texts: Word or phrase for writing that "reads fast"

texts:
Is there a word or phrase to describe technical writing that is quick to read?

Some technical writing is so clear and concise, even a novice at the material will find himself flying through it.  For lack of a better word let's call this "good".

Some technical writing is slow to read, not only because the subject matter, but also by virtue of the way the writer chooses to express himself, and by virtue of the very words he uses.

I guess you might call it "clunky", but I want a better word than that.  I want to call it "sludgy" writing because you tend to get stuck in it, and can end up in a loop, reading the same words over and over.  For example:

  We shall distinguish between two perspectives on rotations in the plane, and shall determine the effect which each has on coordinates of points in the plane. The first is rotation of the coordinate frame with respect to fixed points (vectors) in the plane; the second is rotation of points (vectors) with respect to a fixed coordinate frame.

It's not so much that this writing is hard to understand — an expert in the field will read through it and understand it on the first take.  But, the following puts the same information in a format that is faster to read for the expert, and easier to understand for the first-time reader:

  There are two different types of planar rotation that we shall now discuss.

  A rotation of the actual coordinate frame with respect to fixed points in the plane.
  A rotation of the points with respect to a fixed coordinate frame.

There has to be a word for writing that "reads fast because it's very clear, has no gimmicks, and isn't unnecessarily flowery".


texts: What is it called when something appears so obvious, no one expects it?

texts:
I honestly can not think of any examples that cannot be countered. Perhaps something like if a person brought a weapon out in the open to an airport - no one actually thinks it would be a weapon because that would be so ridiculous, no one would do that.

Or a student bringing alcohol in a vodka bottle to school, but having the vodka bottle out. No one would suspect it to actually be vodka, they simply assume its to be a joke.


texts:
Are the three equivalents?

can you say:

Roll the cord up

Wind the cord up

Coil the cord up

Are the three equivalents?


texts: Prepositions at the end of sentence and whom

texts:
I believe it's okay to end a sentence with a preposition. That seems to be the consensus here as well.

Now I think that when who is the object of a preposition, it should technically be whom, e.g. "To whom it may concern..."

So, is it acceptable to use whom and have a preposition at the end of the sentence? Which of the following sentences are okay:

Who are you talking to?
Whom are you talking to?
To whom are you talking?


texts:
I'm looking for a word or paraphrase which fits the meaning of two people striking an agreement that is suitable to both.

For example, I could say that two countries have struck an agreement with respect to their own interests.

What are your suggestions?


texts:
Is it grammatically correct to sequence paragraphs using First, Second, Third, and Finally?

If not, is there a good word that replaces Finally? Starting a paragraph with Final doesn't sound correct. I could change all of the other words (e.g., First becomes Firstly), but I prefer the shorter versions. Last is the best replacement I can come up with, but it doesn't sound as fluid as Finally.

Forgive me for my painful-to-read example paragraphs. I'm not the most creative human being.

  First, I grabbed a spoon.

  Second, I ate the cereal.

  Third, I drank the milk.

  Finally, I tossed the bowl in the dish washer.


texts: A word for someone who's excessively interested in sex but rarely partakes it?

texts:
I'm looking for a word or succinct way of describing someone who's interested in lewd stories, dirty jokes and the like, but does not necessarily have the chance to have sex on account of their unattractiveness. To be clear, these people are probably not trying to hide their sexual interest; they might openly ask for dirty jokes or flirt inexpertly, for example.
Context:

Curiously, whether the protagonist is described as a chaste suitor of a single lover or an industrious womanizer correlates greatly with the number of ____ in the tavern.

I considered the word "lecher", but the word implies that the individual in question actually succeeds as getting laid, whereas the sort of people I'm trying to describe are not the kind that succeed much in that regard.


texts: According to Wikipedia, ‘Tsunami waves do not resemble normal undersea currents or sea waves because their wavelength is far longer. Rather than appearing as a breaking wave, a tsunami may instead initially resemble a rapidly rising tide. For this reason, it is often referred to as a tidal wave, although this usage is not favoured by the scientific community because it might give the false impression of a causal relationship between tides and tsunamis.’ I vaguely understand why ‘tidal waves’ are not used to refer to these particular natural phenomena. But I cannot understand why a Japanese word of tsunami was chosen among many other similar words in other languages in the world. Is there any persuasive reason for this choice?


texts:
Wall of worry is an informal expression often used in financial  jargon to refer to:

a market uptrend that occurs when there is significant uncertainty about its sustainability. For example, if the market is concerned about potential, new regulations or the possibility of recession but stocks increase anyway, this is called climbing a wall of worry. Price correction often follows a wall of worry.

According to investorwords the expression  wall of worry was coined in the 1950's

There is a lot of  material on the web regarding the meaning of this curious expression, but I could not find anything about its possible origin.
Question:
Is "wall of worry" just a new expression invented by imaginative financial brokers, or was it taken from another  source (historical, literary or biblical for instance )?


texts: What is an alternative (more positive) analogy to "beating a dead horse"?

texts:
I'm looking for an analogy for my repeated attempts to revive interest in a project.  The phrase beating a dead horse almost fits the bill, but a dead horse refers to a subject that is no longer relevant or useful, and this project is both relevant and useful, it's just considered a low priority.

Without giving the subject a negative label, is there an analogy I can use to express my persistence and frustration?


texts:
I would like to know if there is an appropriate word for one flavor.

For example:

Monosyllabic: one syllable
Monochromatic: one color

What is the equivalent word for 'one flavor', e.g. 'mono-gustatic' (obviously this is just a mock-up word for sake of the question)?

Note: I am asking this in reference to wine (if it helps in answering the question.) I encountered a glass which I thought was fairly "one flavored," and thus, the question arose.


texts: Is this grammatical: "increasing pace at which"

texts:
Is this grammatical:

  An understanding is seen as vital due to the increasing pace at which the world's markets are integrating.


texts: What does the phrase, "ninesigma worthy," mean?

texts:
A person whom I met recently said something that I consider a bit odd. During our conversation, the topic of lost items arose. "Personally," he said, "I'm glad that over all the years I have not lost a thing that is ninesigma worthy." Not knowing what he meant, I could only nod in assent and quickly change the subject.

Can anyone tell me what the phrase, "ninesigma worthy," means, and why a person might express himself in that manner?


texts: doesn't do everything vs doesn't do anything

texts:
I am creating a summary for English and I thought to myself: which is the correct form?

the NSA doesn’t do everything by the book and lies about multiple facts.
the NSA doesn't do anything by the book and lies about multiple facts.


texts:
In free writing,you should not worry about spelling or punctuating correctly,about erasing mistakes,about organizing material,or .......... exact words.
1.finding
2.how to find
3.about finding
4.the finding of
I mostly doubt about first and third choice.can any one help?


texts: Comma(s) when starting a sentence with both an introductory element and participial clause

texts:
If a sentence is starting with both an introductory element and a participial clause, where do I need to set the comma(s) appropriately?

Consider the following versions of an example sentence:

  (A): Finally, having explained the consequences, we recommend bringing the car to the dealer's garage.
  (B): Finally having explained the consequences, we recommend bringing the car to the dealer's garage.

I do know that for short introductory elements (such as "Finally") the comma is not mandatory, but I am unsure if in the given example sentence it is at all possible. Personally, I prefer version A; however, this preference is driven by my gut feeling rather than by a specific formal rule.

So, maybe someone knows? I appreciate any help!


texts:
It's a cliche talk in nearly all public speaking events, regardless of the type of the gathering (academic, business, wedding) and the level/class (top League school, fortune 500 company, 200 bucks start up).

Are there better one liners to express the same in a decent manner?


texts: Where did the phrase "in a pickle" come from?

texts:
To be 'in a pickle' means to be in trouble or a difficult situation.  What I'm wondering is, where did the root of this phrase come from and what's its history?  Is there a special story that caused this phrase to catch on? Was it someone almost being pickled?

Funny thing is, that I was actually eating a pickle when I thought of this.


texts: How to end a letter beginning with "To whom it may concern"

texts: How should one end - ie, sign-off - a letter that begins with "To whom it may concern"?


texts:
I am trying to express the contributions of members of a group in sentence. For instance, person A helped with x, person B helped with Y, and so on.
Is the use of the colon in the following sentence correct?

The contributions of other members were: person A helped with x; person B helped with y; and person C helped with z.

Furthermore, could this be expressed as a list of dotpoints. An example is below.
The contributions of other members were:

person A helped with x;
person B helped with y; and
person C helped with z.


texts: To prove some property "to stretch to some class of objects"

texts:
While collaborating in the writing of a scientific paper, one of the co-authors wrote ".../... and we will prove it to stretch to some class", is it usual ?

The context is the following.
"Then, we study in part 3 how to extend Radford’s theorem and we will prove it to stretch to the class of associative and commutative products."

Last event : After having interacted with the co-author and with regard to
the metaphor of mountain chains, the considered sentence was changed
for "Then, we study in part 3 how to extend Radford’s theorem and we will
prove it to stretch across the class of associative and commutative products".


texts: Alternative word for Karma, but when nothing is expected in return

texts:
I'm creating a monopoly style game that allows people to "win" in any of these 3 areas:

capitalism  (traditional monopoly)
karma giving
Giving with no expectation of return

I'm having trouble coming up with an appropriate term for that last one... something appealing, and suitable for a persons private scorecard.

The idea that I want to convey is that there are 3 different ways to play the game... and you can switch from one mode to the other at any time.  The last goal is similar to being an anonymous donor to a charity, or a giving to a homeless person without any fanfare.

Question

I looked at the word Karma, and in doing so I found this critique of the word:

  Karma alone is a dumb reason to do something for someone else

What is a better word for karma giving without expectation?


texts: Let's say the phrase I want to write is "all of the Mike Tysons, Donald Trumps, and Morpheus's in the world." I'm guessing that the first two names do not need one and the third does. Is this correct?


texts: The usage of respectively, when explaining something in math field

texts:
I would like to ask how to make the following sentence better.

Let us denote the set of 3 apples, 2 bannas, and 4 cherries as A={a1, a2, a3}, B={b1, b2}, and C={c1, c2, c3, c4}, respectively, where a_k, b_k, and c_k represent the k-th apple, k-th banana, and k-th cherry, respectively.

Is this sentence good enough?
If not, please tell me how to modify the sentence to be better.


texts: Is " he killed his wife of 21 years " ambiguous?

texts:
Is the sentence "He killed his wife of 21 years." ambiguous for native speakers? That is, could some people assume the wife was 21 years old and others think that she was his wife for 21 years?

Source: https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/9663960/peter-chadwick-arrest-mexico-wife-murder-california/

The Sun seems to assume the wife was 21: "for murder of wife, 21,"

But she was 46.


texts:
Is there a noun to describe a person or entity that summons? "summoner"/"summonist"?

(I am trying to name a software application. Other apps that cooperate with it are already named "Archivist" and "Flashback", and the group of three apps will be named DejaVu. The app in question allows the user to define a "neighborhood of precedents" for Flashback to retrieve from the archives maintained by Archivist.)


texts:
I was wondering if "homework" is countable? I remember it is an uncountable noun when I learned English in middle school.

Suppose now I would like to ask my teacher to hand back my graded "homeworks" of last three times. How shall I ask him?


texts:
What is the sound of TH in the word WITH?

Is it made with the upper teeth in the bottom lips, or with the tongue between them?

Is there any source of why there are such differences with this pair of letters?

Question related: Pronouncing the "th" sound in American accent


texts: Alternate way of saying, "I just wanted to..."

texts: I am in sales and when I make a cold call I typically begin the conversation with, "I just wanted to..." Some common phrases are, "I just wanted to see if you might be interested..." or "I just wanted to follow up with you..." I hate this phrase as it shows a lack of confidence and it's not truthful.  I want more than JUST to do something, I want to engage in a conversation so I feel disingenuous starting the conversation with this statement.  Does anyone have any alternative ways of beginning these statements?  Thanks!


texts:
I am translating a text which says that during the probation period, the direct report monitors the new employee's performance through a sign-off process.

what does sign-off mean in this context? Or is "sign-off process" some kind term?


texts:
What is the difference in meaning between these two sentences?

I really don't know what she would like to have for a birthday present, so I bought a purse.
I really didn't know what she would like to have for a birthday present, so I bought a purse.


texts: I use to listen to a radio show that taught you a new word daily. I always listed as I drove to school to teach. I wasn't able to write it down and have searched for that word again for yeas as this is how my cooking is hehe Ugly but tasty food.


texts: Especially when used pejoratively. Used to described someone who is easily pleased by small things that are very common or that people can get easily.


texts: What's an idiom for something that you've heard many times?

texts: I'm trying to write something for my blog, and I need an idiom that will replace me saying, "I've heard people say that all the time, it's the same old story."


texts: Why does the verb "be" have so many forms?

texts:
I am.
You/we/they are.
He is.
I/he was.
You/we/they were.
I had been.
... to be.
... being bad.
...

Why are there so many forms for this verb, and why are they so dissimilar? If you go far enough back, was there a time where they were more similar? Did a couple of languages merge in the verb to be?


texts: Is "puzzled why" correct as well? Is it just a choice of style? Or is there a difference in meaning? And if so, I'm curious (as to) what that difference is.


texts: What does "The fastest xxx in the west" mean?

texts:
I have seen "The fastest xxx in the west" several times. For example, a video named The Fastest Crane in the West, a paper titled The Fastest Fourier Transform in the West, another paper titled The Fastest Pedestrian Detector in the West.

But I do not get the idea why they describe fast with "in the west"? And not in the east or north?


texts:
Is the sentence, "Bob asked those on his team a question" correct even though "those" doesn't really have an antecedent?
If it is not correct, what would be the best way to correct it?


texts: Indirect complement or postmodifier in NP

texts:
In the sentence

[1] He is the most talented artist (that) I know

what is (that) I know in terms of function – an indirect complement, licensed by most, or simply a common postmodifier? Why?

Similarly, what is in the world in

[2] the most talented artist in the world

and why?

Addition to the original post:
Having read the answer and the comments that I've received for this question, along with answers to other questions about licensing and the modifier/complement distinction, I have to give this another go:

According to the comments below, we are dealing with modifiers rather than (indirect) complements in both the above examples. Now, I'm not doubting the validity of these comments – I just still don't understand. This is why:

As far as I've been able to understand, licensing is all about setting up "slots" for specific kinds of structure. For instance, a verb such as give sets up a slot for something being given, and a slot for a recipient; consequently it licenses two object complements (direct and indirect object). Part of the deal is also that the slots set up are specific to a subset of "licensers"; in this case: not all verbs license two objects.

Now, to me it seems that this 'setting up slots that are specific to a certain subgroup' is exactly what superlatives do, something that, I think, is supported by John Lawler's answer below:

  Most is a superlative marker and takes a superlative construction. One of the things required for the construction is a range for comparison

Looking again at [1] and [2], it seems to me that both the relative clause in [1] and the PP in [2] elaborate on the "range-for-comparison-slot" set up by most; hence, they should both be licensed by most, no?

Now, if these dependents are indeed licensed, they should be complements – shouldn't they? Only, since they aren't licensed by the head noun, but rather by another constituent within the NP, they'd be indirect complements.

This is my take on all this – could someone please explain to me where I go wrong, and how I should think instead?

Thank you


texts: Silent/linking 'r' before vowels in British English

texts:
Here is an example where r occurs before vowels:

  The shelter of your arms, Mother Earth

I'm referring to this service for transcription.

British transcription shows that none of them are silent:

  ðə ˈʃɛltər əv jər ɑːmz, ˈmʌðər ɜːθ

This conforms to how first TTS engine installed on my system pronounces it, there are 3 linking rs.

While second TTS engine has only 1 linking rs, it sounds more like:

  ðə ˈʃɛltə əv jər ɑːmz, ˈmʌðə ɜːθ

I considered the lack of linking r between shelter and of unnatural, but I could be wrong. And I'm not sure about Mother Earth, it didn't sound wrong without linking r.

Did second engine get it wrong? Should all of these linking r's be pronounced as a rule of thumb? Considering that no logical pause between words is intended (e.g. punctation), is it acceptable for r to be silent before vowels and what are those cases?

I primarily refer to Standard British English but if there are acceptable variations, I would like to know about them.


texts: Attachment of importance to an old rivalry by the "losing" side

texts:
I am looking for a word that denotes a continuing attachment of importance to an old rivalry by the "losing" side in that rivalry. I think it represents a kind of nostalgia (in disguise) for that rivalry.
Once upon a time two similarly powerful sides were engaged in a serious rivalry. Since then, one side has "won" and has largely moved on, while the other has "lost" but continues to attach much more importance to the rivalry. Here are some examples:

The American south compares itself with the north much more often than the other way around.
French speakers may more frequently emphasize the importance of their language, whereas English is a much more global language now, and English speakers do not really engage in such comparisons.
Russia often continues to view the US as a competing rival whereas the US has largely moved on.


texts: Hyphen needed in compound modifier with birthday cake/party?

texts: For example would it be a fifth-birthday cake or fifth birthday cake?


texts:
How many ways are there of saying that someone didn't sleep all night? In my country, it can be expressed with just an adjective or a noun; how can I say it in English?

To address the comments below:

Original language: Portuguese.

Respective (2-word) adjective: "de direta", as in "I am 'de direta'".

Respective noun: "direta", as in "Today I did a 'direta'".


texts: What is the name for "pronunciation spelling"?

texts:
Dictionaries often have "pronunciation spelling" listed next to the word. For example:

  port·man·teau - noun \pȯrt-ˈman-(ˌ)tō\

What is the name for this alphabet/system? Is it a universal system, or does every language have their own "version" of it?


texts: What is the difference between a "certificate" and a "diploma", and do you write "diploma of X" or "X diploma"

texts:
I am translating my BSc curriculum to apply to a US university and I can't seem to find any consistency online or a rule to help me translate this line.

First the exact French title of this 'diploma' is "certificat" which you would literally translate to "certificate", but in its nature is officially/legally a 'university diploma' so a "diploma" (not a degree) and is actually pretty selective, advanced, and professional level. So I'm wondering which expression would most accurately translate it. Searching online left me with the impresion that certificate was almost never used (though not never), and sounded more "administrative" than "academic" in its meaning, and overall of a lesser quality than a "diploma" (thus when in use diploma >> certificate).

So I'm torn between translating literally from the awkward name it was given in French -- which wouln't be wrong but it seems to me would have the opposite effect making it seem somewhat less of a diploma whereas it is actually more advanced than some master's degree --, or translating it from its official nature which falls under the category of "university diplomas".

Can anyone back or rebuke my impressions on this?

Finally which is correct and WHY?

Diploma of advanced studies in X (anthropology, chemistry, etc)
Advanced Studies Diploma in X

Thanks!

Jean


texts: What's the term for "seeing" words when you hear spoken language?

texts:
Some people "hear" a spoken voice in their head when they read words, apparently called subvocalization.

What do you call it when you hear someone speaking and your brain turns it into actual words that you "see" before you in your mind's eye?  This happens without any particular effort or intention.


texts:
teacher: "put your books up"

  //meaning to put away our books to be ready to take the tests

What is the meaning of the example above?

I am confused as it doesn't make much sense if you translate the words separately


texts: Can however be used to mean something else other than contrast?

texts:
Here are the sentences:

With sea otters to keep the population of sea urchins in check, kelp forests can flourish. In fact, even two years or less of sea otter presence can
reduce the sea urchin threat.

Then should the following sentence be 2 or 3?

However, without sea otters present, kelp forests run the danger of becoming barren stretches of coastal wasteland known as urchin barrens.

OR

In other words, without sea otters present, kelp forests run the danger of becoming barren stretches of coastal wasteland known as urchin barrens.

I understand that "however" is used to contrast. "In other words" means "in short" or "another way of saying the same thing". Can someone demonstrate if "however" or "in other words" makes more sense with the sentences above? I think the "however" is used incorrectly here. If both are correct, how can that be? (However is for contrast and in other words is for saying the same thing)


texts: Origin of the phrase, "5 Minutes Early Is On Time; On Time Is Late; Late Is Unacceptable"

texts:
We had a recent question on the Workplace which resulted in this answer:

  5 Minutes Early Is On Time; On Time Is Late; Late Is
  Unacceptable!

Someone asked for a citation and I attempted to locate it, albeit poorly. It's not a saying I've heard of in the UK and Google came up with a few references:

This article from 2015
A book written by Eric Dickey, published in 2007

However from speaking to some of the US users, they believe the term has been around for longer.

Does anyone know where the phrase came from and is it mainly a US based phrase?


texts: What does the word "relative" in the phrase "relative privacy of the fence" mean?

texts:
I saw this when I was reading the script of the movie "August:Osage County". The complete sentence is:

  Jean heads for the relative privacy of the fence at the edge of the yard.

What does "relative" mean in this sentence?
I have already tried looking for its meaning many times, but I failed. (Well, I have found results, but am not quite sure of them.)


texts: Euphemism and Colloquialism as Literary/Speech Devices

texts: Is it possible for something to be both a 'euphemism' and a 'colloquialism'? If so, what would be some examples of this?


texts:
I've heard this expression on TV suggesting 'a lot/(too)big amount of something'.

It was from an experienced financial analyst (Bloomberg TV) who was referring to the big assets of a company. "There is a lot of pizza there". The guy who said that on TV was about 60. The part of the expression that I want to learn more about is the use of 'pizza' to refer to a big amount of something else.

Is it just an extension of the expression that's a lot?

Is it a common expression (AmE or BrE) or just a one-off saying I happened to hear?


texts: X vs. X-al adjectives (asymptotic vs asymptotical, etc.)

texts:
Right now I am writing a technical report, where I describe asymptotic(al) curves, expansions etc. My understanding after a bit of web browsing is that asymptotic and asymptotical are near-synonymous but the former is much more common (please correct me if I am wrong), so I will replace all instances of asymptotical by asymptotic.

Is there any general rule for those X vs. X-al situations? I can handle the most common cases (such as "Economic" vs. "economical") because I have seen them enough times, but I have not inferred a general rule, so I am at a loss when presented with an uncommon word (such as "asymptotic").

(I am not a native speaker.)


texts: Difference in meaning between people and persons?

texts:
I've seen there are already multiple questions on the difference between persons and people as plural for person. The answers usually seem to suggest that there's a difference in usage (legal/formal vs everyday/informal contexts) but I wonder if there can be also a difference in meaning.
For instance, let's compare these two sentences:

Only 5 people are allowed to be in the chamber

Only 5 persons are allowed to be in the chamber

If I heard the first sentence, I would not be sure if this means that only 5 random people are allowed to enter the chamber at a time or that only 5 specific people have the right to do so.
If I heard the second sentence, I would be much more inclined to believe that it is referring to a limit of people allowed to be inside the chamber at any given time rather than to specific people.
Is my understanding correct? Can there be a difference in meaning between these two words?


texts:
What are the differences between them? Is there a cultural and/or social interference?

Do young people say "Oh my Gosh" more than others?


texts: Does/did for something you're continuing to do?

texts:
So the context is

A: I play the piano every night before I go to bed.
B: I thought I was/am the only one who does/did that

Because person B thought before that she was the only one who did it, but she's still doing it now. She still plays the piano before she goes to bed, so I am not sure whether I should use does/did? Or should I say

"I thought I am the only one who does that."


texts: How to describe heavy rain falling on a lake and making ephemeral "pockmarks"

texts:
I am looking for a word which describes the pockmarks that heavy rainfall makes when it is falling on a lake.

Rain at Lake Constance by Rona-Keller / deviantart.com


texts: Difference between possible, probable, plausible

texts:
It seems to be now fashionable to use the word plausible to hint at two words:

Possible, meaning a thing can exist but it in fact does not exist -- like for example because no one has yet invented it.

Probable, meaning that it can be proven to in fact exist or to have existed, but there has not been found evidence of its existence -- yet, or evidence will never be found.

Read these entries from the Online Etymology Dictionary, http://www.etymonline.com:

Possible
possible (adj.)
mid-14c., from Old French possible and
directly from Latin possibilis "that can be done," from posse "be
able" (see potent). possible (n.)   1640s, from possible (adj.).
Probable
probable (adj.)
late 14c., from Old French probable
"provable, demonstrable" (14c.), from Latin probabilis "worthy of
approval, pleasing, agreeable, acceptable; provable, that may be
assumed to be believed, credible," from probare "to try, to test" (see
prove). Probable cause as a legal term is attested from 1670s.
Plausible
plausible (adj.)
1540s, "acceptable, agreeable," from
Latin plausibilis "deserving applause, acceptable," from plaus-, past
participle stem of plaudere "to applaud" (see plaudit). Meaning
"having the appearance of truth" is recorded from 1560s. Related:
Plausibly.

Do you notice that plausible originally had nothing nothing to do with the existence of a thing in regard to whether it can exist or not (possible existence), or whether it really in fact exists or had existed, but there has not been found evidence (probable existence).


texts: Is it possible to say "The richer cry even more"? (vs. "The rich also cry")

texts:
There's a very old TV show called 'The rich also cry'.

I understand that the subject ('the rich') here acts as a noun, although it was originally an adjective (rich).

I wonder how many residual properties of an adjective are retained once it has been converted into a noun. For example, there's no sign of the plural (the ending -s), which is typical of adjectives, but less so of nouns.

Is it possible to use the comparative degree to create a 'comparative noun'?

rich -> richer
the rich (people) -> the richer people -> just 'the richer' (without 'people' following it)

Thanks for reading.


texts: What is a word for a solution that is sufficient but not sophisticated?

texts:
I heard this word a few weeks ago, and I've been trying to remember what it was. I've searched through Google and can't seem to find it. I'm sure that the word begins with 'H' and describes a process or solution that may not necessarily be optimized but also doesn't necessarily require it. I.E. crude

The word I am looking for describes a technique that is practical to reaching a short term goal. The context I heard this in related to machine learning and chat bots. For example, if a customer called an insurance company and had an accident, the bot would ask a simple set of questions to determine whether to route the caller to a low or high impact assessment.


texts:
I am writing a paper on the Roman Empire and I have a problem. Is the following sentence correct? It doesn't sound too well for me.

  When a client king had died, Romans replaced him with one of their educated hostages.


texts:
I'd like to know whether in 'to move countries' the singular could be used instead, and the productivity of this grammatical structure ('to change schools', for example, is grammatical?). Is it standard AmE?

I've heard 'to move house', can I use the plural, 'to move houses', in this one?


texts: article heading should be "Experiment setup" or "Experimental setup"?

texts:
My advisor insists on using a heading "Experimental Setup" in his science journal articles. I always cringed a little, thinking it should be "Experiment setup" instead. Now I am writing an article and in his edits he wants me to add the -al.

To me, "experimental setup" sounds like the setup itself is experimental, but "experiment setup" sounds more like we set up an experiment. Technically, we set up an experiment, and the setup itself was not the experiment. I suppose the root of my question in this case is, is the word "experiment" supposed to be an adjective or a noun?
Hopefully that explanation makes my grievance clear..

English is his 2nd language, and my first, so he won't mind me questioning it.

Does anyone have a definitive answer to that one?
Thank in advance!
-Curious Grad Student


texts: Is there a general term encompassing primary, intermediate, and secondary education?

texts: Is there a general term encompassing the primary, intermediate, and secondary school levels? Perhaps pre-university or pre-college, maybe even prep school. However, the last of these, as I saw on dictionary.com, refers rather to private and parochial schools. I would like to use it as an adjective.


texts:
Please, have a look at the following sentences:

Executing agency (also referred to as "executing entity") shall mean the entity responsible for execution of UN-Women programme activities as defined in regulation 27.2.
The funds generated through the round tables should be allocated directly to UNDP, or to the United Nations and specialized agencies, or to the beneficiary Governments responsible for execution of these projects, in order to reduce the number of intermediaries and shorten time-lags.
The Executive Director of UNEP shall be responsible for the execution of the functions of UNEP under this MOU.
Judges responsible for the execution of sentences must be appointed; meanwhile, criminal judges must perform this function.
The manufacturer shall be responsible for the execution of the approved plan of remedial measures.

Could you please explain why the zero article is used in the first two sentences before the word execution, while in the other three sentences there is the definite article before the same word?
Thank you in advance.


texts: What does "sport" mean in this sentence?

texts:
"We are also getting disconcerting signals from around the world, including recent news of the emergence and spread of the mcr-1 gene, which helps bacteria resist even some of our last-resort antibiotics. An infection with bacteria that sport this gene could be fatal, even in the best health care settings. "

This short passage is from one issue of Scientific American. I don't understand the meaning of "sport". Does it mean stimulate? Please help me.


texts:
I have seen this sentence used many times, from the first time I can remember (Visual is not dead) to many examples including God is not dead (mainly coming from arguments against Nietzsche). But, for what I can recall, it genereally keeps the structure "[music style] is not dead"

So, does anyone know when and where was this expression used for the first time? I have tried googling it but it's likely that I did it wrong since I'm not native and I'm not sure how to google it.


texts: Should I say 'a consequent result' or 'a consequential result'?

texts:
My doubt is between this:

The damage is a consequent result of the conflict

And this:

The damage is a consequential result of the conflict

I've found several references to this on the web, but haven't been able to decide which one is better in this context.

Thank you!


texts: Genitive case in: "The three Wise Men's Day"

texts:
Is it correct to use the genitive case in: "The three Wise Men's Day"?
Thank you!


texts: Using "the" before a company name whose first word is "The"

texts: I am working on edits for a training manual that was sent to me.  The author consistently uses the word "the" before the company name, whose first word is "The."  Is this proper to use, or should "the" be deleted throughout?  Example:  "The Company abides by the [The Company Name] Code of Conduct established by [The Company Name], which is a manual of good company practices and behaviors. The [The Company Name] Code of Conduct is mandatory and violations can be punishable, up to and including termination."  Is it proper to use "the The..." together in this instance?  It just doesn't look right.  Thank you.


texts: Allow X: What’s the difference between "for the sharing of X" and "to share X"? Do they mean the same thing?

texts:
What is the difference between these two:

Presentation events allow for the sharing of knowledge.
Presentation events allow to share knowledge.

Do they share the exact same meaning?


texts:
Is the phrase 'the dead' a synecdoche? In using it, the individuals are being collectively defined by the fact they are dead, rather than acknowledging their personhood. If it is not a synecdoche, is there another rhetorical trope which it can be classified as?

Thanks


texts: What is the origin of the term "Couch Potato"?

texts: I know the meaning of "couch potato" is a person living a mostly sedentary lifestyle who likes to watch TV while lying on the couch, but why potato?


texts: Usage and correctness of the term "Better than Best"

texts:
I have heard the term "Better than Best" used at few places.

How is it different than saying just "best"?

For example :
a) He is better than the best.
b) He is the best.

1) How are (a) and (b) different?
2) Can they be used interchangebly?
3) From (a) it looks like it implies (b) .. Is it always the case ? Any Exceptions?
4) What is the correct usage of the term "Better than Best"?


texts: People referring to themselves with verbs with "-s"

texts:
Sometimes I see people on the internet saying something like "Me has a box" "Me does the job", or "I has a box" (or even "I haz a box"). And I'm sure they do it intentionally.

Why do people refer to themselves using verbs in 3rd person while using "I" or "me" in front of them? And is there any difference between that and using it in a "correct" way (like "I have a box")?


texts: What does "ratchet" mean and when was it first used?

texts:
The word ratchet is all over Twitter. Some real examples from just now:

"All these ghetto ass ratchet ass girls at mchi are wearing these Santa hats, and they all claim to be Santa..."

"I was lookin ratchet in my workout pic but for you to make it a priority to talk about somebody's habit that u be sneakin & geekin to do"

"Yaassss finally getting ratchet tonight after being a good girl for a month "

The @lovihatibot Twitterbot routinely finds it in searches for "I love the word [X]" and "I hate the word [X]", in fact it's the 14th most loved word and 15th most hated word (presumably use in one category feeding the other).
Similarly it's the fifth most common in @favibot's searches for "[X] is my new favorite word".
What does ratchet mean?
Where does it come from and when was it first used?
Was there a single person or event which popularised it, and when was it?
Is it a "good"/positive word, or "bad"/negative, and has this changed in any way?


texts: Is "what's left to do is..." grammatically correct? What is a right way to say it?

texts:
I'd like to say that I still have some things left to be done.

The first thing that comes to mind (probably due to my native tongue, Hebrew):

  What is left to do, is to clean up the mess.

But it sounds bad, and I'm sure it's incorrect. The following sounds a bit better to me (although I feel it's probably wrong):

  What's left, is to clean up the mess.
  What remains to be done, is to clean up the mess.

Are any of the above correct? Is there a better way to say it?


texts: When do I have to use 'will' instead of 'going to'?

texts:
Does going to only express an intention and will some kind of prediction that doesn't necessarily happen?

EDIT:
Thanks for all your answers. I asked this question because I always fail to complete exercises like this from an ESL book:

We  will fly to Venice in June. (Correct: But, how can I be sure that I'm not sick in June?)
Philipp will be 15 next Wednesday (Correct: Since his birthday is a fixed day, this will happen).
They will get a new computer. (Wrong: Why?, If I need a new computer, I simply get a new one)
In 2020 people are going to buy more hybrid cars.  (Wrong, Why? Who can tell for sure).


texts: Can the comma before "or" be removed when it provides extra information that could be similar to what has already been said?

texts: For instance, would removing the comma be incorrect in "the painting was painted in 1862, or the 19th century"?


texts:
Should it be "image set" or "images set"? What about "datum set" and "data set"?

Or does it just depend on the context? For the above, I would use "image set" and "data set". I am trying to decide whether I should use "stimulus set" or "stimuli set".

Also, I know that "set" is a collective noun, but what is "image"? An adjective?


texts:
A spelling rule is saying something like "add e to the end of a word to get a long vowel."  for example:-

the o in hop is short vowel, that is why it has no e at the end.
the o in hope is long vowel.

but I could not understand the need for the e at the end of "medicine".  Appreciate explaining that to me.


texts: Word for the item that is containing other items that are being compared to each other

texts:
I'm looking for a word to describe the 'thing' that is containing other 'things' which are being weighted against each other by some metric.

For example, if let's say I have 10 Parking Locations that all fall within a certain Area. People can upvote or downvote a Parking Location within an Area, and Parking Locations can then be ranked within an Area based on the total tally of their votes.

What would be a generic word to describe the Area? It's kind of like a "container" for all of the objects that are accumulating votes.

Here's a sample sentence:

"I would like to cast a vote for this Parking Location within this Area."

Now pretend that you don't know they are Parking Locations and Areas. So you want to cast a vote for this thing that accepts votes within this thing that acts as a container for things that accept votes.

UPDATE

I think a good example is the word district. In this case the district is the thing that contains other things (politicians), that are being weighted against each other by some metric (number of votes).

Another important detail is that a Parking Location can potentially belong to many Areas. So when you vote for a ParkingLocation, you need to specify in which Area you are voting.

If anyone has some other options that are similar I would be open to those.


texts:
Are these sentences grammatically correct? They are translated from Thai song lyrics.

  Whose sunshine do you belong to? Who is your sunflower?


texts: Two gerunds with "requires" or "facilitates"

texts:
I have a student who is trying to write a scientific paper - her text is littered with a particular sentence construction that I find very awkward to read, but I'm not sure how to describe it to her in a way that will allow her to stop using it (she is a native German speaker).  Examples:

"Integrating multiple datasets facilitates exploring a broad set of problems"

Different one:

"Addressing research questions requires integrating multiple observation types".

I've simplified a bit, but that is the core of the problem sentences.  In each case, I would usually substitute in the "-tion" form for one or more of the gerunds, as in "Integration of multiple datasets is critical to...."

Any advice would be appreciated!


texts: Sign In "to" or Sign In "with" the website

texts:
I'm working on a "Forgot Password" text and don't know which one is correct:

To reset your password, enter the email address you use to Sign In to (website name)

or

To reset your password, enter the email address you use to Sign In with (website name)


texts: Can the word 'impossible' be used postpositively with other than 'mission' nouns?

texts: For example, can I say The teacher gave us the task impossible?


texts: Can "when verb+ing" refer to an activity in the past?

texts:
A correct sentence would be: When they were designing the product, they paid attention to...

Is this grammatically correct: When designing the product, attention was paid...


texts: What does it mean when you say 'What I wouldn't give to be there?

texts:
I was watching tv, and a guy was talking about outer space and said this sentence.

What does it mean when you say 'What I wouldn't give to...?'


texts: Can a pronoun functioning as Object also be a Subject?

texts:
I want him to call me tomorrow.

In this sentence we see:

I,  subject; want, verb;  him, object.

What is the subject of to call? Him? But him is the object of the verb want. Is this a correct sentence? Or this better :

I want that he calls me tomorrow?"

Thanks.


texts: The English language has evolved in such a way that it seems to undercut itself. For example, the large number of irregular verbs. It’s almost as though the language wants its speakers to forget that it has rules, and many habitually do. If someone deliberately created a language (or any system, for that matter) that deliberately used a device to make its speakers forget its rules, in other words an antonym of mnemonic [“... a device for assisting memory...” M-W. ], what would that device be called?


texts: A synonym for "circumvent" which does not have connotations of deception

texts: I'd like to circumvent a regulation in a way which does not imply that I have been sneaky or deceptive. I have used a justified alternative method to avoid being subject to the regulation.


texts: What's the word or phrase for "reading strategy/orientation"?

texts:
In English, we read from left-to-right, top-to-bottom.

In traditional Japanese, text is read up-todown, right-to-left.

Is there an English word that describes the "reading strategy" of a particular culture or language? Printers can be configured with "page orientation" for either "Portrait" or "Landscape", so perhaps something like "reading orientation"?

tl;dr

The accepted answer, plus Java's concept of text directionality inspires me to believe directionality is the most appropriate word here.


texts: Link between "vegetative state" and vegetable and vegetation

texts:
One of the meanings of "vegetable" is:

Offensive Slang One who is severely impaired mentally and physically, as by brain injury or disease.
American Heritage Dictionary

But it's not just slang, in medicine the term "vegetative state" can be used to refer to patients:

with severe brain damage are in a state of partial arousal rather than true awareness.
Persistent Vegetative State

I'm wondering what have caused people to use words like "vegetable" or "vegetative" to refer to this medical condition. The words are obviously related to fresh vegetables and green vegetation.


texts: Are these sentences by Thomas Kuhn grammatically correct?

texts:
I'm almost certain that Kuhn would not publish an essay with grammatical mistakes, but those two sentences seem plain wrong to me. (I am not a native speaker.)

  Though my argument does demand that I illustrate them briefly, my
  views will begin to depart from those long current only after I have
  done so.

The last part of this sentence sounds just wrong to my ears.

  My critic asserts, however, that there is only one such value of p,
  that corresponding to objective choice, and he believes that all
  rational members of the group must arrive at it.

In my opinion the third comma needs to be removed and an "is" needs to be inserted after the second "that".


texts: Is there a word better than "exotic" to describe languages that are little known and little studied but have many speakers?

texts:
I'm looking for a word to describe languages which are not easy to study or find books about in Western Europe or North America.

On example language, which I'm currently immersed in, is Georgian, with no major related languages and its own alphabet, most people have never heard of it though it is a national language with millions of speakers.

I'm looking for a word that can work OK everywhere, even in the countries where the languages are not in the minority. Georgians for instance are aware most people might not have heard of their language but it's certainly not a minority language in Georgia.

Is "exotic* the right word to use or is there a better one?

Here's some other languages I think of in the same way:

Albanian, Armenian, Burmese, Hungarian, Khmer, Kurdish, Lao, Latvian, Lithuanian, Mongolian, Persian, Sinhala, Tibetan.

(I used the tag "single word requests" because I couldn't find a better one. It doesn't have to be a single word.)


texts:
If there is a noun, then parenthesis or a comma, where should a 's go? For example:

  The dog (who was very big)'s ears perked up.

or

  The dog's (who was very big) ears perked up.

or

  The dog's, who was very big, ears perked up.

or maybe just:

  The very big dog's ears perked up.


texts: Is there a word that describes disliking a food or drink after vomiting it?

texts:
I'm finding it particularly hard to google this, but want to know if there's a word or expression used that describes the scenario when a person stops liking a food or drink after they have vomited after eating that particular food.

Sorry for the slightly off-putting question!


texts: Synonym for "under-developed location" used by someone who is well off?

texts:
In a fiction I am writing when one of the characters returns home to his wife he finds here sister's there as well. when asked why they've been there for the past month one explains how they are looking for real estate.

The sister who says this is well off and comes from another world which is far advance so looked down on Earth as underdeveloped. I had a line like this in mind

  Melly: we thought to get some real estate out here on the boonies
  Chrono: please don't refer to Earth as the boonies

I originally thought of this as it is how Mimi Houllier von Schwarzlang refers to Totori's home of Alanya, however, googleing the definition of boonies in google I got

  short for boondocks.

And a google definition search for that resulted in

  rough or isolated country.

Going onto thesaurus.com for Synonym of boondocks and obviously boonies is in there so looking at it's Synonyms but none are really what I'd imagine someone who's well off would say.

Back to the boondocks synonyms and i saw backwards which is what Earth would be in comparison so I looked up it's Synonyms but it's roughly the same as what the boonies had. I did think of maybe Terra Incognita but it's definition is

  unknown or unexplored territory.

However Earth is known, just monitored.

So I am wondering, what word can I use for "under-developed location" which would be said by someone who is well off/rich?

NOTE: the reason why Melly would be looking to move to earth is another sister is sickly and Melly believes that an under-developed world won't have any of the ailments which could aggravate the sister's condition (with lesser ones easily curable within a few minutes)


texts: Is there a specific word to describe the duration before due date?

texts: I'm trying to find a word to describe the time period before a workflow/process should be completed.


texts: Should I use "What is the difference..." or "What are the differences..." if I don't know how many difference(s) there is/are?

texts:
If I want to ask a question about the difference(s) between A and B, but not sure about there is only one difference or many, should I use "What is the difference between A and B" or "What are the differences between A and B"? I have searched on https://linggle.com/, both forms are frequently used.

Similar examples include "What reasons cause..." or "What reason causes...", and "Who want..." or "Who wants...".


texts: Do women tend to use the word "lovely" more often than men?

texts:
Do women tend to use the word lovely more often than men do?

And also, should men rather avoid using this word when describing something they liked?

Meta: I hope this question doesn't sound too sexist (though to an extent it is, of course).


texts: Is there a grammar rule behind the hyphen in the phrase 'one-act play'?

texts:
I noticed that the phrase 'one-act play' always uses a hyphen between 'one' and 'act'.

Is there a grammar rule in play here, how does it work?


texts: "As I am wo/man" in Twelfth Night, II, 2 (Shakespeare): a case of indefinite article omission or no?

texts:
Are "As I am man" and "As I am woman" in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, II, 2 examples of indefinite article omission or not?

This question is (e)specially directed towards those familiar with Shakespearean English.

Voilà Viola's soliloquy in Act II Scene 2:

  ...How will this fadge? my master loves her dearly;
  And I, poor monster, fond as much on him;
  And she, mistaken, seems to dote on me.
  What will become of this? As I am man,
  My state is desperate for my master's love;
  As I am woman,—now alas the day!—
  What thriftless sighs shall poor Olivia breathe!
  O time! thou must untangle this, not I;
  It is too hard a knot for me to untie!

Source 1 and Source 2, which are identical.

Viola, of course, is a young woman dressed as and pretending to be a young man (called Cesario); she has fallen in love with her master (Orsino); who is already in love with Olivia, and he sends Viola (as Cesario) to court her on his behalf; naturally, Olivia falls in love with Viola (as Cesario), who describes herself as "poor monster" because she is, sort of, both (a) man and (a) woman.

It is a feature of Shakespeare's English, and one supposes that of Early Modern English, that the indefinite article is sometimes (or in some cases, usually) 'omitted' in many places where we would use it today. This includes in predicate position, when the (count) noun refers to the noun as a class, after 'ever' and 'never', and so forth. See the online Shakespearean Grammar. Other sources that indicate and exemplify this include A grammar of Shakespeare's language, A Shakespeare grammar, and, much less useful, Shakespeare's grammar. I have also consulted several annotated editions of Twelfth Night but they have been no help.

The phenomenon is said to occur in Twelfth Night in Act IV, Scene 2:

  Malvolio: Sir Topas, never was ^ man thus wronged: good Sir
  Topas, do not think I am mad: they have laid me
  here in hideous darkness.

and

  Malvolio: I say, this house is as dark as ignorance, though
      ignorance were as dark as hell; and I say, there
      was never ^ man thus abused. I am no more mad than you
      are: make the trial of it in any constant question.

The symbol ^ indicates that the indefinite article has been omitted.

The author also happens to use the indefinite article in the same scene:

  Malvolio: Fool, there was never a man so notoriously abused: I
  am as well in my wits, fool, as thou art.

and also in Twelfth Night in such lines as I am ^ true knight (II, 3) and He is ^ knight (III, 4). I prefer not to include line numbers since they differ from version to version.


texts: "He put on the shelf a box" -- can this be considered correct?

texts:
Of course it would be preferable to say, "He put a box on the shelf," but is it incorrect to say "He put on the shelf a box?"

This sentence was an item on a test for people with aphasia. The target sentence is "He put the box on the shelf." Inversions are acceptable if they're correct. An easier example is "She is giving the boy a present" for "She is giving a present to the boy."


texts: Is there a term for a date or date/time combination that doesn't exist?

texts:
Three (possibly distinct) examples:

A date which never exists/existed, like February 31
A date which was 'skipped' because of calendar changes.  When Russia transitioned from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar it 'skipped' October 26, 1917, among other days.
A date/time which was 'skipped' due to a daylight savings change, like 02:01 on 03/27/2011 in the USA

These all appear to be properly formatted, but don't exist, at least in some parts of the planet that recognize the standard US date/time lexicon.

This question discusses the phrase to show to application users when they choose an invalid date, but invalid date would include 01/blah/-2 and other entries that don't conform to an accepted date format.

I've been using the term irrational date, but I'm not a mathematician and don't know if it is appropriate to compare these situations to irrational numbers.


texts: Which of these following sentences are grammatically correct?

texts:
For instance, don't exchange presents at work, or talk about your evening out.
For instance, don't exchange presents at work or talk about your evening out.


texts: Demonyms - When a place ends on an "s" sound, why are its inhabitants sometimes spelled with a "t"? (e.g. Mars - Martian)

texts:
I am not natively English speaking and I was wondering about this spelling when I saw the title of the movie "The Martian".

This pattern also seems to apply to other things ending on an "s" sound, like

Venus -> Venutian (though it's less common than Venusian)
Venice -> Venetian

On the other hand, there is examples showing the exact opposite, like

Paris -> Parisian
France -> French
Los Angeles -> Angeleno (probably derived from its hispanic origin)

Why is it not "Marsian" and "Venecian" like it is in German for instance ("Marsianer", "Venezianer")?

Is there a rule for how demonyms are spelled or do they evolve historically?


texts: Better expression for "is needed to be highlighted"

texts:
I want to emphasize A and B. So I wrote:
"A and B are needed to be highlighted."

I feel it is not natural. What would be better way in written English?


texts:
Van Morrison’s song Moondance has these lines

“And I'm trying to please to the calling / Of your heart-strings that play soft and low.”

What are we to make of “please to the calling” -- an intransitive “please” followed not by an infinitive but by a prepositional “to.”

Is it one of those obsolete Scottish uses that OED lists for “please”?


texts: Word for people who like to spend money?

texts:
Is there a specific word for people who like to purchase lots of things?
For instance, let's say someone has an Iphone 7, but as soon as the Iphone 8 is released, he buys it, even if he doesn't need it at all. In fact, I am looking for a word with a financial perspective, like people who really enjoy spending money.

In my native language, which is Portuguese, we have a specific word for that, which is "consumista", but when I translated it into English, I got "consumerist". However, when I checked this word on Cambridge dictionary, I saw it is mostly used to describe societies, but I am not sure about specific individuals.

Thanks in advance.


texts: What are the differences between an accident, an incident, a mishap and harm?

texts:
All is in the title. I don't understand the differences between those words. I would say that in increasing value it gives :

Incident < accident < mishap < harm

But is that right?


texts: What is the origin of the phrase ‘By the by...’?

texts: What is the origin of the phrase 'By the by...'?


texts: "Will you be at home tomorrow?" and "Are you going to be at home tomorrow?". What is the difference?

texts: Can't undrestand what is the real difference between "Will you be at home tomorrow?" and "Are you going to be at home tomorrow?". Both variants are grammatically correct. Maybe it is some meaning difference? Help me please to find out.


texts: "it seems incorrect for me" vs "it seems to be incorrect for me"

texts:
Would it be correct if I said "it seems incorrect for me"?
Should I prefer the following form "it seems to be incorrect for me".


texts: How to compose a single phrase/write a sentence for this?

texts:
This is related to covid19 issue.

I'm not native so can't find words to describe it in a sentence. But here's what I want to write:

Since covid19 issue hasn't stopped yet, and we can't stop our routine works, so it's time to continue our routine tasks (many countries are removing lockdown like in India because otherwise it would affect economy) but we must follow the rules and take precautions. Along with that, we can do our job, household stuff etc.

Now, it doesn't mean I need to include all things in a single sentence.

Here's the sentence I've written, but I'm not sure if it's grammatically and practically correct to share online:

Let's continue are routine tasks but with following rules and regulations and taking precautions, during this COVID19 issue.

EDIT:

I'm also doubtful about the beginning of this sentence. Let's continue thing.

Does it mean I'm saying "You were not following this before and not doing your routine tasks before, and I'm kind of encouraging everyone to start it NOW"?

If yes, how can I improve the beginning especially?


texts:
I am currently working on an essay, and I have a question about a certain pair of commas. Consider the following sentence:

  One of my classmates, Simona Stoyanova, and I carried out independent research,  focused on the rotation curve of the Milky Way and dark
  matter.

Are the commas, which surround the name Simona Stoyanova, needed. I know that if I haven't mentioned the name before there shouldn't be any commas in this place, but it just feels unnatural to write it without the commas.


texts: for + period of time + present continuous/past perfect tense

texts:
What is the difference between

(1) I've taken antibiotics for 10 weeks.
(2) I've been taking antibiotics for 10 weeks.
(3) I'm taking antibiotics for 10 weeks.
(4) I take antibiotics for 10 weeks.
(5) I took antibiotics for 10 weeks.
(6) I had taken antibiotics for 10 weeks.
(7) I had been taking antibiotics for 10 weeks.

A. Are they all grammatically correct?
B. Which one implies that I am still taking antibiotics?
C. Which one implies that it was the last 10 weeks, and which one implies that it wasn't the last 10 weeks but some 10 weeks at some point in my life?
D. Do they all imply 10 weeks in a row?
E. How does the meaning change when I add "now", e.g. "I've taken antibiotics for 10 weeks now."

I'm not a native speaker, thank you for your help.


texts:
I'm looking for the nominalization of the word 'recondite,' which I want to use when referring to another noun object that is recondite. I'm aware of the noun 'reconditeness,' but that refers to the quality of being recondite - I want to be able to talk about an object which has the quality of reconditeness.

So, for example, if I have a group of three recondite objects, I could say "I have three [word I'm seeking]." This would be similar to referring to a group of objects which are 'arcane' as 'arcana.'

My initial thought is 'reconditia,' but I'm not confident enough in that, and if there is already a coined term for this, I'd prefer to use it.


texts: 'Get over my head' and 'get in over my head'

texts: What is the difference between 'get over my head' and 'get in over my head'?  Which one to use when we are struggling to forget someone?


texts: "(She's/he's) as independent as a pig on ice."  An expression used by my wife's maternal grandmother (in her 90's at the time) when referring to a very independent (and very bright) family member on my wife's father's side of the family. I asked what the expression meant or came from, and she replied simply that she had heard it all of her life. I've got some theories and some research guesses.  What's your take?  I think it's a great expression.


texts: Use of "B defers to A" when A takes precedence over B

texts: If A takes precedence over B, is it correct to say B defers to A? I searched the web for precedence antonym but found nothing useful.


texts: Any compact ways to say “reduce the model to less than 25% of its original size”?

texts:
As the title of the question requests, are there any compact  ways to say to reduce the model to less than 25% of its original size?

The original phrase looks weird.


texts: Why didn't "spiel" get spelled with an "sh"?

texts:
The pronunciation for "spiel" allows for either "speel" or "shpeel". The "shpeel" pronunciation is significantly more common where I live (American Midwest) and I'm curious why "spiel" didn't get the same "sh" or "sch" spelling that many other words with a Yiddish influence did:

schlep
schlock
schmooze
shtick

There are many other examples but I don't see any other examples of the "sh" sound turning into just an "s".


texts: Meaning of the expression "Ain't no trip we can't get past"

texts:
"Ain't no trip we can't get past"

Does anybody here know what it means?

This expression sort of resembles a saying in Spanish that goes something like this: "there is neither a sickness which lasts a hundred years nor an individual which can endure it".

Is my inference right or am I dead wrong here?

It seems to me that the expression is question is not a well-established one. I read/learnt it a long time ago here.


texts:
Megyn Kelly tweeted in response to AOC's tweet:

What an awesome tweet for the Georgia GOP to plaster everywhere in their effort to ensure Republicans keep the Senate.
Quote Tweet

AOC: Is anyone archiving these Trump sycophants for when they try to downplay or deny their complicity in the future? I foresee decent probability of many deleted Tweets, writings, photos in the future.

What does "plaster everywhere" mean here? What did Megyn Kelly try to say?
Thanks


texts: What does "vital" in 'vital wheat gluten' mean?

texts:
I am wondering why it is called vital wheat gluten. How is it vital?
I first heard it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gysghjYejHw
And then I tried to look it up, but nowhere did I find any mention as to what "vital" actually means here.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheat_gluten_(food)#Vital_wheat_gluten


texts:
I recently came across text from a book a good friend of mine was tasked with proofreading. The book, a translation, which detailed the past exploits of a military division (whose members the author interviewed), was written in a borderline-nauseating mix of present and past tenses for texts and references, for both quoted contents and non-quoted (reported) descriptions by the author.

From the looks of it, the person who translated it into English kept it true to the grammatical form of the source material, and the vast majority of the reported text was in present tense (at least in the parts I read).

Question 1: Excluding the contents of the actual quotes, shouldn't everything stated by the author be in the past tense form, including quote references ("We'll implement the changes by late'92," Tomas says)?

Question 2: The second, brief chapter, after the introduction details a past incident and is described from the perspective of one of those interviewed (first-person perspective, all of it in present tense), in a manner that differentiates from the style and form of the rest of the book.

While the author apparently attempted to do something different in style in the source, it doesn't seem to work as well in English in my humble opinion; ignoring the matter of style, shouldn't the same grammatical rules (past tense for reported text) apply just the same here as well? Or does the abrupt transition in perspective (interviewee instead of author for the whole chapter) make it acceptable?


texts: What is a nice word to describe someone who is never where they should be?

texts:
I had a math teacher in grades four through seven who was never in class.

What’s a nice word to describe his lack of presence?


texts: Is "Happy Birthday!" a complete sentence? And if it is, what role are the words happy and birthday playing? Where is the verb? Can "happy" be a verb? I know in a sentence like "Go get the milk" there is an implied "You" at the beginning that makes it complete. Is there an implied verb?


texts: "tolerable elapsed time" meaning and a fancier word for this

texts:
Found usage:

“Big data is a term applied to data sets whose size is beyond the ability of commonly used software tools to capture, manage, and process the data within a tolerable elapsed time”.

What does "tolerable elapsed time" really mean? I do understand it in this context, but still I'd be happy if someone explains this in more details.

In addition, is there a better and a fancier word for meaning: "tolerable elapsed time"? I'd be happy to see this one.

Thanks a lot.

EDIT: One thing I just came up with is, "short time iteration".


texts: I am trying to figure out what to call these phenomena. For example, a sentence containing the words "specific specifications" or "participants participate", etc. Is there a word to describe this in English?


texts: Could somebody translate this into modern English?

texts:
This was extracted from Book I of the Iliad by Homer (translated by Samuel Butler):

  Therefore I say, and swear it with a great oath- nay, by this my
  sceptre which shalt sprout neither leaf nor shoot, nor bud anew from
  the day on which it left its parent stem upon the mountains-

Could somebody translate this into modern English.

PS: English is not my mother tongue.


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Order of “not” with infinitive

  It's OK to make mistakes; it's not OK not to learn from them.

What kind of grammar structure is this? Could I use "to not" as a replacement for the bold words?


texts: What is meant by this use of quotation marks?

texts:
I was reading an article Meet the Artist Who Blows Things Up for a Living

in 4th paragraph the author says

  When I visit Cai (as everyone calls him, pronouncing it “Tsai”) in his spare East
      Village Manhattan studio with a big red door and a feng shui stone lion guarding the
      entrance within, we sit at a glass table flanked by wall-size wood screens: his gunpowder “drawings.”

I didn't understand why author puts drawings in double quotes. If you read the article, he has used it for many other words like  “signs”, “crop circle”.
My question is what the intends by putting the words in double quotes?


texts: What's the origin of the word 'noise' in photography?

texts:
I know we can also use the word grain which conveys the same meaning and which makes more sense in my opinion. But I noticed photographers have a preference for the term 'noise'.  What's got the word 'noise' to do with something that is visual not aural. Interestingly, same thing in French - the grain is called 'bruit' (noise).

A google search wasn't much helpful.

Also, is the term specific to digital photography (actually where I encountered the term) or film photography as well?

Any idea?


texts: Is the "week" only the five days in-between weekends or not?


texts:
If we have a set of entities which are [metaphorical] children of a given [metaphorical] parent what should we call them?

(Here, 'entity' can refer to anything.)

Are they 'children entities' or 'child entities'?


texts: What are the differences between determination and motivation?

texts:
Determination

  the act of deciding definitely and firmly (MWD)

Motivation

  the condition of being motivated (MWD)

Motive

  something (such as a need or desire) that causes a person to act (MWD)

Are they the same thing? Two sides of the same coin?

Some examples of situations I can't differentiate between:

The want/desire to win a competition.
The want/desire to achieve a task or goal.

How do you differentiate between motivation and determination to have or win something? It is very hard to describe the feelings in words. How does it feel when you are motivated or determined?


texts: What is it called when you change a well known quote to suit your subject?

texts:
For example, for the original quote we shall use, "One swallow does not a summer make". If someone were to say "One good quote does not a philosopher make" (No dig at Aristotle intended...), or "A fancy suit does not a businessman make".

Essentially, a clear allusion to a quote, but not the quote itself.


texts: “I have studied” vs. “I have been studying”

texts:
Do you agree with the explanations to this question and statements?

Judy: How long have you been in Canada?
Claude: I have been studying here for more than three years.
OR I have studied here for more than three years.

Depending on where the two friends meet in Canada or in another country, the question  can  imply that Claude is or is not  in Canada at the moment.

The first answer implies that Claude is still in Canada or was recently in Canada. (Maybe to suggest that he was in Canada recently it would be better to use ‘there’. I think ‘here’ suggests that the person is still in Canada.)

The second answer implies that the person is not in Canada any more. The action is complete.


texts: Your motivation and expertise already (make/makes) you a great asset to our team and we can’t wait to see you become a leader in this company.


texts: How the sentence below isn't a run-on sentence?

texts:
A wire brush periodically swept the cotton off the blade and prevented the machine from jamming.

Shouldn't the sentence be like this?

A wire brush periodically swept the cotton off the blade, and prevented the machine from jamming.


texts: Looking for a slang expression to say "I´m pissed off and sad. I want to be alone"

texts: I found some things like Being on the dumps, but I would also like to say in the same line that I'd rather to be alone.


texts: Can I say 'This paper concludes by saying...'

texts:
Or does that look strange? I am looking for a way to not look too formal but still retain some professionalism.

Many thanks


texts:
What's the best way to find the subject in a sentence?
How do you define a subject?
I am especially curious about such cases, in which the subject seems to be represented by more than one word:

The majority of people didn't mind the new policy.

A great number of students went on strike yesterday.

Addition:

and such cases where the passive voice is used:

The man was bit by a dog.

Children were frightened by the wolf.

Also, please, consider such cases with ergative verbs:

I broke my chair.

The chair broke.

The chair was broken by me.


texts: Using "a" in the title of a scientific paper

texts:
Is it OK, to use indefinite article in the title of a paper? Should it be omitted? Or even replaced by the definite article?

Here is the title: "A Fuzzy Event for a Set of Events".


texts: Figurative expression for outrageous/unlikely/overly bold claim

texts:
What expressions could one use to qualify an expression as unlikely, to soften the impact by changing it from accusation or hyperbole into unlikely (if outrageous) conjecture? Something like "God forbid" but more neutral, with no deities involved?

Assuming he knows something about the criminal case, or, ......... he's the murderer?
That was a small event, but with enough coincidences, this could ......... lead to war!
Watch out for your daughter, she might marry not just someone of lower stance, but a foreigner an outright commoner, or even ............ a godless Negro!


texts: I grew up in a very homogenous suburb, and was quite shocked when I moved to Philadelphia for college and started hearing how many different dialects exist even within one city. My untrained ear could not tell you the difference between a New York or Philadelphia accent, but some of my friends swear they can tell the difference between North and South Philadelphians, and spot someone from Jersey in a syllable. Just recently I moved to San Francisco, and I was shocked to hear several people observe that I had an East Coast accent. Throughout your travels around the country, what observations have you made about the different dialects in America? How do different regions differ in terms of syllable emphasis, sentence construction, or even slang?


texts: Is it correct to use class on this sentence? I am confused.

texts: Any student who incurs absences of more than twenty percent of the prescribed number of class and laboratory periods during the school year shall be automatically dropped from the enrollment list.


texts: looking for a definition for a word that is either spelled palmetier or palmeter.  Ever heard of it?  I have looked in the Webster's Dictionary, googled it and looked on various sites.  All it says is that it is a Proper Name.   However, no idea as to what the name means.   Found various individuals with this last name, but even on ancestry type sites, found no idea of meaning of name.  Anyone able to help with this?


texts:
My textbook tells me verb forms of 'lie' are : Lie, lay, lain, lying, lies.

So, where does 'lied' fit in? Google search results show that 'lied' is simple past tense form and past participle form of 'lie'. Please enlighten me.

Some usages of 'lain' would also be interesting.

Feel free to point out grammatical errors in my sentences. Thanks


texts: Is using bike word to address a motorcycle correct?

texts:
I have used the word 'bike' to address motorcycle in past. In recent years though, I noticed that this word is being used more for a bicycle than for a motorcycle. Since then I just 'assumed' that it should not be used for motorcycles. I tried to reason it (to myself) by (again) assuming that bike is a word evolved from bicycle (eg. to shorten it).
When I searched for in on the Internet, I found that both of above assumptions are baseless and probably wrong. It does show as its meaning, motorcycle, and also it doesn't hint that it's originated from the word bicycle.
Can anyone clear these questions? Does bike mean motorcycle as well? If not, is it plain wrong to use it that way? What is the origin of the word 'bike'?


texts:
So I have a line from composition:

'But balloons had the disadvantage of having to go wherever the wind blew them, so that one never knew where they would come down.'

And I was asked a question:

'What was the disadvantage of flying in a balloon?'

I was instructed to answer in my own words and be only one sentence long. I wrote:

'The disadvantage of flying in a balloon was that one was forced to go in the direction where the wind blew the balloon, and thus one had no idea where he would descend.'

My professor marked me zero. Why is this wrong?


texts:
In writing about verification techniques, I want to discuss formal methods vs. other methods (e.g., testing or code review). While informal is the generally the antonym of formal, referring to these other methods as informal methods makes me feel like I'm describing them as slap-dash, low-quality approaches, which is not my intent.

For context, I'm looking for a good title for a goal node in GSN that these non-formal verification methods (to partially use a suggestion from @EdwinAshworth) would be sub-goals under. Again, just to make sure this is crystal clear, these verification methods are not meant to be represented as inferior to formal methods, merely different from formal methods.

Does anyone have a good antonym for formal methods that is devoid of any negative connotations?


texts: Why "lemon" for a faulty or defective item?

texts:
Related questions:

What does "lemon on" mean in this context?
What is the origin of the phrase "when life gives you lemons, make lemonade"?

In the above questions, "lemon" is used to mean a faulty or defective item. A typical use might be to describe a second hand car that, once bought, turns out to have serious faults, as a "lemon".

Why is the delicious fruit associated with faulty goods?

Etymonline says:

perhaps via criminal slang sense of "a person who is a loser, a simpleton," which is perhaps from the notion of someone a sharper can "suck the juice out of."
A pool hall hustle was called a lemon game (1908);
while to hand someone a lemon was British slang (1906) for "to pass off a sub-standard article as a good one."
Or it simply may be a metaphor for something which "leaves a bad taste in one's mouth."

But none of these rings true for me, and words like "may be" and "perhaps" show a lack of confidence. Can anyone shed more light?


texts: Do you hear "snarky", to imply some level of wry, off-the-cuff, perhaps mildly acerbic, humor?

texts: People I know use the word that way, but most online definitions put it, I'd say more in the range between acerbic and acid, with no humor.  MW does have a second "irreverent" sense, that's also pretty good for how I have it, but if that's not the common interpretation I'd better make some changes...


texts: To share something without giving it away physically?

texts:
In its probably original sense, to share means to divide something among people. In those cases, it is implicit that the sharer is left with less than before:

I had three apples, which I shared with two of my friends. Now I'm left with just one apple.

Another example would be the stock market, where you can essentially buy a part ("share") of a company.
Now, especially with modern technology, it became possible to share immaterial goods where in the end, both (all) parties have a copy of the exact same thing:

People voluntarily share their knowledge on Stack Exchange sites.
In less than an hour, a thousand users shared that image on Facebook.
The fact that people shared their music on the Internet led to a big controversy about copyright law.

In these cases, it is implied that some sort of copying/duplication took place and either way, the sharer has not physically given away what he/she was sharing.
When using divide instead of share, it is implied that the original items, or at least some of them, are given away:

Separate (something) into portions and share out among a number of
people:
'Jack divided up the rest of the cash'

In a similar way, is there a verb that can be used instead of to share that explicitly describes sharing something without giving it away?


texts: I came across "Cainozioc" in place of "Cenozoic" for the geological era.  Is this a regional alternative spelling?  I've never seen it before today, where I saw it in Wikipedia, simply redirecting to Cenozioc.  https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cainozoic


texts: Has 'ups and downs' been correctly used?

texts:
I want to say that life has moments of success as well as failure, moments when it's easy as well as moments when it's hard. In this context, has "ups and downs" been correctly used in the sentence below?

  Life has its own ups and downs.

If not, then kindly propose a correct, literary alternative.


texts: Axioms in English: If we try to find the root meaning of every English word in the dictionary,which word will we land on the most

texts:
Assume an alien has landed on Earth and wants to learn English with the help of an English Dictionary.

He looks up the meaning of "the".

Meaning of "the":

  "denoting one or more people or things already mentioned or assumed to be common knowledge"

Now he searches the individual meaning of each and every word of the above sentence.

If he continues to do this infinitely, he will land on many words. The words uncovered may be referred to by visiting the dictionary manually 1 by 1.

Obviously, in this exercise, there would be nothing but circular references of word meanings. To resolve this issue, we may declare few words as "axioms".

What would those sets of words which would be axioms be?

Using these set of words only(or predominantly), one could understand every other word in the English dictionary.


texts:
Say you have a forum only a select group of people have access to contribute to - what would you call those people?

Or, more accurately to my domain, say you have a file on a shared computer drive that any user can read but only certain users can write to - what would you call those certain users?


texts: Usage of the Future Tense with a Conditional containing "unless"

texts:
Unless the plane encounters unexpected turbulence, it ------- in Iceland shortly before 5 P.M.

In this conditional sentence using "unless", should the blank be filled with:

1) is arriving,
2) will arrive

OR

Are both 1 and 2 acceptable?

If one choice is more correct or more favorable than the other, can someone please explain why they think so?

Thanks. :-)


texts: What is the classifier for a piece of ginger?

texts:
My French friend told me that he had to chop up 20 gingers at work. He works in a restaurant.

I told him it sounded funny and a classifier is required.

It got me thinking, what is the classifier or counting word for ginger?

I’m referring to the funny shaped lump of knotty root, not the ground up or chopped up form.

For example 20 heads of cabbage, 20 sticks of celery etc.

I suppose you could say 20 ginger roots, but what about 20 roots of ginger?

Is there another term I’m overlooking?


texts: Is "fiddle" a frequentative form, and if so, of what?

texts:
Having recently learned about frequentative forms, I began to wonder, is fiddle a frequentative form? I've seen the suggestion that -le in this case was a pre-English formation, but the meaning "to touch or handle something in a nervous way," as well as some of the others (such as playing a violin) have a distinctly frequentative idea which makes me question that claim. Also, it makes me wonder: how far back in the history of English does -le to form frequentatives go?

Is there compelling evidence to decide the question of whether fiddle should be considered a frequentative form? If it is, what is the root form? (Or perhaps that assumes too much and I should also ask: Does a frequentative form always have a root, or would some actions only exist in a frequentative form?)


texts: What is the difference between the verbs "make and "do"?

texts: In my native language, Portuguese, "make" and "do" can be translated into one verb "fazer". When I write an English sentence I never know which one to use. So my question is about when to use "make" versus when to use "do". Can someone provide some guidance about which situations it is most appropriate to use each of them? I always get confused about it.


texts: As a child most of us are taught that nothing rhymes with orange. But now grown up I discover that there are rhymes, for example, on RhymeZone, they show that sporange and gorringe are rhymes. (I'm not sure if this is a question that is allowed to be asked on this site, if it isn't I will remove it.) But why are there rhymes now and not before? These words are only rare words but does that make them a valid rhyme or is it just that they simply don't perfectly rhyme?


texts: I came across "make a stride" while I read some articles about global climate change. However, I am not sure if that is formal enough to use in writing an academic essay. If not, what are the formal words for this?


texts:
I regret to tell you that your flight has been cancelled

or

I regret telling you that your flight has been cancelled?


texts: "What day is it today?" vs. "What day is today?"

texts:
Which of the following is grammatical?

  What date/day is it today?
  What date/day is today?


texts:
I am writing a research paper and intend to write this sentence :

  Even a cursory reading of the news reveals how grossly inaccurate that assumption is.

Is that an accurate and appropriate sentence for an academic paper?


texts:
The Revolution only ended with the death of the leader, Ji Tai, after whom, Pol Zara, took over the leadership in 1978.

Is this sentence grammatically correct?


texts: Meaning of "home" in "If every recovery has a home, this is the one for me"?

texts:
I'm not sure if I understand the word home in this sentence:

  If every recovery has a home, this is the one for me.

What's the meaning of home here? Is it the same as house?


texts: What does 'walk-through' mean in this sentence?

texts:
Jane : Hi Mateo, Brian Jaffers just called to cancel tomorrow's
  walk-through at 721 Union Street.  Mateo : That's too bad. That
  apartment is just right for him. Did you reschedule?

I nearly understand what they're saying, but I'd like to want to know what exactly 'walk-through' means
A dictionary only shows the word means something related to rehearsal.
But I think the meaning of the word is related to real estate industry, doesn't it?.


texts:
There are lots of definitions for MM, but which one is used in the following two sentences?

25MM+ people (+14x Y/Y) use Duolingo app to learn new language
12MM+ teachers / students / parents (+15x Y/Y) use Remind101 to send 500MM+ messages


texts: Did English ever have an informal version of “we”

texts:
Related question: Did English ever have a formal version of "you"?

In Portuguese (and probably other languages as well), similar to what happens with the second-person, there are two words for "we": "nós" (formal) and "a gente" (informal, only used in colloquial speech). Both pronouns have the same meaning: they refer to the person who is talking and can include the hearer and/or other people.

Did English ever have this feature?


texts: with/without + pronoun (me vs. my) + gerund-participial phrase

texts:
The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language (Page 461) has this section:

(f) Subject of clausal complement of with/without
Pronouns in this position normally appear in accusative case:
[16] i We set off again, the Rover going precariously slowly in very low gear up hills, with me staying on its tail in case it petered out altogether.
ii With me out of the way, there would be no one to curb his excesses.
Note that {this is one place where a gerund-participial in complement function cannot take a genitive subject}, but unlike the construction dealt with in (b) above the accusative is not here an informal alternant to a nominative.

I think CGEL is saying that using 'my' instead of 'me' in [16i] is wrong:

(1) *We set off again, the Rover going precariously slowly in very low gear up hills, with my staying on its tail in case it petered out altogether.

More importantly, it seems to me that the bracketed portion of CGEL is making a blanket statement that the subject of clausal complement of with/without cannot take a genitive form (possessive form). That is, I think "this" in CGEL's bracketed portion refers to the entire case of (f) Subject of clausal complement of with/without, not just [16i] or [16ii]
I for one wouldn't use 'my' in [16i], but that's just me. Theoretically, I know that you can use both 'my' and 'me' as the subject of V-ing, as shown in this question 'When is a gerund supposed to be preceded by a possessive adjective/determiner?'.
In that question, there's this sentence having 'without':

(2) Most of the members paid their dues without my asking them.

And it has been said in the answers there that 'my' as well as 'me' is possible.
Q1.
Is it correct to say example (1) is ungrammatical (with 'my' instead of 'me')?
Q2.
If indeed CGEL is making a blanket statement in the bracketed portion, how do you distinguish this blanket statement from example (2)?


texts: Should we include the prefix Mrs. when we tell others our real name?

texts:
My question is so simple. We call a man with the prefix Mr. and a married woman with the prefix Mrs., followed by her husband's surname, right? Now, is it grammatically okay to include these prefixes in the name when someone asks what a man's or a married woman's name is?
For instance: A woman's real name is Lacey. She is married to someone by the name of Robert James, so she's called Mrs. James. When someone asks her what her name is, what should she answer? It is James/ Mrs. James/ Lacey/ Lacey James?


texts: Is there a term to describe the written format of a monetary quantity as symbol + numeral + unit?

texts:
I am trying to describe the desired formatting for numbers in a given document. For rounded monetary quantities over a million this would be dollar sign, arabic numeral, unit (e.g. 3,000,000 dollars would be written as $3 million).

Is there a term that describes this format?


texts: What does (N & S) abbreviation in restaurants in Berlitz English Course stand for? Picture included

texts:
In Berlitz English Course Level 3, Chapter 2. There's an exercise for the students to teach them how to discuss choosing a restaurant.

And there's a menu of some restaurants and in the cuisine column there's an (N & S) next to Italian. Please check the picture below.

What does it mean?


texts: What is this piece of children's playground apparatus called?

texts:
I want to call this a "roundabout". But, in Britain anyway, a "roundabout" is much larger with bars on it to sit on (as demonstrated by a Google images search for "playground roundabout").

They're a fairly new addition to playgrounds, I think. They certainly didn't exist when I was a kid.

But what are they actually called?


texts: Is there any difference between 'a friend of mine' and 'a friend to me'?

texts: I have read a paragraph in a book named English preposition that gives a definition of 'a friend of mine' which means that OF integrates the person into the sphere of your affection, but I can not understand what meaning it wants to convey.


texts: "Named" as a past participle adjective or relative clause

texts:
'I passed the exam.' The exam = 'The passed exam.'
'I named the boy.' The boy = 'The named boy.'
'I called the girl.' The girl = 'The called girl.'
What = 'The boy named John.'?
What = 'The girl called Sarah.'?

Is 'named' and 'called' past participles as adjectives? Are they relative clauses with ellipsis of 'who is'? Or is it something else?

This has bugged me for weeks now. Please help.

For a bonus, what = 'A streetcar named desire."?


texts: A word meaning "traumatic health-related experience"

texts:
I'm looking for a word, or maybe phrase, that could characterize the following situations:

Nearly dying as a result of an attempted suicide, leading to a long period of arduous physical and mental recuperation.
Going through a period of time where certain symptoms of a medical condition return, leading to things like seizures, episodes, profuse bleeding, etc.
Getting hit by a car, resulting in months of physical and mental therapy.

Notice how in each of these situations, something physically and mentally horrible happened to the person and lots of mandatory recuperation followed. I am not trying to characterize the following situations:

Having a family member die, resulting in periodic sorrow that lasts for about a month
Spraining an ankle, resulting in a few weeks of easy recovery

In no way do I mean to downplay the severity of the last two situations. I'm just trying to make a strong distinction in my writing.


texts: What is a term for someone who doesn't know what to do with his life?

texts:
There is a term for a person that don't know what to do in his life?
Is there an expression also?

For example, a person who complete a degree, and now he's not sure he wants to work at the field he studied at the university, maybe he wants to do a long trip and find himself...

Another example: A person who don't know what to study, and just trying many things until he'll find something that he feels he wants to do in his life.

Thank you.


texts: What's the meaning of the noun "lucker"?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  What does the noun “lucker” mean?

What does the noun "lucker" mean? Yes, it's not in the Webster, but Google does give search results for such key phrases as "I am a lucker" or "He is a lucker" (and those are not misspellings like "luckier" or "lurker"). So people DO you use that word. I myself heard it a number of times. And if they use it, it should have some meaning. So, here is my question: what does the noun "lucker" mean?


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I cannot understand the usage of this tense. For example, what does "I will have done this task" mean? Does it mean the effects of this task will be remaining in the future?

On a more general note, please tell me in which situations I can use this tense.


texts: Noun for 'a person that wants to please everyone'

texts:
I am looking for a noun with the meaning:

  a person that wants to please everyone

In the sense that that person is inquisitive and intelligent, using said qualities to please others.

Example: Selflessly tries to stay friends with two parties that seem to loathe each other.


texts: Is 'Do not be negative' double negation?

texts:
Is it correct, if I say, "John, do not be negative".

I don't mean to say, "John, be positive".

I mean he just shouldn't be negative, not necessarily positive. I'm using 'negative' as an adverb to qualify how John should be. Such as "John do not walk slowly".

Is"John, do not be negative" still a case of double negation? And if so, how do I phrase the sentence.


texts:
As the title says, what is the correct version of these two words in English (GB)? I get mixed results when trying to look this up on Google.

I'm building a replacement website for a client that offers bootcamp/boot camp training classes. Her former website uses the word 'bootcamp' but after doing market research on her competitors for the purposes of search engine optimisation, I'm finding some companies are using 'boot camp' and some 'bootcamp'.

It's quite important to get this right, as search engines today ignore the keywords meta tag, meaning I can't add both versions, so I'm forced to use one of the other and I would like to get it right.


texts:
Is it:

The crazed ramblings of a man entirely infected by love OR The crazed ramblings of a man entirely infected with love?


texts: A Word that means both furniture and appliances?

texts:
A word that means both furniture and appliances ?

Also optionally includes lawnmower, rakes, vacuums, brooms, cabinets, coat racks, etc.

An example would be...”Everyone is entitled to get for free any one brand new furnipliance for each enrollment"


texts: 'Little' and 'small' in British vs American English

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Is the preference for 'little' over 'small' one of the things that differentiates British from American English?

I find expressions like "I'm only little" or "She's only little" in British children books. This is something new to me. Are these also common in American English?

I am not a native English speaker, but I guess I am more accustomed to American English. I would have said "She's still very small" instead.