texts: When is it appropriate to use the original pronunciation of a foreign word versus the English pronunciation?

texts:
When reading to an audience, or speaking in conversation, when is it appropriate to use the original pronunciation of a foreign word versus the English pronunciation (assuming you know the appropriate pronunciation for it)? Is it considered rude, or condescending? Or is it considered a mark of being knowledgeable?

One of the things to consider are place names. When referring to Paris, France, should it be pronounced with the silent 'S' as the French would say it, or with the 'S'? Should Hiroshima be pronounced as a Japanese speaker would pronounce it slightly more emphasis on RO, rather than the SHI? Should Mount Pinatubo be pronounced as a Filipino speaker would pronounce it with shorter stronger vowels, or the longer vowels? (e.g. Pi as is 'pick' rather than 'pea'.) Should Wichita be pronounces as the original "shi" rather than the modern "chi"?

Pronounce pesos or sombrero as a Spanish speaker 'eh' or the English 'ay'?

(I can't think of other common words right now that aren't words taken from other languages like hurricane, boondocks, tornado, etc. which I think have (correctly) changed to English pronunciations.)


texts: Difference between "Elect as" and "Elect to"

texts:
What is the difference betweeen  "Elect as" and "Elect to"?
Can't find the difference in dictionaries.
Sources:

Elect to
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/-elect
The sentence I read which caused me confused.

"Two years later, he was elected to the House of Representatives."
https://englishteststore.net/voa/makingnation/lesson1.html

Elect as
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/zht/詞典/英語/elect


texts: I need to know how to phrase part of a sentence containing the word of

texts:
I'm editing a document that has the following phrase:

<. . . could have garnered the respect, much less the votes, of Southern conservatives.>

I am wondering if this should be reworded to be the following:

<. . . could have garnered the respect of, much less the votes of, Southern conservatives.> [I've changed the placement of the word of.]
Thank you, N. Bowers


texts: "... respectively are ..." vs "... are respectively ..."

texts:
I would use respectively in either one of the following ways:

  "Figures 1 to 3 are respectively front, top and bottom views of the object",

  "Figures 1 to 3 are front, top and bottom views of the object respectively"

(with a strong preference for the former).

But I am presented it as:

  "Figures 1 to 3 respectively are front, top and bottom views of the object".

Is the later form a more formal (such as when used in official documents, patents, literature) use of respectively or is it incorrect?


texts:
Edward Snowden's leak of classified government documents has provoked mixed reactions: is Snowden hero or traitor, patriot or coward?

So is hero here used as an adjective? If not why is there no article?


texts:
The title largely explains my concern.
Does the formulation - "increase brevity" make sense?

Is brevity a measurement that can be increased or decreased? The Oxford English dictionary mentions that brevity can be taken to mean "shortness of time". Is it possible to increase / decrease a shortness of anything?

Conversely, should brevity be seen as an aim or objective as opposed to a measure? For example, does one have the ability to achieve brevity but not to increase brevity?

Hopefully you get the picture!


texts:
(1) I saw him enter the building.
(2) What I saw was him _________ the building.

I'd like (2) to mean basically the same thing as (1).
Can "enter" (infinitive) be entered in the blank? (No pun intended.)
Or should it be "entering" instead?


texts: Where does the phrase "is money is money is money" come from? And, what does it mean?

texts:
I have heard of similar idioms in the past. Not necessarily for money.
I have found myself using it many times. For example:

Is truth is truth is truth?

I think I know what it means. I am not sure, though. I have tried looking this up online, but to no avail. Except for: Origin and meaning of “money isn't money isn't money”. Unfortunately, they too do not explain the phrase, but only what it means in that context.
So what does it mean?
Also, where does it come from?
When you attempt to translate this phrase to another language it sounds really odd, or even a typo or slip of the tongue. I guess that's what makes it phrase though.
Here is another example, from: How to Shift Into an Entrepreneurial Money Mindset.
At some point in the articles it reads:

The point is money is money is money, no matter the amount.

Is it used correctly here?
And another one here: Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose

Edit: I get that it's used for emphasis. But how do you explain it's meaning?

Is money is money is money

As in, is money money, or is money money?


texts:
This query is a follow-up from another question I asked a few days ago. I am still pondering how to best interpret the following phrase grammatically:

"my brother's weapon"

Could I categorize it as follows:

my = Possessive pronoun adjective modifying brother's

brother's = possessive noun also functioning as an adjective modifying weapon

my brother's = adjective phrase collectively modifying weapon

If I diagrammed this, would "weapon" be on the main line with "brother's" descending on a slanted line below it like an adjective?  Would "my" be on another adjective line coming off of "brother's"?

I'm thinking the flow would be similar to the way one might diagram "the bright red truck"?  In this phrase, would you consider "bright" an adjective modifying "red" with the both of them working together as an adjective phrase modifying truck?

Thank you in advance for your polite feedback.  I'm working hard to clarify my understanding of how these parts of speech function together in context.


texts: Can I be intolerant of milk even if it's not a medical issue for me?

texts:
Even though I have no medical ailments that are caused by consuming milk/dairy, I'm still just not a fan of it.

So would it be completely incorrect to say "I can't tolerate milk/I am becoming intolerant to milk"?


texts: Is there a difference between chalice and goblet, other than (maybe) religious connotations on the word chalice?


texts:
I'd appreciate a native speaker's opinion on this.
Dictionaries list both pronunciations to be correct.

falcon
Pronunciation: BrE /ˈfɔːlkən/  ; NAmE /ˈfælkən/

However, I have heard 'fall-con' only in old movies (The Maltese Falcon/ The Millennium Falcon, both American movies), never in anything recent.
My questions:

Am I likely to be made fun of in (your country) if I call it Fall-con, or is it still pronounced that way?

Are there any particular connotations attached with the 'Fall-con' pronunciation. Does it sound too highbrow?

EDIT: At Peter Shor's suggestion, let's throw 'fawcon'(ˈfɔː(l)k(ə)n) into the mix.


texts:
The convention for units is to leave a space after the number, for example, 'the average temperature of the human body is 37.0 °C.'

But what if I need to explicitly state whether a number is positive or negative - do I use a space after the sign?

Would I write:

  Set your refrigerator to + 4 °C.

or

  Set your refrigerator to +4 °C.


texts:
I was reading another thread here and came across a technical term rheum that I didn't know. I went to wikipedia for more information and saw a picture there where the caption says

  Rheum in cat eyes.

Shouldn't it be cat's eyes with the possessive 's? Or either is possible? If so, can you please explain why?


texts: Read ( Beautiful + Interesting ) stories

texts:
I'm looking for a word to express something that is beautiful and interesting at the same time, to use in this sentence:

  Read [term] stories

Can you help me find one?


texts: "our bodies lose their rhythm" vs. "our body loses its rhythm"

texts:
In this above situation, the question is that “What happens if we change our sleep pattern often?” and my brother had to fill in the blanks.

  A: ______ ______ ______ ______ ______ .

So he answered, “Our bodies lose their rhythm.”.

But his teacher said the answer was wrong. The correct answer which she wants is

  “Our body loses its rhythm.”

My brother’s answer is wrong?
I would like to know if this answer is incorrect or not and if not, what is the difference in meaning between them.


texts: Can we use the phrase 'Hit the bricks' at the context of asking people to work hard?


texts: "This page intentionally blank" ... but it isn't!

texts:
We are all familiar with user manuals or documents with pages printed with "intentionally blank" ... but with those words on them, they are no longer blank!

I'm pretty sure I saw a user manual once with pages like this:

  We were going to say this page is intentionally blank, but once we did, we realized it isn't blank any more.

Would there be a better way of expressing this concept? Such as "intentionally conveys no useful information"? (Except, now it does - it conveys that it has no useful information)


texts: Term for optional module at a high school with compulsory pass

texts: What do you call an optional module/subject/class at a high school or university which is optional, but must be passed if chosen?


texts: Is the usage of "at" correct in this case? Should it go with "where" or "which"?

texts:
Can someone tell me whether we should use "at" when we use where:

The design is so unified and everything is at where they should be.

Or it must be like the one below:

The design is so unified and everything is at which they should be.

Also please check the sentences below and tell me whether they are correct.

The design is so unified and everything is located at where they should be.
The design is so unified and everything is located at which they should be.


texts: Is there a word to describe the phenomenon of "passive recollection"?

texts:
I want to start off by noting that I'm not sure if anyone else experiences this "phenomenon", if one could even call it that.

I'm curious as to whether there is a technical term to describe what I've termed "passive recollection". Essentially, throughout the day, I will randomly recall very vivid and specific details from my past, such as:

a line or scene from a movie
a particular scene from a book that I visualized in my mind
a particular scene, encounter, or experience from a video game I played
a line or quote from a video I watched
stray lyrics from songs I haven't fully listened to in years; sometimes just tunes
experiences in my personal life, like conversations I've had with people or things I've heard/seen

To elaborate on this, since what I describe may seem exaggerated, it's not as though I fall into some supernatural "trance" and suddenly experience a flood of old memories. Rather, I'll randomly recall these things throughout the day. I'd like to emphasize that it's passive. In other words, I don't consciously try to recall these memories—they just come to me during the day when I'm working, studying, or doing anything, really.

Again, I'm not sure if there really is single term to describe this, and if not, that's fine. I think if there is a term for it, it'll somehow be related to having strong visual memory, as, to my surprise, I can very vividly recall these scenes just as they happened.

I'd love to know either way. The best I can come up with is, as I mentioned, "passive recollection", though this seems to have some sort of religious connection, according to my Google searches.


texts: "Love to see this happen?" or 'Love to see this happens?" What's the grammar rule behind this?

texts: It confuses me sometimes. It looks likes the former is far more common. But what's the logic behind that?


texts:
This question is related to an original question asked 9 years ago but with a twist. The OP was asking about familial titles

This was the original question.

  This may seem an odd and morbid question, but I am curious about the use of relative familial titles when the family member you are referring to died prior to your birth. For example, say my mother has a brother named Bruce. How would I refer to my mother's brother Bruce if he died before I was born?

A lot of answers suggested that the individual was still this person's uncle. The original question implies a blood connection.

Now my question implies no blood connection.

Is the husband of my mother's sister my uncle, even if he perished before I was born?

Okay, to clarify. My Aunt had remarried by the time I was born and I recognised this second individual as my uncle. It's just in conversation the other day, and for more information I am a first generation Australian of British descent, a newly immigrated Chinese friend of mine referred to him as my uncle.

Another clarification from a question asked.
 The sentence from my Chinese friend, fairly verbatim, was "So your uncle died and then your Auntie moved to Australia and 4 years later your parents followed" And I had also explained that I had been born 3 years after my parents arrived in Australia. So I'm not sure if she was trying to westernise her grammar or if it was a direct translation from her cultural point of view. Next time we speak, which will be tonight AEDST I'll query her and try to understand what she meant, she's a very pleasant person and will take no offense to me trying to understand her understanding of familial titles.


texts:
Since around the year 2000, confirmed by Ngrams, the common phrase "I felt (dread etc) in the pit of my stomach" has become somewhat corrupted to "I had (or felt) a pit in my stomach". I've seen it several times recently in internet posts and popular fiction.
I doubt there's a 'patient zero' to be found, but I'm curious what might explain why this has become increasingly popular, when before 2000 it was virtually non-existent.
I hope this isn't seen as opinion-based -- I'm looking for a scholarly, or at least informed, reason why this might have arisen.


texts:
I watched "Zootopia" and heard  this phrase:

  I popped the weasel!

I don't get its meaning. I can't find what it means in the dictionary.


texts: Are there any words describing normal breathing?

texts: I am not sure but I can't find any words that describe normal calm breathing. Something that describes the exhale of a breath or blowing air out from your mouth. Not frantic or puffed breathing just relaxed sounds like a sigh. But a sigh describes what the person is doing... not really the actual sound... Are there any English words for this?


texts: Are capital letters used for terms of endearment like "Honey" and "Sweetheart"?

texts: When writing a sentence (for a book/story) do the endearments Honey, Sweetheart, etc. get capital letters?  e.g. "Are you ready, Honey?" or "Are you ready, honey?"


texts:
I keep reading the phrase 10 times lighter than..... or similar. This quote is current: "Plastic containers are cheaper to make and 15 times lighter than glass ones, says Dairy Crest". This can not be correct usage surely?

I can take 'glass ones being 15 times heavier than plastic ones' or, though unwieldy, plastic ones are 1/15th the weight of plastic (ones), but 15 times lighter?

It seems popular.


texts: Erf as term for plot of land in a town or city. Is this word only used in southern Africa?

texts:
The Free Dictionary website states and so does Wikipedia:

  erf [ɜːf]
  n pl erven [ˈɜːvən]
  (Engineering / Civil Engineering) South African a plot of land, usually urban, marked off for building purposes
  [Afrikaans]

The term erf is used in legal documentation and technical English throughout South Africa and Namibia, maybe even further afield in the region.

Is it used anywhere else, except maybe the Dutch/Flemish regions in Europe, where I assume the term originated?

An example:

  The client purchased Erf 132, Windhoek for a large sum of money. He intends to build a house on this erf.

The capitalisation of "Erf 132" is commonplace, since it is a definition of a location. This is similar to capitalisation of towns or cities. I find it slightly awkward, but that is how it is done.


texts:
I am consulting Oxford online on «gather» and couldn't understand item 6:

  Draw and hold together (fabric or a part of a garment) by running thread through it.

Searching Google, I see that "draw and hold together" some kind of expression. One case:

  It is fitting that he who draws and holds together the physical and intellectual, should also draw and hold together the moral universe, drawing all men to himself ...

I have looked for this expression in Oxford online of Merriam-Webster Unabridged online but found no definition.

What does it mean?


texts:
The dictionary explains this as:

  To show somebody that you are interested in them and/or want to help them

The explanation indicates the subject of the sentence is the one that offers help, but I think this one is also correct:

  I'll try it first, and if I can't handle it, I'll reach out to you for help.

I am confused about who offers help because I saw my native speaker colleague write this in an email:

  Thanks for reaching out to me.

Is this a "thanks" for helping or being asked to help?


texts: Word for a person who was once captivated and is now slipping away?

texts:
What is a good word or phrase for a person who was once captivated and is now slipping away?

For example, someone who used to be a loyal happy customer, but visits less and less often. Or someone who was once very in love with their partner, but is slipping away from them.

They are showing signs of being disillusioned or disinterested but it's not yet a lost cause. There is still time to win them back.


texts:
I have heard many people say 'shouldn't it be ...' when correcting someone but today I was writing a formal email and I did not want to use any shorthand notation so I tried to expand it as 'should not it be ...' but this sounds wrong to me. Instead, 'should it not be ...' sounds correct.
I am wondering if this is a weird exception where the shorthand notation makes no sense if we tried to expand it as it is without restructuring the sentence. Are there more such examples?


texts: Is "singer of the band's wife" a correct alternative to "wife of the band's singer"?

texts:
Isn't this sentence:

  He stole the singer of that band's wife.

a wrong attempt at saying:

  He stole the wife of that band's singer.

Someone pointed this out:

  The <singer of the band>'s wife is the wife of the <singer of the band>. The wife of the <singer of the band> is the wife of the <band's singer>.

  Apostrophes aren't that hard.

I guess my question is - can you place an 's targeting a previous, but not necessarily the last word in a sentence?

Thanks.


texts: Word for the inward folding of biological organs

texts:
The human brain increases its total volume by folding its surface area into peaks and troughs called gyres and sulci. The process whereby this happens is called gyrification (not sulcification, for some reason). The total surface area of the brain is about one or two pages of newspaper, much larger than the surface area of the skull.
The intestines curve back and forth within the abdomen and increase their total length to about 22 feet. This is not exactly inward folding, but the inside of the intestine has villi and microvilli that do look like an inward folding, increasing the surface area by several orders of magnitude, until it is about the total area of a tennis court!
I am looking for a word generally appropriate to this geometry, but applicable in a non-biological context. It should carry connotations of increasing complexity induced by inward folding. Gyrified is bad because nobody knows what it means, it only talks about brains, and could have been sulcified. I have been using involuted, but it’s not quite right because it involves rolling or curling in a spiral manner, coming from the architectural term volute, which is a spiral ornament on an Ionic column.


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Is the question mark misused in affirmative sentences?

Is it correct to use "if" in this way?

  I want to know if I can borrow your car?


texts: Can a conditional sentence contain more than one "if"?

texts:
For example, is the following sentence correct?

If you have 100 books, how many can you give away if you want to keep at least 20 of them?

I'd appreciate it if you could provide links where I can read about this rule.
Thank you so much :)


texts: How to express the call of nature to other people?

texts:
One feels the need to go to toilet. He/she has to say it to them politely. What would be the polite and impolite expressions?

To seniors, to juniors, to friends. (Please give some examples that can be used as polite and impolite expressions)

As for the native speakers, this one is not a matter of importance or discussion, but it is really essential for non-native speakers. We can move away with any excuse, yet I want to learn the words from native speakers.


texts:
I am writing an article and I am wondering if the readers will understand that hoo-hooo is an owl sound.
It's for an American audience.

The article starts like this

  Everything was silent except for the occasional moo or ho-hoooo

Will the readers understand that I am talking about owls?
Should I just one sound instead of two?


texts: Comma Usage -- do I need a comma before "instead" and if so, why?

texts:
Maybe if he had been given the opportunity to declare his living will, his family would have been able to honor his wishes instead of simply following our directives.

OR

Maybe if he had been given the opportunity to declare his living will, his family would have been able to honor his wishes, instead of simply following our directives


texts: Person who has had a program hard wired into their daily routine

texts:
What is the best word to describe a person that has done the same thing contractually for a long period of time, to the point in which they still carry out these tasks without being specifically contracted to do so?

For example, an army recruit waking up every day at the crack of dawn to go for a run or exercise even after their service is through.


texts: initialised or initialized which one is correct spelling?

texts:
I have often seen initialised in lots of text, but when I want to write it in Microsoft office word, it says it was misspelled and it should be initialized instead of initialised.

so here is my question:

  Which one of them is the correct spelling?

and if both of them are correct, when I should use one or the other? Is there any rule regarding this?

Additional note: when I was writing this post, it would give me a spelling error notice each time I wrote initialised.


texts: "I was glad because I have seen you." Is this correct?

texts:
I was glad because I have seen you.

Is this correct?

Can I use the present perfect after "because" when the first sentence is in the simple past?


texts: How the "apart from" is used to represent different meanings?

texts:
Following the this web site,

it seems that apart from has two meanings which contradict each other

Except for.
In addition to; as well as.

When it is used as the 1st meaning, it includes the object that follows the apart from

But it does not include the object when it comes to being used as 2nd meaning.

How can I distinguish them? Is there any difference in usage?


texts: Is this grammatically correct? Is there anything wrong with that sentence?


texts:
1  How to do that?
2  How to approach this?
Do these sentences need interrogative mark?

In what cases, ? symbol can be avoided? Suppose sentence start with How as in above two sentences.


texts: Which is correct: "I loaned him some money" or " I lent him some money"?

texts: My Webster's New world Dictionary does not contain the word "loaned" at all, but my Thesaurus does, and the word "lent" is the first synonym listed. My wife, who learned English as a second language and therefore often speaks it better than I do, insists "lent" is more correct than "loaned" as the past tense verb form. Which is more correct?


texts: The doctrine I believed "to be" or "is" or "was" right

texts:
It is the doctrine I believed to be right .

  It is the doctrine I believed was right.

  It is the doctrine I believe is right.

What is the difference between "to be right," "was right," and "is right" used in this sentence? And why using "was right" and "is right" possible? Is it because it is used the same way as "doctrine which I think was right"?

Also, is it possible to change this question

  What would you predict the mass of rocket to be?

to this

  what would you predict the mass of rocket is?

since the answer would usually be "I predict that the mass of rocket is...", not this: "I predict the mass of rocket to be." Is it possible? Thank you!


texts: Why is the article "the" used with "population?"

texts:
Why do we need an article before "population?"  Why is "the" the correct article to use in the following sentence?

The population is suffering.


texts:
Here's a dialogue:

  a. "What happens next?" "Only time will tell."

Both the sentences describe a future event. But the first is in the present tense, whereas the second is expressed with 'will'.

Why the difference?


texts: What led to the increased usage of "schtupping"?

texts:
I was listening to a television show the other day and one of the characters used "schtupping":

  schtupping — to have sexual intercourse with

Dictionary.com notes that the term's origin is Yiddish:

  shtupn — literally, to push (in), press

Etymonline doesn't have the word in its dictionary so I'm not sure how accurate this is.

But what really piqued my curiosity is that I've been hearing the word frequently used in pop culture as a humorous reference to sex. Since it seems like such a strange word, I checked on NGrams and noticed something very strange:

The usage rate massively spikes in the 1980s. Why did this increased usage occur? If the word really is of Yiddish origin, it seems like the word should be much, much older than that.


texts: A word or phrase that can describe what looks bad, ugly, rustic or quite normal but actually has incredibly great internal value?

texts:
Is there any word or phrase that can describe someone or something
  that looks bad, ugly, rustic or quite normal or useless but actually
  has incredibly great internal value?

 ------------------------------------------------

  The great qualities are far from easily displayed, maybe  because ordinary
  people around have no discerning eyes for talent, or because the good
  things are intentionally concealed.

*The ~ in following sample is what I am seeking for.*

People look down upon Peter, for he's constantly wearing shabby clothes. However, few know he's a guy in possession of a large fortune. Peter is ~.


texts:
I want to know if both of the sentences are grammatical or not:

I prefer not to end this.

I prefer to not end this.


texts: Idiom, phrase, or word for "no clear division"

texts:
Example: "There is no clear division between a liquid and a solid. The soggy soil we are standing on is a case in point. So is the yogurt you're having."

What's an idiom, phrase, or word for "no clear division"?

I thought of "fine line", but it doesn't seem to be appropriate in this case; a "fine line" is usually used in a cautionary way, with the second object being unfavorable in some way - for example, "There is a fine line between being funny and being immature."


texts:
He walked forward and shook the centaur’s hand.

  “Good evening to you, Hagrid,” said Ronan. He had a deep,
  sorrowful voice. “Were you going to shoot me?”

  “Can’t be too careful, Ronan” said Hagrid, patting his crossbow.

This is a sentence from Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. I want to know what is meant by the bold sentence. And also what is the subject of that sentence; I or you?


texts: Usage of 'airman' vs 'pilot' in 1939 England

texts: Can a civilian in 1939 England use the general term 'airman' to describe a man who is undergoing pilot training but has not yet completed it. Or does the term 'airman' in the RAF always refer to auxiliary crew and the civilian would already be using 'pilot' to differentiate? Thanks for your advice!


texts: Did people actually talk like they do in Pride and Prejudice?

texts:
The characters in Pride and Prejudice seem to speak in a way that is very distinct from most contemporary anglophones. Among the major unique features are:

Richer vocabulary
Readiness to use obscure synonyms and euphemisms (although perhaps at the time they were not so obscure)
Very roundabout style of speaking, where every thought is explained in great detail, with flowery language and taking a long time to get to the point
Everyone, even the less clever characters, seem like they are very witty and insightful every time they say something

Notably, I felt like it would take a contemporary English-speaker great effort to speak as they do in the novel, and many would probably never be able to do it, meanwhile it seems like for the characters in the novel our present style of speech would be trivially easy to learn.

My question is, did people ever actually speak like they do in the novel (outside of formal occasions and practiced speeches)? Or is this the 19th century version of Sorkin-speak?

To be clear: I'm not asking whether people 200 years ago spoke like people do now. I'm asking whether people in 1813, of comparable class and education to the characters of the novel, spoke like the characters of the novel. In other words, does the novel's dialogue represent an accurate portrayal of the speech of its time, or is the dialogue "embellished" to make for better reading?


texts:
I tried to look for other meanings of 'vane' not related to aerodynamics (weather vane, vane of a feather, etc), and I wasn't really successful. Oxforddictionaries.com gives an example of adjective as 'three-vaned windmill'.
But dictionary.com drops some examples which definitely stray from the definition, which doesn't touch them:

So it's vane  to talk about blood since it's wrong to judge national background on this single factor.
He's a bombast anyway, a vane  orator, the way so many pol's are.

These definitely don't relate to the given meanings which literally or figuratively refer to something affected by the wind.
What does it mean in the examples above? What other meanings does (or did in the past, archaic/obsolete are okay) this word take that are not direct derivatives of the primary a blade, plate, sail, etc., in the wheel of a windmill, to be moved by the air. ?


texts:
A lot of questions have been dedicated to how the evolution of English got many constructs of the old either fall out of use, merge, or evolve into different forms but still with 1:1 relation to original. The English of Victorian times was significantly more complex than modern-day English.

But I'm quite convinced that elements of grammar didn't just die out or evolve into uniform counterparts — I'm fairly sure entirely new ones were borne over time, or simple cores were branched out into multiple, significantly different, more complex variants.

Can you identify elements of contemporary English grammar that would simply baffle someone who spoke Early Modern English?

Common, everyday constructs of grammar that don't have simple direct counterparts of the old, or are significantly more complex? New tenses? Inflections where there was none?


texts: Origin of "half a mind" and "a piece of my mind"

texts:
Both of these expressions/phrases have similar uses:

I have half a mind to confront that person.

I'm going to give them a piece of my mind.

Were these separate but similar expressions translated from non-English phrases and became part of our vernacular or were these sayings "invented" by English speakers?


texts: Hypothetical would/will in past perspective

texts:
When writing of past conversations and perspectives, is it correct to use 'will' to reference a possibility that did happen (and might still be relevant), followed by 'would' for a possibility that didn't?

  At that meeting, John said that the company will secure the events, and that we would sign the agreement by the end the year.

In this example, the company later secured the events (at least some of them by the date of the sentence), but the people at the meeting didn't sign the agreement.

Alternatively, is it correct to use 'would' in both?


texts: whoever vs. whomever. I would like to confirm my understanding about both

texts:
I have spent quite a lot of time to understand and correctly use the confusing words, whoever and whomever. What I have learned so far through various materials, StackExchange was especially helpful, is that we use whoever when the structure of a sentence seems to be nominative(he) and whomever when the structure of a sentence seems to be accusative(him).

Sometimes, there would be structures like both nominative and accusative are meant. I think these structures are called "fused relative," and in this case, we would have "free choice."

I'd appreciate if you could tell me whether my understanding of this issue is right or not.

Now, please take a look at the sentence below.

  Latex Technologies is offering free trial versions of its new database to ________ has a current subscription.

The only options to fit in the blank are whoever and whomever. Is this what a fused relative look like? Therefore, I have the free choice? Or, is there a certain evidence that makes to choose one of the two?


texts: Verb for "Copying data and taking it away from an internal network"

texts:
I work in a company where all non-public information is stored in a computer server on an internal network. A coworker of mine wants to force all employees who copy any record of the database and take it away from the office, whether physically (printed copies) or digitally (in a USB drive), to fill out an application form. The form includes several fields, such as time, user, name of data, and purpose. Data cannot leave the office unless this form is filled out, submitted and approved. Now the only question is, my coworker does not know what he should name this form.

I have considered the following:

  Data Removal Application Form

  Ambiguous because removal may also sound like deleting a data file.

  Data Extraction Application Form

  To extract a data, you apply an algorithm on that data, which isn't
  the case here.

  Data Takeout Application Form

  Ambiguous because takeout sounds like cut-and-pasting, not copying.
  "Data takeout" is also a part of the GDPR, used specifically to
  describe the action of exporting personal information from a service
  for future migration.

  External Data Usage Application Form

  Sounds like using external data

  External Usage of Internal Data Application Form

  Too damn complicated.

Can someone suggest a more precise and shorter (if possible) name for this form?


texts: "Most of you would do the right thing if you/they knew"

texts:
In this case, "you" is 15 people.

Are both of these correct?

Most of you would do the right thing if you knew
Most of you would do the right thing if they knew

I initially thought the second was correct, but I was told the first one is… Now I've looked at both of them too long to be able to tell .


texts: What's the negation of "I used to be"? Surely not "I didn't used to be"?

texts: What is the negative form of "I used to be"? I often hear "I didn't used to be" but that sounds awfully wrong in my ears.


texts: Usage of "advancement" for software improvement - correct?

texts: a colleague wrote a new suggestion for a more sophisticated business logic for one of our software processes. She used a title like this "xy advancement for process xy". That sounds strange to me: I would rather use "improvement" or perhaps "enhancement". But English is not my native language. My question: Is this usage correct? If yes, is there a slightly different meaning?


texts: What decides where the definite article(s) goes in "trajectories of hand movement"?

texts:
Is the only factor that decides which option below is correct whether  "trajectories" or "hand movement" has been mentioned beforehand? Is Option 4 always incorrect?

Trajectories of hand movement are similar.
The trajectories of hand movement are similar.
Trajectories of the hand movement are similar.
The trajectories of the hand movement are similar.


texts: I need an assistance in finding new word driven out of "Neutralization" word

texts:
I need help in finding the most suitable words derived from the word neutralization. I am using the word neutralization to describe a particular mathematical situation where the problem can be resolved rather than solving it. Can I use the word neutralizable to refer to that situation as in this problem is neutralizable, and if yes, which one is the more suitable word:

  This problem is unneutralizable.

or

  This problem is un-neutralizable.

or

  This problem is inneutralizable.


texts: What American dialects merge pail and pal to /pæl/?

texts:
What American dialects merge  "pail" (General American /peɪ̯l/) and "pal" (GA /pæl/) into one pronunciation  /pæl/?

(And likewise "mail", "male", "Mal" as  /mæl/, "sale", "sail", "Sal" as /sæl/, etc.)

Recording of this dialect here


texts: When do we not use definite article, "the"?

texts:
I have a question. Could you please explain why “the” is not used in the parts that I have indicated in bold? Why is "the" missing?

  Little is known about the lives of early human beings. What we do know has been gathered through the study of ancient caves that scientists called archeologists believe early humans probably lived in.
  The evidence suggests that the first human beings lived in caves along the southern coast of Africa. This region provided ample supplies of food as well as a warm climate.

The text above is from https://kidspast.com/world-history/prehistoric-humans/


texts: Using two and’s in one sentence, and starting a sentence with “To”

texts:
Is this sentence correct?

  To view your policy status, last payment information and next payment information, enter your policy number in the box below and click Submit to continue.

I’m not a fan of starting a sentence with a preposition. I believe it’s ok, but I’m not completely certain.  Also, I don’t like the use of the word and twice there in the same sentence like that.

I would rewrite and structure the sentence differently.  It also feels like a run-on sentence to me, but I’m no expert and have been out of school for a long time now.

I was curious so I Googled it and this site came up, so I decided to post a question see what response I got.


texts: How to say my meetings have caused cascading delay

texts:
What is another way to say to co-workers that my previous meeting took longer than expected (and hence I am late for the current meeting).

and what is the business and also day to day common phrase(s) (or phrasal verbs) for saying that one of my meetings took longer than expected and it has had a cascading effect on the meetings after it, causing me to be late to the current meeting?


texts:
There is an article about huskies. It says:

  Siberian huskies are among the most beautiful of dogs. They are a compact but strong-looking dog with a neat coat and a large bushy tail that is usually held erect.

What does compact mean here? I have looked it up on ODLA but there is nothing suitable:

1 (North American English) a small car
2 a small flat box with a mirror, containing powder that women use on
their faces
3 (formal) a formal agreement between two or more people or countries
The government has signed a compact of free association.

Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary 9th edition © Oxford University Press, 2015


texts:
What is the exact meaning of the second part of the sentence below?

  This underground bomb shelter, built by Tito, seemed as large and as
  crazy as a small country, not to mention a fever dream out of Dr.
  Strangelove.

Does it mean the place reminded the author of Dr.Strangelove?


texts: Should I use "will" or omit it in following sentence?

texts: Now I'm pondering on the details of me fulfilling an elaborate plan,thinking that it works well.                                                                 (In this sentence,would it make sense if I add "will" after "it"? Or both way are fine?)


texts: How can you tell someone you want to talk to them over a text based medium?

texts:
I use chat programs and often confuse people when I say, "I spoke to…" or "I had a conversation with…" people, when they are remote.  People think that I meant that I had a face-to-face or at least a verbal conversation with them.  Has English solved this?

Is there a verb for text-based correspondence, that I can substitute for the phrases I normally use to indicate a conversation?

This question is somewhat similar to another question, but it does not really answer my question:
"Talk with" vs "talk live with"


texts:
What's the difference between the following sentences?

  All I wanted was + to + break your walls

  All you ever did was + wreck me

One of them with to but the other one without to.

And Could we add to to the second sentence?

  All you ever did was + (to) + wreck me


texts: do appositives only modify nouns or pronouns

texts:
Can an appositive modify an adverb?
For example: I want to swim there, Pacific Beach.
In the above example, 'Pacific Beach' is describing 'there.'Is this possible or do I need to insert a preposition, such as 'in', between 'there' and 'Pacific Beach' in order to form a sentence?


texts: Term for people that cover up scandals due to external interest

texts:
I'm probably not phrasing the question well, but an example would be:

A person invests in Company A. He/she hears from a source inside Company A that the company is involved in questionable practices that should be reported (but this person has no involvement in these practices). Instead of reporting this, however, the person decides to hide this information due to his/her financial interests in the company.


texts: Word similar to "excuse" but without negative connotation

texts:
I was looking up absentee voting laws in different states after hearing something on the news and saw this: https://ballotpedia.org/Absentee_voting

It divides the US states into three groups based on the circumstances under which one can cast an absentee ballot:

Excuse required.
No excuse required.
All-mail voting.

In a formal context like the law, I don't think "excuse" has much of a negative connotation if any, but most of the time people seem to use it to mean "weak excuse" or "flimsy excuse".

Is there a word with a neutral connotation, similar to "explanation", but with the implication that someone has been granted a privilege or relieved of an obligation?


texts: A term for when people insist on giving you help you didn't ask for?

texts:
People love to tell other people what to do. It may not be control, so much as trying to help, especially when you've asked for help directly. However, there's a difference between answering someone's question and answering while piling on recommendations the person didn't ask about, and this is what I'm seeking a term for. Advertising and marketing feel similar to me in this vein. In the worst cases this can be overzealous religious followers professing your damnation if you don't follow with them (I think in Christianity they call it "witnessing"). Any which way, it comes across to me as a form of unsolicited advice: I didn't ask for it, so I don't want it; I want to stay focused.

Is there a better term for this than "unsolicited advice"? Also, is there a term for a person who exhibits this kind of behavior frequently?


texts: How does "to quieten" differ from "to quiet"?

texts:
I recently saw this headline from the BBC:

  Indonesia seeks to quieten noisy mosques during Ramadan

I'm a native AmE speaker, and have never seen this usage (which I am assuming is BrE, due to the source).  I would have said "Indonesia seeks to quiet mosques", instead.    What is the distinction between "to quiet" (which to my ear, sounds fine in this sentence) and "to quieten"?  Is there one?


texts: What do you call someone who betrays his/her spouse sexually? Is the word different for men and women? Is it different for people who are in a relationship and not still married?


texts: Agreeing just because everyone else agrees as well

texts: What is the word used to describe the act of agreeing with something only because everyone else agrees as well?


texts: "Snow in the sole of a shoe" or "snow on the sole of a shoe?"

texts:
What's the correct construction?

Example sentence:

  I waddled through the winter streets. There was snow on/in the sole of
  my shoes.


texts: How do you correctly hyphenate prefixes to already separated words?

texts:
Specifically, Co-Project leader is what I'm confused about. For reference, project leader would be written as separated words without any hyphen, obviously. However, once you have a vice project leader, which we mark with a "Co" prefix in our company, I'm suddenly unsure how to properly write it down.

There are really only four combinations that make any sense to me, but they all seem off:

Co project leader feels oddly detached
Co-project-leader suddenly introduces a hyphen where project leader didn't have one
Co-project leader would make it seem like the Co is talking about the project, not the leader
Co-projectleader suddenly connects the words, equally dumb

I'm so lost here.

EDIT: I know Co-founder is an acceptable way to write it. However, it's a different case here because "project leader" consists of two words, not just one as it is the case with "founder". That's why I was asking.


texts:
Which is the correct word for this sentence?

There is one quality every swimmer should have: perseverance, specially for beginners who experience difficulties.

There is one quality every swimmer should have: perseverance, especially for beginners who experience difficulties.


texts: Term for a word that is unintentionally made up of two or more other words?

texts:
For example, therapist may be split into the + rapist, neither of which (arguably) has anything to do with the original words.

Another example would be conflagration: con + flag + ration. Or weather: we + at + her.

Note that words like threesome and purebred would not qualify, because the parts are intentional and contribute to the original word's meaning.

It seems to me there might be a word for this, which I would describe as "accidental lexical componentry" — but I'm not sure there is one. And if I do think of one I will be sure to add a supplemental (supple + mental) section (sect + ion) to this question (quest + ion).


texts: What does "the squalor of toiling steel" mean?

texts:
This is a sentence from the book Survival in Auschwitz.

  Above us the malevolent clouds chase each other to separate us from the sun; on all sides the squalor of the toiling steel closes in on us.

I am confused about the second part, is it used as a metaphor for fatigue？


texts: Is ‘Yes-ish’ a perfect alternative to Yes, or is it 'Yes ‘on condition’? Is it received English?

texts:
I found a word ‘Yes-ish’ in the answer (from PLL) to my question about the meaning of ‘Stuck to the script’ I posted today.  As it is quite new to my ear, I consulted with Wikipedia before logging out the forum, which says:
 (Yesih) is yes with a condition or limitation, and similarly Noish (but this of course tends more to a ....

Is ‘Yes-sh / Yessh’ often heard in day-to-day conversation among American people or found in casual writings.
How ‘Yes-sh’ is different from ‘Yes’ in its implication, supposing it’s an informal or colloquial expression.


texts: Which is better: "was dead" / "died" / "has passed away" in my case?

texts:
I came across a question in Chinese@SE, which is about a status update of someone's cat. I asked the OP in the comment whether the cat was dead at that time:

  I assume his cat was dead, can you confirm this?

But a friend of mine later told me that this usage is not correct because was implies "previously was in a certain status, but now is not", which is impossible for death.

I've found an answer to a related question on English@SE, somehow backing my friend's opinion in another way, but meanwhile I think the last exception raised in the answer fits my situation.

So do I have to use died or has passed away in this case?


texts: Does a phrase "by itself" have to be gramatically correct

texts:
We can have sentences which are not correct in posters and we forgive them.

I made a poster and was criticized for it.

It was (and this is the full sentence)

Including ghost hunting after hours.

I was told it should be

Including ghost hunt after hours.

Both read (sound) OK to me.

Is this actually correct or are both accepted?


texts:
It appears to me that the construction "just because… doesn't mean…" isn't used in literature at all. Is its use limited to colloquial speech and informal writing?

Note that while some people seem to be up in arms about this construction, I am not jumping on that bandwagon. I rather side with sober analysis [PDF] than with angry Reddit rants. So, basically, I'm just looking for a quote by Poe or Twain, though I suspect the construction is younger (is it?).


texts: When was the expression "Indian file" first used in English?

texts:
I have just discovered that the Spanish expression fila india translates word by word to a valid English expression: Indian file. And seemingly it is also valid at least in French (file indienne) and Portuguese and Italian (fila indiana).

The linked question discusses the reason why it is called Indian file, but I would like to know which language came up with the expression first, so what are the first texts registered in English that use this expression? So far I have found a text in Spanish from 1799 that uses the Spanish version of the expression. But I have also found this English text from 1760 in the American English corpus of Ngram:

  You will march your Party in an Indian File along the River side, opposite the Battoes, keeping the men at 5 or 6 yds distance from each other [...].

If I select the British English corpus, the first result is also from 1760.

Are there any other previous English texts that used this expression?


texts: Can we use a semicolon before "to"-infinitives?

texts:
I just read a sentence that goes like this:

I have woven the grief of your departure into amulets; to wear around my
neck, until they dissolve into my skin.

So far I have learnt that semicolons can be used to join two independent
clauses, but using it up there before to seems confusing because we
could leave out the semicolon up there and it would still be meaningful.
Why was it used this way here?


texts:
In the sentence "Go help yourself", is 'yourself' both the direct object and the subject?

Can a subject and direct object be the exact same word in a sentence? If not, what is 'yourself' here?


texts: Is "It is you who are mistaken!" correct?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  What rules make “Remember me, who am your friend” grammatical?

This is a line spoken by the Emperor to Luke in Star Wars. I always wondered if this is grammatically correct.

Luke says something like "You are mistaken ..." which the Emperor answers with

  No, it is you who are mistaken!

Why wouldn't he say

  No, it is you who is mistaken!

instead?

I don't know what rules apply here but my stomach tells me the latter is (at least also) correct, although you would say "you are mistaken". It feels as if he should be referring to "you" in the third person.

Could you please shed some light? Are both correct or – if not – which one is correct? And why?


texts: What do I call software as opposed to DB/DBMS?

texts: In my documentation I'm trying to refer to the program in context of interaction with database / DBMS as opposed to the latter. How do I call such program or software? "Outbound", "outer", "calling", "querying"? E. g. "IDs are explicitly stored in table xyz and their proper incrementation/decrementation is a responsibility of <???> software".


texts: Usage of staff as a seniority level (“staff engineer”)

texts:
This question is about the usage of staff as an adjective denoting a specific seniority level.
Research
Some companies use the word staff as an adjective to denote a level of seniority which is above senior, but below principal. I've seen it applied to engineering jobs, including but not limited to software development. The general idea is that most engineers will reach the “senior engineer” level after a few years, but a “staff engineer” is someone who has not only experience but also a certain amount of influence. This isn't necessarily a management role: it's generally about the influence the employee has on the product, rather than about how many people they direct.
Note that this has nothing to do with the much more common meaning of “staff” as a noun, where the employees of a company together make up is staff. I'm referring to a specific meaning where staff designates a small set of employees, and is only used as an adjective — an employee can be “staff engineer”, not “*a staff”.
In my experience, this usage is well-known in some milieus but unknown in others. It doesn't seem to be covered in dictionaries, for example:

Merriam-Webster (lists staff as an adjective without giving a meaning)
The Free Dictionary (gives a meaning as an adjective that encompasses all employees)
Cambridge (no adjective)
Collins (gives a meaning as an adjective that encompasses all employees)

The usage may have derived from military practice, where a staff officer is an officer who assists high-ranking officers directly. Some dictionaries list a similar meaning in non-military organizations, for example in Merriam-Webster 5a “the officers chiefly responsible for the internal operations of an institution or business” and 5d “the personnel who assist a director in carrying out an assigned task”. This is somewhat different from the usage I'm asking about: a “staff engineer”, in my experience, is usually somewhat autonomous and the source of new ideas and directions at a small scope, rather than passing on directives from above.
The usage is different in nursing, where “senior nurse” is short for “senior staff nurse” and is above “staff nurse”.
The meaning of “staff engineer” seems to be mysterious enough that a number of people spend some energy in attempting to define it, for example:

What does Staff level mean at GitLab? by Charlie Ablett
What a Senior Staff Software Engineer Actually Does by Joy Ebertz

StaffEng, StaffEng FAQ

Question
How widespread is the word staff in this sense? Considering that dictionaries don't list it, is it a recent thing? Is it regional (inasmuch as this question makes sense, as it seems to be used in technology company that tend to be multinational)?
At a guess, an average English speaker would interpret “staff engineer” as “an engineer who's an employee (rather than a contractor)” rather than “an engineer who's more senior than senior but not much more”. What demographic would assume the second meaning?
Is this something a typical English speaking HR employee would be familiar with, or only HR in certain fields or regions?
Do other professions (other than engineering and nursing) use staff as a seniority level, and if so how does it fit in seniority rankings?


texts: "He was telling me that he is going..." vs. "He told me that he is going..."

texts:
Is it right to say

He was telling me that he will go on a vacation next week.

while recounting your experience?

Even though "he told me that he is going..." seems more appropriate, I would still like to know if the above mentioned expression sounds okay or not.


texts: What does (not) signify in: (not) on lesse (than)?

texts:
unless (conj.)
mid-15c., earlier onlesse,
from (not) on lesse (than) "(not) on a less compelling condition (than);" see less.
The first syllable originally on, but the negative connotation and the lack of stress changed it to un-. "Except could once be used as a synonym for unless, but the words have now drawn entirely apart" [Century Dictionary].

Etymonline ostensibly added (not), absent earlier. What do the parentheses in (not) signify? It can't signify optionality, as 'On less than' obviously signifies the opposite of 'Not on less than'. E.g.:

On less than weary, I exercise.
= If I'm not weary, I exercise.

But

Not on less than weary, I exercise.
= Not If I'm not weary, I exercise. (The 2 'not's cancel)
= Not If I'm not weary, I exercise. (Opposite meaning of 2).


texts: What's a good way to describe "everything", when that "everything" is very little?

texts:
I thought about describing it this way:

  ...which led to his loss of the little of everything he had.

It doesn't sound very nice, and it also sounds like I'm saying that the loss was a "little of everything."

Is there a better way to describe this?


texts:
As far as I (as non-native speaker) understand the words as in, this is short for for instance, as in:

  Understanding “that” as in this statement

It's my impression that at some point in time people started to use as in in an ironical way, like:

  He's dead, as in not alive.

Is this impression correct or have the words as in always been used this way? If this ironic use developed later, when was that?


texts: Why is German anti-aircraft fire called "Archibald"?

texts:
Reading The War Illustrated (January 30th, 1915 number), I came across this passage:-

  At this speed they offer a comparatively stationary mark for the
  German anti-aircraft guns, always known as Archibalds, which begin to
  burst their shells uncomfortably near them.

I wondered why that term was used. Green's Dictionary of Slang is silent on the matter. The Online Etymology Dictionary explains:-

  British World War I military slang for "German anti-aircraft fire"
  (1915) supposedly is from black humor of airmen dodging hostile fire
  and thinking of the refrain of a popular music hall song, "Archibald,
  certainly not!"

This source  quotes Ernest Weekley’s An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English (1921) with an alternative explanation:-

  “It was at once noticed at Brooklands [where much aviation development
  and testing was carried out prior to 1914, and portrayed in the film
  Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines] that in the vicinity
  of, or over, water or damp ground, there were disturbances in the air
  causing bumps or drops to these early pioneers. Some of these 'remous’
  were found to be permanent, one over the Wey river, and another at the
  corner of the aerodrome next to the sewage-farm. Youth being fond of
  giving proper names to inanimate objects, the bump near the
  sewage-farm was called by them Archibald. As subsequently, when war
  broke out, the effect of having shell bursting near an aeroplane was
  to produce a 'remous’ reminding the Brookland trained pilots of their
  old friend Archibald, they called being shelled 'being Archied’ for
  short. Any flying-man who trained at Brooklands before the war will
  confirm the above statement”

It further notes that

  Whether the term was picked up from the song or whether the song
  reinforced the chosen word is difficult to determine without more
  evidence

My question is, does any further evidence exist? Which of these explanations are correct? Or is there some other origin?


texts: There were extra hot dogs.  This is where I have a role to play; to help eat leftovers.


texts: Googled, but still do not understand what "interstitial effect" means. Can someone please explain?


texts:
I found the following sentence in today's New York Times.

  Inaction and delays by New York as storm bore down. The city's decision not to declare a snow emergency, transit officials' delay in invoking a full-scale emergency plan and a seemingly late bid for help may face scrutiny.

What does the "storm bore down" mean? Does it mean the "storm was pressed down"? Please teach me.


texts:
In translating a text about a book and a person is describing how he likes it and the moral values in it.

He then says this line: “So it speaks to my heart.”

I figured the meaning for this phrase is:

speak to one’s heart: to touch one’s heart, to deeply affect one’s emotions

I was trying to find a fitting definition for this expression, but the only "definition" I found was on this site, quoting the Chamber's dictionary: http://www.finedictionary.com/Speak%20to%20the%20heart.html

The definition given is: to comfort, encourage

But this does not really fit my context. I also found another discussion for the exact phrase here: https://www.englishforums.com/English/SpeaksToMyHeart/kjhrc/post.htm

This is pretty good, and seems to be valid and also fits my context.

The only other definition I found for "speak to" is in the Shorter Oxford Dictionary: influence, affect, touch.

Based on this, again, I figured the meaning for this phrase is as follows:

speak to one’s heart: to touch one’s heart, to deeply affect one’s emotions

I would appreciate some advice/guidance on this from native speakers. Thank you.


texts:
My English teacher always asks “Did you it?” when she wants to know whether some student has done an exercise.

I think her question sounds horrible, and I believe it is wrong. In my opinion, she should say “Did you do it?” instead.

I would like to know whether “Did you it?” is in fact wrong.


texts:
What is the expression to refer to a "younger class of students".

Specifically, for instance I entered my university in 2002, and there a pool of students entering university of in 2004. How should I address, for instance, this pool of students.
Is a "younger class of students" a right way to say?


texts: Action of comparatives on connected clauses

texts:
Consider the sentence

Though somewhat less (i) _____than previous chapters and suffering from a minor rash of academic jargon, the final chapter of the book is nonetheless (ii) ______laypeople.

How would I know on which parts is the word "less" acting on?
For example, I can parse the first part of the sentence as asserting "The previous chapter is less _____ (arcane) and suffering less from jargon." or I can parse it as "The previous chapter is less _____ (coherent) and suffering from jargon." The second interpretation is the one that's considered correct.
So if I take it as a rule that given a sentence of the from "A is less B and C", it implies "A is less B" and "A is C", wouldn't such a rule contradict with the canonical interpretation of the sentence "Pizza is less healthy and tasty." which implies "Pizza is less tasty."?
More precisely, why am I not allowed to interpret "less arcane and suffering" as "less arcane and less suffering" when I can interpret "less healthy and tasty" as "less healthy and less tasty"?


texts:
Can anyone explain to the the meaning of "higher thought" in this context?

  As the studies of Wilder Penfield shows us, the cerebral cortex—
  which resembles a crumpled-up sweaty T-shirt— is likely the center of
  higher thought.`

I am totally aware of there was a mind-healing movement that originated in the U.S. in the 19th century. Yet in this sentence, the meaning seems different to me.


texts: Why is Greece not called in English by the name Hellas?

texts:
The Greeks call their country Hellas and themselves Hellenes.

The names Greece and Greek are of Roman origin and were adopted from Latin Graecus into old High German as Crêch and then in all Germanic languages the name was fashioned after the Latin -  Old English Grécas. (See OED extract below)

It has been the policy of the international community for many years to name new countries, (and rename old ones), to correspond with the way they are known to their own government and population. Thus Abyssinia became Ethiopia, the Gold Coast became Ghana, Rhodesia became (after partition) Zambia and Zimbabwe. (For a more complete list of name changes go to http://www.conservapedia.com/Renamed_countries.)

Since there may be some evidence that it was only colonists (presumably from Rome to Euboea) that assigned the name Greece, why do we continue to use that name and why not Hellas?  After all we no longer refer to the USA as The thirteen colonies.

  Forms:  pl.OE Cré(a)cas, Gré(a)cas, ME Greckes, Orm. Grickess, ME
  Greks, Grekis, ME Grekys... (Show More) Etymology:  In branch I: The
  Old English Crécas plural, corresponds to Old High German Chrêch ,
  Chriech (Middle High German Kriech ), Gothic Krêks < *Krêko-z , an
  early Germanic adoption of Latin Graecus , plural Graecī (see below),
  the name applied by the Romans to the people called by themselves
  Ἕλληνες . The substitution of k for g is commonly accounted for by the
  supposition that the Germanic initial g , when the word was adopted,
  still retained its original pronunciation /ɣ/ , so that k would be the
  Germanic sound nearest to the Latin g . In all the Germanic languages
  the word was ultimately refashioned after Latin, with change of k into
  g ; hence Old English Grécas plural beside Crécas , Middle Dutch
  Grieke (Dutch Griek ), modern German Grieche , Old Norse Grikkir ,
  plural. In branch II the noun is an absolute use of Greek adj. The
  Latin Graecī is < Greek Γραικοί, said by Aristotle ( Meteor. i. xiv)
  to have been the prehistoric name of the Hellenes in their original
  seats in Epirus. The word is apparently an adjectival derivative of
  Graius, which is used in Latin as a poetical synonym of Graecus.
  Recent scholars think the name may have been brought to Italy by
  colonists from Euboea, where there is some evidence of its having
  existed: see Busolt Gr. Gesch. I.2 198. (Show Less)  I.


texts: Is there a non-transphobic alternative to "he or she"?

texts:
For instance, "A politician must be able to think quickly on the spot. He or she must also have no qualms about lying."

I know some people who use "they", but as that both sounds and is ungrammatical, I'm wondering if there is any other concise and non-awkward alternative.

Edit:

Apparently many do consider "they" as correct. This surprised me, because I know someone who actually wrote a grammar book, who told me in no uncertain terms that "they" could not be used (in fact, I'd asked them - ha! - this question before I posted it here). And a quick look online found legitimate sources advocating both positions. I suppose it's one of those issues, such as whether the previous sentence was incorrect for beginning with a conjunction, where it really just depends who you ask. Regardless, to me personally, "they" in the above example sounds clunky at best and incorrect at worst. So I suppose my question can be rephrased as, 'is there any alternative to 'he or she', other than 'they'?"

Secondly, to whoever tagged this as "politically-correct": acknowledging the existence of genderqueer or transgender people isn't a political issue at all, until those made uncomfortable by people unlike them make it one. Trying to avoid excluding and thus unconsciously discriminating against a group of people in your writing isn't born out of a need to be 'politically correct' - it's born out of basic human decency.

Finally, yes, in the example above, I could use a comma and avoid the need for a pronoun at all - but the question I'm asking applies to instances where one may not want to do so (i.e. the sentences are long and stringy enough as it is).


texts: What is the origin of the phrase "egg in your beer"?

texts:
The phrase "egg in your beer" refers to wanting a bonus or something for nothing. Its common usage is: "What do you want? An egg in your beer?" However, this does not seem to make much sense, as an egg in your beer doesn't sound like a bonus at all! Does anyone know the etymology of this phrase? I have only managed to find two hypotheses:

At one time, in some parts of the United States, an egg in an alcoholic beverage may have been considered an aphrodisiac.
The phrase arose from, or became popularized by, American WWII soldiers. It may have been alluding to the notion that in wartime, both beer and eggs were not easily obtained.

However, I've found no definitive references to back up either of these claims.


texts:
Merriam-Webster defines introspection as the following:

  a reflective looking inward :  an examination of one's own thoughts and feelings

It is hard to find an antonym for looking inside oneself, because you can't really look inside others. I need a word, though, to describe exactly that: the act of examining who other people are. There is the word extrospection, which means this:

  examination or observation of what is outside oneself

However, this is a little-used form, and I have two qualms concerning my usage of it:

Some people may not understand what the word means
It would not exactly be describing what I want, because this means looking outside oneself in general, and I want to look inside others (to the best of one's ability, of course it would be impossible to fully look inside another person)

This PowerThesaurus link offered no helpful advice on the matter, and This answers.com link was even less beneficial.

Any help?


texts: What would be the possessive of "Defendants Smith"?

texts:
In a legal pleading, we had described several defendants, collectively, as "Defendants Smith". How do I create a possessive for that? Is it "Defendants Smiths' argument" or is it "Defendants Smith's argument"? (Is the possessive for a singular descriptor of a group a singular or plural?)

Thank you!


texts: Can I use 'be going to' instead of 'will' in this situation?

texts:
When we see dark clouds, because of the situation now, we must say:

  It's going to rain. Not It will rain.

Or when we see somebody is going toward the wall and can't see the wall in front of him, because of the situation now, we must say:

  He is going to walk into the wall. Not He will.

Now, when we see shoes which are very well made, can we suppose this situation as a situation now-because we can see and get that these shoes are very well made- and say so:

  These shoes are very well made. They are going to last
  a long time.

----Instead of:

  These shoes are very well made. They will last a long
  time.

Raymond Murphy has used will in his book.


texts:
Maybe I know nothing about english and this is too easy phrase, but can you tell me what does "shout cat calls at me" mean?
In context:

  I pulled my shoulders back and tried to look confident, not letting
  the nerves show on my face. As if on cue, the boys started to whistle
  and shout cat calls at me, and the girls stared at me with a mixture
  of jealousy and hatred. Looks like I’m not going to fit in here very
  well after all…


texts:
In the sentence

  This talk focuses on an evaluation of....

it somehow feels way more natural to omit the article:

  This talk focuses on evaluation of....

Or at least change the sentence like so:

  The focus of this talk is an evaluation of....

Is my gut feeling correct? If so, why?


texts: What is the word for an action that is "considered to be frowned upon"?

texts:
I'm looking for an adjective to describe a behavior or action that is considered to be a faux pas, or is frowned upon.

Picking your nose is [word].
Wearing socks with sandals is [word].
Breaking wind in an elevator is [word].
Voting this question down is [word].

ok, maybe not the last one...


texts: What is/are the origin/s of the use of “to end” to mean "to kill a person"?

texts:
Last night on two shows that I usually watch back-to-back on Tuesdays (NCIS and its spinoff set in New Orleans), the verb “end” was used in a way that seemed to mean “kill” (terminate/do away with/etc) a person ("When you catch him, end him”).

I realize that at least one synonym of “end” is used for “kill” (terminate) and that many slang words are used for “kill” (off/whack/waste, for example), but I had never heard “end” used as a [transitive] verb like this for killing a person until last night on those two different shows/occasions.

“Urban dictionary” doesn’t shed any light under either “end” or “kill,” and other generally accurate sources for informal usage don’t make the connection for me either:

http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english-thesaurus/kill

http://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/kill

Perhaps this usage is simply a logical extension of “end” (by way of its synonym “terminate”) and I could also see where it could possibly be a shortened version of

“[put an] END [to] HIM” or
“END [his days],”

but, again, it is new to me so here's my question:

  What is/are the origin/s of the use of “end” this way and is the fact
  that I heard it for the first time last night indicate that it is
  gaining in popularity (or merely that I haven’t been listening close
  enough)?


texts: Are you able to interpret the word '' in '' at this paragraph?

texts:
Paragraph :
They found that people were more honest when they were watched by eyes than when there were pictures of flowers. They put times as much money in.


texts:
Is there a word that is parent to "entity" and not on lines of "kind" or "all entities"?

Example: I have three "kinds" of entities, "forum", "topic", and "post".

I store them in a large area called "entities" as well which is confusing the heck out of me. I needed a different name.

entities: <<<<<<<< I need a better word here
    forumEntities:  entity1, entity2, entity3,
    topicsEntities: entity1, entity2, entity3,
    postsEntities:  entity1, entity2, entity3

So really the word I'm looking for is something to mean "all entity groups" or "various entity groups" or "entity baskets" or "entity branch".

I was thinking maybe worst case change the word entity to "stuff" then be like "stuffings > (stuffing === stuffs) > stuff"

stuffings:
    forumStuffs: stuff1, stuff2, stuff3
    topicStuffs: stuff1, stuff2, stuff3
    postStuffs:  stuff1, stuff2, stuff3

If you have any ideas better then "stuff" i'm all for abandoning the word "entity". Here is another I thought of, "entita" which is not a real word, I go the idea from the animal kingdom, phyla, phylum etc:

entitas:
    formEntita == forumEntitys: entity1, entity2, entity3


texts: What is the best way to punctuate the sentence, "The thing that makes you happy, do that."

texts:
“The thing that makes you happy, do that.”

I feel like the comma is not perfectly correct here. Should it be a dash or a semicolon instead, or maybe an ellipsis...?


texts: Is there a single-word replacement for the phrase "friendly verbal duel"?

texts:
For example, in the following sentence, can we replace the phrase "friendly verbal duel" with a single word ?

  Phelps invited Ted Frederickson, associate professor of journalism, to
  a ______________ (friendly verbal duel) on the issue of "homosexuals and the military"

I am aware debate is a possible word, but are debates always on friendly terms ? The stress is therefore on the word "friendly" in my question.


texts: What do you call a person who is constantly busy yet always willing to go the extra mile?

texts: What do you call a person who is constantly busy with his or her workload but is willing to go the extra mile to do more than what is needed? Is hardworking good enough or is there some other better words that could be used to describe this person?


texts: Can you use "Goldilocks" as an adjective?

texts:
Space professionals have popularized the terms Goldilocks planet & Goldilocks zone to describe planets and regions of space around a star that, like earth, are "just right" to conceivably harbor life.

Are there other popular instances of using "Goldilocks" as an adjective? Can I just attach the word to any noun?


texts:
You can place the script in the head or body as you like. The
  script will behave as if it was located exactly where you put the
  script tag in the document.

The sentences above are taken from this JavaScript tutorial (at the very bottom). I think they made a grammatical mistake here: it should be behave as if it were rather than it was. I'm not 100% sure, so want to confirm it.


texts: What is the name for this type of phrase? 'seriously hilarious'

texts: When you use an antonym in a phrase: "this is seriously hilarious," what is this phrase called?


texts:
Which of two following sentences is correct?

Depending on whether
a birth or a death occurs , we have...
Depending on whether
a birth or a death occur, we have...

Update I changed the title.


texts:
He had also thought well

  To comply with their wish

  To spend all their play-time

  In learning to fish

  For stitlings; they sent her

  A present of three,

  Which, fried, were a feast

  For Dame Wiggins of Lee.

This is part of John Ruskin's children's poem, Dame Wiggins of Lee and Her Seven Wonderful cats. I couldn't find the meaning of 'stitlings' in nowhere. Do you think it's just a simple typo? Then what would be the original word the author intended to use here?

You can see the whole book here.

https://archive.org/details/damewigginsoflee00peariala/page/3/mode/2up


texts: What's a word for peaking early in a given endeavor?

texts:
Looking for a word/phrase that expresses you hit the pinnacle of your success early and it's all downhill from there.

"Early bloomer" is the closest I can think of but that implies you learned fast and maintain your level of expertise.


texts: What is the difference between "it will be destroyed." and "it will get destroyed."?

texts: Is there any difference between "it will get destroyed." and "it will be destroyed."?Are they both equivalent?


texts: Dolo: Rhymes with "solo?" / Short for "down low?"

texts:
Green's Dictionary of Slang provides two definitions of dolo.  It writes "etymology unknown" under the headword.

  1. (US black) on one’s own, solo.

This first definition is attested from 1991 to 2011, though its use is known to extend to current day.

  2. (US campus) secret.

This second definition seems related at first glance, but the attestation from Campus Slang by Connie Eble suggests that it formed as an abbreviation for "down low."

  do lo – secret. From down low.

It is here that I am uncertain.  My assumption has always been that dolo was rhyming slang for solo, but the final attestation provided under the first definition above, from 2011, is phrased in a way that parallels the expression "on the down low".

  Solo, creepin on the dolo, tippin like a low-low.

2011 - Snoop Dogg & Wiz Khalifa ‘World Class’ [lyrics]

That GDoS marks the etymology as unknown without any speculation along the lines of 'possibly rhyming slang for solo' or 'possibly an abbreviation of "down low"' surprises me.  They both seem like logical explanations.

The rest of my question is essentially whether either of these explanations can be backed up by evidence, or if there are other possibilities.

Are these two senses outlined by GDoS related or formed separately?
Is there any evidence that "dolo" started as either rhyming slang or abbreviation, or separately as both?
For instance, can early uses be traced to an idiomatic structure that fits with "down low" the same way the 2011 citation does?
Is there any other possible explanation?

I had a very hard time coming up with a title to this question.  If anyone has suggestions for improvement I'm open to it.


texts: quoting written material without punctuation

texts:
I have to quote what someone said in a text message that says, "What you mean for court purposes" The original text did not have punctuation at the end, even though a question mark should have been there so where would I put the punctuation? The full sentence I am trying to write is:

Then it says, "What you mean for court purposes"

How do I correctly punctuate that while still keeping the original quoted material correct? Thanks in advance.


texts: Words or expressions for Scribbles and Erasure

texts:
I've been curious about a word to express those 'marks' that we have, mostly, on pen written texts, usually when you write and make a mistake and you can't erase you have to cross out the word, then you have that "dirty mark". In my native language we have a specific word for that. I looked for the translation of the words we have and found scribbles and erasure.

So here is my question: Are the words from the title correct to refer to that? Can I get some examples? Is there any other word or expression to express this?

To see what I mean see this image:


texts: Verb for discouraging or laughing at someone especially celebrity in public

texts:
I used to know a word that had a specific meaning and its meaning was something along the lines of to discourage someone from presenting/ performing something in public or laughing at someone and making them feel ashamed while they are performing in public.
It was used for celebrity who perform in public like a singer who sings and you __ him.
I searched the synonyms of "discourage" and "laugh at" but I can't seem to find the word I am looking for.
An example sentence is:

Justin Beiber was singer in public concert and people ____ed him so he left the concert".

I had seen this word in a video as I remember but I have forgotten the name of what I was watching. In that video, a person is trying to sing in public and people laugh at him and discourage him and he then leaves that place as he is disappointed by the reaction of the public and then sits on a bench far away from people. The host of the video was describing that action and used a word (verb) for that I am trying to remember that verb but I can't seem to find it anywhere. It's 3rd day now since I have  been searching for different words.
Please help me find that word.
P.S I hope I provided enough information about the word I am searching, if it is inappropriate here, please close the question.


texts: What is a synonym for "attempted to jump start"?

texts:
I want to make this sentence more concise:

  Chairman Mao attempted to jumpstart China's agriculture and industry.

Could one replace "attempted to jumpstart" with a single word?


texts:
Is the phrase (as used in English) "modus operandi" singular or plural?  And if the former, what is its plural form [or vice versa]?

(To my untutored eye, "modus" seems to be a singular form, while "operandi" seems to be a plural.)

A search of this site does not reveal anything bearing on the matter.


texts: What connection (if any) is there in Australian slang between 'dinkum' and 'dink' (meaning a ride on bicycle handlebars)?

texts:
In an answer to the recent question, What is the American equivalent of a "backie"? site participant Chappo notes that in Australia the word dink is sometimes used as a noun to mean "a lift on a bicycle" and the verb dink can mean "carry a person on a bicycle" (both definitions provided by Oxford Living Dictionaries online). OLD has this very brief source note:

Origin 1930s: origin unknown.

A term familiar in Australian English but not widely used most other parts of the English-speaking world is dinkum.  G.A. Wilkes, A Dictionary of Australian Colloquialisms (1978) gives two entries for dinkum:

dinkum n. 1 Work, toil: obs. {E. dial. OED 1891} [Citation from 1882 omitted.] 2 An Australian soldier in World War I: obs. [Citations from 1918 and 1919 omitted.]
dinkum a. & adv. authentic, genuine, esp. in the expression 'fair dinkum' ('on the level') [Citations from 1894–1973 omitted.]

Jonathon Green, Cassell's Dictionary of Slang, second edition (2005), lists several meanings for dinkum in Australian slang (to much the same effect as Wilkes's definitions above) and three relevant meanings of dink in Australian slang:

dink n.5 {1930s+} (Aus. juv.) a lift on the crossbar of a bicycle (cf. BUNK v.5). {ety. unknown}
...
dink adj. 1 {1900s–1930s} (Aus.) honest, genuine, trustworthy. {abbr. DINKUM adj.}
...
dink v. (also double-dink) {1940s+} (Aus. juv.) to give anyone a lift on the crossbar of one's bicycle (cf. BUNK v.5 {DINK n.5}

The entry for the verb bunk cited twice in the definitions above identifies it as a 1950s Australian slang term meaning "to carry someone on one's bicycle crossbar" and later a 1980s+ term meaning ""to travel without a fare, to get in (e.g. to a cinema) without a ticket."
My question is this:

What evidence (if any) is there of a possible etymological link between dink (the bicycle ride) and the earlier dinkum (either in the adjective sense of "authentic or genuine" or in the noun sense of "work, toil")?


texts:
We are ordinary Russian folks playing an English board game and came across this sentence:

  You may splay your green or blue cards left.

We expected that it meant you must choose only one card stack, but later found another card with the appended sentence:

  Draw a card for every color you have splayed left.

which contradicts the first sentence if "forcing" was intended because it has the words "for every" (not one).

Does "or" mean choosing only one clause in English or does it allow to choose both?


texts: Origin and evolution of the term "populist"

texts:
According to Etymonline populist was originally a late 19th c. AmE term, but  its current connotation appeared only a few decades later:

1892 (n.) "adherent of populism;" 1893 (adj.), American English, from Latin populus "people" (see people (n.)) + -ist. Originally in reference to the U.S. Populist Party organized February 1892 to promote certain issues important to farmers and workers.

The term outlasted the party, and by 1920s came to mean "representing the views of the masses" in a general way.

The following Italian site says that the English term is actually a translation of the late 19th century Russian expression  "narodničestvo"  used to refer a local political movement whose aim was to help rural communities:

dall'inglese: populism, traduzione del russo: narodničestvo movimento politico e culturale di fine ottocento che mirava a riscattare la dignità delle comunità rurali.

Questions:

was the term populist originally taken from the Russian political movement?
was the  later change in connotation  linked to the description of   American events,  or rather, of European historical events of the 1920s?


texts: Abbreviation for "or the rest" (or "or others")?

texts:
The Latin et cetera, abbreviated etc., is often used at the end of an incomplete, inclusive list of items when it is clear that there are more items than can be enumerated conveniently and there is no ambiguity about what the omitted items are.  For example: "Joseph's amazing technicolor dreamcoat was red, yellow, green, brown, scarlet, etc."

Is there an equivalent abbreviation that would serve a similar purpose when the list is exclusive?  "My mother hit your mother in the nose.  What color blood came out?  Was it red, yellow, green, brown, scarlet, ...?"

I have always just rewritten the sentence or written out the full "or something else," but the lack of complementary abbreviation to etc. has always bothered me.


texts: Is `limited to viewing` correct in this context? Your account is `limited to` viewing only the first 100 pictures

texts:
As the title says, is limited to correct in that context?

  Let's say for instance that Facebook offers free and paid account and Facebook only allows free account to view the first 100 pictures of your friend. When a user tries to view more than 100 pictures, then Facebook will say Your account is limited to viewing the first 100 pictures.

If that is correct, can anyone point me to an English rule that allows "past tense" + "to" + "verb-ing"? Also, I do not know what kind of verb is "limited to viewing" or what is it called in English.

Thanks!


texts: Using "Excuse me, ..." for asking questions

texts: It has happened to me a lot that I stop random people in the street for asking a question about direction. I said "Excuse me". In answer to my "excuse me" People usually say "Hey". I am wondering if I should say "Hello" in response to them or not. I don't actually know how to answer their "hey".


texts: "All the good people" vs. "all of the good people"

texts:
I've heard both of these before.

  All the good people
  All of the good people

Are they both correct?


texts: How would you use "Show Don't Tell" imagery to portray a person who is watching something (an encounter) that makes him nervous? All I can think of is: I could feel my body begin to sweat.


texts: What do you call a word that substitutes an obscene word?

texts: A word that is milder than another is a euphemism, but what is a generic word that is used in good manners and polite speech instead of the proper specific term, like 'bottom' instead of 'ass'?


texts: Do short time symbols need to be pluralised

texts:
We are wanting to know how to shorten time symbols/words in an open source code library.

The code will emit:

1 second, 2 seconds, 1 hour, 2 hours, 1 week, 2 weeks, etc.

Is the correct shorthand 1s, 2s, 1h, 2h, 1wk, 2wk, for example?

I.e. should any of the short forms be plural?


texts: "To be retired" vs. "to be a retiree" vs. "to be a retirant"

texts:
Are both of these responses in current use in modern day AE to the question:

  What's your job?

Is it

  I don't have a job, I'm retired.

Or

  I don't have a job, I'm a retiree.

Also, does the term of "retirant" have any currency in modern day AE?

  Source: source>/


texts: "One of my friends" vs. "one of my friend"

texts:
Which of the following is correct?

  Yesterday, I met one of my friends.
  Yesterday, I met one of my friend.


texts: What is the word for a person who causes disruptions in electronic equipment?

texts: I once saw reference to a noun that identified a person whose physical presence disrupts equipment, particularly electronic devices.  Any ideas?


texts:
Sentence - He is being in tension.

Above sentence is Present Continuos. How can we use Being in other sentences.


texts: Do you add 's' after countable nouns following numbers other than 1?

texts:
For countable nouns you add 's' for non single quantity
e.g. 1 hour, 2 hours, -1 degree, -2 degrees

What about 0 hour(s)? 0.5 hour(s)? 1.5 hour(s)?


texts: "Equal situation", which sentence is correct?

texts:
He and she have equal situation.

  They are in equal situations.

  They are in equal situation.


texts:
My question is simple. Is the following sentence correct?

  They don't watch TV often.

My English teacher has told me that the only correct option is:

  They don't often watch TV.

Is she right?


texts: What is the correct word (verb) for death due to a run in crowds in English?

texts:
What is the word in English which perfectly defines the death due to run and collision in a crowd?

It should be a verb and can be used something like in a street where people begin to run when some incident happens and die due to being pressed by one another, probably due to falling or something else..

Sorry, if I am not clear.

Thank you


texts: What is the metal box the dishwasher parts are in called? Dishwasher housing/body/case?

texts: I'm translating a technical text and can't decide about wording. How do you call a metal box the dishwasher parts are in? The variants are "housing"/"body"/"case"/"frame". Not the "cabinet" - I don't need a wooden box for in-built models. Housing is about computers, isn't it? So what is the correct word? Thanks.


texts: What is the passive voice of "She quits her teaching job in school"?

texts: What will be the passive voice for "She quits her teaching job in school"? I have come up with "The teaching job in school is quit by her," but somehow it's not sounding correct. Is it fine?


texts:
Is there a word that represents the positive connotation equivalent of the term tattle or  tattletale ?
What I would be looking for is something like the following:

Dan tattled on Ken to Ken's boss.
Dan positive tattled on Ken to Ken's boss.

EDIT:
To further clarify what I'm looking for... It's not so much that Dan tattling on Ken is a good thing, but more that what Dan is tattling about is positive.

Dan tattled on Ken that Ken was being a jerk
Dan ____ on Ken that Ken was being helpful

In this context, whistleblower, duly reported..... none of these really fit the bill. I have my own suggestion that I will answer with to give a better idea... anonymously praised


texts:
My case here is that I was writing something for school, and my teacher explained an error which I really can't see.
She referred to articles about "dangling participles", which was previously unknown to me.
I find it hard to relate the examples I've found about it to my situation.
So this is a text I've written and the bold part is where the problem arises:
(You could read only the bold part if you please)

Wandering, and lost in his thoughts, there is a deep despair occupying the mind of this man. He is barely aware of his surroundings, except for those few moments when the loud blissful voices break through the protective barriers, developed by his immense sadness and grave frustration, into his mind. ”How can they all possibly be so happy?” he thinks to himself. Staring blindly, with his head low, as he walks in a slow pace, whispering ”Mary, Mary, my Mary,” over and over again. Yesterday was her funeral. She had passed away from a severe type of cancer, at a relatively young age. It was his wife. They had been together since high school and were greatly attached to each other. Having spent nearly half his life by her side, we cannot but imagine his grief. Indeed, he could hardly picture a life without her. So, alone he roams in the midst of all the seemingly incessant cheering and noises, drowned by his sorrow.

Her comments on that part was:

we is slightly out of place here – see my comment below
These few sentences are about him and his emotions, so ‘we’ seems out
of place. If the sentence starts: ‘Having spent nearly half his life
by her side’, the reader expects it to continue: ‘he’. After all we
have not spent half our lives by her side.

Is she right? If so, could anyone try to explain why?


texts: What is common between "going Dutch" and "Dutch door"?

texts:
Meaning

  "Going Dutch" is a term that indicates that each person participating
  in a group activity pays for himself, rather than any person paying
  for anyone else, particularly in a restaurant bill. It is also called
  Dutch date, Dutch treat and "doing Dutch".

Etymology

  One suggestion is that the phrase "going Dutch" originates from the
  concept of a Dutch door. Previously on farmhouses this consisted of
  two equal parts (Sullivan 2010).

Dutch door

  A Dutch door (American English), or stable door (British English), or
  half door (Hiberno English), is a door divided horizontally in such a
  fashion that the bottom half may remain shut while the top half opens.

reference

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Going_Dutch

Help me connect the dots.


texts:
A waiter says to two customers who ordered two bottles of mineral water.

Which should he say?
I'll get you the waters vs I'll get you the water

I found this page which contains:
https://www.nytimes.com/books/99/04/25/specials/frost-steeple.html

Here are your waters and your watering place.
Drink and be whole again beyond your confusion.

What does the "waters" mean in this example?


texts:
My dilemma is that most of my grammar knowledge goes back a half century, and I want to give current and up to date advice to new English language learners. The opening sentence of this post shows an example of current, as opposed to, old school punctuation. The adjective, up to date, would require hyphenation, using old school guidelines.

I'm not sure if helper verb is a term still in vogue. I researched the term on the Net, but the problem is that web sites rarely give their publishing date. New English speakers making the effort to learn the language deserve accurate answers. I don't want to give obsolete advice. Is helper verb still the correct term for a verb preceding a short infinitive?


texts: Can we use "commiseration" and "condolence" interchangeably?

texts:
On what occasions can we use these terms and are they perfect synonym for each other to use interchangeably?
Can we say to someone who has lost a friend "our commiseration to ..."?


texts: Is the phrase "parking garage" redundant?

texts: Is there an instance in which the use of the word "garage" as opposed to "parking garage" would imply something other than a structure where vehicles are parked?


texts: Meaning of quote from 'God Emperor of Dune'

texts:
I'm trying to understand the meaning of a quote from the 1981 science fiction novel 'God Emperor of Dune' by Frank Herbert. The quote is;

  If it falls outside your yardsticks, then you are engaged with intelligence, not with automation.

The quote can be found with a little more context here. What does the speaker mean in this situation? I know a yardstick is something referred to in physics as a way to measure things. What does 'your yardsticks' mean here?

Thank you for the help understanding this quote!


texts:
I discovered on a quiz show the other day that the word "dog" appears to have come from nowhere and displaced the German word "hund".

Has any research revealed how it arrived in the English language?


texts: Has the request “May I request you to …” to end with a question mark?

texts:
May I request you to kindly collect the brief?

or

  May I request you to kindly collect the brief.

Which of the above two sentences is correctly punctuated?

Added afterwards:
This request is to be made to a very senior official. This request is meant to be a polite form of asking the official to do the task of collecting the brief. He, being a very senior official, could not be given a command; he can only be requested, where the request should be extra polite and he does not feel that he is being commanded.


texts: Is “over-babble” a common word usable in day-to-day conversation?

texts:
There was the following passage in the New York Times (May 14) article under the title, “Wow, Jeb Bush is awful”:

  The bottom line is that so far he seems to be a terrible candidate. He couldn’t keep his “I’m-my-own-man” mantra going through the spring. He over-babbled at a private gathering. He didn’t know how to answer the Iraq question, which should have been the first thing he tackled on the first day he ever considered that he might someday think for even a minute about running for president.

I understand “over＋babble” means “speak too much.” or “give hot air.” Am I right?

I can’t find the word in English dictionaries at hands, nor through google search.

Is it a common word being spoken in day-to-day conversation? Can I reprove my colleague who over-babbles in the meeting by saying “Don’t over-babble”?


texts:
Does "I am cold naked" mean "I am cold because I am naked"?

Let's assume that Tom and Jane are talking.
When Tom says "I am cold naked" to Jane,
does Jane understand that Tom is cold because he is naked?

Otherwise, is it right to say "I am cold to be naked"?


texts: What does 'pivot' mean in the given context?

texts:
The intention is possibly to counter the U.S. pivot towards Asia, but the Russia-China axis will have an impact elsewhere as well, including in west Asia.

What does 'pivot' mean in this context?