texts:
I'm currently taking an English course that involves picking out adverbs, nouns, prepositions, and pronouns. Myself and my tutor are at a disagreement on if the use of meanwhile in this situation is a preposition. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

"These obedient servants prepare meals at the appropriate times, groom them and clean the sanitary facilities. Meanwhile, the servants who pay the taxes and buy the groceries wonder sometimes who is really in charge."


texts: If Joe envied something, would it be proper to call that something "Joe's Envy"? Considering the usage in a team name but I am not sure if it makes sense.


texts: "Could help avoid" vs. "could help to avoid"

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  “Help to do” or “help do”?

Is it correct to say:

  The right sitting posture could help you avoid back problems.

OR

  The right sitting posture could help you to avoid back problems.


texts: Idiom meaning :he didn't pull his punches

texts: I want to know the meaning of this "he didn't pull his punches last night when he spoken"


texts: Is it correct to say, "Here's a for instance . . ."?  (Meaning, "Here is an example")


texts: "Luck", "coincidence", "chance" — most appropriate in this situation?

texts:
I found my present flat completely by __.

  luck
  coincidence
  chance

What will be the most appropriate word in this sentence?


texts:
"When the brothers were reunited, Hans explained how it was that he was still alive. After having been wounded towards the end of the war, he had been sent to hospital and was separated from his unit. The hospital had been bombed and Hans had made his way back into Western Germany on foot. Meanwhile, his unit was lost and all records of him had been destroyed. Hans returned to his family home, but the house had been bombed and no one in the neighborhood knew what had become of the inhabitants. Assuming that his family had been killed during an air raid, Hans settled down in a village fifty miles away where he had remained ever since."

The narrator sets the two situations "was separated from his unit" and "his unit was lost" in simple past tense. My understanding is that it is for reasons of style, because if "had been separated" and "had been lost" were used instead, then there would be too many had-been's one after another in the text. Is my understanding correct?

If so, my second question is, how, when we are writing stories, should we make a choice as to which verbs can be switched to the simple past and which cannot for a whole passage in the past perfect ?


texts: Idiom for "Single out" in a negative way

texts: In a small group of people, the leader singled out Person A to pick on her. What's another idiom (that's a verb) to describe this action? There was a two-word idiom which I cannot remember. The idiom is used as thus: "The leader ___'d person A ____.


texts: "I'm not X, am I?" vs. "I'm not X, do I?"

texts:
Which of the following is correct or better? Can they both be used?

  I'm not making any sense, am I?
  I'm not making any sense, do I?


texts:
Whilst I was sat on the bus yesterday, I overheard a group of teenagers discussing various things. As per the usual social requirement at that age, every 5th word was an expletive. Not exactly the best ambiance for my journey home, but it got me thinking.

What specifically about the words "fuck", "shit", "cunt", etc. makes them so vulgar? Clearly they represent negative things in society, but what makes those particular words so important? Also, what makes words with similar pronunciation characteristics (e.g. "crap" and "damn") so much milder?

I'm aware that there will be some complex etymology of each, but what I'm really interested in is the structure and formation of the word itself. Why aren't "dotard" or "popinjay" considered to be curses, when "fuck" is? At certain times they held similar sentiments.

Is there something specific about how we pronounce them that makes them superior in situations where cursing is required? I'd also be interested to know how this works in other languages, too.


texts: David’s friendly demeanour, brilliant sense of humour and warmth, "make" or "makes" you feel right at home.

texts:
Should I use make or makes in the following sentence?

  David’s friendly demeanour, brilliant sense of humour and warmth, make you feel right at home.

I say make, but my friend says makes.


texts: What's a less offensive way of calling someone a "snob"?

texts: I'm writing a speech and my prof said using "literary snob" was too aggressive.


texts: Gary tells Marni about how his brother has terrible manners

texts:
Does the word "how" mean "that" in the sentence below?

Gary tells Marni about  his brother has terrible manners.


texts:
Suppose we were to say that "California is one of the more pleasant states on the West Coast in terms of weather."
Is this grammatically incorrect because there are more than two states on the West Coast?  Would I have to say that "California is one of the most pleasant states on the West Coast in terms of weather?"
I feel that the above sentence would somewhat change the intended meaning.
Thanks in advance!


texts:
I can't figure out the meaning and structure of this sentence:

  Budd: If you're gonna compare a Hanzo sword, you compare it to every other sword ever made... that wasn't made by Hattori Hanzo.

Before this sentence, someone asks the character to compare a Hanzo sword which she is holding in her hands to another Hanzo sword.


texts: past perfect tense with the conjunction "and"

texts:
Among those on his right was Bob, the guy that had days earlier started the lease and so began the first...

OR

  Among those on his right was Bob, the guy that had days earlier started the lease and so begun the first...

OR

  Among those on his right was Bob, the guy that had days earlier started the lease and so had begun the first...

The question really is, when the conjunction and lists two things that happened in the "perfect past", do I need a second had?

In this situation, the past is: Bob was on the right; while the "perfect past" or further past is: Bob was the guy that started the lease and (in so doing) began the first... (fill in the blank).

Which is right, or best? What is the rule?


texts:
Is it correct to use 'majority' to refer to quantity?  For example: More than half the garbage in our city is recycled . The majority of garbage is recycled.

If this is incorrect, why?


texts: Correct usage of disorganised vs unorganised

texts: Under what circumstances should one use disorganised in place of unorganised, or are they proper synonyms?


texts:
The phrase is:

  ... 40x zoom letting you get closer to the action than anything else on test.

I googled "than anything else on test" and the results are related mostly to sports equipment descriptions and e.g. cameras. Is this some idiomatic expression or should I understand it literally?


texts:
I understand you should write out figures in words at the beginning of a sentence. So what happens when you have a decimal number - for example: "0.5 g of shoots and roots is required for the sample."

Edit: No, not how to say it. How to write it in an academic paper.


texts: Should terms like "Googliness" be capitalized?

texts:
Googliness is a neologism whose meaning has been roughly idenfied as possessing:

  ...Attributes like enjoying fun (who doesn't), a certain dose of
  intellectual humility (it's hard to learn if you can't admit that you
  might be wrong), a strong measure of conscientiousness (we want
  owners, not employees), comfort with ambiguity (we don't know how our
  business will evolve, and navigating Google internally requires
  dealing with a lot of ambiguity), and evidence that you've taken some
  courageous or interesting paths in your life (source).

Should the term be capitalized?


texts: What is the structure of this complex sentence?

texts:
This is preface of The punishments of China:

  The wisdom of the Chinese Legislature is no where more conspicuous than in its treatment of robbers, no person being doomed to suffer death for having merely deprived another of some temporal property, provided he neither uses, nor carries, any offensive weapon. This sagacious edict renders robbery unfrequent; the daring violator of the laws, hesitating to take with him those means, which might preserve his own life, or affect that of the plundered, in the event of resistance, generally confines his depredations to acts of private pilfering, and a robbery, attended with murder, is, of course, very rarely perpetrated.

What kind of grammar does
", Hesitating..." have? What is the meaning of this sentence?
What is the subject of confines?

There are too many commas for me to grasp the sentence structure.
I'm totally confused. Thank you in advance.


texts: Is it correct if I reply starting with - "Will"

texts: I don't know, but sometimes, For example if someone said to you "Okay we will meet tomorrow". Is it correct if I reply, "Will see you soon". Is it necessary to add "I"? like "I will...". Hope you guys are getting me.


texts:
How can I pronounce @ symbol: At / At the rate?
Can I use it in a sentence? Please explain with an example.


texts:
I remember reading a Wikipedia article about a linguistic category of catchwords  used in politics which refer to ill-defined ideas. They are left purposefully vague so their exact meaning is left unanswered but sound nice and are used to attract rapport.

I've forgotten the term and would like to find it again.

Some examples might include things like;
"free speech", "respect", "civil rights", "fairness"

For example, regarding a bill which raises taxes for the rich, a politician might say "This bill is in the interests of fairness" knowing that;

The word itself will attract support- It sounds nice to support "fairness" and reflects poorly if you speak out against it (people might think that you are against "fairness")
Avoids going into the specifics of whether or not it is actually "fair" to raise taxes by using a term that has complex connotations that may change depending on the person who hears it- Is the degree it's being raised by fair? Is it actually fair to take from the rich and give to the poor? What is "fairness" exactly (is it zero sum? equality? equity? etc.)?

Edit: "fairness" definately wasn't one of the terms specified in the article but I think my example conveys the idea nonetheless.
---Think of buzzwords, soundbites etc.


texts:
I got a job offer and I have to attend a psychological test tomorrow, 08:30 am. I can't attend at that time so I ask for a reschedule on next Monday. The HR person replied to my email with:

  Well noted. We'll sumbit the information to our user.

I don't understand, is it a 'yes' or 'no'? Or is it meaning that the HR person will ask her boss (user) if he/she can or not?


texts: Term for “extent/proportion [into some population] of the condition”?

texts:
What is a technical term (perhaps from statistics) for the extent (or proportion) that a specified condition applies to some given population?

For example:

There is a communicable cancer currently ravaging the Tasmanian Devil species. I would use this term to say “the [extent/proportion in the population] of the cancer”.
Software test suites exercise some amount of the application code, by some metric such as code paths exercised by the tests. I would use this term to say “the [extent/proportion of application tested] of the test suite”.

Note that this is a descriptor for the condition, not the population. (As requested on a comment at a similar question, I am making a new question to be clearer.)

Also note this is not a term that applies specially to human populations, but rather to any population of things, living or inert, that could be affected by the condition.

What term, applied to the condition, connotes this meaning of penetration and/or extent?


texts: Digits (location/position) vs. digits (glyph/symbol/value) on a display?

texts:
This is about (numerical) displays, eg. a "multiple-digit" display such as a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven-segment_display (LED or LCD) and the difference between a digit as a single-glyph numeral (0-9) and a digit as referring to the possible position for a glyph on the display.

Example: "1.23" would be a three-digit display with the digits/glyphs/symbols "1","2","3" with the numeral "1.23" (representing a number).
However, any digit (location) on that display could show different digits (glyph/symbol/value), e.g. the leftmost could show a "9" instead.

So the term "digit" is used ambiguously which makes it a little awkward, and I am looking for a way to distinguish between the two meanings - is there?

Edit:

The awkwardness I was referring to may be clearer with yet another example: "Show a digit on the leftmost digit".

I guess it's a matter of context and better set up in a way that "Show a digit on the leftmost position" or similar would work - which is difficult when the context is the positional attribute.

Maybe introducing inaccuracy like "Show a number on the leftmost digit" is tolerable? But it is and sounds wrong.

Wikipedia states nothing about its use as "positional attribute":

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numerical_digit

  A numerical digit is a single symbol (such as "2" or "5") used alone,
  or in combinations (such as "25"), to represent numbers (such as the
  number 25) according to some positional numeral systems. The single
  digits (as one-digit-numerals) and their combinations (such as "25")
  are the numerals of the numeral system they belong to.

So maybe there is a synonym for "digit" better suited to describe a position - perhaps "place" (from https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/decimal_place, but not quite right either)?


texts: What is his name again? vs. What was his name again?

texts:
Which sentence from the title sounds more natural when asking for clarification about something which has already been discussed? Is one tense preferable overall? Take the following examples:

  Where is it they said they live/lived again?
  Whose mittens are/were these again?
  How many cookies does/did she want again?
  When are/were we leaving tomorrow again?

Personally, I'm much more partial to the past tense. Since the issue at hand has already been established beforehand, you're simply restating it in question form as something new with "again".

Opinions?


texts: understanding the meaning of this sentence

texts:
What does this sentence mean?

  She has the ability to keep the emotions, triumphs and fears of her characters on a human scale.


texts: You can apologise *for* something, but can you apologise *that* something?

texts:
An interesting discussion came up in the chat following a sentence I suggested in another question where I said something along the lines of "I apologise that I have a prior commitment." or "I apologise that I will be unavailable this evening."

To my eye and ear, this is a perfectly valid construction, where "I apologise" has almost the same meaning as "I'm sorry" and can therefore be used in place of it, but general consensus is that I'm incorrect and this is ungrammatical or at least incredibly rare.

Now I understand the subtle difference between the definitions of "sorry" and "apology":

  Sorry—feeling regret, compunction, sympathy, pity, etc.: to be sorry to leave one’s friends; to be sorry for a remark; to be sorry for someone in trouble.

  Apology—a written or spoken expression of one’s regret, remorse, or sorrow for having insulted, failed, injured, or wronged another: He demanded an apology from me for calling him a crook.

so I'm really only asking in the context that the apology is for failing or otherwise inconveniencing someone (as having a prior commitment might).

The ngram and COCA results do indeed point to this as a highly irregular use, but there are enough results that I can argue its validity even though it's clearly less common than "apologi(s|z)e for" and I'm really curious as to whether anyone else considers this valid, has heard/seen it used, or can confirm whether this is possibly a dialectal or regional quirk. Or maybe I'm just completely wrong and should stop saying I apologise that things.

Ngram:

COCA:


texts: Word for something which isn't what it seems to be

texts:
I recently started learning French and am confused by its pronunciations. The main problem being that the words never seem to sound the way they're written - isn't what it seems to be! (I know English isn't any better, but criticisms of my observations are safely off-topic here!) I need a word which indicates this deceptiveness/inconsistency while not sounding too negative. Because I still am fascinated by French.

For example, here's something I'd like to say: Oh french, you ____________ beauty!

So it really cant be too negative, unless you think the following word "beauty" makes for an amusing/endearing oxymoron. Then if the overall sentence doesn't sound too negative, I'm willing to accept any word.


texts:
Is it correct to talk about a "lost age"?

In the sense of a long gone era, or a time where an extinct civilization was living for example.

Edit : I will not use this expression as part of a sentence or speech, but more as a title to describe a universe, a project.


texts:
These two questions are from a mobile app:

  I didn't pass my driving test.
  correct answer: "Nor did I."
  He didn't pass his driving test.
  correct answer: "Neither did I."

Why do we use nor in the first sentence and neither in the second? Is there any exact rule to follow?


texts: Single word for "the act of passing possession and linear position to"

texts:
OLD TITLE: Single word for “moving an element of an order into another order at the same place?”

Something similar to the word move would do the trick.

Imagine that I was talking about people (element) in a line (order)

"I moved Person A out of Line 1 to Line 2"

Now, this is nearly what I am looking for, except there is one other thing I need the verb to do, which is to emphasize the fact that it was moved to a corresponding place within the line/array.

To say this using the word "move" I would have to say:

"I moved Person A out of Line 1 at Line Position Alpha to Line 2 at that same position (Line Position Alpha)"

that is to say, I recorded Person A's place in line, took him out of Line 1, and had him cut in line at the position I recorded, so he doesn't "loose his place in line."

The purpose of this word is to name a small section in a computer program that I am building. The program has these things similar to lines (called arrays), things similar to people in a line (called elements), and things similar to line positions (array indeces).

So, conclusively, what is the technical-term/word I am looking for?

AUTHOR's NOTE: I also posted this question on stackoverflow with a more-programming-emphasized side of the question here: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/39609019/word-for-moving-an-element-into-another-array-at-a-corresponding-index

ANOTHER NOTE: As Paul R mentioned in the comments, I could use "extract (from)" and "insert (at)," but this would be a disfavor as I need both the "from" and "at" to be emphasized single-wordedly, because it will be used in a name, and lengthy names are well, just not efficient nor effective.

The name will be structured like "The Move-ment Process"


texts: What is the meaning of the usage 'it ran' in square brackets?

texts:
I was reading 'Crooked House' by Agatha Christie.
I couldnt understand the meaning of the usage which am attaching below.


texts: What exactly does "for the love of God" mean?

texts:
I know it's used to implore someone, for instance:

  Please, Microsoft, for the love of God, fix this bug in Windows, so I can get work done on my computer!

But what "love of God" is being referred to here? Is it:

do this because God loves you
do this so that God will love you
do this because you love God
something else?


texts: Is there a formal antonym for the word "dictator" other than " democratic" to describe a school principal?


texts: Single word for "less available" with a corresponding noun and without a cumbersome prefix

texts:
I want to find the best word for a term in a paper I am writing.

An example:

  We see that Xs with higher unavailability generally have more attractive amenities.

Here, I want to replace "unavailability" with a different term.

Some details:

In my paper, I am talking about a scalar value for each of several Xs.

I want to refer to it as making the X "less available" because the higher its value, the less likely it is that the X will be any given person's "choice set" (which, you can probably guess, refers to the set of things they can choose from).

I expect to have to use the word, or variations on it, many times in writing and presentation, so I hope to avoid using an awkward negation like "unavailable". It will also be convenient to have a noun form, analogous to "unavailability" but less awkward.

A more down-to-earth example (with bad terms in square brackets):

  Workers are not free to work at any firm they wish. Some firms are growing, and therefore have more openings; while others set higher standards for the quality of potential hires. These two factors cannot be separated in the data, so I combine them into [an 'unavailability index'] for each firm. From the perspective of a worker, opportunities to move to firms with a higher values in this index are [less frequently available].

Sorry if that's too long, or still too abstract. I am strongly leaning towards @WS2's suggestion, which would replace the two sets of brackets with "a measure of scarcity" and "scarcer."


texts: Is this sentence correct? "Richard Nixon—whom Mazo claimed had lost the election because of the fraud—asked for the series to be terminated."

texts:
Is the following sentence grammatically correct?

  Richard Nixon—whom Mazo claimed had lost the election because of the fraud—asked for the series to be terminated.

I'm wondering whether it should be corrected to:

  Richard Nixon—who Mazo claimed had lost the election because of the fraud—asked for the series to be terminated.


texts: A word for a military unit still functioning?

texts:
I'm looking for a word which is the antonym for a military unit being destroyed or degraded. I considered live, but that has the connotation of a single being. I considered active,  but my phrasing should be useful even if the unit is, say, encamped and not currently doing anything. What would the term-of-art be here?

  Reports that the military unit were scattered and destroyed turned out
  to be in error; rather, the unit was still ____.


texts: We do not count a man's years until he has nothing else to count


texts: Should I put a comma before and or not in this sentence?

texts:
This law, is also very bad tourism as well, and needs to be removed since our country is being opened up for tourism.

Should I remove the comma before and or keep it? is there anything else wrong with the punctuation in this sentence?


texts: Why are present participle and infinitive equally acceptable for some verbs, but not others?

texts:
This question about "started teaching/to teach" made me realise that even though the present participle and infinitive are both acceptable after "started", that's not the case with other superficially equivalent "auxiliary" verbs...

She began crying/to cry. (both okay - and to me, mean exactly the same thing)
She ceased caring/to care. (both okay, but the infinitive seems slightly more "natural" to me)
It commenced raining/?to rain.
It stopped raining/*to rain.
He quit gambling/*to gamble.
We gave up trying/*to try.

What is it about those last four that prevents the infinitive form being acceptable?
I have a vague sense that in some usages the infinitive might have been more acceptable in the past ("It commenced to rain" sounds a bit "Victorian" to me), but I can't square that with my preference for "I ceased to care" over "I ceased caring".


texts:
If "restart" is to "restarted", "shutdown" is to what?

I don't think shutdowned is the word. What is the past-tense of the word shutdown?


texts: What does it mean that an altruistic person is disinterested?

texts:
In various online sources, it describes altruism as:

  "showing a disinterested and selfless concern for the well-being of others"

It doesn't seem to make sense to say that someone is "disinterested", and yet also "concerned".

How is disinterested used here?


texts: Does the phrase "pull the chain" have some sort of significance in jails and prisons?

texts:
My question comes apropos a comment on an old question's of RegDwight's, "jail" vs. "prison".  After many answers established that there was indeed a difference in usage between the two terms, JohnFx said,

  I would argue that the difference isn't archaic. Let's just say I've known a few people who have been to both jail and prison, and the people in them DEFINITELY know the difference. (See 'pull the chain')

Alas, the comments didn't go past that, and I didn't find any other questions on EL&U addressing what "pull the chain" means, with regard to jails and prisons.   What does it mean?


texts: Adjective to describe something that is not rushed

texts:
I was having trouble thinking of the right word to use to describe a process that is not rushed.

I suppose I could say not rushed, but I think there should be a single word for it. Also I prefer not to use the negative for my particular use case.

Example: When saying a prayer, one would not be like "ok, lets just get this over with" and proceed to pray really fast. Thus prayer is said to be _________.

I was thinking sacred might be suitable here, but, at best, sacred would merely imply it's not rushed due to its significance. Also, there are other non-sacred examples too. I will need something more general.


texts: How do you say "Come on, man" to a woman?

texts:
I've heard people saying phrases like down below.

"That's not cool, man"
"Dude, look at this"
"Hey, calm down, bro"

But these words are supposed to be said to a male person. (I could be wrong since I'm not an native English speaker) So what word do you use instead to say those phrases to a female person?


texts: humor phrase meaning "I enjoy making my life harder"

texts:
How can one make some humour by the following Q/A pair,

Q: Cosa fai nella vita?     ===>  what do you do ?

A: Me la complico           ===>  ?  (I enjoy making my life harder)


texts: Difference between "where is he from" and "where he is from"

texts: what will be the question of he is from the USA? Is it "where he is from?"/"where is he from?". And why is it so?


texts: Need softer, less potentially offensive word for "malapropism"

texts:
Background: My spouse is German, and tends to misuse some words in English, and also tends to get some idioms a bit garbled.  For example, to my spouse, "school" is synonymous with "grade school," and does not include college (but the distortion of this English vocabulary item isn't 100% consistent).  So it's hard to know what is meant by, for example, "S. (21yo son) is doing a lot better with understanding underlying concepts [in science] than he was doing when he was in school."  This is confusing because S. graduated college in May.  Is the improvement since May?  Or since graduating high school four years ago?  Hard to know!  My spouse gets idioms garbled too, but I can't think of an example right now.

Problem: There was a recent question on ELU that reminded me of my spouse's malapropisms, but I hesitated to use this word in a comment to the OP, since it might feel offensive.  Is there a softer, but similar, word or phrase I could use instead of saying (after some going around and around with the OPE), "Leave out to dry, used in place of hang out to dry, sounds like a malapropism, pure and simple."  (I'd like some help expressing this, whether or not you agree with me about that particular idiom.)

For reference, here's a definition of malapropism, from dictionary.com:

  1.
  an act or habit of misusing words ridiculously, especially by the confusion of words that are similar in sound.

  2.
  an instance of this, as in, “Lead the way and we'll precede.”


texts:
It probably is correct since the article is from Bloomberg.com website. However, I am not sure what it really means and why it's correct

  Mark Twain once quipped that “everyone complains about the weather
  but nobody does anything about it.”
  Many analysts would have us view the
  dramatic increase in inequality with
  a similar spirit -- as a natural
  condition that we should accept
  without complaint. We should be
  skeptical of this view -- and not just
  because it’s obsolete even with regard
  to the weather.


texts: Word that emcompasses both embassies and consulates

texts:
At Wikivoyage we are looking for a word to describe any kind of official representation office of a country in another country.

It mostly means embassies and consulates, even though sometimes they have special names for various political reasons.

Examples:

Embassy of Mexico, Berlin
Consulate-General of Russia in New York City
High Commission of Canada to the United Kingdom
Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Houston (more names)

We are looking for a short word (3 to 10 letters maybe?) to be used in the wikicode, it will be seen by editors but not by visitors, which means we are ready to compromise exactitude for shortness, if necessary.


texts: Is this a good way to use "not only... but also"?

texts:
I'm preparing a farewell email to my colleagues and want to use this phrase:

"Not only I am proud of the work we have accomplished together but also I have learned so much from you about statistics, sciences and beyond."

I'm not a native English speaker and wondering whether this is a conventional way. Could somebody have me some suggestions.

Thanks in advance.


texts: what's the meaning of "occupying one's skin"?

texts:
The excerpt is from the following lines:

Mules and other brutes had occupied their skins. But now, the sun and
the bossman were gone, so the skins felt powerful and human. They
became lords of sounds and lesser things. They passed nations through
their mouths. They sat in judgment.

Source: Their eyes were watching god, by Zora Neal Hurston

thanks in advance


texts: Meaning of "to fall smack on her overextended haunches"

texts:
In a tutorial on ballet classes, I came across the following sentence:

  Once a star is born, she is given every imaginable opportunity to fall smack on her overextended haunches.

I do not understand the meaning of the fragment in bold.


texts: Before the 19th century the same meaning as before the close of the eighteenth century?

texts:
Europe hardly had any museums before the 19th century.
Europe hardly had any museums before the close of eighteenth century.

I understand two sentences that the first means before any time of 19th century, the second means before late 18th century, but my friend think the two sentences are same, both mean before late 18th century. do you think Which one understand right?


texts: A term or word used when finding something great

texts: I'm looking for a word or term that is used when you find something great or of value. I'm looking particularly for when people find a great sale at a store or find an item for a bargain.


texts:
My colleague's body is amazing:

She's comfortable wearing sleeveless clothing while the rest of us are shivering in jumpers
She can travel halfway around the world for two weeks, then come back and work the full workday immediately with no visible sign of jet lag
She gets away with eating chocolate for lunch (!)

Her body is so amazing I'm envious.

The problem is, by saying "my colleague's body is amazing" I'm sure many will interpret the statement as saying my colleague is sexy/physically attractive. How can I convey my meaning without that implication?


texts: What are the terms in a percentage calculation called?

texts:
Say you want to calculate how many percent 50 of 200 is:

50 / 200 = 0.25 = 25%

What do you call the individual pieces (50, 200, 0.25 and 25%) of this calculation?

Are the following terms (based on a direct translation from German) appropriate?

Base value for 200 (from "Grundwert")
Percent value for 50 (from "Prozentwert")
Ratio for 0.25 (from "Verhältnis")
Percentage for 25% (from "Prozentsatz")


texts: question on past or present in indirect speech

texts:
Amit: I will send you an email.
Me: OK.

After one day how can i tell this indirectly. Should i say Amit told me that he would send me an email or Amit told me that he will send me an email.

It is now past because he didn't send me an email
It is also possible he can still send me an email

I am confused should i use will or would?


texts:
This question refers to Earth's moon only.

This is really two questions:

  Our Earth has only one moon. So why and even how can we say 'a' moon?
  1b. Restated: What other moon than 'the' moon is in the class of Earth's moons so that I can say 'a' moon? See C) below.

Here is my second question:

  Consider the following:
  A) There's a fly in my soup.

  Does the use of the indefinite article restrict a fly to one of a finite number of real flies which have a realistic probability of being in my soup? I know that a generic or prototypical fly cannot be in my soup.

For instance I am in a diner in San Francisco. If I say, There's a fly in my soup, I think I am referring only to one of the 5,000 flies that are in San Francisco. I can't be referring to flies in Los Angeles or flies in Chicago, can I? I can't be referring to fictional flies or flies from outer space either. I can't really be referring to a fly that I saw yesterday, can I? If there are, say, 1 million flies in the world I can only be referring to some subset of that 1 million, not the whole 1 million, because 500,000 are in the Orient and could not possibly be in my soup (a fly from the Orient could be).

  In any case, is what is being said the following:

  There's a fly in my soup and I don't care to say which one it is, and I don't care which one it is--but I am referring to one of 5,000 flies in San Francisco.

And:

  B) There's a full moon in the sky tonight. (Or: There's a full moon out.)
  The moon is full once every lunar month. I don't know which lunar month it is. So am I saying:

  There's a full moon out tonight and I don't care to say which one it is, and I don't care which one it is--but I am referring to 1 of the 12 or 13 possible full moons?

Last

  C) There's a moon in the sky tonight (Or: There's a moon out tonight.)

  So am I saying:
  There's a moon out tonight and I don't care to say which one it is, and I don't care which one it is--but I am referring to 1 of the 1 that there is circling Earth?

The moons of other planets are not under consideration, because only a geekazoid would know when the moons of other planets are 'visible' from Earth on any given night.

What other moon than 'the' moon is in the class of Earth's moons so that I can say 'a' moon?


texts: I have seen people using both Gray and Grey but I wonder which one is correct and when to use one?


texts:
Example:

  I'm currently working on the copy-editing of the ____________ for a
  Museum of Ethnography exhibit that gives some fascinating insights
  into the archaeological process and the history of the items on display.

Apologies, the title isn't quite accurate, but it's the closest term that I could think of.

I'm looking for the word or term (if any exists) for explanatory texts that accompany artwork or museum pieces/collections.

I don't think "label" is appropriate, as these are usually quite short. I'm referring to texts of a paragraph or several paragraphs, and that provide context and background. They are found next to the exhibit in question, or (for longer texts) in an accompanying guidebook.

Some examples here, and here.

Thank you for any suggestions!


texts:
I automatically use the preposition "on" after the words "focus" or "emphasis". However, I've recently come across several instances of them being followed by "in", such as in the following examples:

  She graduated with a degree in studio art, with a focus in printmaking.

or

  He graduated with a degree in creative writing, with emphasis in fiction.

A quick Google search shows that this is pretty common. I'm not entirely convinced however, and I can't seem to find anything to support the use of "in" in dictionaries or style guides. Any help?


texts: Cold containers don't sweat—what do they do?

texts:
In warm, humid climates: If you take a container of something (say, a can of Coke or a jar of mayonnaise) and leave it at room temperature, the outside  becomes wet with droplets of water— sometimes **dripping wet*.

I have heard this called sweating.  However, knowing something about how water vapor works, I know that this is not sweating; you might say it is the reverse of sweating.

I know the water that forms is called condensation, because water vapor has been cooled enough to make it condense out of the air.

But I wonder how one could most concisely describe what the can or jar is "doing" (verb) to get that way, or to describe the state (adjective) of the container after this has  happened.  Do I have to say something like
"It attracts condensation. " ?
or
"It becomes wet. "?

Airplane wings are said to ice up when it is cold enough to that ice forms.

But I never heard watering up (except as an expression for crying); I have heard tearing up which is based on intransitive tearing
http://i.word.com/idictionary/tear  .
But none of these is an accurate metaphor for what the container does, as the moisture comes from outside, not inside.

So it seems the sweating and tearing metaphors harken back to a time when hydrology was misunderstood

I don't mean dew, which is formed as the ambient air gradually cools to the dew point; I mean the water that forms when warm air encounters a cooled object. Other objects don't get wet; only the cold one.

Nor do I mean fog up, which as far as I know is used only in reference to glass surfaces (e.g. eyeglasses or a mirror" becoming covered with such tiny droplets that they become difficult or impossible to see "through".

Is there some  single word, phrasal verb or set phrase to refer to this common phenomenon accurately?


texts: Should I put quotation marks around a direct quote in the title of an article/blog post?

texts: I am writing an article about an interview with someone. I want to include a direct quote of theirs in the title. Do I use normal, double quotation marks?


texts: What type of noun or word is used used for a juvenile animal?

texts:
For example 'collective noun'. 'Flock' of geese.

Is there a term for words like kitten, cub, spiderling or lamb.

Something like ' juvenile noun'.


texts:
I was looking into the word chuffed this morning, and came across this:-

  chuffed 1  /tʃʌft/
  adjective British Informal.
  delighted; pleased; satisfied.

  Origin:  1855–60;  see chuff2 , -ed2

  chuffed2  /tʃʌft/
  adjective British Informal.
  annoyed; displeased; disgruntled.

  Origin:  1825–35;  compare dial. (mainly S England) chuff, choff
  ill-tempered, surly, probably to be identified with chuff(1)

This is worse than inflammable.

I have lived in the south-east, the south-west and the north-east of England and have only ever come across the first meaning. Is the second meaning still in use anywhere? Does anyone know how this duplicate usage came into existance?


texts:
Phrase: Pretending to be a worker, but is actually an Owner.
In this case, would the Pretending act as objects of preposition?
Thanks


texts:
I'm tasked with a morphological analysis of incrementing.  I would say that crement is the base of increment and the root of the word.  But I'm curious, because all my life I've been thinking about the words increment and decrement differently.1

Would the morpheme crement be referred to as a "cranberry morpheme" and if so, did it once mean something on its own in English?  I've looked up some etymology, and understand the Latin origin of the words—incrementum and decrementum.

Did the words come entirely as units from Latin?  Or did we get the two morphemes in each individually and combine them?
If they did come as units from Latin, can we still consider crement a cranberry morpheme, given that it did not ever exist on its own in English?  Does it even make sense, then, to break it up into in + crement or is the word atomic?  Can we consider, in morphological analysis, previous versions of words if they are in other languages?

1 For some reason, I've always thought of increment and decrement in the same way as I've thought of accelerate and decelerate (accelerate being a word on its own and decelerate being contrived to take away from accelerate and "opposite" it).  I suppose I was entirely wrong, as both incrementum and decrementum existed in Latin, and crementum indeed means something.


texts:
Context:
I have started to write a blog post about my recent road trip.

Difficulty:
I was desperate to go for a trip and in that desperation, the planning was not up to the mark. My previous trip also began the same way. To highlight this fact, in the 'Prelude' section, I wrote a sentence as below:

  Alike my previous trip, this one was chalked out of desperation.

My proof-reader thinks that 'Alike' is not the right word, should be 'Akin'
I thought of using 'Similar' but that doesn't seem right either

Any inputs?


texts: "Nose" is to "nasal" as "throat" is to what?

texts:
We use nasal as an adjective for something related to nose.
What is the word to refer to something related to throat?


texts:
I'm looking for a single word meaning "tired or fatigued in a good or enjoyable manner", as one would feel after a good day's work, or after some proper exercise. For example:

  After a strenuous gym session my body felt enjoyably tired.

I've considered tired, fatigued, and worn out but they all seem to have negative connotations.


texts:
In the following sentence why is omitting "who was" correct?

  Michelangelo, who was a sculptor, an architect, a painter, and a poet
  had a great influence on the world of art.

to

  Michelangelo, a sculptor, an architect, a painter, and a poet
  had a great influence on the world of art.


texts: Is the following sentence correct (future)?

texts:
I'm working on a presentation concerning COVID-19. I wrote this sentence and I deem the usage of future perfect should be adequate in this context, however I'm not entirely sure whether it's correct to be followed by future simple (as sort of a prediction in this context, I suppose?) like this. Could you help me out? Thank you!
" After at least 60% of the population will have been vaccinated, the vacciation will become effective."
If my question was too obvious sorry, I'm not a native English speaker.


texts: Word for list of things one does not want

texts: What's a word that means a list of things I don't want? An anti-wishlist?


texts: How do I say that I am certified in something in a personal statement?

texts:
In my personal statement, under the hobbies section, I am highlighting web development.
I wrote something like this:

  Among my hobbies, I find web development to be the most interesting
  and I currently hold certification in it from Microsoft.

This doesn't seem good. Does one hold/achieve/possess certification?
Can someone suggest a better way to phrase this without having to stretch it out into multiple sentences?


texts: "Woman students" OR "Women students" - which one is correct?

texts:
If I mean to say that many students who were also women smoked cigarettes, but do not wish to use "female students," which of the following would be correct to say:

a) Many woman students smoked cigarettes

OR

b) Many women students smoked cigarettes

I have read all the related posts - they are all helpful but doesn't answer my specific question. As a general rule, the first noun is often singular as in "girl students" and not "girls students" but there are exceptions to this rule, for instance, "women leaders." In fact, I have seen both "woman presidents" and "women presidents" being used frequently.

Could someone, please explain me, any rule there might be for pluralizing compound nouns where both the head noun or attributive noun and the noun it modifies are countable (Please note that I don't mean 'student' here as a collective noun for a body of students).


texts: Does "shouldn't" always take "should" as a question tag?

texts:
Which usage is correct?

  You shouldn't take sugar, should you?
  You shouldn't take sugar, will you?


texts:
Having studied Latin at High School and not being a native English native speaker, I have trouble understanding what the point of Pig Latin is. The text transformation rules, indeed, bring to something that is nowhere near the spelling or the pronunciation of real Latin.

For example:

  Youay ootay, Utebray, ymay onsay vs Tu quoque, Brute, fili mi.

What is the origin of Pig Latin? Is it really aimed to be some form of latinorum?


texts: does a semicolon or comma belong before "is this correct?"

texts:
You went to the store and bought chips, is that correct?

You went to the store and bought chips; is that correct?

You bought a bag of chips, correct?

You bought a bag of chips; correct?

Thanks for you help!!!


texts:
In France, and probably in some other countries, university players of team sports are generally divided into tiered teams, with the strongest players going to the strongest team ("team one"), and progressively weaker players in subsequent teams.

For context, the strongest team will generally play in national college competitions, while others may play in smaller leagues or not play in competitive leagues at all.

Is there a concise way to call the strongest team in English? Is "varsity team" appropriate, or is that too US/UK-centric if talking about a team in a non-anglophone country?


texts: 'partners may not have the same buy-in in projects' vs 'partners may not have the same buy-in of projects'?

texts:
I do not know which one is the correct preposition to use in the following example.
'partners may not have the same buy-in in projects', seems to be more correct but
'partners may not have the same buy-in of projects'


texts: Is it grammatically correct to say "A is more pregnant than B"?

texts:
Since one is either pregnant or not, I am wondering if it is grammatically correct to say "A is more pregnant than B". For example, in one of the following two scenarios, can one correctly say "A is more pregnant than B"?

A is 7 months pregnant while B is 3 months pregnant;
A is pregnant with twins while B is pregnant with one child.


texts: Why do photons and protons exhibit such anomalous behavior?

texts:
I first noticed in this answer that there is something sneaky going on with the word photon: its ‹t› is the stressed allophone of /t/, a fully aspirated [tʰ].  It does not reduce to [t] or [ɾ] the way it does in words like voting.  Other words with the same issue include proton and lepton.

The only way I can explain this would be  if the second syllable in such words bears secondary stress, so  [ˈfoʊˌtʰɑn].

Even so, the question remains: why does this happen? Is it because these are all “new” words? Or does Greek somehow enter into it?

I notice other new scientific terms have the related issue of an unreduced vowel in the syllable without primary stress, such as in hadron, quasar, protein, baryon, genome.

So the ‹t› in proton and photon works more like it does in Motown or cow town, but those are at morphemic boundaries.  The only “old” word I could think of where it might work the same way (remain aspirated) might be in canton.  But there the vowel in the unstressed syllable does seem a bit reduced, just not all the way.

What is really going on here?

Edit: The mid-word aspirated ‹t› also occurs in futon and wonton (as in wonton soup), but not in Briton, Milton, tartan, titan, wanton (as in a wanton woman).


texts: "A cheap and dirty solution" - help me offend someone

texts:
Looking for one word with a negative connotation to describe "a cheap and dirty solution" in a professional (software) environment.

"The proposed solution is (a) ...."

Basicly synonyms of: "The proposed solution is shitty", "The proposed solution is bogus", "The proposed solution is bullshit".


texts: I am writing a scene where I need to describe in a fluid manner where the characters are seated in a minivan. I know the seat next to the driver is the passenger seat or shotgun. This is a vehicle with third row seating so I am  not sure if the seats right behind the driver are the backseat. If they are, what are the ones behind the backseat called? If not, what are the right terms to describe each point?


texts:
What does nukulate mean in the following sentence from a question on Cooking SE?

  Nukulate for 3 minutes on high.


texts: Is there a word or concise phrase for "alternative name for something"? (but not pseudonym or alias)

texts:
Question
Is there a word or concise phrase for "alternative name for something" which doesn't have the associated negative connotation that pseudonym and alias have? It has to be short so as to fit within a web link.

The negative connotation which I feel is invoked with pseudonym and alias is something along the lines of "hiding behind a false identity." Alias is probably the less negative of the two but if there is a better word or concise phrase altogether I would much prefer to use that. Thanks for your help.

Some contextual info as requested
On the website teachers are able to create alternative names for the subject they teach. For example, the default selection is Mathematics but they may want to create an alternative name of Maths, RS instead of Religious Studies and so forth.


texts:
I was wondering about the meaning of "pseudo-", "quasi-"  "semi-" and possibly other related prefixes, in general cases.

Particularly, in engineering and science, there are quite a few terms named with these prefixes. For example, "quasi-integrable", "pseudo-Newton method", "semigroup". But I never get to understand their differences in usage.


texts: Hyphen use: convention for made-up words with a compound noun or phrase?

texts:
Apologies for the verbosity of the title. Example: "morse code speak". What should be hyphenated and what not?
Facing this, I had informally adopted the practice of enclosing the compound noun/phrase with inverted commas ('), before treating it as one word and adding a hyphen. i.e.

'morse code'-speak
'search engine'-cum-wikipedia
'civilised society'-influenced


texts: “Blue-green algae is/are present in the lake”?

texts:
I was once walking round one our local lakes with my family and there was a sign that read:

  Blue-green algae is present in the lake [emphasis added]

I maintained that it should be are, however we have never been sure and I have seen it referenced as both on the web and in biological journals.

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=%22algae+are+present%22
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=%22algae+is+present%22

Which one is correct?


texts: Does the word "findability" exist in English?

texts:
There are at least three books with the word findability in their title; all of them to be found on Amazon. According to ODE I own, findability does not exist.

Is it a new word? If so, then is it allowed to transform any randomly chosen adjective ending in -able into the noun ending in -ability?


texts: "Am I going the right way for Downwood?" versus "Is this the right way to the station?" Why the change of preposition?

texts:
Two sentences taken from First Certificate Language Practice by Michael Vince, 4th edition, p. 104, ex. 4, n° 3, and p. 105, ex. 5, n° 5:

"Excuse me, is this the right way to the station?"

"Am I going the right way for Downwood?"

(to be transformed into, says the key: "Is this the right way for Downwood?")

Why use the preposition 'to' in one case, and 'for' in the other? Aren't a town and a station two places?


texts: Can a semicolon be placed between two sentences if the second sentence begins with a pronoun that refers back to the previous sentence?

texts:
Consider the following closely-related sentences:

  Those tribes have been farmers for centuries. They do not desire to do
  anything else.

would this way of writing the sentences be correct as well:

  Those tribes have been farmers for centuries; they do not desire to do
  anything else.


texts: Was gret ever a valid past tense of greet?

texts:
The past tense of greet is greeted. This is known.

However my instinct suggests it should be something like great/gret (first spelling seeming more right though easy to confuse ).

I'm certain I can remember hearing people in the north of Britain saying gret.

Is there any validity at all to this word as a dialectical or previously acceptable form?

Or am I merely guilty of some phenomena where I misapply rules?


texts:
Having a watch is essential for looking good and timeliness.

Disregarding the content of the above sentence, is it grammatically correct? To me it feels improper that "looking good" uses a verb, while "timeliness" uses a noun.
I'd rather see

Having a watch is essential for good looks and timeliness.

or

Having a watch is essential for looking good and being on time.

If it is indeed an error, does it have a name? How would you describe it?


texts:
Is there anything wrong in the following sentence :

  I queried Sonia about her Personal Computer.

The sentence is akin to :

  I asked Sonia about her Personal Computer.

Am I right ?


texts: Daydreaming - Imagination not visually but aurally

texts:
In Germany there is a thing we call "Kopfkino". It consists of two words, Kopf = Head and Kino = cinema.

The English equivalent should be daydreaming for this. Most of the time you just explore your mind or picture a certain scene different. These two scenarios happen "visually".

But sometimes I'm just having the aurally part of this experience, in which I can start a beat playing in my head or even choose a song to hear. These scenarios only happen aurally and in a focused or normal state of mind.

Is there a word or phrase for not daydreaming but some sort of "phantom hearing"?


texts: "Had been planning" or "were planning" What is the difference?

texts:
We_________(had been planning /were planning) to felicitate John at
  our annual cultural fest when the news of his death______(had arrived
  /arrived).

Can someone tell me which one to use and why, and why not?


texts: American Pronunciation of words in England and vice versa

texts:
I realise this maybe a touchy subject for some of the members on here but i have found that a lot of people in Britain have taken to Americanising the pronunciation of words.

I was wondering if this is the case in the USA? Take Schedule, Laboratory and lever for example, we all know the differences, does anyone find people in america pronouncing words in the same way Brits do? Is there some sort of linguistic divide? or is it just us!?


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Which day does “next Tuesday” refer to?

If it is November, how do you refer to the upcoming July? Is it "this July" or "next July"?


texts: What is the relative frequency of English graphemes and/or phonemes in printed UK English texts/spoken English?

texts:
Having reviewed freely accessible research I found references to The Grapheme-Phoneme Problem in Reading and other spelling studies and have sought other frequency tables that describe the relative frequency of the letters (graphemes) used to represent the sounds (phonemes).
There are available online resources for frequency tables of words in spoken language and printed texts, but not as readily available are comparable tables for the graphemes and/or phonemes used in UK English.

As a primary school teacher, I am curious as to whether it would be worthwhile focussing on teaching children those graphemes that occur more frequently, as is done with high frequency sight words.  This question may be of use to those professionals that support children with decoding when reading and using phonics knowledge when spelling.

I’ve done my own diagnostics for spelling errors but I’m no statistician and so am seeking help from those that may have access to relevant publications and studies.


texts: Why is "did" before the subject to show emphasis?

texts:
I read a passage and there is one sentence I don't know the usage of it. The sentence is

  “And did this young woman have a long memory.”

I know ‘did’ is for emphatic use, but why it can be put before “this young woman”?

Many thanks.


texts: Can you say: "What is and how to create art?"

texts:
I'm writing a blog post and I was wondering if a question could be formulated that way.

Thank you.


texts: "by induction hypothesis" or "by THE induction hypothesis"

texts:
One of the techniques for proving statements in mathematics is "mathematical induction" (wikipedia entry). Very informally and not precisely speaking, when conducting a proof using this technique, (1) one proves that the statement is true in the simplest possible case, then (2) one assumes that the statement is true for a more complex case, and then (3) one proves that the assumption from step 2 implies the validity of the statement for even more complex case.

The assumption from step 2 is called "induction hypothesis". When executing step 3, one often reffers to this assumption. How should one refer to it? Is it

by induction hypothesis, ...

or

by the induction hypothesis, ...

?

In each of the wikipedia examples there is "the", which I believe to be correct, since we are referring to a specific, concrete assumption that has been made. I've seen mathematical textbooks that use only this variant, but also ones that mix both variants; the same goes for research articles.


texts:
I'm writing a text in which I'd like to explain a concept. In order to explain that, I must explain another concept first which is necessary to understand the first one.

After explaining this other concept first, I'd like to say something like "Now that we've clarified this, we can talk about ...". I'm looking for an expression for the first half of this sentence. I know expressions like

  "With that out of the way, ..."

or

  "Now that we've agreed on this, ..."

or

  "Now that we've settled that, ..."

The point I'd like to get across is that now that we have a common understanding of how the first thing works, we can move on and discuss X.

The examples I gave are a little harsh to me, but maybe okay. I'm just wondering if there are more options here.


texts:
I suspect that the following opening paragraph in an email is not written by an educated native speaker of English.

  It has come to my attention that there has been several times whereby students had specifically phoned or went in personally to request for leave, but their notice was not indicated in the name sheet. Is it now the current protocol not to indicate their notice of leave in the name sheet?

"Times whereby", "in the name sheet", "request for leave", and "had phoned in" look suspicious. Am I correct in seeing these constructions as likely indicators that the text was written by a non-native speaker?


texts:
What is the correct form of this question ?

I travel by my car Vs I travel with my car ?
Is it correct to say I drive to office in my car ?


texts: Is D-glottalization a plausible explanation of ambiguity in Donald Trump interview with WSJ?

texts:
On Jan 11, The Wall Street Journal published an interview with President Trump that contained the following phrase:

  With that being said, President Xi has been extremely generous with what he’s said, I like him a lot. I have a great relationship with him, as you know I have a great relationship with Prime Minister Abe of Japan and I probably have a very good relationship with Kim Jong Un of North Korea.

  I have relationships with people, I think you people are surprised.

The White House subsequently denied this statement, claiming that the President rather said (emphasis mine):

  I'd probably have a very good relationship with Kim Jong Un of North Korea

WSJ responded by publishing audio recording that, in their opinion, supports their original transcript. This has been considered adequate evidence by many commentators, for example Newsweek. I, however, beg to differ.

Having listened to the recording carefully, it seems to me that Trump's I was followed by a glottal stop. Why is this important? T-glottalization commonly occurs in American English and I thought Trump could show similar yet less exhibited D-glottalization, which would perfectly resolve the whole controversy.

However, my brief research shows that this sound change is rarely mentioned by phonologists, and attributed mostly to African American speakers, such as this study from Houston area.

Not having reached a conclusion myself, my questions are:

Am I correct transcribing Trump's words as [ʌɪʔ ˈprɒbəbli]?
Is D-glottalization a thing for a New York white speaker, i.e. would he pronounce I'd as [ʌɪʔ]?


texts: Other word for an empty promise (that is likely not to be held)

texts:
I'm not exactly sure how to word my questions properly, but here it is: Say I receive a reply from customer support such as: "We will take your concern very seriously"
But I get the feeling that this is just a generic reply without an actual possibility of the promise being fulfilled.

What do you call such a statement?

Wow, and I feared I asked a poor question. I had never dreamed of getting so much feedback, which is what makes accepting an answer so much more difficult (which is further complicated by not being a native speaker). Thanks to everyone for all the replies! I think I'll go with jwpat7's answer because it lists multiple possibilities along with explanations.


texts:
Coming from "Changes in English names of people"  telling:

  Richard → Dick

Can I substitute Dick by Richard?
I need it to know because my Emails with the use of name Dick are being returned by Email filtering as obscene

Or what is substitute for name Dick?

I already asked it before but my question was deleted

Update:
Why is Dick Cheney, former Vice President of the USA, is always written/addresses everywhere in a tone of familiarity?
How can I call/address him without a tone of familiarity by a synonymous name?

So, I should address Dick Cheney as Richard Cheney instead?
Have I understood correctly the answers?


texts:
Is 'estimatedly' a word? My spell checker highlights it and Google returns only 35k results so I guess it is not, though I cannot "see" what is wrong with it.
I am using it in this context:

According to McKinsey's 2016 report, `United States alone has more than two zettabytes (2,000 exabytes) of data' estimatedly, [...]


texts:
I don't want to spend too much money on phones. May I say

  I am cheap with phones

or

  I am cheap about phones

I have come across a sentence that says

  I am cheap for certain things

Does that mean I can say

  I am cheap for phones

or can I say

  I am cheap on phones


texts: Standard deviation for average sentence and paragraph length?

texts:
I was able to find a source that gave an average for sentence length in the english language of 14 words. I am curious as to what the standard deviation for that number is.

Also, I couldn't find any averages for how many sentences are in a paragraph. Again, I am also interested in knowing the standard deviation for that.

I know these averages can vary highly depending on the document.


texts: Aberrant usage of the adjective "incredulous"

texts:
Below is a sentence I found in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English. Could you please explain why the adjective "incredulous" is used as if it's an adverb?

  'You sold the car?' she asked, incredulous.

Should it be amended to include "incredulously" and exclude the comma:

  'You sold the car?' she asked incredulously.

P.S. I appreciate the possibility that this is a common structure, as opposed to being unique to "incredulous", yet I'm just not familiar with such a structure.


texts:
I can't find the difference between these two words. I want to describe the property of something that is repeating at a fixed period (don't ask me to use periodicity, that would be for another question).

For instance, in the sentence:

  I can see that there is ... in candy sales. People are buying on average more at the beginning of the month than at the end of the it.

Which of the two terms "cyclicity" and "cyclicality" would best fit, and for what reason?


texts: Adjectival form: migration strategy or migratory strategy?

texts:
Birds have different migrat* strategies - some spend the winter in the
  breeding grounds, some migrate to the Mediterranean, some migrate to
  sub-Saharan Africa...

I was used to use the term "migratory strategy" here, but I was corrected to "migration strategy". When I look at the Web of Science (apps.webofknowledge.com) I found 111 articles using the query TS="migratory strategy" and 488 using the query TS="migration strategy".

Are both terms possible then? Or is one of them wrong or obsolete?
Are they equivalent, or are they slightly different?
Is one preferred over the other?


texts: Can anyone tell me if the use of the word "would" makes this sentence conditional/hypothetical?

texts:
So, me and some others got into a little debate about this and I found some really good information on here, and wanted to get some good expert opinions. I have 2 questions about the following statement:

"This is an attempt to collect a debt and any information obtained would be used for that purpose."

Questions 1. Does the use of "would" make this conditional/hypothetical?
I'm pretty sure that's an easy yes, which leads to the question I'm really needing answered.

Question 2. Is there a way, or any rule for certain situations, where an unspecified condition is determined based on contextual information? For example, here, it seems obvious that the condition is "IF any information is obtained". So is there any rule that says based on this sentence alone, that is the condition, or is it still technically an unknown?


texts: why is it grammatically incorrect to say "very incredible"?

texts: I have been told that it is wrong to say "very incredible " and "very fantastic". Could you tell me why?


texts: I know it should be "a" but it sounds so awkward? So should it be "an"?


texts:
Excerpt from Cambridge Dictionary of American English:

  If you want to use an adjective or adverb to say that a quality is of
  a higher degree, you can usually add -er (one-syllable adjectives) to the end of it or qualify it with more (adjectives of two ore more syllables).

e.g. your hair is longer now than it was last year.

  To say that a quality is of a lower degree, you can usually add
  -er (one-syllable adjectives) to the end of a negative adjective or adverb, or qualify it with less (adjectives of two ore more syllables).

e.g. your hair is shorter now than it was last year.

My question is: How can we say that a negative & one-syllable adjective is of a higher degree? I mean, if "shorter" somehow means "more short", how can I say that something is "less short"? And if "longer" somehow means "more long", how can I say that something is "less long" than another thing?

A friend of mine suggested that the only way of saying the opposite of "negative adj + er" is to say "positive adj + er". (i.e. shorter -> longer). My take is that whether "adj + er" means "more adj" or "less adj", entirely depends on whether the used adj. is positive or negative respectively. Is my understanding correct? Is it possible to say the opposite of "shorter" to convey the meaning of "less short" without using a different adjective?

Rephrased question:

For non-one-syllable adjectives:

  If A is more beautiful than B, then B is less beautiful than
  A.

Why is there no such ability in English to bidirectionally compare one-syllable adjectives as well?

  If A is rounder than B, then B is (???) than A.


texts:
The Latin pro bono is used to describe performance of (often professional or specialized) services for free or for reduced compensation.  Is there a corresponding (hopefully Latin, perhaps pro-SOMETHING) phrase for performance of services for pay (i.e., normal/conventional compensation)?

I perused Wikipedia's list of Latin "P" phrases and didn't find anything satisfactory. Pro rata is perhaps plausible (in the sense of pay-as-you-go), but I don't think I have seen it used in this sense. I suppose the phrase I seek describes the "normal" case, so it doesn't often need a clarifying phrase (in contrast to the "abnormal" case described by pro bono).

I could certainly use a literal English phrase like "for money" or "for a fee" (e.g., as suggested here).
However, that doesn't seem as elegant (as pro bono is somewhat more elegant and more specific than "for free"). I'm also interested in this as describing a situation: analogous to pro bono describing the arrangement of services being provided at reduced fee, this term explicitly identifies the arrangement as services being performed at the conventional rate.

Such a phrase could also be used in a somewhat jocular or droll way; for example, a student asking for help with an implicit pro bono sense:

  Student A: Would you help me with my homework?
  Student B: I would be willing to help pro [appropriate compensation]...

Perhaps that, itself, works in this usage... :)


texts:
In Mathematics, particularly in Algebraic Geometry, the words bundle and sheaf are used everywhere in the literature to represent different concepts. Cambridge Dictionary defines these two words as follows:

  Sheaf: a number of things, especially pieces of paper or plant stems, that are held or tied together.

  Bundle: a number of things that have been fastened or are held together.

Furthermore, it gives bundle as a synonym. In my native language (Spanish), there is however a difference between these two words, as one would say that a sheaf is smaller than a bundle. Also, in Spanish, the word for sheaf (gavilla) is used exclusively for stems or branches, such as vine shoots, that is, nobody would say "una gavilla de papeles".

My question is if, despite the synonymity between bundle and sheaf mentioned in the Cambridge Dictionary, there exist more subtle differences between these two words.


texts:
Which of these sentences sounds correct?

These dynamics are used to explain the convergence toward an equilibrium state.
These dynamics are used to explain the convergence towards an equilibrium state.

I have been reading a lot of posts, but I still have doubts. Need your suggestions :).


texts:
I'm looking for verb that fits for "make your heartbeat audible/hearable".

But not a verb that describes the action with our sense organ, like in "hear your heartbeat" or in "see your heartbeat".
More like "visualize your heartbeat", but for hearing.


texts:
The university of Chicago has been ranked one of the best in the world.

OR

The university of Chicago has been ranked as one of the best in the world .

Which one of them is correct ?


texts:
As the title said, I am wondering which one of the following sentences is right.

1. the square of a, b, and c.
2. the squares of a, b, and c.

for a*a, b*b, and c*c.

Please help me.


texts:
He received a diploma with commendation in Computer Science from XX
  School.

Does "with commendation in" just a fancy word to say "diploma for Computer Science", or is there any special meaning to this? The dictionary meaning for "commendation" is compliment/award, and It seems awkward to interpret "commendation" as an award. A diploma with award in Computer Science? I don't think so... What does "with commendation in" mean?


texts: Commonly used in the formula The life and times of ...


texts: Grammaticality of linking two questions like "how often" and "why" together

texts:
I would like to ask the postage department the questions like "how often the packages got lost in the mail" and "why the packages got lost in the mail".

While it is absolutely correct in Russian to "weld" such a questions together how can I do it in English? Is it correct to ask a question like this:

  How often and why does this happen when the packages got lost in the mail?


texts:
A standfirst is:

  an introductory paragraph in an article, printed in larger or bolder type or in capitals, which summarizes the article

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition. Retrieved December 28, 2017 from Dictionary.com website http://www.dictionary.com/browse/standfirst

What is the opposite of a standfirst — a final paragraph that is distinct from the main body of the article, something that if it were online might be a call to action or in print the address to write a letter to.

Although not a perfect example here is an article from the Evening Standard.


texts: a word (or a phrase) available when you just remembered something

texts:
Imagine a situation as mentioned below.

You are talking with your friend, get satisfied, finish the talk, and open the door to go out, but suddenly you remember something to tell and say to him,

"Oh,______" (and your talk follows)

Is there a good word or a phrase to fit the blank other than "I just remembered"?

Thank you :)


texts: Compound Predicate with two Prepositional Phrases / Preposition Deletion

texts:
My intention is to say that:

(A) I will be traveling on Mon & Tue. I will be eating on Mon & Tue.

Is this a correct paraphrase -?->

(B) I will be traveling and eating on Mon and Tue.

Or does the sentence (B) instead mean -?->

(C) I will be traveling. I will be eating on Mon & Tue.


texts: Is the sentence "we are playing with my friend" correct if the "we" only means my friend and me?

texts: My friend says it should be "My friend and I are playing", but I think "We are playing with my friend" is correct too. Is it?


texts: meaning '' the written characters'' in contex

texts:
what does that mean''written character'' in this contex?
Strangers bearing gifts(trip tips):
Beware what you offer your host. Pass up chrysanthemums in argentina(they denote funerals), clocks in China (the written characters resemble those for death) and red pens in south Korea(red ink conveys unfriendliness)


texts: How would you say: [not] trespassing on someone else's field of expertise

texts:
There is a manager in our company that he thinks that I am trying to do some task that he is the one that should be doing not me.
I am trying to decline his assumptions but my attempts sound wrong:

I am not crossing your specialty ...
I am not trespassing your field of specialty ...


texts: Word or phrase for beautiful music going unheard?

texts:
I can't think of a word or phrase describing this scenario:

  Someone is singing beautifully and it has meaning but no one is there to hear it so it is useless.

Please help!


texts: What does the phrase 'Putting the Spring in Springfield' mean?

texts:
I am reading the book about the Simpsons and I don't understand this line:

  'Putting the Spring in Springfield.'

The line is the title of chapter from the book. I suppose the line 'put the spring' means breathing life or revival or something like that. Regarding the meaning of the word 'spring', it could mean grow out, put out, bubble up or occur. I am not sure whether I'm right or not, so that's why I'm here. Does it mean breathing life to Springfield? Can anyone please explain to me what does it mean?

Also I did some research on it, and I think this line may be related to the song "We put the spring in Springfield" from the Simpsons.

Link to the song on YouTube.

Link to the online book


texts: Are there any old third-person singular pronouns the way “thou” is an old second-person pronoun?

texts:
Thou is an old second-person singular pronoun in English.
Are there any old third-person singular pronouns?


texts:
I'm pretty sure the sentence "I'm quite an ambitious man" is standard English, but I wonder if the adverb 'too' can be used the same way.
To put it another way, I'd like to know which of the following sentences are correct:

(1) I'm a too ambitious man

(2) I'm too ambitious a man

(3) I'm too an ambitious man (where too means very, not also)

Thanks in advance for any contributions


texts: Respectful way to refer to people with some disabilities

texts:
In the context of usable security (related to computer science), a major challenge is to provide security means in such a way that all of the people including those with some disabilities (e.g., blindness and deafness) be able to use information systems. So, in some cases we need to refer to these two general group of users. The question is how to do so in a respectful way. For example, referring them as ordinary and disabled users is a bit harsh.

Also, I don't like using "disabled users and users without any type of disabilities" to refer them.

What's the best way to describe these two group of users? Shorter options are preferred!


texts:
There was the following passage in Vanity Fair's (May 16) article titled, "Mitt “Bird Legs” Romney is ready for his boxing match.”:

  Romney also revealed two nicknames. As a high-schooler, he was
  referred to as “Bird Legs,” a moniker Romney imagines will make a
  reappearance after viewers of the fight see his yams. One of his sons
  has bestowed him with a new nickname: “The Glove.” As Leibovich
  quickly catches on, it’s a play on the name “Mitt.”

http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2015/05/mitt-romney-boxing-match?mbid=

I’m not able to relate the meaning of “yam” other than to “the edible starchy tuber of a climbing plant widely distributed in tropical or subtropical countries, a sweet potato,” as defined in COD.

What does “yams” in the above quote mean? Is it a slang for biceps muscles, or just a typo of “arms”?


texts:
In my country, we have an idiom which literally means : people will not trust you ever again if you don't keep your word even just for once

Are there any idioms in English that is close enough to this? Thanks!


texts: Are people included in "flora and fauna" phrase?

texts:
Which sounds more correct:

Climate change affects the people, flora and fauna of the country.
Climate change affects the flora and fauna of the country.


texts: What is the word for a rapt state induced by a yearning for the unattainable?

texts: I cannot remember the English word for a known meaning. The meaning of the forgotten word from the dictionary is a "a rapt state induced by a yearning for the unattainable".


texts: Referring to famous Morrissey's "Children in pieces" b-side.


texts: how to write an onomatopoeia in a short story?

texts: I'm writing a short story and I would like to know how to add an onomatopoeia in a sentence. Do I have to underline it? Can an onomatopoeia be a sentence on its own? Thank you for answering.


texts: Is there any word or phrase for the idea that "everything in the universe is a miracle"?

texts: Is there any word or phrase for the idea that "everything in the universe (including the creatures) is a miracle"? Or someone who chooses to see everything as a miracle?


texts: Does anyone know of a particular "rule" to know which words are their own past tense (such as "hurt"), and aren't modified for time? I'd like an easy rule to tell my students


texts: Punctuation before or after superscript of date?

texts:
Where do I insert the period when using superscripts for "th" of a date?

For example see below. They both seem wrong to me even though the first version seems more "wrong" than the second version:

on the 25th.
on the 25.th


texts: 'Without so much as a call or a letter – he showed up.' Is this grammatically correct?

texts:
Is the sentence below grammatically correct?
Without so much as a call or a letter – he showed up.
I know that dashes can be used to emphasize parenthetical information, but I feel as though the parenthetical element typically comes within a set of dashes or after a single dash, not before. After all, dashes typically draw attention to and emphasize what comes after (or within).
Therefore, does placing a dash after a parenthetical element still draw attention to the parenthetical element, or does it draw attention to the independent clause? Is it even grammatically correct to use a dash in a sentence with a parenthetical element to emphasize the independent clause rather than the parenthetical?
Here's an example of what I'm wondering:
He showed up – without so much as a call or a letter. (The emphasis on "without so much..." in this sentence, yes?)
Without so much as a call or a letter – he showed up. (The emphasis is on "...he showed up" in this sentence, yes? But is this grammatically appropriate? Stylistically?)
Thank you!


texts:
Is there an idiom for progressively encroaching on someone's place/progressively abusing someone's hospitality. Or the intention there-of?

E.g. I start by asking for sugar and upon finding that you're helpful, ask for your house for a few days..

There is an implication of the party doing so being cunning.

While I've put some constraints (about being cunning etc), this question can serve as a compendium for similar idioms without such constraints too so feel free to answer. E.g. something like this being done with an altruistic intention, like a parent gradually entering the life of an estranged child to guide him.

PS: I tried searching but couldn't find much.


texts: What does this sentence mean:"If you fail to dot an “I” or cross a “T,” you could be..."?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  “there are still a few administrative i's to dot and t's to cross”

From here there is a sentence:

  If you fail to dot an “I” or cross a “T,” you could be banging your
  head against the wall for hours.

What does the author mean by dot an "I" or cross a "T"?

Thanks.


texts: 'get off of me' or 'get off me'. what is the difference?

texts:
I saw someone in a movie say,
I don't know the difference between "You get him off of me."and"You get him off me."
Please, tell me the difference.


texts: Usage of Some: Does "some" require a plural or singular verb?


texts: Is there an idiom to describe someone who is really skinny and whose clothes don't look good on them?

texts:
Is there an idiom to describe someone who is really skinny whose clothes don't look good on them at all? This should not refer to the person but instead to how the clothes look on the person. In my native language, we say:

  Those clothes are crying on your body.

Or

  It seems like you wore your father's clothes in this picture.


texts: For people, can you say "a British" like you can say "an Australian"?

texts:
According to Wiktionary, you can't use "a British" to refer to individual British people, though you can use it to refer to a race of people as a whole, but you can use "an Australian", and this matches what I already suspect.

I can't think of a good Google Ngram query to confirm this.

Is this the case? And if so, why is there a difference?


texts: What's a better word for "vegetable food products"

texts:
I'm looking at describing the demand in vegetable food products in a project. Using the term "vegetable food products demand" seems a bit heavy. I wonder whether there's a better word or phrase for it.

For the more nit-picky among us, I would like to refer to Collins Concise English Dictionary:

vegetable /ˈvɛdʒtəbəl/
n

any of various herbaceous plants having parts that are used as food,
such as peas, beans, cabbage, potatoes, cauliflower, and onions
(informal) a person who has lost control of his mental faculties,
limbs, etc, as from an injury, mental disease, etc
a dull inactive person
(as modifier): a vegetable life
(modifier) consisting of or made from edible vegetables: a vegetable diet
(modifier) of, relating to, characteristic of, derived from, or consisting of
plants or plant material: vegetable oils
(rare) any member of the plant kingdom

Here I want to used the 7th meaning. (Interestingly, most other Indo-European languages I speak have two distinct words to distinguish 7 from 1.)

Any suggestions?


texts: Word for a society including many tribes

texts: I need a word that refers to a society in which there are many distinct tribes. I know a word tribal society, but it may refer to a single tribe not the whole society-I'm not sure though.


texts: Is there a word for the phrase "I don't know what I don't know"?

texts:
In my current job, I'm constantly trying to figure out when the next thing I don't know that I don't know is going to bite me in the butt and cause me to have to rework my code.  I've been working on a certain project for nearly a year, and still find out things that people have neglected to tell me, or are just considered tribal knowledge and everyone assumes you just "know", or is buried in the code (that I have to replicate in another language).  It's not malicious, it's just how it is here, but it's incredibly frustrating.

So far the closest word I've found that sort of describes this situation is agnotology (the study of culturally induced ignorance, coined in 1995), but that's not exactly it.

What word adequately describes the situation where you don't know what you don't know?


texts: Names for someone who make bows (for shooting arrows)

texts:
My feeling is that bow-maker is the only current word for this meaning. Any others?

The context is translation from a Chinese sutra (Fǎjù jīng 14.7):

  弓工調角 Bow-makers master horn —

  水人調船 watermen master boats —

  材匠調木 carpenters master wood —

  智者調身 the wise master themselves.

There's an old word bowyer that I fear is extinct. Current bower is easily confused with a lot of other meanings: shaded resting place, one who bows at the waist, one who plays an instrument with a bow, anchors suspended from the bow of a boat.

A fletcher is primarily an arrow-maker (from French flèche 'arrow'), but the OED has a sixteenth-century example where it seems to mean someone who makes bows.

There's also a defunct word artiller for this meaning.


texts: How to describe different levels of maturity?

texts:
The dictionary describes mature as fully developed, completed, or perfected. I assume by this meaning that it is already absolute.

My question is, is there such thing as degrees of maturity? If yes, what are those adverbs to describe the degrees of maturity?


texts: Which literary device is used in these Thoreau quotes?

texts:
I am reading Walden by Henry David Thoreau and he likes word play. Specifically he likes to make silly analogies between things that aren’t usually put together. I am wondering what type of literary device these two quotes would be. Specifically the device of making humorous comparisons between two things.  I guess they are metaphors (?), but there has to be a more specific name. My Wikipedia browsing came up with "syllepsis", maybe?

In the first his humor lies in referencing a Bible verse out of context, Matthew 5:39, “But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also”:

  and when the frost had smitten me on one cheek, heathen as I was, I turned to it the other also.

In the second his humor is in describing a village layout as if it were a setup for people to run the gauntlet. This is a long passage but I am in particular interested in the name for the type of overall humorous word picture he is painting:

  I observed that the vitals of the village were the grocery, the bar-room, the post-office, and the bank; and, as a necessary part of the machinery, they kept a bell, a big gun, and a fire-engine, at convenient places; and the houses were so arranged as to make the most of mankind, in lanes and fronting one another, so that every traveller had to run the gauntlet, and every man, woman, and child might get a lick at him. Of course, those who were stationed nearest to the head of the line, where they could most see and be seen, and have the first blow at him, paid the highest prices for their places; and the few straggling inhabitants in the outskirts, where long gaps in the line began to occur, and the traveller could get over walls or turn aside into cow-paths, and so escape, paid a very slight ground or window tax. Signs were hung out on all sides to allure him; some to catch him by the appetite, as the tavern and victualling cellar; some by the fancy, as the dry goods store and the jeweller's; and others by the hair or the feet or the skirts, as the barber, the shoemaker, or the tailor. Besides, there was a still more terrible standing invitation to call at every one of these houses, and company expected about these times. For the most part I escaped wonderfully from these dangers, either by proceeding at once boldly and without deliberation to the goal, as is recommended to those who run the gauntlet, or by keeping my thoughts on high things, like Orpheus, who, "loudly singing the praises of the gods to his lyre, drowned the voices of the Sirens, and kept out of danger." Sometimes I bolted suddenly, and nobody could tell my whereabouts, for I did not stand much about gracefulness, and never hesitated at a gap in a fence. I was even accustomed to make an irruption into some houses, where I was well entertained, and after learning the kernels and very last sieveful of news—what had subsided, the prospects of war and peace, and whether the world was likely to hold together much longer—I was let out through the rear avenues, and so escaped to the woods again.

Or perhaps they are best described as two different literary devices.


texts:
I searched google, but I do not know what words like "one o'clock", "jack o'lantern", "lily o'the valley" are called.

Does any list exist? The motivation is just out of curiosity. (Reading a lot of Dickens which made me wonder about it.)

Thank you for the answer and time.


texts: My house vs our house when speaking directly one on one

texts:
If I call a plumber and tell him I need service at an "address". Then he calls back to say he's lost, which of these would be grammatically correct to say?

My house is second on the right.
Our house is second on the right.

The original conversation was between him and I, no one else involved. The house is owned by my wife and I. If I say our its because its not just mine but he only knows of me so is it ok to say my house?


texts: Word to describe "-ie" suffix that is not intended as a diminutive

texts: I know I can use "doggie" to refer to a dog and that's a diminutive form, but what about words like "selfie" or "foodie" that aren't necessarily meant to diminish by adding an "-ie?" Is there a term for that kind of suffix?


texts: "On the equivalence of A and B" or "between A and B"

texts:
I am writing an academic paper with a choice of titles:

  On the equivalence of A and B
  On the equivalence between A and B

or

  On the equivalence of A, B and C
  On the equivalence between A, B and C
  On the equivalence among A, B and C

where A,B,C are some scientific or math notions.

Should I use of or between or among? Which case is more correct or suitable?


texts: Is there a politer way of saying 'don't get you panties in a bunch'?

texts:
I'm from India, and here this phrase is likely to offend people, especially women. I'm looking for a phrase that means 'Don't worry' in a similarly colorful, humorous way.

EDIT: I'm looking for a humorous phrase, not common ones like 'chill', or 'relax' and their derivatives.


texts:
Posthumous is the word used to denote that something occurred after someone's death. Is there a word that could be used for after one's career? The best I got is postcurricular, but I think that is more specific towards after one's schooling.

Here is an example of what I am shooting for:

  He received the award posthumously.

  He received the email post __?

As a side note, I could use post employment, but that is not what I'm looking for.


texts: "Why do not you come here?" vs "Why do you not come here?"

texts:
I have two questions.

What is the difference between "Why do not you come here?" and "Why do you not come here?"?
Are both of "Why do not you come here?" and "Why do you not come here?" grammatically correct?


texts:
When two letters are joined as a ligature, I understand they are considered
to be one individual glyph. I also understand that letters on their own like D
or S are considered nouns or words.

When connecting two letters or
graphemes with a ligature as one glyph, is the glyph considered one word as
D and S are, or two?

When are ligatured letters considered their own
characters, and when is a ligatured glyph considered two letters even
though it is called one “glyph”?

When they are joined, are these ligature
glyphs named as D and S are, so as “dee” and “ess”?

I have found that all the letters in the alphabet are nouns in the dictionary, yet in the form of ligatures I have not found if these ligatures are considered one word or two words of each letter of the ligature as the ligature is called one glyph,


texts: Is the usage "drinks round mine tonight" correct?

texts:
I have seen people saying/texting/emailing "drinks round mine". I am not sure whether that is grammatically correct or is the term "round" short for "around"? If that's the case, is "drinks around mine" or "drinks 'round mine" the right way to write it?

I have seen this usage in UK and it's usually an invite for a drink at their house.


texts:
After the treatment, the patient is through except for follow-up.

What does through mean in the above— recovered from the sickness? What about 'except for follow-up'?


texts: Which is correct here: "who has" or "with"?

texts:
Which of these sentences is correct?

  I'm a musician with an unhealthy addiction.

OR

  I'm a musician who has an unhealthy addiction.

Or are they both correct? Any help would be really appreciated!


texts: What does "yet for" mean in following sentence?

texts: These facilities will have the lowest environmental impact yet for an Apple data centre.


texts: when to use plural or singular form of genitive/possessive noun phrases for item of individuals in group

texts:
Phrases like "our passport[s]" that refer to an item owned by members of a group (where each individual has one and the group collectively has multiple) are sometimes expressed in plural or singular form.  I'm trying to understand when the singular or plural form is appropriate.

For example:

A: We have our passports. (not "our passport")
B: Each of us has [their/our?] passport. (not "our passports")

Here "our passport[s]" is the direct object of a verb phrase, and whether we use plural is determined by the subject.  So does the subject determine which is correct?  Not necessarily, because we can create examples where the subject does not matter:

C: He gives us our passports.  / He gives our passports to us.
D: He gives each of us [their/our?] passport.

in C&D the subject is unrelated, and the plurality is determined by the indirect object.  So it seems the indirect object can also influence whether singular or plural is used.

E: He gives our passports to someone else.
F: We give each of us [their/our?] passport.

In E neither the group is not mentioned as a whole or as individuals (no "we" or "each of us") and it seems the plural is preferred.  In F both "we" and "each of us" are mentioned, and the singular form of passport seems appropriate.  So should we default towards "our passports" unless the group is referred to as individuals then we use the singular?  Maybe.

But in G below "each of us" in mentioned and the plural is used.  And in H "each of us" is not used and the singular seems more appropriate.

G. He would give a speech on each of our birthdays.
H. He would give a speech on our birthday[s?].

I'm not really sure how to clearly ask the question, to be honest.  But does anyone see where this is going?  When referring to an item owned by members of a group, how do we decide to refer to it as plural or singular?

Someone suggested Singular noun objects of plural subjects as being an equivalent question, but it spends more time dealing with whether the possessed object is of the group or of each member of the group (in this case I'm only asking about the later) and I don't think it addresses G or H.  Likewise for Do you pluralize the singular possessions of individual members of a plural group? in that it does not seem address G or H.


texts: What is the grammatical structure of this sentence?

texts:
A particular kind of sentence seems a bit strange to me... it might be, for example, "How interesting it was to see him go!" or... "How dreadful I felt when I heard those words."

Are they grammatically correct? And if so, what are the parts? It seems like they're missing something..


texts:
What is the meaning of “had sent him a rage of vision” in this excerpt:

  The old man was in a position to know what his ideas were. He had lived for three months in the nephew's house on what he had thought at the time was Charity but what he said he had found out was not Charity or anything like it. All the time he had lived there, the nephew had secretly been making a study of him. The nephew, who had taken him in under the name of Charity, had at the same time been creeping into his soul by the back door, asking him questions that meant more than one thing, planting traps around the house and watching him fall into them, and finally coming up with a written study of him for a schoolteacher magazine. The stench of his behaviour had reached heaven and the Lord Himself had rescued the old man. He had sent him a rage of vision, had told him to fly with the orphan boy to the farthest part of the backwoods and raise him up to justify his Redemption. The Lord had assured him a long life and he had snatched the baby from under the schoolteacher's nose and taken him to live in[…]”

From the book The Violent Bear It Away, by Flannery O’Connor (ch.1, p.4).


texts: Word for "to support, to giveback, to be the supplier in some situation"

texts:
What is a word for "to support, giveback, to be the supplier in some situation"? Three examples:

"To give back to his community, Chris helps clear the roads around
his neighborhood of any loose trash."
"Sarah felt that when using torrents, she should not only leach, but seed for others.
"Sean bears a sense of guilt for using StackExchange for questions, but never providing answers; perhaps that will change one day."

What word best encapsulates that desire to "give back" to an entity, be that to people or a goal such as an open-source project?


texts:
I have a question about the present perfect and present simple. Here's a sample dialogue.

  A: "I can't find my umbrella. Have you seen it?"
  B: "It might be in the car."

Why don't we use the "might have been" instead of "might be"?

And here is another dialogue.

  A: "The man you spoke to - are you sure he was American?"
  B: "No, I'm not sure. He might not have been American."

Why don't we use the "might not be" instead of "might not have been"?