texts:
I was reading an article about the use of "why" as an adverb. I thought about what other function the word can have and came to the reasoning that it can be a conjunction joining clauses. I looked up a number of dictionaries:

  Merriam-Webster Dictionary(yes, conjunction) why
  conjunction 2 : for which : on account of which know the
  reason why you did it

  American-Heritage Dictionary (yes, conjunction) why conj.
  1. The reason, cause, or purpose for which:  I know why you left.

  Random House Kernerman Webster's Dictionary (yes,
  conjunction) conj.
  2. for what cause or reason: I don't know why he left.
  3. for which; on account of which (usu. after reason to introduce a relative clause): the reason why she refused to go.
  4. the reason for which: That is why he returned.

  Cambridge Dictionary (yes, conjunction) conjunction, adverb [not
  gradable] for what reason: She’ll ask why you don’t have your
  homework.

  Oxford Living Dictionaries (conjunction not mentioned, listed as
  "relative adverb") relative adverb

  1(with reference to a reason) on account of which; for which. ‘the
  reason why flu jabs need repeating every year is that the virus
  changes’
  1.1 The reason for which. ‘each has faced similar hardships, and perhaps that is why they are friends’

  Collins Dictionary (doesn't mention conjunction, lists is as
  "pronoun") pron for or because of which: there is no
  reason why he shouldn't come.

  Yet on the Collins Learner's Dictionary it lists it both as
  pronoun and conjunction
  2. conjunction You use why at the beginning of a clause in which you talk about the reasons for something.

  He still could not throw any further light on why the elevator could have become jammed.
  Experts wonder why the U.S. government is not taking similarly strong actions against AIDS in this country.
  I can't understand why they don't want us.

  3.pronoun You use why to introduce a relative clause after the word 'reason'.

  There's a reason why women don't read this stuff; it's not funny.
  Unless you're ill, there's no reason why you can't get those 15 minutes of walking in daily.

So in all examples where Collins lists it as a pronoun we have "why" coming directly after the word "reason". Oxford Living Dictionaries doesn't list it as a pronoun, but a "relative adverb".

I didn't find "why" anywhere in the Wikipedia Conjunction article, but did find it in the Wikipedia Conjunctive adverb article.

I'm wondering why in these two particular dictionaries (Collins and Oxford Living Dictionaries) we don't find "why" listed as conjunctions? Are they not viewed as such in modern grammar?

Also, I've been warned in the past not to place my trust in dictionaries when recognising word categories or functions, which is another reason why I'm asking this.


texts: hyphen in adjectives with mathematical symbols

texts:
In mathematics and physics (and other fields of science), it is quite common to use symbols in lieu of names. For instance an object can have a symmetry G, i.e. the name of the symmetry is G.

I am wondering what are the rules for hyphenation when using the adjective version. Does one say that an object is G-symmetric or G symmetric?

In scientific papers, I've seen versions with and without hyphens, sometimes in the same document.

I would expect that the rule should be as for any compound adjective, i.e. hyphenated if attributive and not if predicative. However, to my non-native eyes, saying "this object is G symmetric" doesn't look correct. Is there any rule or at least partial consensus on this?


texts: How can I classify the following conditional sentences?

texts:
I was watching this video. It classifies conditionals as follows:

I see that these variations are missing:

(Present → Past) If I say something, I destroyed everything.
(Present Perfect → Present Perfect) If I have done it, I have done it for you.
(Present Perfect → Future) If I have done it, I will do it again.
(Present → Present perfect) If I eat pizza, I have also eaten cheese.
(Past → Past) If I bought anything, I bought that with my own money.
(Past → Past Perfect) If I did it last year, I had done it perfectly.
(Past Perfect → Past Perfect) If I had done that, I had done that for you.
(Past Future → Past future) If I would eat meat, I would not be a vegan anymore.
(Future → Future) If I will do it, I will do it myself.
(Future → Present) If I will tell him, I tell him on his face.

Are these sentences grammatically correct?

How can I classify these conditional sentences into 0th, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd conditionals?


texts:
Bear-charming technique has had ____ influence on tourism industry.

I think there is a common choice of adjective with a meaning similar to expansive, widespread, or all-reaching used in this context before the word influence, but I can't seem to recall exactly what it is.


texts:
The term thinly veiled racism is used to describe something that is not overtly obvious.
It also can be used in other scenarios where the description is so perfect it is the best fitting adjective with certain nouns e.g. thinly veiled insult.
However the adjective seem to only fit in if the noun has a negative meaning. When I apply it to other rules of society it just didn't fit in.
E.g.

John only learnt the hard lesson of life much later, that you are valued by how people can benefit from you rather than your character. John realized the thinly veiled rule of society
Hillary Clinton was born dirt poor and uses her poor upbringing as a reason why she is the working-class candidate as well as using the example of her career of how she dedicated her life to serving poor people. However by looking at the incredible amount of wealth she has accumulated in her life and how much money she has received from large corporate, her  thinly veiled intentions were clear. She was only primarily in office to enrich herself.
Winning in life is about beating your neighbour to get ahead while making like you are the moral person. This is the ... rule of life.

What words can I used in the above example instead


texts: What tense is the 'come' in this sentence?

texts:
Is 'come' in the following sentence the base form or the past participle?

“And Royce seemed to be everything I’d dreamed of. The fairy tale
prince, come to make me a princess. Everything I wanted...”

If it's a past participle then is it a similar usage of come as in This is my dream come true?


texts: Is “I feel like a piece of meat” popular phrase? Isn’t it embarrassing for women to use this phrase?

texts:
I found the phrase ‘I felt like a piece of meat’ (at a meeting),’ in the article of Washington Post (September 20) titled ‘In early Obama White House, female staffers felt frozen out.’
The article quotes the following episodes contained in the newly released book written by journalist, Ron Suskin:

"Christina Romer (former chairwoman of the Council of Economic Advisers) is quoted by Suskind saying, after being excluded by Summers at a meeting, “I felt like a piece of meat.”
On Friday, Romer offered a softer denial than Dunn, saying, “I can’t imagine that I ever said this.” “I was told before I went to Washington that there has always been a lot of testosterone in the West Wing,” Romer said Friday

I understand “a piece of meat” implies here “almost nonexistent, like petty object.” But as I searched for the exact definition of “a piece of meat” in Google, I came across the different meaning of usage in AspireNow Blog;

“This is not to be confused with being treated like a piece of property, not to be confused with being treated with ... Consistent committed positive action is a definition of love. ... Again, that makes her feel like a sex object or piece of meat -What do women want?”

I’m curious to know how popular the phrase, “I feel like a piece of meat” is. Isn’t it liable to be misunderstood, particularly when a woman uses, or even politically incorrect to use before a woman?


texts:
What does the phrase mean in "He annoys me to no end"?

Literally, does it mean that he annoys me forever? Or does it mean that he annoys me to no result?


texts: Can you accumulate verbs ? Is it idiomatic ? e.g. "it has recorded and is expected to maintain exponential growth."

texts:
Should you rather write:

It has recorded and is expected to maintain exponential growth.

Or

It has recorded exponential growth and is expected to maintain it.

and why? I know that accumulating verbs is not an usual construction.
The first looks better to me, but some people (non-natives) have told me the first version is harder to understand. I disagree with that.


texts: What does 'turn' signify in the metaphor 'serve the turn'?

texts:
In serve one's/its turn, 'turn' signifies "an individual's time for action, when these go around in succession".
But 'turn' must signify something else beneath, as there's no agent.

If 'turn' is synonymizing 'hitch' or 'snag', then how did 'turn' shift to signify this? What semantic notions underlie 'snag' and 'turn'?

Source: Rebecca Gowers. Plain Words (2014 ed). p. 87 Top.

  A reader of Milton must be always upon duty; he is surrounded with sense, it arises in every line, every word is to the purpose; there are no lazy intervals, all has been considered, and demands and merits observation. Even in the best writers you sometimes find words and sentences which hang on so loosely you may blow 'em off; Milton's are all substance and weight; fewer would not have serv'd the turn, and more would have been superfluous." — Jonathan Richardson, Explanatory Notes and Remarks on Milton's Paradise lost, 1734


texts: What is the best word or phrase for comments provided by a guide?

texts:
What is the word that can be used to describe commentary given by a guide during a tour?

For example riding on guided tour of a city where guide tells you about different objects of interests.

Edit:

Looking for the word or phrase to replace blanks, hopefully this makes the question clearer.

  The short and to the point ____ given by guide was welcomed by the tourists.

  The guide ____ on every historic item we encountered.


texts: BE term for a historical type of outlaw?

texts:
An old-fashioned punishment consisted of depriving an individual of the benefit and protection of the law.
Does British English have a more explicit term for such an indiviudal than "outlaw"? If not, how else to explicitly describe such a person and as short as possible?


texts: Why is it correct to say "She hadn't been used to being treated like that" and not "She hadn't been used to be treated like that"?

texts:
I know that we use "To be+used to+gerund" for expressing something that's happening at the moment of speaking. But I don't know how to apply the rule with the sentence above. Do we always use gerund when "used to" is preceded by "to be" ?

Thank you by advance.


texts:
In the context of a computer user interface manual, what word would you use to complete this sentence:

  Drag the handle at the bottom-right corner to enlarge or __ the window.

To me, "shrink", "diminish", and "reduce" all feel wrong in this context. Is there a better word? (Or would one of those work if I changed the word "enlarge" to something else?)


texts: Can we use the word "initiative" as an adjective?

texts: I'd like to ask if we can use the word initiative as an adjective. I have found it used that way, but there is no entry for initiative as an adjective in the Oxford Advanced Learners' Dictionary.


texts: What is the word used to describe the action of using the dental drill to ‘chip’ at the surface of your tooth?

texts: A few words that are close are ‘chip’, ‘saw’ and drill but they don’t quite capture the meaning accurately. The process smoothens the edge of the tooth.


texts: Are there any phrases expressing the meaning "won't do/finish something until the last minute of deadline/due time"

texts:
Some people prefer to finish their tasks one day or even one hour before the deadline. I wonder how native speakers of English say this. Specifically, how to complete the following sentences:

The class starts at 8 a.m.; please arrive in the classroom at least 10 minutes in advance. Do not _________ [arrive in the classroom exactly at 8].
You always ________ [submit the homework assignment at the last minute of the deadline]! Why don't you submit it earlier?


texts: Word to describe a situation where one wants to do good things but ends up with something bad

texts:
I am looking for a word to describe a situation where one wants to do good things but ends up with something bad.

It generally happens with me, I always think of doing something good but sometimes end up with something bad.


texts: What to call words with permanent prefix, but no unprefixed form? (ex: nonchalant, untoward)

texts: What do you call prefixed words with no unprefixed counterpart? For example, there's no such thing as a "chalant person". Bad behavior may be "untoward", good behavior is never "toward". What are these words called and why do they exist? Did unprefixed versions ever exist?


texts: When a phrase ends with a period, do you put ... or .. after it?

texts:
I was just reading this question: When "etc." is at the end of a phrase, do you place a period after it?
And it brought to mind something similar. If a phrase ends with a . (such as e.g. or etc.), and you want to use ..., how many periods should you put?
That is, which of these is correct?

something something etc...
something something etc....

To preempt the objection that ellipses never follow abbreviations, they can when used for aposiopesis in dialogue.


texts: What would you call a premature egg served as food?

texts:
This might not be a common thing elsewhere, but here in Africa, when we slaughter a hen that has been laying (or which was about to start laying), we normally keep any forming eggs inside of it, cook and serve these with the rest of the chicken.

Now, I'm looking for a way to describe such eggs, when they are served, typically, with the chicken broth. Checkout the bit I'm writing:

  And it wasn’t just the plate, I had been given two small bowls as well; one holding the chicken broth that had flattered my imagination, long before it was ever served; the other held two generous pieces of chicken, and one small, premature egg.

Does the phrasing and choice of words sound right or could I have used a better word to describe that peculiar kind of egg?


texts: What are the objects and indirect objects in this sentence (if any)

texts:
The storage making your home work harder.

It's from a furniture advertisement, and I was just wondering how to dissect the complements here.
Is it that storage is the subject, making is the verb, your home is the indirect object (as it complements the verb making), and work harder is a direct object (as it is a gerund phrase?) Sorry if this seems a bit elementary to anyone - grammar is not my strong suit.


texts: Using the infinitive or past tense for the verb for a future event

texts: A recent article in The New Yorker included this phrase: "...forbade him to represent Israel in bridge for an additional 18 months...". I would have written " forbade him from representing Israel". Which is correct, and why?


texts: A word to describe a player's possible action during their turn

texts:
Given an ongoing game with well defined rules, a player and granted that it is their turn, how would you call the possible actions the player can perform?

These actions may include moving a piece, rolling dice, trading with another player, resigning, etc. Anything that advances the game in any way, no matter how reasonable. In particular, I would like to refer to all actions the player is able to perform, i.e. usually a huge amount.

My first thought was along the lines of actions or game actions, though I would like to avoid that term if possible. Decisions would be quite detached from a performed action.

Update: Trying to add examples

  There are 5 possible actions that can be carried out by player 1.

  Moving piece X from field A to field B, claiming field B
  Moving piece Y from field C to field D, capturing the enemy piece Z
  Buying card foo from the bank, reducing 1's tokens to 4, gaining privilege bar
  Moving piece Y from field C to 1's inventory, losing field C to player 2
  Resigning the game, moving pieces X and Y to 1's inventory, losing field A to player 3 and field C to player 2.

The distinction am I looking as seen in the final example: Resigning the game does cause them to lose all their stuff, but the important part is not the reasoning but what actually happens when they chose this action. For this reason the carried out action and all direct subsequent consequences are bundled together.

In chess, an example might be:

  Move white queen to A7, remove black bishop from A7 and add black bishop to black graveyard
  Move white pawn from E2 to A4, define black the winner of the game, game ends (this one is a bit far fetched)


texts:
On this post here, it says:

  Another word which comes to my mind is "Knack". It can be used to show
  how someone has a specific talent. Again as an example - Tim is good
  with musical instruments, and yet he doesn't have the knack to come up
  with original tunes like his brother has.

I'm an American, so I use the Merriam-Webster dictionary. It's just convenient.

  1 a : a clever trick or stratagem  b : a clever way of doing something
  2 : a special ready capacity that is hard to analyze or teach 3
  archaic   : an ingenious device;  broadly   : TOY, KNICKKNACK synonyms
  see GIFT

I use the term myself with the for preposition or the of preposition, even though I think the for preposition may be more common.

  Little Lucy has a knack for getting into trouble, but she's so cute and friendly that most people never notice.

I wish to know the distinctions among a knack for, a knack to, and a knack of.


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  “Solution for” or “solution to” a problem?

My problematic phrase is this:

  More and more patients from other states and countries sought here the solution __ their illness.

I found it with "for", but switching for "to" sounds better.

So which one is correct?

  More and more patients from other states and countries sought here the solution for their illness.
  More and more patients from other states and countries sought here the solution to their illness.


texts: I have a student (C1 level English) who has asked me for another way to say "Until this time" in an email. She wants to reference a meeting that she is having next month with an executive in another company in her complimentary close. As I don't believe my initial reaction - "um, we don't say things like that in emails in America...?" was sufficient, is there a resource that I can point her to that would provide a fairly exhaustive explanation of the rules of business email etiquette?  She said the equivalent in her L1 - Czech - is "awhile," which did not do much to help answer her question.  Stock phrases generally don't reference a specific time, obviously; which, she is aware, but wants to do something different...be original and inventive, I suppose. So what should I explain to her, and how - ?


texts: Punctuation to introduce a list: comma vs. colon vs. nothing

texts:
Which of these sentences is written correctly?

  Angela has three brothers, Mark, Adam, and Ryan.
  Angela has three brothers: Mark, Adam, and Ryan.
  Angela has three brothers Mark, Adam, and Ryan


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
Marking plural of code words
Pluralizing Keywords in Programming Languages

After asking a number of questions on StackOverflow, I keep running into some of the same phrasing issues. Typically these issues stem from variable names.
How do I correctly pluralize or possessivize* a word or phrase in quotes or code blocks?
Are there any differences in grammatical structure if <code> blocks, or ` characters are used to delineate quoted words, phrases, or variables instead?
* I don't know the right word for "possessivize" either; anyone who would like to correct it can be my guest
As a simple example that involves some basic JavaScript code:
var chars, char;
chars = 'abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz'.split('');
chars.forEach(function (char, index, chars) {
  console.log(index, char, char.length);
});
console.log(char);

Possessive

within the callback, char's length should always be 1.
-or-
within the callback, "char"'s length should always be 1.

Plural

chars are defined in multiple scopes
-or-
"char"s are defined in multiple scopes

I'm aware that these aren't the best of examples, as I would typically write "char instances" instead of "chars", but I couldn't come up with a better example at the moment. The general idea still stands.


texts: She was trapped and was shot or she was trapped and shot

texts:
I'm a little bit confused in the situation where we use two verbs in a passive voice sentence. So, should we omit the to be verb there or keep it.

Thanks in advance !


texts:
When teaching, and preparing exams for our students, we have 4 related terms:

The "printed sheets" that we give to them at the beginning of the exam, that contain the questions. In French it's called "Sujet d'examen" ou "L'énoncé". What is it called in English?

Example of sentences about it:

(To colleague) "Have you printed the ___ for next week yet? We need 200 copies of it."
(To students) "We have uploaded on internet the ___ of last year's exam, so that you can practice". (specifically: only the ~sujet~, not the answers)

What's the name of the papers that student write during an exam and that they have to give to the teacher at the end? (In French: Les "copies")

Example:

(To students) "Time's up. Please stop writing and bring your ___ to either Mr. XYZ or Ms. ABC".
(To collegue): "What do you have in this very heavy bag? Is it the ~sujet d'examen~ or already the students' ~copies~?"

After doing an exam, we (teachers) prepare a document for our students containing the questions + the answers, so that they can practice at home and know their mistakes after an exam. It's called "La correction de l'examen" / "Le corrigé de l'examen" in French. What is it called in English?

Example:

(To students) "We have uploaded the ___ as a PDF file on this website, please make sure you read it before next exam"

What's the name of the grading scheme we use for a specific exam?

Example: Exercise 1 question 1: 2 points, question 2: 3 points. Exercise 2 question 1: 2 points, question 2: 2.5 points, question 3: 5 points.

In French it's called "Le barème". Example:

(Student to teacher) "What will be the ___ of the exam?"
(Teacher) "I don't know yet, but I can say that exercise 2 will have 3 points"

To give an example, here is how the files would be named:

Exam2018_Integrales\1sujetexamen.pdf
Exam2018_Integrales\2scan_copies_étudiants.pdf
Exam2018_Integrales\3corrigé.pdf
Exam2018_Integrales\4barême.pdf

What would be the equivalent in English?


texts: GRE Question. Why was 'reinforce' the incorrect answer in "the notes mimics/reflects/reinforces the meaning"?

texts:
From Kaplan's GRE Premier book, 2014, p. 105:

  Word Painting is a musical technique in which the progression of the
  notes ______ the meaning of the lyrics; a famous example of this can
  be found in Handel's Messiah in which the notes rise with the
  mention of "mountains" and fall with the mention of "low."

A. sustains

B. mimics

C. contrasts

D. reflects

E. opposes

F. reinforces

I thought the answer would be B and F. The answer in the text is B and D. My girlfriend, who graduated with an English minor, thought D and F.

Who is correct, and why? [In particular, why wouldn't F be included?]


texts:
Today in a UK court Mr Justice Cooke, in passing judgement over three disgraced cricketers, said

  The image and integrity of what was once a game but is now a business
  is damaged in the eyes of all, including the many youngsters who
  regarded you as as heroes and would have given their eye teeth to play
  at the levels and with the skills that you had.

I understand that giving your eye teeth means that you want something a lot, but what is the origin of the expression?

(As a native English speaker, I had always thought the expression was "hind teeth" — as in the ones at the back that are painful to extract.  It seems that I was wrong in this.)


texts:
"A high school, a private hospital and several apartment blocks are among the buildings identified with combustible cladding similar to what fuelled the Grenfell Tower fire."

I read this sentence and it seemed to me that there was something not right about it. I don't know why but the use of "what" seemed wrong to me. I think a better sentence would read as follows.

"A high school, a private hospital and several apartment blocks are among the buildings identified with combustible cladding similar to that which fuelled the Grenfell Tower fire."

I'm interested to know, am I correct and if so why ?


texts:
Expressions like:

A number of
A lot of
A host of

Are plural and thus go with "are" form of to be, for example:

There are a number of clear contrasts.

but contrary to these, I usually see:

There is a vast array of clear contrasts.
And not:
There are a vast array of clear contrasts.

In sentences, is there any rationale behind it?


texts: Idiom: Origin of the phrase "a bit how ya going" to mean questionable or 'not quite right'

texts:
In Australia, where I live, it is not uncommon for people to describe something as "a bit 'how ya goin''" to mean that it's a little bit dodgy, or not quite right. An example is

  "Hey don't you have a new coworker?"

  "Yeah, they're a bit 'how ya goin'"

which would mean that the new coworker is maybe a bit weird or not a good fit in the office. I've also heard it to refer to other-than-humans:

  "How's the uni course?"

  "It's a bit 'how ya goin'"

which would mean that the course isn't going well, but implying that there's a problem with the course itself. I would expect a follow-up closer to "the timetable doesn't fit and the lecturers are terrible" rather than "the course is great but I haven't studied enough".

I had thought it might be connected to/descended from the English phrase "how's your father", but I haven't found any evidence of that and the 'how ya goin' version doesn't have any lewd connotations, as far as I know.

Does anybody know where this phrase comes from, and why it's used in this context? Urban dictionary lists it as Australian slang, but I would love to know if it exists anywhere else. It's a hard one to google, as "origin of phrase 'how are you going'" doesn't yield great results, for obvious reasons.


texts:
I came across this sentence:

  Cummings Motors, Smith Electric nor our subcontractors can be held liable.

Is this a proper use of the word nor?

I can understand

  Neither Cummings Motors nor Smith Electric nor our subcontractors can be held liable.

But nor without neither? What about neither, nor, nor? Is one nor sufficient?


texts:
Context: an old (70+ years old) Londoner is being interviewed about his past as a lighterman on the River Thames and says the following:

  Three big wharves there, they've flattened, all gone. One of them we called the stinker wharf. They made bones. It used to pen and ink when you went by there.

Webster's Third defines “to make bones” as “to show hesitation, uncertainty, or scruple,” but it doesn't seem to fit here. Partridge Slang says that “bone” could mean a marijuana/tobacco cigarette in the US; but it would be odd if an old Londoner used American slang terms.


texts: What is the opposite of reappropriation?

texts:
Reappropriation is the cultural process by which a group reclaims terms or artifacts that were previously used in a way disparaging of that group.

The phrase social justice warrior appears to have gone the opposite way; see this English SE question and this RationalWiki article, for example.  Originally it was used by people campaigning for social justice, but somehow this phrase is used pejoratively now.

Is there a word for this phenomenon of reverse-reappropriation?


texts: What are the pronunciation rules for words ending with the 's" sound ? I simply can not remember these rules and can not seem to find the answer in any of my text books. Can anyone by chance help or guide me in the right direction?


texts:
Which is a suitable word/phrase to describe 'item wise details of a cost'.

'break up' or 'break down'

For example: Would you please share 'partwise/item wise cost details' of the invoice you sent us?

One of my Language teachers told us that 'break down' is the right word, whereas most people I work with use 'break-up'. I haven't been able to get a clear picture despite looking through various sources.

For example, based on meanings in MacMillan Dictionary, both 'break-up' and 'break-down' seems appropriate.

'break-up'  : to break something to make smaller pieces

'break-down': separate something into parts

Based on definition in Cambridge Dictionary,

'break-up' : a gradual division into smaller pieces

'break-down: to separate, or to separate something, into smaller parts

https://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/break-up#break-up__1
https://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/break-down#break-down__3

So, it seems both are appropriate, but I guess there must be some nuances depending upon the context.


texts:
What is the word for fear of fear?

I thought this would be easy to find, recall, or previously asked, but I've looked around and couldn't find it (phobia list).

It is simply phobiaphobia? Or phobophobia?


texts:
There's a Greek (maybe Latin) word for when you reflect on your work. Does anybody know what I'm talking about?

For instance, this would be used to describe a essay that you write to look back and reflect on your work during the past semester.


texts: Meaning and sentence structure of "Why would we have thought otherwise?"

texts:
Here is a snippet from an article on CNN

  And of course the fiscal cliff turned out to be a dud. Why would we have thought otherwise? It somehow makes perfect sense that Washington created its own gargantuan hurdle and then crawled around it, with both sides promising to climb the real mountain another day.

I'm confused with the meaning and sentence structure of "Why would we have thought otherwise?".

we have thought == past form of will + present perfect verb form -- is this structure correct? I have not seen other examples where would is followed by present perfect verb form. What does "would" imply in this sentence?

I suppose the sentence meant to say "why did we thought otherwise?".


texts: Joining two independent clauses that contain relevant information

texts:
It's been a few years since I took grammar writing, so I'm kinda rusty with my comma skills. I know that one of the comma rules is that two independent clauses must be joined with a comma, however, it feels weird to put one in the following sentence.

  Traditional monotherapy (single-drug treatment) with chemotherapeutic agents is an ineffective treatment for tumors because cancer cells are extremely diverse in their metastatic ability.

Is this correct, or does there need to be a comma before "because"? Thanks in advance!


texts: What is a word that means both irony and karma?

texts:
What would be a word that suggests that a situation is ironic but also strongly implies that karma was at work?

The specific context is as follows:
An individual makes an unethical choice and follows through with the action of the choice in such a way that would normally benefit the individual. An unexpected result of the same choice causes the same individual to experience the same negative side effects as others would experience except "in spades" implying that "Karma was at work." At any rate they would have experienced the fruit of their actions.

I have looked over various synonyms of irony and karma. "Wages," "fruit," "deserts," and suggested by Adrian Larson in the comments, "comeuppance," work well to imply the karma aspect; however, I have trouble finding a word that also seems to have a strong sense of irony to it.


texts: How to use "in comparison" in this sentence

texts:
How can I use "in comparison" in the following sentence, without changing its context or meaning?

  Computers-based communication is extremely fast,  telephone services are slow


texts: Do you need to specify indefinite articles in a comma separated list?

texts:
Let's say I've got an apple, a banana, and an orange.

Which of the following are ok, if any?

I've got an apple, banana, and an orange.

I've got an apple, banana, and orange.

The actual sentence I'm editing is:
"... in sandy soil with either a moss, an algae, or a sandy surface". I'm wondering if the "an" before algae and the "a" before sandy surface are necessary. Are there any other ways of writing this? What formal rule does this involve?

Thank you.


texts: When "that" is used as a conjunction, does the resulting subordinate clause mean something like a gerund?

texts:
I knew that it was true.
I heard that they were coming to town.
That he drank was well known.

Do the subordinate clauses "that it was true," "that they were coming to town," and "that he drank" have similar meanings to gerunds like "its being true," "their coming to town," and "his drinking"? In some cases the gerund can replace the subordinate clause without much trouble like in the last sentence, but in other sentences there seems to be a difference. For example, "I heard that they left" seems different from "I heard their leaving."


texts: Is there a term that covers advantages and disadvantages?

texts: Is there a term that refers to both advantages and disadvantages?  I'm trying to find a succinct name for a section of a report that summarises advantages and disadvantages of a particular product.


texts: How to describe the lower area of upper ray in a 'hockey stick'-shape angle?

texts:
I am trying to describe the area depicted below. It is the beginning of the upper ray coming from the vertex of the obtuse angle in a 'hockey stick'-shaped function. (In other words, it's an area past the vertex where the function begins to grow rapidly). Any suggestions? Keeping the reference to the hockey stick is a plus.

EDIT: Thanks to the suggestions below, I found this picture:

Does 'hosel' sound about right? Is this a word anyone would understand?


texts: Why do we say "of mine/of his" instead of "of me/of him"?

texts:
He's a friend of mine.
  That's a car of his.

Why do we use the possessive when the meaning would be the same while not using it (e.g. a friend of me and a car of him)?  I thought maybe it is short for That's a car of his [cars], but I have no way of making sure; it sounds a little odd that way to me.


texts: Is "long" in this sentence verb or adjective?

texts:
I read this article and found the following sentence. I am not sure whether it has a proper grammar but if it is, what part of speech is "Long"?

"Long an affordable island of calm amid the Bay Area’s superheated economy, Alviso is becoming one more bedroom community for the steady influx of workers drawn to Silicon Valley."


texts: Simple word related to "a group of intellectuals" or "a group of smart learners"

texts: What could be a good word for "a group of intellectuals" or "a group of smart learners"? Any suggestions of related terms also invited.


texts: What is the correct capitalisation of the word "sonar"?

texts: What is the correct capitalisation of the word "sonar" (and why)?


texts:
Here is VOA English, I can not hear clearly of one sentence at 2:11. The script is "I'm like how it looks because it looks like most snow fall on the berries. ", but I heard is " I am like how it looks, looks like most snow fall on the berries.

could anyone help me to listen this sentence at 2:11?

http://www.kekenet.com/broadcast/202005/610691_2.shtml


texts:
Modern English words, then, concerning more complex and theoretical, rather than utilitarian, ideas (astronomy, poetry and epistemology) can generally be found to be of Romance origin, whereas more mundane words such as pronouns and auxiliary verbs can be traced back to German origin."

Question:
I am unable to understand the meaning of above sentence. I am confused with the use of commas in the above sentence and to me this makes the meaning of the sentence unclear. Can somebody explain this sentence structure and how commas are used?

Context:
This is an excerpt from a reading comprehension passage. The passage is long but I have added a few more lines so that context becomes more clear.

One theory to explain this is that the more elaborate and complex words are primarily used by the elite after the Norman Invasion – who would have favored a Latin-based (or Romance) vocabulary – wheras words with the same meaning in the Old English were used primarily by the lower classes and fell into disuse.


texts:
I was thinking about the phrase form over function today. A person who values function over form I would call utilitarian.

What about the opposite, when someone values form over function? I could not think of an adjective to describe this quite as succinctly.

What is an adjective for someone who values elegance over utility? I suppose this might be an antonym for utilitarian.


texts: Difference between "valued" and "valuable"

texts: Please explain the difference between "valued" and "valuable" when talking about goods. Which of them should be used to indicate intangible value and which to indicate price? For example, if a product is very useful and inexpensive, is it "valued" or "valuable"?


texts: Writing a list with a description of each item -- Formal Writing [Research Paper]

texts:
I am trying to write the following sentence:

  "There are some objectives we cannot miss in any visualization
  library, which are: performance: high-level abstraction may
  limit the user’s ..., debugging: trial and error is a
  fundamental part ..."

I kinda feel I have improper use of the colon "which are:" since I have a second colon describing the performance in "performance: high-level ..."

I have checked this proposed approach. However, I have no suggests of how to apply it on my case.


texts: Some friend of mine told me it was an acronym for "western oriental gentleman" and was a form of sarcastic politeness. Is this true, and is it offensive to use this word?


texts: To which level can an antecedent of "which" be a phrasal noun? Can an entire clause be the antecedent?

texts:
I see many answers on the antecedent of "which", but not with this level of detail. In this sentence:

The values of MAE and RMSE obtained for the validation phase are
similar, which confirms the method is robust.

Is the sentence correct? If yes, is the phrasal noun the entire first clause "Values of MAE and RMSE obtained for the validation phase are similar"? Or is the meaning of "which" more like "which fact", with "fact" understood?
Basically: To which level can an antecedent of "which" be a phrasal noun (i.e. a set of more words)?


texts: Was Nabi Tajima (died this week at 117) born in the 19th or 20th Century?

texts:
A great-great-great grandmother thought to be the oldest person in the world has died in Japan aged 117.
Nabi Tajima, who was born August 4, 1900, became the world's oldest seven months ago after the death of 117 year old Jamaican Violet Brown.
Ms Tajima, who was thought to be the last person born in the 19th century, had seven sons, two daughters and reportedly more than 160 descendants, including great-great-great grandchildren.

ITV News 22 april 2018
Was Nabi Tajima born in the 19th Century or the 20th Century ?


texts:
So far, I haven't found a clue to this use of the word "snapper" (1851) to describe an energetic, irrepressibly attractive woman at any of the 19th century slang websites so far.

Here is part of the paragraph in which the word appears, in a letter (dated August 8, 1850) from Evert Duyckinck to his wife Margaret Duyckinck, reproduced in Steven Olsen-Smith, Melville in His Own Time (2015):

  We passed on among the 7000 Shaker acres by the immaculate yellow houses, glazed like a pail, the red barns and the bricky natives, by well cultivated fields to the Hancock village where we saw the huge barn & where Mrs Morewood driving a pair of horses with three ladies had come on to meet us—There's a woman with a snapper. She is to be the owner of this house next year & I must tell you more about her—

What is its origin and what would the man who used the word and the man who read the sentence visualize when using the word?


texts: Is the phrase “...to stop them messing with your day” grammatically correct?

texts: My kids watch this show on Disney Junior called PJ Masks, and in every episode a narrator comes on and utters the phrase “...to stop them messing with your day.” In one of the episodes a character even says something like “I’m gonna stop her messing up the city.” It drives me nuts. I have never heard of anyone using this phrasing (as opposed to "...stop them from messing" up..."). Is this grammatically correct, and where does this come from?


texts: Meaning of "She is an open book in her own cipher"

texts:
My friend did post in Instagram "She is an open book in her own cipher".

But I did not understand its meaning.

What is its meaning?


texts: Is there a rule for using or not using the definite article before people’s titles?

texts:
The use of the definite article before titles is a confusing area - I always hear “Queen Elizabeth visited” and never “The Queen Elizabeth visited”. But I always hear “The Prince of Wales visited” and never “Prince of Wales visited”.

Is there a rule for using — or not using — the definite article before people’s titles?


texts: Indefinite article with a superlative in case of ties

texts:
Imagine there are several paths through a maze. Some path are shorter than others, and there can be several different paths with the minimal length.

If I talk about a path with the minimal length (I don't care which one from the set of paths with minimal length), should I say "the shortest path" or "a shortest path"?


texts: How is the name of the town Hingham, Massachusetts, pronounced?

texts:
In the UK, place names ending in "ham" are typically pronounced with a final /əm/. For example, Birmingham, Buckingham, Clapham, Sandringham and Tottenham. (I haven't been able to find any counterexamples.)

However, in the USA, I don't know whether the pattern is consistent. I found the following:

Bellingham is pronounced \ˈbɛlɪŋˌhæm\.
Framingham is pronounced \ˈfreɪmɪŋˌhæm\.
Bingham is pronounced \ˈbɪŋəm\.

(Sources: Collins English Dictionary and Merriam-Webster.)

So how is the name Hingham pronounced in the USA: \ˈhɪŋˌhæm\ or \ˈhɪŋˌəm\? I have not been able to find the name in any of the sources I consulted (in addition to Collins and Merriam-Webser: Wikipedia, Longman Pronunciation Dictionary and the Oxford BBC Guide to Pronunciation.)


texts:
Which sentence is incorrect and which one is correct? Why?

  She is responsible for answering the phone.
  She is responsible in answering the phone.


texts: Agree with/on/about/to the book - In what scenarios are these correct?

texts:
Is my current use of these correct:
We agreed on that book. - Eg.: When in a book club you are choosing the book for the next session.
We agreed about that book. -Eg.: When two friends discussed a book and they had the same opinion about it.
We agreed with that book. - Eg.:When two friends discussed a book and they both agreed with the points that were made in the book.
We agreed to that book. - This is not correct. You can only agree to something that you will do.
We agreed the book. This is not correct. You can only agree a price or other detail for something you are negotiating about.
Thank you


texts:
I would like to warn my customers that names can be duplicate. How do I put it in words?

In MS Word when I entered Name can be duplicate., it draws a green line under duplicate. What's my mistake?

Suppose I have two products in my store with same name. I don’t want my customers to be confused when they see two different products with the same name. If I have to warn them with a written notice, how should I write that?

For now, I wrote it as “Multiple products with same name can exist at a time.” But I don’t understand why my initial statement was wrong.


texts: "Walk the walk" vs. "talk the talk" vs. "walk the talk"

texts:
Normally the idiom is as follows:

  He walks the walk and talks the talk.

Should it not be "he walks the talk", meaning "he does what he says"?


texts: Use of "I called myself" + gerund/participle

texts:
Is anyone familiar with this construction and its origin? Is it standard or non-standard?

"I called myself taking a nap but ended up sleeping half the day."
"I called myself cooking dinner, but I burnt the chicken."

I grew up hearing this from elders but have never seen it written in anything published.


texts: "Disclaimer: mock-up screens employ source material from the internet under fair-use policy"

texts:
Does the sentence in the title make sense?

I have a document where I have inserted some mock-up screens that I created myself. However, the screens consist of graphics which I downloaded from the internet and of which I don't own the copyright (they all come from well-known franchises, say Star Wars).

I just want to state - at the end of the document - that I aknowledge these aren't mine but I am using them under "fair-use" policy.


texts:
We often ask this question: “Would you like to do something?”. However, is it grammatically correct to say, “Would something like to do something?”  For example:

  Would IBM like to acquire Apple?


texts: "Followed by a second," or "followed by a second one?"

texts:
Erica lowered her pen to the blank page, wrote a verse, followed by a second (one).

In the example above, do I have to add that last one? Or just leave it as it is?


texts: The verb agreement for "one" when used as a subject

texts:
The first sentence in "Blake" in The Sacred Wood by T. S. Eliot is

  If one follow Blake’s mind through the several stages of his poetic
  development it is impossible to regard him as a naïf, a wild man, a
  wild pet for the supercultivated.

full article

Why did he use "follow", but not "follows"? Because this book has been reprinted for several times, the usage of "follow" here is not likely to be a typo.

EDIT:
In Selected Essays, 1917-1932, Eliot changed "follow" to "follows".


texts: Non-defining relative clause omitting subject pronoun

texts:
the following sentence:

  Both actors involved, the company A and the
  company B, decide on this basis if the water is boiled

In my understanding, this is a non-defining relative clause as it gives additional information that is not necessary determine which actors are concerned. Then, my textbook says it is necessary to put it in commas and to mention the subject pronoun. This would be something like

  Both actors involved, which are the company A and the
  company B, decide on this basis if the water is boiled

Is my understanding correct?

Thanks for any help!


texts:
A work colleague and I were bickering over why proper only has one p. We need help.

There are lots of words that end in the sounds /ɒpər/, but they are all spelled with -opper, with two p’s:

  Chopper
  Shopper
  Stopper
  Copper
  Popper
  Hopper

There is only one word that ends in /ɒpər/ that doesn’t have two p’s there: proper.

Why is this? Why is proper different from the rest?


texts: In British English, do you say "in high tide" or "at high tide"?

texts:
In American English you would say, for example, "At high tide the water level would be here." Is it different in British English? I'm reading a document that says, "In high tide the water level would be here."

Is that incorrect, unusual, or just British?


texts: "be + yet + to-infinitive" vs "have + yet + to-infinitive"

texts:
I have seen that the use of "be + yet + to-infinitive" and "have + yet + to-infinitive" are often used interchangeably, e.g.:

[A] I am yet to contact him.

[B] I have yet to contact him.

Questions:

Are both of the structures grammatically correct ?
What is the exact difference in meaning between these two structures?


texts: Does 'Belvedere' mean the same as 'viewpoint'?

texts: A student of mine used google translator to translate the Portuguese "miradouro" into English. Instead of an expected viewpoint, scenic overlook or similar, the translator suggested "belvedere". She has asked me the meaning of belvedere and I have been unable to find it in my two dictionaries (Longman and Oxford). So, what is 'belvedere' in English?


texts: Is there a comma after an adjective that is before a quote?

texts:
Which punctuation, if any, is correct:

He replied with a dismissive "No, I'm not interested."
He replied with a dismissive, "No, I'm not interested."

If there is an unlisted option that is more correct than the two above, what would it be?


texts: Is this usage of three dots okay to complete a sentence in video or carousel?

texts:
I'm making a video in which I need a long sentence. But I don't want to place it in same frame. I want half the sentence (even when both halves of the sentences meanings are not clear independently) to be read in 1st frame and remaining words in next frame. Frame 2 appears after few seconds.
So I'm thinking to put three dots in ending of 1st half and three dots in front of 2nd half just like this:
Frame 1) Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet...
Frame 2) ...the reamining words of the sentence.
I've often seen some videos where a large sentence is broken in 2 or more frames. I don't think users will be really confused by breaking the sentence in 2 frames. But I'm not sure using three dots is a good way or not.
You can also take an example of Instagram carousel post (where you upload multiple images instead of one). So let's say a carousel of 2 images. Half sentence is on 1st image, remaining words on next image.


texts:
I'm looking for a single-word verb that means "to make more accurate".

The OED lists a word that might work, but the context is sort of restricted to an (in my opinion unfairly) small situation set. It lists the word accurize, which is fairly new (its first recorded use by the OED is from 1955), is originally & chiefly a US term, and means, "To adjust or modify (a firearm or (occas.) other device) in order to improve accuracy."

I can't find any other word that means the desired definition.


texts: What is the exact meaning of “You've got yourself a deal”? Is it only an American slang?

texts:
I came across the phrase, ‘got yourself a deal’ being introduced as a vulgar American English by a character in Jeffery Archer’s, fiction “The Fourth Estate.”
In the scene Keith Townsend, Australian press mogul is trying to acquire stock shares of a leading British daily newspaper from Margaret Sherwood who is one of three co-owners of the press and an ardent wish-to-be novelist, Mrs. Sherwood says to Townsend:

“After some considerable thought,” she said, “I have come to a
decision.” Keith held his breath.
“If you have both contracts ready for me to sign by ten o’clock
tomorrow morning, then you have, to use that vulgar American
expression, ‘got yourself a deal.’”
Keith beamed at her. - ib. P453.

I consulted Cambridge, Merriam-Webster, Oxford online English dictionaries, none of which registers ‘got yourself a deal,’ as an idiom.
Although I was able to find the following definitions of “You got yourself a deal” in two English language sites, I don’t know how much I can trust them:

Agreed! We will do business together! - gymglish

A reply to an obvious question. This is a reference to the short movie "Don't Sleep."
Example:
Eddie: Are you playing the drums?
Makeo: You got yourself a deal! – Urban dictionary.

Google Ngram shows that the phrase first emerged around /in 1955 and its usage has been on the sharp rise.
Then questions:

What is the exact meaning of “You got yourself a deal"? Why 'yourself' is needed”? What's wrong with simply saying "You got a deal!'"?
Under what kind of occasions is this phrase usable?
Is this American slang, not used in Britain, Australia and Canada?
Is it a “vulgar expression” as Mrs. Sherwood describes?


texts: How do I say I just got well from a fever yesterday?

texts: Scenario: for example I had a fever for the past two days. After my fever broke I went to hang out with friends where they planned on going to the beach or any activity that involves cold water. Now when they insist how can I casually say that I just recovered from a fever without sounding dramatic ? Thank you!


texts: Category for homesteading, prepping, survival, off-grid, outdoorsmanship

texts:
For a website, wiki or blog forum, and as a category for organizing books—

Is there a category or meta-category that includes homesteading, prepping, survival skills, outdoorsmanship, and off-grid living?

This could either be a single word or a phrase.

Sample sentence: "I have organized my books by category. [My word] is my category for homesteading, prepping, survival skills, outdoorsmanship and off-grid living."


texts: A word/phrase for a maybe-answer to a request?

texts: Sometimes we ask others to do something for us, and they do not reject our request, but do not promise to do it either; they give us a maybe-answer such as "I don't promise, but will try to do my best" or "If I got some spare time". Is there any word/phrase for such kind of answer to requests?


texts: Is there a specific word for "jolted from naïveté"?

texts:
In the example quoted below, I used surprised with intended meaning "jolted from naïveté", but wasn't satisfied with it. Also, I wanted to avoid implying that discovering the mentioned fact made me omniscient, jaded or both.  The fact wasn't just something I didn't know, it was something I didn't know because I hadn't bothered finding out about it.

Here is the instance where I used surprised.  It was on another SE site, so rather informal:

  I was actually surprised to find there is a whole field devoted to researching and mitigating jury biases, though their research could arguably be easily used to exploit jury biases.

(I study psychology, so not knowing this was kind of ignorant.)


texts: Phoneme glottalization in English dialects other than /t/?

texts:
I've done a bit of reading on t-glottalization, so I'm familiar with how it is used and its prevalence in English dialects.

Are other phonemes or sounds similarly commonplace or widely used in glottalization as /t/?  I recently moved to western Massachusetts and I frequently hear 2 words with glottalization that I have not heard elsewhere:

The affirmation "yup" (variation of "yes" and "yep") pronounced "yuh" ending in a glottal stop
"Something" pronounced "suh-in" with a glottal stop between the two syllables


texts: I need to know if there is any other word which is equivalent to "hide/show". I am not actually looking for toggle.


texts: Word for someone who says exactly what they are thinking

texts: Is there a word for someone who would say exactly what they are thinking. Sort of if there is this boy named Bob, and whenever he has something on his mind he just says it out loud.


texts: What is a gerund? A noun or a verb? 'His smoking upset me’

texts:
I've been studying the Huddleston and Pullum book for four months now. So far only one thing confuses me: the identity of gerund. Is it a noun or a verb?

  His constant smoking upset me.  smoking seems  noun because of adjective constant.
  Him/His constantly smoking upset me. smoking seems to be verb because of adverb constantly.
  Him/His smoking cigars upset me. smoking seems to be a verb because of object cigars.

"His smoking upset me." So is this smoking gerund a noun or verb? Because there is no differentiation, is it both verb and noun? Maybe it's new word category?

Also his seems to be both  sometimes a subject and at other times a possessive determiner. Is that correct?


texts: Can I use "should" in this particular sentence?

texts:
You are feeling ill. I would stay at home if I were you.

Can I replace would with should? Like this:

  You are feeling ill. I should stay at home if I were you.

It seems illogical to me; however I am not sure. I couldn't find an answer that answers my question elsewhere.


texts:
I was wondering the other day about the word corrupt, found that the suffix "rupt" appears in many words and as a prefix for another set and decided to ask this question:
What does "rupt" mean?

corrupt - "core"(I assume) + rupt = broken core ?

rupture -  rupt + verb-type thing = broken

then there's all of these , mainly (if not prefixed with a negative) meaning a (on some higher level) to break an existing state of being

This is all very poorly phrased and I apologise, I'm just not entirely capable of expressing exactly what I mean, which is why I made the examples.


texts: What is the meaning of prefix -y in the following examples?

texts:
These are some exmaples from Choser:

1)He was war of me, how у stood
  Before hym and did of myn hood,
  And had ygret hym as I best koude.

2)A certein tresor that she thider ladde,
And, sooth to seyn, vitaille greet plentee
They han hire yeven, and clothes eek she hadde...

3)For he was late уcome from his viage,
And wente for to doon his pilgrymage

I guess the meaning of -y can vary, because in 1) it seems like it`s just playing a part of "I":

And had I greeted him as I best could

And in 2) it looks like a phonetical construction:

"y"+e = "gi:"
yeven=given (?)

But I'm not sure at all about those as well as I'm not sure about the third example (maybe it's pronoun again), the meaning of which I can`t even guess now.


texts: What is the term for young adult male/female (aged 18 to 25)?

texts:
When writing a book and referring to a female and male aged 18–25, what term would be most appropriate? Boy and girl seem too young, whereas man and woman seem too old.

Example sentence:

  A boy/man emerged from the shadows.

Edit:
I think the word I am looking for is similar to 'guy' but less American and colloquial. Any thoughts?


texts:
I am writing a sentence as below and am having issues with plurization of a phrase (highlighted).

  The Cluster had begun as a research group, a gathering of the sharpest
  minds of the world. Proponents of progress, the group was a force
  to be reckoned with.

Microsoft Word's grammar check seems to find the above sentence invalid and has provided the below two suggestions but both of them feel strange to me.

A proponent of progress, the group was a force to be reckoned with.
Proponents of progress, the group were a force to be reckoned with.

My understanding is that in the beginning of the sentence I am referring to a group of people so it should be plural and in the second part of the sentence, the focus is on the group as a whole so it should be singular. Is my understanding correct ? If not, what sentence structure would be grammatically correct ?


texts: One-word substitute for "otherwise" in this context

texts:
Is there a substitute for "otherwise" that can be used preceding an adjective?

  An otherwise excellent student, going through a personal crisis, can see his results deteriorate drastically.

Close ones are "under other circumstances" or "in other conditions" (Thesaurus), but I'm looking for something that can precede the adjective "excellent", and preferably one-word.

The reason is, these wordier options (that would go after "student") seem to give a more negative impact when describing the student. The one-word used before "excellent" seem to have less negative impact.

EDIT: I am looking for something short and straightforward that touches the point as used in the sentence without the dragging negativity implied in the wordier options. Not to mention one-word makes it sound smoother.
@Vocoder's suggestion is an interesting option that uses a positive-sounding word that would fit the context.

I should also add that I wanted a different word to use because the sample sentence is not of my own words but I want to convey the same meaning.

If you can think of any other words, please do share!

Much appreciated!!


texts: What to call someone who complains about you replying too late?

texts: What do you call someone is too impatient or complains about another person taking long to reply back to them?


texts: What does "they were taken for being taken in" mean?

texts:
I have difficulty interpreting this line:

  they were taken for being taken in

It is from Some by the late Daniel Berrigan. Exerpt:

  Some stood and stood and stood.
  They were taken for fools,
  they were taken for being taken in.

Can someone rephrase it in simple English please?


texts: What is is called when you count the letters in an acronym, name or word with an ordinal multiplier?

texts:
In English, we frequently look at an acronym and name multiple repeated letters using an ordinal multiplier.

For example:

  Automobile Association of America - AAA is read as Triple-A.
  Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm - AAA is read as Triple-A
  National Association for the Advancement of Colored People - NAACP is read as N Double-A CP
  Aamco Transmission Repair - Read in their ad copy Double-A MCO
  AAA or AA Battery - Triple-A or Double-A Battery respectively

Is there a phrase or word for this phenomenon?


texts: "a question by you" or "a question of you"

texts:
Is it grammatically correct to say,

  "What a silly question of you..."

My friend is trying to convince me that

  "What a silly question by you..."

is the only correct way.


texts:
Is it possible to have a plural of "A good night's sleep"?

Would "Some good nights' sleep" be correct?

Edit:

I'm thinking specifically in the sentence: "I'm looking forward to a good night's sleep"


texts: "He is one of the only doctors who does" or "do" the procedure?

texts: In the sentence, "He is one of the only doctors who does the procedure," is "does" or "do" correct? I have not yet found a definitive answer in other sources.


texts:
I found the words "lies forgotten" in this picture:

     (Click for full-sized image.)

What is the meaning of "lies forgotten"?


texts: Does it sound natural/acceptable: "He is flawed/wrong from head to toe"

texts:
Does it sound natural: "He is flawed/wrong from head to toe"

I wonder how you can describe a person in whom you don't see any positive character traits. Does it sound natural or acceptable to say: He is flawed/wrong from head to toe ?


texts: Words to describe a young adult or teen who behaves recklessly and won't listen to advice from older people

texts:
I'm looking for a word (formal, informal, or even slang) to describe a young person who  behave recklessly, like to mess around and often get into trouble with people, don't listen to advice from older people, and has shallow thinking.

People in my country have a word which can be translated into "bullheaded kid" but I find it a bit weird so I want to find a proper word for it.


texts: Is the sentence "I think you have got a temperature" correct?

texts:
I'm an English speaker living amongst people who speak English as a foreign language, this sometimes gets me very confused.

I found the following sentence in an English school book:

  "I think you have a temperature"

Is this by any chance right? Would surprise me if it were.


texts: "Home appliances", "household appliances", "domestic appliances", and "brown/white wares" in AE

texts:
In AE, do the terms "home appliances", "household appliances", and "domestic appliances" mean just about the same, or is there a subtle difference to these?

You might want to consider this Ngram  for this.

Also, do "white goods/wares" and 'brown goods/wares" have any currency among AE speakers? Or, are these merely marketing terms found usually on directories in emporiums, malls, and department stores?


texts: Is "The" included when abbreviating if it is the start of the name?

texts:
So I'm trying to figure out how to abbreviate "The Elder Scrolls" - which as you may or may not know, is the title for a popular game series.

Now, would this be abbreviated as "ES" or "TES"? When you have abbreviations such as USA for United States of America, I can see why "of" is not included in the abbreviation but since "The" is actually the start of the name of the series, is it included?


texts: When is it OK to use foreign words and phrases in everyday English?

texts:
I think that every learner of a foreign language has to decide at a certain point whether they are going imitate native speakers, so as to be mistaken for something they are not, or to retain something of their own character and nationality.

  If you are reading something about food, you might see a complete phrase or sentence in a foreign language appear without explanation.  I am thinking particularly of Italian.  It used to be common practice at one time for menus to be printed in French.

To answer this question, I would like you to include some good examples, possible in speech as  well as in written English.


texts: 'Make' vs. 'makes' in "this makes" and "this does make"?

texts:
In English grammar, to my understanding, it is incorrect to say "this does makes," but I'm not sure why (and nor does my mother, who is an editor).

It is acceptable to say "this makes [sense]," and "this does make [sense]," but why is it not allowable to interchange the two?

What English grammar rule does "this does makes sense" violate? It clearly sounds wrong, but I'm having trouble justifying why.


texts: -sen for -self in English: history and usage

texts:
In my class there is a gentleman from the north of England who uses "-sen" instead of "-self" in such words as "himself" ("himsen") and "myself" ("mysen").

As far as I can tell, he always uses "-sen" in speech, it is not occasional.

I have never encountered this before and was wondering about its history/etymology and prevalence.


texts: Use of less and lesser vs lesser and lesser

texts:
The consumer on an indifference curve is willing to sacrifice less and lesser of good y to get an additional unit of good x.

This is an answer I got from a model answer paper while preparing for economics exam..my question is...is the use of "less and lesser" here, grammatically correct?


texts:
Where does the expression seat-of-the-pants come from? These dictionaries (1, 2, 3) don't give much insight.

What is the etymology of seat-of-the-pants?


texts: Implicit "that/which is/are" in nonrestrictive relative clause

texts:
Is it grammatically correct to leave off "that is" or "which is" in a nonrestrictive relative clause? Is there a term for this? Is this actually a different phenomenon? It (sometimes?) seems to apply to the whole sentence, not any individual noun. For example:

  Today I [verb], (which is) [comparative adjective] than [gerund].

  I have [object], (which is) [comparative adjective] than [object].

  I have [object], (which is) [comparative adjective] than [subject].


texts: Is there any phrase where corporate means "shared by all" rather than "of corporation"?

texts: According to Oxford dictionary, corporate has a sense of "shared by all members of a group" and the dictionary gives an example "corporate responsibility’. However, I've found that when people see the phrase, they tend to understand it as the responsibility of a corporation. The same is the case with "corporate obligation/duty". Is there any phrase where corporate means "shared by all" rather than "of a corporation"?


texts:
I guess ‘as’ is a conjunction. If then, is as-clause an adjective clause that modifies ‘Muggle money’?

  There was a train to London in five minutes' time. Hagrid, who didn't understand 'Muggle money,' as he called it, gave the bills to Harry so he could buy their tickets.


texts:
prove
  [NO OBJECT] (Of bread dough) become aerated by the action of yeast; rise.
  Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with clingfilm and leave to prove for about two hours in a warm area.
  Oxford Dictionaries

When making bread or any bread-like cakes, e.g; Chelsea buns and doughnuts (donuts), a good baker will prove the dough for one or more hours  before placing the batch in the oven.  Wikipedia tells me that the resting period is also referred to as proofing and blooming.

Etymonline gives the following details on prove

  late 12c., pruven, proven "to try, test; evaluate; demonstrate," from Old French prover, pruver "show; convince; put to the test" (11c., Modern French prouver), from Latin probare "to make good; esteem, represent as good; make credible, show, demonstrate; test, inspect; judge by trial" (source also of Spanish probar, Italian probare), […]

I would like to know:

when the term prove or proof  was first used for making breads.
if proofing dough is AmEng or just a simple spelling variant.
and if the baker's term prove or proof is related in some way to the proverb,
“The proof of the pudding is in the eating”. There is a question about its meaning on EL&U, but none of the answers refer to the proving of dough: What proof is there in pudding?

I think it might be, because British sweet and savoury puddings is typically made from suet, and some argue that the pastry needs to rest before it can be rolled out, the pudding filled, and then steamed or baked.


texts:
I am looking for a word which encompases the idea of techinal skill, experience, style, creativity and mastery in the context of writing. In particular in reference to sentence and paragraph structure.

For instance, in the following sentence:

"while most high-schoolers' essays follow the prescriptive 'Point Evidence Explanation' structure, her essay was, stylistically, much more ..."


texts: There are 10 students. Each did 1 assessment. Which is right: The teacher must mark everyone's assessment/everyone's assessments?


texts:
In the sentence:

To please others, people being mocked or teased may suppress their actual feelings which can result in stress to him.

what if I change it to

To please others, people mocked or teased may suppress their actual feelings which can result in stress to him.

Which one is more correct?

I give another example:

"Remind students not to be too worried when encountering sexual health problems."

I wonder if it is better to say "when they encounter". My question is whether such use of participle phrase is only ambiguous or incorrect at all.


texts: Why do we say 'year 1993' as "nineteen ninety three" instead of "one thousand nine hundred ninety three"?

texts:
Why do we read some calendar years by their two-digit place value and not according on their numerical place value like:

  1500s as fifteen hundreds and not one thousand five hundreds
  1895 as eighteen ninety five
  1903 as nineteen zero three or nineteen o-three

But we all know there is an exemption in the 21st century in which they are read :

  2001 as two thousand one or twenty o-one
  2007 as two thousand seven or twenty o-seven
  2015 as two thousand fifteen or twenty fifteen

Is it because it's pleasing to hear or is there any reason behind this?


texts: How to treat a country name that has a plural meaning

texts:
I was wondering if there was a sentence that contains a country name (or generally a proper noun) that has a plural word in it - e.g., the United States or The United Emirates - how do we treat it? (Sorry if I sound non-technical, as I'm not exactly very good at language).

  The United States of America have done something.

OR

  The United States of America has done something.

which one is appropriate? Usually, I've been using "has" for countries (treating it as one entity).


texts: What is the English equivalent of hawilopar?

texts:
In our myth, when people die they go to paradise, and on their way, there is this flower that stops feeling lonely when plucked and the one who plucked never miss worldly things any more. They completely forget everything and never turn back to have even a glimpse of the world they used to live. In our language we call this flower Hawilopar which literally means Hawi=Turn, lo=no and par=blooming flower. I want to use this flower in a sentence.

  Had I plucked the flower of no turning back, I would still turn to you.

  If I had had plucked the flower of no turning back, yet I would turn to
  you.


texts:
In many books, I've seen the word 'spook' used to mean some kind of spy. Definition 5 on dictionary.reference.com confirms this usage, but is not very helpful about the origin.

Does anyone know how this definition came about? More details (does it only refer to American spies? only spies friendly to the speaker?) would also be appreciated.


texts: Use of a comma within a descriptive phrase

texts: In the sentence "Their work involves commercial solar heating systems," should there be a comma after the word "commercial"?  These are solar heating systems for commercial use as opposed to private homes, so I see the entire phrase as descriptive of the systems and therefore not needing a comma.


texts:
Hey guys which one of the following sentence makes sense the most?

• The numbers were great and totalled 95%

• The numbers were great and totalled to 95%

• The numbers were great and totalled up to 95%

• The numbers were great and had a total of 95%

• The numbers were great with a total of 95%


texts: How do you make a surname show where you live?

texts:
If one wanted to show where they came from, for example:
 first name: David
 Last name: of the white mountains
Would there be a prefix/suffix? (like the "Mc" in McDonalds)


texts: What is the name/title for someone who generates ideas?

texts:
what is the name/title for someone who generates ideas?

Here idea refers to things like:

Doing a project together
Something can be done
Something is possible
Someone can try something
Something can be done in this way / that way
Something can be arranged

The person in reference can be someone --

who is generating ideas professionally
who is doing a community service
who is helping / trying to help others by the ideas
who is a leader giving the ideas to followers

Thanks in advance for your kind opinion.


texts: Is there a word for an intentional misnomer?

texts: Is there a word that describes that something has been named "incorrectly" on purpose (a sort of intentional misnomer)? For example, calling someone who is very tall Shorty (or something to that effect).


texts: Alternative to "old-fashioned", with a distinct and positive meaning?

texts:
Is there an alternative way to say "old-fashioned" but with a distinct positive meaning?

It could be used as a compliment in the following scenario:
Woman: I want a man who can write sentences containing more than 3 words. It would be even better if he would use punctuation... I guess I am old-fashioned.
Man: You are not old-fashioned, you are [...]

The man can't say "You really are old-fashioned" to her and expect her to take it as a compliment. Most women would not take it as a compliment. I am looking for something a majority would take as a compliment. Best words I could come up with - decent/classy/traditional.

I am not a native English speaker, I can't come up with anything that conveys the meaning I want.


texts: Like she's never danced before - did she or she didn't

texts:
I have a questions that bugs me for quite some time and no one could explain it to me properly.
In a song "Maniac" by Michael Sembello we have the line

  And she's dancing like she's never danced before

Does it mean that she has danced before but now she dances in a different manner or that she never danced and this is her first time? What is the correct meaning and how to say the other one?

Thanks


texts: Word that means something despised, strongly avoided, or strongly disliked?

texts:
I know of many words that explain this feeling (abhorrence, enmity, etc for stronger examples) but what is a word that would be the object of these? As in, what word could be used as an object that was despised?

Thanks


texts:
I'm confused, perhaps unnecessarily by which term to use:

  What programs is company X involved in?

OR

  What programs are company X involved in?


texts: Meaning - "Thank you," ... "but apologize to him."

texts:
Last November, Sri Srinivasan, a government lawyer, apologized to Justice David H. Souter for referring to him as Justice Scalia.
"Thank you," Justice Souter said, with characteristic self-deprecation, "but apologize to him."
"[Laughter.]"

Would someone please elucidate the meaning or subtext here? Is Justice Souter implying that the apology should be directed at Justice Scalia, because Scalia, and not Souter, is the one who would be offended? What's amusing?


texts: Is there any dictionary that decomposes an English word into prefix, root, and suffix?

texts: Is there any dictionary that shows the decomposition of each word into these three parts, if application at all? For instance, "incapable" is divided into prefix "in", root "cap", and suffix "able". Thanks in advance.


texts:
I make use of Grammarly, often to aid with writing what I suppose, with the suggestions provided, to be correct English. With regularity, Grammarly makes suggestions that I feel compelled to ignore, such as;

These are from SE answers recently,

Change ...value for the site user to pay you to value for the site used to pay you - perhaps 'site user' could be hyphenated?
Change generally paid per-click to generally paid-per-click
Change Or, a donation banner drive with email-out. to Or, a donation banner drives with email-out.
And, several more.

Does Grammarly predominantly give the correct use of English?


texts: How to say "I love children" without being misunderstood

texts:
In my native Spanish, an expression like "me encantan los niños", meaning that I quite enjoy the company of children, play with them, etc, can hardly be misunderstood as suggestion of pedophilia or related sicknesses, even by strangers.

In English however, I have been told that the expression "I love children" can be easily misunderstood, specially by strangers.

If this is the case, how can I express the same feeling that in my native Spanish in a safe manner?


texts:
I read this explanation about did from http://www.learnersdictionary.com/qa/did-main-verb-base-form-or-past-tense-form
. Does that mean all the verb after did in a question will remain as it is?

Example like :
What did your sister use to dig the sand?

We have two verbs here and we don't have to change them to tense word?


texts:
Which sentence sounds more natural?

These are first and foremost ethical, not medical questions.
They are first and foremost ethical, not medical questions.


texts: Word for someone who is burned out at work

texts:
Could someone suggest a cool word or expression for someone who is tired at work?

Such a person is not doing his job properly and is waiting to quit; basically, he is not interested in his job and doesn't like the management that he is working for.


texts:
I came across the following dialogue in an American TV show, called Younger. Firstly I figured there was an error typing which the correct one should be run it through instead of run it though as I've never seen run it though. I wish to get some clarification if I guess wrongly. Thanks.

[A is a director of publising house and B is an assistant of A]

  A: Let me ask you a question. Do you think I should change my profile
  photo (Tweeter)? Maybe do one with the Leiber (a made to order bag)?

  B: Uh, absolutely.

  A: Would you mind taking a few photos?

  B: Sure.

  A: Oh, no, not with that (B is taking out her cellphone from her
  pocket). Use this (A is taking out her camera from drawer). And run it
  though one of those fancy Instagram filters.

Also, There are few sentences for run though  :

  Your most fun pokemon to run though levels with
  Trying to run though a bad diet
  Can Ted Cruz run though he was born In Canada?


texts: How do you call a symbol "—||—" for repeating something that has already been written? Does it have a name at all?

texts:
For example, it's used like that:

IEC 61508 Functional Safety of Electrical/Electronic safety-related systems — Part 2. Requirements for ...

—||— Part 3. Glossary

Or, to be precise, this is how it goes:


texts: Starting a book with this sentence, is it ok?

texts:
I'd like to start a book with a sentence like this:

  This book is about X, so why should it start with Y?

In fact, the book is already written, but I'd like to get the first few pages absolutely right. In the text, I tried to keep the language simple, but I didn't feel too comfortable with contractions so I didn't use them.

My question is whether the sentence is grammatically correct, and if it could be improved in some way to make it sound more natural to native speakers.

Here are some other sentences that I can think of:

This book is about X. Then why should it start with Y?
If this book is about X, why should it start with Y?
This book is about X. Then why should we start with a discussion on Y?
This book is about X. Then why does it need a chapter about Y?

Is any of the above forms better than the original sentence? Or is there a better sentence with the same meaning?

Thanks,


texts: Are there any poetic names for a "rainbow"

texts:
I cannot seem to find any poetic names for "rainbow", something like how the Sun was given the poetic name "the eye of heaven" in Elizabethan England. and other delightful coinages like that.
I highly doubt the wondrous bow in the clouds does not have some poetic names for it, seeing that it is considered one of Nature's most pretty pieces of poetic work.
For context, this is for a more "serious" poem alluding to the "rainbow" God made as his covenant to Noah in The Book of Genesis after the Great Flood, so I am not really looking for any names which may come across as seeming "cute". I would also be, ideally, looking for Early-Modern-English coinages, but later is fine too.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.


texts:
What is the verb for the action of creating a suggestion?

e.g. you have "raise a concern"

I don't like to go with "suggest a suggestion", but ok if thats the way to go.

Also, what is the correct term for these kind of verbs?


texts: Is "to go + (onomatopoeia)" a recognized pattern?

texts:
Multiple times I saw that "to go" is used with strange things, especially in memes:

go brrr
go woo
to go boom

But I don't see such scheme to be listed in a dictionary as phrasal verbs or idiomatic phrases.
How this thing is called? Is it still a sort of phrasal verb? Is a sort of verbing, applied to onomatopoeia? Is this usage of "go" even described somewhere? Can other words instead of "go" serve this function?


texts: An idiom for "knowing what makes the other person mad and acting that way"

texts:
It's been a while since I finished university so my memory's deteriorated a bit. English's not my first language so I need some help over here.

I was trying my hardest to remember the idiom used in a situation when you're making someone mad intentionally by doing what angers them easily. I'm quite sure it went something like this: "to know what (noun) to (verb)".


texts: Difference between two question formats?

texts:
I have seen people using following two formats to form a question:

  1) Why do people lie?
  2) Why people lie?

The difference is, in the first one, there is an explicit use of do whereas the second question omits do.

Would you kindly explain the differences between these two question forms.


texts: Does an adjective before "or" apply to the noun that comes after "or"?

texts:
Have you come across any frilly dresses or blouses?

Does this mean [frilly dresses or frilly blouses], or does it mean [frilly dresses or blouses]?
I want to know whether an adjective so placed only applies to the noun that comes immediately after it, or to the noun that comes after "or", too. Or is there ambiguity here?


texts: How do I make a word possessive when there are words after it before the object?

texts:
Would I say: "It was the boy's beside her balloon."

Or

"It was the boy beside her's balloon."

I feel like it's the first one, but it sounds weird when I say it out loud.

Thanks!


texts:
I am wondering if the following sentence is correct:

  We add the information their study provides with to our article.

The context is: their study provides with some information. And we add the information to our article.

I want to keep the word "add", and someone told me that "provides with to" sounds wired...


texts: What's the meaning of 'Min' in The Old Curiosity Shop?

texts:
In Dickens' The Old Curiosity Shop, the word 'min' is used. For example: "is the old min friendly?" As it is only used by one character, Mr Swiveller, one can assume it to be slang and expect it to mean 'man.'  Nevertheless, I cannot relate it to a London accent of any type, and I like to think I have qualification in saying that as a resident of London since birth.

I would like confirmation of my speculated meaning, or an explanation of what it means if it means something else.


texts:
I'd like to ask about the following report's title:

  "Proposed Studies on the Implications of Peaceful Space Activities for Human Affairs"

The report is mentioned in "The Mars Mystery" by Graham Hancock.

I believe the knowledge of the language begins with attempts of finding the shades of true meanings in indirect, necessarily imprecise, ambiguous sentences like that.

The reports itself is about 200 pages long and I didn't have the strength to read it thoroughly through. It is even better for the sake of my question. I perceive the title(to put it bluntly) as "The peaceful space exploration is dangerous". My question could be put thus: is that alluded (by me) meaning is utterly wrong and isn't supported by English grammar and words' meaning at all or the opposite worth being taken into account?


texts:
How should one transliterate the well-known Jewish Holiday that usually takes place in December (or late November)?

Hannukah

or

Chanukah


texts:
When making a polite request, people often use the phrase, "I'd like to [SOME REQUEST]". But I also see the form, "I like to [SOME REQUEST]". For example, a former boss would arbitrarily interchange

  I'd like to hold a meeting

with the other usage:

  I like to hold a meeting

Up until recently I considered the first form more correct, and thought of the second form as a malapropism (or is it a mondegreen?). But now I'm not so sure. "I'd like to" implies the conditional mood ("I would") which is more tentative than the intended request.

"I like to hold a meeting" is more indirect, and perhaps more polite, than "Please hold a meeting". But "I would like to" is even more indirect and conveys indecisiveness.

Is there clear guidance on which form? Does it depend on the nature of the request?


texts: Terminology for expert who didn't go to college to study it

texts: What's the right term/name for a person who is an expert eg. a smith, a plumber, electrician, a writer, clerk etc but he or she didn't went to college/university to study that particular course. And how should they describe themselves when writing a business/application letter?


texts: While + Past Simple + Past Simple vs. While + Past Continues + Past Simple

texts:
We can use these two tenses together as below, for example:

  While she was walking on a sunny beach, Amy slowly read an
  extremely long book about justice.

I was wondering under what conditions we can use this structure, i.e. While + PS + PS:

  While she was on a sunny beach, Amy slowly read an extremely long book about justice.


texts:
What would be the correct possessive form of address? I was working on a project, and one of the error messages was

  You can't spoof the address' domain

A colleague of mine pointed out that this isn't how it's supposed to be spelled, and suggested address's. That looks odd to me, so maybe it could be addresses, but that's also the plural.


texts:
Given is the following paragraph (excerpt from The New Freedom, by Woodrow Wilson - 1913):

For indeed, if you stop to think about it, nothing could
be a greater departure from original Americanism, from
faith in the ability of a confident, resourceful, and
independent people, than the discouraging doctrine that
somebody has got to provide prosperity for the rest of us.

What's the meaning of for indeed at the passage entry?


texts: "Any news for" vs. "any news on" vs. "any news about"

texts:
It seems all three are widely used on the Internet according to Google, but "any news on" seems to take the lead.

Are all three correct? If not under what situation, or what subject behind it should we use one of the three?


texts:
When deciding among colleagues between two options, everyone present agreed on the same solution. When reporting the result to a member that hadn't taken part, I reported it as "unilateral consensus". I was thinking of unanimous.
Merriam Webters's definition of unilateral includes "having parts arranged on one side". Since every member was on the same side, can unilateral still be used in this case? Searching for "unilateral consensus" or "unilateral agreement" I find they mostly refer to cases when only one of many parties benefitted from an agreement.


texts: What preposition used to say "monday morning"

texts:
I want to say we have the weekly meeting on monday morning
Im not very clear with the preposition is it
1)on monday morning
2)at monday morning
3)any other

Thank you


texts: Shouldn't the first verb in “she died before I was born” be in the past perfect?

texts:
Quote from English book:

  Sadly, I never got to meet her because she died before I was born.

I think it should be: Sadly, I never got to meet her because she "had" died before I was born.

I think it should be in past perfect because the death took place before the birth and both events are in the past.

Why was the past perfect not used here?


texts:
according to Wikipedia:
A rhetorical question is a figure of speech in the form of a question posed for its persuasive effect without the expectation of a reply.
Example: "How much longer must our people endure this injustice?"

So would any question for which an answer is not expected be considered rhetorical?
On SE, users are presented the following question.

Have you considered accepting an answer or starting a bounty for this question?

There is no mechanism for responding to the question but it is more reminding than persuasive. Is it a rhetorical question?

according to reference.com
rhetorical - used for, belonging to, or concerned with mere style or effect.

By this definition, a question that was crafted (expected) to receive a certain response (such as a loaded question) might also be rhetorical if used merely for it's style or effect.
In my experience, people often say a question is rhetorical if they do not expect (or usually want) an answer but it has little to do with the question being persuasive or not.
Is there an exact set of criteria that can be used to evaluate the context of a question in order to determine if it is in fact rhetorical?


texts: I got an email from someone saying "In answer to my question" before stating the second line requesting for an update. What does that imply?


texts: Was "sexting" an Australian slang term originally?

texts:
To sext, (usually as noun sexting) refers to:

  sending (someone) sexually explicit photographs or messages via mobile phone:

Its earliest usage appears to be from 2005, thought other sources cite a later date.

Sext:

  by 2005, from contraction of sex (n.) + text (v.). Etymonline

Sexting:

  the sending of sexually explicit messages or images by cell phone,
  blend of sex and texting. First Known Use: 2007. - M-W

According to Wikipedia:

  The first published use of the term sexting was in a 2005 article in the Australian Sunday Telegraph Magazine.The Pew Research Center commissioned a study on sexting.

Questions:

1) Was the term first used and coined in Australia, or was it already used in the USA when The Pew Research Center (an American think tank based in Washington, D.C.)) commissioned the study?

2) When and by whom was the term sext/sexting first used?


texts: Does the phrase that one "keeps their head down" have a negative connotation

texts: Does the phrase that one "keeps their head down" have a negative or derogatory connotation in regards to the person whose head is kept down?


texts: I'm referring to densities of materials, not the number of particles per unit volume.


texts: Word for seeing someone’s moment of realization?

texts:
Mr. A told me two months ago that he did not do something. Mr. A told Mr. B today that he did do it, and I was in the room. I saw in Mr. A’s eyes the moment he realized that he had, in effect, just admitted that he had lied to me. It was a moment of realization lasting only a split second.

What do you call the act of seeing a moment of realization in someone's eyes?


texts: Use of the word 'together' as in the Norfolk dialect

texts: In the Norfolk dialect, which I learned at my mother's and grandmother's knee, the word 'together'(pronounced 'tergatha') is used in an additional sense. If there are two people outside I might say 'Come in here, together'. Or if I have company I might ask 'Would you like a cup of tea, together'. I am not asking that they enter the house simultaneously or that they speak in unison, I am just making it clear that I am addressing everyone. If one grows up in Norfolk and leaves the county one notices the need for this form, which no one else in Britain recognises. I am told that a similar expression is available in some Scandinavian languages, perhaps indicating Norfolk's special connection with the Vikings. I think it may also exist in German. Can anyone supply any information please?


texts: I need a generic word for product and subscription service for an e-commerce site

texts:
The site I am designing the data schema for will be

selling subscription service and
selling access to certain features for a one time fee.

I can call the latter a "product" and then I need a word for what combines both subscription and product, or I can use product as a generic word that combines subscription and the things I sell for one time fee, but then I need a word for that latter thing.

UPDATE: I decided on using "service" and "product" as the types of stuff I offer on the site, but the top level, the generic name that combines both, is still in question. "Offering" suggested by @BiscuitBoy is quite close but it doesn't feel like the right terminology - I need something a bit more e-commerce'y :)


texts: Comma usage and properly identifying clauses in sentence

texts:
I cannot figure out whether or not I need a comma between the word "cigarettes" and "according" in the following sentence:

  More college students are using marijuana daily than smoking
  cigarettes according to a national survey released Tuesday.

My gut tells me the first clause is independent and the second dependent, which would mean I do not need a comma. Is this correct? Am I correct in thinking independent clause + dependent clause does not need a comma?


texts: In the active voice, does the verb need to be transitive and have an object complement?

texts:
Most definitions of the active voice I've come across define it as a sentence where the subject is the agent of an action verb, and some definitions state that the verb must be transitive and requires an object. But there are only two voices in English, so in what voice are sentences that use state verbs or copulas?

For example:

I belong to a gym.

She is a good teacher.

The grapes need eating.

The patient underwent surgery this morning.

Or is this just one of those things where the issue is simply more complex than commonly explained? Perhaps it is that by 'agent' we do not necessarily mean the 'actor' as would be necessitated by an action verb. State verbs also have an agent, in the sense that the subject experiences or is in a certain state. Similarly, with copulas the subject has agency in as much as it receives the attributes in the subject complement.

I teach ESL and I need a way of explaining this concept that does not lead to confusion, but I also want to be sure that my explanation is linguistically accurate.


texts: At angles you’d have to be careful walking (at)

texts:
A car review article titled "Escape the City and the Roads with the 2020 Subaru Outback" has this paragraph:

X-Mode also enables the Hill Descent Control. After a quick coffee break 800 feet above the surf, we headed down a wicked steep dirt track. At angles [you’d have to be careful walking], the car drove itself. Hill Descent Control automatically brakes and detects wheel slippage, and adjusts accordingly. I had to hit the gas at times as it was so controlled.

In the emboldened sentence, I think the bracketed relative clause should have the preposition at in theory, but adding one would make it not as natural (to my ear) in reality:

(1) ??At angles you’d have to be careful walking at, the car drove itself.
(2) ??At angles at which you’d have to be careful walking, the car drove itself.

Is there anyone who'd find (1) and (2) as natural as or more natural than the original?
If not, why is it better to omit at in the relative clause when it is grammatically required?


texts: What is the word for the set of words "million", "billion", "trillion"?

texts:
I am writing a program and I like to name things well.  I have to say if a value is in the thousands, millions, billions, or trillions.  My question is what do we call the set of number names that are ",000" from each other?

I know I am looking for something like "order of magnitude" but that is powers of ten.

Edit: I know about the "long scale" vs. "short scale" issue.  I am looking to see if there is a word that describes the set in English which as I understand it is always short scale.


texts: Term for changing a word to fit another word inside it

texts:
Ska does this all the time.

The Skatalites
Eskanol (spanish ska)
Skatastrophic

I can't seem to think of a single other example, but I know I've seen it other places.


texts: What is the difference between "private interests" and "parochial interests"?

texts:
In a course, I've heard about the notion of parochial interests along with the notion of public/private interests. It seems there is a distinction between the private and parochial, as they are listed both here :

  What is not in the public interest?

  Private interests — of a particular individual or individuals
  Parochial interests — i.e., the interests of a small or narrowly
  defined group of people with whom the decision-maker shares an
  interest or concern

I have read the following definition of parochial : "characterized by an unsophisticated focus on local concerns to the exclusion of wider contexts"

But even with this, I am not sure to understand the difference between parochial and private interests. So what's the difference between them?