texts: Is there a word to describe someone who keeps trying to do something but always fails?

texts:
Is there a word that describes someone who continually tries something but always fails? This isn't describing in the positive sense - as in someone who never gives up - but more about the negative side of always failing.

Examples would be someone who creates many failing businesses, someone who can never stick to a diet or someone who cannot remain faithful to their partner.

Edit

  More context would help narrow down the possible words that might fit
  for this person. Why do they fail? Are they aiming too high and can't
  attain the skillset needed to achieve success? Are they lazy? Do they
  lack the intestinal fortitude to follow through on a goal? All of
  these scenarios conjure different words to describe such a failure. –
  Kristina Lopez

I'll give you an exact example to narrow it down more: A person who tries to diet and exercise but they always cave in and eat unhealthy stuff and/or skip exercise, despite knowing it'll be bad for them. Someone who's perfectly capable of doing it, has a sound mind and knowledge of why and how they should do it, but regardless, still fail each time they start doing it after a short while. I'm not talking about an unlucky person or a person who's too stupid or naive to achieve it.

However, I don't want the word to be specific to dieting (like "fatty" :P) but a word that could be used in other (albeit similar) contexts too. Hope that clears it up.


texts:
I would like to know how to properly write, somewhere in a paragraph, the phrase "Why questions". By which I mean questions of the form "Why... ?".

The sentence I would like to write is "How to answer why questions." How do I format it?

Possibilities:

  How to answer why questions.
  How to answer why questions.
  How to answer why? questions.
  How to answer 'why' questions.
  How to answer "why" questions.
  How to answer "why?" questions.

I thought 3 would be best but I would appreciate a second (third, etc.) opinion.


texts:
I'm looking for a noun describing something that is present but rare. Specifically, I wish to say that a certain gene is almost never found in a group of species. Such a noun that could replace "near-absence" in the following sentence:

"The near-absence of the gene in X is intriguing given evidence for..."

Thanks!!


texts:
If I want to let a customer know that she/he can only buy spare parts from us, and put this into legal documents by using the word "exclusive", which proposition should I use?  "from", "to" or something else?

The sentence I have in my mind is:

  All spare parts shall be exclusive from [our company name].

Will the meaning be different if I change the preposition "from" to "to"?

Is this correct? Or is there other ways to express it still using the word "exclusive"?


texts: Do any print dictionaries admit "everytime" as a word?

texts:
I've noticed a tendency for more and more two-word phrases with even slightly idiomatic usage being written more and more as single word compounds. Today when I came across "everytime" written as a compound I looked to see how modern it was on Google Ngram Viewer and was surprised to see it much more common than I expected.

The question is do any traditional dictionaries yet grant it word status? Some online dictionaries like Wiktionary do, but it also includes the comparative and superlatives "more everytime" and "most everytime" so can hardly be trusted beyond a certain point.

Apart from the main question I was also surprised to see that this form peaked between 1970 and 1990 and is actually in decline again.


texts: Why in error messages verb 'be' is not used?

texts:
In the computer world error messages are written without verb 'be'. For example,

  file not found,
  file not exist,
  command not found,
  no such file or directory

and so on.
So why verb 'be' is being missed?

UPD
My question is duplicate. See "not found" or "is not found"


texts: Punctuation of a question that ends with a statement

texts:
How would you punctuate this question, which ends as a statement:

  Where is Mom I need to talk to her


texts: Difference between "deed" and "doing" in the context of judgement

texts:
There is already a question about difference between "act" and "deed". My question will be similar. I want to know what is the difference between words "deed" and "doing" when we judge about other people. For example:

A good deed.
A good doing.
A bad deed.
A bad doing.

Which words is more popular and recognizable? The "deed" looks more rare and oldschool for me.


texts: "Those who hold ..." vs "Those whom hold ..."

texts:
Random English exercise for myself because I like words:

Those who hold the plant will die.

Those whom hold the plant will die.

Which sentence is grammatically correct?

Opinion:
It is the first sentence because it sounds better... but who 'm I to judge? (Sorry for the pun :P)
I tried to structure the two sentences differently like the following, and see which sounded better:

He who holds the plant will die.
Him who holds the plant wil die.

From what I can tell, "he" refers to "who" and "him" refers to "whom". In my opinion, these both sound ok... but when I change "he" to "she" and "him" to "her", the second sentence sounds awful:

Her who holds the plant will die. (yikes!)

So I believe the first sentence most above is correct (i.e. the one with "who" as opposed to "whom").

Made-up word:
Enshadow:
verb  1. envelop in shadow (e.g. The moon will enshadow us once the eclipse begins.)  2. hide something discreetly (e.g. We thought he was honest, but the truth was enshadowed.)


texts: What do you call someone who hates pictures?

texts: What do you call a person who hates pictures, drawings, photos, and images of all kinds and finds them unnecessary and uninteresting. I found a word iconoclast to have a similar meaning, but it had a strong religious colour. I'm not talking about people who hates their pictures taken. I'm taking about people who don't like pictures in general.


texts: Which word best describes too much belief in god and religion ?


texts: Is there a word for Questioning your own values?

texts: We should always question what we think we know. So, is there a word that describes the act of questioning one's beliefs/values/personal philosophy? Can you say, this person should be more (insert word here)?


texts:
At various times I've supposed the informal Australian phrase “not for quids” (which apparently is analogous to  “not at any price”) derives from quid, which refers to sovereigns, or guineas.  At other times I've imagined it derives from quid pro quo,  “This for that”.  What evidence is available about the origin of “not for quids”?

Note, quoting from the Cambridge Idioms Dictionary,  thefreedictionary says the following of “not for quids”:

  If you say that you would not do something for quids, you mean that you would hate to do that thing [eg] I wouldn't do your job for quids.


texts:
Given that the adjectival form of wood is wooden,  why has wood been used instead of wooden in the following sentence?

It is a spacious house with wood floor.


texts: Why are there no commas after some prepositional phrases and not others?

texts:
Why is that in sentence 1 below, a comma before "of" is permitted?

  Detective Polly found that, of the hundreds of cases of malaria near the river, all but three involved near the contaminated pump.

For sentence 2, why do we have to have a comma between "program" and "from"?

  They now operate from 12 to 2pm, and the government funds every aspect of the program, from the jerseys to the coaches.

Is the 2 the same as 3? Why is the comma between "processes" and "cellular division" legal? I feel that sentence 2 and 3 are the same as sentence 4.

  The energy contained in these molecules can then be used to activate a number of biological processes, from cellular division to muscle contraction

For sentence 4, why is that we can't have a comma between "VP" and "about"?

  I signaled to the VP about the wrinkle on his tie.


texts: Why do Americans use 'them' in awkward sentence?

texts: So, I am not a native English speaker. I am from India and some of the sentences that I hear from certain movies leaves me dumbfounded. So, the other day I was watching Suicide Squad and I heard Will Smith say "So, you one of them deaf hoes?". Now, what the hell does that suppose to mean? Let me get one thing clear, I know the meaning of hoe(cough).


texts:
This is a campaign from 2016 (The Guardian).

When the politicians defy belief, you need a newspaper that defies politicians.

What is this an example of (rhetorical device)? Or is it just wordplay without a name?


texts: "Maybe one of A or C cheated" — is this correct?

texts:
I want to express an assertion that A cheated or C cheated. Can I say:

  Maybe one of A or C cheated.
  Maybe one of A and C cheated.

Or is neither correct?


texts:
One often hears primarily people from the UK using the phrase can have in certain past tenses. What exactly is the difference between using could have and can have?

I used to believe that can turns to could in past tense, but from what I understand there is actually a case where can have is correct usage and has a slightly different meaning from could have.


texts: For example,  "majority-Muslim country" vs "Muslim-majority country". Which one is correct? Perhaps both?


texts: What is the meaning of 'pipeline' in business/tech news?

texts:
I already knew the basic meaning of pipeline indicating a series of tubes for transporting gas, oil, or water. But I found the word 'pipeline' written with a different nuance especially when aritcles describe tech companies' strategy. Here are the examples.

  Blizzard: we have the strongest multi-year pipeline ever.
  (Source)
  Zynga’s live service portfolio while also expanding its new game pipeline. (Source)
  JD has a number of interesting growth drivers and initiatives in the pipeline. (Source)
  we still view as likely conservative given a robust pipeline.

Could you give more specific meaning?


texts: "Developed to [infinitive]" vs. "developed for [gerund]"

texts:
I am confused about when to use "to verb" and when to use "for verb+ing" constructs.
For example what would be the proper construct for the following sentences extracted from scientific journals:

  A chemically reactive Raman probe with femtomolar sensitivity was developed for monitoring/to monitor ROS generated in living cells.

Another example:

  As the metabolism products,ROS are very important in cell signaling and homeostasis to regulate/for regulating a whole wide range of biological functions.

Which construct should be used and when?


texts:
Is there a adjectival form of "foreign policy" or "foreign relations"? It needs to fit in with:

There were contrasting political, social, and ??? systems.

EDIT: By "foreign policy", I really mean "military relations", not diplomatic.


texts: What word describes a musical instrument's native character?

texts:
(I asked this question in the music stack exchange at https://music.stackexchange.com/questions/54865/what-word-describes-an-instrument-s-native-character but since I am looking for a word I'll ask here too.)

As a composer of Celtic-style tunes, I usually pick up my mandolin and noodle in a few keys that work well on a mando, like G, D, Am, Bm for example. I almost never play in Eb (=Cm), say, because without resorting to fully-fretted positions it’s not “natural” for a mandolin. The word “affordance,” as used in a user-interface way, has some bearing here: the way a mandolin is physically organized “affords” ease of use in some keys over others. (The affordance of a door handle is obvious: it says “pull me.” A flat plate on a door says “push.”)

Now on a piano the layout, and how I play the instrument, is different from a mandolin. Whereas the mando is organized across four courses of strings arranged in fifths, and the hands have different jobs (picking and fretting), the piano is laid out in a linear array and both hands play notes. The “affordance” is different. It’s much easier to play in Cm (and for me, D on a piano is sort of hard). If I compose a piece on piano and try to play it on mando, I am struck by how I would never have thought of it on a mando.

Pick your instrument - a penny whistle is key-oriented and range-limited, so only certain types of tune easily fall under the fingers. Drums are a whole different kettle (no pun) of fish: you use sticks and much of your body to play.

So here is the question: what word you would use to describe the instrument’s native character? I have used “affordability” here but that only refers to a part of the approach to the instrument. For some reason the word “modality” comes to mind (not in the scales/modes sense) but I have not been able to support that guess.

The word would be used like this: “ Composing Irish tunes on a fiddle is easier than on a harmonium because the [?word?] of the instrument is more appropriate. Almost-candidates include words like: “feel,” “character,” “voice,” “style,” or “capability.”

This question is not just about finding the word. I think the whole concept of different instruments leading to different compositions is intriguing. Comments?

Addendum: the word idiom was suggested on the companion site, which is close.


texts: Is it OK to switch between abbreviated and non-abbreviated versions?

texts:
For example, having one paragraph where the abbreviation XYZ is used a number of times. Then, in the following paragraph, having the full version Xxxx Yyyy Zzzz several times. How about in the same paragraph?

Note: I prefer to avoid abbreviations, and that's what I do whenever I can. However, I'm also trying to reduce the number of lines for a page limit. By abbreviating, I can sometimes remove a line.


texts: Hyphenating Multiple Compound Adjectives With Common First Word

texts:
I have a feeling this question has already been asked, but couldn't find it by searching. I found people asking about hyphenation of multiple compound adjectives with a common second word, but I'm wondering about hyphenation of multiple compound adjectives with a common first word.

What is the correct way to hyphenate a phrase like this, assuming that "sometimes" is modifying both "unreliable" and "inadequate?":

  sometimes unreliable and inadequate Internet service

Note that if style plays a role in your answer, I prefer American English and specifically Chicago style.


texts: "If there are 0 or 1 messages" or "If there is 0 or 1 message"?

texts:
I'm trying to say "Do something if there are 0 or 1 messages" but am not sure exactly how to phrase that.

Do I use the singular, plural, or none of the above?


texts: What is the difference between sugar cane and cane sugar?

texts:
I've heard people use them interchangeably.
Just so I don't go crazy, what is the difference?


texts: Word used in English, though actually French, for "the art of mixing lab science with field work"

texts:
I have been told that there is a word, probably starting with B, coined in French, probably by Louis Pasteur, though used in English, which has the following meaning:

  The successful blending of closed, lab based science with experience and knowledge of the limitations in enacting that same science in the field

What is the word?


texts:
What is the exact meaning of "beyond the scope of mere charity" in the following passage? It is from the book “Persian Gulf Command” by Ashley Jackson, p. 241. The passage is about the miseries of people of Iran and Iraq in World War II.
Everywhere one sees people lying about in an emaciated condition. Their clothes spread out on the hedges to dry show more holes than cloth. They have not even the wherewithal to patch them. The population is fast dwindling[:] some are away harvesting in the plains, others have gone to Persia to try their luck . . . I consider their state is quite beyond the scope of mere charity.
Thanks a million.


texts: What is the difference between retrospective and retroactive?

texts:
Having just briefly looked at both in the OED there seems to me plenty of room for interchangeability in the way they are used.

Under 'retrospective' for example there is an instance of legislation having been passed which took effect from an earlier time. This would seem to me as though it should be 'retroactive'.

And interestingly both words carry meanings which include the other.  Can anyone summarise the difference by way of simple examples as to their separate uses?

Edit

retrospective, adj. and n.
View as: Outline |Full entryQuotations: Show all |Hide all
Pronunciation:  Brit.    /ˌrɛtrə(ʊ)ˈspɛktɪv/ , U.S. /ˌrɛtrəˈspɛktɪv/
Etymology:  < post-classical Latin retrospect-, past participial stem of retrospicere to look back (see retrospect v.) + -ive suffix. With the use as adjective compare French rétrospectif (1779), Spanish retrospectivo (1587). With the use as noun compare earlier retrospect n., retrospection n., and (with the specific use in sense B. 2) French rétrospective (1920 in this sense; 1919 in sense ‘screening of a series of old films’), Spanish retrospectiva (1872 in this sense). Compare earlier retrospectively adv., which may imply earlier currency of the adjective.
N.E.D. (1908) also gives the pronunciation (rītrospe·ktiv) /riːtrəʊˈspɛktɪv/ .
(Show Less)
 A. adj.
Thesaurus »
Categories »

Chiefly Law. Taking effect from a date in the past; retroactive.

1660   F. Philipps Tenenda non Tollenda iii. 110   The new mode of making retrospective Acts of Parliament.

a1768   J. Erskine Inst. Law Scotl. (1773) I. ii. vii. §15   It hinders the confirmation from having that retrospective quality.

1788   Considerations submitted to House of Lords on Two East-India Bills 54   All Acts of the Legislature, are retrospective, as well as prospective.

1843   Macaulay Crit. & Hist. Ess. I. 465   Sentencing a man to death by retrospective law.

1873   Sat. Rev. 9 Aug. 36/1   It is a retrospective alteration of a contract by one of the parties to the detriment of the other.

1899   T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. VIII. 321   The amnesia, however, is not, so to speak, retrospective.

1934   Yale Law Jrnl. 44 360   The arguments on the legality of retrospective legislation have been impressive in variety, but unconvincing in substance.

1955   Times 28 June 6/5   The decision was retrospective to April 1, when the new rates came into operation.

2004   H. Kennedy Just Law (2005) iii. 82   The retrospective nature of the intended legislation makes it doubly wrong.

Above  is meaning number one (or retrospective) from the OED. Clearly it encompasses the 'retroactive'. And some of the more recent examples are clearly ones where you would claim 'retroactive' were appropriate. It seems to me that in Briatain, at least, 'retrospective' has to some extent taken on the meaning of 'retroactive'.


texts:
In a listening of my English course book there is this sentence: "It was the freshest movie for a long time". A film critic is talking about the best movies in the last ten years. For example: For me American Beauty was the best film in the last ten years" etc, then she talks about movie "Chicago", which is a musical and says:

  It was the freshest movie for a long time.

Me and a friend disagree on what "for a long time" means here.
I believe that the critic is saying that Chicago was fresh after a long period in which there has been no fresh musicals and Chicago still is the freshest musical.

My friend says that the critic is saying that when Chicago came out it was freshest at its time. But after a long time a more fresh musical came. So it was the freshest for a long time (along the lines of it was the highest building for 10 years)

Which one of us (if any) is right?

The Listening is from Total English Elementary, Unit 9, listening 9.4
Here I write some of the script.
Presenter: Good evening. Tonight we've got Mariela with us to talk about
her favourite films from the last ten years. Mariela, what do you think is
the best film of the last ten years?

Mariela:Hello, Neil, well, there's no competition for me. I know a lot of
people think it was Gladiator, but for me the best film in the last ten years was American Beauty-it was so different, very clever, and it had the best acting, I think. It was the most unusual film in the last ten years.

Presenter: So, no vote for Gladiator from you?

Mariela: Oh, I think Gladiator was really good. It was definitely the most exciting film, but it's not my favourite.

Presenter: Were there any surprises for you in the last ten years?

Mariela: Surprises... well, yes. I think the biggest surprise was The Sixth Sense - it was a fantastic film from an unknown director. No one expected it. I think it's also the scariest film in the last ten years.

Presenter: What about foreign language films? Any good ones there?

Mariela: Well, lots, of course, but the one that iI think was best was All about my mother, by Almodovar. It was a lovely film. Very sad, but the most interesting foreign language film of the ten years.

Presenter: Mmm, I liked that one too. You don't like violent films, do you?

Mariela: No, I don't. but there's one violent film that I want to talk about -
Pulp Fiction. That was very violent, possibly the most violent film of th ten years, but it was so good - it was definitely the best mixture of action and comedy at the time. And John Travolta was really fantastic as a villain - it's not usually the kind of past he plays, but he played the bad guy so well in this.

Presenter: Well, i think that's all we have time for...

Mariela: No, wait a moment, there's one more film I want to mention, and that's Chicago.
I don't usually like musicals at the cinema, but >>>it was the freshest musical for a long time<<< - it was really good.

Presenter: Ok. Thank you very much, Mariela, and now we turn to .....


texts: What is the significance of having a silent letter like "k" in a word?

texts:
Why is the k silent in: known /nəʊn/; knife /nʌɪf/, and knight /nʌɪt/?

What does this specify?And what is k doing there if there is no need to pronounce it?


texts: Like when someone says, "Hey, look at that girl!"... are you supposed to say "Where?" or "Where at?" What's the difference?


texts: What is the popular name for a packet of pre-washed salad leaves?

texts:
These come in various types and are pre-washed in packets; crisp iceberg lettuce leaves (which I prefer), rocket, plain leaves which look like things cows would chew, plus more exciting mixtures including other vegetables, shredded carrot, nuts etc.

These seem to be replacing the purchase of whole lettuces in some households.

What I am interested to know is what do people call them?

What do you write on the shopping list; packet-salad; bag of leaves; packet lettuce; bag of greens; or what? We have not reached any settled nomenclature in our household, which sometimes leads to confusion.

I am interested in how they are known generically?


texts: Incorrect grammar vs dialect (when/whenever)

texts:
My good friend is from Pittsburgh and frequently uses the word whenever to mean the word when. I am aware this is a regional dialect and really wish to respect that, but it is causing numerous problems in our spoken communication. (I am also a native English speaker but am not accustomed to this usage of "when" and "whenever".) I have expressed my concerns to him and asked him to use a neutral dialect to improve communication, but he argues it is valid English, he doesn't understand the difference between the two anyway, he "doesn't have problems with anyone else understanding [him]", and that my misunderstandings are because I "have Asperger's and understand [his] speech literally". (I would guess if no one else has an issue with his speech, it's because he speaks English primarily with people who have the same regional dialect and non-native English-speakers and uses French and German for work. That said, perhaps everyone else does understand what he means without any confusion. When I ask for clarification, he gets irritated.) What should I do?

Examples of such misunderstandings are below:

  Example: Whenever my aunt was about to die, she called me into the
  room and told me she loved me.

I understood this as his aunt periodically became ill to the point where she was close to dying and called him into the room to say she loved him. (My background in healthcare makes this seem like a very plausible situation.) I responded to him in a way that reflected my understanding of the habitual nature of this.

He was annoyed and said it was obvious that the aunt was about to die one time and that, as such, this calling-into-the-room was a one-time occurrence.

  Example: Whenever my sister was born, my dad fainted.

It is obvious to me that his sister was born one time. In this instance, although I believe the better word choice is when, I can understand that his father fainted when his sister was born.

  Example: Whenever I moved to Germany, I lived in Berlin.

I knew he had moved to Germany once for a (temporary, location-based) job. However, his statement surprised me, and I thought maybe I was wrong (and as a friend I wanted to learn more if he had actually moved numerous times), so I asked how many times he'd moved to/lived in Germany. He was equally surprised by my question, responded he'd moved to Germany once, and could not understand how there could be any confusion in the statement.


texts:
I ran into a phrase that does not make sense to me. It reads:
We are always pleased to have new subscribers, and I am certain you will be delighted with the upcoming season. Please find enclosed the tickets for the five plays for this season.

By Googling, I discovered such phrase is commonly used in business emails, albeit one that is frowned upon by grammarians. But "find enclosed the tickets" sounds odd and ridiculous to me. I believe the sentence would be better as "find the enclosed tickets."

Could someone explain the reasoning behind the seemingly odd structure of the phrase?

Thank you.


texts: A word to describe meaningless exchanges in conversation

texts:
I am looking for a word which describes meaningless exchanges in conversation e.g. "How are you doing?" "Good, good, you?" "Good." "See you later."
That is, in the asking of "How are you?" there is no expectation to find out how the person is actually doing - a perfunctory "good" is anticipated and expected. That is, passing exchanges where little to nothing is actually said or inquired.


texts: What's the difference between "air one's opinion" and "evince one's opinion"?

texts:
I'm doing translation exercises, and I translated "evince my opinion".

But the answer is "air my opinion"

I googled them, but there's no answer.

Here is the full sentence: Before airing my opinion, I will analyze the hot issue from diverse perspectives.

Is there any difference between "air one's opinion" and "evince one's opinion"?

Or are they just the same?


texts:
I came across this phrase in literature, and I am not sure what it exactly means? Any help would be appreciated.

Examples:

D. H. Lawrence:

  That in the dark of the night ahead other days stir fecund, when we have lapsed from existence. One knows how utterly we shall lapse.

Han Suyin:

  Today is nearly gone, but other todays stir fecund in the word tomorrow, many other todays when this one has lapsed from existence


texts:
Trying to think of a word that means "who they say they are." For instance,

The general is actually who he says he is.

The closest alternative I can come up with is legitimate. Any other thoughts?


texts: Season 2 Episodes 1-10 is/are now available. Which is correct?

texts: Which is correct? Season 2 Episodes 1-10 is/are now available.


texts:
I am always on the watch out for new unfamiliar idioms, especially in American English, and today I found one “to hang the moon”.

  "And so she's now talked about a lot," McCaskill added. "I'm not sure what she's done yet to generate that kind of enthusiasm, but I wish her well. I hope she hangs the moon. But I hope she also realizes that the parts of the country that are rejecting the Democratic Party, like a whole lot of white working class voters, need to hear about how their work is going to be respected, and the dignity of their jobs, and how we can really stick to issues that we can actually accomplish something on."
   CNN Politics
  Ocasio-Cortez fires back at McCaskill over criticism of rhetoric

In context, the meaning seems pretty easy to intuit. The speaker, former Senator Claire McCaskill, ostensibly hopes the newly elected  Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, will achieve her greatest ambitions while serving on the Senate.

For some reason, the idiom is not listed by Merriam-Webster or Oxford Dictionaries but it does appear in The Free Dictionary and when I checked Wiktionary, I found a slight twist

  hang the moon
  1. (idiomatic, US) To place the moon in the sky: used as an example of a superlative act attributed to someone viewed with uncritical or excessive awe, reverence or infatuation.

I don't think Sen. McCaskill views her colleague with an “uncritical” eye, quite the opposite in fact. The 65-year-old Democratic Senator will lose her seat come January 3rd, so the hope expressed could appear to be an insincere and veiled criticism of Ocasio-Cortez's inexperience.

According to The Phrase Finder it appears to have surfaced sometime during the 1980s

  I have heard it in the context of: “He thought she 'hung the moon.'” Meaning he thought she was super wonderful. I first heard it in the early 80s – Kentucky Gov. John Y. Brown Jr. said it about his new wife Phyllis George.

How old is this American English idiom?
Is this idiom reserved for someone you really admire or is it used to express incredulity and skepticism, think of the adage "and pigs might fly"?
What would be a British English equivalent? None come to mind.


texts:
I wonder how do you call the space inside trains like above.
I found some words: stock, carriage, cabin, compartment, etc through dictionaries, however, I don't know the differences among the words.

Would you tell me the differences among "carriage", "cabin", "compartment" and let me know how can I say in case of the picture attached above.


texts: Can't we tell which is which by sound (effect, affect)?

texts:
“We’ve adjusted for lots of other things that we know effect
  children’s development and IQ.”

LOE has the “effect” in its transcript above. But the audio from the same page has the sound of /əˈfɛkt/ (2:22~2:28). Then is this the schwa pronunciation of /ɪˈfɛkt/ ? If yes, can’t we tell which word is which just by sound?


texts: What do people say when someone posts an old meme picture

texts: What would one say in English when someone posts a picture or meme that one has already seen?  The response would be something like 'Already seen! Dissapointed!" in one word.


texts: What does Rick Perry’s “God uses broken people to reach a broken world" mean?

texts:
In the New York Times article of September 17 titled “Egghead and Blockheads,” Maureen Dowd introduces that GOP Presidential candidate, Rick Perry made light of his bad grades at Texas A&M in his speech to students of Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va.

Aside Perry’s acknowledgement that he ‘struggled with college, Dowd quotes Richard Oppel’s testimony that Perry’s D’s include Chemistry, the principles of economics, Shakespeare, Feeds & Feeding, Veterinary anatomy and Meat, plus C in Gym and one F in courses.

Dowd continues:

  "It’s enough to make you long for W.’s Gentleman’s C’s. At least he was a mediocre student at Yale. - - -Perry told the students, “God uses broken people to reach a broken world.” What does that even mean?"

It is a great challenge for a foreign English learner to try to understand the line that even a reputed NYT columnist isn’t sure of. But I don’t think the America’s promising Presidential candidate spoke Greek to the university students.

My guess of Perry’s line, “God uses broken people to reach a broken world,” means that "the stressed country at the difficult time requires the ‘square-shouldered’ (cowboy type) brave leader who was hammered out of struggles (from collegehood) rather than an intellectual but Hamlet-type indecisive leader who kept being alpha plus at college." But I'm not sure at all. What is the correct interpretation of the “God uses broken people” line?

By the way, what is W in "W.’s Gentleman’s C’s."


texts: Why do street parking signs say "no stopping or standing"?

texts: I see redundancy here.  If one stands a car on the street, isn't it necessary to stop first?  It would seem the most logical and efficient use of language for the sign would be "no stopping."  Or do drivers somehow differentiate between the two acts to the extent that they need to be told to avoid both?


texts: Is "almost only" a common phrase in English?

texts:
I was watching a documentary in German where scientists found a lot of fossils in a small area.  Almost all fossils have been from the same species. (Except a few others.) Would it be correct to say:

"They found almost only one species" ?

Alternative research brought up also: "found mainly" and "found basically"

Here is a counterpart at scienceview.com: "Almost no" fossil record exists for soft organisms such as jellyfish and worms.

Further research brings up that "almost only" is very often used in combination with fossils.


texts: An American English idiom for "die of happiness"

texts:
Is there an American English idiom for Russian "die of/from happiness"?

  I thought I would die of happiness when I heard this wonderful song!


texts: Accent on second syllable for "preference"

texts:
Dictionaries say that the word "preference" has got the accent on the first syllable.

In a film the actor Jonny Lee Miller pronounced it with accent on the second syllable.
It was not the first time I heard somebody pronounce it that way.

Where does it come from?


texts:
What is the correct abbreviation for the word "requirements"?

Specifically, I am looking for the plural form of the abbreviation.

I have seen various usages including:

req's
reqs.
REQS
REQs
rqmts.

Are any of the above considered the correct form?

I am inclined to believe that req's is incorrect because it appears to be a contraction or in the possessive form.

REQS and REQs appear to be acronyms, which implies that each letter stands for some unique word.

So, it seems that reqs. and rqmts. are likely candidates to be the correct form, but I cannot find any definitive sources.

FWIW: As I type this question, my browser is marking only rqmts. with a spell check red underline. Indicating that perhaps all of the other options may be acceptable.


texts:
Does at the proverbial last minute have a special meaning ?

or the word proverbial is used in its usual meaning?

What is the difference if it has a special meaning between

at the last minute and

at the proverbial last minute ?


texts: Difference: "pleased", "satisfied" and "content"

texts:
We're trying to translate a psychological test and in its 30-some questions, there are three that are a little bit confusing, mainly because they translate to the same set of words according to our dictionaries. Since the original language of the test is English, I think they must make sense and difference to the native speaker.

We also found a few useful clues in the question titled
Pleased and satisfied. What's the difference? and went on with a thesaurus, but we're still not confident enough.

So what's the actual difference here?

I feel pleased
I feel content
I feel satisfied

All within the same test.


texts:
My broker sent me this email:

  This is an automated message to alert you that your overall account
  value has just decreased by -10% within the day.

The broker claims that this message means, the account decreased by 10% from the beginning and is more or less ignoring the within the day.
I am Austrian and therefore not an English native speaker but an English friend [from Liverpool] read the email and she told me that the email means the account value decreased by these 10% in 1 day - be more specific: The previous day the email was sent.

My question:
How is this email really to be understood? Is it clear what the broker says that they mean the account value decreased by 10% from the beginning, or
does it mean the account value decreased by 10% that one day?

Another point:
When writing decrease I consider the minus sign in the percentage value also as not correct. The word decrease is precise enough so in my eyes it should be like this: ..has just decreased by 10%...

I am asking because this a one of the biggest brokers and they send in my eyes not clear statements.

So, in the end I would have expected the email something like this:

... has just decreased by 10% since the account was opened.


texts: What's the difference between" the topics discussed" and "the discussed topics"?

texts:
As a non-native speaker, I think those two above mentioned has no difference.
If any, would any of you tell me the subtle difference?
As far as I am concerned, past participles should be put before nouns except for past participle phrases modifying nouns.


texts: If something with no specific time associated with it is called timeless, what would you call something with no specific place associated with it?

texts:
I would, quite simply, like to know what the word is for something that could happen in any place; similar to the word "timeless", though that refers to something that could happen during any time. I would really appreciate help finding an appropriate word!

An example sentence would be an answer to "Where is it set?": "It is [word] so it could be applied to any place." I understand that I could just use the secondary explanation but wish to look for a specific word.


texts: A word for the top plus point in one's application for a position?

texts:
When you apply for a position/job, one aspect of your application -- for example your proposal, or your research record, or your background -- is your greatest advantage to get you the position/job. I am looking for a word/phrase to mean such a top plus point.

Example:

I have applied for the position and I think my proposal would be my ------ .

The very common "greatest strength" that is asked about in interviews seems to be just about personal features or character. So that seems not to be the right word for the above sentence.


texts: "willingness to pay" for meaning of affordability?

texts:
I'm looking for research paper(or wikipedia page, whatever) about willingness to pay for something in general. Since I noticed the significant difference of "willingness for paying" between countries, for example, Japan and the US, with consideration of average disposable income.
Accounting to wikipedia, "willingness to pay" is described as:

willingness to accept (WTA) is the minimum monetary amount that а person is willing to accept to sell a good or service

So, the meaning of this term is generally used for a good or service. Not as whole or general sense.
In this case, what English word can I use to describe the "willingness to pay" instead?


texts: What is the difference between "dry run" and "rehearsal"?

texts:
I saw a phrase "dry run".
I am wondering if there is any difference between "dry run" and "rehearsal".

I looked it up.
Its meaning is the same as the term "rehearsal".
My question is that are they interchangable.
Sorry, I don't have any example.

May I have your confirmation?
Thanks a lot!


texts: What are the capitalization rules for in-document references in scientific papers?

texts:
In scientific writing, should I capitalize in-document references?

Which of the following is correct or more widely used?

For more detail, see Section 4.1.
For more detail, see section 4.1.

Are there different rules depending on the type of in-document reference (Chapter, Section, Appendix, etc.)?


texts: Word for obscuring bad or immoral acts with verbiage

texts:
I have been in many scenarios where people try to obscure/reduce the intensity of a seemingly bad or immoral act using grammar. E.g. Assuming Thomas killed a dog, you could hear something like:

  There's essentially nothing wrong about palliating the miserable life
  of a despondent being. If there was any issue here, I'd say it's not
  consulting a veterinary doctor first but I've come to understand that some people are just straightforward.

How does one react to the above mumbo jumbo? I think there are similar situations also found in law courts. What can this be referred to as? Grammatification, obscure tactics?


texts: Adverb equivalent of Wirelessly for wired

texts:
It does not matter whether you connect wirelessly or by wires.

While this seems to sufficiently convey my intent, I find myself personally hesitating anytime I speak or type it, as it feels unbalanced.

wireless: as an adjective, it naturally changes to wirelessly.

wired:  as an adjective, it does not have the same possibilities.

Is there a way to describe the means of connectivity using the same parts of speech or any other colloquial way to express this?


texts: Past conditional with the main clause always false

texts:
Is this sentence correct:

  He was mumbling incoherently. If you understood Sanskrit I understood what he said.

Or should it be:

  He was mumbling incoherently. If you understand Sanskrit I understood what he said.

Or are they both correct.

Edit:

I should clarify the context because this can be understood in different ways. The example is about person A narrating a past event to person B. The narrator A is trying to accentuate and emphasize the fact the he understood absolutely nothing of what the person in the past story was saying. So the desired meaning is: Just like S1 is utterly wrong, thus is S2: Just like you understand absolutely no Sanskrit, I also did not understand what the person in the story was saying. Of course there's no logical link between S1 and S2 like in normal conditionals, so S1 is not a condition for S2 in any way.


texts: Word that means "To move speedily, yet elegantly and effortlessly".

texts:
ex.

  She gave me a delicate look from across the room, and - without hesitation - ______ed through the labyrinth of guests towards me."


texts: "If it hadn’t been for the rock, the ship wouldn’t have gone aground"

texts:
If it hadn’t been for the rock, the ship wouldn’t have gone aground.

What does this idiom mean, exactly?

From The Economist.


texts:
I was reading some parts of Ant-Man and the Wasp movie transcript from this site
I saw this sentence in it:

but what's this have to do with where Scott Lang is?

Can we abbreviate does to s like when we do the same to is?


texts: What does “playus nigh” mean in Cockney?

texts:
Quotation from A history of the cries of London ancient (p23).
Refer to What does “him as writ plays” mean?


texts: Usage of "scared," "fear of," "afraid of/to," and "concerned to"

texts: Could anybody please explain me when can I use 'afraid', 'fear of', 'scared', 'concern', 'worried' to express a situation that i can't handle or out of my reach? Explain also please which one of the terms above get the highest extent in expressing the worst situation. Thank you


texts:
What does the bold part mean?
Thank you.

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/closeread/2013/08/going-to-congress-obamas-best-syria-decision.html

Or it might go badly. Obama is certainly taking a risk, but that’s what the Presidency should be, and this one is worth it. The worst outcomes would involve either Congress or the President dodging this moment and its meaning. Congress might do so by constructing some legislative monstrosity, as it did during the debt-ceiling crisis, that relies on a complicated series of mechanisms that assure nothing—except that whatever happens is Obama’s fault—or too-sweeping powers. And the most disastrous thing that Obama could do is not admitting that he’s lost if he does, and bombing anyway. Perhaps it’s too optimistic to say that today’s decision might be what keeps some future President, our country, and who knows what other nation and people from the sort of tragedy that destroys cities. But it will certainly help, in an area where the world needs all the help it can get. And that makes this a morally important moment for the President as well.


texts:
What is the origin of the expression: kick things into long grass? I hear of it in the context of political inaction.

  to react to a difficult problem by doing something to make sure that people will forget about it rather than trying to solve it.

  The decision to kick the proposals into the long grass could come back to haunt all three party leaders. (Macmillan Dictionary)

The following source suggests that its origin is:

  Kick it into the long grass" is golf-derived, essentially describing a form of cheating: a player whose ball lands in the rough so as to be unplayable without adding multiple strokes to the hole can cheat by kicking the ball out-of-bounds into the really long grass and take a one-stroke penalty for a lost ball. (www.idiomcenter.com)

Other sources suggest a different origin

  Geldof claims it is an old Irish saying meaning that you've been round and about only not too visible- ~Where have you been? I've been lying in the long grass. Under the radar might be an approximation. Lazing with intent.
  (boomtownrats.activeboard)

Is there evidence of a more precise origin of the above saying?


texts: Phrase interpretable as expressing A, or as B, or as "A and B"

texts:
Within the world of terms like double entendre, multiple entendre, and polysemy  is there a way of more specifically expressing the situation where

  there is a remark that can be understood to say A, or to be saying B, and it can be interpreted as saying both things.

"Simultaneous", "joint" or "conjunct" entendre come to mind but I have never heard such phrases in real use.


texts:
I've just seen a line of text warning of a systems upgrade that says: "...applications that utilize [the system] will be quieted on..."

Leaving aside the -ize suffix on "utilize", I would have said "...applications that utilize the system will be quiesced on..."

Somewhat maddeningly the original text doesn't explain how the applications will be quieted, whether they have a quiet mode, or what attributes they have that enable them to be quieted, but I would infer from the context that there's some command or set of commands that can be issued that will perform said quieting.

I've looked both words up in Wiktionary but am still at a loss to know if both words are interchangeable or if one usage is more correct than the other.

Here are the Wiktionary definitions:

quiet:

  To become quiet, silent, still, tranquil, calm.
  To cause someone to become quiet.

quiesce:

  Become quiet or quieter.
  To make temporarily inactive or disabled.

(Interestingly the browser puts a red squiggly under quiesced)


texts: a phrase/word for a place that looks good decor wise but bad products wise

texts:
I am looking for a phrase/word for a place which looks good decor wise but bad products wise.

Context: I went to a coffee shop that looked stunning but their products and service were not good.
And my sentence is: The coffee shop was ___________.

My original thought was cosmetic, but someone told me is it not appropriate here.

What would you use in this case?

Thanks.


texts: Should punctuation surrounding italicised words be italicised?

texts:
This might be a tad off-topic, but I am looking for an English-specific answer.

When I’m using italic text to denote emphasis or a quotation, should the italicisation extend to the punctuation surrounding the italicised words? If the punctuation marks are not italicised, in most digital fonts the italic letters will crash horribly—or at least intrude awkwardly—into the Roman punctuation. It’s especially problematic with parentheses, and lowercase Fs. Since I don’t have the luxury of typesetting all of my documents in lead, I’ve taken to either italicising the punctuation, or inserting a thin space (for lowercase F) or a hair space (for other letters) before the closing punctuation.

Examples:

What is that? ⇒ What is that? ⇒ What is that ?
Solid (or fluff). ⇒ Solid (or fluff). ⇒ Solid (or fluff ).
(Good times!) ⇒ (Good times!) ⇒ (Good times !)

I know this is a nitpicky thing (hell, even I think so, and I’m the one asking), but is there a standard way to address it? Just because this is the internet, it doesn’t mean we need to totally disregard the typesetting facilities that are available.


texts: what is the significance of crossing the Potomac river in the following excerpt?

texts:
Over the last 40 years, Mattis said, there had been some years when relations between the secretary of state and secretary of defense had been so bad they did not speak to each other or even so much as cross the Potomac River and shake hands.
what I guess is that they would cross the Potomac river but not shake hands because of their bad relationship. Can anybody tell me its significance?


texts: What's the phrase for "learning throughout one's life"?

texts:
How should one refer to somebody who wants to gain knowledge all the time and keeps learning in life even when very old?

What's the phrase for the same? My dictionary says "learn and live."


texts: From a non-native's standpoint: Which dictionary should I pay attention to when I find semantically contradictory definitions of a word?

texts:
[The following is one of dozens of cases I come across on a daily basis]

By accident, I have recently noticed that the phrasal verb go through (as in experience) -- which I've been using so far in my IELTS writing essays -- is associated with a connotation of negativeness (suffering, unpleasantness, etc). Flipping through dictionary pages I'm finding out they do not agree with one another over the level of negativity. Some have dismissed the negativity component very lightly, while others have fundamentally/thoroughly attached it to that concept. Others, though, have used parentheses. (Making a good decision in such case takes on added importance when I have, for instance, used go through in my essay, and after questioning its correctness I have ended up paging through dictionaries.)

To clarify, here's where I'm finding myself locked in:

  Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary [11th]: go through: 2.EXPERIENCE; UNDERGO.

  The American Heritage Dictionary (5th):2. go through: To experience; Undergo

  The online ones:

  Collins English Dictionary: 4. (preposition) to suffer    [end of story?!]

  oxford dictionaries: Undergo (a difficult period or experience)

  the free dictionary: 2. To experience

  McMillan dictionary: 3. [TRANSITIVE] go through something:
  to experience something difficult or unpleasant

I cannot reasonably take the most comprehensive meaning (maybe the Amr. Hert. Dict & Oxf. Dict.s, in the case on hand) all the time, under the assumption that the others have left something out, because a lengthy definition isn't necessarily the best one. Using only one perfect dictionary? There is no such dictionary out there, or else the need to set up brilliant communities like this would have never made itself felt. Come here and ask? I guess this has to be the best answer, but the need is too frequent and it takes me a long time. Googling? Yes, that works in some cases. But It's not reliable enough, I think, since you can't tell if the writer was a native speaker. Plus the fact that not each and every composition/collocation of words exists there, whereas the Googled term IS actually true (I say this out of a couple of such experiences).

Questions:

Q 1. What should I do (if anything at all!)?

Q 2. What does go through really mean? In other words, should I use it only when  something unpleasant/bad/difficult is involved?

Q 3. Are the editors of the community erasing thanks?


texts: The difference between "irony" and "paradox"

texts:
What is the exact difference between irony and a paradox? I've tried looking this up and I seem to have a vague idea about it, but it'd be great if someone could illustrate with an example or two.

An example I encountered: "John lacks a sense of humor. Ironically, he was born on the 1st of April."


texts: Meaning of phrases in a passage from nytimes

texts:
Sartre and star fever, side by side: this was Mr. Sheldon at his
risible but lovable high-low best.  He was both literate and lurid,
and he made that combination hard to resist.
He achieved his effects by using a secret weapon: his nostalgic
appreciation of Thomas Wolfe, Sinclair Lewis, Ernest Hemingway, F.
Scott Fitzgerald and their storytelling skills.
Thus equipped, and endlessly interested in the rich, powerful and
tragic, he brought class to trash. And he did it with consistent
professionalism, turning himself into a legitimate brand name. If that
sounds like no great accomplishment, think about how rarely an author
does it right.

What do the following phrases mean:

"Mr.Sheldon at his risible but lovable high-low best"
He brought class to trash

In my opinion, high-low is related to a game of cards and being not aquainted with the game, I cannot understand it's meaning
Also I couldn't comprehend the meaning of "class to trash" even after reading few books of Sheldon. Maybe it's something related to his style of writing complex intriguing stories in a simple way thus bring class (interesting plots etc which make good novels) into trash(simplicity).
I am not sure. Would be grateful for any help.


texts: "The more, the merrier!" -- Is this a sentence? If not... what?

texts:
Is

  The more, the merrier!

a sentence? It doesn't seem to have a main verb, so I'm inclined to say no, but it certainly functions as a sentence in everyday speech.

I can think of three ways of analysing it:

It's a sentence with no main verb. Is this even possible?
It's a sentence with an implicit verb: something like The more we have, the better!
It's not a sentence. But then, what is it?


texts: Using “domination of” to show skillfulness

texts:
Can “domination of” be used to show skillfulness
Examples:
1) Sarah has a great domination of mathematics.
2) He has a high domination of plying piano.


texts: "Will you hang up?" or "Are you going to hang up?"

texts:
Phone call
Person A: "You should get some sleep."
Person B: (worried because they don't want person A to hang up)
                   "Will you/Are you going to hang up?"

What's the right way to say it?


texts: Name of Introductory Text Before a Section of Text

texts:
In a structured document, with sections, parts, and possibly subsections, is there a word, or prefix, or construction, to identify the introduction before a section or a subsection?
For instance, for the second subsection of section one, i.e. §1.2. one would write,

See Section 1, Subsection 2 for more details

What about the preamble/introduction of section 1?

1. Section One
This is preamble of the section 1.
1.1. Subsection 1
Text of subsection 1.1.
1.2. Subsection 2
Text of subsection 1.2.


texts:
For example I want to know if my actions did "ruin" someones weekend, but use for ruin a softer/nicer word can this be "spoil" and the sentence would look like this:

I hope i did not spoil your weekend too much

Thanks for help and fast answer ^^


texts:
I am looking for a pretty descriptive word for a group of socialites.
Similar in tone to a roar of lions, rather than usual pride.  A puff of dragons would be another.  It needs to be positive in this instance.


texts:
Which pronoun do we use when referring to something metaphorically rather than directly?

Todd Leopold, et al., May 28, 2014 writing on CNN:

  A literary voice revered globally for her poetic command and her commitment to civil rights has fallen silent.

I would think one might use the pronoun corresponding to the metaphor literary voice (it) here, rather than the personality it refers to (her).

Especially as it somehow seems interfering with the subsequent has fallen silent.


texts: Do synonyms have exactly the same meanings as each other in all contexts?

texts:
I have a question about synonyms:
I'm wondering for quite a while if synonyms always stand exactly for the same thing. Is there sometimes a little difference in meaning?
Let's use clumsy and clunky for example. Can I always replace clunky with clumsy? Since I'm not a native speaker, as you may have noticed, I cannot tell them apart. According to my dictionary, they mean exactly the same. Is it always true?

If the question has already been ask, sorry I couldn't find it.

Edit: Thank you very much! Every answer has helped a lot and thank you so much for it. I really appreciate it. I've voted all your answer because every answer helped me in a different way. I've accepted Barrie England's answer because it was the best one in my case. But all of yours were really good and helpful :)


texts: Difference between "compact" and "accord"

texts:
What's the difference between those two words?

  But the Marshall Islands holds an important card: Under a 1986
  compact, the roughly 70,000 residents of the Marshalls

  The debate over loss and damage has been intense because the final
  language of the Paris accord could require developed countries

I think accord is more informal, while compact is specific to America.
Both of the quotes come from here


texts: Describing the syntax in a sentence from Jane Austen's Emma

texts:
I'm writing an essay on a passage from Jane Austen's Emma and am trying to comment upon the structure of a certain sentence. I know what I want to say (in terms of the effects of the syntax), but I could use some help with describing the syntax itself, as my grammar's a little shaky.

The sentence is:

  "He was accused of having a delightful voice, and a perfect knowledge of music; which was properly denied; and that he knew nothing of the matter, and had no voice at all, roundly asserted"

I noticed that this was made of two similarly structured parts (phrases? clauses? This is where I'm getting lost): (very loosely) ... [object] and [object], ... [verb]; [object] and [object], ... [verb]". How might I describe this? In my quest to describe this accurately I've discovered complex-compound sentences and verb complements, but I'm still pretty lost. Can anyone give me a hand?


texts:
I've always transcribed "pink" and "ring" with the vowel /I/ (lax) vs. the tense /i/, and my students have never argued with me about it, but suddenly I've been getting a good number of students arguing for the /i/.  They seem to have a vowel somewhere in between perhaps--sometimes it sounds like straight /i/.
     Just wondering if you've heard about this happening in certain parts of the country or if this has always been a sort of variant.  Most of my student are from the midwest (Michigan)


texts: A word for a person who feels that he has forgotten something

texts:
Is there any word or phrase to describe a person who always feels rthat he has forgotten something even if he hasn't forgotten something really, while going out from somewhere? Example :-

  Peter is a xxx as he always feels that he has forgotten something, whenever he goes out of his house.

What can be the replacement of xxx?


texts: Is it correct to use 'against of' in the following sentence?

texts:
Please read the following sentences.

  1) We are against of removing our resource when there is no work.

  2)  We are against removing our resource when there is no work.

Which sentence is correct?

Also: I think 'sacking' is not a polite word. Am I right?

Thanks,


texts: Why does oxforddictionaries.com not use a comma after the abbreviations 'i.e.' and 'e.g.'?

texts:
At oxforddictionaries.com, they don't use a comma after 'e.g.' and 'i.e.'.

Period is required after 'i.e.' here in BrE.

https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/e.g.

https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/i.e.

But we would use a comma after 'for example' and 'that is' in a sentence.

So why is the comma omitted after each abbreviation? This, logically, does not make sense.


texts:
Let's think about two sentences.
first :

  Italian doctors are now treating coronavirus patients in their homes

second :

  Italian doctors are now treating coronavirus patients in their own homes

My interpretation of these sentences :
first : Doctors are treating patients in patients' homes.
second : Patients are treated in doctors' homes.

Am I right ?


texts: Meaning of 'I don't swing at soft balls'

texts:
In an episode of Cougar Town, I noticed one of the characters told her friend 'I don't swing at soft balls'. First I thought it was an idiom, but I couldn't find it anywhere when I started looking it up. Here's the dialogue:

  Girl 1 - Luckily, I can control my gag reflex.
  Girl 2 - (ignoring)
  Girl 1 - What, nothing?!
  Girl 2 - I don't swing at soft balls.

I would like to know whether this is normally used in English or it is just a phrase coined for the occasion.


texts: Can the expression "to catch a chill" be used informally today or has it already past its peak in usage? I have seen it mentioned referring to people living in the 19th century.


texts: a network of engines that enables Vs that enable

texts:
ABC operates a network of multilingual job search engines that enables individuals to find suitable jobs across multiple countries.

VS

Recruit.net operates a network of multilingual job search engines that enable individuals to find suitable jobs across multiple countries.


texts: Term for using your own words against you

texts: Could anyone tell me the literary term (if one exists) for using someone's own words against them in the future. For example, in The Merchant of Venice when Shylock states he wants to 'catch Antonio once upon the hip' and later Gratiano repeats this to Shylock as an insult.


texts:
I want to use something better than "letting me know" in this sentence:

  Please reply letting me know what day/time works best for you if are still interested, if you need a later date, or if you are no longer interested.


texts: Is there an adjective for "cannot be defended against"?

texts:
The adjective indefensible is commonly used to describe something that cannot be defended, but it applies to the defender, not to the attack itself. I'm wondering if there's a reasonably neutral word for "cannot be defended against". Something in the same spirit as foolproof, but less general and without the connotation of being proofed against fools.

For example,

  I believe it to be bad policy for a game to have an [adjective] move.

whose meaning is identical to

  I believe it to be bad policy for a game to have a move that cannot be defended against.

The term unavoidable comes to mind, but strongly implies that whatever is "unavoidable" must happen, whereas the adjective I'm looking for is conditional on an attack that may or may not happen. Unavoidable also doesn't imply defense. In the example above, "an unavoidable move" might just as easily refer to a move that can easily be defended against but that must be made at some point.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

Thanks in advance.


texts: What's the origin of "[X number of] souls onboard"?

texts:
In nautical (and aeronautical) contexts, a vessel may declare a number of "souls onboard". I've googled around for origin of that phrase, but haven't found a definitive explanation. Most discussions of the phrase I've seen on aeronautical forums and obviously concern the usage in aviation, with the discussion often revolving around on rescuers tallying the dead after an accident. But the phrase is obviously older than that and used in situations besides emergencies.

Of the explanations I've read, many claim that "souls" is used as it includes passengers and crew, whereas a number on a passenger manifest would only include the former. But even so "people", "humans", or simply "there are 150 onboard" would seem as effective.

While the inclusion of passengers and crew makes sense, I can't help but wonder what the requirements are for being counted as a "soul" and whether they've changed. Whether it's always meant "living human being" or if it was used to expressly exclude certain individuals rather than include them. For instance, would it include the (presumably non-babtized) "cargo" in the days of slave trade? A morbid thought, I admit.

It may just be tradition based in "souls" sounding more dignified than "humans", and the religion-laden language of its day. Yet I can't help but wonder.

Clarification: The answers here so far concern aviation usage, yet I simply mentioned aviation because that's the context in which I've seen the phrase discussed. But my question is about its original etymology; not its current usage. The phrase comes from a nautical context, but why did sailors use the word "souls"?

I understand the meaning of the phrase, and I understand that it makes sense as an inclusive term to mean "everyone onboard". I also understand that by now it's become traditional. But again the question is about its origin. Since a word like "persons" would be equally unambiguous (and as David Schwartz points out below, "persons" is indeed a valid alternative in modern aviation), why use "souls" instead? Was it for instance originally meant as an exclusive term?

Some of the explanations I've seen elsewhere:

"Souls" excludes human remains being transported (in an aviation context this would help crash responders sort out crash victims from those already dead, but again the phrase predates aircraft and aircraft crashes)
It refers back to "S.O.S" for "save our souls" (which must be wrong since that's not what S.O.S means. The code was chosen for its morse pattern and not as an acronym, and anyway the phrase is older than morse code too)
"Souls" excludes lawyers and managers… (no comment)

By the way, in aviation it seems the phrase is sometimes abbreviated as "S.O.B", much to the delight of some pilots, especially when pluralized: "We've got 40 SOBs here. And two pilots."


texts:
Is a comma followed by 'and' grammatically correct?
For example:

This Agreement, and any and all disputes directly or indirectly arising...


texts:
Which of the following is correct?

If Insurance company or Law Firm have changed their opinion then please let us know.

or

If Insurance Company or Law Firm has changed its opinion then please let us know.


texts: a complex sentence, and I cannot understand

texts:
The truth is, we are all affected by the people we interact with, many of whom we don't even know personally

we don't know what? those peoples or this truth ?


texts:
Today I'd like to present my question about the passablity of what I'll post below.

Just as I talked with my american friends(I am Japanese) on discord, a certain person said to me;

  Are romantic relationships more abnormal than not for Japanese in their 20s?

The context is to mock Japanese low birthrate and low marriage rate.
Anyway, I got a bit confused because by him using a single "not", I couldn't tell what he really meant.
With "not", we can associate the sentence with two senses or more; "not romantic relationship" or "not abnormal".
According to the speaker, it means the latter.
Thus I think that "more/less X than not" means "more/less X than not X".
The idiom, "More often than not", "More likely than not" can be interpreted through this structure.
Do you think this structure has common passablity?; That is, can I adapt this as I please, like "more brilliant than not", "more famous than not", "more easy than not".
I think this structure can be better off if it is used in question sentences.

Any thought?


texts:
Is it correct to say "to put down a downpayment"?

Or should it be "to put down a payment"? But that doesn't really emphasize that it's a downpayment it could be a payment of any sort.

Or maybe just say "to pay the downpayment"?

I would have thought that it's the first way but it somehow seems a bit odd...


texts: To erase or to wipe + computer information?

texts: Which is correct? To erase computer information or to wipe computer information?


texts:
Is there a word meaning 'a person who eats meat and/or fish'?

For example a vegan is 'a person who does not eat or use animal products', a vegetarian is 'a person who does not eat meat or fish', and a pescatarian is 'a person who does not eat meat but does eat fish'.

There is 'omnivore', but this seems to go with 'herbivore' and 'carnivore' rather than 'vegan/vegetarian/pescatarian'.


texts:
Is the following correct:

The overjoyous Scottish supporter could hardly believe his eyes!


texts: Is there an adjective synonyms with the expression "before dawn"?

texts: Is there an adjective synonyms with the expression "before dawn" or "occurring before dawn"?


texts: Independent and dependent clauses classification

texts: "What you see is what you get". In this sentence, there are two noun clauses: 1. What you see, and 2. What you get. Obviously enough, it's a complex sentence. I want to know which one is the independent clause, and which one dependent?


texts: How to determine Weak and Strong verbs in Old English (Anglo-Saxon)

texts: How to determine whether a verb is a weak verb or a strong verb in Old English ?


texts: What part of speech is "on" in "on fire"?

texts:
A while ago, there was an answer on Jeopardy! along the following lines:

  In the sentence he was on fire, the word on is this part of speech.

The judges ruled that it was a preposition.  But I think that only works if the guy was physically located on top of a fire.  After discussing it with someone, I think it's the first half of a compound adjective.  There's a convenient parallel to the single word "afire" there.

So, who was right?  And why?


texts: big to small, and small to big approach names

texts:
In a book, I read:

  Engineering is all about breaking down big problems into smaller ones and putting the
  solutions for those problems back together.

My generalized interpretation of this text is that, sometimes we start from the big end, sometimes from the smaller ends, and then we move towards the other end.

Do we have terms to describe these approaches? Like saying "president is a X-ist" to denote that he starts from small problems to get to bigger ones till he solves the biggest problems.

I tried to bring forward some examples. But I failed. I hope you have understood.


texts: Is there a word describing the activity of killing somebody with a knife?


texts: Active to passive voice conversion for "He has money."

texts:
The question is really simple, but I cannot for the life of me figure out how to convert this sentence from active voice to passive voice, or at least to a natural-sounding paraphrase 'depersonalised' to the extent that the inanimate object becomes the subject.

The sentence:

  He has money.

I am able to convert other similar sentences such as -

"He has my apple." -> "My apple is with him."
"He has the money." -> "The money is with him."

P.S. I assure you this is not a homework question. I am someone who writes computer software for a living. I heard this question somewhere and it is driving me crazy!!


texts: How rewrite Longmore LJ in *Salt v Stratstone Specialist Ltd* (2015) without negator?

texts:
To improve English, I want try re-rewriting long sentences without negator because I understand "Don't you ever talk like that to me again", but not "Don't you never silence like that to me never".

Poole, Shaw-Mellors. Contract Law Concentrate (4 ed 2019). p 209.

  Leaf v International Galleries (1950): picture
  represented (non-fraudulent) to be ‘Salisbury
  Cathedral’ by Constable. Five years later the
  purchaser attempted to sell it and discovered it
  was not by Constable. The Court of Appeal (CA)
  held that rescission had been lost as not exercised
  within a reasonable time. However, some
  doubt has been cast on Leaf v International
  Galleries (1950) by the Court of Appeal in
  Salt v Stratstone Specialist Ltd (2015) where
  Longmore LJ stated:

p 210.

    ‘It must, moreover,
    be remembered that Leaf was decided well
    before the Misrepresentation Act was passed.
    It must be doubtful whether since the enactment
    of section 1 it is still good law that a representor
    should be in no worse position than if the
    representation had become a term of the
    contract, particularly if the representor takes no
    steps to prove that he was not negligent.’

"It must be doubtful whether since the enactment of section 1 it is still good law" just means Longmore thinks opposite. I can just add NOT.

  a representor should NOT be in no worse position than if the representation had become a term of the contract, particularly if the representor takes no steps to prove that he was not negligent.

Now how rewrite without "NOT" and "no worse"? Does "NOT be in no worse position" mean better?

  a representor should be in BETTER position than if the representation had become a term of the contract, particularly if the representor takes no steps to prove that he was not negligent.

I quote 2 other books for context for you. O'Sullivan & Hilliard's The Law of Contract (2018 8 ed). p 237.

  9.42 Leaf involved a wholly innocent misrepresentation, where some indulgence to the representor
  can be expected. Perhaps it is only in such cases that Lord Denning’s view
  should prevail over conflicting considerations of fairness to the representee. Recently
  the Court of Appeal in Salt v Stratstone Specialist Ltd (2015) has pointed out that Leaf
  is out of date—it reflected the principle that the misrepresentation regime should not
  give greater protection to a purchaser than if the statement had been incorporated as a
  term of the contract, and at the time the Sale of Goods Act provided that a purchaser
  would be deemed to have accepted the goods if he did not reject them within a reasonable
  time. Since then, amendments to the Sale of Goods Act, and the enactment of the
  Misrepresentation Act, cast doubt on the reasoning and conclusion in Leaf, therefore the
  court in Salt, although unable to overrule the earlier Court of Appeal decision, doubted
  that lapse of time alone should generally bar rescission.

Mindy Chen-Wishart. Contract Law (2018 6 edn). p 228.

  But even if the representee remains ignorant
  of the non-fraudulent misrepresentation, it was once thought that a substantial
  passage of time may itself bar rescission. In Leaf v International Galleries (1950), L was
  induced to buy a picture of Salisbury Cathedral by I’s innocent misrepresentation that
  it was painted by the famous artist Constable. L only discovered this was false when
  he tried to sell the picture some five years later. Nevertheless, L’s claim to rescind the
  contract was denied due to lapse of time. Jenkins LJ said that contracts ‘cannot be
  kept open and subject to the possibility of rescission indefinitely’. In addition, the
  representor should not be worse off than if the statement had become a term, when
  the representee would be barred from termination if she had ‘accepted’ the goods
  under the Sale of Goods Act 1893. This was questioned by the Court of Appeal in
  Salt v Stratstone Specialist Ltd (2015), since section 1 MA allows a representee to treat
  a term as a representation (5.2.2.1).


texts: What does ‘government shutdown’ mean exactly?

texts:
Today's Washington Post has the article Congress, Obama Brace for Showdown as Government Shutdown Looms, which contains the following sentence:

  The prospect of a government shutdown appeared more possible Saturday after the House passed a budget measure in the pre-dawn hours that cuts $61 billion - and was immediately rejected by Senate Democrats and President Obama.

What does government shutdown mean? Unlike stores and factories, or Greece and Iceland, how can the government of America shut down, or get paralyzed with its operation? I know it's a naive question, but I don't understand a government can stop its function in reality.


texts: A word to describe a situation where someone is proven wrong multiple times

texts:
More specifically the person assumes that something was common knowledge but everyone he/she ask proves otherwise.  Initially the person asking makes fun of the people for not knowing.

Might be a stretch to ask, but who knows.


texts: Are two singular nouns together singular or plural?

texts:
I'm writing a research paper with several classmates for school. However, there's a sentence that we, as well as others who have reviewed our paper, disagree with on how to write. Which sentence is more proper, grammatically?

Yet, alcohol usage and abuse still continue.
Yet, alcohol usage and abuse still continues.

I realize that this is probably a trivial question, but I would appreciate any help nonetheless.


texts: Word for secret knowledge that is not publishable, but known by “everyone on the inside”

texts:
I am looking for a word, or name of a concept, that describes a secret that

is kept from one group of people, e.g. a society (outsiders),
is known by a specific group of other people, e.g. journalists (insiders), and
that greatly affects what outsiders know about the topic, and affects how insiders discuss the topic.

Let us say the prime minister of your country is a single man of 40. Society knows nothing of this man's personal life, but journalists know for a fact that he is ragingly asexual*. They never publish this, however, because of some reason (reputation, respect).

This will have an effect on what the journalists write about this person. They will write little or nothing about his personal life, and in cases concerning asexuality avoid requesting a comment from him at all.

Society will only know the fact that little is known about his personal life and his stance on asexuality. It will seem odd to them, at least the critical ones, why so little is known – or rather, why his personal life is not used to gather votes.

Is there a term for this other than secret? It seems to me that it has more weight than a mere secret. It could, in this case, affect a whole society.

* I have nothing against asexuality, nor should there be anything unusual about it, but in the contemporary society it could be pivotal to elections etc.


texts: What are the differences between proverb, adage, aphorism, epigram, maxim and apothegm?

texts:
There are similar questions but none that are comprehensive in asking for this group of words
This is not about what the dictionary says, but rather about the subtler and context-dependent connotations, because they have pretty much the same definitions


texts: How is "e.g." pluralized? Usually I just see "e.g." used regardless of the number of examples given, but I don't know if that's correct or merely a product of widespread ignorance. More rarely, I've seen "ee.g." and "e.e.g." but I haven't been able to verify that either of those is right.


texts: What is a antonym of 'disaster time' in a formal report?

texts:
Is it 'peacetime' or 'ordinary time'?

I need to submit a formal report describing a difference of human behavior in disaster time and ordinary time. What is formal antonym of 'disaster time'?

'Disaster time' means a period right after a large disaster like big earth quake or Tsunami.

BTW, isn't 'disaster time' also formal expression...?


texts:
What is the best word for a place where programmers work?

I'm looking for something like "studio," which is a room where an artist, photographer, sculptor, etc., works or where performers, esp. dancers, practice and exercise.

Thank you.


texts: 'Might' is the subjunctive inflection of 'may'; was there ever a subjunctive inflection of 'must'?

texts:
I acknowledge that there is no subjunctive mood in English. However, there are variants of some words that we might regard as subjunctive variants. For example,
'might' is the, if you will, subjunctive inflection of 'may'.

Was there ever a subjunctive inflection of 'must'?


texts: Is the sentence "I could see his pulse beating." correct?

texts:
Can we use the verb "beat" for "pulse"? If not, what can we use?
Thank you


texts:
To demonstrate what pressing ENTER on the keyboard does, which sentence is correct?

The programmer can continue to write code on a new line.

The programmer can continue to write code on a newline.


texts: What is the origin of the phrase "pinky promise"?

texts:
A pinky promise (or "pinky swear") is a gesture in which two parties interlock little fingers in a symbolic gesture of agreement. What is the origin of this phrase?

One possibility, and probably the most straightforward one, is that it is an independent invention to describe an existing cultural practice of sealing promises by interlocking little fingers.

Another possibility, however, is that it originates from Japanese. Japanese sources frequently suggest that the English phrase "pinky promise" is a translation/adaptation of a similar Japanese concept called 指切り (yubikiri, lit. "finger-cutting") which supposedly has its origins in yakuza loyalty practices (if someone promised to do something and performed a yubikiri, and then broke their promise, their finger would be cut off).

However, as Wikipedia notes, this practice (if not the exact phrase "pinky promise") has been attested since 1860, as recorded in Bartlett's Dictionary of Americanisms. The Japanese yubikiri predates that1, so it's still possible that "pinky promise" derives from yubikiri, but I can't imagine there were many borrowings/translations from Japanese that long ago.

1 The Nihon Kokugo Daijiten, which is closest thing Japanese has to the OED, attests yubikiri in the sense of "a promise" from 1638, and in the sense of "cutting off a finger" from 1692.


texts: Looking for a synonym for the verb break

texts:
In the sentence below, are the verbs "to break" and "to enter in" synonyms?

  Issue #7 breaks new ground that was untouched by the video game.

Source.


texts: In English you have 'above', 'on', 'over' and 'on top of' but in Italian one word, 'sopra', covers all four meanings

texts:
In Italian if I were to say, "sopra l'albero" (albero = tree) you might rightly ask: "Yes but where, exactly?"

But "sopra" is a great word to learn in Italian, not only is it a very flexible preposition of place, you can create a new word by simply tagging a noun, which explains perfectly its meaning. No guess work necessary.

For example:

Soprabito means something you put over your clothes. A coat.
Sopracciglio means something above your eyelashes. Eyebrows.
Soprammobile something which you put on top of a piece of furniture. An ornament.

However, an English person might justify the use of so many different prepositions with similar meanings and top1 by saying they indicate precisely where an object is positioned. In the case of "sopra l'albero" the argument is defeated as soon as anyone mentions what and what it is doing in connection to the tree. (I hope I have explained myself clearly.) A bird is "sopra l'albero"? Then it must be on a tree. A bird is flying "sopra l'albero"? Then it must be over the tree. A bird is perched "sopra l'albero"? Then it has to be at the top, etc.

My questions are:

What is the etymology and history behind above, on, over and top.
Why was there a need to have these words when as shown above, within a specific context, ambiguity in meaning is eliminated.
Which English words, if any, contain the preposition, on, coupled with a concrete noun to form one word.


texts: Suppose I am giving a math talk and I am going to write on the board Let A be a variable. What do I say while I write? Can I say Let's let A be a variable or should I write We let A be a variable and say the same thing?


texts: what is the meaning of perforation here?

texts:
"After the test is over , at the perforation point , tear the OMR answer sheet , hand over the original  OMR answer sheet to the invigilator  and retain the carbonless copy for your record."

I can not understand what  the meaning of perforation is here. As far as I know perforation means hole.

Can anyone please help me to understand the meaning of the whole sentence?


texts: Cohorting, is it a word? if not what should I use instead

texts:
In this context, I'm trying to express that Seamus accidentally was frolicking with the enemy.
I guess a better way to say it is unintentionally interacting.

Domá turned to Seamus, “So let me get this straight. On your first day
back in Ireland — you got caught by Vikings — lost Josie and Bally— and
almost got yourself killed. Not to mention cohorting with both of my
enemies and their conjurer. Does that sum it up?”


texts:
Is there any expression for explaining that someone justifies his wrongdoings by mentioning the others'?
For example, when someones says that because everyone cheats, I also can cheat.


texts:
I want to express absence of 2 things. For example:

  It was a pretty day without rain and without snow.

Logically: (not X) and (not Y), which is equivalent to: not (X or Y)

Therefore, I guess the following might be correct:

  It was a pretty day without rain or snow.

Is that correct? Is it necessary/better to indicate more clearly that both things are missing?


texts: Using short adjectives as adverbs, such as "easy" & "short"

texts:
I know that some adjectives (such as easy & short) can be used as adverbs in some situations, but when can this happen and what adjectives does this apply to?

This definitely works: "He stopped short"
But does this?: "He fell pretty hard"


texts:
I came across this sentence while surfing the Web:

  Yeah, I was sleeping the whole time.

I was wondering if the past continuous tense could be changed into the past perfect tense.

For context, the speaker was saying to her husband, after she had just woken up from a long sleep since lunch because of her illness.


texts:
I am trying to write an academic essay. But I am stuck in connecting two sentences.
I want to find a substitute for the meanwhile connector because I have already overused it in the other parts of my essay. Could you please kindly let me know an academic-friendly suitable synonym or another connector.

In recent years, most optimization research is dedicated to solving problems in the domains of business, construction, and supply chain management. Meanwhile, Simplex, Lagrange, and NewX are probably the most commonly studied methods in empirical works.

I have already checked online but I couldn't find much information googling. Really appreciate your help


texts: What is the origin of the phrase "you can't put a price on freedom"?

texts:
It seems to me that the phrase is relatively well used, (it comes up in the Office, Archer (S04E09), on reddit in a context that seems to suggest common acceptance, etc.) Browsing through a few of the references on Google Books, they range from books where the phrase is uttered by a character to ads ("You can't put a price on freedom, but how does $199 strike you?").

My question is where is this phrase from? Did someone at some point say this verbatim, or is it that we as a society agree with the idea, and this happens to be one of the ways that idea is expressed?

On that same Google Books search I couldn't find anything from earlier than the 1990's. Is this phrase really that young?


texts:
I've spent too long thinking on this, so I apologies ahead of time.... but I'm just curious which to use when listing items or occupations.

For instance, I am a writer, anthropologist, and teacher.

I realize the first item makes sense, I am a writer... but what about the next item? Should it not be I am an anthropologist? How would I make this sentence/ list make sense? Or am I overthinking it?

Thank you ahead of time for the information and suggestions.


texts: What word do we use to say that something is so easily available or commonly prevalent?

texts:
If I have to say that:

  "potatoes are so commonly available in that place that every random shop you visit has a store of them as if its their staple food."

Or if I have to say:

  "it is so cold over there that rum is so easily available or commonly seen or prevalent everywhere inorder to withstand the cold."

Is there any single word or phrase or a better way to convey that something is very commonly available or seen almost everywhere or easily prevailing ?


texts:
"Vacation time is defined as not more than seven consecutive days, including the vacationing parent's parenting time weekend."

Does this mean that a parents vacation time must include their parenting weekend.if the vacation is only 6 days it doesn't need to fall on the vacationing parents weekend?


texts: What's the meaning of "calculus" in this context?

texts:
Below paragrah is quoted from here:

  In the calculus of communication, writing coherent paragraphs that
  your fellow human beings can comprehend and understand is far more
  difficult than tapping out a few lines of software code that the
  interpreter or compiler won't barf on.

I am not a native English speaker. I usually understand calculus as a mathematical area. And I cannot tell the difference between "calculus" and "computation". So maybe the above paragraph can reveal something about the deep meaning/implication of "calculus". For example, why the author doesn't choose "computation"?


texts: What's the difference between "deserve" and "need"?

texts:
In the movie The Dark Knight, at the end, there is one memorable line "Not the hero we deserved but the hero we needed".

So, what is the difference between "deserved" and "needed"?


texts:
I saw the following sentence in today's Washington Post article. What does 'Reno-era' policy mean? It's a new word to me. Can somebody tell?

  Reno-era policy kept Jared Loughner off FBI gun list.
  An old policy memo from the Clinton administration paved the way for accused Arizona gunman Jared Loughner to buy his first firearm.


texts: I have a sentence that runs, "My sense of reassurance was wareful." Is this word archaic? Should I use wary instead? Or is the meaning of the sentence just plain ambiguous to begin with?


texts:
I understand from ThoughtCo that:

  In general, no article is used with (i) proper nouns, (ii) mass nouns where the reference is indefinite, or (iii) plural count nouns where the reference is
  indefinite. Also, no article is generally used (iv)when referring to means of transport (by plane) or (v) common expressions of time and place (at
  midnight, in jail).

However, I note the following sentence and note the lack of article before the noun (in italics):

  We are yet to obtain German law review.

German law review does not appear to fall into any of the above categories. So, have I missed any other category? Or is German law review not a noun?

This is in the context of getting a document reviewed from a German law perspective.


texts:
I'm not sure how many people share this experience, but I've personally grown up being taught to spell the seasons with a capital heading, e.g. Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter.

Yet, when I type the seasons with a capital in Microsoft Word, I'm given the blue squiggly line under them, telling me to use spring (or summer, autumn, winter).

Have I been taught incorrectly, or is this a MS Word error?


texts: What is the correct spelling of "buyer* remorse"?

texts:
Apostrophical query:

a) Buyers Remorse
b) Buyer Remorse
c) Buyer's Remorse
d) Buyers' Remorse

My guess is b or c, as it seems like any example is talking about the remorse of one specific buyer, but since it is a collective term that happens universally, perhaps the possessive plural is accurate. I suppose there’s potential that it’s a context-sensitive decision, deciding whether you are talking about exactly one buyer or about buyers in general.


texts: What does "provocative fictions" mean? Are they one kind of fiction?

texts: I see this phrase in such sentence"The world knows his name, knows his reputation as the prolific author of provocative fictions, novels that..." But i wonder whether "provacative fiction"is a type of fictions and what does it mean.


texts: Correct use of Past perfect in this sentence

texts:
Is it correct to say as shown?

  "The thieves were running with the money they had stolen from the bank."


texts:
I’m drawn to the word, “Bartlett’s best” appearing in the following paragraph of Washington Post’s (May 13) article titled, “A theory: Trump fired Comey because he’s taller.”:

  “Trump’s daily scrimmages with the English language make Bushisms seem
  like “Bartlett’s Best.” When not syntactically challenged, they’re
  jaw-droppingly mystifying. What possibly could Trump have intended
  when he suggested to NBC’s Lester Holt that he doesn’t know for sure
  if there’s an FBI investigation into “this Russia thing”? So the
  president doesn’t believe what every intelligence agency has said and
  what he has personally been told in briefings?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/a-theory-trump-fired-comey-because-hes-taller/2017/05/12/ca2378f0-3751-11e7-b373-418f6849a004_story.html?hpid=hp_no-name_opinion-card-

I understand “Bushism” is G.W. Bush’s particular parlance, but I don’t understand what “Trump’s daily scrimmages makes Bushisms seem like “Bartlett’s best” means.

Does it simply mean Mr. Trump’s "English language" is poorer than that of Mr. Bush?


texts: Difference between TOUCH DOWN and PUT DOWN (= to land)

texts:
Please help me with this question

The plane ____ down 20 minutes later than scheduled because of the bad weather.

A. Put

B. Touched

C. Landed

D. Flew

I've googled "touch down" and "put down" and they both mean landing. Could anyone please help me tell these two phrasal verbs apart and give me the key of the question above? Thank you in advance.


texts: Passive voice complication,or something like this

texts:
Grammarians,
I would like to ask you if there is a difference between these two sentences:

I remember being invited...
I remember having been invited...

Are they grammatically correct? Do they mean the same, or have some differences in their meanings?
In my native language (Russian),both of them sound the same. We do not care much about tenses, and understand many things just from the context.
Many thanks beforehand,
X.


texts: Word for a word that changes spelling but not meaning?

texts: What is the word that describes a word that has changed in spelling but not meaning, such as how the word "to-day" was once spelt "today"?


texts: What is the meaning behind "wag imagined"?

texts:
Today I read these sentences in The Economist

  "Lying, cheating bankers" “IF YOU can only be good at one thing, be
  good at lying…because if you’re good at lying, you’re good at
  everything.” Thus a wag imagined one investment banker advising
  another in a lift. He may not have been far wrong.

Could you please explain this phrase: “Thus a wag imagined one investment banker advising another in a lift.”


texts: When mind lapses instantly I call it blank-out. Recently I have come across brain-cramp and it is providing almost same meaning as blank-out. Are both same ? Cramp word is not playing big heavy dice here? Since English is not my native language that is why I am asking this.


texts: How many meanings does the term "Brand new" have?

texts:
Brand new, at least in my eyes, has two different possible meanings.

The phrase "Brand new" can be defined either as a product of a new brand, or a new product of an already existing brand. Both meanings could be used simultaneously when referring to a product of a new brand, since that product would also technically be a new product, unless of course the product the new brand creates was already a product a different brand already created.

Are both meanings correct? Can both be used interchangeably to describe any new product? Are there more meanings to the phrase "brand new", and is there a possibility that only one of these two definitions of "brand new" is correct?


texts: Why does a silent "-e" at the end of a word lengthen vowels?

texts:
There's a common pattern in English spelling where "short" vowels are pronounced as "long" vowels with the addition of a silent "e" at the end of the word.

E.g.

bit → bite
mat → mate
pet → pete

Is there a historical reason for this?  Does it relate to The Great Vowel Shift?

Reference: Wikipedia — Vowel Length#Traditional Long and Short Vowels in English Orthography


texts:
In the quote in the title, "of" refers both to the material that makes up the cup and to the stuff that the cup holds. I remember reading that there is a literary device that describes this, but I can't remember what it's called. The device, if I remember correctly, refers to the parallel structure of a phrase whereby a thing is described in two aspects or, as in this case, an aspect and a function. Shakespeare commonly used it, though I can't think of a quote.

Syliva Plath uses it in the line:

  I am silver and exact

to refer to a mirror--what it's made from and how it does its job.

Could someone tell me what this structure is called.


texts: Is it possible to use "on a related subject" as an introductory phrase?

texts:
I've heard the phrase in Hannibal (the series). Is it commonly used?

Does it mean the same as "in the same context"?


texts:
I'm writing a paper about the threats of cyberbullying and require some help.

My question is I want to explain that cyberbullying can not only damage one's emotion and feeling but can also results in suicide in some severe cases.

However, I find the term suicide some what extreme and controversial.

I will be having a public speech about my paper and don't want to upset any audiences using extreme term.

Should a phrase 'taking one's life' be replaced for the term suicide?

English isn't my native language, so I'm going to need some help.

Thank you in advance.


texts: What is the difference between these two statements?

texts:
Coming to the theatre, I saw a gigantic crowd in front of the entrance.
Having come to the theatre, I saw a gigantic crowd in front of the entrance.


texts: Word order in defining and non-defining relative clauses

texts:
With defining relative clauses, there is a different word order according to the status of the relative pronoun in the sentence (that is, it can be either the subject or the object of the relative clause).

The relative pronoun is the subject. The word order is --> subject + verb + object

The relative pronoun is the object. The word order is --> object + subject + verb

Does this rule apply to the non-defining relative clauses as well? Or is there any other rule to follow?