that only unstressed words in a sentence, which have H at the beginning of  the words, will be dropped in American English?

Off course, these H words will not be the beginning of the sentence.

For example,  "Was he there?" will be spoken as /wə zi ðer/

But  "He's right here" will be spoken as /hi raɪt hɪr/ not /hi raɪ tɪr/

The he in Was he there? is unstressed so its H will be dropped, but the here in He's right here is stressed  so its H will not be dropped?

I also heard that nowadays young American people don't drop the H too much but the old American ones may drop the H more.

Personally, I think speak with H no matter it is stressed or unstressed words is much easier for people to understand?


texts:
Is there a measure of distance somewhere that tells me that certain phoneme A is more "distant" or "different" to phoneme B than it is to phoneme C in English?
For example, that the phoneme /k/ is more close to phoneme /t/ that it is to /a/. (random values to create an example)
Edit:
As suggested by @Mitch, this is actually a 'confusion matrix' for English phonemes. Can anyone point to one of such tables?


texts: I have from time to time noticed the different pronunciations of some words like civilization and organization where the "i" phonetically sounds like "aay". It is more clear in civilization since the first two "i"s sounds normal and then the third "i" is pronounced completely different. I sadly dont have a concrete example to show up and I'm a non-native. So I'm wondering, is this just an old pronunciation? Something to do with British- or American English? Maybe more narrowly, just something to do with a (old) dialect?


texts:
In the context of surveys, one of the crucial question is whether the panel/sample is representative of the population of interest.

But should we talk about the panel representivity or representativity?

I found both in the wild in the market research literature, and both return many hits on google. Being a native French speaker, representativity is my natural choice, but I keep seeing representivity in documents...


texts: Is 'quantitate' a synonym for 'quantify' or just a misnomer?

texts:
I have always used quantify, but have been encountering quantitate more and more in scientific literature. Is quantitate a "valid" verb and a synonym for quantify? Otherwise is there a subtle difference in the meaning of these two words?

I forgot to mention that in some dictionaries both words exist while in others, quantitate is not featured, e.g. http://dictionary.cambridge.org/spellcheck/british/?q=quantitate


texts: How to call things you find at the sidewalk which are still useful?

texts:
Is there a phrase for things people put out on the street which they do not need anymore? I am referring to free, still functional stuff such as books, shoes, a lamp, a cupboard, ... you name it.
I find it quite hard to use one word for all these different items.

Example sentence

  On my home I saw so many ____ people put on the sidewalk such as a candle holder, a pair of ladies' shoes and bathtub for children.


texts: Is the word order grammatically correct?

texts:
Is the word order in the following correct?

  Mass media representatives will be present for official coverage of the course of the conference


texts: Is there a word for urge toward clicking ad on a useful website/article?

texts:
Whenever I browse through a website/blog and find an article/info useful then I click on one ad on site (I don't use ad blocker). I have this urge to give back and I think this is a "valid" way to give back for most of the blogs.

Sample Sentence > I pay back to a useful article by clicking an ad it contains.

Is there a word for this urge?


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  When is it appropriate to use a hyphen?

I am unsure if and when to hyphenate steady state (in a mathematical context), i.e.:

  We now calculate the steady-state concentration from the given formula.

I looked at this generic hyphenation question, but the links given there did not give a clear rule for this case.

To me, it seems most natural to write:

  This is the steady state described by the formula.

But, at the same time:

  This is the steady-state concentration described by the formula.

That is, hyphenate if it describes another noun but not if it stands on its own. Does that make sense? Searching for books on Amazon brings up titles with both steady state and steady-state which seem to at least partially conform to this rule.

Or would it be better to just chose either hyphenation or no hyphenation and then stick to that consistently?


texts: When I am writing, should I let my thoughts flow naturally on the paper, or should I meticulously think them through and form full sentences out of them before putting them to paper? I'm really not sure which one I should use since I have a writing test tmrw and im panicking intensly. When I write naturally, I don't even think about the idea  am writing about, I just start writing from the first word that comes to mind even if it doesn't relate then i connect it into the main idea.


texts: Why the extra syllable in words like these ending in -r and -l?

texts:
First-off, I'm not a native speaker.

I've noticed that a lot of words ending in -r and -l are pronounced as if they had an extra syllable. Especially when they have a -ee- or -ai- sound.

Consider

  reap
  real
  rear

The last two are pronounced ree-ul and ree-ur. Reap is a one-syllable word. Others aren't.

More examples: beep/beer, cake/care, laid/lair

Also, words with most other sounds preceding -r don't seem to follow the pattern. Car is not caa-ur. More is not mo-ur.

So my questions are:

Is the extra syllable just something I'm hearing, or is it actually pronounced?
If it is pronounced, why do only -r and -l follow the rule?


texts: Could someone please explain this usage of "limb"?

texts:
Amendment V

  No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous
  crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except
  in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when
  in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any
  person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of
  life or limb.

(from US Constitution - 5th and 14th Amendments)

  The state ensures security of life, limb and property.

(from Wikipedia, Tractatus Theologico-Politicus)

What's the meaning of the word "limb" in the sentence above?

  Definition of LIMB (source: Merriam-Webster)

  1 a : one of the projecting paired appendages (as wings) of an animal
  body used especially for movement and grasping but sometimes modified
  into sensory or sexual organs b : a leg or arm of a human being

  2 : a large primary branch of a tree

  3 : an active member or agent

  4 : extension, branch

  5 : a mischievous child

The definitions I found in dictionary don't match or correspond well.

I guess there was somewhat a expansion of the meaning of limb, which is a body or physical freedom.


texts: Where do you put the suffix when listing the last name first?

texts:
When listing names with the last name first, where should you put the suffix if there is one present? For example, if given the name John Doe Jr., which of the following would be correct?

Doe, John Jr.
Doe, John, Jr.   <- My guess is this one
Doe Jr., John
Jr., Doe, John


texts: What is the purpose of using both past participle and past tense?

texts:
So in the examples:

(1) They began cooking last night.

(2) They have begun cooking last night.

They literally both mean the same thing, and I am not sure in which context a person (speaking) would prefer one over the other. If anyone could explain, with examples, why this is?

Thanks.


texts:
Basically, I wanted to paraphrase the following sentence :

These subjects have been profoundly studied since the end of 1950’s.

What could I use instead of the bold part?  Please make light on me. Thanks!


texts: Is "I wish I had one of those ..." correctly used in the following sentence?

texts:
Sex Education Club? I wish I had one of those when I was a student.

The bolded part actually means, I wish my university had had one of those so I could have joined . . .

But I picked I wish I had one of those . . . because it's shorter.

So my question is, would a native English speaker use that phrase in that manner (as an expression or idiom)? If not, what would be a better alternative?


texts:
I'm writing a story about a powerful god with specific abilities, which are:

he can hear everything, no matter how far, and he can read minds
he always knows where someone is or who is nearby, but he can't see everything (he does have exceptional eye sight though)
he is a "person" in that he is only one presence, he's not someone who is everywhere, can see everything and knows everything
he can't make impossible things happen (he can't cure someone's blindness for example), but he is powerful in that he has immense physical strength, enough to destroy a planet if he wishes to

Obviously, I don't expect there to be a word that matches exactly those very specific points, but I hope there is a word for each point at least.


texts:
Your patience on this matter behooves.

Is it okay to use the word "behooves" in this way?


texts: Is there a metaphor or a single word for "When you throw a rubber ball into a wall and it bounces back and hits you." Something like boomerang, but unexpected and with negative connotation.


texts: What would be a word between 'opposite' and 'next to?'

texts:
If you had two people sitting at ninety degrees to each other (see the attached image), they wouldn't be opposite each other, but they wouldn't be next to each other either. Is there an English word for the position they'd be in? (The arrows represent the way they are facing).

An example sentence: they were sitting _____ to each other.


texts: what is word used to describe that "meaning has lost from originality"

texts:
I remember that many words on time get separated out from its actual meaning and people start using it for random cases to express different emotions or cases.

There is word that describes this process/behavior, what is that word.


texts: What are the historical reasons for the conventional sequence of footnote symbols?

texts:
According to @Mahnax's answer to this question, the Chicago Manual of Style Online states that the correct sequence of footnote symbols is as follows:

  * (asterisk; but do not use if p values occur in the table; see 3.78)
    † (dagger)
    ‡ (double dagger)
    § (section mark)
    || (parallels)
    # (number sign, or pound)

What were the actual reasons that gave rise to this sequence? Could it be traceable back  to the typewriters of 50 or 100 years ago having keys in that order?


texts:
In weather forecasts in the US, the phrase "a mix of sun and clouds" seems to be common whenever the forecast does not clearly predict rain or shine. In my recollection, forecasts used to have phrases like "partly sunny", "mostly sunny", and related variations "mostly cloudy", "partly cloudy".

My main question is, when did this transition occur? Google trends and n-grams don't tell.

I should probably stop there, but a second question nags me, which is, why? Granted, weather prediction is not an exact science, but the "mix" forecast seems like a cop-out.

P.s., if this question seems more suited to a more scientific channel I'm fine with that, but please consider I am firstly wondering about when the phraseology changed.

P.p.s., I am mostly thinking of media forecasts (particularly radio and TV). NOAA, from whom I suppose many of these outlets derive their forecasts, maintains the "partly sunny" etc. phrases.


texts:
I have read a report titled "Lazard's Levelized Cost of Energy Analysis.

What does this technical term "levelized cost of energy" mean?


texts:
I have written the following sentence as a headline for an invitation email.

  ABC Ltd. welcomes you to Exhibition Dubai 2017 held at the Dubai World
  Trade Center from June 7 to June 9, 2017.

Am I missing a punctuation mark after 2017? Should I change the verb form of "held"?

I want it to be brief. I want to know the mistakes in this sentence, please!


texts: A formal reply without any useful information

texts:
What single word or short phrase could be used to say something like:

  I was given just a formal reply without any useful information to my letter to the government officials?


texts: Colloquially, does the term "redhead" apply specifically to a person with naturally red hair?

texts:
My husband and I were discussing this yesterday, and I was hoping y'all would give us an "official" answer.  :)

We both believe that for a person to be accurately described as a "redhead", they must have naturally red hair (or, at least, hair that appears naturally red), and possibly even the pale skin and/or freckles that stereotypically accompany it.

But we firmly agree that people with hair dyed unnaturally fire-engine red or any other shade obviously not apparent in the spectrum of natural hair colors are not redheads.

The dictionary definition, however, appears not to discriminate:

  red·head  (rĕd′hĕd′)
  n.
  1. A person with red hair.

What say you?  Does the term "redhead" apply only to people with naturally red hair? Or perhaps it extends to those who have hair dyed a natural shade of red?  Or would you say that it applies to all shades of red, natural or otherwise?


texts: Use of 'as' while writing about two events

texts: I would love to have more clarity on the use of 'as' in the following sentence: 'Asia markets closed in the green as the dollar nursed losses after hitting 10-month lows.' Is 'as' used here to show cause-effect relationship or simply to state 2 events occurring at the same time


texts: "An expression of one aspect of " vs "one aspect of the expression"

texts:
A): It is an expression of one aspect of her love.

  B): It is one aspect of the expression of her love.

My questions:

Do A) and B) mean the same?
In the case of B), is one aspect of a measure term like spoon in "one spoon of sugar"?
If not, what if the in "the expression of her love" is omitted, can we consider one aspect of as a measure term then?

This is really confusing me. Could anyone help out?


texts: Word or Phrase for someone who pushes others to their full potential

texts:
I'm looking for a positive word/phrase, preferably something in common usage, that can be used to compliment someone (a professor in this instance) who pushes others (students) to achieve their full potential. I'm trying to draft a farewell message for a professor.

Edit:
I'm looking for specific wording to let that person know that their efforts to constantly keep us on our toes have been acknowledged. That we recognize that it was always with our best interests in mind.


texts:
I often get confused when trying to use who vs that.

Some examples that often confuse me:

That

  The person that went to the store.

  The people that went shopping.

  The persons that went shopping.

  The group that went shopping.

Who

  The person who went to the store.

  The people who go shopping.

Please explain when to use either for plural subjects and singular subjects.  Animate and inanimate objects as well.


texts: An idiom for taking advantage of something which gave you the right to take advantage in the first place

texts:
Can someone suggest an idiom which means - taking advantage of something, which gave you the right to take advantage in the first place?

I know this isn't clear, but it's something like - Shooting a person in the head when it was that person who taught you how to use a gun. Or like misusing freedom of speech to defame your own country when its the country who has given you the right to free speech in the first place!


texts: Decided I wanted to work VS Decided to work

texts:
I found this sentence in Cambridge Vocabulary In Use book but I can't understand it well. I am wondering that what the subject of decided is?

  By my mid-twenties, I was getting a bit bored, and decided I wanted to work abroad

and I also want to know that if it is not more reasonable to  just say decided to work or wanted to work instead of decided I wanted to work? and if we can't, what is the difference?


texts:
Is it possible to say "cat washes its face" in English using two words only? I.e. "cat + (verb)"?

Such construct is possible in Russian ("кот умывается"), which has verb (well, a variation of a verb) that normally means "wash face", and "self" can be replaced with suffix. Is there a similar verb or some kind of compact (two words, including "cat") idiom in English for that? It has been bugging me for a long time...

P.S. Slang is also okay, as long as it isn't too obscure.

--EDIT--

Detailed info:

The "cat" part is important - I'm interested in two-word idiom that precisely refers to "washing face with front paw" behavior performed by cats. The "cat" word doesn't have to be present as long as idiom/sentence/phrase is compact enough and refers precisely to this kind of action. Perhaps something similar to "making biscuits". Although Russian verb "умывать(ся)" is applicable to people, I'm not looking for general verb (that is applicable to everything) meaning "wash one's face" - I'm only interested in cat-specific verb or sentence that is normally associated with this particular cat behavior.

Russian "кот умывается" in most situations refers to a cat washing face with front paw (can be used in jokingly manner to describe cat playing with water dripping from faucet, though, but that's irrelevant). English "the cat is washing itself" is very specific about time/continuity, but is less specific about exact action and can be used to describe cat that is cleaning its tail, for example - in other words, compared to "кот умывается" it is not strictly associated with cat's "wash face with front paw" action.


texts:
I currently have this sentence:

James Albert Bonsack took on the challenge and created a machine in 1880; despite losing his first prototype to a fire.

But I am not sure about how it is best to arrange it. Alternative:

James Albert Bonsack took on the challenge and despite losing his first prototype to a fire; created a machine in 1880.


texts: What is a word for a person who inflicts self-doubt?

texts: What word would be used to describe someone who makes you doubt yourself and makes what's good about you sound irrational and irritating.


texts:
What is the actual meaning of 'tuppenuth'? I saw someone using this word in a discussion like this:

  My tuppenuth: <list of his/her thoughts>

I googled it already, and it suggests new words/similar words.
Is it a short form of some other word?


texts: What do you call it when for sake of one the whole lot has to suffer?

texts:
What do you call it when fishermen are fishing for supposedly a specific species of fish and the net eventually end up catching surplus unwanted fishes of other species. What are these unwanted fishes called and what is the whole phenomenon called in which for sake of one the whole lot has to suffer.

PS: There is definitely mention of this phenomenon on Wikipedia which i misplaced


texts:
For this morning's debate with my children on the way to school, we discussed what was the appropriate verb for entering a hammock; in vs on.
Ultimately, the conclusion was that it depended on the style of hammock. The taut flat ones, you get on those. The more cocoon type ones, you get in those.
I was curious if we could get a ruling on whether we're right or not.


texts:
Are there any rules regarding how to write model numbers or serial numbers in dialogue? For example, B1.

"B one."

"B1."

Or "B-one."


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

texts:
I read a sentence in "The Hindu" which was:

This year's interim budget is being regarded as a big spread for farmers.

Does it mean "extent or amount of something" or "a large meal (although not in literal sense)?


texts: Is "switch visor to transparent" grammatical?

texts:
I wanted to describe a helmet visor which can have separate settings, opaque and transparent. Thus I wrote the following sentence.

  She switched her visor to transparent.

I thought it an ellipsis of a noun phrase:

  She switched her visor to the transparent mode.

However after my spellcheck irritated me with being unhappy with my construction I started investigating. At the very least there are barely occurrences where the adjective after switched to is not followed by a noun it is modifying.

The corpus search indicates that as well as the ngram. Although there are ngrams with switch to color, they are almost exclusively followed by a noun, the same applies to the clear hits, only that they include hits where 'clear' is a verb.

Obviously I expected transparent and opaque to be dwarfed by the colors in the ngram, but there was not a single hit. Which is strange, since ngram does not care about the following words. This prompts my question is there some difference between the other adjectives and transparent - or opaque - that I am not aware of?

A company that produces glass with similar capabilities uses those two adjectives, just not after switch to.

I can very well live with my spellchecker being outdone by the construction, my question however is, can I use such a construction?

The ngrams and corpus searches seem not that encouraging. More for the comments, is my construction intelligible?

EDIT: After the positive feedback regarding comprehensibility and provided immersion of the sentence in the comments and chat, I'll keep my sentence and likely only change the verb.

Can anyone speak to the grammaticality of the construction with an adjective after switch to or set to?


texts: Why do we say "try and" [verb] instead of "try to" [verb]? (E.g., "Try and call me tomorrow.")

texts:
In written and standard semi-formal (and above) spoken English, one would use "try to":

Try to be a better person.
Try to get the fishhook out of my thumb, please.
Try to find a pharmacy when you need one.

But in spoken English, we (Americans, at least) usually substitute "try and" for all those cases.
"Try to" makes sense because the "to" begins the construction of an infinitive: "try to be", "try to do", "try to act" and so on. "Try and" on the other hand doesn't seem to make any sense.
I'm curious how the "try and" crept in, and when. It's really tough to Google small words like these, so I'm not finding anything on the Web. Is it a contraction of something like "Try hard, and ..."?
Note: I've seen this question and it is somewhat related but doesn't tell me what I want to know.
Edit
Observe how, even on this site, people tend to gravitate toward the "try and" construction.
Turning it on its head
Note that you can't make a negative construction with "try and":

It's raining. Try not to get wet.
It's raining. Try not and get wet. [?]

Even adding do doesn't help. The following means something different from "try not to get wet."

It's raining. Don't try and get wet.

Even use of to instead of and there means something else:

It's raining. Don't try to get wet.

"Try not to get wet" means try to stay dry. "Don't try to get wet" means avoid actively seeking out a soaking, and implies that a soaking might in fact be what you are looking for.
MORE
I just happened to notice a video from an editor for Merriam-Webster on this very topic, so I include the link here:
Merriam-Webster editor discusses "Try and" vs. "try to".


texts:
[Last Para, J Blackburn's judgment:] The difference is the same as that between buying a horse believed to be sound, and buying one believed to be warranted sound; but I doubt if it was made obvious to the jury, and I doubt this the more because I do not see much evidence to justify a finding for the defendant on this latter ground if the word “old” was not used. There may have been more evidence than is stated in the case; and the demeanour of the witnesses may have strengthened the impression produced by the evidence there was; but it does not seem a very satisfactory verdict if it proceeded on this latter ground. I agree, therefore, in the result that there should be a new trial.

Is this right? What are the similarities and differences between 'agree on' and 'agree with'?


texts: Hurt someone and say "sorry" - Is there a word to describe this type of behaviour and/or people?

texts:
People unintentionally hurt others whilst in the middle of an argument, it could happen anywhere: in public or even in the privacy of one's bedroom. When they finally realize their mistake, they end up saying sorry etc., etc.

Are such people categorized in a dictionary? Is there a word for such people and such a situation?


texts: "Psychically" vs. "psychologically" vs. "mentally"

texts:
This one has been giving me headaches for about a year now.

Some time ago, I created an AskReddit thread with the following title:

  How do you psychically prepare for pain before a surgical procedure?

I was mocked in the comments. Redditors were saying that psychically refers to psychics (people who supposedly contact the dead). However, when I looked it up at The Wiktionary, the entry for psychically states:

  in a psychical or psychic manner
  mentally

I was also told that the proper word I was looking for is psychologically.

A few months later, in another thread, in one of my comments I wrote:

  To perform a proper backflip, you have to prepare not only physically, but also psychologically.

And again, of course, I was mocked, because now, it turns out, I was supposed to use mentally, contrary to what I had been recommended before.

Could the native American and British English speakers of ELU tell me:

Was I ever wrong in whatever I wrote to Reddit, or are Redditors wrong?
Is there any difference between the three words in question?
If there is any difference, how do I properly decide which/when to use?


texts: What's the meaning of "steal" in There Is A Pleasure In The Pathless Woods?

texts:
There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep sea, and music in its roar:
I love not man the less, but Nature more,
From these our interviews, in which I steal
From all I may be, or have been before,
To mingle with the Universe, and feel
What I can never express, yet cannot all conceal.

I don't understand the line "From these our interviews, in which I steal."


texts: Punctuation use for separating lists between "between" for clarity

texts:
What is the best way to punctuate the following two sentences so the reader is not confused?

1) For transfers between station A and shelf B AND processing device and automated stocker, use chain Q.

2) For transfers between station A, shelf B, and desk C AND processing device, automated stocker, and shelf Z, use chain Q.

To be clear the transfer occurs between the following parenthesized words (station and shelf B) AND (processing device and automated stocker) in 1) and (station A, shelf B, and desk C) AND (processing device, automated stocker, and shelf Z).

These sentences are part of a long sentence, so I simplified it for this question.  Thank you very much for your help!!


texts: Is it appropriate to omit "to" after "ought"?

texts:
Is it appropriate to omit to after ought?

  I ought to be disciplined for my insolence.

Vs.

  I ought be disciplined for my insolence.

Is it okay to omit the to?


texts: 'Hardly any of us consider' or 'Hardly any of us considers'?

texts: Any is supposed to be singular but the latter sounded kinda unidiomatic


texts: When the ass is feeling too good, it goes dancing on ice

texts:
This is the literal English equivalent of the German proverb

  Wenn es dem Esel zu wohl ist, geht er aufs Eis tanzen

The proverb commonly describes the behaviour of people who are comfortably well-off and perhaps somewhat complacent, so they seek a little excitement in their lives by doing reckless things.

The expression was used by some posters in German forums to characterize the government's decision in 2015 to allow large numbers of migrants to enter the country.

Currently I have seen the expression used a couple of times to explain the significantly increased popularity of the Green party in Bavaria, which is the richest region of Germany and traditionally very conservative.

I have not been able to find a good English equivalent. Does anyone know of a figurative expression for complacent people who indulge in foolish behaviour in order to spice up their lives a little?


texts: Charles Dickens: "It was the best of times…"

texts:
It was the best of times…

How to understanding this usage without using "the" (i.e. instead of "the best of the times")?

How can we apply the same usage in everyday conversation? E.g. should we say "it is the best of mankind" or "it is the best of the mankind"?


texts: What do you call a person that criticizes your ignorance, but does nothing to help alleviate it?

texts:
Suppose Alice and Bob are having a debate about umbrellas.

Alice does not like umbrellas for a few reasons.

Bob says

  Of course you don't like umbrellas, you don't understand the real purpose of them.

Bob is pointing out that Alice has missed some fundamental concept. This not only tries to make Alice feel foolish, but now she is forced to play into Bob's hands by having to ask "Ok, so what is the real purpose of them?" Essentially conceding her ignorance.

Bob could have said

  you don't understand the real purpose of them, which is to [ ... ]

Is there a term to describe this style of debate, where someone is lead into conceding ignorance? (Of course, Bob's "opinion" might be wrong, and Alice may not be ignorant at all)

For example:

  Bob, why do you use this style of [ ___ ] when debating? It doesn't help Alice out and only forces her to ask you a follow-up question, making it seem like she is appealing to you for help?

Is there a term to describe Bob (a noun)?

  Bob is a [ ___ ]. It means he makes himself seem more knowledgeable and forces you to ask him a question, making it seem that he knows more than you do.

The only term I can think of is wise guy. This comes close. Is there something else?


texts: Is 'there' an adverb or a preposition? (Or something else entirely!?)

texts:
Most dictionaries seem to describe 'there' as an adverb. Oxford online dictionary definition Is this true?

"Last year we went to Paris. We stayed there for three nights."

In sentences like this 'there' is taking the place of a preposition and a noun - in this case 'in Paris'. So why is it referred to as an adverb?

Is there a case for describing it as a preposition? It is a substitute for a prepositional phrase ('on the table'. 'in the room', 'to Paris', 'in Paris' etc), and like a preposition, and unlike an adverb, it may be modified by 'right' or 'straight'.
"We flew straight there."
"The book is right there - in front of you."
Prepositional phrases

So, is 'there' (and I suppose we could extend this to its interrogative: 'where') an adverb, a preposition or some other category of word?


texts: What's the correct articulation for abbreviated words?

texts:
How to articulate abbreviated words when the original word articulation conflicts the pronunciation of the word?

For example, I would say

  A Facebook campaign for Donald Trump

But abbreviating Facebook to FB makes it difficult to keep the articulation intact

  A FB campaign for Donald Trump

or

  An FB campaign for Donald Trump

Which one is correct?

Second one seems easier to read


texts: How to understand "not because of...but in spite of..." and " not in spite of but because of "?

texts:
I can well understand "in spite of "and "because of "separately,but the combination really spins my head .Please help!Thanks a lot!
Pattern likes "A not in spite of B,but because of B(or C)".


texts: How to describe someone who doesn't listen well

texts: How would you describe someone who doesn't listen well? I don't mean someone who has hearing problems. I mean someone who doesn't finish listening and starts interrupting the conversation.


texts:
I tried looking on Google, but there are some fairly contradictory results.

I thought I'd ask you guys so we could get an authoritative answer on the subject!


texts:
In this sentence:

  One of them was Lydia from Thyatira, a merchant of expensive purple
  cloth, who worshiped God.

What does "a merchant of expensive purple cloth" means?

Does it mean that Lydia is a merchant who always wore expensive purple cloth or does it mean that Lydia is a merchant who was currently wearing expensive purple cloth ?

Or does it mean something else altogether ?


texts: What are the many meanings of the suffix -ship and can it reasonably be applied to the end of most all words?

texts:
I'm fascinated by the suffix -ship and while it theoretically has no connection to the noun "ship", all definitions provided by Oxford Dictionaries seem to in fact not be terms that would be out of place on the deck.

There are a great many words which end in -ship and I wonder if this suffix might not in fact truly be a vessel with some cargo of mysterious treasure held within. In my personal life I often create new words and have become fond of the idea of creating new types of -ships. I do not prefer relationships and friendships over extraordinaryships.

I'm shocked at how difficult it is to construct new -ship words and I would like to learn about the factors that influence whether a word can be suffixed with -ship.


texts: Confused with Present Participle + Noun pattern, does the "copied file" refer to the "original file"?

texts:
Patterns: Past Participle + Noun

In my understanding Past Participle + noun means the action applied to the noun as follows:

He murdered a little girl = The little girl was murdered by him. The murdered girl is being investigated by polices.
He copied my file without my permission = My file was copied (by him) without my permission. The copied file is very confidential.

Question

Does the copied file refer to the original file? Or does it refer to the copy of the original file?

Based on my understanding above, the copied file should refer to the original one. But it is not the case when I read the following quote

  Subversion does not create an entire
  new file version in the repository
  with its copy. Instead, the old and
  new versions are linked together
  internally and the history is
  preserved for both. The copied
  versions take up only a little extra
  room in the repository because
  Subversion saves only the differences
  from the original versions.

where the copied version represents the copy of the original one.


texts: Is this in-text citation correctly punctuated?

texts:
I wonder if the following punctuation I made in my literary translation for an in-text citation is correct in conventional English. Or should I omit the period after parentheses? Or should I omit the period ending the quotation?

  “Both speak of deporting a king who obtains his crown and throne and marries a beautiful princess.” (Abjadian, 1987:147).

Note: In the source language, it was not connected to any sentence before or after it. So I translated it as it was.


texts:
A: I like having a MINI Cooper. I sort of identify with it. You know? It's pretty little. I feel as if it's proportion... that we are in proportion, you know? Me and my car, we are sort of... together, facing the rest of the world. (So you understand, the speaker is little and short.)

So you understand, the speaker is little and short. What does it mean "in proportion"? Just literally, the speaker is little and the mini cooper is little and the car is the right one for the speaker?


texts: Is there a better term for "perfect infinitive", "perfect participle" or "perfect gerund"?

texts:
BACKGROUND
There are grammar terms such as 'present perfect' and 'past perfect' as in:

She has learned English for 10 years. [present perfect]
She had learned English when she was little. [past perfect]

I believe that these terms are fairly well established in more recent grammars as well as in the traditional grammar.
The way these terms are made is such that the first word 'present/past' represents the tense of the auxiliary 'have', and that the second word 'perfect' the structure of 'have + past participle'.
Now, I notice that the term 'perfect infinitive' is used in the traditional grammar to refer to the form 'have + past participle' where 'have' is in the form of infinitive.
For example:

She seems to have learned English when she was little. [perfect infinitive]

Similarly, the terms 'perfect participle' and 'perfect gerund' are used to refer to the form 'having + past participle' where 'having' is in the form of participle and gerund, respectively, as in:

Having learned English, she now wants to learn Chinese. [perfect participle]
They are not aware of her having learned English when she was little. [perfect gerund]

ISSUE
I don't know whether--or how well--these terms 'perfect infinitive', 'perfect participle' and 'perfect gerund' are established among more recent grammars, but they just don't make sense especially when you consider the other terms 'present perfect' and 'past perfect', where the first word represents the tense of 'have' and the second word the entire form 'have + past participle', because it's the other way around in the terms 'perfect infinitive', 'perfect participle' and 'perfect gerund', isn't it?
QUESTION
So I'd like to know first if anyone agrees with my confusion as to these terms being inconsistent, and secondly if better terms are actually in use for these latter three.


texts:
I feel like I've seen cases where the verb "held" is used for a future event, as in

  I will attend the World English Conference held on January 10-15,
  2017.

And I found the same sentence in an ESL textbook recently. However, I can't figure out what that "held" is doing; it seems to me that the grammar should more accurately be "will be held" (future passive), but I also feel like I've seen this pattern before. Is this an alternative use of "held", or is it more likely just an error in the book (and in other places)?


texts:
I'm coding a database, and in that database I have a set of players. Players have attributes, but only some of these attributes are relevant for all sports.

Is there a nice, shorter term for "relevant for all sports"? I know it's a bit of a stretch, but it's worth a try.


texts:
Similar question has been asked before; however, I would like to clarify the convention around "No" as I have not been able to find anything conclusive.
Does one put a comma or period after "No", when what comes after No" does not merely "echo" the question asked, but rather provides an alternative answer to the question, essentially explaining "No".
Consider the example:

Are you going home after work?
No(./,) I am going to the party.

Can one argue here that "No" stands for "No, I am not going home" and hence require a period, as what follows it "I am going to the party" is essentially a second independent clause. The full version would read "No I am not going to home. I am going to the party".
Or would it be acceptable to answer with "No" + alternative answer separated by comma?
According to Margie Wakeman Wells: Court Reporting Resource, Books and Seminars on Good Grammar and Punctuation, period should be placed in this case:

When the words after yes and no “echo” the words of the question, use a comma.
…Q:  Did you go with her?
…A:   Yes, I did.
…Q:  Were you the only one there?
…A:   No, I was not the only one there.
Everything else after yes and no takes a period.
…Q:  Did you go with her?
…A:   Yes. Someone had to help her out.
…Q:  Were you the only one there?
…A:   No. My brother was with me.

Similar guidelines are given by Morson's English Guide for Court Reporters:

RULE 59
At the beginning of a sentence, use a comma after yes or no if the statement that follows confirms the yes or no.
EXAMPLES
Q.  Do you have a license?
A.  Yes, I do.
Q.  Does your license expire this month?
A.  No, it does not.
If the statement that follows yes or no explains or adds to the original response, use a period after yes or no.
EXAMPLES
Q.  Do you have a license?
A.  No.  It was revoked last year.
Q.  Have you applied for reinstatement of your license?
A.  Yes.  I need it for my delivery service.

Both of these style guides are written for court transcription, so might be quite specialist in nature, but do we really put periods in cases above, or would commas be justified as well?
If commas are justified, does that mean "No" and "Yes" in examples above do not stand for independent clauses but are rather grammatical particles attached to the independent clause answers that follow these "Yes" and "No"?