texts: Why "Jesu" rather than "Jesus" in this carol?

texts:
Why does this bit of O Come, All Ye Faithful use Jesu rather than Jesus?

  Yea, Lord, we greet thee
  Born this happy morning
  Jesu, to thee be glory given

Am I right in my thinking that Jesus is a Latinized form of Yeshua, and that Jesu is the vocative?

It certainly does seem to turn up in a vocative context in other hymns etc.:

Jesu, joy of man's desiring
Jesu, the very thought of thee

And I'm guessing we use Jesus as a throwback to the Vulgate?

PS Happy Christmas, sotto voce, till this gets edited out...


texts: Is this sentence correct "Any and all persons can do this."?

texts:
I read it in a website and it said "Any and all persons can have this account".

It does not roll off the tongue and something seems amiss. Is this right usage of "any and all"?


texts: Is there an idiom for "people are the same everywhere"?

texts: I am looking for an idiom that expresses the notion that no matter where you go, people are fundamentally the same.


texts: "Don't satisfy both" and "Don't satisfy either"

texts:
Are these two statements equivalent?

If you don't satisfy either of the conditions A and B
If you don't satisfy both of the conditions A and B

I interpret the "either" case as:

If you fail to meet at least one of A or B.

But the "both" case has me confused when a non-native English speaker questioned me on it. (I'm a native English speaker).

Example of "either" on this page:

To use the self-service application to download and install Office 2016, you’ll need two things:

Mac OS X 10.10 (Yosemite)
The self-service software application included on L&S-managed Macs

If you don't meet either of those requirements

(Emphasis added)

Example of "both" on this page:

In the second stage of screening if you meet both of the following requirements you don’t need to do any further assessment of that substance. You’ll need to do detailed modelling of emissions that don’t meet both of the following requirements

(Emphasis added)

My opinion is that using "both" to mean "either" is sloppy and confusing, because it seems like "both" should mean:

you fail to meet A and you fail to meet B

In other words, I think that the "both" case doesn't apply to you if you've satisfied at least one.
Is there a "standard" way to read the "both" statement?


texts: Is omitting an article within a title is actually correct?

texts: When I was in an English class, I was assigned to write a summary of one theory in a group and after finishing it, I tried to make a title of it but I wondered if there should be an article before 'summary' because often I see some sentences without articles. I didn't add an article anyways... But is that actually correct?


texts: What is an English analogous expression to "as practice shows"?

texts:
In my native language there's an idiom "as practice shows" which means that your statement is based on some experience (practice). Sometimes it's used to emphasize the difference between theoretical expectations and practical results.

For example: the manufacturer states that their device is water-proof, but as practice shows it gets broken if you use it in the rain.

I've come up with these variants, but I don't know how they sound for native English speakers:
- as practice shows
- in practice
- according to practical/live experience
- experience teaches that

Could you please tell me how would you say?


texts: Why the structure "was born", and not "is born" like in many other languages?

texts:
My question is why English uses the past "was" in "I was born", and many other languages (the majority of the European languages for instance), use the present "is" with this past participle?

(Je suis né. Sono nato. etc...)

What are the historical and grammatical reasons. (I'm not looking for the logical reason, as it's obvious)


texts: What is an adjective synonym for "discretion" or "up to you?"

texts:
This has been bothering me for some time, and I apologize for any mistakes here.
What I'm looking for is another word for discretion without possession. It's almost like saying the phrase "up to you".
Example:

I don't care about the color of the car, so that is [your decision/up to you].
What you choose to wear is completely [your decision/up to you].

I could say "That is your discretion" but I'm looking for an adjective. I was thinking of the word optional but that almost implies that the object is unnecessary.


texts: What are alternative words or terms for "company stationery"?

texts:
I would like to know if there is a common alternative word/expression for the "company stationery", the paper with the company's printed letterhead, in British English.

I am wondering that there are so much words for other things, similar in meaning, but for an essential paper (cover) with printed company logo/head there is only the word "letterhead" which exactly seen, is a part/element of the letter. In Germany we say: Geschäftsbogen, Firmenbogen, often Firmenpapier and Firmenblatt.

Letterhead is the head of the letter, referring to the layout and elements of a letter, but not the whole paper.


texts:
Someone replied to me with: "Just wanted to confirm my hunch."

What is this expression usually used for?


texts: What's an adjective for "pertaining to donkeys"?


texts:
First of all, I doubt whether this is the proper place to ask my question since it might be quite basic, but I will try.

The sentence is:

  You flee my dream come the morning.

I certainly understand the part ''You flee my dream''.

But the part ''come the morning'' is completely confusing and problematic for me. Is that a reduced adverbial phrase?

I cannot combine the meanings of the two. Is it something like You flee my dream when the morning comes?

At first sight, the part come the morning seems to be an imperative clause, however, that would be awkward.

Hence, I suppose that it is an adverbial phrase, though I am not sure of anything.

The source of the text: https://sharmalade.bandcamp.com/track/the-wolven-storm-prescillas-song


texts: Is it ever correct to say "if I be..." in present-day English?

texts:
We are taught that in "type 0" and "type 1" conditional sentences, the tense of the condition clause (aka the "if" clause) should always be the normal present tense, as in:

"Type 0" conditional: If you heat ice, it melts.

"Type 1" conditional: If he wins the lottery, he will spend it all on charity.

As with any other verb, when using the verb be in this position, its inflectional form must agree with its subject, as in:

If he is smart, he will pass the tests.

However, is in the aforementioned sentence implies if the person is smart in general, not in one specific situation.
Does this distinction matter in English? If the latter were to be the case, meaning in a specific instance not something stated as a general truth, would it then be possible to use the pattern "If I be ...." instead of "If I am ...."?
For example:

Son: Please buy me a bicycle, Dad.

Dad: I will, but only if you be a good boy. [rather than "if you are ...."]

Does anyone ever speak or write that way today? If so, in what spoken or written contexts? If not, then have they ever once customarily done so at any other time or place than here and now?


texts: An idiom for "collecting all of the something possible"

texts:
I'm conducting a survey at work, and am looking for an idiom that expresses "not missing any of the ideas that are available"

For some reason, "shake all the apples from the tree" pops into my head, but no amount of googling confirms my latent belief that this in indeed a common phrase.

I guess "scrape the barrel" is related, albeit somewhat pejorative.

Does anyone having something better?


texts: An adjective meaning "along with" right after "quite"

texts:
Jack: Do you remember that situation at "Denver Enterprise Hall"?

  Jim: Oh yes! So how was it resolved?

  Jack: Well, it turned out that Crawbery was a fake agent. Dina
  scrapped the whole thing.... You don't seem to be surprised.

  Jim: Well, this outcome was kind of predictable and quite along
  with my expectations.

Is there any adjective in English that would have a meaning of "along with" (implying correspondence or similarity to someone's thinking, guessing or expectations) that I could place right after the word "quite" (which means that I could substitute it for the words "along with" in the example above)?


texts:
Why is it acceptable sometimes for writers to enclose an independent clause--a clause which could stand by itself as its own sentence--in dashes and parentheses, yet this can't be done with commas? An example sentence:

"She won the raffle--this had never happened to her before."
She had won the raffle (this had never happened to her before).
She had won the raffle, this had never happened to her before.

Sentence 3. is clearly a splice, yet the comma is functioning in the same way as the dash is in sentence 1. (I apologise for the poor example.)

On a slightly separate note, is the em dash ever functioning in the same way as the colon? I know that in sentence 1., above, a colon could replace the dash, and therfore they are interchangeable, but does the dash always only serve as a parenthetical piece of punctuation or can it function like the colon?


texts: Wer, wie, was, wieso, weshalb, warum, all start with W in German. In English they don't, why?

texts:
Wer, wie, was, wieso, weshalb, warum. Wer nicht fragt bleibt dumm.

This is the theme song to the German Sesame Street, IIRC
It roughly translates to:

  Who, how, what, why, why ,why. If you don't ask you stay stupid.

Anyhow the German question words all start with W. English seems to have fewer words for the same meaning compared to German and one of them is an exception and does not start with W. Why? English and German are both Germanic languages. So what happened here?

Also I did a quick check to be sure that why really has at least three counterparts in German. Did English have those and lost them?

  Wer --> Who Wie --> how Was --> what Wieso --> why Weshalb --> why
  Warum --> why


texts: Pluralization rule for "five-year-old children", "20 pound note", "10 mile run"

texts:
Why are year, pound and mile in the singular form in the phrases below?

five-year-old children
20 pound note
10 mile run

Is that because they're acting as adjectives, which are always invariable in English?

Is it incorrect to say...

five-years-old children?
20 pounds note?
10 miles run?


texts:
I'm wondering about the use of tenses in the following sentence. To me this should have been past perefect.

I was led by the county's envoy to the meadow where we found prisoners *already beaten up**having already been beaten up*/being beaten up, laying on the ground. [...] It was said they were mainly Jews."

Which form is the best? Thank you.


texts:
The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,
  Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit
  Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
  Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.

  The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam trans Edward FitzGerald

I need a line by line explanation


texts:
I know that this has been answered awhile ago, but no one had put any evidence towards one school of thought or another. Here is the sentence:

  Someone will be calling you to discuss your recent purchase. They will be talking to you about your next purchase, as well.

In this case, should we use , as well or simply about your next purchase as well.?

I would prefer an answer with some evidence to back it up, as I'm not biased towards one method or the other.


texts: I was wondering if there are synonyms for "I was wondering"

texts:
Often I ask a question (by e-mail), and precede the question with  I was wondering if...

For example I was wondering if you can give me your office hrs?

Why not just simply ask the real question? E.g. "Can you give me your office  hours; what are your office hours?"

My purpose for saying I was wondering before the actual question was to avoid the alternative of asking the question blatantly, which may appear inconsiderate to other parties.

The general purpose is to ask a question in such a way that the recipient feels comfortable and respected in order to get the best possible response.

What are some alternative synonyms to: "I was wondering"?

Might someone know of a different, effective approach to asking questions?


texts:
I came across this citation in the OED entry1 for fag (4th meaning, "a knot in cloth"):

  1464 Act. 4 Edw. IV, c. i, ― En cas que ascune autiel diversite ou Rawe, Skawe, cokell ou fagge, aveigne destre en ascun part des ditz draps.

I think that refers to an act of law as opposed to a play but, either way, what language is that? Presumably some variant of English but which? It seems far closer to French than modern English.
What I understand of it, I glean from French and Spanish. My English doesn't help at all.

So, what is this English (?) called? Based on the year, I assume it must come under the general heading of Middle English, but I can make far less sense of it that I can of, for example, the Canterbury Tales. Is this a different language? Not Middle English at all?

1 Available here, if you have access.


texts: Can the phrase 'certain level' imply 'not so much in quantity'?

texts:
I'm a high school student learning English in South Korea. In my exams, there was a question asking to choose the phrase that best fitted the following blank.

This is evident in the changing approaches towards expert knowledge, from full trust in the skills of the expert to a reserved trust, which ____________.
(See the full passage below)

There were two choices I was having a hard time choosing between. One of them was "makes people need a certain level of trust with experts" and the other was "puts too much a burden of judgment on the individuals".
I chose "makes people need a certain level of trust with experts", believing that the word 'certain' implied 'not so much in quantity and the phrase itself could be used to emphasize the change from full to reserved trust. Also, I thought it was illogical to say "too much", given there were no further mentions about the individuals.
But the answer was not the one I chose and my teacher told me that the word 'certain' should just be interpreted as 'some specific quantity. I am not really satisfied with his reasoning and was wondering if anyone can tell me how my understanding of the phrase is not appropriate.
Full passage:

As scientific knowledge has substantially expanded, our approach to knowledge may have changed: the earlier naive beliefs in undeniable truths have given way to the contextualization of knowledge, dramatically expressed as the end of grand narratives. This is evident in the changing approaches towards expert knowledge, from full trust in the skills of the expert to a reserved trust, which ___________. A major shift from ‘science’ to ‘research’ is identified in the production of scientific knowledge. Scientific knowledge allows us to develop new technologies, solve practical problems, and make informed decisions — both individually and collectively. According to this shift, knowledge becomes less final and more open to change. Science was associated with ‘certainty, coldness, aloofness, objectivity, distance, and necessity’, but research was, in contrast, ‘uncertain; open-ended; immersed in many lowly problems of money, instruments, and know-how’.


texts:
The Free Dictionary lists particular and specific as synonyms, but there still seems to be a subtle distinction between the two. What is that distinction?

In a phrase along the lines of:

  the [particular/specific] card selected from the deck

is there any meaningful difference, or should I just use whichever sounds best?


texts: "Founded on [date]" vs. "Founded in [date]"

texts:
I want to put a variation of the following just above a company description, but I'm wondering which preposition I should use:

  Business Founded On December 2011
  Business Founded In December 2011


texts: How did 'provide' evolve to mean 'stipulate in a document'?

texts:
What's an intuitive derivation behind ODO's definition 3 that helps to internalise its meaning:

  3. to provide [with clause] = Stipulate in a will or other legal document:

Etymonline doesn't explain this meaning.

In particular, why are these (legal?) definitions of “provide” and “provision” stronger than the usual ones?

  provide
      (of a law or decision) to say that something must happen if particular conditions exist

Source: definition of “provide” in Cambridge Dictionaries Online

  provision
      a statement within an agreement or a law that a particular thing must happen or be done
      Source: definition of “provision” in Cambridge Dictionaries Online

Would someone please explain their etymologies and the reasoning behind these stricter meanings? Please explain the steps or thought processes, so that I can do this by myself in the future?


texts:
I think it’s a figurative usage as a reminder of blood, but not for sure. Why is the word Hungarian used here?

(He is a professional pianist who holds lessons open to the public.)

  When I told him that one of the students had likened it to an energy radiating from his hands into theirs, he laughed and offered his own image: “I give them a blood transfusion right there on stage! After all, I’m Hungarian.” (The Piano Shop on the Left Bank by Thad Carhart)


texts: Why does an author use a comma in the sentence?

texts:
I need your help. I’ve been learning English for now almost 3 years and can say with confidence that I’m quite good at it – although sometimes struggle with punctuation.
I’ve got two sentences (taken from a newspaper and a book):

Alito and Thomas repeated a position on mandatory jurisdiction (,) and said they would not stop the Electoral College from voting Monday.
He got a Maine newspaper called the Portland Press-Herald ()  and watched it for items concerning a small southern Maine town…

I can't put my head around it – why there’s a comma in the first phrase but no comma in the second one? What am I missing about it? I would really love to know why it is so.
Thanks.


texts: Is it correct to make a request with a sentence that has if-clause but no then-clause?

texts:
I often hear sentences like these in online meetings:

If you could move to the next slide please.

If you could reply to that email.

Shouldn't these sentences be said like this:

If you could move to the next slide, it would be helpful.

If you could reply to that email, it would be helpful.

Are the first type of sentences grammatically correct?


texts:
I want to express the following:

  As long as A exists, B exists. As long as B exists, C exists.

It does not sound smooth to me. I was considering this version too:

  As long as A exists, so does B. As long as B exists, so does C.

Is it even grammatically correct? If yes, which version is better and why? Are there any alternatives?

Thank you in advance for your answer.

Edit: These are the last two sentences of an essay. I would like them to carry more strength than the two versions above. Any ideas?


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Should you use a comma/period after “Thanks”/“Regards” in email signatures?

When writing a letter, do we put a comma or a period after the valediction?

  Sincerely,
  John Doe

  Sincerely.
  John Doe


texts:
In a conversation I was having with someone over Slack, I started to use the phrase, "one of the offers' name is...," to refer to the name of one of the offers, but it occurred to me that I'm not 100% sure where the apostrophe should go.  My spur-of-the-moment cop-out was to change it to, "the name of one of the offers is...," but I'm here now to clarify for my own enrichment.

Since I am referring to an attribute of "one of the offers," I believe that means I need an apostrophe somewhere to denote possession so I can refer to that offer's name.

Since "one of the offers" is singular, my mind bristles against the assertion that the apostrophe might need to be after the s.

Since "of the offers" is a prepositional phrase that clarifies the subject, I believe that means I do not want to break it up as "one of the offer's name."

So, am I correct that it's, "one of the offers' name is...," or should it be something else?


texts: A word to describe a crafty person who always manages to get his own way or turn things to his own advantage

texts: The word I'm looking for is a noun. It should be a single word, and fit here: "Jimmy is really a ............  Even after all his shenanigans were made public, he still got the committee to support him."


texts: Is Wayne's World's (NOT) a modern invention?

texts:
Older users of this site may recall the 'Bill & Ted' 'Wayne's World' series of movies of the early 1990s. They were mindless but fairly amusing and their eponymous characters spoke in a unique vernacular, part-stoner, part-surfer, part-moronic generation MTVer. One of the features of this sub-language was the use of the word 'Not' usually written as (NOT), a convention which served to negate the content or validity of what had been said previously.

E.g.

"I think your wife is very attractive. (NOT)"

or

"I love your new hairstyle. (NOT)"

Does anyone know if this usage is a modern invention or whether there are antecedents in ancient or more recent languages which are similarly employed to, wittily or otherwise, invalidate previous statements spoken? I'm not necessarily looking for usages of 'not' itself, but any similar linguistic devices.


texts: Non-obligational sense/use of "should" for discussing future plans

texts:
In discussion of translating between English and another language I saw some people insisting English "should" must be translated as though it has the obligation sense even in contexts like these:

I don't know what I should do next weekend.
What should we have for dinner tonight?

But to me, a native English speaker, the should in these examples does not carry any different meaning than if we'd used will or shall or am/are going to.

Looking in some dictionaries though, I'm having trouble seeing which sense of should it would be.

Is this a correct usage, how should we define it, where is it covered in English dictionaries?


texts:
Is there any single word for something who "aggregate and forward"?
I have a program which collect logs from all machines and then forwards/feeds it to various other components. I want to name this program :).


texts: What are other ways of saying "walk all over someone"?

texts:
What are other ways of saying "walk all over someone" or take advantage of them?

Is there a one word phrase to describe this? I'm sure there is, I just can't think


texts: What's different between pronouncing of these words: Get and Gem?

texts:
I know that the "Ge" sound is pronounced as J in the English language.
For Example: Gem.

But the pronunciation of "Get" is not like that.

Can anyone explain this?


texts: Is there a word for someone who is your relative but is neither your descendant nor you his?

texts:
I'm writing a function in Python that will allow me to list all folders that have a common root folder (common ancestor), but in the process of building up unordered folder pairs for each folder, I am weeding out all pairs where folder A is a descendant of folder B or vice versa.

In essence, I want to pair each folder with all the other folders except all of its children and all of its parents.

So, what do you call a relative who is neither your descendant nor you his?

More information per request:

This issue appeared in the field of programming, hence the tag, but I welcome a general answer, if one such exists.

A sample sentence demonstrating how the word would be used. Oh boy, this is going to sound contrived.

Julia is my relative, but she is neither my descendant nor I hers. She is my __insert word here__.


texts:
Many websites refer to people who sign up as 'users', which may be considered a bit derogatory; these people also participate, they don't just use the site.

In Russian, MediaWiki (the software that powers Wikipedia, Wikinews, Commons and sister projects) calls these people 'Участник', which literally is 'one who participates' [as a website user, and as a writer, as a reader, as whatever else you like; not as formal, active, or involved as 'participant' term expects]. What English language term is equivalent?


texts: One more question on the usage of "forget"

texts:
I've recently seen questions about the usage of "forget something somewhere".
The answer, as suggested in Leave something vs. forget something is that the construction is commonly used and acceptable.

Actually reliable resources such as the Cambridge Dictionary  and the Oxford Learner's Dictionary , for instance, clearly state that in the above mentioned construction the verb "leave" should be used instead of  "forget".

I am aware that the construction with forget is common and  that it is grammatically correct, but I don't understand why dictionaries and grammars warn against this usage.

Why is the construction " forget something somewhere"  considered "incorrect"?

EDIT: I don't think that this question is a duplicate as Mr. Hot Licks suggests. There is not the answer I am looking for in the other question.


texts: Feminism being referred to as equality for all, as opposed to equality for women

texts:
In a recent debate with a colleague, a self-proclaimed feminist, she described feminists as seeking equality for all, and not simply just women. I thought that this was inherently wrong considering the root-word and the suffix dictate that the word should mean some sort of passion for women and their ideals, be it rights or something else.

After doing research I see that a lot of people in support of feminism support the same ideas as my colleague. I'm not here to debate the truth of what they do support but simply the semantics behind the word.

Is it wrong to use feminism as a descriptor of equality for all, even though it seems to be that it is becoming more understood to be just that? If so, can defining it by the general definition now be interpreted as misogynistic by those who follow the creed of feminism?


texts: Is it appropriate to use "to ignore" as a stative verb? (as a synonymous to "to be ignorant of")

texts:
Suppose I ask you:
"What is her name?" is the following answer ok?
"I cannot tell you, I ignore it"
Or should I rather answer to in proper English:
" I cannot tell you, I am ignorant of it"

Does "to ignore" only have the following "non-stative" meaning: to fail to consider or to fail to pay attention?


texts: Reduced adverb clauses with IF and Passive voice

texts:
I want to reduce the adverb clause in this sentence:

  "If they were treated fairly, they wouldn't lose the game."

Which of the following sentences, if any, are correct?

If treated fairly, they wouldn't lose the game.
If being treated fairly, they wouldn't lose the game."


texts:
Say I'm having a conversation and somebody besides me asks "you didn't go to the movie", so usually I would say "no" even though they are correct.

Is there a name for this?
Any more information?

I'm in the USA if that helps


texts: What are the implicit rules for creating new portmanteaux in English?

texts:
Wikipedia defines a portmanteau1 as:

  “Portmanteau word” is used to describe a linguistic blend, namely “a word formed by blending sounds from two or more distinct words and combining their meanings.”

Wikepedia further provides a list of common English portmanteaux, such gaydar, guyliner, liger, tigon, turducken, queef, Oxbridge, Spanglish, and even Wikipedia itself.

There seem of to be some sort of implicit rules operative here which are quite regular in some ineffable way, but I cannot quite work out what those are, because I think I see several different, potentially conflicting patterns at work.

My question is:

What is the internalized rule or rules that native English speakers seem to  automatically use to create these?

For extra credit, albeit perhaps pertaining more to the Linguistics SE:

Are these implicit rules unique to English, or are they fairly constant across other languages in which such blends occur?

Which the French would call a mot-valise and the Germans a Kofferwort.


texts: Expression/word combination for "object of application"

texts:
I need to be able to refer to an object which has/needs something applied to it or used on it. A couple of examples:

one liter of paint is needed to paint an area of 10m².
6 birthday candles are needed to decorate a birthday cake.
1000 bricks are enough to lay a 100m long pavement track.

What I'm trying to describe here is : area, birthday cake, pavement.

The best I've come up with is 'object of application'. I looked it up on Google, and it mostly refers to terms in objective programming, so that wasn't a great deal of help.

Any suggestions ?


texts: Adding a suffix and a prefix to the word "ocean"

texts:
Is it possible to add a prefix to the word ocean?

Also, is it possible to add a suffix to it as well?


texts: Is the word "consensus" only used when a group of more than two people share an opinion? Or could you say that two people have a consensus? If so, is it common and acceptable to use this word in relation to two people?


texts: Percentages of meanings in an English dictionary

texts:
Often when you look for some new word in a dictionary, you will find many definitions or meanings of the one word.
For example when you look for a word to in Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary you will find the sorted list of 18 possible meanings of the word.
The easier part of the question: The words are sorted according to what? The word frequencies? Is meaning number 1 is most often used?
The harder part of the question: Is there a dictionary evaluating each item of the list (of meanings) with percentage?
For example for the word to it would look like:

in the direction of something; towards something (in 60 % of meanings)

to the something (of something) located in the direction mentioned from something (in 22 % of meanings)

as far as something (in 10 % of meanings)

... (in 5 % of meanings)

... (in 1 % of meanings)

... (in 0.3 % of meanings)
...

18 ... (in 0.0001 of meanings)
If such a dictionary does not exist and you know about some research about this, you can cite such a source.


texts:
Google does not really show anything re meaning of this phrase:

  I always ask this question of the measurement advocates: "If you're so
  enamored with measuring people why don't you tell them you'll let them
  go home when they meet their bogie?" Most people would be home by 2:00
  P.M. in a normal workday.
  -Stratton

Source: https://www.quality-assurance-solutions.com/Deming-Point-11.html

What does "meet their bogie" really mean?


texts: How to apologize for bringing in many issues at once?

texts:
Let's assume I have a one-on-one with my boss and I start bringing up the many issues that could be improved in the organization. How do I tone my criticism down a bit?

Something like:
"Sorry for [machine gunning] issues, but could we also buy a coffee machine that makes stronger coffee?"


texts:
What's the difference between interception and interdiction?

Their definition seems the same to me?


texts: Is this an adverbial complement? "They led me _to believe that there was no danger_."

texts:
I'm a novice who realised the existence of this site today. The following picture is from Idiomatic and Syntactic English Dictionary by A.S. Hornby:

  Pattern 10

  Verbs marked P 10 may be followed by an object and an adverb or an adverb phrase (including adverbial infinitives meaning in order to....). See also the notes on the adverbial participles abive.

  Examples [...]

  They led | me | to believe that there was no danger.

I'm not sure whether the blue-coloured part, 'to believe that there was no danger', is an adverbial complement postmodifying 'led' according to the dictionary. If I had not seen the pattern 10, I would suppose the infinitive phrase is an adjectival complement postmodifying 'me'.

I know that the infinitive phrase is a complement which is obligatory, not a modifier. I also learnt the term 'a catenative complement'. But I'm not content with that term alone. I really want to know whether an infinitive complement is used as adjectival or adverbial or nominal. It's out of curiosity which is something I have been doing for my own understanding.

As you know, 'here' as in [Put it here] is an adverbial complement, not an adverbial modifier. I was told that 'you to go' as in [I want you to go] is a nominal complement clause (S+V+'O') and that 'to do it' as in [I asked you to do it] is also nominal (S+V+I,O+'D.O'). But, I'm not being sure of whether 'to believe that there was no danger' is also nominal or adjectival or adverbial which is an objective complement.


texts: Should I say "metal" or "metals" when I'm talking about multiple units of the same type of metal?

texts:
My question involves a term that occurs in a game called Refined Metal. It's used to describe an item, such as when exchanging game coins. I am semi-arguing with my wife about whether I need to use the term Refined Metal or Refined Metals.
Here is an instance of the type of conversation we have been having:

Me: I am willing to exchange tickets for Refined Metal.
My wife: How many?
Me: 12 of them.

But my wife tells me I should say:

I am willing to exchange tickets for Refined Metals.

Or another example:

Buy Refined Metal for tickets.

So what is the correct usage?
As I know that it's all the same type of metal, I don't believe I need to use the word 'metals', because this would imply that I'm referring to different types of metal. My situation involves different amounts of the same metal.


texts: Word/phrase for taking the pilot out of the equation in turning a piloted aircraft into a UAV

texts: Is there a word/phrase for the process of taking the pilot out of the equation in turning an existing piloted aircraft into a UAV?  How would you describe it?  I am thinking of something that begins with "de-" but can't complete it.


texts:
I am writing an article on wild water and have split "problems" into two categories: those that can be readily seen and those which cannot.

I have this definition for the word contaminant

  a polluting or poisonous substance that makes something impure.

This seems to cover such as bacteria, viruses, and chemicals well. However, it does not work well for crocodiles, jellyfish, detritus, and sediment, say.

I'm also trying to crowbar rip tides, rocks, and entangling reeds in, but think they might be better served under the word "dangers", and they will be listed separately.


texts: Is a comma necessary in "What’s funny, is …"?

texts:
In the sentence

  What’s funny is Cat’s dry humour.

Wouldn’t it be better to put a comma after “funny”:

  What’s funny, is Cat’s dry humour.

This question entails a (at the time of writing) heated discussion in the SO chat C++ lounge.


texts: "I will make me a ..." or "I will make myself a ..."

texts:
Is the first form valid as well, or only the second?

E.g. "I will make me a sandwich"


texts: how to pronounce "t's" sound, as in "it's" or "that's"

texts:
Currently I'm studying English pronunciation and having a hard time pronouncing the t's sound such as it's and that's. I thought that "t's" sounded the same as the "ch" sound but one of my friend said it doesn't sound the same.

She said that my tongue has to touch the palate to pronounce "t's" and it sounds more like the "z" sound.

But since she is French, I couldn't believe it without asking English native speakers.

Can you guys help me?


texts: Another phrase for ‘get to know someone’

texts:
I want to write something like

I got to know him when ...

I thought of discovered and learned but they don’t feel right

I discovered him when ...

Discovered sounds like I’ve become a scientist that found a new species and

I learned about him by ...

Learned just sounds wrong.
Any suggestions for replacing “get to know”?


texts: UK English: Do y'all use "buzzard" to mean "a contemptible or rapacious person"?

texts:
In the US, buzzard denotes vultures, but also a contemptible or rapacious person to use definition 3 from the online Merriam-Webster. The most common phrase I'm personally familiar with is to say you old buzzard, usually said to some old guy who you are half-jokingly saying is lecherous or a cheater or some other un-good thing.

In the UK, the word buzzard denotes to the genus Buteo, generally a more dignified and diverse bunch of birds. The Cambridge dictionary (I have no OED access) has one entry, just about birds. Does the word buzzard carry any non-birdlike connotations there? Would you ever apply it to a human, and if so, how?


texts: Is it appropriate to use the word "most" to describe 60% of something?

texts: A person watched 60% of a movie. Is it appropriate to say the person watched most of the movie?


texts:
Is it ok to hyphenate "any time".

The context is in a sentence like:

We are available any time, any where

Can it be acceptably written?

We are available any-time, any-where

or should it be?

We are available anytime, anywhere


texts:
This FOX & friends (@foxandfriends) twitter post has a video with the following text (and quote):

  SPICER: Protesting has become a profession now. This has become a very paid AstroTurf-type movement

AstroTurf here is obviously used as the antonym to grassroots which wikipedia defines as:

  A grassroots movement (often referenced in the context of a political movement) is one which uses the people in a given district as the basis for a political or economic movement.

Is AstroTurf really the opposite of Grassroots for movements?


texts: In my example, did I use the comma correctly?

texts:
The IV cannot be randomized in this case, but randomization allows for balance between two groups, one on each side of the threshold.

Maybe the sentence I just wrote below is better?

  The IV cannot be randomized in this case. Randomization allows for
  balance between two groups, one on each side of the threshold. I
  believe both groups are very similar except for drinking and death
  rate. Thus, I believe assumption 1 is met.


texts: What is the name for 'curdling' of coffee by milk?

texts:
I can't drink black coffee (except on ice).
Unless I add milk to it so it thickens it is unpalatable to me. It resembles curdling but is some kind of suspension.
What is the word for such a thickening?
Example: I add milk to my coffee to make it a palatable suspension.
Thanks as ever


texts:
I have seen recently the following in writing:

  This is a very simple, but yet an important observation.

I am almost certain that the [modern] use of but yet here is a typo, and the intentions were to use either of the two words (but the author might have hesitated which form to use to the point where s/he simply forgot to remove one of those).

I started searching, and found a few threads, pointing to an interesting Ngram chart.

The simple question is whether or not the sentence above is correct (and why?); but more importantly, I think it might worth sharing the story behind the archaic use of this strange expression. That is why I tagged this question accordingly.

Related: 'Although' paired with 'yet' in a sentence?


texts:
I have hard time understanding how to interpret "only" in sentences. Consider the following statements:

"Only on Saturdays I play football".

Can I interpret this as "If I play football then it is Saturday"?

"The only friend that might come to my party is John". Does this mean that John is my only friend with 0<P(come to my party)<1 (where P=Probability)? But this does not imply that my other friends will come/not come to my party. Is this correct? Or should I interpret it as "all of my friends won't come to the party except John who may come"?


texts: Difference between "circumvent" and "avoid"

texts: What is the difference between circumvent and avoid? Please provide examples.


texts:
What does it mean to “blow the curve”? I've heard the phrase in educational contexts and Googling failed me: I get very few search results and they all don't explain the concept properly.

Does it mean to perform well? To perform badly? And why would some professors and classmates not want you to “blow the curve”?

Possibly related: What does 'on the curve' mean?


texts:
I really hate to ask this one, but...

When I was a child, some thirty plus years ago, there was a popular juvenile game where you would try to trick a friend into asking a question that could be answered with the mildly obscene reply "deez nuts!" (meaning "these testicles").  Sample:

  Jokester: Did you get that CD?
  Victim: What CD?
  Jokester: See deez nuts!

Apparently everything old is new again --I was recently ambushed with a "deez nuts" joke by some current teenagers of my acquaintance.  Upon investigation, the old chestnut has apparently returned to currency due to a series of popular Vine videos starring a young man of amazingly unusual looks.

However, my question is this --where did the joke originally come from?  Does it date from the 80's or is it even older?  I'm fairly certain it originates somewhere within the black American urban subculture --maybe a skit on a rap album?  I've done some research, but all the citations trace back only to the recent videos, nothing any further.


texts:
Is it correct to say

I remember myself reading this book

when intending the sense of remembering how I read the book?
Does the sentence work the same way as "I remember him doing something"?
And if it is the case, can I use the bare infinitive?


texts: Is 'Could you please looking into the issue?' grammatically correct?

texts:
I have seen a question as in the title above in a formal thread. Is it grammatically correct using looking here?

And also what about these alternatives?

Can you please look into the issue?
Could you please examine the issue?

Which one of those is more polite and also formal?


texts: why are host and hostile lookalike while they are of different meanings?

texts:
My friend just asked me this today.

What should I tell him?

Are these words somehow related or were they related in the past and not anymore now?


texts: Is it correct to replace "what does" with "what's"?

texts:
I recently came across a sentence in a online publication that used apostrophe-"S" as replacement for "does".

I was wondering; is this allowed? I only know "what's" as replacement for "what is".

The full sentence was:

  What's it take to do research on a product that customers already
  rely on?

It hurt my eyes a bit, but I am not a native speaker, so I don't really know if this is proper English. Maybe can someone please enlighten me?


texts: What is the military term for calling attention to yourself, in a negative way?

texts:
There is a military term or idiom, which I cannot recall exactly, that essentially means calling negative attention to yourself. For example, you are doing something you know you shouldn't be doing. By asking the question, "Hey, is it OK to do this?" you get yourself in trouble; when if you kept your mouth shut, no one would have noticed what you were doing.

It had something to do with having a silhouette; it made me think of walking on the crest of a hill, where you could be easily spotted by a sniper, as opposed to walking with the hill behind you, so you didn't stand out. It's not "keep your head down".


texts:
Is "thatched" the past participle of the verb "thatched" or an adjective?

The word "thatch" does have a verbal meaning and thus "thatched" as used for example in "a thatched roof" seems to be its past participle; however, "thatched" appears as headword in some dictionaries, which makes me wonder if it has come to be regarded as an adjective for itself.


texts: What does the phrase 'cross-cutting initiatives' mean?

texts:
“The bold but feasible cross-cutting initiatives in this report will improve outcomes for patients with cancer, prevent cancer and increase our understanding of cancer,” said Dr. Lowy.

Here is the link to where the phrase came from, in case any one wishes to get a wider context. The sentence was mentioned in line number 13.
http://www.cancer.gov/news-events/press-releases/2016/ncab-nci-accept-brp-report


texts: I'm curious to know if it is incorrect to say, "I'll get back to you at MY soonest opportunity", or should I say, "I'll get back to you at THE soonest opportunity"?


texts: "The Netherlands are" vs "The Netherlands is"

texts:
When speaking about The Netherlands as a country, should it be considered as a plural or singular word?

Examples:

The Netherlands is a country.
The Netherlands are famous for cheese and windmills.

Is there a general rule for this? Do instances such as "The United States of America" and "The United Arab Emirates" follow the same rule?


texts: More concise word of phrase for "to turn into a process"

texts:
I'm looking for a more concise way of describing the process of turning something into a process.

Often we have tacit knowledge about things we do frequently, sometimes called muscle memory.

What do you call the thoughtful process of turning that into a process or procedure–into something step by step and detailed?


texts: What is the meaning of "fairly", "no going" and "going in" in this context?

texts:
The tunnel wound on and on, going fairly but not quite straight
  into the side of the hill - The Hill, as all the people for many miles
  round called it – and many little round doors opened out of it, first
  on one side and then on another. No going upstairs for the hobbit:
  bedrooms, bathrooms, cellars, pantries (lots of these), wardrobes (he
  had whole rooms devoted to clothes), kitchens, dining-rooms, all were
  on the same floor, and indeed on the same passage. The best rooms were
  all on the left-hand side (going in), for these were the only ones
  to have windows, deep-set round windows looking over his garden and
  meadows beyond, sloping down to the river.

This context is from "The Hobbit" and i've never seen these words in a context like this. "Fairly" means "to some extent", but I can't undertand that with the verb "to go". The same happens with "no going" and "going in". I believe this does not mean "to go somewhere". Does they mean there were no stairs (for the first) and the side from we go into the hole (for the second)?


texts: Is there an expression to say someone will replace me at a meeting?

texts:
I am writing an email to the top management to tell someone will replace
me at a meeting I cannot attend. Is there a good expression / a better
verb for this situation ? Or is 'replace' the good word ? I thought about
"substitute" but it does not sound really better to me.

I want the email to look professional and well written.


texts:
Ever gone to Walmart or Walgreens and developed a set of pictures? I'm looking for a word the package of pictures that is produced as a bundle, with the pictures and negatives.

Words like set or bundle come to mind but don't seem to fit exactly and gallery doesn't seem to either.


texts:
I've seen sentences like:

Is it must to marry?
Is it a must to get married?

I think they both mean the same in this example, but I see some difference in the words.

What is the difference?
When to prefer one over the other?


texts: Does the word "catching" apply to people?

texts: If we can say "I am running to catch the train", is it also appropriate to say that "I am going to the office early to catch the boss"?


texts:
I read the sentence  below in timesmagazinus.com. Please let me know its meaning.
Dude English is my second language.

  Do you think Jesus might've been institutionalized during our times? But then again, he might pass for one of those zealot preachers on TV. Anyhow, at least no crucifixions today!


texts: What would be the word used to name a person who is a professional video sharer?

texts:
I have been wondering recently, mainly because of my recent site proposal on Area 51 named "YouTubers", what the word to name a professional video sharer is.

For YouTube it would be "YouTuber".

If I want to expand the term to apply to all video-sharing websites, what would the word be?


texts: a single, fairly sophisticated word that describes one's desire to be unique

texts: Or honestly, desire to be any particular trait, specifically one trait (ex. Wanderlust: the desire to travel and experience the world.) I'm not looking for any sort of contextual consistency here. Just wondering! Reverse look ups are hard.


texts: What is it about this sentence that makes it sound awkward?

texts:
I have a colleague who wrote:

  We love what this new tool enables us to do that we never could have done before.

And I responded to that it sounds a bit awkward. I've since reworked it into:

  We love that this new tool enables us to build solutions that we never could have built before.

Update: Correction from "what" to "that" thanks to comments.

Is it the ambiguity that gets me? Or is there a sentence structure, grammatical rule or definition at play? I'd appreciate a thoughtful explanation that I can't see without the vocabulary to do so.


texts: A word to describe someone who is glorified, but who doesn't deserve it

texts: I am wondering if there is a word commonly used to describe someone glorified/championed a lot but who doesn't deserve it. A good example is how the media often creates bias by creating a 'perfect' politician.


texts:
What are the differences between:
“An algorithm to solve optimization problems”
and
“An algorithm for solving optimization problems”
I think only the second one is correct but I can’t explain why the first one is wrong.


texts: Why is "any" not classified as an article?

texts:
Answering the question, Use of articles with adjectives, got me thinking. Why is the word "any" not classified as an article? We learn in grade school that the three English articles are "a", "an", and "the". Later on we learn that articles are part of a larger class called determiners.

Numerous dictionaries, including this one, declare any to be a pronoun and determiner. But look at this sequence:

  a --> an --> any

(Should I drop the mic now? Nah, I'll continue in case any of you feel stubborn. )

Whether you agree or not, think about the following:

The word a is one of the indefinite articles for singular nouns, used before a word beginning with a consonant sound. A cat is sleeping.
The word an is one of the indefinite articles for singular nouns, used before a word beginning with a vowel sound. An owl just hooted.
The word any is the indefinite article for plural nouns, regardless of what the next word is. Are there any red shirts? It may sometimes substitute for a and an to force the specific context of "one among many". [e.g., "plural-like"] Any book will do.
The word the is the definite article for nouns, both singular and plural, regardless of what the next word is. It supports multiple contexts, but always offers definiteness:

The Mona Lisa smiled at me. [uniqueness]
The black kitten smiled at me! [one among many (definite form)]
The three kittens with white paws were so cute! [some among many]
We found homes for all the kittens. [all]

Neither a nor an can be used with a plural noun. If any is not an indefinite article, a plural form does not exist.

I discern two differences with the accepted indefinite articles. The first is that any can also be a pronoun. Any of them will do. So what? The word a can also be a noun, the first letter of the Latin alphabet. Do we really need the second a of aardvark?

The second difference is that any can force the specific context mentioned in item #3. The (other) articles force a context as well, indefiniteness or definiteness. This is illustrated in the following conversation between two kids:

  An ant bit me!
  Which one?
  I don't know, but it wasn't the one on your arm.
  Damn! Any ants are too many. I don't want any ant to bite me.
  I know, right? Let's go see if we can find a bandage.

In other words, a, an, any, and the all force contexts. That's sort of their point. So why is any the one left out?


texts: singular subject but verb changes depending on statement or question

texts:
I'm married to a non-native English speaker so I often get to correct his English.  However, I can't always explain WHY one way is correct and the other is not.

I heard him ask a customer, "Where does your dad lives?"
I realized in statement form "lives" is correct.  "My dad lives here." But in question form, "lives" becomes "live" and I don't know why.

Why does "live" change to "lives" in this case: Where does your dad live? My dad lives in the city.  Both cases refer to a singular person "dad".


texts: "It was turning out the dining-room done it."

texts:
“It was turning out the dining-room done it, if you ask me,” said Mrs. Sutton. “Now, don’t you overdo yourself, ma’am,” I says to her; but you know how she is, sir. She gets that restless, she can’t bear to be doing nothing."

Is the first sentence "It was turning out the dining-room done it," correct?
It's in the novel Suspicion by Dorothy Sayers.

Something seems to be missing in this sentence and I don't understand the meaning of this sentence at all.


texts: Possible error in long, complicated sentence?

texts:
I am reading a book and which contains this sentence.

  Industrial designers will usually take in a lightly defined scope, including the features, use cases, and target markets make sense for your product—including any known sizes or volumes that need to be accommodated for functionality—and will then determine what the product should look and feel like.

I can't understand what and target markets make sense for your product. Is it an independent sentence there, or does it need an -ing or that?

  Industrial designers will usually take in a lightly defined scope, including the features, use cases, and target markets that make sense for your product […].

Can anyone tell me the meaning in a simpler way?


texts: "apply to" vs. "apply for" an opportunity

texts:
I am trying to complete the following sentence:

" . . . where certification qualifies students to apply [prep.] a wider range of employment and higher learning opportunities."

I have noted the following explanation elsewhere on the Internet:

  apply to:
  This is the idiom to use when you are putting yourself
  forward as a candidate for something such as a course of study, or a
  job. You apply to graduate school. You apply to a company for
  employment. You apply to a bank’s loan department for a loan.

  apply for:
  This is the expression to use if your intention is to obtain
  something. You apply for scholarship money. You apply for admission.
  You apply for a job.

  Source: https://www.dailywritingtips.com/apply-to-apply-for-and-apply-with

According to this explanation, "to" seems to be more appropriate option, since students are "putting themselves forward as candidates." But "for" seems to be ringing in my ear as the more natural option for whatever reason, and maybe also makes sense after all if we think that students are "intending to obtain" an opportunity to be considered as candidates.

Would appreciate your opinions, especially as to which option sounds more natural.


texts: Is "sectio caesare" an appropriate English alternative to "caesarian section"?

texts:
On Parenting.se we recently received this question, which refers to sectio caesare birth.

I was not familiar with the term, but found that wikipedia redirects the term to the caesarian section page.

After some discussion, it was suggested that this might be a common European variant for the procedure.  However, it is not clear to me if this is the term from non-English European languages, or if it was used commonly by European English-speakers.

Are both versions valid in English?  Is one more common than the other (I don't want to fall into the American bias here)?


texts: Phrase for a small, legitimate fix for part of a system so broken the fix is unimportant

texts:
Looking for a phrase/metaphor describing a situation where a proposed solution, though valid, is targeted for one of many problems in an entity plagued by so many problems as to render the individual solution unimportant. An example would be discussing improving the energy efficiency in the kitchen of a building that is condemned or on the verge of falling apart; though the methods for improving the kitchen might be totally valid, they're of little practical concern as they'd make no contribution to the long term viability of the building.

Something like "a drop in the bucket" but which emphasizes that the "drop" is well-conceived or -intentioned.

EDIT:

The answers here have been fantastic (and hilarious), though I think the phrase that best fits my request was actually listed by @user9383 in her/his question (not in the answer but in the question itself):

  Fixing a leaky faucet in a burning building.

This phrase perfectly captures both aspects of my request:

The intentions/method have merit: in general, leaky faucets need to be fixed.
Despite this, the effort is wasted due much bigger problems: despite the inherent merit of the faucet-fixing, the ensuing destruction prevents the realization of any substantial benefit.


texts: Electronic or electronics for the adjective

texts: Is it correct to say "electronics products" or "electronic products"?


texts: Is there a difference in meaning between "does not seem to" and "seems not to"?

texts:
Consider the following sentences:

  Try not to be alarmed if a rule doesn’t seem to work for a specific sentence.
  Try not to be alarmed if a rule seems not to work for a specific sentence.

Is there a difference in meaning between "does not seem to work" and "seems not to work"?


texts: History of the phrase 'Nina from Carolina'

texts:
According to online dictionaries, the definition of this is "the sum of 8 and 1" or 9.

What is the origin of this?


texts: Why does the following sentence use the word 'knowledges'?

texts:
Consider the following question given in an English class for high school students in Myanmar:

  Mg Mg has computer knowledge. Tun Tun has computer knowledge. (Given Answer word is Both _______).

We have to answer this question beginning with Both. One of the teachers gave his answer like this :

  Both Mg Mg and Tun Tun have computer knowledges.

I think that the 's at the end of knowledge is unnecessary. Am I correct?


texts: Is "software" singular or plural? Can "softwares" be used instead?

texts:
I was just reading the wikipedia page on the M3U playlist format when I noticed the second sentence seemed somehow wrong to my ears. Uses just seems wrong here.

  It originally was designed for audio files, such as MP3, but various software now uses it to play video file lists.

But then I thought about what the correct alternative would be and I came up with:

  It originally was designed for audio files, such as MP3, but various software now use it to play video file lists.

  It originally was designed for audio files, such as MP3, but various softwares now use it to play video file lists.

Both these sentences again sound wrong to my ears trained by almost 22 years of listening to English now. The only good alternative I could come up was to avoid this issue altogether is this:

  It originally was designed for audio files, such as MP3, but various software media managers now use it to play video file lists.

The issue, I think, boils down to whether softwares is a correct plural form for software.


texts: What expression was used in English that "however" and others replaced around 1750?

texts:
Prompted by the questions about "despite"/"in spite of" on ELL and EL&U I played in N-gram for in spite of, despite even though, although, however.

After 1750 there is a sharp rise in most of them. Did the general language change to start including negative clauses or did some word fall out of favor to increase popularity of all the rest?

I tried comparing the chart with "but" but despite the steady decline, it didn't register any sharp drops between 1730 and 1800. So what expression was in popular use in the role of these conjunctions, that they replaced?

(footnote: The graph for "However" may be wrong; Ngram refuses to acknowledge "However" can be a conjunction; (however_CONJ) yields a flat zero; so does (however - however_ADJ))


texts: What are the rules behind the use of 'would' in these examples?

texts:
I have came across the following sentences:

  It seems to me that the arrangement would lend itself to a
  subcontract agreement structure. In other words:

  [Company A]
  would engage [Company B], who would take on responsibility for all services
  [Company B] would subcontract certain of its
  services to the contractor.
  The contractor would then
  provide [Company A] with a contractual protection.

  The benefit of
  this arrangement means that [Company A] would have direct
  recourse to both parties...

  This arrangement can be complicated and
  would require an elaborate approach. There remains an element of risk to [Company A] that would be avoided by taking some
  precautions.

The standard rules most frequently explained in grammar books tell that would can be used:

to express general or repeated willingness in the past;
to talk about charasteristic behaviour or habit in the past;
as the future in the past (in reporting sentences);
in unreal conditionals that something might have happened in the past, but it didn't;
when we want to advise doing something in a polite manner;
in polite requests and offers.

In the examples, the speaker shares his views on how the arrangement may look like to address some issues.  However, the example sentences do not seem to fit these rules.

I would be grateful if you could explain the rules for would that these examples follow.

Many thanks in advance.


texts: Using "What" or "Which" with superlatives

texts:
Is "Which is the longest river in the world?" correct OR "What is the longest river in the world?" OR are both of these correct?

Please explain with reasons. Thanks!


texts: Need help to explain "set a-rattling the sabers of"

texts:
Austin had distanced himself and his colonists from American filibusters in dramatic and determined fashion, but the sad escapade set a-rattling
  the sabers of many a newspaper editor in the United States and many a political firebrand in Mexico.

I can understand the sentence, but why the author uses set a-rattling the sabers of. I've googled and searched it in corpora, yet nothing comes up. Is anyone know similar sentences or something about it?


texts: What is difference between participle phrases and ellipsis of subject + be in adverb phrases?

texts:
When invited, she gladly said yes.

In the above sentence, my book says the sentence is formed because ‘she was’ is omitted. And the sentence is the example of ellipsis of the same subject + be in the adverb phrase.

Then what is difference with participle phrase? The above sentence cannot be seen as an example of a participle phrase?

Help me


texts: What is the subjective inverse of "invite" or "invitation"?

texts: If you are about to do something and you ask someone to join you, you "invite" (verb) them, or send them an "invitation" (noun). But, in the opposite direction, if they ask to join you, what verb or noun describes their action toward you?


texts:
I’m pretty sure I have this right; here's my sentence:

  There were a few random music friends from decades’ past there to see her, and she couldn’t be any prouder.

Do I have the apostrophe right?


texts:
I've just installed a tool for my research documents and I found out I use a lot of repeating words.

... is a way where a developer can ...
Since the beginning of the web, using a ...

Is this bad practice or is this tool just trying to stay on the cautious side.
Or are there nice workarounds?

(English is not my first language)


texts: Can a noun work as an adjective, and the adjective as a noun?

texts:
Hazel Eyes

I found the following paragraph in the guycounseling.com blog article “Hazel Eyes: Learn Why People with Greenish Eye Color are Rare!”, containing the two words “hazel eyes”:

  Hazel eyes are fascinating to gaze into. When you look at someone who has hazel eyes, you see colors that are completely different than other eye colors, such as crystal blue or emerald green.

  —Guy Counseling Site

I also found some text on another site that says:

  Her eyes are hazel.

Hazel is a noun that denotes a colour; how can hazel modify the noun eyes if hazel is also a noun itself? Doesn’t a word always have to be an adjective to modify a noun? Isn’t that what “adjective” means by its very definition: a word that modifies a noun? How can something modify a noun without being an adjective? Is that even possible?

The dictionary entry for hazel I found on the online Oxford Living Dictionaries website doesn’t mention that hazel can ever be adjective; it mentions only that it is a noun:

  hazel

  ɴᴏᴜɴ

  A temperate shrub or small tree with broad leaves, bearing prominent male catkins in spring and round hard-shelled edible nuts in autumn.

  Genus Corylus, family Betulaceae: several species, in particular the common Eurasian hazel (C. avellana)
  [mass noun] A reddish-brown or greenish-brown colour, especially of a person’s eyes.

  [as modifier] ‘the laughing hazel eyes were serious now’

  —Oxford Living Dictionaries

How can this be grammatical?

  Her eyes (noun) are hazel (noun)?

And also, if you accept that a noun can work as an adjective, then, can adjective work as a noun?


texts: What's the difference between "Mediary" and "Intermediary"?

texts: I can't find a definition for Mediary, I thought they kind of mean the same thing. But how they each precisely defined? And can someone use a good example of both? Thanks


texts: Is there a term for "capable of transferring"?

texts:
I am a software developer and am having trouble with naming an entity. In my project, by convention, we give our code objects capabilities by extending them with a module named with an "-able" suffix. This implies:

  capable of, susceptible of, fit for, tending to, given to

Some examples include:

Movable
Trashable
Visible

I need to express a capability meaning "able to transfer". Transferable doesn't seem to fit because I'm not transferring the object, rather the object is doing the transferring.

What is a good term for "able to transfer" ending in an -able suffix?


texts: What does this phrase "hover around" mean?

texts:
"Until the late 1800s, diamonds were incredibly scarce with the total world production hovering around a few pounds per year"
What does the phrase "hover around" mean in that sentence?


texts: "Perverse interest" vs. "perverted interest"

texts:
Does anybody recognize differences between the following sentences?

  She took a perverse interest in photos of boys.
  She took a perverted interest in photos of boys.


texts: Should the "half" in "half-Chinese" be capitalised?

texts: Is it correct to write half-Chinese or Half-Chinese?


texts: "A total of 10 babies is..." vs. "a total of 10 babies are..." vs. "Ten babies in total are..."

texts:
Which one is the correct one?

  A total of 10 babies is sleeping. (A)
  A total of 10 babies are sleeping. (B)
  Ten babies in total are sleeping. (C)

For me, both (A) and (C) are correct. But (B) is also used in speech.


texts: Meaning of "If you go round to the side, you will see that I am"

texts:
From G.K. Chesterton's Wikipedia page, there is the following anecdote:

  Chesterton was a large man, standing 6 feet 4 inches (1.93 m) and
  weighing around 21 stone (130 kg; 290 lb). His girth gave rise to a
  famous anecdote. During World War I a lady in London asked why he was
  not 'out at the Front'; he replied, 'If you go round to the side, you
  will see that I am.'

What does "If you go round to the side, you will see that I am [at the front]" mean? I'm not getting the humor...


texts:
I saw emails from English people with Many Thanks as a signing off phrase. Is that proper usage? Or is it a phrase created by continental English speakers due to the influence of their native language? (Vielen Dank in German and muchas gracias in Spanish translate to "many thanks".)

I have seen several other cases where one constructs imprecise sentences due to the influence of native language. This is evident especially in India.


texts: In my example, can I use a comma before the word "thus"?

texts: Graph 4 improves Graph 3 because it shows potentially similar outliers that occur at each birthday, thus this represents our best range of x.


texts: What do you call someone who either borrows money, or receives equity funding?

texts:
Someone who lends money, or otherwise purchases equity, is called an investor. The money he is spending are his investments.

What do you call the person on the receiving end of this arrangement?


texts: Help me undersand what Emily Dickinson means in this letter

texts:
From Dickinson's correspondence with Thomas Higginson:

  I smile when you suggest that I delay "to publish" -- that being
  foreign to my thought, as Firmament to Fin.

  If fame belonged to me, I could not escape her -- if she did not, the
  longest day would pass me on the chase -- and the approbation of my
  Dog, would forsake me -- then.

  My Barefoot-Rank is better.

  You think my gait "spasmodic," I am in danger, Sir.

  You think me "uncontrolled," I have no Tribunal. . . .

  The Sailor cannot see the North, but knows the Needle can.

What does she mean by 'Firmament to Fin?' My guess is that fin is an alternate spelling of fen, so this is along the lines of saying 'as foreign as heaven is to earth.'
I only get a vague reading of the second line, particulary 'the longest day would pass me on the chase.' A midsummer foxhunt? Dog races?? If fame doesn't belong to her, what exactly is she saying will happen?
'Barefoot-Rank' is even more vague. Not really sure what it could mean.

The gist of it makes sense to me, but I'd like to fully understand.


texts:
Is the following phrase correct?

  I sightsaw London/the museum.


texts:
She had a libel action against the magazine pending.

"Pending" in this sentence seems weird, as it is unlikely to modify the noun" magazine" like other postpositive adjectives such as " the president elect","information available " .
Does " pending" modify the noun " action "?


texts:
do you use a comma when telling/asking people/things?
For example(s)

Do you want to go eat tomorrow, Nathan?
Check me out, Nathan.
Commas, people, commas!
Just sent you a message, Nathan.
Just sent you a text message, man!

I have been taking some journalism courses at my respective college, and I have become addicted to correct grammar, punctuation, and AP-style methods. I cannot stop analyzing correct, as well as, incorrect texts/writings in my daily life. I aim to live a correct-grammar life in everything I write. I also just discovered this site, and I love it. Thank you for reading!


texts: Adjective to describe the classification of a result as true/false positive/negative

texts:
I am performing experiments where results can be classified as true positive, true negative, false positive, or false negative. Is there a good word for this kind of classification?

I have considered just using "classification". I also considered something like "error type", as in Type I or Type II error, but I find it misleading since the result might not actually be an error.

Example usage:

  "The ___ of the experiment was true negative".


texts: What does 'saving his regard' mean in this context?

texts:
I am reading 'The Invisible Man' written by H.G.Wells and here I have this phrase 'saving his regard'. A man named Marvel, who was chosen by the Invisible Man(Griffin) to do things for Griffin, was sitting in a bench at Port Stowe and was approached by a mariner. After they shared sort of greetings, there is a sentence like following: The mariner produced a toothpick, and (saving his regard) was engrossed thereby for some minutes.

In this sentence, what does 'saving his regard' mean?


texts: Is it correct to say: He knew the answer to the question because he studied really hard or should it be: He knew the answer to the question because he had studied really hard? Or maybe both are correct? Thank you in advance!


texts: I occasionally have meetings with my supervisor. When the meeting finishes, my supervisor says: "cheers".  I don't know how to answer that. What is a natural response to that? What do native speakers say in this situation?


texts:
In the situation where we have:
It used to be thought that...

We use the past tense with the verb that follows since it's something in the past.
But what if the following is meant to be a fact?

I came into a question that says:
It used to be thought that the Earth is flat.
It used to be thought that the Earth was flat.

Aside from the piece of information in the sentence, it represents a fact(Earth is flat) which makes the tense simple present. I believe that the correct one is is, am I right or not?

Thanks in advance.


texts: What is a word for those times where you can't describe something well?

texts: I need a word that describes when you're trying to explain an idea to someone, but you just can't word it right. Like when the words are just on the tip of your tongue, but you simply don't know them, or they don't exist. I want the word to describe the feeling, or even the situation. The feeling is kind of like trying to describe the color blue to a blind person, but more about the speaker's incapability to communicate the idea, rather than the listener's incapability to understand.


texts:
Sentence in question:

  The total amount of donation in 2010 has surpassed that of in 1990.

Can you use "that of" as a tool to compare the difference in volume of a same thing in different years?


texts: Regulatory bodies and authoritative dictionaries for English

texts:
Some languages have a "regulatory body" issuing recommendations and guidelines regarding the use of that language.

For example in the case of Spanish it's the Real Academia Española whose status is recognised in all Spanish-speaking countries. The Academy, among other things, publishes a dictionary ("DRAE"), in print and online, which is usually given a lot of prestige (but is not without controversies, of course).

Are there any such authorative—or at least influential—institution(s) or publication(s) for the English language?


texts: Shortening sentence by removing nouns repeating in clauses

texts:
In the following sentence, a noun is repeated in each clause. The noun I refer to is assignment.

  He is aware of the assignment, accepts the assignment and endeavours
  to fulfil the assignment.

Is it correct for me to write the sentence in a manner that shortens the sentence by writing the noun once per sentence rather than once per clause?

  He is aware of, accepts and endeavours to fulfil the assignment.


texts: etc. with postpositioned brackets at the end of a sentence

texts:
Where do I put the period when etc. is at the end of a sentence, but between etc. and the end of the sentence is a bracket? To give context, after etc. I cite a reference. Which of these is correct?

  ...cost of these events, etc [2].

or

  ...cost of these events, etc. [2]

or

  ...cost of these events, etc. [2].


texts:
I'm writing a list of resources for a role fantasy game. This list contains only the most efficient manufacturable resources.

So far, the list is quite complete. However, it misses a title.
Here is my attempt for naming the list: "Most Efficient Manufacturable Resources".

Which single word could be used for removing "Most Efficient"?


texts: to draw or drawing the attention of people

texts:
A. "Firms will be invited to showcase their products, enabling them to draw the attention of our investors in attendance."

B. "Firms will be invited to showcase their products, enabling them drawing the attention of our investors in attendance."

A better or B better?

The question is when should I use "to xxx" and when should I use "xxxing" instead??


texts: Is "photograph a subject" the same as "photograph an object"?

texts:
I work in translation and need to find the most appropriate translation for a word that would be directly translated into English as a thing to be photographed.

An example of how I would use the word is as follows:

  The device corrects the original image and generates a refocused
  image in which the photographed [subject/object] is in focus.

I've been looking online and there doesn't seem to be much difference between these two words. See here, for example.

The only slight difference I've noticed is that subject seems to refer more to a living thing, but I would like some opinions.

Which sounds more natural to you? Do you think they have the same meaning?


texts: One’s love confession vs. One’s confession of love

texts:
The following is an extract taken from an Italian student's piece of English homework before I corrected it.

  Also Mr Amos’s girlfriend, Sabina, arrives to the restaurant, and she
  assisted to David’s [Mr Amos] love confession to Anna. Then the waiter began
  singing his love to Anna. A fight broke out and Anna decided to leave
  the restaurant.

What's bothering me is the phrase: ... she assisted to David's love confession to Anna, which I corrected as

  1) ... she listened as David confessed his love to Anna
  and possibly
  2) ... she listened to David's confession of love for Anna

But could I have left it as David's love confession?

  3) ... she listened to David's love confession for Anna

The phrase to confess one's love is idiomatic and grammatical, but what about "one's love confession"? I can't explain why love confession is inappropriate (or ungrammatical).

Google is of no help, and Google Books gives a lot of false positives, which however confirm that love confession is at least, an unusual expression.

Examples of "his love confession" using Google's search engine. These are taken from the first three pages. Although the phrase "his love confession" appears to be common,  it's clear the following are not written by native speakers.

A top Japanese star confesses his love for Kara's Nicole? On the recent episode of Japanese music show "Music Station" Nicole and Japanese rock band member from L'Arc~en~Ciel share an incident where Nicole receives his "love confession."
He was completely frustrated, this was all Takao's fault with his stupid love confession.
In a dream, Banri remembers that after his love confession to Linda, she agreed to tell him her response the following night on the bridge where Banri would have his accident.
Cho kyuhyun loved Seo Joo-hyun so much and started his own love confession to Seo Joo-hyun. He started giving lots of presents to Seo Joo-hyun which make Seo Joo-hyun's life miserable.
Ji Hyun Woo Shares His Thoughts For First Time After His Sudden Love Confession

Clarification
The excerpt is from a student's summary of a short American story. The original author does not use the word confession or vow in any form, shape or size. It is the only the student's attempt (and quite a good one too IMO) to summarise the episode at the restaurant table. My query is not whether there is a better way to rephrase love confession, but as to whether it is idiomatic, acceptable and easily understood. I believe it is not idiomatic, but I can't explain why it is not "acceptable".


texts:
Does anyone know a tool to look up names like Rumbaugh?
Sometimes I hear something like "rumba" or even "rambo".

Is there a dictionary where I could look up the correct pronunciation?


texts:
This is part of the transcript of a trial running in the UK where a husband is accused of the attempted murder of his wife by tampering with her parachute :

  I can't remember if I pulled the reserve or it deployed automatically. Either or, I could feel the reserve fly and again straightaway I felt something wasn't right and it was very twisted.

I can fully understand what she is saying, but is it grammatical to begin the second sentence with 'either or' where the options lie in the preceding sentences ?


texts: What does it mean "as weird as the way it takes Chicago"?

texts: I'm watching Top Gear, a TV series about vehicle. There's a scene when the driver is driving fast and listening to "ABBA in Spanish" at the same time. And the presenter describes this as "as weird as the way it takes Chicago, strangely calm that." Can you explain this phrase in simple English for me please?


texts: How to differentiate you are or you were from you're?

texts:
I need clarification on this sentence.

I'm asking this to someone (in written):

  What is the problem you're facing with C++?

My question is, How do you get that whether its you are or you were ?


texts: Term to mean a different person conjugation?

texts:
Recently, someone said the following, in a chat room:
"You're an adult and that means it's your turn to decide what that means."

I knew that came from something I recognized, and it turns out it is referring to this xkcd comic, which instead says "we're grownups now, and it's our turn to decide what that means".

I was trying to explain to someone I was talking to via voice that they had quoted that comic, but I couldn't find a way to easily convey the shift from the original comic's use of first person plural, and the chatter's use of second person singular. Is there a word or phrase that easily denotes that shift?


texts: What's the past tense of "dive"? Of "spell"?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  UK English: Is "dived" a valid word?
  Spelt and Spelled
  “Dreamed” vs. “dreamt”, “leaped” vs. “leapt”, “lighted” vs. “lit”
  Evolution of irregular verbs over the last century
  Origin of different past tenses for verbs with the same endings?

What's the difference between 'dived' and 'dove' as the past tense of 'to dive'?
'Spelled' and 'spelt' (to spell)? There are others which are similar. Is one form British usage?


texts: Why, in old books, are dates often given with the years redacted?

texts:
silly question, and I'm not sure this is even necessarily the right forum, but it's the most appropriate on StackExchange, so here we are.

Why is it, in older books, that years are sometimes redacted and replaced with a dash when writing the date in letters and so forth?

Here is an example, from Mary Shelley's Frankenstein:

  Letter 1

  St. Petersburgh, Dec. 11th, 17--

  TO Mrs. Saville, England

  You will rejoice to hear that no
  disaster has accompanied...

I've seen this in many (mostly older) books, and my only hypothesis is that it is/was a fashionable attempt to try not to make the book seem outdated quite so quickly; or as a sort of faux attempt to feign respect for privacy, within the world of the novel itself.

In a similar vein, in Frankenstein, several curse words (D--n) are also redacted.  I assume this is a sort of Victorian modesty in not printing profanity, but if I'm wrong, I'd love to be corrected on that, as well.

EDIT: I just received this back from the reference librarian (libraries are so great!):

  It seems that there is no definitive
  explanation, but several explanations
  seem to come up over and over again.
  I am including the best of what I
  found online, rather than some of the
  random information that is posted
  (though, I will include one online
  discussion that might be interesting
  for you all the same).

  From author John Barth:  http://www.colby.edu/~isadoff/ss/barth.doc
  "Initials, blanks, or both were often
  substituted for proper names in
  nineteenth century fiction to enhance
  the illusion of reality. It is as if
  the author felt it necessary to delete
  the names for reasons of tact or legal
  liability. Interestingly, as with
  other aspects of realism, it is an
  illusion that is being enhanced, by
  purely artificial means."
  Electronic Labyrinth: Postmodernism and the Postmodern Novel
  http://elab.eserver.org/hfl0256.html
  "... a literary convention of the time
  when many books and pamphlets were
  written criticising the government of
  the day, or important figures, by
  using false names... Some rather
  scurrilous stories were also printed
  which were thinly veiled parodies or
  criticisms of important figures. So
  when Jane Austen wrote the
  __shire regiment, or the Earl of__, she was a)avoiding the
  pitfall of being accused of inaccuracy
  and b) avoiding the pitfall of being
  accused of criticism of some important
  political figures."
  Here is that discussion I mentioned:
  Republic of Pemberley Archive: More or
  less:
  http://www.pemberley.com/bin/archives/regarc1.pl?read=9221
  Here is one more online discussion
  with a very nice and referenced
  answer, though the source page is no
  longer available.  It discusses the
  use of this convention in epistolary
  novels (novels written in the form of
  letters):
  http://answerpool.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/436601891/m/6931055141

Since I think a couple of these links came up in the answers below, I'm just going to upvote them all and mark as answered the closest one (not that it was a quiz; but there were many good suggestions, and I can only mark one as the answer...).


texts: Is the word "bonsai" used both as a noun and a verb?

texts:
Is it common to use the word "bonsai" as a verb as in the following passage? And what does it mean?

If you've ever crammed into the back of a Toyota with one or more males over the age of seven, you're likely familiar with the phenomenon recently popularized as manspreading.
A target of women's websites and public transit authorities, the practice involves the widening of a man's legs while seated such that those adjacent must bonsai themselves into what little sittable space remains in a bus or airplane row.

Source: "The manspreading epidemic: Is it really an epidemic?", CNN


texts: Syllable — Phonetic Online List/Dictionary with word examples

texts:
Is there a homepage or online tool that gives you a list of, let's say, the 2000 most common syllables sorted by their international phonetic alphabet spelling?
(e.g. /sɜː(r)/ = the first syllable from the word circle which is the same as for circus)
and gives some examples next to it like:

sɜː(r) For example: circle, circus, ...

I'm not looking for a usual dictionary with IPA characters.

Neither am I looking for a phonetic dictionary that lists several thousand words ordered by spelling.

Do you know a syllable-based online webpage that lists the most-used prefixes and suffixes in an alphabetic IPA spelling order (and may give some word examples in brackets next to the listed syllable)?


texts: Is using i instead of I for first person singular really bad?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Is it ok to use “i” in lowercase or should you always use “I” (uppercase)?

Is using i instead of I for first person singular noticed as a bad syntax error or is it acceptable?


texts: Is it Bahar Azadi Coin or Bahar Azadi coin?

texts: Bahar Azadi Coin is an Iranian gold coin which are usually used as dowry agreed upon to be paid by the groom to the wife as per marriage contract. However, I wonder which capitalization rule is right in calling its name, Bahar Azadi Coin or Bahar Azadi coin? About the latter, I guess it should be OK as only Bahar Azadi is a specific name and the coin itself does not need capitalization, though the Wikipedia article does capitalize it.


texts: Discern false modesty from the genuine (one)?

texts:
In this sentence

As she was not good at discerning false modesty from the genuine (one), people would easily take advantage of her credulousness.

In order to sound correct and natural, is one necessary? Or should I just repeat modesty?
Edit: Is it possible to say it in a different order:

As she was not good at discerning genuine modesty from false, people would easily take advantage of her credulousness.


texts: Should I use a comma in written instructions?

texts:
I'm writing a technical user guide for a piece of software and am not sure whether I should be using a comma or not when giving instructions. Which of the following is correct?

  To add a new item click on a 'File' menu and then select 'Add'.

OR

  To add a new item, click on a 'File' menu and then select 'Add'.


texts: Why is documentation the "castor oil" of programming?

texts:
I found an unusual use of "castor oil" in this sentence, which seems to be a common maxim:

  Documentation is the castor oil of programming.

What is the role of castor oil in this sentence? Is there a story behind using "castor oil" or the usage of any type of oil is possible in this sentence?


texts:
For example, I buy a pizza at a restaurant, and I don't want to finish eating it there.

Can I say "take it to go" in this case? Does "take it to go" even have a meaning? If yes, is it the same as "take away"?


texts: Omitting article “the” in front of plural nouns

texts:
I'm helping someone learn English (second language), and I'm having trouble explaining when to use the and when not to. For example:

  Students learn better when teachers are passionate about teaching.

versus

  The students learn better when the teachers are passionate about teaching.

There's a subtle difference. The first one is a general statement, whereas the second might imply a study where a group of students learned better than another.

Is the difference simply that, general v. specific?


texts: continuous infinitive or bare continuous infinitive

texts:
Why is in this sentence used bare continuous infinitive?

It is important that the focus of training courses be towards enabling employees to competently perform tasks.


texts:
In the sentence:

  I'd like to watch the sun go down

why there is no "to"?

Why not:

  I'd like to watch the sun to go down


texts: Is there a word that encompasses the meaning of both "sort" and "filter"?

texts: Filtering seems to be like restricting things out of a group of things, while sorting is keeping the group of things the same but changing the ordering. Wondering if there's a word that can classify this "change of a grouping in some fashion


texts:
By "long-standing research question", I would like to mean a research question that has been there for a long time but not yet successfully attacked.

Any word(s) better than "long-standing" to use in this context?


texts:
Is there a (technical) term that can summarize "society" practical and in theory? Like when I say a country has its politics, education system and ... "society issues"?

Asked differently: is there a generic term for social questions like emancipation (women's lib) etc.? Sure this example can be political and educational but I'm looking for something just not political or educational.

Edit: Also I'd prefer if the term would sound educated, not too plain.

Thanks for any help!

(I'm not native English and my English is around superficial, sorry :)


texts:
In a recent internet conversation, someone used the term multicultural Koolaid and I'm having trouble figuring out what it means.

What does it mean and where did it come from?

The context is a debate on the Internet. Someone responded to a comment of mine by saying “Sorry Brandon, we don't drink the multicult koolaid around here”. I think it has something to do with how someone perceives multiculturalism. I'm thinking it may be related to a political ideology, but I can't be sure.

I can link to my comment and the response but I'd like an unbiased opinion of what the phrase means outside of this conversation. Google searches provided me with little information.


texts: What do you call someone who fits in but is still different from the rest?

texts:
I am curious if there's a word for a person who apparently fits in easily but still remains different from the others—he thinks differently from the mass, or has different interests and who, maybe, is a little above the others, in intelligence. He is not an introvert, but still has a loner feel to him.

I think I need something between "wallflower" and "social butterfly". And it should be a noun.

Is there a word, an idiom or a phrase for something like this?


texts:
In my English class, the instructor asked: "What would be your New Year resolution?"

I said, "Giving up smoking."

He passively corrected, "So, quitting smoking! Anyone else?"

What is the basic difference between 'Quit' and 'Give up'?


texts:
I am into finding a convincing formula, or at least a rule of thumb, about when to use "to" and when to use "for" after adjectives - such as easy, difficult, important, interesting, and useful - and before personal pronouns and nouns.

I have gone through numerous and different advice by English-speaking people on the "to vs. for" problem for non-English speakers.

There were some cases in which they seemed interchangeable while there were others where they did not. Many people said the issue could be more about a preference or tendency than a rule, thus leaving English learners no choice but to learn them case by case. I came across some advisers who came up with a few rules, some of which I found very helpful while others seemed to contradict one another.

In the following examples, "to" and "for" seem to be interchangeable, and yet slightly different in meaning.

I reason that a marked difference between "to me" and "for me" would be found in whether "me", the narrator, has experienced it, the subject of the sentence, or not.

(A) English is not easy "to me".

This implies that English is not easy "in my view (in the view of the narrator)".

(B) English is not easy "for me".

This implies that English is not easy "in my experience (in the experience of the narrator)".

How does my reasoning sound to you? Any comments will be greatly appreciated.


texts: Correct usage of numero sign (№): cardinal numbers okay?

texts:
Can the numero sign (№) only be used to indicate ordinal numbers only, or would it be correct to use it for cardinal numbers as well?

A very specific example: if I write about "the number of males observed in the sample", could I use "№ of males in sample" for a table header? Or is that usage strictly speaking correct only for usages such as "observation № 22"?


texts:
This word doesn't really exist, but I wonder what do you think about it at first glimpse?

Jordan appeared to have shirts named "Flighten up": http://www.amazon.com/Jordan-Flighten-Basketball-Jersey-Shirt/dp/B00GBA7ZC4. What's the feeling it gives you in this context? Something like "Fly up", "Light weight"?

What's your general feeling about this word? Do you feel it's a positive word as it reminds you words/phrases like "enlighten", "lighten up", or a negative one as it might sound like "frighten"?


texts: What's the difference between 'allow for' and 'for'?

texts:
We erase the memory to allow for a peaceful transition.

(This is a sentence in a movie that I watched.)

  We erase the memory for a peaceful transition.

(I think maybe it is also right.)

What's the difference between those 2 sentences?

Is the 2nd sentence wrong?


texts: There is a sign at my work that says "Join the fight for Alzheimer's first survivor" and I am wondering about the use of "Alzheimer's" here. They are not reffering to a survivor of Alzheimer, they are referring to a survivor of Alzheimer's disease and using Alzheimer's as a short form of the disease. What would the possessive form of Alzheimer's be? I don't think it should be Alzheimer's's but i also don't think that it is correct as is. When searching for "double possessive" rules I can only find articles saying to avoid phrases like "St Paul's Cathedral's arches" is the only correct form to rearrange the syntax to be "Join the fight for the first survivor of Alzheimer's?"


texts: Commas that are sentence flow-stoppers ... Can I leave them out?

texts:
Is it acceptable in BrE to omit the commas (as I've done below) after 2006, 1946, France, Texas and New York? To me, commas after each serve no purpose: they reduce the flow of the sentence.

• The performance took place on February 2, 2006 at the State Theatre in Ithaca.

• January 23, 1946 is Helen's date of birth.

• Prague, Czechoslovakia  is a great vacation spot.

• Paris, France will host the Olympics.

• Dallas, Texas is the home of this special event.

• Syracuse, NY will play host to this year's Rock of Ages music festival.


texts:
I have been pronouncing the word "cache" as kaysh. I know a few people who pronounce it more like cash, cashay or even catch. After consulting a few dictionaries, it turns out that the correct pronunciation of the word "cache" is cash.

My question is, are the other pronunciations of "cache" (kaysh, cashay, catch) not totally acceptable?

Which one do IT people prefer?


texts: Adjective for thing that can be replaced later because you have better thing?

texts: I just can't seem to remember this word. Please help me, thank you so much


texts: I want to say that something is "expensive" in terms of time and resources

texts:
I'm  writing an academic article (physics) and I want to say that a procedure is necessary but very expensive (in terms of resources like time, infrastructure, ...) Can I say:

  Since A is sacred we introduce alternative B in situation C.

Or is the word sacred only used in a theological sense?


texts:
I'm not sure about the proper subject verb agreement in the following sentences.

A boy and a girl make/makes a couple.

5 and 5 make/makes 10.

75 and 25 make/makes a hundred.

Can you help?

ETA: I understand that compound subjects usually take plural verbs, unless they form a collective idea- in which case it takes a singular verbs.

Can the subjects in these cases be considered a collective unit?


texts: Starting a sentence with "In the following, ..."

texts:
My native language is German, where we have a phrase "Im Folgenden" to start a sentence.

In scientific writing (e.g., in a paper) can I start a sentence with

  In the following, we refer to three examples that are ...

Is it better to use

  In this section, we refer to three examples that are...

In other words, is it true that "In the following" cannot be used by itself, there must be another word, like "In the following chapter..."


texts:
I'm looking for a word to describe: Who, What, Where, When.
I'm using these words when something has changed and I need to keep track of who did it, when he did it, what he did and where he did it.

Unfortunately I do not know if there is a word to describe this.

I'm not looking for the 5 W's or 'wh' words. I'm trying to find something similar to 'interrogative word' except in my case it's not an interrogation.


texts: Proper Agent Noun of "shoot" - Something that Shoots

texts:
I'm a huge nerd, by my own admission, and in a lot of anime they use the English loanword "shooter" in the original Japanese dub to signify something that shoots, as opposed to how we use it standard English to mean someone who shoots.

Is there a word in standard English that means something that shoots?

"Gun" is too specific since it may refer to a spell or another type of weapon. For example a barrage of fireballs = "fire shooter", or a magic staff that fires a laser = "Axel Shooter."

The best I can think of is detonator or maybe battery.