texts: How did the "double consonant to shorten vowel" thing come about? ("furry" vs. "fury")

texts:
In English, a doubled consonant most commonly means "shorten the previous vowel", where "shorten" means map phonemes like this:

[aɪ] -> [i]
[oʊ] -> [ɔ]
etc

For example, fury is pronounced [fjʊri] but add another 'r' and you get [fəri].

Now, obviously this doesn't make much orthographic sense. So there must have been some historical reason for it. Anyone know?

Relatedly, when a [k] sound shortens the previous vowel, the doubling is not even written 'kk', but rather 'ck' ('cracking') - why? This feature is in many Germanic languages too.


texts: Punctuation of compound predicate where the first item ends in a list?

texts:
I apologize in advance for any and all wrong use of terminology.

Consider a sentence of the form

  The project was created to practice X and learn Y.

I believe the "practice X and learn Y" is a compound predicate and so there should be no comma before the "and". However, I get confused if X is a list. If I simply replace the X by "V, W, and X", I get

  The project was created to practice V, W, and X and learn Y.

Is this correct? It looks strange to me, and I'm not so sure since the "X and learn Y" could be read as a single item? I was going to write a similar sentence, and I wrote it as

  The project was created to practice V, W, and X, as well as to learn Y.

However, if the "as well as" is just a placeholder for "and", then isn't the comma before "as well as" wrong, since it "splits a compound predicate"?

Any help is appreciated. Thank you for your time and have a great day.


texts: What is the effect/purpose of moving adverbs to the beginning of a sentence?

texts:
It's often said that changing word order serves to add emphasis to the element moved out of its normal place, but I have doubts. Take for example the sentence:

I spoke to Jim about the party on Tuesday.

If you change that to:

On Tuesday, I spoke to Jim about the party.

What is the effect? Most say that it emphasizes "On Tuesday", but to me, it sounds like the adverb "On Tuesday" is extra information that 'sets the scene', so to speak.

Suppose someone asked the question "When did you speak to Jim about the party?"

If you answered "On Tuesday, I spoke to Jim about the party." It sounds funny. Instead of emphasizing Tuesday, it sounds like you didn't even answer the question.

What do you think?


texts: What auxiliary verb should be used with a country name?

texts:
Could anyone tell which statement is correct :
1. India is playing
2. India are playing


texts: What is the video saying at 6:10, was it "write off" or "ride off"?

texts:
The Video starts automatically at 5 mintues 32 seconds (for a bit of context)

The word is mentiond around 6:08.

He says: "...plus you've got a sheet of metal down there to protect it on the side to some extent because the underside is pretty well exposed and if you've got a shot in there you'd (write the tank off/ride the tank off) pretty quickly."


texts: What are the punctuation rules for two pieces of direct speech in a single sentence?

texts:
Please help me with the punctuation rules for sentences with two pieces of direct speech within quotes, with the following as example.

  “It’s fun to get out on a Sunday and race,” said Stanley. “Our team
  always wins a prize .” Stanley has been racing bikes since college.

I have the following confusions:

Should there be a full-stop after first occurrence of "Stanley" or a comma or en-dash/em-dash?
Is it okay to capitalize "Our" in "Our team", given that the second direct speech is a complete sentence in itself, rather than a continuation of the first direct speech?
As per US English rules, is a comma more appropriate after "and race" or a full-stop?
Since a new sentence starts after "prize", should the full-stop after that come after the closing quote or before it?
If a comma is used after "and race" at the end of the first direct speech, shouldn't it be used after the second direct speech as well for consistency? (I know it sounds odd, but I am looking for the rigorous rule governing this)

I tried searching online for rules regarding two pieces of direct speech, but found nothing. It would be helpful if you can also share some links where I can learn more about all these on my own, especially in cases where en-dash, em-dash and colons are used in sentences involving direct speech.


texts: Grammatical name for a "which means …" clause that elaborates on a verb

texts:
Consider a sentence like the one below.

  Radioactive materials decay, which means that their atomic nuclei lose energy by emitting particles.

What grammatical classification and name would you assign the “which means […] particles” clause? It is a bit like a nonrestrictive appositive in that it elaborates on decay, but decay is a verb and the structure is a bit different.


texts: What does it mean when you say someone or something is a "crook's charter"?

texts:
The sentence in which I've seen that is :"Non-translators should be aware that the trading conditions for dishonest translation and interpreting companies are optimum, in other words, the translation business itself can be a crook's charter."

Thanks a lot for your help.


texts: What do you call someone who studies/majors in biotechnology?


texts:
The sentence is this, "English is not spoken anywhere except in the highest echelons of local government."

Does "except" function as the preposition and head of the prepositional phrase, with "in the highest echelons of local government" functioning as the prepositional complement? Or is "except in" a compound preposition?

Thanks in advance!


texts: It just occurred to me that writing reäl with a diæresis is useful for indicating the pronunciation /rɪəl/ rather than /ri(ə)l/ (or /riːl/?).  Are there any occurrences of this in literature?  (Is there a freely available corpus of English lit. that will settle this?)


texts:
I'm proofing a story, and at one point, as it is written at the moment, one the characters exclaims:

  Prepare to die you fool!

Should there be comma after "die"?


texts:
Let's say I want to become social good entrepreneur but I am not there yet. I don't want it to sound up nose and say I am an entrepreneur when I am not so I used this in my social media profile (for instance my SE profile:

  Social Good (wannabe) Entrepreneur

But then I saw this definition of wannabe and it probably means something else than I thought, something way more negative. Or not?


texts:
Apparently this is a peculiarly British term, but we'll sometimes use the phrase 'slap-up' to mean 'excellent', as in:

  That's a slap-up meal!

or

  They held a slap-up do.

What's the origin of the term slap-up?  Nothing obvious comes to mind.


texts: Should I use the past tense for things that are still the same as before?

texts:
I am writing a personal statement for applying to a school, and I have a question about past tense. The following paragraph describes things that happened several years ago:

  My school is located in a rural area and has an extremely small Asian-student body. During my first semester, I did not have a car and could not go anywhere outside of the school.

My question is: since I am describing things which happened in the past, should the first sentence be past tense? But I think the first sentence is describing something that has not changed now, so present tense is okay as well?


texts:
I'm looking for help understanding the difference between 'tips for swimming' and 'tips on swimming'. Are there certain grammar patterns that follow tips for vs. the ones that follow tips on? Are there also any differences in meaning between the two?

What I can find is:

Tips on can be followed by gerund/relative clause/noun
(location)(topic)
Tips for can be followed by noun (topic)
(purpose)(duration)(recipient)/relative clause/gerund/

Thanks for any help clearing this up for me.


texts: When was the word learnings first used as a noun, as a synonym for lessons?


texts: Word for someone who thinks too highly of another

texts: What word would you call someone who thinks too highly of another person, Even though they may not be perfect?


texts:
In which cases can we use "to refuse oneself" instead of "to refuse"? Can you use "oneself" to give more emphasis to the sentence, or are you only allow to use it when you refuse something done to you?

In particular, I know this example is acceptable:

  I refuse myself more food than I can fit in a small plate

But can you use it like this?

  While the expression is acceptable, I refuse [myself] to say it.


texts: Is there a synonym for the phrase "card up his sleeve"?

texts: "A card up his sleeve" means to have a secret advantage that you can use later; for example, She still has one card up her sleeve. This means that she has a secret plan, idea, or advantage that can be utilized if and when it is required. Now I am asking if there is any synonym that can replace this phrase?


texts: "has scientists excited" or "has excited scientists"?

texts:
I saw the following on the Facebook page of Time. Is "has scientists
excited" or the perfect version "has excited scientists" correct?

What's the difference if both are correct?

  The recent discovery of a subterranean sea, deep inside earth,
  has scientists excited.


texts: Word for feeling one gets when someone else gets just punisment

texts: This question asks for an idiom for someone getting what they deserve. But what about the feeling one gets when someone else gets "what they deserve"? Is there a specific word or expression for the good feeling you get when justice is served?


texts: What does 'nuance' mean and how do I use it in sentences?

texts: I don't know why, but despite having read the definition over too many times to count, its one of those words that just doesn't click. I see it being used in sentences and have never been able to fully understand it either. Could someone help explain it, and use it in a sentence? Thanks!


texts: "Increasingly XXX" or "increasingly more XXX"

texts: Which is correct: increasingly XXX or increasingly more XXX, where XXX is an adjective? A colleague and I are disagreeing. I think the use of more is redundant.


texts:
Is it correct to say:

  He couldn't stand for long because of pain to his leg.

or should it be:

  He couldn't stand for long because of pain in his leg.

or are both acceptable, or is neither?


texts: How popular is “sine qua non” in English? If I use it in day to day conversation, will I be scoffed at?

texts:
I saw the word “sine qua non” in the article of New York Times (October 12) written by Gail Collins under the title, “The Gift of Glib.”
The article deals with the big Republican debate held in New Hampshire this week, and the word appears in the following sentence:

  9-9-9 is the sine qua non of the (Herman) Cain candidacy. It would scrap the tax code and give us 9 percent corporate, income and national sales taxes. He mentions it every 10 seconds (in the debate).

I was able to find the definition of “sine qua non” in Merriam-Webster Dictionary as “something absolutely indispensable or essential” and “Reliability is a sine qua non for success” as a sample of its usage.

I’m interested in how popular or common this word is among native English speakers. I’ve been warned in how-to-write books that abuse of Latin often gives a pedantic tinge and looks odd.

If I use “sine qua non” instead of "essential or basic requirement" in colloquial conversation with native speakers, or even in writing, will I be ridiculed?


texts:
I am writing a game and when the player gains a weakness I want to send them a message but I don't know the correct word to put of effected or affected. I know one is a noun and one is a verb but I don't understand which to use in my case.

'You were effected due to low temperatures'

or

'You were affected due to low temperatures'

Which would be the correct one?


texts: Which verb form follows after "Something we can do, is "

texts:
Which of the following is correct?

Something we can do is investigate the effects of...
Something we can do is investigating the effects of...

I would say it's the first, but based on intuition rather than on grammar - someone I'm writing a text with thinks it's the second.

Can someone explain more formally which form is correct?

Edit

Some more context:

As actual costs are unknown, we cannot test if our model is successful on this basis. Something we can do, however, is investigate the consistency of our model over time. Although the structure...

These are the opening sentences of a paragraph.


texts: Is it correct to say "I think you would love this cat too?"

texts: I'm planning to upload a photo of cat and trying to use the title as my caption... I'm confused about the sentence.. Please help


texts: What is a word for a person who uses resources to the maximum?

texts: Is there a word (or words) for a person who uses all resources to the maximum; for example, a person who keeps on using pencils even if they are very small?


texts:
As you know when the letter w placed at the end of a word, it is pronounced like 'oo'  in the words book and could as seen on the chart below.It can be shown as /w/ or  /ʊ/ too in dictionaries.

I am not sure but I think it still can be pronounced like 'oo'  in the word book even though the letter w placed as the first letter of a word.For example : Watch like ooatch or ʊatch.What do you think?

But when it comes to the word window, can we say the first letter w is pronounced like   'oo'  like ooindoo or ʊindoʊ

OR

the first letter w is pronounced  like /v/ in the word volcano as seen in the chart? /v/indoo  or /v/indoʊ


texts: Is "triple" the proper counterpart of pair when describing a group of three items?

texts:
I'm writing a tech doc and this question bothers me, though I know it should be simple.

I know I should say "A pair of [Key, Value]", but when I have something like "A ____ of [Key, Value, Flag]", I'm just not sure if the proper word is triple, or something else.

Is triple often used as an adjective instead of a noun? Is there a better word?


texts: What is the term used to describe the behaviour of someone talking about something they want as if they already have it?

texts:
An example of this would be in Act I of An Inspector Calls, where Arthur Birling says

  "May we look forward to the time when Crofts and Birlings are no longer competing but working together"

To me, by his use of “the” instead of “a”, he is implying that there will be a time, rather than there might be a time.
He's making the time when they collaborate sound like it's already there, as if it will solidify his chances of getting it.

If there is not already a term to describe this behaviour,  what would be the best way to refer to it?


texts: What is the origin of the term EPK or Electronic Press Kit on movie productions? Any history welcome!

texts: EPK stands for Electronic Press Kit, which I am defining as "recorded cast and crew interviews and other clips that capture the making of the movie to be used for publicity."  Is that right?  Next, what is its origin? Does anyone know how far it goes back? Any early examples would be awesome.


texts: What would be an appropriate term for "silent movies"?

texts:
All of us know what a silient movie is. but as far as I reasearched, i found that "Silent Movies" is not a suitable term because they are often accompanied by music.

so, my question is, what could be an appropriate name for "silent movies"?


texts:
I was going through one of my CAE tests when I came across the following example:

  "It was not until 1939 that the two ladies who took the photos
  admitted these were fake. They simply cut out pictures of fairies from
  a book and arranged them among flowers. The results are undeniably
  beautiful."

However, one of the options for the bolded word was categorically.

Do they not mean the same thing? Why is categorically incorrect?

The suggestion I found in this link introduced me to the same definition, I feel. http://www.dictionary.com/browse/categorically?s=t


texts: How would you describe a situation where you can only stop something by doing it first?

texts:
I'd like to know what this situation is called.
The gist is the only way you can stop something is by doing it first.
A real world example is a MS Windows feature called sticky keys. You can turn on sticky keys by pressing the shift key 5 times in quick succession. It will then make a beep. Every time the shift key is pressed another beep will occur.
Now someone says that the beep from pressing the shift key must stop (no speaker control) but the shift key must still be usable.
The only way to turn off sticky keys is to press the shift key 5 times in quick succession resulting in further beeps. The 6th press will not produce a beep.
Anyway, hope that makes sense.
I don't believe this is a catch 22 but correct me if I'm wrong.


texts:
In a documentary I watched recently, Una Stubbs, remembering her father, said someone once told her

  "When they were handing out fathers you were at the front of the queue."

What is the meaning of handing out fathers?


texts: A word that refers to the feeling of anticipation of new opportunities that one thought previously unreachable

texts:
Is there a word that describes the feeling one feels when one breaks down some metaphorical barrier and sees a path to satisfy a desire or develop skill one once thought unsatisfiable or unmasterable?
For example:

After learning to play the piano and mastering his first advanced piece, John felt X as the path to learning his favorite concertos, ones he thought he would never possess the talent to play, presented itself in front of him.

I tried googling around for it but didn't find much. I'll also accept a word from a language other than English if it fully captures the meaning.


texts:
In this instance, does 'as' function as a conjunction or as an adverb?

(1) 'Their circumstances are not nearly the same as those of the people feeling their homelands.'

Would you classify 'fulfill our moral duty to help' and 'allows us to control who' as complex verbal groups?

(2) 'While we must fulfill our moral duty to help people in desperate need, we must also have an immigration system that allows us to control who comes into our country.'

I wouldn't classify them as individual complex verbal groups given that the second verb has a different subject. Would you agree with me? (I'm looking at the grammar from a functional ptv.)

Also, I am inclined to think that 'Thanks to our help, ...' functions as a subordinate clause, I would just like to ask if anyone else thinks this plausible?

Cheers


texts: "should say that" vs "should have said that"

texts:
Example 1: It was odd (that) you should say that

Example 2: It was odd (that) you should have said that

I don't understand what the putative should implies when it's constructed with the present perfect, as in example 2. I can't tell the differences between the two.


texts: I was recently reading a review of Donald Rumsfeld's autobiography. The reviewer cited one of his famous phrases; he quoted it as "unknown known." Now my memory was that the phrase Rumsfeld used was "known unknown" not "unknown known" and it got me wondering: is there a difference in meaning between the two?


texts: Is there a term for the opposite of anthology?

texts:
If you define "anthology" as multiple works of one or more authors in a single volume, then what do you call a single work that is published in multiple volumes?
"Lord of the Rings" is a similar case to this situation, but not really apt, because each volume of the 3-volume work has a unique title that it was published under.
Specifically, I have "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" (Gibbon) in 2 editions: the first is a 2-volume edition, and the second is a 6-volume edition. The individual volumes are basically titled: "Volume 1", "Volume 2", and so on.
The reason I ask is that I'm putting together a desktop/web app to classify and organize my home library, and I have terms for the other common concepts, aside from "anthology":

"series" -- open-ended list of related titles by the same author(s)
sharing a story arc
"set" -- close-ended and named collection of works (a.k.a "The Great
Books of the Western World")

I've looked and searched pretty widely, but I can't find a term for a single work in several volumes. The most common alternative I've seen is "multi-volume set", but that doesn't quite cut the mustard.
The closest thing I've been able to find is the triple-decker format from the Victorian era when novels were often published in 3 parts.


texts:
When reading a book, I saw this sentence:

  A zone contains attribute data for names in a domain, less any subdomains administered by lower-level authorities.

I don't understand the part "less any subdomains". What does it mean? Which grammar can I look up to understand it?

Could anyone help me please?

Thank you a lot.


texts: What do Americans think of using 'cheers' to sign off an email?

texts:
I've suspected before that "Cheers" as an email sign-off is a bit of an English (or possibly Commonwealth) thing, but being English it's natural to me and I use it as the mood takes me to end an email.

When I email an American, what sort of impression does it give?  Are there any other English speaking cultures out there where it's a bit unfamiliar?


texts: Inversion by "only" in a passive sentence

texts:
I have searched for the grammar concerning inversion in passive voice, and my search was fruitless. I was wondering how to put "only" at the beginning of a passive sentence. For example:

Only the temperature is changed ----must be turned into----> Only is the temperature changed

Does it work in this way? If not, how does inversion with only work?

Thanks in advance for your help.


texts: I understand that after cremation, the remains are put through a crenulator to reduce them to ashes and to sift out metals.  I assume it's a sort of shaker/sieve.


texts:
Is there any etymological connection between "whisper" and "lisp"?

Both involve speech, have an "isp" sound, and a lisp can sometimes be quiet like a whisper...

Although, I haven't found much connecting them directly, except a report that in German:

  lispeln = to lisp, to whisper

And that was from the The Encyclopædic Dictionary of Robert Hunter, circa 1885.


texts:
Thats some straight blockbuster movie sh-t. They deserve it if they pulled it off.

What's the meaning of straight here? The comment was made in response to a news article on a bank robbery in which the robbery was done by the robbers professionally dug a tunnel underground through to the bank's vault.


texts:
I'm writing a scientific thesis in English but I'm not a native speaker.
I think this sentence is correct, but I am not sure (that's why I ask this here rather than in "Writing") and I think it does not look nice. I am also not sure when I should use which tense. Especially when writing about an experiment I did in the past.

Can someone come up with a nicer way of writing it in an academic style?

  The poured amount is then checked if it is above zero before being added to the trajectory list.

(For more background what this sentence is about: The poured amount in this case is a variable in a program. Obviously it should be above zero, but in case there is an error of some sort its value is checked just to be sure it's really above zero.)


texts:
In The Elephant's Child by Rudyard Kipling he writes

  But there was one Elephant--a new Elephant--an Elephant's Child--who
  was full of 'satiable curtiosity, and that means he asked ever so many
  questions.

and then later

  'Have I seen a Crocodile?' said the Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake, in
  a voice of dretful scorn. 'What will you ask me next?'

Are these simply made up words never to be seen again or is there some way of interpreting them?


texts: Is there a non-technical gender-neutral term for child above the age where a person is no longer considered a child?

texts:
A person is their parent's child always, but past an arbitrary age, it's no longer appropriate to call them a "child".

I'm familiar with the term "Offspring", but that sounds technical, is there a more conversational synonym?


texts: Commas and Coordinating Conjunctions Before Dependent Clauses

texts:
"For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbors, and laugh at them in our turn?" -- Jane Austen

Many famous authors and writers use coordinating conjunctions and commas in this way. Are these commas used to make it easier to parse, or are they indicating a pause, or are they indicating a tonal shift? What are the specific guidelines for commas preceding a coordinating conjunction that is between an independent clause and subsequent dependent clauses?

In the example sentence, I understand why there is a comma between "neighbors" and "and": the coordinating element contrasts the inversion of the dependent clauses. I, however, do not understand the comma between "live" and "but." "For what do we live" is an independent clause, not an introductory clause.

Here is another example from a college writing center's website.

"When connecting two independent clauses with a comma and a word like 'however' or 'therefore,' you can either divide the sentence into two sentences, or use a semicolon, which can be used to connect two independent clauses without a coordinating conjunction."

So, what do you think?


texts: Of all the 'ph' as /f/ words, is there a reason why only 'sapphire' and 'Sappho' have 'pph'

texts:
We've discussed 'ph'=/f/ a few times but I don't believe this has come up before.  Plenty of words have have ph from the Greek φ via Latin, but only sapphire, Sappho and obvious derivatives have pph (with any pronuciation according to this regex dictionary. Wikipedia has σαπφειρος as the Greek for sapphire (transliterated to sappheiros) and Σαπφώ (Attic) or Ψάπφω (Aeolic) for Sappho.

There appears to be no etymological link between the two, and in both cases the first p is silent (or if you prefer, the π is silent).

Is it just coincidence that of the hundreds of words in which φ became ph, the only two containing πφ start σα/sa? The discussion in my first link, and the IPA for Σαπφώ at Wikipedia suggest that the π might not have affected the pronunciation in the Greek either, so: Is it just coincidence that of the hundreds of words in which φ became ph, the only two containing πφ start σα/sa? or has English dropped the π in a lot of other words?


texts: Do we use another "the" if a proper noun already begins with one?

texts:
The lowest in-game rank of authority is that of the Baron – variations are Timariot, Shaman, Mayor, Bishop, Patrician – of which only Patrician is a playable rank if the player owns the The Republic DLC.

Is "the The" correct in the sentence, or should it just be "The"? DLC stands for downloadable content (in this case, a new place) in a game. It is the same idea as the following.

The New York Times is a good newspaper. We read the The New York Times.


texts: Word that means a situation where one person cannot describe something to another.

texts:
For example - A situation such as "describe a color to a blind person". In this situation person A is not blind and can see the color "red". Person B is blind and has never seen red, so the person understands what red is but the person cannot relate to the "color Red".

I've heard the word before and it's an obscure word. I'm having a lethologica moment.

Thank you!


texts: How would you analyse the following sentence on the level of syntax?

texts:
For our linguistics course we are supposed to analyse the following sentence by breaking it down into its constituent parts. We need to analyse it in terms of Function (FU) and Form (Fo), that is, clause constituents, phrase constituents and word classes.

So how would you analyse the follwing sentence?

  His attitude made him very unpopular with colleagues.

This is what I've got so far but not too sure about this.

FU: His attitude = S, made = V, him = Object direct, very
unpopular... = A
Fo: S = Noun phrase, V = Verb Phrase, ObjD = Noun Phrase, A = Adjectival
Phrase
FU: dtm head, mv, head, premodifier head postmodifier
Fo: det noun, full verb, pronoun, Adjectival Phrase = very unpopular
with, Noun phrase = colleagues
FU: premodifier head postmodifier, head
Fo: adj conjunction, noun

If you can't follow my analytics just tell me how you would analyse it when going by the following pattern:

Function: Clause constituents (S, V, Od, Oi, Cs, Co, A)
Form: On the level of "phrase": Noun phrase, Verb phrase...
Function: Phrase constituents: determiner, premodifier, postmod., head, mV..
Form: Word classes: noun, determiner, adjective, adverb...
Function: again, phrase constituents
Form: again, Word classes.


texts: Predicate inner components in sentence (object without determiner)

texts:
I'm working on a computer program that might output the following sentence:

  Analyst Mark Mahaney upgraded rating on Apple to Buy

Is that sentence valid in English? (That is, nothing betwen the action upgraded and the word rating)


texts: would and will & mastering spoken English

texts: I have tried understanding the above umpteen times but yet unable to use it in the right place. I have been reading but find myself to be stuck in midst of conversation.


texts: Word to describe an object in continuous cycle that is eventually ejected when it matures

texts:
I'm trying to find a word or phrase that best describes the process of an object or entity that enters a continuous cycle until it grows large enough or matures to a point of self-sustainability.

Example: A person who enters rehab for help on some problem and stays within the system until the person has matured or grown to some point (after undergoing repeated examinations) that the subject can once again enter society.

Example: A college paper that starts as a rough draft, submitted for review by a peer, and returned with improvements. This cycle is ongoing until the paper is (mostly) cleared of flaws by peers and the author, finally graduating to a final draft ready for submission (the ejection from the cycle)


texts: 'The X-ing of Y' vs just 'X-ing Y' : why are both 'the' and 'of' necessary together?

texts:
Take the example of

  There is very little that a conforming POSIX.1 application can do by catching, ignoring or masking SIGSYS

(From the SIGSYS article)

This can be rewritten as

  There is very little that a conforming POSIX.1 application can do by the catching, ignoring or masking of SIGSYS

Both the and of must be added or the sentence becomes ungrammatical. Is there a grammatical explanation for this?


texts: How to specify a date or version to indicate that the situation might be different in the future

texts:
(I have huge difficulties expressing this without an example, feel free to edit everything)

I have information that refers to the current version of a software. It might be irrelevant to users of later versions. Or not, I won't update that information. So I would like to say

  Don't press 'erase' as it will erase everything
  (foo version xy)

In German we have a neat way of writing that mostly used for dates but also applicable for version numbers:

  Kaffemaschine kann nur eine Tasse auf einmal füllen
  (Stand 3.05.2013) <-Information might be outdated if much time has passed

Is there a common way of expressing that in English?

My best shot is 'as of dd.mm.yyyy'
But don't want to express that information is valid from now on,
I want to say that information is valid at least at that mark


texts:
I know 'I climbed the pine tree' would work.

but…

Could you say 'I scaled the pine tree'?


texts: Usage of "just", "only" and word-order [intended meaning]

texts:
I've got these sentences, which meanings are correct (my interpretations are in brackets):
Use of only:

(1) Only in 1996, Ford sold a rebadged Mazda 626 GV over here as its rebranded Japanese mid-size stationwagon. (1996 was the only year)
(2) In 1996, only Ford sold a rebadged Mazda 626 GV over here as its rebranded Japanese mid-size stationwagon. (Ford was the only manufacturer)
(3) In 1996, Ford sold only a rebadged Mazda 626 GV over here as its rebranded Japanese mid-size stationwagon (i.e. it was the only rebranded Japanese stationwagon from Ford)
(4) In 1996, Ford sold a rebadged Mazda 626 GV over here as its only rebranded Japanese mid-size stationwagon (there were no others, I assume?)
(5) In 1996, Ford sold a rebadged Mazda 626 GV over here as its rebranded Japanese mid-size stationwagon only (but not as a hatchback or saloon)

Use of just:

(1) Just 3 weeks ago, there was a sudden snowfall (3 weeks ago recently?)
(2) 3 weeks ago, there was just a sudden snowfall (no other natural disaster?)
(3) 3 weeks ago, just there was a sudden snowfall (no other location)
(4) 3 weeks ago, there was a just sudden snowfall (?)

Are these grammatically correct, and are the meanings correct for these words?


texts: Need a word for when an event or situation that is very unlikely to happen, happens

texts: I need a word for when an event or situation that is very unlikely to happen, happens. For example, let's say the nerdy kid in school, who is an outcast with no friends, dates the popular girl in school. From a stereotypical view point, the likely hood of a "nerd" to date the popular girl in school is very unlikey, but what if it did happen? Is there a word for this type of scenario?


texts: Would you say, "She was quiet after she'd been back from school," or "She was quiet after she'd gotten back from school"?

texts:
I don't know if these two choices are just preference or not.
On a side note, would it sound better if you say "ever since" or "since" in place of the word "after"?
thanks


texts: "flyer" vs "flier"... interchangable or totally different meanings/usage?

texts: For announcements/advertisements on pieces of paper, I have seen it referred to as "flyer" and "flier".  Are half of the people using the incorrect spelling or are these two words interchangeable like "labor"/"labour"?


texts: what's the meaning of 'commit one's country'

texts:
Since he was not given plenipotentiary poweres by his government, he
could not commit his country without consulting his superiors.

According to the dictionary,
a word 'commit' has many meanings like the below.

1.to give in trust or charge; consign.
2.to consign for preservation:
3.to pledge (oneself) to a position on an issue or question
4.to bind or obligate, as by pledge or assurance; pledge:
5.to entrust, especially for safekeeping; commend:
6.to do; perform; perpetrate:
7.to consign to custody

I'm not sure which one suits in the sentence I quoted.
I guess 6 is correct.
Does 'commit one's country' mean 'manage one's country'?


texts: How to correctly refer to animal parts as food?

texts:
I have found little consistent in how animal parts used as food are named. How can I correctly refer to the tongue of ducks, the necks of ducks, or the ears of pigs?

Do you like duck's neck?
Do you like duck necks?
Do you like ducks' necks?

Is there a way which is most "correct" or formal?


texts: "... disheartened and humbled as we are,..."?

texts:
I wonder if we need as we are in this sentence.

In our present state, disheartened by failures and humbled by our weaknesses as we are, it is impossible to win this battle.

The presence of In our present state makes as we are redundant, but as I was writing the sentence, it just sounded natural to add as we are, as if I heard a kind of refrain in my mind. When I realised the problem, I tried removing it:

In our present state, disheartened by failures and humbled by our weaknesses, it is impossible to win this battle.

Is not the second sentence a bit dry? Shall I leave "as we are" in, or will it come across as disturbingly redundant?
Edit: There were some good answers but in the form of comments, so I cannot resolve the question by accepting them.


texts: Pronouncing -ed when it comes after a voiced final consonant

texts:
When I teach -ed endings I tell the students that there are three ways to pronounce it:

/t/ (when the preceding sound is unvoiced, e.g. matched)
/d/ (when the preceding sound is voiced, e.g. played)
/ɪd/ (when the preceding sound is /t/ or /d/, e.g. hated)

However when I demonstrate this to students with the word phoned, I aspirate the final sound. To me it sounds more like a /t/ than a /d/. If I try to make a clear /d/ sound, it sounds unnatural and forced.

Everything I've found says I should be pronouncing it with a /d/, but that's just not what I actually say. Is my pronunciation idiosyncratic, or is this common? (I'm from the south of England.) If it's common, what implications does that have for the way we understand and teach this pronunciation point?

Note

If the word following this begins with a vowel sound, and we link them, for example, phoned a lot of people, the final sound of phoned is clearly a /d/: /fəʊn də.../


texts: Do American people put a glottal stop[ʔ] before explosive sounds?

texts:
I heard you put a glottal stop[ʔ] "before" explosive sounds such as T, D, K, G, P, and B in American English.
Is it true?
For example,(I used IPA for each word)
class [ʔklæs],
day [ʔdeɪ],
ten[ʔtɛn],
because[ʔbiˈʔkɔz] ※even within the word,
pink[ʔpiŋk]
I can find a lot of articles or videos talking about a glottal stop
when it comes at the end of word, but I can't find resources explaining
inserting a glottal stop before explosive sounds.
Thank you.


texts: What's wrong with 'Bananas are unable to grow in cold countries'?

texts: I have an English exam coming up where I will be pointing out the mistakes in sentences and explaining them. One of the example questions we got was 'Bananas are unable to grow in cold countries'. However I don't really see the mistake here. I was thinking it might be the 'unable', but I can't find a proper explanation why that would be wrong. Is there someone here who knows what the mistake is and who could give an explanation?


texts:
Police Officer: "You know, take my advice. You get busted back to walking a beat at your age? Put in for your twenty."

I googled 'put in for' and 'your twenty'.
It says 'put in for' means 'ask for something' and 'your twenty' is a code for 'my location is'.

And I'm counfused. How is 'put in for your twenty' to be accepted?
Please help me!


texts:
My main language is Dutch and I was wondering if there is a word for being in between 2 opinions.

Let me give you an example:

I am against lowering the drinking age, but at the same time not really as long as its being used responsible.

It's a bit of yes and no.

Hope you guys can help me out and teach me (and hopefully others) something.


texts: One of the requirements of my English final includes removing all prepositions from a previously written essay. I'm having trouble getting rid of prepositions like "to", "in", "of", and other common preposition that seem like a requirement in writing. Could someone point me in the right direction? Thanks.


texts: Using the Progressive Form of Be for a State of the Mind and Lately in Present Continuous

texts:
Firstly, is the following sentence correct?

  My brother is being unusually nervous lately.

If correct, how is being nervous behavior? We usually use the progressive of be to describe a behavior or an action, not states of the mind.

Secondly, I have read in both Longman and the Oxford dictionary that you use only present perfect with lately.


texts: "They slipped from my hands the moment I picked them [up]"

texts:
They were like puzzle pieces that slipped from my hands the moment I picked them [up].

Is the up necessary? Why or why not?


texts: Is there a term among heavy computer users for a cat who treads on the keyboard to highly deleterious effect?

texts:
The question line pretty much says it all. I'm not asking why, or how to stop it.  I am asking if this behavior has generated a term or phrase amongst cat-loving heavy computer users.

From the comments and the two answers, it seems that cats on keyboards (piano and computer) are well known, but that there is no widely accepted term or phrase for the havoc they can wreak.  Correct?


texts: I emailed a professor at Harvard for graduate study and he said he was nearing retirement and recommended his student working in Minnesota. I was going to reply him. Should I use this as a beginning: "It is a pity for me that I could not have the opportunity to work with you and under you supervision" It feels so weird. Thank you all~


texts: When and where did "Five in the afternoon" and "Five o'clock" become "5 p.m."?

texts:
Consider this stanza from Byron's Don Juan:

  What then? I do not know, no more do you.
  And so good night. Return we to our story:
  'T was in November, when fine days are few,
  And the far mountains wax a little hoary,
  And clap a white cape on their mantles blue;
  And the sea dashes round the promontory,
  And the loud breaker boils against the rock,
  And sober suns must set at five o'clock.

The setting suns would suggest the author meant 5 p.m., and not 5 a.m.

To the best of my knowledge, with a few notable exceptions, abbreviations in general were not part of everyday speech before the Twentieth Century. (What forced them into everyday speech is a whole different story, I suppose).

I've done some research but, to my surprise, I couldn't find anything that would even remotely suggest when, where, and why the abbreviations for "post meridian" and "ante meridian" became standard everyday terms, replacing all those clunky yet, in my humble view, somewhat romantic, if not downright poetic, "half past eight in the evening," "two o'clock in the afternoon," etc, etc.

When?

Where?

Why?


texts:
The climate of Sapporo is colder than one of Tokyo.
  The climate of Sapporo is colder than that of Tokyo.

Which is correct?


texts: Which elements can be omitted from the "not only ... but also" construction?

texts:
Since, by this answer, both of these sentences are correct:

  Not only should you be able to speak, but also should you be able to
  write.

  Not only should you be able to speak, but also to write.

Is this one correct too?

  Not only should you be able to speak, but also be able to write.

What is the rule for omissions here? I'm asking because I wrote this and it doesn't sound correct to me:

  This not only allows you to maintain a uniform visual style, but also
  to introduce new developers to your codebase.

This option is less economical, but somehow it feels right: "This not only allows you to maintain a uniform visual style, but also allows you to introduce new developers to your codebase."

Which do you think is more understandable/natural? I'm not a native speaker of English.


texts: The difference between "adopt" and "use" when they refer to utilizing something

texts:
Both of "adopt" and "use" can represent utilize something.
What is the difference? I feel "adopt" is more formal, but I am not sure of my feelings.
For instance, I am writing an academic paper. Could I use

We adopt the Jaccard index in our implementation.

Or shall I use

We use the Jaccard index in our implementation.

I cannot distinguish the difference between the above two sentences and would like to choose
"adopt".
Thanks in advance!


texts: Is there a single word or phrase for "inability to say no at a behavioural level"

texts:
I have an acquaintance who is unable to say "no" directly. Any conversational transaction which would lead to them saying no is redirected toward the questioner.

Is there a single word or phrase to describe them?

It's not cultural. It's a (learned?) behaviour.

Indecisive is not the word I'm looking for. Neither are these.

The use case was that someone was giving out to a group of friends, treats from a recent trip to the USA, and this person was offered a packet of sweets (Jolly Ranchers) which they don't like.

The gift was non-personal and other members of the group were happy to receive them. No rudeness would have been perceived by directly refusing the gift or taking another offering. E.g. "Sorry, I'm not into those. Someone else can have them" would have been the quickest conversational route.

Instead of saying no directly, the receiver then entered a long negotiation to refuse the item without actually saying the word "no".

This inability to say "no" directly is a repeating pattern in their interactions in general, hence the curiosity about a description.


texts:
Could someone arrange this sentence in a form so that I can understand it?

This in turn limits the applications in which they may be used to those where relatively non-thermally critical structural parts are required.

The context is about some polymers and this paragraph is talking about the disadvantages of them.


texts: Is 'action this matter' a correct phrase? Is it correct to say "Pls check with Mr. X to ascertain whether his team or we should action this matter."


texts: My dad had a lot of phrases which I have not been able to identify the origins of. He would use "up in Annie's room behind the wallpaper" in much the same way as "to see a man about a dog" is used - in response to the question "where are you going?". Anyone come across it?


texts: Use of semicolon between dependent clause and compound subject

texts:
Is is appropriate to use a semicolon in order to avoid comma ambiguity in sentences like the following?

  When they returned from the zoo; Charles, James, and Jane looked for new locations to visit.


texts:
A Japanese newspaper partly held by Toyota reported a month later that
  the carmaker was mulling a factory in Brazil for production of the
  same car.

[Source]

I couldn't find a phrase 'mulling a factory' in any dictionary, hence I instead searched 'mull' in Merriam-Webster.

  to grind or mix thoroughly
  to consider at length :   ponder —often used with over

I guess the meaning of 'mulling a factory' is 'founding or making a new factory', which has nothing to do with the meaning of 'mull'.

Is my guess correct? If it is, is 'mulling a factory' a common or natural expression?

Can you help me understand the phrase 'mulling a factory'?


texts:
In the book Diplomacy: A Very Short Introduction by By Joseph M. Siracusa, we find the following passage:

  Prior to World War II, then, diplomacy was essentially a government-to-government relationship, in the sense that Foreign Diplomatic Officers were discouraged from participating in the domestic or foreign policies of the state in which they exercised their function.

Does then in this context equal "after that time" or "before that time"?

As far as I have studied, then can mean:

at that time; at the time in question. "I was living in Cairo then" at that time, in those days, at that point (in time), at that moment, on that occasion
after that; next; afterward. "she won the first and then the second game" next, after that, afterward/afterwards, subsequently, later
in that case;
therefore. "if you do what I tell you, then there's nothing to worry about"
in that case, that being so, it follows that


texts: /ʃ/ or /s/ with the termination -ciate? Both realizations occur, but when?

texts:
I have noticed that among the several words that have the termination -ciate (or derivatives of these) sometimes the pronunciation of the 'c' is /ʃ/ and sometimes /s/. That is, sometimes palatalization occurs (as in "attention" or "commission") but some other times it doesn't.  For example:
/ʃ/: Emaciated, excruciating, officiate.
/s/: Pronunciation, enunciate, glaciated.
(according to the dictionaries I checked)
Is this arbitrary? Is there any pattern/rationale behind when it is one or the other? Or in other words, can one predict if palatalization occurs by looking at the part of the word preceding -ciate?


texts:
I have a question about the following sentence:

  I think that I know what kind of person I am.

Does it make sense, still have the same meaning and is it gramatically correct if I say:

  I think that I know what kind of person that I am.

To me it sounds kind of weird, but somehow I think it could still make sense even if it is a bit unusual to use it in that form.

'The kind of person that I am' works. Could you put it like in the example above?


texts: APA reference for uppercase word in title of book

texts:
I need to complete references for an assignment in APA format, but one of the books has an uppercase word in it and I'm not sure if it should remain uppercase or be changed to lowercase:

The SAGE Handbook of Grounded Theory, by Antony Bryant and Kathy Charmaz

In this context, SAGE is the name of the publishing company (https://sagepub.com) and the origin of the name is that it comes from the first two letters of the founders names: SAra Miller and GEorge McCune. So the company name is meant to be capitalised normally.

However, APA states book titles should use sentence-case, with capitalisation for proper nouns... So I'm not sure how to proceed.


texts: How do I use possessive when talking about a book written by two authors?

texts:
Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister are two authors of Peopleware. When talking or writing about the book, do I have to write:

  Have you read Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister's Peopleware?

or:

  Have you read Tom DeMarco's and Timothy Lister's Peopleware?


texts:
Is there a single word to describe the feeling of thirst/dryness when hungover?

I'm translating a song from Russian and just 'hangover' will probably work, but i'm wondering if there's maybe a slang word for this specifically.


texts: ....with his easy cooking techniques and added element of fun he is able to entertain every viewer, whether they are beginners or experienced cooks, young or old, Indian or not.


texts: to say "have a rest in the middle of work", can I say 'rest amid my daily work period"? Does 'amid' only describe "surrounded by", like in, "rest amid chaos", or can it mean "a time-point within a certain period"? Thank you.


texts: How to say if coffee is diluted and not strong?

texts:
For instance, a cup of  cappuccino was made with too much water and because of it its taste was not that strong. What are correct words to say it? Dictionary returns many options, but which ones are the most appropriate for given context?

  Cappuccino is diluted | washy | watered | poor and weak | soft | mild?


texts:
Fill in the right articles: A, An, the, Ø.

Boyle's law states ____ pressure of ____ gas is inversely proportional to ____ volume of ____ gas ____ constant temperature.

I Agree to @my name's response to this question. As @my name explains pressure and volume are specific to gas, so we use "the." But what about "temperature".
Should it be "the constant temperature" or "constant temperature?"

Also, temperature, pressure, and volume are all uncountable nouns. Thus, indefinite articles (a and an) does not follow them. But take a look at the sentence below from Wikipedia. In which indefinite article "a" follows them.
This really confuses me.


texts: What's the meaning of "scar on the first cut"?

texts:
It's a chapter header in Rework book written by Jason Fried.
Here is a summary:
Don't scar on the first cut. Don't create a policy because one person did something wrong once. Policies are only meant for situations that come up over and over again."


texts: Is there a need to use an article in a headline?

texts:
Which should I use?

Top restaurants within 5 minute walk
Top restaurants within a 5 minute walk

For broader context, this is to be used as a section heading in an app, and so adding an article actually complicates the code, since it now requires the coder to programmatically distinguish between a and an based on the number falling between within and minute, since numbers beginning with one, eight-, or eleven would need the longer article.


texts: Can one suppress the pronoun "one" in a list?

texts:
On another site it  sometimes happens that I give answers like:

  The first formula is correct but not the second one.

This is probably grammatical, but I find  the formulation a bit clumsy, perhaps because of the influence of  other languages I am familiar with, where the pronoun one is not used.

So my question is whether a formulation like

  The first formula is correct but not the second .

or some other variant exists, which would be perceived as more elegant but still  natural by a  native speaker of  English.


texts: Single term for restating a question as its answer without specifying the content of the question again

texts:
Take for example

  Why is this the best?
  Because it is the best.

There is no further justification given for this to be the answer to the question.

Apparently the term for this is something along the lines of meta, reflexive from what I have searched.


texts: Verbal strategy that requests action of someone without using a direct command

texts: Is there a word to define the verbal strategy that requests action of someone without using a direct command—e.g., Could you please open the door?


texts: Usage/meaning of would in this very specific context (book)

texts:
Can anyone explain me the meaning of would (underlined) in this specific context? How would you rephrase this sentence?

It's an excerpt from the book In the Teeth of The Evidence: And Other Mysteries by Dorothy L Sayers.

Thank you!


texts: When did "crew" become a sport? When did "crew team" come into use?

texts:
When I was a child, there was a sport called rowing; if four or more people rowed together in the same boat, they would be known as a crew.  At some point, either before or during my childhood, the sport itself began to be known by the name crew.

To my great horror, when I went to college, I began to hear people speaking about the crew team, as in, "my roommate is thinking about joining the crew team."

When did "crew" become the name for the sport?  I looked in my trusty (but somewhat dated) compact edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, which did not shed any light on the matter, as this sense of the word "crew" was not to be found.

More to the point, when did people start using "crew team"?  I did not find this phrase at all in the OED, nor did I expect to.


texts: What is a good word to use to describe someone who has that young, unknowing innocence about them?

texts: I'm trying to think of a good word that expresses the meaning of someone who, like a child who doesn't know of the bad things going on in the world, that is innocent and unknowing in a certain situation?  I'm trying to describe a certain character of a book for any essay; any ideas of suitable words that match my description?


texts: What is the difference between "order" and "command"?

texts:
What is the difference between those two words order and command, and where to use each of them?

Please give some examples.

Thank you!


texts: Reply for Look forward to seeing you tomorrow

texts:
I would like to reply to a statement Look forward to seeing you tomorrow.

Can I write I look forward too to see you tomorrow?

OR

I look forward to see you tomorrow too/as well?

I would appreciate if anyone could point out the mistake(s) in the above two responses. Also, if the two statements are not correct, what could be the alternative sentence?

Thank you for your help.


texts:
1. Someday, I will run an Italian restaurant near the beach in London.

There are two prepositional phrases in this sentence. One is 'near the beach'. The other is 'in London'. Is 'near the beach' an adjective phrase or an adverbial phrase? Is 'in London' an adjective phrase or an adverbial phrase? Would you explain them in detail? Do they have structural ambiguity?


texts: Are "to flee from" and "to run away from" interchangeable?

texts:
The verb "to flee" means "to run away" but are they interchangeable in every aspect? I'm kind of confused which one to use. It seems to me that the use of the verb flee could be more elaborate when written and "run away" would be more use in an informal discussion.

In which context one is more suitable than the other?


texts: What "xyz" is OR What is "xyz". Which is correct if I am not asking the question but trying to explain the answer?

texts:
If I want to tell the audience about the objective of the session and the objective is to understand "xyz", then what would be the appropriate statement to put in the slide?

____________________________

Objective:

To understand what is "xyz".

______________________________

OR

______________________________

Objective:

To understand what "xyz" is.

______________________________


texts: An idiom for “striking unnecessarily hard when the opponent is already weakened”

texts: In Assamese there is an idiom that means 'striking unnecessarily hard when the opponent is already weakened'. Is there any such idiom in English that could mean the same?


texts: Is there an idiom to express "You couldn't get anything better"?

texts:
Is there an idiom or expression meaning "what you've been offered is the best thing I could offer you, and you won't get anything better" when someone refuses your offer in a rather rude way?

As in:

  A: I thought I would take you to a great restaurant for dinner.
  B: No. I'm fine at home. You go alone!
  A: [?]


texts: How can I express that I'm registered at faculty of physical therapy but actually I'm self-studying English to become an English instructor?

texts: If I want to express that I'm registered at faculty of physical therapy but I actually want to become an English instructor -I'm, currently, self-studying English-, how can I phrase that if I'm introducing myself to someone?


texts: Is there a word for the condition of being infested with ticks?

texts:
Is there a word or term for the state of a human or animal infested with ticks?
Mainly just curious.
Examples:

He's suffering from ______.
Don't get near him: he has _____.


texts:
When someone says "seriously?" in response to a statement, in my experience it either means:

Really? How stupid

or

How interesting! Tell me more

I've mostly seen it as a response to #1, and only #2 when it's truly interesting, and usually only when it's unexpected. Are there other ways to interpret "seriously?"


texts: Where did the "trick" in the phrase "turning tricks" come from?

texts:
Or in other words, can anyone make clear the etymology and the history behind the coinage of the word trick in the phrase turning tricks?

(Why am I interested you may ask?  Well, turning tricks is a phrase with kind of a history for me.  For a long time I didn't know what it meant -- in one embarrassing moment for a middle-school kid who once believed that pimp was short for "pimple" -- and for even longer, after I was clued into its sexual meaning, I thought it had to do with more, uh, athletic exploits than the phrase actually implies.  You know, sort of a description of things that are sometimes jokingly said to be available in dark bars in Tijuana. So I'm determined to get to the root of this construction once and for all: why are johns also known as tricks, and who coined this very misleading phrase?)


texts:
I have follwing questions regarding English

What are the interrogative forms of the following statements

Twenty third CHOGM was held in Sri lanka.(Interrogator needs to know the number)(Please compare (What was held in Sri Lanka ?)Do we have to use any word like when, how, why,...
Sam came 2nd in the race.(Interrogator needs to know the number)

Thanks

UB


texts: Help, the "onus" is on me! What do you call whatever it is I'm supposed to do with it?

texts:
We all know the phrase: "The onus of proof is on you" or "The onus is on you to do some thing or the other."

Ok, so the onus was put on me and I have done that thing or the other. Now, with respect to the onus, what have I done? Have I "carried the onus"? "Met the onus"? That doesn't sound right. And I haven't "removed the onus", that's just undoing it being put on me.

So what's the word or phrase I'm looking for?


texts: What do you call the grandpa's new wife after he and grandma divorce?

texts: After grandma and grandpa divorce, grandpa marry another person, what do you call the grandpa's new wife? Do you call her grandma?


texts:
I have a phrasal verb exercise:

  They do exercise in order to get fit and keep depression ____

I think the correct one is away. Is that correct? Because I'm still confusing about it: keep sth away from sth, and Google gives few results about keep sth away with sth here means the thing you will remove it.


texts:
I have a client who insists on using the following sentence in his web site:

  Lance Armstrong is the most successful American bike racer of all times.

I think that "of all times" should be "of all time".

Which is correct?


texts: Word for situation where you "get into" something

texts: This is a little bit hard to explain, but situation when you really get into something. For example, you are watching a movie, and it feels so realistic and good that you "get into" it. Not just a movie, but basically any real life situation


texts: Word or expression for "the most important point"

texts:
Words like "crux", "essence", etc. refer to an idea that is a synopsis of a whole larger idea. But if one writes an article about some subject including many details about it, the most important point might not represent the whole article. Think of a description of a trip. There might be one detail that stands out, yet it is in no way the "crux" of the article.
So why not use "the main point"? Because it feels too verbose to be an expression. It feels like a sentence, like saying "this is the main point". Let's assume it's being used as a heading for some paragraph.
So, is there a word or expression that means "the main point" which does not indicate a summary, and yet does not sound verbose?
EDIT
It looks like some people see "the main point" to mean "crux" instead of looking at it more literally. So perhaps I should have used "the most important point" instead. Edited now.
EDIT 2
Enjoying the pool, even if it was the highlight of the trip, is not the crux of the article. But hmmmm, maybe "highlight" is the word I'm looking for.... or maybe "tl;dr", though that would be more slangy.


texts:
Is there any phrase or just a word for a person (a friend or someone else) who has the same dream (goal, purpose) as someone else? How can I define it in English?

For instance:

  We both want to travel around the world by car.

Is the only way to call this person"the friend who has the same dream"?


texts: Word that means I was correct, though I initially suspected I was in error

texts:
I am having trouble coming up with a word or phrase for this concept (prefer a word if possible):

I originally suspected that I did something awful several years ago, but after I investigated I found that I did not; someone else was at fault. Now I am satisfied and relieved.

Example: "You know that $1000 vase I broke in 1986? Well, it turns out it wasn't me; it was Billy! Now I am/feel X"

Where X is some combination of feeling relieved, satisfied, and vindicated, but appropriate for and specific to this context.  My instinct is to use vindicated, but is there something stronger than this? It's not just that I feel vindicated, but also that I know the identity of the actual perpetrator.


texts: We think we have a top-seller on/in our hands?

texts:
I know this on our hands/in our hands discrepancy has been discussed here in a broad way, but since it's idiomatic, I think it would be helpful to consider a few specific examples, like the one here. Would you use "on our hands" or "in our hands" here, and why?

It refers to something you invented and produced, and you're guessing it will do well on the market. So you're not having anything literally in your hands. You don't know if it's a top-seller yet, you just think it will become one. That's why "on our hands" seems right to me. Am I wrong?


texts:
I am wondering about punctuation in this sentence:

  In this case the main focus was on intuitiveness and learnability.

Should I put a comma after "case"? If so, why?


texts:
I recently came across this expression:

eat my hat

I googled and found some results. I agree that eating a hat is not easy. But why hat? They could have chosen shoes, gloves, shirt, to name a few.

What is the origin of this idiom? And are there any alternatives?

The "why hat" was addressed in a comment by mplungjan

In 1876 most men in the US wore hats. Not all wore gloves and you do not want to eat a shoe. a) it is not very hygienic, b) you need it on your foot.–


texts: Can you end a sentence with a clitic like "they're"?

texts: I saw someone write the sentence "Of course they're". As a native English speaker, this instantly seemed wrong but I couldn't come up with a good reason as to why. I did a bit of research and there seems to be a rule called "stranding" where if there's an object before the clitic then it can't end like that but I don't entirely understand it.


texts: What is a single point from a Code of Foo?

texts:
When there is a code of ethics/conduct/etc, what do you call a single point in the code? For example, the IEEE code of ethics has a numbered list similar to this:

Make sure you do this to follow the code of ethics
Make sure you also do this other thing
etc

If I wanted to talk about the first point, or nth point, what would I call it? I've been toying with "rule", "code", and "point":

  The fourth rule/code/point is about rejecting bribery.

However, they don't feel quite right. What is a word for this?


texts: are there any compiled lists of modern equivalents of historical proverbs?

texts:
I'm not even sure of what we commonly label these types of expressions that are passed down from generations.

Some are attributed to the bible, like, "idle hands are the devil's workshop."
 There are others like, "don't look a gift horse in the mouth."

I like to quiz family members on these expressions at get-togethers, but the younger generation tells me they are relics from the dinosaur age and an unfair test of cultural aptitude.

Are they mostly obsolete in this generation's culture (media, literature, etc)?  And is there some set of commonly used expressions that are current and have been compiled somewhere?

Edit: to clarify, I am looking for a source of modern equivalents of historical proverbs.  Now that I'm more aware of the best terminology, the question (hopefully) is more appropriate.


texts: How might we parse the phrase "put [something] out to board" to better understand its meaning?

texts:
The phrase is found in John Cheever's The Swimmer:

He wondered if the Lindleys had sold their houses or gone away for the
summer and put them out to board.

I understand the phrase to basically mean rent out, so that he could have said: "...or gone away for the summer and rented them out".
Are there accepted usages of 'put out' and 'to board' that when coupled together yield the meaning 'rent out'?
It seems Cheever made a mistake here. For 'board' means "to provide with regular meals and often also lodging usually for compensation". But the sentence quoted states that, in the instance of boarding, the owners of the house had left. In that case, it seems they wouldn't be able to provide any meals.
And as for 'put out', I can't find anything in the dictionaries to suggest it has a history of meaning anything like 'rent out'.


texts: Is there a word that means “measure time”?

texts:
You can measure the weight – it is called weighing.

If you measure time, what is that called? Is there a single English word for this?

I'm thinking especially in the context of measuring the performance of something, for example, to measure the time it takes for a computer program to complete a specific task or to measure the time it takes a runner to run 100 meters.


texts: Is “It was been there, done that” grammatically correct?

texts:
Is it correct to say "it was been"?

I was texting to someone about the Apollo moon-landing, someone asked why they don't fly to the moon anymore and his answer was,

  "It was been there, done that."

Meaning why would they do it again if they already did it before"

But I thought the correct way to say it was, "It has been there." After some research on this website, I found out that the word "has"  means it still applies today (which in my case it doesn't) and the word "was" means it no longer applies. I think that "was" was used with the wrong words.


texts: Has !? come to be considered appropriate for professional forms of writing such as captions and transcriptions?

texts:
I see the interrobang mentioned on this EL&U question from six-and-a-half years ago.  However, the answers there treated it generally as a distant novelty.  I seem to come across !?, ?!, ?!?, and !?! quite regularly these days (at least on the Internet!?)  Reading the SE answer, it wasn't clear whether they were specifically addressing the special ‽ character (which I too have never come across) or the entire concept [due to the singular nouns they used, maybe the former??]

I'm wondering if its usage has increased/become more accepted over the years, and whether forms like !? may be applied to convey bewilderment in any settings outside Internet discussion or fictional speech.  My primary interest is in transcription/caption forms that have very little addition of nonverbal communication (though it could be important in other writing as well, such as quoting someone in journalism).  If not, are there any other formal methods for conveying the speaker's bewilderment???

I had pretty limited success on Google (perhaps because it's hard to differentiate between the special symbol and the grouped punctuation marks?)


texts: What form is the "be" in "be that as it may"?

texts:
I have a feeling that this may be the dreaded (at least for me) subjunctive. But I'm really hoping it can be analyzed as the imperative instead. I am hoping I can use this expression to help explain a similar pattern in Japanese.

Can we understand "Be that as it may" as meaning the same thing as "Let that be as it may, and yet still..."

EDIT: Thank you for the replies. I realize I made a mistake in my analysis of my reformulation above. Even if "let" is taken as the imperative, that wouldn't extend to "be."

I did a little more searching, and in its discussion of the subjunctive, Wikipedia gives examples such as "Be they friend or foe" and "Come what may," which both seem very similar to "Be that as it may."

Also, if I understand correctly, the "be" in a sentence like "May the force be with you" is the subjunctive. I think this sentence is very similar to my reformulation above ("Let it be..."). So it looks like even my (undoubtedly liberty-taking) reformulation uses the subjunctive.

All of this leads me to me to suspect that the "be" in "Be that as it may" really is the subjunctive. I would welcome any other thoughts, corrections, or input.


texts: Is there a specific word describing black boxes covering confidential data on papers being prepared for public access?

texts:
Is there a specific word in English describing black boxes covering confidential data on papers being prepared for public access?
Here is an example of such a paper


texts: Referring to the work introducing the idea

texts: When making relations of my contribution to the work of others, I sometimes deliberately want to avoid detailed description of the related work and state: "For details on derivation, see the original work." However, I'm not sure if the term original is appropriate here, and I kindly ask you to provide some alternatives. Or, is the term actually the most appropriate?


texts:
In other languages, the sun and the moon have definite genders: in French and many other romanic languages le soleil (the sun) is male and la lune (the moon) is female.  In German and other germanic languages die Sonne is female and der Mond is male.

What is the `poetic' gender of the sun and the moon in English?

I found a number of threads on yahoo answers (great...), where it is claimed the sun is male and the moon is female in English, for example here.

In addition to trustworthy references, I would appreciate answers with examples from children's literature, fairy tales, fables or poems.


texts: The Auxiliary “Be” in the King James Bible

texts:
The King James Bible has Job 30:2 as “Yea, whereto might the strength of their hands profit me, in whom old age was perished?” which I understood to mean, “What use are their hands to me, men whose strength is sapped?”
And indeed I’ve found translations since in which “in whom old age was perished” becomes “men whose vigor is gone” (English Standard Version) or “in whom old vigor hath perished” (Darby Bible), but I still can’t help but find that phrase, “in whom old age was perished,” just a bit odd. I’m to think of it, I suppose, as an auxiliary, like “He is risen.” But if I didn’t know better, I’d say it sounds as if old age itself were “perished,” which can’t be right. Would a “hath” in this case have been so foreign to translators of the King James Version, and is there something missing from my understanding?
Thank you!


texts: Is there a word that could mean both serious and humorous?

texts: I'm creating a project on character traits, and the person that I'm writing about is funny yet serious. I didn't know if there was a word for that, so I'm asking for help.


texts: What's the meaning & origin of the word "Stretherism?"

texts:
I ran across the word "Stretherism" in Camille Paglia's 1991 essay "Junk Bonds and Corporate Raiders: Academe in the Hour of the Wolf:"

A final word on the title: I find "Heroes and Their Pals" vaguely queasy-making because its coy academic whimsy is actually a cheap shot at masculine men.  There are no heroes; all those jocks who shoved the bookworms aside on the way to the locker room are really getting it on with each other but don't know it.  This is rampant Stretherism, the wimp-centered view of the world that blights so much of the new academic discourse on sex.

I can't seem to find any definition (and barely any usage) of the word from an internet search.  I did run across the character of Lewis Lambert Strether in Henry James's 1903 novel "The Ambassadors," but the overviews of that book that I found didn't directly address a possible literary eponym.

Is anyone aware of a more "official" definition or usage of the word, especially one not dependent on the context of the quoted Paglia passage?  Or is she essentially coining-the-term here, something along the lines of "incorrectly inferring hidden sexual overtones from innocuous or unrelated behavior?"


texts:
What is the proper term for the area of a cross section? I am looking at these two formulations:

cross-section area
cross-sectional area

As in

  A is cross-sectional area of the pipe [...]

I have seen both formulations, but mostly the first one. But I have to admit that my dictionary says the second one. I should follow my dictionary of course, but would like to confirm if the first one is useable or not.

The context is a technical physics report.


texts: What is “the quantum politician”  and how does "filled with aluminum powder" apply?

texts:
There was the following statement in the New York Times’ (March 31) article titled “A Quantum Theory of Mitt Romney”

  The recent remark by Mitt Romney’s senior adviser Eric Fehrnstrom that Mr. Romney could change his political views “like an Etch A Sketch” has seemed an apparent admission by a campaign insider of two widely held suspicions about Romney: that he is a) utterly devoid of any ideological convictions and b) filled with aluminum powder.

  The imagery may have been unfortunate, but Mr. Fehrnstrom’s impulse to analogize is understandable. Metaphors like these are the only way the layman can begin to grasp the strange phantom world that underpins the very fabric of not only the Romney campaign but also of Mitt Romney in general. For we have entered the age of quantum politics; and Mitt Romney is the first quantum politician.

From the phrase quantum change meaning revolutionary change, I guess quantum politics means “rapidly and drastically changing politics”, and quantum politician means “a politician who is adaptive to the quick change of situation, or very quick on the feet.”  But I have no idea what Mitt Romney is “filled with aluminum powder” means. What does it mean?

Are "quantum politics / politician" and "filled with alminum powder" popular" words or just examples of purple verse?


texts:
I am not a native speaker.  I wrote the following sentences:

  Li et al. [5] proposed to compute relative entropy with Formula (7) and used it as a similarity metric.  This metric was later re-termed
  “divergence”.

The reviewer comments on these sentences are as follows: was later re-termed? Please check the English writing.

So my question: is the word “re-term” strange? Do native speakers use another word rather than “re-term”?

Thank you in advance!


texts: Separate vs. joined words (hyphen or not)

texts:
English is not my native language, and sometimes it's confusing.. Especially uk-english vs. american and hyphens

Can someone explain a bit when to use which of these?

It's for a global english website

football team, footballteam, football-team
movie fan, moviefan, movie-fan

"football-players/fans" vs. "football players/fans"

Thanks


texts: A verb that means "to die of a broken heart"

texts:
Is there any one-word verb, a phrasal verb, or an idiom that means "to die of a broken heart" or "to die of grief/sadness"?
Example:

She went through a lot of adversities and grief in the past five years. She ended up divorcing her husband two years after marriage, and lost her daughter in an accident. Her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer and the doctors had given up on her.
She couldn't tolerate these horrible incidents, and she finally died at the age of 49.

We can describe her death in these ways:

She died of a broken heart.
She died of grief.
She .....  (a verb/idiom)

(As a matter of fact, this is part of a sad story that happens in the present-day world. One of the characters is a woman who undergoes too many bitter experiences and loss of loved ones. She eventually dies young. People believe that sadness and grieves killed her.)


texts:
Is there a common abbreviation for "announcement"?

If there is, what is it?


texts: Is "man" as in "mankind" to refer to humans considered sexist now?

texts:
I was shocked to see that people find "man hours" to be a very sexist term and that it also seems to apply to the idea of "man days."

As far as I am aware man here is just simply referring to mankind as opposed to machines or devices. But, perhaps mankind is a problem of its own now for being overly male.

Is man as in mankind to refer to humans now considered sexist?


texts: Why PBS is called Big Bird as its byname?

texts:
I found “Big Bird” being used as the byname of public broad services in the article titled,“The Red and Blue Fantasies behind the Big Bird War” appearing in Time magazine’s October 9 issue which begins with the following sentence:

  "There is a reason conservative’s dream of cutting funding for Big
  Bird, but it has nothing to do with Sesame Street. Behind the big
  yellow fowl is a fantasy: the idea that the federal budget can be
  balanced by doing away with wasteful ephemera that no one really
  needs. “I like PBS. I love Big Bird. I actually like you too,” Romney
  said at the first debate to Jim Lehrer, the moderator. “But I’m not
  gonna keep on spending money on things to borrow money from China to
  pay for it.”

From the context of the above sentence, I surmise that Big Bird appearing in the popular children’s TV show, “Sesame Street” became the nickname of PBS.
If I am right, I wonder why just one of 1,000 Sesame Street characters comes to represent for PBS.

Why PBS is called "Big Bird"? The article says “There is a reason conservative’s dream of cutting funding for Big Bird, but it has nothing to do with Sesame Street.”

Why don’t you say simply “PBS,” which I think is short enough word that doesn’t need to take a bother of inventing an alias?


texts: Word for "the people who lose in a battlefield"?

texts:
Example:

  The dog carcasses were scattered everywhere. They looked like the
  [...] of a battlefield.

The closest word I can think of is "loser" but I think it doesn't quite make it.

Any suggestion?


texts:
For despite what the great Sensei Tsuji's tone may lead us to believe, Japanese cuisine like Japanese culture generally—has always been ready to assimilate foreign ideas that have demonstrated their usefulness.

I think "for despite" probably just means "despite".However is there subtle difference between them or it’s just a wordy way to say the exactly same thing?


texts:
I have recently discovered the, in my view, rather splendid song Guitar Town by Steve Earle (released 1986). It contains the following lyric:

  Hey pretty baby are you ready for me,
  It's your good rockin' daddy down from Tennessee.
  I'm just out of Austin bound for San Antone
  With the radio blastin' and a bird-dog on

Wise words, for sure, but this small town middle-class boy from the UK does not understand what it means to "have your bird-dog on"!

I have searched Urban Dictionary and other sources located through Google, and they all tell me a "bird-dog" is a man who chases other men's women, or sometimes just a man who chases any women. None of those explanations seem to fit with Steve Earle's meaning in Guitar Town. Unless he means that he is in the mood for chasing women, but the rest of the song is about driving from town to town putting on shows...

See also http://youtu.be/otTW0JczoGQ at around 0:19


texts: Was 'offer' in "(...) that no way of reaching that place would offer, till (...)" used as an intransitive verb?

texts:
Is offer used as an intransitive verb in the following passage from Moby-Dick?

Much was I disappointed upon learning that the little packet for Nantucket had already sailed, and that no way of reaching that place would offer, till the following Monday.

Wiktionary suggests that offer is used here as an intransitive verb, meaning to happen, to present itself. What do y'all think?


texts: Should I use "here" or "there" in the following sentence?

texts:
Sophia was awakened by the rattling sound of the alarm clock. Rubbing her
  eyes, she sat up, and after fumbling for a while, she finally managed
  to turn the alarm off. She lay on her back again, wondering why
  David had to set the alarm on Sunday. But when she looked to the side
  to ask him, she realized he was no longer here/there.

Should I use here or there in the passage above?


texts: A dictionary that systematizes commonly accepted combinations of words

texts:
Where can I find a dictionary that contains words along with their commonly accepted "neighbors"?

I had one, but it's not for English language. The structure of this dictionary is the following. Take a noun in this dictionary. Along with its brief definition, the dictionary shows what adjectives, verbs, and other parts of speech are appropriate to use with this noun.

E.g., a "day." Possible adjectives: "sunny," "long," "bad," etc. Verbs: "spend," "waste," etc. And so forth for many instances. Quite a handy thing for writing.

What English dictionaries offer similar capacities?

PS: It's not about simple collocations or corpuses and ngrams that don't differentiate parts of speech, like Corpus Concordance English. It's important to have this part-of-speech distinction.

UPDATE:

Brief list of dictionaries from the answers:

Online version of Oxford Collocation Dictionary


texts: Explanation of idiom "Can't sit on one's hair"

texts:
Reading a book by Salman Rushdie ("Shame") and there's such an expression, I guess it should be an idiom, but I can't find its explanation.

So, the author describes his younger sister.

  ...Who is twenty-two, and studying engineering in Karachi; who can't sit on her hair any more, and who (unlike me) is a Pakistani citizen

Thanks, for your help and time


texts:
"Let's eat, Grandma" is an old literary meme used to demonstrate the importance of commas in writing:

The first reference of the meme I was able to find is in American Printer and Lithographer - Volume 128 - Page 63 from 1949:

Is there an older source out there?


texts:
‘Yes, except this one,’ said Vicki. She crouched down and pointed to a
grubby notice right at the bottom of the mass. Athena bent over. ‘To let,’ it
said. ‘One room, limited daylight only, $25 per week. NB house not
communal.’
Does it mean:

it is not sunny place toward east?
It has not got source of light. and the only source of light is sun during the day?

Source: The Children's Bach by Helen Garner


texts: Something similar to "stir up/kick hornets' nest"

texts: stir up hornets' nest -- is an idiom similar to what I want. The difference is that I want something like with the meaning "break the order that's been around for a long time". Not necessarily cause a trouble. In russian it's "разворошить муравейник".


texts: When to use the gerund form of a verb after "to"?

texts:
I would like to understand when to use the gerund form of a verb after "to." I had in my mind that every verb used after "to" was in its infinitive form, like for example:

It is hard to play the piano when your fingers are cold.
Call me if you decide to buy those pants.

However, I have come across sentences where this logic is not followed; for example:

I got used to reading in the bus.
He went back to studying mathematics.

This is getting me very confused, so I need some help with this.


texts:
The metal bar was straight. But I bent it to make a right (90 degrees) angle.

Can I say it as below?

The metal bar was bent 90 degrees.
(90 degree / at 90 degree / to 90 degree)
90 degree / degrees bending of the metal bar was conducted.


texts: Why is there a comma at the end of this Sentence?

texts:
Why is there a comma after palate in the sentence below?

  Many dairy foods come in low-fat version, and though not all of them may be pleasing to the palate, some are.


texts: The name of a robotics tool that is only a sharpened rod

texts:
There is a tool used in robotics that is essentially just a rod of metal with a sharp point.

It is fastened to the robot not for the purpose of manipulating, stabbing or poking holes, but solely so the user can move the robot to a certain point in space. The tip of the tool provides a sharp reference point, and the user can move the robot until that point is at the desired position.

The German word I heard most often is "Teachspitze" or "Teachdorn", which is a faux-English term meaning "teaching tip" or "teaching thorn".

What is this tool called? Is there a professional term for it?


texts: Word for "evaluating only the necessary components"

texts:
I am looking for a noun whose definition resembles "evaluating only the necessary components".
This is for our research, Chapter 3 under Ethical Considerations. The first two on the list are Beneficence, and Confidentiality.
I am looking for a single word (as much as possible) to parallel the first two on  the list.


texts: Are there words to differentiate two instances of the same season in a year?

texts: I'm in the northern hemisphere. I was organizing some photo albums online and I realized that the album name "Winter 2012" could be considered ambiguous. Are these photos from the first few months of 2012 or the last 10 days (or so) of 2012? Is there a word that means the first instance or second instance of a season in a given year? I eventually settled on "Winter Early 2012" as the photos were taken in January. But I'm wondering if a fancier term exists. I suppose that when talking about time periods on the scale of seasons, "Winter 2013" is perfectly acceptable for something that happened on December 23rd, 2012, but I don't like the idea of labeling my photos with the wrong year.


texts: 2 more weeks than usual? or 2 weeks more than usual?

texts:
Context is as below.
ABC company realized transit time currently takes 2 weeks compared to the usual time.
So they need to inform their customers that it will take them 2 weeks to receive the goods.
In that case, can I say something as follows?
Dear Customers,

(1) It will take approximately 2 more weeks than usual.

(2) It will take approximately 2 weeks more than usual.

.===================================================================.
PS: As far as I know, native speakers say things like this.
For example,
aa) You should go to 2 more bus stops to get the library. --> Word order: [2 + more + bus stops]
bb) We have sold more than 2,000 toys. --> Word order: [more than + 2,000 + toys]
However I have no idea of a correct way about fused contents like my question.


texts: Comma after introductory phrase in "As a B, I want A"?

texts:
Is this comma needed or allowed?

As a citizen, I think that this problem undermines the right to privacy.

Or should it be written this way instead:

As a citizen I think that this problem undermines the right to privacy.


texts: Is there a literary technique for when someone knows what will happen even though he has never experienced it?

texts:
For example, I have never experienced this myself but I thought if a potato chip was squished/pressed under a metal surface and a plastic surface, it is more likely to stick to the metal rather than plastic.
My instinct tells me that even though it has never happened to me.
Like foreshadowing, being a literary technique, means when the audience can guess what will happen in the upcoming events due to the current situation, I was wondering if there was a technique for this too.


texts:
I couldn't find the meaning of transpierceable in the sentence below from The Magus (1965) by John Fowles.

  My father hadn’t kept Financial Prudence among his armoury of essential words; he ran a ridiculously large account at Ladbroke's and his mess bills always reached staggering proportions, because he liked to be popular and in place of charm had to dispense alcohol. What remained of his money when the lawyers and taxmen had had their cuts yielded not nearly enough for me to live on. But every kind of job I looked at—the Foreign Service, the Civil, the Colonial, the banks, commerce, advertising—was transpierceable at a glance.


texts: 'I have no idea why do I like him so much' or 'I have no idea why I like him so much'

texts: As far as my knowledge goes, 'why' in this case functions as a relative pronoun introducing a clause. I am just unsure whether it is grammatically accurate or at least acceptable to phrase the second clause in a question form (with the do verb coming after the relative pronoun). Which one is actually the correct form? And if one of them were incorrect, could anyone explain to me why?


texts: A word for a question that can be easily answered

texts: What do we call a question the answer to which seems obvious to many of us?


texts:
In the following sentences does the word 'either' means 'both' or 'any one'

Either of these roads leads to the railway station.
Either of you can go.


texts:
One of the most difficult things even for native speakers of English to learn is the correct use of contractions. To this day when I type it and want to follow it with s I have to spend a fraction of a second reading the sentence out loud to see if it is will fit.  Then there's the question of where the apostrophe belongs. Why isn't it is'nt?1  What makes all this worse is that the first time you use its instead of it's people start sending you links explaining how to write properly.

I can think of two reasons to still use contractions:

It's slightly faster to write.  (But only if you don't have to think about proper usage.)
We use contractions in verbal communication and contractions reflect the sound of our speech.

I know the usual advice is to avoid them in formal writing, but I'm wondering if it mightn't be better to avoid them altogether. Maybe it's an advanced technique like writing in dialect.

Wh'tcha yall rec'n?

Footnote:
1. Stop!  Please don't tell me!


texts:
Your services may be terminated by giving 01 (one) weeks’ notice or payment of pro-rata salary in lieu thereof during probation, and by 01 (one) months’ notice or payment of one month’s salary in lieu thereof after confirmation, by either party, except in instances of dismissal, discharge or termination for misconduct.

According to my interpretation -
a) If the reason for termination refers - 'if any instances of dismissal causes discharge, In such condition notice period is not applicable or given.

b) If the reason for termination refers - Termination for misconduct occurs, In such condition notice period is not applicable or given.

Is my analysis of this paragraph correct based on the punctuation used? If not, please explain.


texts:
Conversely, the substitution effect moves in the opposite direction: as the price of breakfast cereal rises, so does its opportunity cost: other goods become relatively cheaper and thus more attractive.

The practice of using two colons in a single sentence is often discouraged, but it seems to me to make sense in the sentence above.
So is this an acceptable use of colons, or should use an alternative form of punctuation. If so, what?


texts: How is the name of the letter "Z" pronounced in Indian English?

texts:
How is the letter "Z" pronounced in Indian English?

I assumed that Indian English is more similar to British English than to American English, and therefore would pronounce it "Zed". But I came across the Wikipedia article about the Indian company Zee Entertainment Enterprises, which has a logo of the letter "Z" but has "ZEE" written underneath.

Wiktionary doesn't indicate how the letter is pronounced in Indian English.


texts:
I know this much: Your first and last names are considered a collective noun. But I don't know why that is.

One site defines collective nouns like this:

  Collective nouns are names for a collection or a number of people or
  things. Words like group, herd, and array are collective noun
  examples.

So, my question is, shouldn't this mean that a collective noun is one name for many things instead of many names for one thing? If it does have this sense, then your first and last names isn't a collective noun, is it?

Or is there another explanation for villainizing the introduction "My names are..."?


texts: How can I describe that Word template features are only in US Letter format?

texts:
I have a data sheet for:

  A4 (210mm x 297mm) & US Letter (8.5" x 11")

For the US Letter I wish to describe that the templates we provide in that format are only in Word, while for A4, we provide templates in Word and Writer. How can I point it out?

  A4 (210mm x 297mm) & US Letter (8.5" x 11"*) * explicit MS Word format

I'm not sure "explicit" is the right word.


texts: What's the difference between latch and lock?

texts: I know what a lock is. But what is a latch? It seems that it is similar to a lock. What's the difference?


texts:
As we know the term 'et al 'is used frequently to denote a team along with a specific person,how is it actually pronounced?

For eg.Sir William Brown et al have conducted extensive studies on black holes.

I have heard the pronunciation as 'et al' itself and usages like 'and others'.How should it be correctly pronounced?


texts: What is the difference between find and search? Please suggest the proper usage.


texts: “Too abrupt of a plot” correct? Better word?

texts:
Consider a deus ex machina that shows up on the first page. Nobody can do anything about it. End of story. There’s no foreshadowing or ways to build tension, no reaction or interplay between the protagonist and antagonist. There’s no story, just a news article for everyone else: “A conquers B in 5-minute war, no resistance”.

I described that as “too abrupt of a plot” after pondering for a few minutes about how to describe it. But the recipient didn’t understand that and thought there must be a missing word or other typing mistake.

What’s a good way to express this?

Is it proper to describe a plot as being “abrupt”?


texts:
I am not a native English speaker, but I am interested in learning a certain grammar rule. I did come across many sentences where the subject and the verb switched their positions.

For example, I can say that I don't like apples nor does my friend. Here, the modal verb does comes before the subject my friend.

Another example: not only is he a great person, but he is humble.

What is this rule and when is it appropriate to use it?


texts: How to use "prospective offer" in sentence

texts:
How do you use prospective offer in a sentence? In this example, I would like to offer someone a deal or an agreement.

  We have a prospective offer for...

  We have a prospective offer to make to...


texts: Is "Blitzkrieg" a word that average native speaker would understand?

texts:
The word "Blitzkrieg" (German: “lightning war”) comes from a method of warfare used during World War II.

Can the word "Blitzkrieg" be used in other contexts as well? For example: "Blitzkrieg approach to write code"
Would the meaning described in (1) be understandable for an average native speaker?


texts: what should we call the date when a cheque is written?

texts:
When designing the model for an accounting system, one of my colleagues pointed out the name of the column describing the time when a cheque is drawn (written) by the owner.
Since I couldn't find a proper name for it I'm asking it here.

What do you call a date when a cheque is written?

So far I'm thinking about:

Issue date
draw date
write date


texts: Confusing meanings of "inexorable" and "unstoppable"

texts:
I saw these two words, which I had always assumed meant the same thing, in the same sentence (below). It begs a question as to the difference between them:

Sentence:

  This restless and perpetual change, as inexorable and unstoppable as the waves and tides, implies a world in which all human actions necessarily have uncertain effects.


texts: "Attack on all of humanity" or "attack against humanity": which is better?

texts:
Hello ladies and gentlemen, this is Semin from Turkey. I'm wondering which of the following is better in terms of grammar and meaning:

  I strongly condemn the terrorist attacks in Brussels. Regardless of
  where or by whom, terrorism is an attack on all of humanity

OR

  I strongly condemn the terrorist attacks in Brussels. Regardless of
  where or by whom, terrorism is an attack against humanity


texts: Why is the plural form of 'cupful' not 'cupsful'?

texts: The plural form of cupful is cupfuls and cupsful? Shouldn't we be pluralizing the noun (cup) instead of the adjective?