texts:
I have been reading a fantasy novel. I stumbled upon the phrase "have one's hair up about something". Below I quoted the sentence in context. I have done quite some searching, but so far all has been in vain. I can only guess it means being utterly annoyed by something. Can someone tell me if this truly is an idiom and what it means?

  And I warn you, I shall be compensated dearly if any of my property is missing or damaged!” He turned on his heel and stormed out the doors. “He’s got his hair up about this one,” chuckled Fen


texts: Use of "entitle" in "the book is entitled 1984"

texts: Is it really proper to say "The book is entitled 1984"? Entitle seems to refer to the act of giving one the right to do something.


texts: How come abbreviations acquired the apostrophe when referring to plurality?

texts:
Possible Duplicates:
  What is the correct way to pluralize an acronym?
  What is the proper way to indicate possession when using an abbreviation such as Dr.?

An example:

  Most DD's have good packaging skills.

How did things come to that instead of:

  Most DDs have good packaging skills.

Compare that to:

  Most Debian Developers have good packaging skills.

[update] This question was asked with the presumption that the first example is correct, so I was surprised to find that it isn't the case.


texts:
Can I get an example of statement that can be said to be Hofstadterian?
Also please provide a small comment with the statement if possible. thankyou.


texts:
If I have two ways of doing the same thing, one requiring more input or effort than the other but also allowing for more customization, how should I label the two?

  The simple way and the custom way

  The basic way and the custom way

Are simple and basic really synonyms in this situation?


texts: Question concerning -ing ending in a sentence.

texts:
I am trying to understand why there is an -ing ending in amazing when used in a sentence like, "different countries have proven equally amazing".

Is it because amaze is a present participle verb or is it functioning as an adjective and the adverb is modifying the adjective?

Any help is appreciated.


texts: A verb to describe rising temperature in a pot

texts:
The lobster sits oblivious in a pot but has no idea the water is heating up and that it is actully being cooked until it is too late.

This is in context "Like lobsters cooking in an ever heatening pot, we barely noticed the change." Obviously heatening is not a verb, so I need one to replace it.

What verb could I use to describe the subtle rising of the temperature of the pot?


texts: What do you call your grand-father's brother? (grand- v great-)

texts: Your father's father is called your grand-father, yet your father's uncle is typically called your great-uncle (or so it seems with anybody I converse with). Why the inconsistency?


texts: "Some is controversial, and some is my opinions" — is this grammatical?

texts:
I came across the expression

  ... some is controversial, and some is my opinions.

Is this correct? I wonder if “... some are my opinions” might be more correct.


texts: Does primary, secondary, tertiary, [...] continue forever?

texts: What follows next in the sequence "unary, binary, ternary..."? gives a lengthy list up to 12 for the sequence "primary, secondary, tertiary, [...]". Does this naming continue forever? If so, what is the pattern?


texts: What adjective descibes a 'stooge' in a Socratic dialogue?

texts:
Suppose one constructs a dialogue in which a second participant is clearly there just to provide ballast while the first participant (the author) promotes a point of view. You could refer to the second as a stooge, a prop etc. But I'm looking for an adjective, and "the stoogy guy" doesn't sound all that learned. (-:

A better noun than 'stooge' might lead to a good adjective, but all I really need is the adjective.


texts: Why does "a bigger number of" seem wrong?

texts:
I noticed when answering this related question that I would never say a bigger number of. I have no issues with 5 is a bigger number than 3 (though I would probably say a larger or greater number instead), but a bigger number of people than expected sounds just plain wrong. I also don't seem to be alone in this:

It was suggested to me in chat that this might be because bigger and number of have different registers and they sound incongruous together. I am not quite convinced of that though, neither seems particularly associated with any specific register.

What is different about that particular construction? Why are a larger/greater number of and a bigger number than fine yet a bigger number of not? Also, am I imagining this? At least one native speaker active on this site seems to disagree, am I alone in my distaste?


texts:
Me & my flatmate have made a bet [on/of/from] £10 that you'll send me a selfie but she doesn't believe that.

I've been struggling with this sentence. Which preposition should I use out of on, of and from?


texts: Is synonymy of "man" and "human" on decline?

texts:
Is the synonymy of man and human on the decline? By extension, I am interested in mankind and humankind.
I have no idea what online tools to use to investigate this.


texts: Expression for 'You just said words to appease me'

texts: I remember an expression that's something like 'you're just giving me words.'  The idea is that someone says, 'yeah, i'll do abc.'  And you respond... 'Okay, let me know when it's done, so I can check.'  And they respond.  'What?  You don't believe I'll do it?'  And i want to respond, 'I just want to make sure you're not 'expression goes here.'


texts:
When I need one loaf of bread I can easily say so.
When I need only one [___] potato what would the equivalent word be?

Everything I considered sounds weird. Is there maybe just an old form, not commonly used anymore today? If so, I still would like to know the word ;D

When would it be appropriate to use tubers?


texts: Chicago Manual of Style: Citations for photos downloaded from Flickr

texts:
I have "Photo Credits" section in my book containing a list of all image citations in the Chicago style, much like a bibliography. CMOS (Chicago manual of Style) 16th edition doesn't say anything about how to deal with Creative Commons images taken off Flickr. So this is an example of how I'm styling my citations:

  A Volkswagen Sedán taxicab in Mexico City. Source: Carolina Arevalo,
  "Taxi." 2006, digital image. Available from: Flickr,
  https://www.flickr.com/photos/carolinaarevalo/5008340224 (accessed
  June 16, 2015). Licence at
  https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0.

As you can see, I'm appending the CC license information to the end of my citation although CMOS doesn't mandate doing it (but Creative Commons does). Is this the most appropriate way to go? Or is there something more standardized? Yes I am being a tad too pedantic but I want it to be as standard as possible. This is a very formal piece of work.

Also, Carolina Arevalo is the photographer, i.e. owner of the cited image in the example above. What is recommended if this information isn't available? There are quite a few images that I'm using and most have no owner-name available – just a Flickr ID.


texts: what does magisterial mean in "magisterial skills"

texts:
I often hear it in football commentary when a player(Lionel Messi) scores and the commentator(Ray Hudson) yells "Magisterial, Leo". And I saw a video on Youtube titled "Lionel Messi Magisterial Skills". I can't figure out the exact meaning of the word in these contexts.

Looking into dictionaries magisterial has the following paraphrases:
1. showing impressive knowledge about a subject
2. having the characteristics of a master or teacher
3. having or showing great authority
4. domineering, dictatorial
5. authoritative
6. relating to magistrate

I think the second paraphrase fits best in those contexts, expressing that the skills of the player is master class, am I right?


texts: Word for silent expression of tickled shock at someone else's outburst

texts:
Someone is very upset and making a scene. You have no sympathy. You think the whole situation is very entertaining. The sense of schadenfreude and shock at the improper outburst is strong enough that you can't help but make a face, but you are able to remain silent and you do so in order to remain as discreet as possible. You don't necessarily make eye contact with anyone else.

In the following picture, the girl on the right demonstrates this kind of reaction. The girl on the left might not be truly upset, but the depiction is close enough.

Is there a good word for this?


texts: How and when did "bash" and "do" come to mean party?

texts:
I am on my way to a faculty party at the university. The Head of Sciences is retiring and is throwing a huge bash, all his staff, selected external examiners like me and various scientists from private institutions and funding bodies. The Head of Sciences is married to a French wine merchant and caterer and expectations of this party are unusually high for a faculty do.
  page 102, Apple Tree Yard

I like this passage from an English language point of view. The author Louise Doughty includes two synonyms for party; a bash and a do. Bash is slang, it conjures a wild type of party, possibly impromptu, raucous and loud.

Etymonline says On a bash "on a drunken spree" is slang from 1901, which gave the word its sense of "party." Does that mean the first time "bash" was used to mean party is in 1901? I understand that the expression on a bash is from 1901, so bash must have come later.

A do on the other hand, sounds as if the party is quite formal, where one is expected to dress up and behave in a socially acceptable manner. Dos are, typically, weddings, landmark birthdays or grand social events. In this case a faculty party can be called a do.

  mainly UK informal a party or other social event:
  Colin's having a bit of a do for his 50th birthday.
  It was one of those dos where nobody really knew each other.

Are the distinctions I made between between bash and do correct?
How (and when) did "bash" and "do" mean party?


texts: A comparison in two sets of quantifiers and adjectives

texts:
I learn almost every word on my own, in my productive if a bit peculiar way. I inevitably get perplexed by the ambiguity and the interchangeabilty between the words that I discover with more details.

I'd like to make my question into two parts with a view to solving it with efficiency.
Let work on the quantifiers first, I have come up with the following examples.

Set number one—shade, touch, suspicion, snatch, scrap, shadow.(they roughly mean a little amount of something both concrete or abstract).
The words are ordered by my consideration of their compatibility in the sentences. However, it would be even greater if you have some others in striking harmony with these sentences.

The tune conveys a shade/touch/suspicion (I preclude the possibility of the rest) of melancholy.
Her smile cannot mask a shade/shadow/touch of fear that actually keeps her trembling.
The executive struck me off without a touch/suspicion/sense (I suppose it would fit) of commiseration.
We just need a snatch/touch/scrap of sugar and we can start making a bundt cake.

Set number two—ephemeral, fleeting, instantaneous, evanescent. (From what I have learned, they are sometimes used to describe something that appears and disappears, and the whole process happens within a very short term of time).

At twilight, the flash of real beauty is evanescent/instantaneous/ephemeral.
These golden days that I spent with you were ephemeral/fleeting: they could never be retrieved.


texts: Becoming; airtight - usage in the presented contexts

texts:
I am pleased to join the community.

I would like to confirm whether it is correct to say:

1) "He employed becoming means to alleviate harmful effects of (...)"

2) "He managed to pinpoint the problem with airtight accuracy."

3) "He undertook surgical steps to address the issue (...)" (surgical serving as a synonym for accurate)

Thank you.


texts: Synonym for vicious circle but without the negative flavour

texts: Can you think of a word that is like a vicious circle, i.e. where it's difficult to say which thing creates the other, but not in a negative way? I know vicious circle also means that but it has a negative connotation.


texts: Punctuation when writing out a numbered list with the words "one", "two", etc

texts:
I am unsure of the proper way to write out a numbered list when the individual numbers "one, two", etc. are spelled out. Here's an example of what I'm talking about:

"The plan failed for three reasons: one, nobody checked beforehand to see if the zoo was open on Sundays; two, my mother forgot to put mayonnaise on my sandwich again; and three, Alec Baldwin showed up."

I'm almost certain I've committed some punctuation atrocities here. What is the proper way to write this paragraph?


texts: Word to describe writing that only contains superficial knowledge and no genuine substance

texts:
Looking for a word that describes writing that is superficial and sounds knowledgeable but actually doesn't mean anything. It would be written by someone who doesn't have deep knowledge on the subject but pretends to know the subject.

Example sentence: This is a ______ article.

Word is not "shallow." It means more than shallow. It means there is an effort to sound knowledgeable on the topic. Almost like there's an element of "faking" knowledge.


texts: What is the origin of the term "blockbuster"?

texts:
I was looking through some stuff on Amazon, and I came across the Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens video game, and the description of the game explained that it is based on the hit "blockbuster" movie. I've seen this term used all the time for movies and media that do well, but I've never thought about its significance before. I'm confused as to why.
Blockbuster is typically defined as the following (from Merriam Webster):

1:  a very large high-explosive bomb
2:  one that is notably expensive, effective, successful, large, or extravagant
3:  one who engages in blockbusting

But these have nothing to do with successful media sources. How did the term "blockbuster" come to be associated with a hit film?


texts:
I have a simple question. I need to describe a small list of goals. Let's say I have three:

to develop my language learning skills
to speak french fluently with friends
to read books in italian.

I want to put them all into one sentence. My question is, which one is more standard?

  My main goals are to develop my language learning skills, to speak french fluently with friends, and to read books in italian.

or

  My main goals are to develop my language learning skills, speak french fluently with friends, and read books in italian.

?

Edit: this is not a duplicate of "to + verb" at the beginning of each bullet point vs. single "to" + multiple verbs In that question, bullets are used, whereas I am using a comma separated list in a single sentence. I think they are different situations and it's good to have both answers around.


texts: What "tabloid", "bikini", "heroin", "escalator", "trampoline", and "aspirin" have in common

texts:
This is a puzzle for Christmas. What do the following words have in common?

tabloid, bikini, heroin, escalator, trampoline, aspirin


texts:
Is it wrong to use negative participle 1 in this way?

She took the keys not even asking whether it was allowed or not.

I believe the correct way is:

She took the keys without even asking whether it was allowed or not.

Actually, I don't really think that backshifting (swapping the tense by one back: is => was) is necessary in this case, and we could've swapped "was" to "is" without significant change in meaning, yet there's always a chance I'm wrong.
Will it be acceptable?

She took the keys not even asking whether it is allowed or not.

I surely appreciate your help.


texts: Is "ending" in "The rain will continue through the week, ending Friday" just use of a participle?

texts: In the sentence, "The rain will continue through the week, ending Friday", is "ending" acting as a future continuous participle? If so is "will be" implied ("will be ending"). Similarly, in the sentence, "Beginning next week, the weather will be warmer", what is the correct classification for "beginning" or something else?


texts: Apostrophe to indicate the plural of a mathematical object

texts:
I have a question on the use of apostrophe to indicate the plural of a mathematical object.

Consider the sentence: "There are many values of X such that the statement is true".

In math, often we re-write this sentence as "There are many X's such that the statement is true".

Now, my question is: which one is correct (or preferred) between

"There are many X's such that the statement is true"

and

"There are many Xs such that the statement is true"

In case they are both wrong, please explain.


texts:
If a doctor loses his license to practice is there an equivalent word to disbarred?

For example:

  That lawyer was disbarred
  The doctor was (medically disbarred).


texts:
I heard someone say, "You are being foolish."

Is there any difference between "You are being foolish." and "You are  foolish."?


texts: How do you say "three times a month" in one word?

texts: We say semimonthly when we describe something happening twice a month. for example "a semimonthly publication", "a semimonthly meeting", etc. Is there any word we can use to describe something that happens three times a month; preferably one word?


texts: Testing software by giving the output back as input

texts:
I want to apply an integrity test to a software by giving it input which is based on its output of a previous calculation.
If the new output is then again the same as the previous output, the software has passed this check.

Is there an English term that describes this kind of test? Integrity test? Self-consistency test? Or more on the technicality of the test something like feedback test?

EDIT:
It is a scientific model fitting software, where the result is a best-fit model, and the input an observation. So I simulate an observation of the best-fit model and put that back into the fitting software. Then I want to see if the result is the same as the previous best-fit model.
If the test fails, the results might e.g. 'drift-off' (if the model would be the percentage of male vs female students,  feeding an observation from the last result might increase the percentage of males, and an observation of that fed back into the software might increase the percentage further).

I realize from the answers and comments that this test might not have a common/well-known English name, so I might ask on statistic or software QA.
Fixed point test seems to be the term that describes best what I'm looking for.

However, some answers are clearly not what I was looking for:

regression testing does not refer to giving a (modified) result back as input, but just to compare archived results with current results.

recursion seems to apply an algorithm, not a test. Also, in recursion algorithms, the idea is mostly that the result changes over time.


texts: What does the -mate suffix mean and where does it come from?

texts: What does the suffix "-mate" mean? It makes a word into a verb, like with automate or decimate, but does it actually have a meaning? Is it perhaps Greek for "to make" or something?


texts: Singular or plural form of property, when describing an object with N-count for the property

texts:
Is the singular or plural form of a property required when describing an object which has a count of N for that property?

For example, a two-mode or a two-modes analog filter?


texts: Is it appropriate to refer to a person of unknown sex by "it"?

texts:
I would like to treat a user as a non-gender noun and refer to it with the gender-neutral pronoun, it. E.g.,

  The user defines two variables, x and y. It then multiplies each variable by a prime number.

However, on Wikipedia I found this:

  The word "it", however, has an extremely impersonal connotation, even offensive, in common usage and is rarely used in English to refer to an unspecified human being or person of unknown gender. This is because the word "it" connotes that the person being specified is inferior to a person or is an object.

Is to appropriate to refer to a person of unknown sex as it?

Should I rephrase my sentence as follows:

  The user defines two variables, x and y. The user then multiplies each variable by a prime number.


texts:
My name is Belinda. In my locality, it is a rare name. So, everyone asks for its meaning. I know that it is the heroine name of "Rape of the lock". When i googled, I found that it has the meaning of a Serpent. Really I felt bad about it. Did anyone give a serpent name to a child?. Or Whether it has any other meaning...

Please clarify


texts: Etymology of "marketing:" how/when did it change meaning?

texts:
The best etymology I could find says the definition of marketing has changed like this:

  1560s, "buying and selling," verbal noun from market (v.). Meaning
  "produce bought at a market" is from 1701. The business sense,
  "process of moving goods from producer to consumer with emphasis on
  advertising and sales," is attested by 1897.

Is there any more detail about how/why the current meaning started being used and why the older meanings fell out of common usage?

update:

The etymology above lists the three different meanings; here are some more details:

The first wiktionary definition is: "Buying and selling in a market."
Related question: Have you done your marketing today?

I never knew "marketing" had these other meanings until I started looking into its etymology. I always thought marketing meant something related to promoting goods/services for sale. I never thought it had anything to do with consumption, too.


texts: What is the difference in usage between "for instance" and "for example"?

texts:
What is the difference in usage between for instance and for example?

Are they just interchangeable? I suspect they are not strictly but cannot seem to find an authoritative explanation.


texts:
Sentence 1:

  I completely agree with this notion and will make the case for it by
  analyzing the benefits that physical training classes bring to
  youngsters.

In sentence 1 we must use the definite article because everyone knows which benefits phys-ed classes bring to youngsters, it's just a common sense.

Sentence 2:

  Finally, the governmental financial reward for the organizations
  that have incorporated kitchens and gyms into their office spaces
  would be another effective (sound) countermeasure against the
  deterioration of public health.

Here we must not use the definite article because there are a lot of such organizations, and it's impossible to say which exactly the author means.

Am I right?


texts:
I understand "cloying" to mean something good that becomes distasteful in excess.

Here is a sentence I read today from this article:

  But the aerial assault on the stubborn blaze, which blanketed much of
  the New Orleans area with cloying smoke for a third straight day, is
  unlikely to extinguish the fire or end the smoke quickly, Landrieu
  said.

So when I read "cloying smoke" I assume the author intends to portray smoke as pleasurable in limited quantities?  Is this just an idiom?  Help me make sense of it.  From a google search it appears the phrase is not uncommon.


texts: Less productivity with shared responsibility

texts:
Is there a phrase for the idea that there is seemingly less productivity when responsibility for something is shared?

For example when there is only one person to do the housework, it will get done because only they can do it. If it is shared between multiple people it may take longer as each individual expects the other to do it.


texts: Did the meaning of "significant" change in the 20th century?

texts:
In Do We Really Need the S-word? in 'American Scientist', the author Megan D. Higgs writes

  Did the people who introduced the word’s use in statistics intend for it to be interpreted according to its current everyday meaning? The answer is not simple. In his 2001 book The Lady Tasting Tea: How Statistics Revolutionized Science in the Twentieth Century, David Salsburg contends the word carried much less weight in the late 19th century, when it meant only that the result showed, or signified, something. Then, in the 20th century, significance began to gather the connotation it carries today, of not only signifying something but signifying something of importance. The coinciding of this change in meaning with a steady increase in its use by more scientists with less statistical training has had a big impact on the interpretation of scientific results. My sentiments echo Salsburg’s: “Unfortunately,” he writes, “those who use statistical analysis often treat a significant test statistic as implying something much closer to the modern meaning of the word.”

I did some searching on Google, but unfortunately, most results are about the term "Historical significance", and I failed to find a definitive reference about the change in the meaning of "significant".

Can you tell me about more about the meaning change, like when and why did it happen?


texts:
From Programming Entity Framework: DbContext by Julia Lerman, page 6:

  Avoiding trolling around the guts of Entity Framework

What does "trolling around" mean in this fragment? Entity Framework is the name of a framework for programming.


texts: The children. How to tell whose exactly?

texts:
According to Murphy’s grammar, the definite article is used when specific things are meant, for example:
“We took the children to the zoo. (a specific group, perhaps the speaker’s children) “
What puzzles me is the use of the definite article in book titles like:
 “Stories Of Siegfried, Told To The Children”,
 “Stories From The Ballads, Told To The Children”, ”Stories of King Arthur's Knights, Told to the Children by Mary MacGregor”, et c.
How can I possibly understand whose children the author means – her own, or perhaps those of King Arthur? Would the meaning of these book titles change if the definite article were absent?


texts: Multiple names and titles in a single sentence?

texts:
This study includes interviews from notable professionals such as 3 time Emmy award winner John Smith, Northern State University Professor of Quantum Mechanics Dr. Jane Cook, Founder and CEO of Planet Express Hubert Farnsworth, ...

The above sentence is similar to one from a research paper. I tried rearranging it as below:

This study includes interviews from notable professionals such as John Smith (3 time Emmy award winner), Dr. Jane Cook (Northern State University Professor of Quantum Mechanics), Hubert Farnsworth (Founder and CEO of Planet Express), ...

This makes it a bit easier to read and appears to be the format other articles use, but I was wondering if it's grammatically correct to place titles in parentheses in this way. Would either sentence be incorrect in usage for any reason?


texts: What is the difference between the pronunciation of "horse" and "whores"?

texts:
Cambridge dictionary lists the pronunciation of horse as /hɔːrs/ and that of whore as /hɔːr/.
What exactly is the way to pronounce both of them?

A clip from The Big Bang Theory "get back on the horse"


texts:
How would punctuation be used in a sentence ending with an abbreviation?

Example: I live in the U.S.. Do you live in the U.S.? We all live in the U.S.!


texts: Word for someone who is proud of something without merit?

texts:
Is there an adjective for someone who is proud of something that is really unimpressive or otherwise doesn't warrant pride? Some examples would be being a diehard fan of a terrible sports team or claiming that an average or indistinguishable town/city/country is 'the best'.

This is similar to blind worship, but without the religious connotation/idolization element. Something between a blind worshipper and a home-teamer.


texts:
I found this "blog" where  the point I refer to is fully explained.  http://englishharmony.com/past-participle-as-adjective/

Since the moment I read it, I've been wondering if

  It was already burned when I came here.

shares the same meaning as

  When I came here, it had already been burned.

I don't know whether my examples are correct. If you have a look at the website above-mentioned, you will see the examples given, which are

  'He  is gone'
  . Vs.
  "He  has gone'.

If they mean the same, theoretically, in addition to the examples I gave  you at the beginning of my question,  I might say

  " He  was gone' /
  "he  had gone"

couldn't I?   The choice depends on the context, according to that blog.


texts: How to write dashes in "a 2-4-room-apartment"?

texts:
I want to write in the announcement a description of an eventual apartment, which I am searching as a rental. I am interested in apartments with 2, 3, or 4 rooms. How should I write the compound adjective with numbers? With dashes or not — to indicate the range of rooms. If with dashes, should it be em or en dashes?

E.g.

  a 2-to-4-room apartment?
  a 2-4-room apartment?


texts:
I am having trouble figuring out when to use commas to set off "nonessential" information.  Sometimes it's obvious:

Bob, who is thirty years old, is an alcoholic.

But other times I'm not sure:

The day he quits drinking * he will start a llama farm
He has his heart set on owning El Duderino ranch * in New Mexico.

In the first case, my ear says that there should be a comma at *, even though information before it seems essential to me.  In the second case, the stuff after * is not essential, and yet it seems a little much to use a comma.
Even that last sentence I wrote confuses me.  "In the second case" seems essential but I used a comma.  Is this correct?
Does it depend on personal style and the length of the clause?  Or perhaps I'm misinterpreting the meaning of "essential" in this context?


texts:
Until ten minutes ago I thought sentences like "The model due to X et al. (2016) explains Y and Z" were common in academic writing.  Our post-doc raised doubt about the phrase's correctness, and Googling it I find very few uses. None of them I can confirm were written by a native speaker.

So, is that a common/correct way of saying X et al. proposed the model in their paper from 2016, and if not, what are alternatives?


texts: Is it still a horizon if it is where the buildings meet the sky?

texts:
The general definition for horizon is that it's the line where the sky appears to meet the earth's surface. But what if I'm on the outskirts of a city, and behind me it's the city, or maybe just a really tall building, and in front of me there's a lake, and at distance a forest around the lake?

I can clearly distinguish a horizontal line. But is it the horizon, if I only see where the sky meets the forest, and the building behind me?

What if I'm in New York City in Times Square? It's just tall buildings all around me, but I can still see where the sky meets the top of the buildings. Am I looking at the horizon, or at something else?

E.g. John is on top of a building next to times square and is calling Anna who sits in the middle of times square. John tells Anna to look at the horizon to see him. Apart from the fact that it would make much more sense to tell her "look up, I'm on the top of the building", did John use the word horizon correctly?

Does horizon means just when the dirt meets the sky, or can it be a forest meeting the sky, or a building, or anything that is on earth?


texts:
The military is usually pretty good about terminology and has handily invented lots of it.

But when it comes to 'Classified'... yikes.  It's just awful.

What I mean, in case it isn't obvious, is that 'classified' can be a verb and 'Classified' (which is not commonly capitalized, but I'm trying to maintain modicum of sanity in here) is a level of classification.

So a document might be classified as Classified, or it might be classified as Unclassified, or it might be unclassified.

Or a document previously classified as Classified might be declassified so now it is classified as Unclassified.

How did such a abominable situation come to exist and persist?


texts: What is the antonym of Consignment sale?

texts:
I have a question regarding terms for trade and commerce.
What is the antonym of 'consignment sale'?
On consignment sale basis, sellers just keep the goods and pay manufacturers or suppliers only when it is sold. Until it sells, the goods is owned by manufacturers or suppliers. So the sellers have no risk about the stock.

But if sellers buy goods from manufacturers or suppliers at the time of purchasing and the goods is delivered to sellers and owned by the sellers from that time on, what is this called?


texts: What rhetoric is applied in this sentence?

texts:
There is no point in pretending that XXX is what it is not, nor that it is not what it is.

I feel that English language has many of these kind of usage that exploits the fact that the logically flipped clauses put side-by-side strikes emphasis of the point the writer want to make. What named rhetoric method is this?


texts:
"Work is becoming too important for it to be of dubious quality."

What is the meaning of this sentence, and especially for it to be?


texts: "Intelligence" (in the espionage sense) - first use?

texts: Does anyone have an idea of when the word "intelligence" was first used, in the context of espionage? Was it used in this context in (for instance) the 18th century?


texts: Word to describe someone who allows himself to be ill?

texts:
I am looking for a word to describe a person who allows himself to become ill.

  Example: They can sense that depression is settling in again, they
  know how to stave it off, yet they allow it to consume them and they
  subsequently become suicidal or very ill.

I thought it may be self-indulgent, but have been told that's not correct.

Thank you.


texts: "Born in a City" or "Born at a City"? Uncommon Usage by Edward FitzGerald

texts:
I was reading Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, translated by Edward FitzGerald. In introduction, the translator writes:

  Khayyam was born at Naishapur.

I always thought that we needed to use in in such a case. Am I wrong, or is the usage of at legitimate but perhaps old-fashioned?

Edit: A similar question was asked before, which lead people to think that mine is a duplicate of that. However, it is not, because that question asks In which case should we use 'in' or 'at' for a city?", while what I am asking is Why 'at' is used in a case we are taught 'in' would be appropriate? To be more specific, I was born in a city is the widely accepted usage today, probably due to the fact that we perceive a city as a three-dimensional space in that context, referring to the most upvoted answer to the referred question. My question should be seen as a counter-example to the answers given to that question, because I provide an example, where FitzGerald wrote born at a city, and wonder if that is just an old-fashioned usage that we no longer use or there is more to it.


texts: Gender-neutral version of widow & widower?

texts:
Would it make more sense to use a third, different word, e.g. "spouse" instead of wife & husband, or use one of them, e.g. "actor" for actor & actress.

"Widow" seems like the obvious choice, since it's the simpler of the two.


texts:
I just came across this documentary:

  The World's Biggest & Baddest Bugs by Animal Planet

Is "baddest" a proper word? Shouldn't it be "worst"? What is going on here?


texts: Should I use the plural form when i refer to a feature in different things?

texts:
I confront the following situation so often in many different cases:

Assume that I want to write about the cars of two persons, then which of the followings is correct?

I asked them about the model of their cars.
I asked them about the models of their cars.

Generally, should I use plural or single form when I want to refer to a quality/characteristic related to different things/persons?


texts: Why does "sucker" mean "unexpected" in "Sucker Punch"?

texts: Sucker punch seems to mean "an unexpected punch" in slang. What is the origin of this term and why does sucker mean unexpected in sucker punch?


texts: Can there be an /n/ sound in the word cemetery?

texts:
Wiktionary provides following transcriptions:

/ˈsɛ.mə.ˌtɹi/
/ˈsɛ.mə.ˌtɛ.ɹi/
/ˈsɪ.mə.ˌtɛ.ɪ/

However, in the audio sample, I personally hear a faint, but distinct /n/ sound before the /t/, as

/ˈsɛ.mən.ˌtɛ.ɹi/.

I don't hear it in the Macmillan pronunciation example.

Is this me hearing things that aren't there, a quirk of pronunciation of the Wikipedia contributor, or a phenomenon of this sound combination which produces an /n/ sound which can be barely heard?


texts: Words or expressions to describe having a difficult time in your dreams or nightmares

texts:
What is the best word to use in the following sentence? Any other words or expressions that can be used?

  That day as well he had barely woken up after a night spent tossing and turning in a nightmare.
  That day as well he had barely woken up after a night spent flailing in a nightmare.
  That day as well he had barely woken up after a night spent floundering in a nightmare.


texts: Difference between 'sentimental' and 'emotional'?

texts: What is the difference between the terms 'sentimental' and 'emotional'?


texts: what does "the powers that be have to really mean it for the work to matter" mean?

texts:
The following is from Jeff Atwood's blog:

  When given the freedom to "work on whatever you want", the powers that
  be have to really mean it for the work to matter. Mostly that means
  providing employees the unfettered freedom to fail miserably at their
  skunkworks projects, sans repercussion or judgment. Without failure,
  and lots of the stuff, there can be no innovation, or true
  experimentation. The value of (quickly!) learning from failures and
  moving on is enormous.

There are two sentences I don't understand:

the powers that be have to really mean it for the work to matter
sans repercussion or judgment

I found that "the powers that be" seems to be a idiom.

There's another paragraph:

  If there isn't a healthy respect for individual experimentation versus
  the neverending pursuit of the Next Thing on the collective project
  task list, these initiatives are destined to fail. You have to truly
  believe, as a company, and as peers, that crucial innovations and
  improvements can come from everyone at the company at any time, in
  bottom-up fashion – they aren't delivered from on high at scheduled
  release intervals in the almighty Master Plan.

The following sentence I can't understand:

they aren't delivered from on high at scheduled release intervals in
the almighty Master Plan.

Wow, studying English, there's a long way to me.


texts: Felicitous use of the definite article with the referent being familiar within the discourse (to the hearer?)

texts:
Quick questions:

(1) The referent of the NP be either familiar within the discourse ... --- Why does it have to be 'within the discourse'? Can't it be familiar outside the discourse? I mean, what are the authors saying here? I'm confused. Does it matter whether it is familiar within the discourse or anywhere?

(2) Are the authors saying 'the referent of the NP be either familiar within the discourse to the hearer? (Yes, right?)

  Research into the meaning of the English definite article has
  generally been approached from one of two perspectives,
  characterizable as 'familiarity' and 'uniqueness.' That is, felicitous
  use of the definite article has been argued to require that the
  referent of the NP be either familiar within the discourse or
  uniquely identifiable to the hearer. The vast majority of uses can be
  accounted for under either view, since an entity typically must be
  familiar in a given discourse in order to be identifiable to the
  hearer.

  *NP: noun phrase, i.e. a noun with modifiers, or just a bare noun. (This annotation is added by Sssamy)

  ('Uniqueness, Familiarity, and the Definite Article in English' by
  Betty Birner and Gregory Ward)


texts: Gift, memento and souvenir in official conext

texts:
Gift is something voluntarily transferred by one person to another without compensation, according to Merriam Webster, and I understand that.

Diplomats give and take gifts, which is no surprise to anyone.

In official context, I was wondering, if a gift, a memento, a souvenir or whatever similar word you may come up with mean just about the same thing or if they could have different meanings.

This is confusing to speakers of English as a second language.

Thank you.


texts:
What’s the infinitive of the verb I use when I say “I might go” or “May I come with you”?

I think in German it’s dürfen. Is there one in English? If not, why not?


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  How should I phrase a question that must be answered with an ordinal number (e.g., the third prime)?
  Framing a question to which the answer is an ordinal number

I know the title sounds stupid, but this is one question that has left me stumped for quite some time. I hope to get an answer in this forum. If the answer is "I am the fourth son of my father", what should be the question?

In general, how do you ask questions with ordinal numbers?


texts:
I want to refer to the society of all human beings. I can use the word "society," but I sense that a society is a term for a limited number of people. For example, by society we can refer to the people of a country or city. In this sense, we can use the word societies.

But I need the society to include all human beings. Is society an appropriate word for this case? or is there a better word?

Sample sentence: By studying human "society", we understand that ...


texts:
I've been searching for a bit to find something that fits this.

The closest I could find was Paramour which is more neutral, but it's still not exactly the same. I was wondering if there was a term that fit the bill here.

On the dictionary page for casanova, everything relates to men interested in women besides "philanderer" which really has more of a strictly "cheating" aspect to the name over Casanova which has a passionate about love aspect to the term.

I'm asking because I'm trying to include it in the title of a project I'm working on.

Sample sentence: "The man wooed many people, as he was quite the _____".


texts:
I'm really hoping that this is an actual word at this point, but it's gotten me a severe case of loganamnosis today regardless...

I'm looking for a word that was used to describe a mechanical device or as a name for an invention. I believe that the device was an invention like a robotic arm or hand, or it could have been an invention used to assist in a task. All of my best Google Fu has only turned up different iterations of robotics.

What is sticking in my mind is that I'm fairly certain there is something strange about this word. Its etymology could be eponymic or its meaning could be used in a way that is unrelated to its original definition, and I'm almost definitely certain that I read it in some sort of etymological listicle.

I will not share what letter(s) I believe it starts with because I have found that when I try to recall a word that I am almost always wrong in this regard.

EDIT: Upon reading on the evolution of robot arms here, I don't believe it has to do with robotics. This is very frustrating, and though I want to say that the meaning of the term is now derogatory, I cannot say for certain.


texts: Is it proper to write "In improved contrast"

texts:
I am comparing the current version of a software product to the previous version, which is not just the contrast, but I am trying to emphasize the improvement.

Does it sound awkward to write "improved contrast" as in:

"So in improved contrast to , the ..."


texts: What will be appropriate in the following sentence?

texts:
What did the king do when he become/became angry?
I am not a native speaker so am confused that since did is used in the begining, what will be correct, become or became?
Also, what rule governs it?


texts: Hyphenation, adjectives and 'attributive' words

texts:
While explaining an answer on hyphenation, (This was the question)

I had a bit of trouble explaining where hyphenation should be used and where it should not.

For example, consider the following two sentences:

His entry was less than impressive.
His less-than-impressive entry let down the audience.

I know instinctively that the second sentence must use hyphenation, but am unable to explain why this is so. I've heard that the word in the second sentence is attributive, but I'm not sure what that means.

Could somebody give a thorough explanation on when to use hyphenation in adjectives and when not to?

Other such examples are: know-it-all, devil-may-care, holier-than-thou, America-first, cloak-and-dagger, fairy-tale, drug-induced, kill-time, and many, many more(which I don't seem to recall now)!


texts: "That is the lady (which / that / who / whom) I told you about." Which is correct?

texts:
That is the lady [which / that / who / whom / (none of these)] I told you about.

I failed this test question when I used none of the options, saying: "That is the lady I told you about". Some constructive criticism would be most welcome.


texts: How do you punctuate items in a series after a colon when the items are independent clauses?

texts:
A sometimes online sparring partner of mine recently wrote:

Men (as opposed to women) have had a purpose that should serve us well should this new transhuman world ever actually materialize: We provide; we protect; we invent; we drive the engine of economies.

Normally, I wouldn't separate the items in a series after a colon with semicolons unless one or more of them included a comma of its own. But here the items are independent clauses, which makes me think that semicolons should be used, regardless.

So, what's correct?


texts: Usage of "under the sound of one's voice"

texts:
I'd encountered the following excerpt from a speech by Martin Luther King (there's a video, if you're interested):

"I want to say to everybody under the sound of my voice this afternoon
that you are somebody."

I'd also encountered a similar usage by Malcolm X (that's too an excerpt from a speech, quoted by Maya Angelou in The Heart of a Woman):

"Every person under the sound of my voice is a soldier"

There are only few Google results to this kind of usage.
My question is:
Does it have a certain origin, or is it just a rhetorical phrasing?
Also, is this kind of structure (i.e., "under the x of y") is used elsewhere?


texts:
After they had their supper, Father went into the living-room to watch TV.

Why use Father not father?


texts:
Are we really living with a developed economy?
Please tell if the usage of with is appropriate. Would it be correct to write it like:
"Are we really living in a developed economy?


texts: Would you say 'yes, neither do I' / 'yes, me neither'?

texts:
My question does not have to do with the correctness/incorrectness of 'neither do I'/'me neither', but with the presence of the 'yes' (or 'yeah', which is how it most often 'comes out' for me) at the beginning.

If someone were to say:

  I love chocolate.

I'd naturally answer (orally) one of the two:

  Yeah, so do I. / Yeah, me too.

But if someone were to say:

  I don't like driving.

Would it be normal to answer:

  Yeah, neither do I. / Yeah, me neither.

Or with it be best to say:

  No, neither do I. / No, me neither.

I do not understand why my question was marked as a duplicate. My question is not about the personal pronoun (I or me) but about the adverbs (Yes/Yeah or No). I do state in the first paragraph that my question concerns "the presence of the 'yes' (...) at the beginning.", whereas the question I'm supposedly 'duplicating' is clearly focused on the personal pronoun.

I shall edit to make the words I'm concerned with in bold to see if that clarifies that I'm not interested in the pronouns.


texts: “It was great seeing you.” “You too.”  Why not “Me too”?

texts: In response to "It was great seeing you," why do people say "you, too" instead of "me, too?"


texts:
I am wondering if it is proper to consider a snowboard a device?

I am writing a blog post on a person's perspective on Devices including his Technological and Transportation devices.

I am trying to use the word device to mean anything that serves a specific function, so in the case of a snowboard being a device it's function is a means of transportation.

If it is not considered a device, is there a term that better combines all of these objects that I am trying to write about including as a Phone, a Camera or Snowboard?


texts: Why "most of them" and not "most of they"?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  “It is they who lied” or “it is them who lied?”

Why does "most of..." take an object pronoun, such as them, and not they? Do all prepositional constructs do this?


texts:
US bonds are now paying less
3-year US bonds, shorter-term bonds, are now paying less than 5-year ones. For some, that’s a signal of an
impending recession. Different bonds have different payback dates, and
yields (the returns on offer) are typically higher for longer-term
bonds than for shorter-term ones, to compensate for the extra risk
involved.

I cannot understand that some worry because 3-year US bonds are now paying less, but typically yields are higher for longer-term bonds than for shorter-term ones.
I am confused because I thought that bond paying and yields have a similar meaning. But it seems they have the opposite meaning, according to the quoted statement.
Please give me a hint.


texts: Single word for process of removing duplicates?

texts:
In the context of a list of items, the process of creating copies of something can be called duplication, but is there a single word for the process of removing duplicates to create a list of unique items?

I'm open to any other ways of expressing this eg:

(Adjective + list) - expressing the state of the list before and after removing duplicates. (for the after state, I feel like I could use unique list, but what would I call it in the before-removal-of-duplicates stage?)

Note that I'm not talking about duplication of the entire list i.e. "duplicated list", I'm talking about a list that has duplicated elements that should be removed


texts: Is there a term for deliberately misestimating a value to avoid a threshold?

texts:
During the era when Britain transported convicts to its colonies, judges often estimated the value of thefts to be 39 shillings, because 40 shillings would require the death penalty.

Likewise, it's said that during the trial of Yaoya Oshichi, the judge repeatedly asked her if she was 15 years old, because being 16 years old meant that she was subject to the death penalty.

Is there a term for this kind of deliberate misestimation, which might be used like "The judge ___ by stating that the thief had stolen goods to the value of 39 shillings".

The closest word I can think of is fudge, which is less harsh than saying that someone outright lied.


texts: Is it appropriate to say "I've never been" when referring to a place, omitting the adverb "there" from the phrase?

texts:
I have been hearing the phrase "I've never been" with increasing frequency lately when referring to places (i.e., "I'd like to go to the Apollo. I've never been" as opposed to "I've never been there").

I recently moved to New York and am noticing this adverb omission among 20-somethings in the city, particularly college-educated women. But is this phrase right? It sounds strange to my ear to omit the adverb "there" from this phrase when referring to a place.


texts: Can ellipsis be followed by a pronoun like "YOU"?

texts:
I'm trying to quote someone's tweet and planning to use the ellipsis as a pause in my sentence (due to showing an aggressive attitude)

*

  You... SNOB! Stop gossiping about me!

Correct?


texts: What is "first modify" in the following piece from a license text?

texts: "You may redistribute the source code of this program subject to the condition that you do not first modify it in any way"


texts: Equivalent idiom for "turning in one's grave" for a living person?

texts:
If you do something that would greatly upset a deceased person, it would cause him to "turn in his grave".

However, what if the person affected is still alive? Is there an equivalent idiom for this?


texts: One single word for sandbox/training/workshop/root-cause-analysis/experimenting environment

texts:
We are asking our management for budget to create a new development environment, which will be as similar as possible to the production environment and which purpose will be:

Training newcomers
Workshops with developers and testers
Experimenting with code
Experimenting with the application
Root cause analysis of issues

Commonly, such environments are called sandbox environment. We are searching for a better word (preferably a single adjective to environment) which will not sound so "playful" to the management but still covers all the above mentioned use cases.

And it's not testing environment, that's already used for regular system testing.


texts: What does "hardpoints" and "dots" mean in the following context?

texts:
I'm working on translating the following text, which is an excerpt from an interview with a car designer:

  What’s interesting to me is not just the way car design has changed in the last 24 years, but how my role has changed too. In the past it was much simpler. Packaging and hardware were really the domain of engineering, and designers tended to wrap clothes around what was already a given. Go back another 20 years even, and the role of the designer was very much that of a stylist in its purest form. You were given a set of hardpoints, joined the dots, and tried to make it look pretty.

I'm not sure what the bolded text/word actually mean.

In this context, I guess "clothes" means "piece of cloth for cleaning or covering something" but I'm not sure how it can be used in a car design.

I assume hardpoints are those parts of an aeroplane where you charge military arsenal and dots are, well, dots.


texts: Does the idiom "in lieu of" for "instead of" sound legalese or affected in modern day AmE

texts:
I once came across the idiomatic "in lieu of" in some bilingual dictionary I can't seem to put my hands on anymore, but I remember pretty well the phrase being defined as an Americanism.

And so, I wish you could tell if "in lieu of" is safe to use instead of "instead of" in everyday speech and writing. Or does it sound sort of legalese or stilted for the most common prose?

  http://www.thefreedictionary.com/in+lieu+of

E.g.

More and more health conscious consumers are becoming aware of the value of raw milk and raw milk products in lieu of pasteurized milk and milk products. source


texts:
I am writing a text on theatre. I would like to put in one sentence two different time references:

"The model has recently been popular in the academia"

AND

"It was theorized about 50 years ago by X"

The sentence would go along the lines of:

"What has recently been popular in the academia was/had already been theorized about 50 years ago by X"

I'm wondering whether I should use the Past Simple form as there are no 2 different past reference points or the Past Perfect form - since 50 years is a long time and I would like to emphasize the fact.


texts:
Can someone explain me what a semantic role in a sentence is? From my understanding is it subject–verb–object relationship? Take this sentence:

The Rhine River takes its source in Switzerland before flowing through Basel and Strasbourg in Alsace Lorraine.

Would the subject be the Rhine river, the verb takes and the object its source in Switzerland? Or would the object be its source in Switzerland before flowing through Basel and Strasbourg in Alsace Lorraine.
Thank you.


texts:
Example:

  I never use this cup.
  I never ever use this cup.

What is the difference between these two sentences?


texts: "Don't got" — how common is it in American usage?

texts:
I often hear the usage "don't got" in American English as spoken on TV programmes. Recently I was watching season four of "Prison Break" and one character, an Asian computer wizard, repeatedly used "don't got". E.g. 9:48 into episode two:

  Not if you don't got me

However, I've also heard from people who say that this formation is not used much in real speech.

How common is the "I don't got money" or even "He don't got a dog" style formation in real American speech?


texts: Your Site Visitors or Your Site’s Visitors?

texts:
Your site/site’s visitors are very active.

How is correct to write: your site visitors or your site’s visitors?


texts: Is there any online phrase dictionary available?

texts: I use WordWeb which is available online for vocabulary. But, is there any equivalent for getting the meaning and origin of phrases ?


texts: So, everything I see seems to indicate that "sales price" is the correct way to refer to the price that one pays for a house or similar type of property. However, would it not be better as "sale's price", being that the price "belongs" to the sale of the property thus making the word "sale" possessive? In the same way that you might call any details of the sale (including the price) the "sale's details"


texts: Is there an English (British or American) expression or idiom that refers to a recluse finally socializing

texts:
In Icelandic, there is an expression "að viðra sig", using the analogy of clothes that smell of closet and the act of taking them outside to get some of that old smell out of them, that is used to describe a recluse who finally spends some time with other people.

While I don´t expect the same analogy to be used in English, is there any other idiom/expression that refers in any way to the same act/effort?

Updated

I was not as clear as I could be with the original question... The act I am trying to pinpoint is a one-off effort to socialize, rather than a permanent change from recluse to non-recluse. Using the Icelandic expression as an example, it would be used by a parent about having forced a kid who is a World of Warldcraft addict to participate in a family dinner. Again, I am not looking for an exact corresponding expression, but hoping to get as close as possible.

Note

In the comments to this question, a few expressions were mentioned but it was pointed out that they are not intended for people:
"De-mothball" - used for military equipment
"given an airing" - used for papers and ideas that are brought back into discussion after neglect

While difficult to use for my purposes, they might be useful in a different situation as long as you take into account the weirdness of referring to people in this way... so i thought I'd mention them here. Thanks to mplungjan and 'Colin Fine'


texts: Does the phrase "Do you want a hand in this" make sense?

texts:
From someone, somewhere, I remember hearing the phrase do you want a hand in this? I was told that it meant do you want to be a part of this?

However, when I googled this phrase, nothing turned up. So did I remember it wrong? Is there another phrase that means do you want to be a part of this?


texts:
Presently * meaning  "in a very short time, soon", is a widely accepted term, but why does its usage meaning "at the present time, currently" still remain an  open area for dispute?

Disputed usage: I am presently reading an financial paper.

Undisputed usage: I will be finished with my meeting presently.

Usage note: The meaning “now” of presently dates back to the 15th century; it is currently in standard use in all varieties of speech and writing. The sense “soon” arose gradually during the 16th century. Strangely, it is the older sense “now” that usage guides sometimes object to. The two senses are rarely if ever confused. presently meaning “now” is most often used with the present tense (The professor is presently on sabbatical leave) and presently meaning “soon” often with the future tense (The supervisor will be back presently)
Source: Webster Dic.

Usage note: An original meaning of presently was "at the present time; currently." That sense is said to have disappeared from the literary language in the 17th century, but it has survived in popular usage and is widely found nowadays in literate speech and writing. Still, there is a lingering prejudice against this use. The sentence General Walters is ... presently the United States Ambassador to the United Nations was acceptable to only 48 percent of the Usage Panel in the 1999 survey. Source: The America Heritage Dic.

Usage note: both senses 1)"in a very short time"  and 2)" at the present time"  are flourishing in current English, but many commentators have objected to sense 2. Since this sense has been in continuous use since the 15th century, it is not clear why it is objectionable. Perhaps a note in the Oxford English Dictionary (1909) that the sense has been obsolete since the 17th century in literary English is to blame, but the note goes on to observe that the sense is in regular use in most English dialects. The last citation in that dictionary is from a 1901 Leeds newspaper, written in Standard English. Sense 2 is most common in contexts relating to business and politics
Source: Merriam Web. Dictionary


texts: A word for stretching out the facts just so they fit a theory?

texts:
There’s pareidolia which describes the phenomenon of your brain tricking you into seeing faces in every-day objects.

There’s also a (seemingly) related phenomenon of people believing in a theory so hard that they stretch the facts or even make them up just so that they fit the theory.

Does this phenomenon/behaviour have a name?


texts: Using a name as a contraction with "is", syntax looks possessive?

texts:
"Bob is fat."

Would it be proper to do "Bob's fat."?

To me, this looks possessive, as if we're talking about his fat rather than using "fat" as an adjective. What's the proper way to do this?

"Bob is fat."


texts:
Which of the following statements is correct? And, what is the difference?

What was decided in the call?
What was decided on the call?

By call, I am referring to a conference (phone) call.
Thanks a lot.


texts: How can I say a word or any expression "a very small dust"?

texts:
In some news, I see the words "fine dust", but it sounds strange.

Is it a common phrase?

ex) Fine dust is in the air.


texts: Is this usage of "Just as well" correct?

texts:
Is it okay to use "just as well" in the next scenario:

  Person 1: When I'm mad I can  be stubborn as hell.

  Person 2: And when you're not, just as well!


texts: I am not sure if I could use the alternative words in these context

texts:
So you've probably studied both of these movements... separately, separate movements . . . Realism and Impressionism in some of your art history courses, so who can just sum these up?
could replace movements with campains？
What's the difference between,  difference and differential used as a noun.（difference VS differential）
Pretty quickly though, thankfully, everybody realized the music should suit the film.（could I use 'match' to replace 'suit'.）
Yeah, original music scores weren't common then.(common VS popular,dominant)
But that all changed with the introduction of sound-on-film technology.(introduction VS emergence)
Actually, even before that- organs could mimic a number of instruments and also do some sound effects, so they were starting to replace live orchestras in some movie theaters.(VS simulate)
So you've probably studied both of these movements... separately, separate movements . . . Realism and Impressionism in some of your art history courses, so who can just sum these up?(VS campain)
Purposely fly there just to collect data? Impressive(VS admirable)
Is it art, or is it a method of reproducing images? Do photographs belong in museums or just in our homes?(VS replicating)


texts: What is the classifying noun for a person who is both a project team member and a consumer of the final product?

texts:
In an example scenario, two people, say a capenter and a plumber, are both working on a shopping mall construction project.  The carpenter, lives in a foreign land, will return home when her direct involvement in the project is complete, while the plumber is a local lad and is looking forward to taking advantage of the wonderful purchasing opportunities the new mall will offer.

Both the carpenter and the plumber are project team members.

What single term describes the plumber's involvement with the project as both a project team member and a consumer?


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Where should the comma be placed in the salutation of a letter?

I've noticed that most of Americans I interact with online have a tendency to begin their emails like this:

  Hi Fabio,

Meanwhile in my native language we write:

  Hi, Fabio

which is taught to us in school.

What's the deal?


texts:
Compare these 3 sentences:

  Both are based on librsync, but above that they behave quite differently.
  Both are based on librsync, but above that, they behave quite differently.
  Both are based on librsync, but, above that, they behave quite differently.

I found the first one hard to parse (I needed to read it more than once to actually make sense of it). The second is far easier, and the third has oh-so-many commas.


texts: Should I say "ATM" or "cashpoint" in the UK?

texts:
ATM is an initialism of automated teller machine, coined sometime in the 1970s. I have always considered it an Americanism while its British equivalent has always been cashpoint,  Oxford Living Dictionaries tell me it is a trademark (who knew?). Wiktionary states that it was originally a registered trademark of Lloyds Bank.

Neither Oxford nor Wiktionary offers me any alternatives. Luckily, a quick Google search unearthed  the following BrEng terms kindly supplied by Macmillan Dictionary:

cash dispenser
cash machine
hole-in-the-wall (informal)
machine

I know for a fact that ATM is the most common term used in the US but I do not know about the UK. Is it still cashpoint? Has ATM superseded it?

Question
In 2017, what is the most common term in the UK for a machine that dispenses cash?


texts: Classification of Band as a Collective Noun

texts:
The band of musicians was playing.- here band is a collective noun.
The musical band is popular among teenagers.- Can I say band is a collective noun in this context?


texts: Meaning of a passage in "Night on Highway 128" by Cary Mullis

texts:
From Night on Highway 128 by Cary Mullis:

  I was driving up a long and winding road between Cloverdale and Booneville in Mendocino County, heading for my weekend cabin. My girlfriend was asleep and I was functionally sober (or the road would have proven my undoing) but it was late at night and I was feeling weird. Strange things had happened to me on 128 before. Furtive old men in… what was that? A grey robe. In that field. I didn’t see anything. Or lost time: the distinct feeling, shared by my former wife, pulling into Booneville and recalling that we had just left Cloverdale, now thirty five miles to the southeast.

I struggle to understand the meaning of this passage. Does it mean the author had prevously seen "a furtive old man (or men)" wearing grey robe/robes when riding along this road, but on this account he didn't see anything of such sort?


texts:
This problem has plagued me occasionally, and I'm finally asking: What is the proper grammar (specifically, verb use and capitalization) in the following pun situation?

  The only Windows I want to hear about is the operating system.

It's being used in a written place. If I am, in fact, referring to the OS, I should capitalize Windows, but I don't necessarily want to give away the joke at the very beginning of the sentence; additionally, I don't know whether I should use "is" (which would be correct for the OS), or "are" (which would be correct for multiple glass surfaces out of which a person can look).

I realize it's a fairly absurd situation, but I still want to do it correctly.


texts:
I came across these adverts: EPO 2013  EPO 2014 on TV a few years back and was curious as to what type of accent the speaker has. I've been told by a linguistic professor who is English  that it is a 'posh' English accent but definitely would not be considered RP (Received Pronunciation), which is the standard accent used by broadcasters on the radio and on television.

The reason I ask is that I'm am a native English speaker who's accent and pronunciation have been 'muddled' by having moved through 4 different countries during my childhood. I'd like to improve my accent for personal and professional reasons perhaps entering the film or voiceover industry. I have a slight English/Irish accent but the pronunciations make some words difficult to understand and hopefully emulating a voiceover artist would help.


texts: 'Year Obtained from education' on CV meaning

texts:
So I am filling out a CV and answering about my education, when it comes up 'year obtained' I have never come across this on a CV before and if I have it hasn't been worded this way. Could someone help me? I am confused about whether it asking me the year I started or left,
Thank you.


texts:
Are all the phrases below correct and if they are , what are the differences?
Car's window / car window / the window of  car


texts: English idioms usage: "shack up", "give leg bail"

texts:
Are the idioms "shack up" (=sleep with) and "give leg bail" (=flee) in use now?

Are they widely used? Are they easily recognized?


texts: "Not realizing" vs "not having realized"?

texts:
"In a humorous gaffe, President George W. Bush once said that Ian Fleming was the discover of penicillin, not realizing that Ian Fleming was in fact the creator of James Bond."

"In a humorous gaffe, President George W. Bush once said that Ian Fleming was the discover of penicillin, not having realized that Ian Fleming was in fact James Bond's creator."

1 is correct. Is it because of the "creator" or because of the "not having realized" thing?


texts:
What exactly does 'extensive participation' mean?

Can I use this phrase in a sentence like this:

  Due to her extensive participation she hardly got time for her studies.


texts: Any difference in nuance between “for easing restrictions” and “for easing of restrictions”?

texts:
These days, we often see news headlines like the below examples, and I wonder if there is any difference in nuance between "for easing restrictions" and "for easing of restrictions". Can anyone help me with this question, please.

Greek government unveils plan for easing restrictions. https://knews.kathimerini.com.cy/en/news/greek-government-unveils-plan-for-easing-restrictions

Koike unveils road map for easing of restrictions in Tokyo https://japantoday.com/category/national/Koike-unveils-road-map-for-easing-of-restrictions-in-Tokyo


texts: How do you say in a URL the symbol "-"? Slash? Minus? Hyphen?

texts:
For example: www.hello-stack.com
Maybe you say www dot hello slash stack dot com ?
There are several kind of dashes by the way: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dash


texts: A phrase used to describe solving a problem by using a convenient solution that does something broad that also resolves the problem

texts:
Things I'm trying to convey

The solution is something simple and convenient (i.e. doesn't require a lot of effort, hence not "overkill" or "overengineering")
The solution does something that has an impact greater than the actual problem, but this impact also happens to solve the problem
A subtle sense of laziness for choosing this solution, because it's so convenient and solves the problem in such a blunt way

An example of a situation that may be described this way:

You have a pimple, and wear a face mask to cover it (a mask is an easy solution, and covering your entire face is more than what's necessary. you could put in a bit more effort with makeup/cosmetics to also solve the problem)

I'm not sure if an idiom/phrase/word exists for this idea. I feel that I've read something expressing this sentiment before, but I can't for the life of me remember what it is.

I've seen phrases like "hitting a nail with a sledgehammer" or "killing a fly with a bomb" but I feel those aren't quite it. They don't have that kind of "lazy choice" feel that I'm looking for.


texts: Should I repeat the "for" after each verb?

texts:
Are both of these correct? If they are, is one better than the other?

They need a solution they believe in and can fight for, work for, and live for.

They need a solution they believe in and can fight, work, and live for.

Thanks!


texts:
How are "i.e." and "e.g." pronounced?
How are i.e. and e.g. pronounced?


texts: ''Are they still here?'' Why is the word ''are'' considered a lexical verb in this sentence?

texts: I know lexical verbs are main verbs and auxiliary verbs are helpers (be, do, have) to main verbs but I can not find a logical way to think of "are" as a lexical verb. Can you please describe to me the logic behind it?


texts: possessive referring to behavior of multiple actors

texts:
In
"Alice and Bob's contrary behavior served to"
vs
"Alice's and Bob's contrary behavior served to"
Usually the choice between the two forms hinges on whether the two actors possess the subject in common. And usually behavior cannot be jointly owned. So my intuition is that this choice hinges on whether Bob and Alice are treated as a group or as individuals. Is that correct, or are there other considerations?
So I might use the first form if Alice and Bob are acting united relative to a third party or the second form if they are behaving contrary to each other or to many other parties separately.
This question is distinct from
Third-Person Possessive Pronouns in Dual Possessives
because behavior is an uncountable noun that cannot usually be co-owned and because this question does not involve pronouns. The linked question does not answer this one.


texts: I am familiar with the "-ridden" construction, e.g. "anxiety-ridden". I also know that "riddled with X" is possible. I recently saw the combination "ridden with X", which sounds off to me, but I'm not sure whether my intuition is a reliable guide here. Does "ridden with X" make sense, or is it an eggcorn?


texts: A word for a person who talks themselves up but actually does nothing

texts: What do you call someone who talks themselves up but actually does nothing?


texts:
What is his standing in the community?
  Where is his standing in the community?

Which one is better? What if community is replaced by competition?


texts: "Frit" as dialect for "frightened" - which dialects, especially as simple past?

texts:
Out walking the other day I came across a lovely West-Country-ism from a local walking her dog - frit, meaning frightened, in "you frit him" (referring to a startled dog). The speaker sounded local (Bristol / Gloucestershire).

Oxford online gives it as an adjective, with the origin: "Early 19th century: dialect past participle of fright." but I'm interested more in the verb use, in particular, in which dialects it is or was used.

A related discussion at WordReference.com gives some scattered examples of the use as an adjective, including one in which the then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher used it in a list of synonyms for "afraid".  Examples as a verb are harder to find


texts: Looking for a word like "eulogy", but for a person that has not died?

texts: I was thinking of words like the "background" of a person? Their overall qualities summarised into a short form. Eulogy might be a bad example, as it implies praise. A word meaning "a summary of someone's traits and characteristics."


texts: Trying to understand the usage of "not both" at the end of the sentence

texts:
This is a question from one of my homework problems, but the wording is very weird, so I'd like to clarify my understanding on it.

  4.Find all bars in 'Chicago' (and display all attributes) for which we know either the address (i.e., addr in our schema) or the phone number
  but not both.

Is this problem asking me to find all bars in Chicago that we do not know the address and the phone number of? Or only bars that we know both the address and the phone number?

In other words, I'm very confused on what "not both" at the end of the sentence really means.


texts: Usage of there is vs there are when talking about a list of mixed singular and plural nouns

texts:
Is there a rule regarding the use of there is vs there are at the start of a list containing both singular and plural nouns? For example;
There is an apple, an orange, a carrot and some bananas in the bag.
Sounds incorrect to me even though the 1st noun is singular, however there are does not sound much better...
There are an apple, an orange, a carrot and some bananas in the bag.
There are some bananas, an apple, an orange and a carrot in the bag, sounds OK as the 1st noun is plural.
Is there a better way of writing this? The text is being automatically generated by a computer programme.


texts: Can the "don't" contraction be expanded when used as a command?

texts:
I refer to the usage of "don't" as an imperative to tell someone what not to do. As in,

  Hey! Don't you dare touch that button!

When it is used in the interrogative or as part of a statement, "don't" can be expanded like most other contractions. It either just breaks up right in the sentence, or surrounds the subject.

  Don't you love me, Juanromeo? -> Do you not love me, Juanromeo?

  I don't love you, Marijuliet. -> I do not love you, Marijuliet.

However, I have no idea how one breaks up the imperative. "Do you not dare[...]" sounds like it's a lead up to a question, "You do not dare[...]" comes across as a statement moreso than a command, and "Do not you dare[...]" just sounds silly.

"Don't" is a bit unique among "not" contractions (at least that I know of) because it is the only one that can be used in an imperative sense. Couldn't, shouldn't, wouldn't, haven't, isn't, doesn't, aren't, can't... none of these can be used in an imperative sense because you cannot command someone to could, should, etc.

Is it possible to expand the don't contraction when it is used as part of a command? Or is its unique case such that it exists as its own linguistic construct?


texts: Is bachelorette replacing spinster and other synonyms?

texts:
Bachelorette meaning "unmarried woman" is an English expression with a French-sounding flavor which dates back to the late 19th century, but its usage has considerably increased from the early '90s.

In recent decades the expression seems to be more commonly used than other less appealing synonyms such as "spinster" or "unmarried woman".

In recent online articles, for instance,  you may read:

"Gwyneth Paltrow's Bachelorette Getaway in Mexico" (from Enews)
"Bachelorette Becca Kufrin Reveals the One Celebrity She Wants to Compete for Her Heart" (from ETnews)

Questions:

Is bachelorette becoming the "preferred" neutral expression to refer to an "unmarried woman"? Is it commonly used both in BrE and AmE? What may have caused its increase in usage from the '90s, one century later than it was first coined?


texts: Is there a word or phrase for when you break a word in a different place to give a different meaning?

texts:
I'm thinking similar to a compound word, but you could break the word at a different or multiple places.

Granted I cannot think of a real-world example, but I have included two situations where this has happened.

If I had a domain name that was photospork.com, this could be interpreted as:

photo + spork, a gallery of a cutlery collector's obsession with sporks, or
photos + pork, a culinary site dedicated to showing users the best cuts of pork.

Another example is when I named a work project toolscore, which can again be represented as either:

tools + core, to represent the core component of the tools, or
tool + score, to show the highest score reached using that tool.


texts:
Recently I have been trying to eliminate the use of very in my sentences.
I have a scenario where I am using
Kindly confirm the final approach as this back and forth change in xxx is very counterproductive.
And I am trying to find a better alternative to **very** counterproductive in this scenario.
Any suggestions?


texts: Am I using the word 'leverage' correctly ?

texts:
The sentence is, "I want to leverage my understanding of topic A with the knowledge of topic B to prepare myself well for a particular career".

I want to convey that I already know topic A and learning topic B will be a huge add-on if I want to choose a particular career.

Can you suggest me a better way of conveying the idea ?


texts: Terminology for describing lack of agreement between a clause and subject

texts:
First question, and apologies if I word it awkwardly.

Someone posted a chart of emotions. At the top were the words, "As a writer, this has proved to be a truly valuable chart." Here's the link: https://www.facebook.com/writerscircle/photos/a.469562786290.301523.110046421290/10153994207441291/?type=3&theater

Now, I know that's wrong. The chart's not a writer. But I'm flailing about for the correct terms to describe WHY it's wrong. Lack of agreement between a prepositional phrase and sentence subject? Or...?

Could someone supply the technical terms for what's wrong with that sentence?

Thanks in advance.

Cyn


texts: Which one of the following is correct grammatically?

texts:
I came across a question in which I'm a little confused.

1)she blamed us for the dispute, especially you and me.

2)she has blamed us for the dispute, especially you and me.

3)she blamed us for the dispute, especially you and I.

4)she had blamed us for the dispute, especially you and I.


texts: the word "slant" as a way of expressing personal views

texts:
In writing, I mainly use such words as outlook, perspective, standpoint, or viewpoint to express my personal opinion or an opinion of someone else. Examples presented below:

The author's outlook/standpoint on economy does not comply with the mainstream view.

From my perspective/viewpoint the passage seems irrelevant.

Is it possible to apply the word slant in similar contexts?
Are there any other words which I could use?


texts:
Sentence:especially thoes living in remote areas,might have never been to the capital.
Question1:Does this sentence lack a subject?if so,why "those" can't be regarded as a subject?
2 If I replace "especially"with "in particular,",will it be different?


texts: Looking for idiom/expression to describe an instance where one makes something seem better than it really is

texts:
Maybe the example would help to describe the expression I am looking for:

Say - a  sub-par school or organization makes a promotional video, whereby they make the school look way better than it really is. They accomplished this  by interviewing a few successful students,  showing only the best parts of the school/classes, picking a few angles, and omitting 80% of what really represents the true situation.

I have heard the following expression, but not sure whether it's appropriate, or even phrased correctly:

  Turn chicken into a chicken soup.

EDIT: actually the expression was

  Make chicken salad out of chicken $#!%"

coined by Brock Lesnar. Obviously it's less befitting than others mentioned on the thread.


texts: «[…] confirmed what observed»: is this correct English?

texts:
The measurement of the cell yield in liquid cultures confirmed what observed in the spot assay analysis (Fig. 3C).

I bumped into this sentence today, and that «what observed» feels like it's missing a was, i.e. it should be «what was observed». I could even explain it as an italianism, seen as the sentence would translate to «[…] hanno confermato quanto osservato […]», where quanto is a relative pronoun and hence translates to what, and osservato is the past participle of osservare=observe, hence translates to observed, stitch the two together et voilà, «what observed». I am not a native and have no detailed grammatical rule to support this claim though, which is why I am asking:

  Is this acceptable or is it ungrammatical, as my gut feeling suggests? Could you pinpoint why it is ungrammatical, if it is?


texts: Difference between some sentences involving tense

texts:
What is the difference between the two sentences in each of the three cases?

  1A. I should like to have sat down.

  1B. I should have liked to sit down.

  2A. He acts as if he knows the subject.

  2B. He acts as if he knew the subject.

  3A. He felt better when she gave him medicine.

  3B. He was feeling better when she gave him medicine.

The first pair confounds me the most.


texts: Is there a term for something that is "beyond believable"?

texts:
"Extra believable" might be another way to phrase what I am trying to find.

I feel like "unbelievable" is a term that is often paired with incredulity, whereas if something is believable, it is a very temppered response. Is there a term that goes past that into overwhelming certainty?

In fact, "certain" or "obvious" might be good candidates, but any help is appreciated.


texts: Is there another more official theatrical term for “straight man”?

texts: Thesauri provide “straight person”, “sidekick”, “second banana”, “feed” or “feeder”, “foil”, and “stooge”. We are curious if the theatrical community has a more formal or administrative term.


texts: adverb modifying the infinitive in front of the infinitive marker 'to'

texts: I think I saw some ordinary adverbs modifying the infinitive in front of the infinitive marker 'to', which were not 'not' nor 'never'. Is this usage of adverbs standard? (I thought you wouldn't need any examples.)


texts: Are all myths superstitions, or are all superstitions myths?

texts:
Are all myths superstitions, or is it the other way around, i.e. all superstition being myths?

Or can these words basically be used interchangeably?

The dictionary definitions of these words seem somewhat vague.


texts:
Is there a single word equivalent to poetic for prose?

So instead of having a poetic license you would have a "prosetic" license??


texts: Term for a similar word that cannot stand for it in every context?

texts: I once learned a term meaning a similar word that cannot stand for it in every context, i.e. a synonym that doesn't work in every instance the original word can (not a hypernym). What is this term?


texts: What is the warning that you're almost done called?

texts:
Consider the following items:

the warning track around a baseball outfield
the red stripe near the end of the a roll of receipt paper
the margin bell on a typewriter
the rumble strips when a highway becomes a street

They all seem to be of a class: things that give you a warning that something is about to change, that you're almost done.  I'm looking for an expression or word for this.

(I was thinking "canary in the coal mine", but that is for emergencies, disasters, that kind of thing -- I want something for the routine changes of life.)


texts: Term for the link a seller sends to a buyer to make payment

texts:
Oftentimes when buying stuff online, the buyer receives a URL (like a PayPal link) from the seller, which the buyer then clicks to make a payment.

Is there a concise name for such a link?

"URL that seller sent to buyer for making the payment" is too long
"Payment link" could make people think that the seller sends a payment to them
"Link for user to deposit payment" is a bit better but still long


texts: If someone owes you money and they say they will have it to you "by the first," doesn't that mean you will get it before the first of the month?


texts: What is the history of the word "lobby"?

texts: I would like to know if the word "lobby" would have been used in 1890s Georgia (United States) and to what exactly this word would have referred in that time.


texts: Flights with all inclusive stay/living, some jargon for this?

texts: Suppose a competition has a prize that contains flight tickets, all food and accommodation. Is there some special term in English to describe it? Flights with all inclusive stay or Flights with all inclusive living? Or something else? Luxurious living is an overkill, how to describe the prize with flights tickets, accommodation and all food covered?


texts: It's about time (vs) It's a matter of time

texts:
I would like to know if there is a difference in usage between these 2 structures.

In other words what situations might suit one and not the other?

It's about time.
It's a matter of time.


texts:
How to express a feeling beyond proud? For example, in the sentence:

  If one student is proud of knowing one thing, then a school is honoured to have thousand students who know many things

Here, I use the word honoured to express a feeling that is beyond proud.

Please correct the usage and suggest a better way of expressing it.


texts:
The stoplight turns green if there (is/are) more than 1 car(s) waiting

I'm having a bit of trouble figuring out the above statement. Which configuration is correct?

This is odd, as I'm a native English speaker in my mid-twenties, and I like to think my vocabulary and understanding of the English language is pretty good...but I'm always willing to learn!


texts: Word for loving an idea but not the reality

texts:
Is there a word for being in love with an idea but not liking the reality? Or the disparity between how you think something will be and how it actually is?

The best that I could do was "romanticisation".

An example might be: "In spite of her ____ of the job, she didn't really enjoy it at all."


texts:
In an essay for my English class I wrote this sentence.

The decision of what I would like to do with my future has been filled with phrases like "undecided", "I don't know", and "I'm not sure yet".

The phrases weren't 100% direct quotations, they were a generalization of typical responses that I gave when asked about my future. The sentence was corrected because the commas and the period were outside the quotation marks.

After further discourse with my teacher we acknowledged the difference between actually quoting myself and just mentioning general phrases that are used often in a list. She stated that she liked my use of the quotation marks to emphasize those generic phrases.

Taking this into account what is the correct usage of commas and quotation marks in a list like this? Or are quotation marks even the right thing to use?


texts: "It can be safely deleted" vs. "It can safely be deleted"

texts:
Is there a subtle difference between the following two sentences?

  It can be safely deleted.
  It can safely be deleted.

If they mean the same thing, is one preferred for other reasons?


texts:
I got a translation assignment where I am to use UK English but with -ize spelling.

The European Union switched from -ize to -ise some years ago in its English language publications, meaning that -ize spellings are found in older legislative acts and -ise spellings in more recent ones.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_and_British_English_spelling_differences#-ise.2C_-ize_.28-isation.2C_-ization.29

The wikipedia link is interesting.

Apparently -ize used in British English is used in Oxford publications (which refuse -ise) even though -ise seems to be preferred in Australia and New Zealand and UK itself (3:2 ratio).

What are your thoughts on this. Is using UK English with -ize spelling the right or wrong way to approach it?

And is -ize prevalent in US English?

P.S.: I'm not a native speaker, these things are not obvious to me.


texts: Is there a single word for "not pregnant"?

texts: Is there a single word that is the antonym for "pregnant" to describe someone "not pregnant"?


texts:
I have a problem about starting sentences with to be from of the verbs or gerund ones. I have read the similar articles here and some on the net but they are so confusing.

Could you please tell me the differences in an easy way?

For example
To be an engineer is hard Vs
Being an engineer is hard.


texts:
I moved to Huntington Beach, California, the home of my favorite band, Avenged Sevenfold, and started school there as a junior.

Are there too many commas in this sentence?


texts:
This is a phrase I've heard many people use, and it sounds wrong to me; e.g.:

  The thing about that is, is that she might take it the wrong way.

It seems to treat "The thing [...] is"—the entire phrase—as the subject of the sentence. Of course, even if that were allowed, the comma placement would still be questionable.

I'm curious to know:

Is there a name for this wording?
Is it specific to a certain dialect?
Is its etymology known?


texts: Informal of "Fixing problem is in progress"

texts: We have comical picture which we show when video signal is lost. The text below should be sort of that: "No signal. Fixing is in progress". But in more informal way. One alternative is: "No signal. We are on it". Your alternatives?


texts:
This claim for damages would result in a fruitless proof in the
  liquidation of the company.

Can someone please tell me what 'proof' means in the sentence I quoted as above?

The dictionary meaning of 'proof' as a noun is 'a fact or piece of information that shows that something exists or is true', however, I don't think it fits into the meaning of 'proof' in the upper sentence.

Thank you in advance.


texts: Should "everyone's" be followed by a singular or plural noun?

texts:
Ex. What would be right:

... that caught everyone's eye.
... that caught everyone's eyes.


texts:
I'm looking at using Google's Ngram to pick out the word that is the closest to an opposite of a given word by looking at the frequency and correlation over time of the two words.  For example, I predicted and found large and small have similar frequencies and appear positively correlated, and so do huge and tiny.  Nevertheless, a careful reading of the descriptions of words from a dictionary is still likely to be the best way of finding an opposite.

What suggestions does everyone have for refining this approach?  What concerns of potential pitfalls to this approach are there?


texts: Does the rest of them or Do the rest of them?

texts:
In this situation, where "The Committee" is a group of roughly 9 men, which sentence would be correct? (One man from the group did something)

Does the rest of The Committee know of this?
Do the rest of the Committee know of this?


texts: What do you call a pair of words which would be meaningless without one of them?

texts: I am referring to a set of words that wouldn't make sense if one word or the other was omitted. Like barbershop quartet, or Cyber Security. What do you exactly call this set of words?


texts:
There’s a phrase “you shed your skin” or “I shed my skin”. As I understand, it’s used when someone has changed. Does it only refer to positive change? Can I use it when someone changed in really bad or horrible way?

For example, I havent seen my old friend for a while and now he’s an alcoholic and drug addict. Can I say, “Oh my God! Buddy, you shed your skin!”?


texts: Class of words which emphasize meaning of other words

texts: I've read before some article where such linguistic term was introduced, but I forgot it. Can you help me with it?


texts:
I am writing an abstract for a conference, to present a software project. I want to say I will go through all aspects of the project and would like to have better wording instead of "Going through" in the following sentence:

  "_________ [Going through] all aspects of the project, ..."

I have the feeling it's poor English for an abstract (I am not a native English speaker so I may be wrong on this...).

I am looking for something maybe more figurative (?) that would give a better idea of describing all aspects of the project in the presentation.


texts: What is the difference between "black market trade" and "illicit trade"?

texts:
The following sentence says black markets accounted for 10-15% of all cigarettes sold illegally. But, black markets are places where all cigarettes are sold illegally, like criminal activities.  Could you explain why the author says black markets are part of illegal tobacco trade? Or, is this a typo?

Crucially, some countries strengthened efforts to detect and curb smuggling at the same time. Black markets were often smaller than thought, with only 10-15% of all cigarettes sold illegally. When taxes went up, this share typically rose by just a few percentage points. In poorer countries, tax evasion will be higher, but even then taxes will cut smoking and increase revenues if they are well administered.

The Economist, June 3rd Issue
http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21722828-recipe-get-people-quit-well-known-why-are-so-many-governments-ignoring-it-how


texts:
How to introduce two arguments in a scientific paper?

I used:

There are two arguments. On the one hand ARGUMENT1. On the other hand ARGUMENT2.

Now I was told I should not use this construct unless I am introducing two contradictory arguments.
I was told to rather use:

There are two arguments. First ARGUMENT1. Second ARGUMENT2.

However I actually don't like the second way. Is there any other construct that suits better?

Note: I am not a native speaker therefore I missing some expressions. Probably there is an obvious answer.


texts:
The sentence is

  I bought a bottle of milk on Friday night, and I found that it had gone sour the following morning.

I think the past perfect tense is weird with "the following morning."
Am I right?


texts: "Many of which" and present continuous - which is more correct?

texts:
The ideas presented in this paper were extended in later works, many of which utilising the same model.
The ideas presented in this paper were extended in later works, many of which are utilising the same model.

Are both of these correct?


texts:
I was answering a question the other day "How do I send an e-mail from SQL?". I supplied an answer dealing with the techniques necessary to perform an action in SQL, assuming that the questioner already knew how to send an email from within a program, and just needed help with the SQL.

But I wondered later: is that right? Does the question imply he knows how to send an email (from inside a program), and only needs help with the SQL part? Perhaps you could help.

Edited to clarify the meaning of 'send an email'.


texts:
In a text published in 1825 there is the following line:
"There are 18 churches and two convents in this town, which, as well as the popular school and the tribunals, only claim a glance from the traveller."

What is 'to claim a glance from somebody'?
My guesses is
1) to claim gems (money) from somebody... something like that
2) to want/ask somebody to pay attention/to look at.
But I think these are both wrong.
I'm stuck in this. Help!


texts: When is the expression 'over and above' used instead of just 'over' or just 'above'?