texts: How to express someone's height in metric

texts:
If someone is 169cm tall, what is the most common way of saying their height in metres and centimetres in American/Australian/British English?

I'm not interested in converting metres (meters) and centimetres (centimeters) into feet and inches, which would be “five foot six” (5'6"), I know how to say and write that. I'm asking about the metric system, which of the following is most commonly used in speech? Or which form do you feel is most natural?

169cm tall

“I'm a hundred and sixty-nine centimetres tall.”
“I'm one hundred and sixty-nine centimetres tall.”
“I'm a hundred sixty-nine centimetres tall.”
“I'm a/one hundred 'n' sixty-nine.”
“I'm one metre and sixty-nine centimetres tall.”
“I'm one metre and sixty-nine tall.”
“I'm one metre sixty-nine.”
“I'm a metre and sixty-nine centimetres tall.”
“I'm a metre and sixty-nine.”
“I'm one point sixty-nine.”

How would an American/British/Australian represent this in writing? Should I place a space between the number and the unit: e.g. ‘169 cm’. With or without a full stop/period: e.g, ‘169 cm.’ or ‘169cm’?

(a) 169cm; 169cm.; 169 cm.
(b) 1.69m; 1.69m.; 1.69 m.
(c) 1m.69; 1m. 69
(d) 1m.69cm; 1m. 69cm

Could you please add where you're from, if you're in the US (and which state), Australia/New Zealand, the UK (England, Scotland, Wales, N.Ireland) or Ireland. These are the regions I'm most interested in. Thank you!

Addendum
A user in the comment section observed:

  I am (honestly) missing the (real) point of your question

The reason why I'm asking is that the average person in Italy would say: "I'm one metre and sixty-nine", and you'd think it would be the same elsewhere. But while I was helping a young Italian student with their English homework, I saw their exercise book expressed height only in centimetres. I thought this was rather odd, not wrong, just odd.  I know that Americans express people's weight in pounds whereas the British stick to the imperial system of stones and ounces; while the rest of Europe (to the best of my knowledge) use kilos and grams.

I wanted to be certain whether all Americans, Australians and British express metric height in the same way, (i.e. in centimetres) or if there are regional differences.

P.S. Although I always mention to private students that Americans and the British still prefer the imperial system for people's weight and height, I cannot expect a ten-year-old Italian child to know their height in feet and in inches, and why should they? I cannot expect them to tell me the height of the Eiffel Tower in feet (1,063 ft) or miles (0.186 mi).


texts: What's the difference between present perfect and present perfect continuous?

texts:
I need to know if this two sentences have different meaning
a) The client has been telling us that the site is likely to be around the Krakow area.
B) The client has told us that the site is likely to be around the Krakow area


texts: What claims are there on the word 'ale' other than for 'cask-brewed real ale'?

texts:
The word ale has followed a movable pattern over the centuries, as the following extract from the OED will illustrate.

The enduring characteristic of the word is that it has been employed in opposition to beer to describe a more traditional variety. From the 15th century ale was beer that had not been brewed from hops, but from conventional malt.

But has it now reached the point where we have a settled definition? In other words, are there any claims on the word ale other than the cask-brewed real ale, sold on tap, with no added pressure? This is as opposed to mass-produced nitrogen or carbon-dioxide-added beer that is sold in cans and some bottles. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cask_ale

  With the introduction of regular use of hops into England from at
  least the 15th cent., ale came to designate beer brewed without hops,
  a distinction which lasted until the 18th cent., when it came to refer
  to a strong beer. In the 19th cent. ale was sometimes distinguished by
  its being brewed with malt that has not been roasted or burnt, and
  hence being paler in colour. The word is now most common (outside
  historical contexts) as a trade name, or (esp. in real ale, cask ale,
  etc.) referring to traditionally brewed beer (of any colour).


texts: "Royals" vs "Royalties": Which is the correct usage?

texts:
Two different headlines below and I would like to know which is the correct use of the word here:

"Royalties draw line in the sand on Islam"
"Royals draw line in the sand on Islam"

Below is the link to the actual news headline and also a Facebook post that triggered my curiosity. Thank you in advance.

source: https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/398560

source: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10211989548948061&set=a.2262622319047.2124240.1053139405&type=3&theater


texts: What is the proper usage of "high school" as an adjective?

texts:
I want to indicate that a friend's brother is in high school. For example,

  I was not close with my friend's high-school brother.

Is this construction correct? Should it be high-schooler brother instead? Is the hyphen necessary? Or is there another preferred way to say that my friend's brother is in high school?


texts:
Wrought iron is characterised by how it has been squashed/beaten into shape.

Also, one could wring water from a cloth by strong physical manipulations.

I assume these words have a common origin, but I don't think we say "the blacksmith is busy wringing iron" or "the cloth has been wrought to merely damp".

What's the story here? Why don't we say "wringing iron" or "a wrought cloth"?


texts:
wikipedia.org:

  (1) The girl got excited by her new toy.

My variant:

  (2) The girl got excited with her new toy.

Could you explain the difference between "by" and "with"? Thanks!


texts:
What's the meaning of "bitching" in the following sentence taken from references in 'tfd.com'?

  December: I quit bitching with grateful thanks for all the good times, things and friends God has provided me with this year.


texts: Can I frame a sentence with "has been having"?

texts:
Can I make a sentence with  "has been having"?

Is the  sentence below correct?

  "My company xx has been having account in your bank for past 3 years"?


texts: Is it acceptable to write "We acknowledge Dr. AAA for his useful advice" to express gratitude or appreciation?


texts:
The definition of ‘unrefined’ is

  not processed to remove impurities or unwanted elements.

Several synonyms are also listed: unprocessed, untreated, unpurified, crude, raw, natural, plain, coarse, rough, unworked, unprepared, unmilled, unfinished

But what is unrefined sugar commonly called in English?
Is there a formal expression too?


texts: What is the common term for "receiving an email but unable to give an immediate reply"?

texts:
Question: Is there a term for a reply that confirms the original email's receipt, but states the need of more time before replying again substantively?

I've heard 'Holding Replies/Responses', but is this a universal term? Is there a better one?


texts: Questions about some American English vocabulary

texts:
I was wondering if any American writers could give me some advice as to whether the following expressions/vocab are used and understood in the US:

(words in bold are the ones I'm asking about. Some words are also in inverted commas)

The living room of a house -- is this expression ok? Do you ever say "front room" or "sitting room"? If it's a massive house with a huge entertainment area, can you say "living area"?
I was tickled -- is this expression ok? It means happy.
"My college mate wants to hang out at my digs" - meaning my place, or college dorm. Would digs be used? Is college mate an ok expression for someone you go to college with?
In the real world, do people stop on the shoulder or the hard shoulder of a highway or is either fine?
Is median strip used for the partition between 2 lanes of a highway going in different directions?
"He takes the piss out of every banker he meets" -- meaning he mocks them. Is this used?
Can you say "I'm pissed off at him" (angry) or does it have to be: "I'm pissed at him."
"I called my parents' landline (fixed home phone)." Is landline ok?
"I tried on the jeans in the changing room." Is this ok or does it have to be fitting room or something else?
Is the word "thingamajig" used in American English?
"I can't walk on my ropey leg" -- meaning damaged or injured or tired. Can ropey be used?
Security guards are surveilling the place. This verb is showing up as misspelt but I see it sometimes. Is there another spelling or verb?

13.In the real world, do people in the US use MPH or KPH as the unit of speed when driving?

Is the expression "Calm my jitters" acceptable? (calm my nerves)
If you pull up to a mansion surrounded by a fence with very thick metal bars all around it, is the word "fence" appropriate or is there a better word. I think that gate would only be for a door in a fence or something?
Is the expression "It cost a pretty penny" ever used in the US?
Is the expression "It took every ounce of strength" used in the US?
Can the word "skiff" be used in the US for a sort of flat-bottomed row boat?

Thank you so much to anyone willing to give advice about these points. Though I appreciate any input, I think it would be most useful to hear from actual American writers to avoid possible confusion.

Many thanks!

Follow up questions:

Thanks to all those who gave their very useful opinions. I have a couple more questions for anyone willing to give advice:

What do you call the area (let's say on the 10th floor) in front of an elevator door? Is there a specific word like "the landing"?
When you enter a house (without a mud room), there is a space just past the front door which is not really a room, but it's like the entrance way/hallway between the front door and other rooms like the living room, study. Is this called a "hallway"? It's not a lobby, obviously as that would be for a hotel or something. Can it be the "entrance hall"?
If you are using WASP-y as an adjective, do you have to write it like "WASP-y" or "WASPy". I'm guessing "waspy" hasn't become a thing yet?

Thank you!


texts:
The following is taken from a website. In the context below why the second part, "had signed", is in past perfect?

... The case was scheduled to be tried before the justice of the peace in the back room of the general store. The attorney for the railroad immediately cornered the rancher and tried to get him to settle out of court. The lawyer did his best selling job, and finally the rancher agreed to take half of what he was asking.
After the rancher had signed the release and took the check, the young lawyer couldn't resist gloating a little over his success, telling the rancher, "You know, I hate to tell you this, old man, but I put one over on you in there..."

source


texts:
I need a word to describe someone who has been told something they don't like, but they have to accept it.

EX:

  "We need to travel all the way to Montreal to pick up my sister," Mom
  says.

  Dad sits back in his seat, and __________. "Fine," he says.


texts: Is there an expression for creating something from start to finish (e.g. grain to bread)

texts:
Maybe this is not really the right place to ask this, I hope I will not be penalized for asking this.

I am a webdeveloper, and I do most of the stuff myself, from the basic idea, till the final design and implementation. It's like when a baker has his own farm with grain, creates his own wheat, makes the bread, and sells it in his own shop.

Some time ago I heard a nice English expression for this, but I forgot what it was. It was something like producing from grain to bread. Does anyone know this expression, or can think of something that would nicely fit.

Edit: Roughly 9 years later we basically have a term for this. Currently I define myself as a Full Stack Web Developer.


texts: Word/Expression for a concept made simple as a result of mastery

texts:
Is there a word or expression that conveys this meaning:

A text (and more generally an expressed idea about any field) seems very clear (crystal clear).

But it is clear only because the author has made significant amounts of (re)work to attain this degree of clarity.

The author is able to do so because he has high expertise both in communication and the subject. He is a hard worker who pays attention to detail. He has stayed with the problem long enough and has studied it from different perspectives so now he can give you the great picture and it even seems so simple. Yet if you wanted to explain it to another person prior to his intervention you would have been stuck by the complexity of it all.

This reminds me of Steve Jobs'

  'you have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple.'

In Arabic, we use the expression السهل الممتنع that literally means 'The impossible/abstaining easy' to convey this meaning (please do give me a better literal translation). I learned this expression in Arabic lessons: we were describing the literaly style used in animal fables from the author Ibn Al-Muqaffa' ابن المقفع that is known by his difficult to imitate, very simple yet pertinent style.

From the linked wikipedia article:

  he achieved clarity of expression by simplicity of diction and plain
  syntactical structures.


texts: An adjective to describe the benefits associated with saving time

texts:
I'm looking for an adjective to replace 'time saving' in the following sentence:

"...a range of immediate and tangible time-saving and economic benefits"

I'm thinking it should be something like 'efficiency' or 'productivity' but they don't quite sound right next to 'benefits' in this context.

May just change it to read "...a range of immediate and tangible benefits, saving time and money", but interested to see if anyone can come up with something better :-)

Thanks for your time!


texts: How to express the idea that those with power are supposed to lead by example?

texts: I was thinking of "noblesse oblige" (noble blood commands), but that's not quite it. I'm looking for a word or simple phrase that conveys the expectation that those with power, i.e. leaders, are expected to set a good example.


texts: Synonym for "marketing" that doesn't imply selling or profit

texts:
Is there a word that is similar to "marketing" that doesn't imply the idea of commercialization or profit?

For example, a non-profit that assists domestic abuse victims may run a campaign where they advertise their services. They may put up posters, buy billboard space, and so forth. While this is marketing, people in that industry may be very reluctant to call it a "marketing campaign". This is because marketing tends to carry the connotation of trying to sell something.

Is there a more neutral word?


texts:
I'm writing a paper about quantum computing and I'm trying to cite a source; however, I feel that the sentence in which I do this is clunky and forced.

  According to The Washington Post’s Vivek Wadhwa, these quantum
  computers are capable of making computations that would take a binary machine years to perform in mere seconds.

I'm trying to divide the "that would take a binary machine years to perform" from the "in mere seconds." Would a hyphenated clause, such as the one below, be a proper solution?

  According to The Washington Post’s Vivek Wadhwa, these quantum
  computers are capable of making computations -- ones that would’ve
  taken a binary machine years to perform -- in mere seconds.


texts: Illustrating "vicious", "rapacious", "ferocious" and "voracious"

texts:
As a non-native speaker who grew up in an area without dangerous animals, I find myself confused by the distinctions between these words:

vicious
rapacious
ferocious - example
voracious

In the example I found, the narrator describes the struggle of the fox as "ferocious", which helped clarify the concept. It's hard though to keep searching for illustrative videos hoping to hear one of these words. How can I put a face (so to speak) to these concepts, from the animal world? (I'm familiar with the figurative sense of "voracious reader" but I think (hope) the other adjectives apply less to the human species.)


texts:
I'm a software engineer and I need to write a class that will hold code common to a Film class and a Series class. I need to name this class with a hypernym for both.

For the moment, the solution we have found is AudioVisualEntity, but we are not very happy with it. Is there a better term?

To help clarify things, here are the properties this class will hold :

originalTitle
title
audioLanguages
countries
colorType
images
videos
synopsis
productionYear
shortSynopsis
releaseDates
contentClassification
averageRating
genres
themes
budget
catchPhrase
altId
slug

Here is what the Film class adds:

type : FilmType(long or short film)
duration

Here is what the Series class adds:

type : SeriesType
seasons
episodes


texts:
I was wondering if there was a singular word that says "this will be constructed ( but it isn't constructed right now )".  Is there such a word?

-- not too sure about whether it is transitive or not, but it would be used to describe something like "[to be built of bricks wall]" or "[to be built of Lego] house".


texts:
I came across this sentence while reading an article:
"The massive, untracked streams of cash it creates can fuel more illegal activity, including terrorism."
It seems weird to me that the word "more" was used with the singular form of "activity."
Wouldn't it make more sense to say "more illegal activities"?
Or is the word "activity" more used as a singular noun than a plural noun?
I would greatly appreciate any help! Thanks! :)


texts: Is "the way how" grammatically incorrect?

texts:
(I am not a native speaker so my writing probably seems to be odd. Please understand some Non-grammar...)

I learned that "the way how" is grammatically wrong because  'the way' and 'how' have same meaning so it can stir up confusion or reduplication. And I can understand that explanation. BUT I think that if "the way how" is wrong, "the reason why" and "the time when" etc should be wrong, too. But I've NEVER heard and learned they are wrong too.

I am really really confused...  I can't understand why ONLY "the way how" is grammatically incorrect (or not). PLEASE help me... ( If you think that "the way how" isn't grammatically wrong and just unnatural expression, please give me reliable phrase... I'm not a native speaker so I can't realize what is unnatural spoken expression. )


texts:
Nightmarish rituals crave a newborn. Find one, and silence its harrowing cry.

Why was a comma placed after Find one? The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation says,

  If the subject does not appear in front of the second verb, a comma is generally unnecessary.

Sometimes, a comma is better to use for clarity's sake, but Find one and silence its harrowing cry is clear enough without the comma, so why was it included?


texts: Is there a formal way of referring to the Somebody Else's Problem field, as described in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy?

texts:
For those who have not read the book in question, a Somebody Else's Problem field is typically a problem that is so unbelievable that its easier to just ignore it rather than to address it.

For example, the fact that we have discovered water on Mars has no real significance to the lives of so many people on Earth, yet its celebrated. So a person who walks into a scientists' congress asking this question would simply get ignored, like he had a Somebody Else's Problem field on him.

You can read the wikia on the field here.


texts:
In the scope of spatial relations, the word "on" in English typically describes the state where one object is positioned directly above another object, where the lower object supports the upper one. For example, "the bottle is on the table".

However, in the same scope of spatial relations, it has another meaning which is not only related to up/down. For example, "the picture is on the wall" describes a similar concept, that does not apply just to the up/down axis.

Is there any antonym for "on" that would capture both cases?

EDIT: To be clear, I'm looking to the antonym in the sense that it's the opposite role. For example, if the "ceiling is above the floor", then the "floor is below the ceiling" and "below" is the antonym of "above".

As the wall is "supporting" the picture (when the picture is on the wall) and the table is "supporting" the bottle (when the bottle is on the table), the question if there's a better word than "support"?


texts: Origin of “quid” in its sense of a sovereign or guinea

texts:
What is the etymological origin of quid in its sense of a sovereign or guinea?
While preparing the question Origin of “not for quids” phrase I noticed that  etymonline's quid entry merely says

  "one pound sterling," 1680s, British slang, possibly from quid "that which is" (c.1600, see quiddity), as used in quid pro quo (q.v.)

Of this usage OED1 says, in part,

  [Of obscure origin] 1, A sovereign; a guinea.
  (Pl. usually without -s, as two quid, a few quid, etc.).
  1688 SHADWELL Sqr. Alsatia III. i, Let me equip thee
  with a Quid.

In previous questions where quid is prominent (1) or peripheral (2, 3) I've seen nothing about the origin of the term.  In a comment to my previous question, MετάEd asserts that “Quid" (money) is widely believed to derive from "quid pro quo" anyway.”  But what evidence is available about the origin of quid in its sense of a sovereign or guinea?


texts: You will find it difficult to explain of your use of such offensive language

texts:
You will find it difficult/  to explain of your use / of such offensive
  language

as per possessive word rule,

After "your" instead of use , using should come. Few example my going, his coming, so it should be your using. instead of your use.

But in book it says to ommit only 'of' after explain in 2nd part.

But  my question is How Your use is correct. It should be Your using


texts: Origin and Impact of "Blown" Meaning "Bloom"

texts:
According to MW, full-blown means

  having all of the qualities that are associated with a particular thing or type of person : fully developed

Having used it in this sense recently and noting its similarity (in sound and meaning) to the more easily explainable full-grown, I wondered why blown is in full-blown.

My first suspicion was the blown was an analogy to the product of some craft, like glass-blowing. I was unable to find an entry dedicated to full-blown on Etymonline, though I did find some entries that referred to it, particularly blow v.2:

  "to bloom, blossom" (intransitive), from Old English blowan "to flower, blossom, flourish," from Proto-Germanic *blæ- (cf. Old Saxon bloian, Old Frisian bloia, Middle Dutch and Dutch bloeien, Old High German bluoen, German blühen), from PIE *bhle-, extended form of *bhel- (2) "to blow, inflate, swell" (see bole). This word is the source of the blown in full-blown.

Google nGrams suggests that a horticultural origin may make sense with full-blown. The oldest reference to full-blown I found via nGrams was from "Satirical, humourous & familiar pieces" printed by G.Nicholson and Co., 1795:

  "You must know that in my person I am tall and thin, with a fair complexion and light flaxen hair; but of such extreme susceptibility of shame, that, on the smallest subject of confusion, my blood all rushes into my cheeks, and I appear a perfect full-blown rose.

Assuming the origin of full-blown is from this sense of blooming (earlier or contradictory examples welcome), are there other uses of blow or blown familiar to the modern ear that retain or allude to this meaning?


texts:
From Microsoft Writing Style Guide:

normally Don't use to mean often, usually, ordinarily, typically, generally, or a similar term.

Here is examples that I have:

But note that most information that is written in English is available worldwide and should therefore normally use ISO currency codes with a descriptive label.

If you expect your documentation to be used only in the same country from which the telephone number originates, use the national form of the number. Group the numerals according to the format that is normally used in the area or country.

In the glossary, specify your selected terms as follows:

Use an initial lowercase letter unless the term normally starts with an uppercase letter.

What is the reason to permit using "normally"?
Which word would you use in these examples in place of "normally"? "Usually" and "typically" looks inaccurate to me, as well as "generally". Maybe "ordinarily" but I'm not sure; English isn't my primary language.

The examples are from The IBM Style Guide for technical writers.
Edit
From the answer by Mozibur Ullah:

I'm not sure why you are suggesting that 'usually', 'generally' and 'typically' aren't synonyms for 'normally'.

Well. As I said earlier, I'm not sure. But here are some excerpts from the IBM style guide:

generally Use to mean “in disregard of specific instances” or “in all instances.” For example, write “Generally, hot-swap devices can be removed and replaced while the server is operating.”
normally Use to mean “in a manner that does not deviate from a standard pattern.” For example, write “The process is running normally.”
typically Use to mean “in a manner or circumstance that conforms to the characteristics of a type or group” or “in typical circumstances.” For example, write “A hot-swap device typically has a handle that you can grasp to remove the device from its bay.”

As you see, IBM do allow "normally", but they don't consider "normally", "generally", and "typically" as synonyms.


texts: I am trying to write one of my first stories right now and I keep getting stuck on one thing. I have lived in Texas my whole life and so I am used to saying "Y'all" to refer to a group small or large. However the story I am writing is set in Chicago, and I need help finding alternatives. Not "you guys or you all."


texts: why is the pronoun "it" wrong in the given sentence?

texts:
Although the term "supercomputer" may sound fanciful or exaggerated, it is simply an extremely fast mainframe that can execute trillions of calculations every second.

What is the antecedent? Why is it wrong?


texts: What do you call it when someone reminds you of your ingratitude?

texts:
Adopted mother: 'Your parents died. I took you in. If I knew you'd steal from me, I would have left you to the State.'

Mother: 'If only I knew you'd turn out like this, I would have had an abortion.'


texts:
I'd like to know (1) which of the following is the most natural and (2) whether any of the following is unnatural or ungrammatical:

(A) My system is no more expensive than yours would be.

(B) My system is no more expensive than would be yours.

(C) My system is no more expensive than would yours be.

Edit: I'm adding three more examples with "as". The same question as above.

(D) My system is expensive, as yours would be.

(E) My system is expensive, as would be yours.

(F) My system is expensive, as would yours be.


texts: Can a participle contain a comparison to other object?

texts:
Can a participle contain a comparison to another object in the same sentence?

For example, is the following sentence grammatically correct?

"I can't see any vehicle moving at higher speed that travels on the left lane compared to the vehicles on the right lane".

If it is not correct, please suggest another form for comparing two (or more) objects when it is needed to mention at least two actions that first object is performing. I would like to avoid using twice (or more) the same relative pronoun such as: "that".

Thank you in advance.


texts:
My question is inspired by the question of why "So do I". Usually I have no problem figuring out what to do for AAVE (African American Vernacular English), but in this case, I am confused, because AAVE allows more than one auxiliary, and has different movement rules.

For the case of one auxiliary,

She be working
be he working too?
He be working too?

I am not sure if the second or third is preferred.

She be working.
So be he.(?)
So he be. (?)

I think "So be he" is correct, not "So he be."

How about double auxiliaries?

He done been sleeping
So I done been.
So done I been.
So done been I

Which is considered correct? I think it's the third "So done been I", but I am not sure.

This pair I am pretty sure about:

He done been working
Done he been working?

For others, I have intuition

I'm a-gonna fly it
So am I a-gonna.

But this one confuses me:

He stay working
So stay I(?)
So I stay(?)
So do I stay(?)

Which is it?

The last one is

He done been staying working
So I done been staying.
So done I been staying.
So done been I staying.
So done been staying I.

Which one? I think it's the second, maybe the first. Not sure.

Any insights?


texts: Psychological term or phrase for experiencing the world via the senses

texts: I am looking for a psychological term or phrase for experiencing the world via the senses. (I am particularly interested in visual, auditory and thermal stimuli.) I am not looking for the word "sensory" or similar, as that is too physiological.


texts: What are the rules that govern the attribute given to someone as a result of where they come from?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Are there any rules governing what we call people from different countries?

For example someone from London might be said to be a Londoner. However someone from America [United States] is referred to as American. Other examples [both on a wide and more local geographical scale]:

New York: New Yorker.

Scotland: Scottish

Kent: Kentish [Kentish Men?]

Germany: German

Eton: Etonian [Having been to Eton College]

What I am asking is what grammatical rules govern the suffix that gets attached to the place derived names? They 'sound right' to me but that may be that I have heard them so ofter I am used to them. If I met someone who came from a town, county or country I had never heard of how would I go about deciding that he/she was a ....er, or ....ian, or ...ish?

Londoner sounds OK for use in this way but Londonish and Londinian do not [to me at least]

I hope I have made my query clear. I would be grateful to hear the opinion of others.


texts: The weather is changing. Is the weather changing something or is the weather being changed?

texts:
The weather is changing.

This sentence is an active voice sentence and in active voice sentences the subject is a “doer”. So, I want to know that what is the subject in this sentence?

If weather is the subject then it should be doer. So, the above sentence would mean that weather is changing something but then the question arises that what can weather change?

And if the weather is being changed, then who is changing the weather?


texts: Is "every... doesn't...." really the same thing as "not every..."?

texts:
I have noticed a to me confounding linguistic trend in the last few years of which I came across an example tonight:

"Every receiver doesn’t become a star." (from here)

This type of wording just sounds wrong to me, and doesn't even make sense (or it doesn't mean, in my mind, what the writer obviously thinks it means). To me, when you say (or write), "Every receiver doesn’t become a star." you're talking/writing about "every receiver" and so what is really being said/written is "no receiver becomes a star."

It seems manifest to me that the correct phrasing should be, "Not every receiver becomes a star." And, if I'm not mistaken, that's the way people used to speak and write, but now they have adopted this confusing and I think inaccurate way of putting it.

Am I wrong?


texts: Understanding the implied meaning without comma

texts:
Here is the sentence:

  "General Martin Dempsey, the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman who just
  wrapped up a visit to Afghanistan, was asked whether he foresees North
  Korea taking military action soon.”
  Source(https://www.dailywritingtips.com/appositive-phrases-punctuation-problems/)

Here is the revised sentence

  “General Martin Dempsey, the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, who just wrapped up a visit to Afghanistan, was asked whether he foresees North Korea taking military action soon.”

The explanation is by combining the general’s title with the reference to his recent visit to Afghanistan, the sentence implies that more than one Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman exists; Dempsey is the one who had just returned from Afghanistan. The phrase “the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman” must be bracketed by a pair of commas to show that it is the first of two parenthetical phrases dividing the subject from the object: “General Martin Dempsey, the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, who just wrapped up a visit to Afghanistan, was asked whether he foresees North Korea taking military action soon.”

Can someone explain to me the explanation? I just don't get it because there is only one chairman so even without a comma the sentence still makes sense to me.


texts:
Need help with this sentence:

Interestingly, the “dirty hands” argument is repeatedly deployed in the Mahabharata. Lord Krishna guiding Arjuna’s chariot in the battle against Karna, sees Karna set down his weapons as he alights from the chariot to lift the wheel which is stuck in wet clay. Seeing him defenceless, recognising that this is the only moment when Karna could be killed, which, if allowed to pass, would mean that Arjuna would lose the duel, Krishna urges Arjuna to shoot an arrow at Karna.This is in violation of the rules of war.

I don't know why, but the highlighted sentence sounds iffy to me. It is such an unwieldy jungle of words. What exactly is wrong with it and how could the writer have phrased it better?


texts: English phrases \ idioms for - taking personal responsibility for your happiness

texts:
In my language we have phrase -

The rescue of a drowning man is the drowning man's own job

Which you can meet in English too and roughly meaning - taking personal responsibility for your happiness.

I wonder, if there is more common similar phrases exist ?

Thank you!


texts: Phrasal verb/expression for "bring people together somewhere"

texts:
Is there a phrasal verb or expression to express the idea of bringing people together somewhere, other than explicitly using "people" in the sentence?

I am looking for something that already implies it's people we are talking about:

  Let's bring people to the party.
  Let's "expression ->" party.


texts: What is an adjective that emphasises that a news story hasn't been diluted?

texts:
Stories in media are often "watered-down or diluted". At the opposite extreme, they are sometimes sensationalised to make them appear more graphic than what really happened.

I'm looking for a term that indicates that the story wasn't diluted, but I'm not looking for the other extreme either.

What I'd like to express is that the reporting hasn't been edited, nor have elements been removed, to make it 'suitable for viewing by more people'. The news was relayed just as it happened.

Sample sentence:

  He read a lot of [not watered-down] stories.


texts: Touching leaves after burning your hands

texts:
I  would  like  to  know  an equal idiom in English  for  an  Idiom
in  Telugu

  it  is like touching  leaves  after  burning  your hands
   meaning  doing something  to  rectify  the  situation after  the total damage  has  been done.

It  is not crying  over split milk

It  is  not  a  duplicate  .My  mother tongue  is  not  Flemish..I  asked  the  question  because  the  idiom  is  there  in  my  mothertongue  for which  I  did  not  know  the  English  Idiom.When I  asked the  question I did  not  have  the  slightest  possibility  to  see the  previous  post.It  is  rather  coincidental that  the  idiom  has  almost  the  same  meaning  has  mine.

Here  is  a  link  which  differes  in  meaning  to  the  idiom in Telugu.

The  English  Idiom means  trying  to  prevent  the  damage  well  before  but  fail to  do  so  because it  is too  late even  at that  time. But  the  Telugu  idiom means  trying  to  remedy a  situation    foolishly  after  the  tragedy  happened

Here is  the link

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/amp/english/to-close-the-stable-door-after-the-horse-has-bolted


texts: Is the expression "having a kitten in one's pocket" a proverb or slang?

texts:
Is the phrase, from ‘The Man Who Knew Too Much’ by Alexander Baron

  having one's kitten in one's pocket

a proverb or common slang? How common is this expression? What exactly does it mean and how can this phrase be used?


texts: Term for if someone puts you in danger just to save you and collect a reward

texts:
For instance, in my dream last night I noticed a wolf in my room creeping towards me, but then a big dog came in the room and scared the wolf away. The dog belonged to two brothers, who started asking me for a cash reward for sending their dog to save my life. However, I accused them of sending the wolf in there intentionally, just to collect a reward after saving me.

Is there a term for this?


texts: 'Androcracy'/'gynocracy' are hyponyms of, and 'oligocracy'/'oligarchy' is a hypernym of, what term?

texts:
What is the term for an oligocratic/oligarchic political system—one in which power is held by a subset of the overall population—where the power allocation is based on one's sex?

A society run by men is an 'androcracy', and one run by women a 'gynocracy'. I am looking for the hypernym of these terms, which would simultaneously be a hyponym of 'oligocracy'. If one does not yet exist, what might we reasonably coin based on whatever the Greek term for 'sex' is, plus -cracy?

(As an extra linguistics question, would 'the mesonym between x and y' be correct to use for what I'm looking for here, rather that 'the hypernym of x and the hyponym of y'?)


texts:
I heard it a while ago from a British fellow (actually it was snugly), never before and never since. Now I listen to an audiobook of Dickens' David Copperfield and snug is a common term, i.e. a snug room or a snug coach. Dickens language is most likely dated so I was wondering if snug is still commonly used and/or its use pertains only to some regions?

I tried to research with the help of Google search, but the top results are mostly dictionaries.


texts:
Is there a difference between "sugar cane" and sugarcane? Is sugarcane wrong? What is the gramatical rule for joining two names like that?

I have found 13.500 entries on google for sugarcane, but 16.000 for sugar cane.

Is that a matter of style or grammar? What do you guys think?


texts: "Sometimes...others" or "sometimes...in others"?

texts:
What's grammatically correct?

  Sometimes she used metaphors, others symbols and riddles.

or

  Sometimes she used metaphors, in others symbols and riddles.

What I'm trying here is to omit the word times.


texts: A spineless person is said to be, "without moral force, resolution, or courage; feeble" -  http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/spineless. So they are cowardly. But where did that term come from? Are creatures without spines such as worms or squids inherently without courage?


texts:
What is the preferred choice below?

A) "The order was unexpectedly cancelled."

B) "The order was cancelled unexpectedly."

I am guessing "cancelled" is a verb and "unexpectedly" is an adverb.  (Please correct me if wrong.)  Is there a hard or soft rule about adverb placement?


texts: A word for the section of a resume that includes sports and plays

texts:
I have a section on the resume that includes the sports teams I've played on and the plays that I've acted in.

What is a good term for this section?


texts: In my code, I have a variable that stores the number of segments per one eighth of a circle. I wonder if there is a synonym for eighth of a circle, because segmentsPerEighthOfCircle is a little lengthy. In another thread users suggest octile and octant. But I can't get the difference. Will you clarify the difference and the correct usage?


texts:
The wikipedia article on linguistic competence says:

  Againsting the syntax-centered view of generative
  grammar(syntactocentrism), he specifically treats phonology, syntax
  and semantics as three parallel generative processes, coordinated
  through interface processes.

I've never heard the word 'againsting' and can't find it in a dictionary. Is it an emerging neologism, wishful thinking or a typo?


texts:
How to describe a person who have a fossilized mind?

whatever he hears he will not (get it into one's head)


texts: Seeking to understand "why you are here"

texts:
Is this grammatically correct sentence or not? I have often heard people using that sentence. I know 'Why are you here?' is perfect but I think the one which I have mentioned above is correct only in spoken English. Any suggestion would be appreciated.

Clarification from comment: I have heard

  "Just tell me one thing why you are here and why you are learning English."


texts: Verb or phrase meaning "to serve as evidence of one's character"

texts: I want to know whether there might be an expression along the lines of "Convey X". Meaning, to serve as testament of X's character. I suspect that convey is not the correct verb, but I wonder if a suitable one exists.


texts: Term for a machine or object approaching its 'top' or 'upper' limit

texts:
Let's say some machine, whatever it does, has some number of "cycles" that indicates the machine is prepared for maintenance, let's say it is 15,000 cycles.

Is there a term that indicates that machine is approaching its limit? Something like "85% to ___" or "85% of ____"?

Edit: To clarify, this is actually in reference to a part of a machine that requires preventative maintenance.


texts:
I have a probably a very simple question. In program code one function has to be executed as one of the first ones. Can I say "as first as possible" (some other functions have to be executed before this function). Generally I want to emphasis that this function has to be executed not as first one (as it depends on other ones) but as early as it possible.

Sorry for my bad English but it is not my first language.


texts: A word that indicates a great, but unnumbered, and varying quantity of objects

texts:
Here is the sentence, and the word I am trying to replace is multitude:

  Address Translation can then be used so that a multitude of hosts using Private addresses could be translated to a much smaller set of Public addresses, which can be routed on the Internet - thereby curbing the rate of which Public IPv4 addresses are being utilized.

I'm trying to communicate that 100s, or 1000s of hosts using Private addresses, but I don't want to limit the reader's understanding to a specific number (it could be 10,000s, it could be 100,000s).

Multitude seems to me too "fixed", in the sense that if the reader interprets multitude as 1000, the sentence now communicates "every set of 1000 hosts use private addresses". But the number of hosts using private addresses in each deployment can be any number.. from 10s to millions, theoretically.

I'm looking for a single word, but would also consider a short phrase, but the preference is a single word.

(it might also be that multitude is indeed the best choice, if so please let me know)


texts: "hate" vs "would hate"? so, "hate" for general state & "would hate" for specific occasions right?

texts:
Ok, according to many sources, there are differences between "like & would like"

  “Like” for general state

  “Like” is used for the things you generally love, enjoy . We use like
  to talk about things we like all the time.

  When you like something it means you always like it. Or usually.

  “Would Like” for a specific preference

  “Would Like” is used to mean “want”, but it is used for more polite
  expressions.

  When you would like something it means you want it (now).

In the dictionary, they say

  Would (modal verb): would like, love, hate, prefer, etc.
  something/(somebody) to do something | would rather do
  something/somebody did something used to say what you like, love,
  hate, etc.

  I'd love a coffee.

  I'd be only too glad to help.

  I'd hate you to think I was criticizing you.

  I'd rather come with you.

  I'd rather you came with us.

  I'd hate (= would not like) you to think I didn't appreciate what
  you'd done. Source

  I would hate to lose contact with my old school friends. Source

So, it seems that the above principles may be applied to

  hate <> would hate

  love <> would love

That is "hate" for general state & "would hate" for specific occasions right?


texts:
Why do we say, "Who is that man? What does he want", but, "Who is that man? Why is he looking at us". If the second is okay, which I am sure it is, why can't we say, "Who is that man? What is he wanting from us?".

Thanks


texts:
Etymology Online dates chatterbox to 1774, understandably as a concatenation of the words chatter and box.

To me, it seems like the connection stems from "a heavy blow of gossip/chatter".

When was this word first used and in what context, more specifically as a noun?


texts:
I always thought swashes were a way to call wet wipes/wet tissues/wet towels/moist towelettes -or- whatever you call them.

Recently, though, I realized that Swashes is actually a company that makes this stuff. Do other people use swashes as a word for wet wipes? or am I just being crazy?


texts: Word that means "general preference to flee from/avoid commotion/attention"

texts:
Something that doesn't necessarily embody fear but cautiousness.

Contextually, this could relate to social environments.

A desire to remain in tranquil environments.

A general preference of calm environments.

A desire to not be the center of attention.

In general I am seeking a word that could be used to describe a person/animal/thing.


texts:
A desktop environment is a graphical user interface on top of the
  operating system. GNOME, KDE, Xfce, Fluxbox are some examples of the
  desktop environment.

I can not understand the meaning of "on top of" in this sentence. Sorry for poor English.


texts: Is it correct to say "speaking off-topic"?

texts:
Is the following sentence right:

  speaking off-topic about ordinary everyday problems not only can
  distract the students but also wastes a lot of time.

I want to know if using the phrase "off-topic" is ok here.


texts: Why is it “sooner or later” and not “soon or late”?

texts:
In Sooner or later the two adverbs are in the comparative form:

  This term, which generally implies that some future event is certain to happen, was first recorded in 1577. (The American Heritage Idioms Dictionary)

The expression appears to derive from a translation of a Latin book according to Grammarphobia:

  The earliest citation is from a 1577 translation of a Latin book on farming: “The stones, stickes, and suche baggage … are to be throwen out sooner or later.”   (Grammarphobia)

but the same expression in other European languages of Latin origin don’t use the comparative form, such as:

  Tarde o temprano in Spanish or tôt ou tard in French or presto o tardi in Italian.

Questions:

Does the English expression “sooner or later” derive from the literal translation of the above mentioned Latin text?

or does  it have a different origin, from Anglo Saxon languages where the comparative form was used, for instance.


texts:
Some forums have this emoticon: :hsugh: that you could choose to post with your messages. The resulting graphic looks like this:
What's the meaning of this emoticon? What emotion does it convey?


texts:
For example, the subject of an interview is an interviewee.

So, I was wondering what the subject of a survey might be.


texts:
How would you express currency that has over 2 decimals?
For example if you said €65.37 that would be "sixty five euros and thirty seven cents".
If you have €65.375 would you say "sixty five euros and three hundred seventy five cents". I guess that is wrong though since  "three hundred seventy five cents" is actually €3.75


texts: A word that means "worsen", but implies greater magnitude

texts:
I'm writing about mental health counselling and how centres are often fully booked. I then say: "I'm sure many others have the same story, and crises that deserve immediate attention are left to -- "

What's the word I'm looking for? It's like exacerbate, but reflexive. The problem is being exacerbated, but I don't want to use passive voice. Most words in English that are synonymous with "worsen" imply getting weaker or smaller, but I want to say that the crisis grows stronger (yet worse at the same time).


texts: Singular or plural verb following "any" with a plural noun

texts:
Is it correct to say "If any of the parties are required,...."?

Is it correct to say, "If any of the parties is required,...."?


texts: Use of 'the’ in front of acronyms and initialisms

texts:
I tend to not use the word ‘the’ in front of acronyms, but I see this used in documents more and more.

  REIP provides regional outreach services to Northeastern Ontario.

or

  The REIP provides regional outreach services to Northeastern Ontario.

If the word ‘program’ is added after REIP, I would use ‘the.’

Which is correct?


texts: What is this mood and tense of "I have to agree?"

texts:
A non-native English speaker posted a comment: "I've to agree." At first, I thought it was a typo, but then realised the expansion "I have to agree" is (seems?) correct. So why is "I've to agree" incorrect? If it was "futurish" (sorry, i don't know the name, so I'm making one up) and used would or will (i would have to agree/ I will have to agree) it would be correct, if uncommon, to have a double contraction: I'd've / i'll've (although in that case, the verb becomes past tense: agreed).

Is this one of those things where the contraction is actually correct, but seems wrong? I have literally googled this for almost an hour and can't find this verb form (a present indicative with an infinitive verb?) in any of the grammar pages, but I hear this construction all the time (but without the contraction).


texts: Name for people who cannot pronounce one particular sound

texts: Is there a word in English for the inability to utter a specific sound like the rolled R for instance? In my language, there is a name for people who can only pronounce the uvular/guttural R instead of the rolled R.  I'm curious to know if there is a word in English for this condition.


texts: How would I say this sentence correctly?

texts:
After six months of looking for jobs,
  she got a reply from a job application
  she posted online from Macy's asking
  her to come to a interview.

The sentence does not sound right to me, what would be the correct way to say this?


texts: Using the adverb "now" with a tag question

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Question tags — “did you” vs. “didn’t you”

  People can hardly motivate themselves now, can they?
  People can hardly motivate themselves now, can't they?

Number 1 is the correct answer. However, usage of can't they in number 2 can also be correct as it takes the tag question format but due to now being used in the sentence, it is wrong.

My question is, I am too sure that number 1 is the correct answer, but I am not sure about the above explanation. How true this holds? And why the addition of the adverb "now" makes number 2 incorrect?


texts: Averages and Standard Deviations, but Skewness and Kurtosis?

texts:
Suppose I explain the following table in my academic paper.

State     Average   St. Dev.  Skewness  Kurtosis  Fis. Info.
CA        1.23      4.56      1.35      2.46      1.47
NY        4.56      7.89      7.91      8.02      2.58
TX        7.89      1.23      3.57      4.68      3.69

The table displays the averages, standard deviations, skewness (?), kurtosis (?), and Fisher information (?) of the states.

(1) I couldn't find both skewness and kurtosis in Cambridge Dictionary, but it seems they are abstract nouns and uncountable. I used averages and standard deviations above as they're countable and each column has three numbers. Should I use skewness and kurtosis, or skewnesses and kurtosises?

(2) Fisher information is another statistic as well. Though there are three numbers in the last column, I can't use Fisher informations as information is uncountable. Despite of the three numbers, should I still just use the Fisher information alongside the averages and standard deviations?

(3) Volatility is uncountable according to Cambridge Dictionary. Suppose there are historical volatility and implied volatility in my paper. Should I use historical and implied volatility, or historical and implied volatilities?

(4) I have multiple implied volatility observations (for example, 0.47, 0.13, 1.42, etc.) in my data set. Should I still use the volatility and avoid the volatilities though there are multiple numbers?

Thanks for your reading.


texts:
My colleague and I disagree on how to open a letter; he believes you should separate the salutation from the name, like so:

"Hi, John"

I think this is nonsense and that the comma should go at the end, like so:

"Hi John,"

Is there a formal definition/right answer?


texts: If one is in one's first year of studying somewhere, does that automatically make one a freshman?

texts:
The definition of a freshman is "a first-year student at a university, college, or high school." (from Oxford languages). Therefore, if a person is in middle school, but has one or more classes at the high school, it would be their first year in that high school. Would this make them a freshman? Same situation also applies if a student was in high school and was taking a class at a college/university (and had also been admitted for that college) for part or whole of the year.
If the answer to that was yes, if a person only has classes in the high school for part of the school year, would they still be considered a freshman?
I know that if you are considered a freshman by the school would vary based on where you live, but this question is whether the quoted definition entails that one would be a freshman under such circumstances.
This question falls under the "word choice and usage" category, so please don’t vote to close it


texts: "This is ..." vs. "I am ..." on a Voice Recording

texts:
I know that it's better to use "This is Neeku." instead of "I am Neeku." on a phone conversation. However I need to record a voice sample about my skills and experience, etc. for an interview and upload it to the application form. Which one shall I use in this context?

I did see this question: Why in a phone call we use "this is" instead of "I am"? but I still can't tell which is more suitable for my situation. Or shall I even go with "Neeku here." instead of the two other?

P.S. This is an audio recording, and it's for a language-related job.


texts: Is there a word in English for this particular type of humourous use of a word twice

texts:
An employee is hauled before a manager for allegedly calling a foreman a bastard. He replied:

  "I never called him a bastard, the bastard."


texts: Singular vs. plural for a noun that is associated to a plural number of another noun

texts:
Our team has prepared five technical reports that we are going to present to a review committee tomorrow. Each report is very long (about 20 pages). I want to communicate to my colleagues that we should prepare a one-liner description for each report. Here are the two alternative sentences I have.
Alternative 1:

I need one-liner descriptions for all five reports we are going to present tomorrow.

Alternative 2:

I need one-liner description for all five reports we are going to present tomorrow.

The difference in the two alternatives is the usage of the word "descriptions" vs. "description". Is singular-form the right choice for a sentence like this, or should I use the plural-form?
Note: The above specific scenario and sentence is a scenario I have cooked up to demonstrate my problem. I am interested to understand the singular vs. plural not just for this sentence but in general for any sentences like these which contain a phrase of the form "<noun1> of <noun2>" where "<noun2>" is plural and I need to decide if "<noun1>" should be written in singular or plural form?


texts: Hyphenation and capitalization of "Great-Uncle" when signing books to my nephew's son

texts: When great-uncle is used as a common noun, the hyphen and lack of caps make sense. However, when I sign a book to my nephew, is it Great-Uncle Don, Great-uncle Don, or perhaps Great Uncle Don?


texts:
Is "pronunciate" a word? At first it doesn't seem to be, but why not? "Pronunciation" and "pronunciative" seem to be words, so it would seem natural that "pronunciate" would be.

After Googling, I found the following here:

  "Pronunciate" is a word that isn't listed in most dictionaries; Dictionary.com does mention it, but it noted that "pronunciate" is used rarely. If you use it, most people will think that you meant to use "pronounce" but screwed up. Our tip is that you use "pronounce" instead of "pronunciate," unless you want to look like a person who uses "irregardless."

"Pronunciate" can also be found on dictionary.com:

  Definition: to declare or pronounce

Furthermore, I have heard the use of this word fairly often in speech. I have always assumed it was a word.

Despite all of this evidence, "pronunciate" seems to have very little usage (see dictionary.com link), and is not listed in most major dictionaries, including the Merriam-Webster dictionary. I have tried typing "pronunciate" on computers, and all spellcheck programs I have tried has flagged it as a typo.

Is "pronunciate" a word? Is it ok to use it in a sentence? This will probably come down to whether common usage has created this word. In you answer, please back yourself up with applicable evidence/proof.

Thanks!


texts: How did an apostrophe plus the letter "s" come to indicate possession?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Origins of possessive pronouns

How did English come to use "apostrophe s" to indicate possession, when it seems to me that few (if any!) other languages do (or do something similar)?

E.g., how did "the car's engine" come to be shorthand for "the engine of the car?"


texts: "I undertake that ..." or "I undertake to ..."

texts:
Suppose I want to give an assurance. Which one is correct?

  I undertake that I will give you your money as soon as I get home
  I undertake to give you your money as soon as I get home


texts: past perfect tense and comma usage in Churchill's book

texts:
I'm reading a book called "My early life" by Winston Churchill.

"I was working in the saloon of the Indiaman, and had reached an exciting point in my story."

1) why did he put comma before "and had reached"? Is it because the tense was different from "I was..."

2) I'm confused of the order of these two events. So, he reached an exciting point and then he found himself working in the saloon? Or it's the opposite?

Thank you for reading this!


texts: What is the Grammatical reason of using linking verb + past participle in a sentence?

texts:
I found this sentence in a blog post and the poster has used a linking verb followed by a past participle verb form in a sentence, which gives me a bit of confusing. Here is the sentence below:

  In hospital, she felt stripped of all her dignity.

The part I don't understand here is the usage of the past participle verb after the verb 'felt'. For me this sentence as like a passive form, which may be like "In hospital, she was stripped (by someone)...".

Can anyone do me the grammatical explanation of this, please?


texts: "I have 4 people in my family" vs "I have 5 people in my family"

texts:
Recently, a colleague created a warm up question:

  How many people are in your family?

And the model answer was:

  I have 4 people in my family; my mother, my father, and my 2 brothers.

While this is not incorrect, some of my students as well as myself thought this was odd to exclude the person giving the answer in the final tally. It seems to me that it would be more common and preferable to say:

  I have 5 people in my family; my mother, my father and my 2 brothers.

It should be obvious to everyone that the person answering the question about his family would include himself in the total count.

What I would like to know is how native English speakers would respond to the question when you have your father, mother and 2 brothers.


texts: Is there a word that means a day's "antipode" within a year?

texts:
I notice today is September 15th, which is about 6 months after (or before) March the 15th, famously known as the Ides of March (and not much loved by Caesar).

In geography, an antipode is the location on the Earth's globe that is directly opposite where you start from. Is there an analog word for a date that means "six months away from a particular date?"

Note I'm not looking for words like semi-annual. I would like to say: "Today is the [year-antipode] of the Ides of March."


texts: This guy's alright in my book, because he used the word "rapscallion". Meaning

texts:
This guy's alright in my book, because he used the word "rapscallion".

  Source

What it means by alright in my book?


texts: Use of commas with seemingly dependent clauses

texts:
I'd like to know whether or not the following examples are correct in relation to comma usage with independent/dependent clauses.

Every time I come across examples to use commas in separating independent clauses with a comma, it follows a pattern such as "He read the book, and he really enjoyed the penultimate chapter." I don't have trouble with this one.

Then I see examples, in published works, such as "They appear in groups, and are multiplying rapidly." Is leaving out the "they" between "and" and "are" just for the sake of reading with a better flow or something? Should it have just left out the comma?

"He was ready to lead everyone to safety, and victory against X".
Without the comma, would it be to suggest "safety against X" as well? Hence, is it why a comma would be necessary in this case? Is it then treated as a "list", so to say?

So, in the cases of "They appear in groups, and are multiplying rapidly" and "He was ready to lead everyone to safety, and victory against X", are they both okay to use? Or perhaps the former is simply not, but the latter is necessary in such context?

Thanks for the help! I really appreciate it! (Racking my brain with commas - trying to edit a huge piece of work).


texts:
My wife often uses the phrase "I'll give you into trouble if you do that again" and it seems to be reasonably common in western Scotland, however I can't find any way for it to be grammatically correct.

I can understand "I'll give you trouble" which means the same, or "I'll get you into trouble" which is obviously a bit different.


texts: What are the correct ways to express parenthetical comments?

texts:
I've seen parenthetical comments that are inserted mid-sentence (like this) and I've also seen parenthetical comments that are inserted after the terminal punctuation symbol of a sentence. (Like this.)

Are both valid uses, and are there any more ways to use them?


texts: Can "drink" be used as an uncountable noun?

texts:
I recently got into an argument with someone who insists that

He brought drink to the party

is grammatically correct English and points to the phrase "food and drink" as justification. As a native English speaker, I consider that an obvious mistake and consider "food and drink" to be a fossilized phrase. Is this a regional difference, or are they just crazy? Is there any authoritative source I can point to on the matter?


texts: Translating when speakers reference themselves by name

texts:
In some cultures, people might call themselves by their name.

For example, if a woman's name is May, she might say in her native language

  May has a very important thing to say.

When translated to English, should it be changed to

  I have a very important thing to say.

in order to coincide with the common practices of spoken English? Or should it be left in the third person, to more accurately reflect the original utterance?


texts: Compound subjects, objects or verbs with no conjunction

texts:
Example:
"...that some morning, as by magic, all books, pictures, records, chairs, beds, curtains, utensils, keepsakes would drain away..."

The compound subject in this clause has no conjunction, sounds funny, and seems incomplete without 'and'. I notice this a lot in E.B White's writing and just assume it's legit because of who it is.

Are conjunctions optional?


texts: What is the correct way to punctuate the words ‘worse even’?

texts:
I’m unsure if this is written as:

‘Worse even, than...’

‘Worse, even, than...’

‘Worse, even than...’

Or without commas at all.

I tried looking it up, but all I can find are examples of the usage of ‘worse still’ and ‘even worse than’.


texts: What does the valediction "Ever yours" mean?

texts: A friend of mine recently said they think it sounds romantic, but I have seen it used in platonic situations.  What does this valediction actually mean?  I would also be interested in knowing this valediction's origin, if anybody knows.


texts:
I'd like to know how to use the idiom: Super Duper.
It seems to be a slang which means great or marvelous. http://www.thefreedictionary.com/superduper

But, one of my colleagues sometimes says "I'm super duper busy today!" She is a non-native English speaker.
Is that usage also correct?

I also want to know the nuance of this idiom. Is it appropriate to use in a business setting?


texts: difference between "will you be -ing?" and "are you -ing?"

texts:
Are there any differences among the following:

Are you using this room tomorrow?
Will you be using this room tomorrow?
Will you use this room tomorrow?

1  and 3 seem to be asking someone’s intention to use the room, while 2 has nothing to do with someone’s intention or will.

It is simply asking if the room has been booked for the person being asked, isn't it?


texts: What punctuation mark is used to indicate the unknown year of a decade?

texts: On occasion I've seen a novel in which the writer wants to identify a year by all but the last digit, so that the year could be any year in a decade. I want to be certain of the punctuation mark that would be used under such circumstances. It could possibly be 198_ or 198- or something similar (en or em dash.) Wikipedia doesn't address this.


texts: Phrase or expression to describe intentional upward discrimination when the favorable situation comes along

texts:
An employee would normally come 5 to 10 minutes before 8 AM to the office or the least at the stroke of 8 AM when he has the main boss coming in everyday (never late unless informed).

What do you call the tactic or behavior when, when this employee would come 15 to 30 minutes late or at times 1 to 2 hours late (without bothering to inform) just because in absence of the main boss, a make shift intermediary powerless (authority is given by no real power) senior is placed to overlook the day to day activities. (I would say the above as tactic because it would be habitual on part of this employee and other peers tend to catch on to the tardiness.)

This would place not just the employee in trouble but also the toothless senior  (for his inaction) if ever the usually unconcerned top management has any probing done ever due to any unfortunate circumstances as part of other unconnected damage-control campaign that they usually have.


texts: The collection of jobs that have not been done on time

texts:
Looking for word for an amount of work that had to be done, but was not and now aggregated into a collection of undone work.

  She was falling behind the rest of the class, having 7 unfinished assignments in her ______


texts: Do we have to repeat a sentence structure when using "more" and "than"?

texts:
Please consider the examples:

1.) Schools should be more lenient when interviewing female applicants than when they are interviewing male applicants.

2.) We think more about ourselves than we do about others.

Can we omit the words in bold and still have a grammatical sentence?


texts: Is it grammatically correct for titles to not have punctuation?

texts:
I was wondering (for no particular reason), is it grammatically correct for titles, including, but not limited to, the ones of questions in the websites of the Stack Exchange network, to not have punctuation such as commas and full stop (period)?

My question is regarding the grammatical correctness of it, regardless of the importance to follow grammar or not in each circumstance.


texts:
Which word to use when we ask for help?

Some conditions:

We know that the person asked is able to do it.
We don't know if the person asked is able to do it.


texts: What is the origin or earliest known use of the phrase "everything but the kitchen sink"?

texts:
What is the origin or earliest known use of the idiomatic phrase "everything but the kitchen sink"?

I have searched the internet, but I cannot find an origin or etymology.

The earliest known use I found is 1918 according to knowyourphrase.com.

http://www.knowyourphrase.com/phrase-meanings/Everything-But-The-Kitchen-Sink.html

Is there a known origin or known use earlier than 1918?


texts: What is an alternative way to write great-great-great-grandfather using numbers?

texts: I find this notation cumbersome as the read has to count the "greats". Is there maybe an alternative notation which states the fourth ancestor generation explicitly?


texts: What would be 1850's equivalent of slang praise for being audacious?

texts: What might an 1850's working class American man say as praise to another man for being really audacious such as equivalent of "You crazy mf" or "crazy ass"?


texts: What do "Ever thought" and "Fit to exact" mean?

texts:
What does "thought fit"  mean?
Full context:

  "None of those ancients ever thought fit to exact the money as payment for his wisdom or to give exhibitions among people of various
  places." - Hippias Major page 387 Chapter 13

The context is when Socrates talks about 2 pre-sophists Gorgias and Protagoras, but I have no idea about the meaning of this sentence for my English is not able me understanding it,  someone please help! Thank a lot!


texts: single word or phrase for particular feeling of release

texts: Is there a word that describes when you have a great idea, revolutionary even, and then you find out it has already been done?  Or maybe, that feeling - not futility, not Sisyphean - but that wry release of pent up motivation to act, upon finding out, there's nothing left to do.


texts:
I have the following sentence:

" Case studies with changing number of buildings and changing peak powers of the PV systems"

My question is, wether I should get rid of one of the 'changing'. So basically it would be like this:

" Case studies with changing number of buildings and peak powers of the PV systems"

I'd appreciate every comment. Thanks in advance


texts: Can a conjuction prevent run-on sentences without punctuation?

texts:
I understand that run-on sentences join independent clauses without a word to connect them or a punctuation mark to separate them, but can a connecting word suffice to prevent a sentence from running on?  (Yeah, I just ended that with a preposition.  Grammar Girl's got my back.)  For instance:

  I know a comma without a conjunction creates a comma splice but a semicolon will suffice.

Or:

  I learned to stop worrying and now I love the bomb.

I don't like these and would prefer to add commas before the conjunctions, but can I actually insist on it as a matter of grammatical correctness, or would that make me a dogmatic jerk? I think I'd actually most prefer to be tolerant, for whatever that's worth, but not if it means disregarding a rule.

I see related discussion here, so I admit this may be a duplicate, but I'll let the community decide. For my purposes at least, I could use a clearer answer than I see there, if there is one to be had.


texts: Ambiguity of "Lindsey told Jessica that she had cancer"

texts:
Lindsey told Jessica that she had cancer.

Who had cancer? Is there any rule in English to claim it definitely?


texts:
He met an accomplished Hogwarts Witch Hermione Granger. (incorrect)

1'. He met an accomplished Hogwarts Witch, Hermione Granger.(correct)(accepting capitalisation)

He met a Witch Hermione Granger. (incorrect)

He met a Constable Ichabod Crane at court. (correct)

Why doesn't example 2 work like 3 without the comma?


texts: full-stop / period before or after closing bracket?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  In which cases is a comma/period placed inside or outside of parentheses?

Is the convention (write something in brackets.) And start a new sentence.

or is it (More like this). And the other confusing factor below.

Is a sentence (like this?) Because the question mark belongs to what's in brackets.

So (is this)? More wrong because you're de-questioning the bracketed-sentence?

OK so some of those are decidedly bad english but you get the point. I hope?)?.?.


texts: How did a word that meant "food" come to mean "meat, flesh of animals"?

texts:
I sometimes work with texts which have an antiquated atmosphere about them, and I occasionally come across the expression to sit at meat in such as

At that time it was degrading to sit at meat with Samaritans.

or

He that serves is greater than he that sits at meat.

I found it explained in dictionaries like the free dictionary or Webster's. I even checked the etymology of meat as given in the Online Etymology Dictionary:

meat (n.)
Middle English mēte, from Old English mete "food, nourishment,
sustenance" (paired with drink), "item of food; animal food, fodder,"
also "a meal, repast," from Proto-Germanic *mati ...
Narrower sense of "flesh of warm-blooded animals killed and used as
food" is attested from c. 1300 (earlier this was flesh-meat, early
12c.).

but I still don't understand how meat, a word used for food in general, came to mean a particular type of food, flesh of animals used as food.
Edit: I thought it would be interesting to follow the evolution of the use and meaning of this word, if someone had any knowledge or information about this.


texts:
In sentences like this:

"The parenthetical phrase is a great example of using an interrupter to great effect for foming a clear idea."

Is it imperative to change it to this with double commas?

"The parethetical phrase is a great example of using an interrupter, to a great effect, for forming a clear idea."

The reason I am asking this is because I am not entirely sure if I can leave my sentence like this, since most of the people would write "The... interrupter for forming an idea to a great effect."

Please tell me if it is ok without double commas. Also, please provide me with parethetical phrases with double commas that start with word "to" if possible. Thank you.


texts: How many syllables BrE and AmE regarding the word 'secretary'?

texts:
I am from Germany and I am having a question regarding the pronunciation of AmE and BrE.

I have a book and the text there says that there is a two syllable-pronunciation in BrE R.P. of the word secretary [sektrɪ] and in rapid BrE speech whereas
in AmE it is pronounced [ˈsɛkrəˌtɛrɪ]

In the lecture we learned that 'in the UK' secretary consists out of three syllables (but it is not R.P. meant but standard BrE???) since the book says two.

other words that can be included are dictionary and necessary
Thanks,


texts: "A person skillful at what he does" vs. "A skillful person at what he does"

texts: I was helping a friend with an ESL test, and the question was looking for the answer "Practice can make a person skillful at what he does". One of the students answered with "Practice can make a skillful person at what he does", and my friend asked if this was definitively wrong, and why. I didn't have a definitive answer, other than "I think it's wrong because it sounds awkward." Is there a grammar rule that can clarify this?


texts: Is there a word like "sides" that means "top or bottom"?

texts:
"Sides" can be used to describe positioning relative to the left or right of an object. Is there a corresponding word that has the same meaning for the top or bottom of an object?

For example, if I say "side padding," it's pretty clear that I'm talking about padding from the left and right edge. I want to be able to say the same thing about the top and bottom edge.


texts:
Is there a context in which it is correct/standard to use the expression "Who you are?" as a question? or is  "Who are you?" the only possible correct form?

Googling "Who you are?" doesn't help because almost all the hits relate to a song called "Who you are" (where the phrase is not being used as a question). And for those hits that aren't about the song, their occurrences of "who you are" are invariably relative clauses. It doesn't seem like you can search for exact strings containing punctuation like the question mark on Google (see here). As such, I find this question hard to research.


texts:
I' would like to know whether or not the following sentences are correct and why:

  I have been sick since last week.

  I have been sick since the last week.

  I have been sick for the last week.


texts: Are all introductory phrases dangling participles if the subject is not directly after them?

texts:
Not sure if I'm phrasing this right, but I will try (I hope it's not a dumb question). If you're being strict with grammar, everything can be a dangling participle if there's no subject directly after the modifier? Then it's up to the reader to decide if this is an adverbial phrase?

Here's an example:

  Statistically speaking/speaking statistically, you have a greater chance of getting hit by a
  car than crashing in a plane.

The "statistically speaking" part could be interpreted as:

  You are statistically speaking that you have a greater chance of
  getting hit by a car than crashing in a plane.

Even though, actually

  I'm speaking statistically about the different chances you have of getting hit by a car compared to crashing in a plane.

if we remove the "you" or any sort of subject and put in a "there's a greater chance that..." instead, now we have a situation where things speak because of the omission.

???

I must be over-analyzing this... of course, one could say the subject is omitted, but one could say this for every dangling participle out there and say that it's just an ellipsis... -_-'


texts: What is the term for a word with two quite different spellings that are pronounced alike?

texts:
If you are willing to go back aways, many words have alternative spellings with the same pronunciation. Take the fishy spelling of The Compleat Angler, for example.  But some modern words have two current dramatically different spellings pronounced alike. One example is the spellings of controller and comptroller. In The Way We Live Now, Anthony Trollope has one character say vittles and another say victuals. Note that these are not homonyms because only one word is being spelled.

In saying "two quite different spellings," I am trying to eliminate spelling variants such as today vs. to-day, colour vs. color, or the example I gave, complete vs. compleat. In such pairs, everyone would naturally pronounce the two spellings alike. That's not the case with vittles vs. victuals, hiccup vs. hiccough, or controller vs. comptroller. Indeed, some people (not I) do not pronounce the last pair alike. So I do not believe that my question is in the same spirit as a previous question. Though there is a distinction to be made, it may be that English has no word for this distinction, and all that can be said is that the words I'm considering have extreme spelling variants.


texts: Is it permissible to omit "is" in the following case?

texts:
Denial. One of the strongest, most stubborn human feelings. It has nothing to
  do with logic; its function (is) to prevent us from completely falling
  apart, going insane.

Can I omit is in the example above?


texts: How to tell the difference between proper nouns and regular nouns (in certain ambiguous cases)?

texts:
"In the Eden story, The Snake engages Eve in dialog."

IN this sentence, should the word "Snake" be capitalized? Should the word "The" be capitalized?

I assume that only if "The Snake" is a proper noun it gets capitalized, am I correct?

How do I know if "The Snake" is a proper noun or a regular noun?


texts: What are adjectives/adverbs for saying that something occurred as a side effect of something else?

texts:
I'm asking the question primarily because I suspect there is such a word and I forgot it. An example sentence:

  The new policy was adopted by the company to simplify the handling of temp workers. It increased overall security as a side effect.

The event is a policy change. The advertised outcome is simplifying some procedure. The incidental outcome is an increase in security. Thus, 'incidentally' satisfices.

  It incidentally increased overall security.

However, this word implies that the side effect is accidental (more specifically, incidental :-)) rather than by design. I'd like a word which expresses the idea that the incidental effect was in fact sought-for, and that the advertised outcome for the event of which it is an outcome was put forward only to encourage the occurrence the event, rather than for itself.

EDIT 1: on intentionality.

If the incidental outcome is sought for by the narrator in my sentence -- whilst others aren't aware of this outcome or don't value it, what is a good word to qualify the 'secretly' or 'unknowingly' desirable outcome?

In the case of my sentence, it is already implied that the narrator sees the security outcome as the valuable one (from prior context in the text). Thus, it is acceptable to simply note that the incidental outcome was sought for intentionally. A close concept is French would be the word 'accessoirement', but I don't know if 'accessorily' is in common use.

EDIT 2: on temporality

The concept of 'ulterior motive' proposed by Peter A. Schneider seems to work very well ('ulteriorly increased overall security'). Unfortunately, ulterior has another meaning: after something. Both effects are realised immediately. The same principle rules out 'consequently' from cobaltduck which otherwise would have been the best fit for me.

At this stage, I need to branch the question.

Scenario 1: the incidental outcome is a consequence of the realised, assumed outcome

In that scenario, both ulteriorly and consequently work. I have a slight preference for consequently in that context. As my example fits example 1 better, I'm accepting that answer:

  The new policy was adopted by the company to simplify the handling of temp workers. It consequently increased overall security.

Scenario 2: the incidental outcome is a consequence of the change, not of the assumed outcome

The unrealised outcome is effective immediately, not as a conclusion over time of the realised outcome. The word I was looking for is 'coincidentally'. This contains incidentality, and removes the accidental aspect of the word by clarifying that both outcomes co-occur.

I find the notion that awareness of the coincidental outcome was not sought is a bit weakly represented. I could solve this by applying both 'ulteriorly' and 'coincidentally' to the second outcome. But let's keep it simple to digest. My sentence construction says the policy was 'adopted to', thus intent in the outcomes is clear as long as they're presented contiguously within the sentence:

  The new policy was adopted by the company to simplify the handling of temp workers, and to coincidentally increase overall security.

I find that sentence remains concise and to the point, but is more precise. Thanks everyone for the help.


texts: I love you, and will always do? Or always will?

texts:
My girlfriend (who's first language is not English) said to me the other day 'I love you, and I will always do'. I then proceeded to make the argument that that didn't make sense, and that it would have to be 'And I always will'.

Could someone please clarify which would be the most desirable/correct?


texts: Is "steamy breath" more commonly used in cold or hot settings?

texts:
Example:

  We waited, holding our steamy breaths.

I think this could be interpreted in two ways: their breaths are steamy because it's cold (the heat is coming from inside). Or it's steamy because the air is hot and humid (the heat is coming from outside). Not sure which situation is more common, though. So I'd like to hear some opinions.


texts: Word for pride of someone else's achievements

texts:
Is there a word or phrase to describe the feeling of pride directed at someone else's accomplishment?

In particular, I'm looking for a way to describe the feeling of pride of a romantic partner's achievements. Since these partners are neither married nor engaged, "spousal pride" (which might otherwise work) would be wrong.

However, failing that specific case, a more generic description is also welcome as long as it can be applied to this context.

Example sentence: A surge of wild _____ pride swept through him.


texts: Is there a prefix that indicates that an event recurs four times a year?

texts:
"Semi-annually" describes an event that recurs every 6 months. Is there a similar term for an event that recurs every 3 months? (I'm guessing that "semi-semi-annually" isn't the correct answer.)

More importantly, is there a resource or table somewhere that I can use in the future to construct prefixes for other intervals shorter than a year?


texts: Pronunciation of boggling and similar *ing words

texts:
Are there multiple valid pronunciations for ing or present participle form of boggle -- [bog-uh l] | /ˈbɒg əl/? I.e. are both of the following valid for boggling (not thinking of bogglin or other shortened pronunciations)?

[bog-ling] | /ˈbɒg lɪŋ/
[bog-uh ling] | /ˈbɒg əlɪŋ/

If the second form is valid, are there specific dialects where it's common? Otherwise, is there a term for this type of mispronunciation?


texts: The use of 'that' and the bare form of a verb

texts:
Can anyone help me with the use of 'that' and the bare form of a verb in the following sentence?

This plan suggested that the supply target for new and renewable energy be increased to 20% by 2020.

Here, I would like to know how the 'be' was used without expressing its tense. I appreciate your help in advance.


texts:
I have seen this expression several times (Google search gives 67M answers), but it seems mostly used by French or Swiss institutions, while Wikipedia mentions centre of excellence or competency center.

Is Centre of Competence proper english (British or American)?


texts: What is the term for a language that is a second language for most people?

texts: What is the term for a language that is a second language for most of the people that use it? For example, when the Portuguese traded with East African countries in the 1700's, none of them spoke their mother tongue. English can also been seen as this type of language. It is two words and sounds Latin.


texts: Is the word "do" an adverb or helping verb

texts:
In the sentence "Small children certainly do need careful supervising." Is the word "do" an adverb modifying "need" or is it a helping verb to the main verb "need"?

I'm grading papers and a student classified it as an adverb and it got me wondering whether she wasn't right. She meant it as an adverb using "do" as the opposite of the adverb "not"


texts: How to describe "something on which a decision has to be made"?

texts:
Context

The term will be used to describe items in a list presented together with options / possible solutions (e.g. material: wood, steel or aluminium?).

Example

When designing a piece of furniture, one has to decide on:

overall shape and structure
dimensions
materials

How to accurately describe the items in the bullet points?

Ideas so far

question
(decision) point
factor
(sub-)problem
issue

Are there better options?

edit Some more ideas: aspect, facet, detail, component.


texts: Should I say "data sets of race times of various cars" or something better? I am concerned that the "of" don't sound quite right.


texts: Proverb or expression for someone taking on too much

texts:
What is an appropriate proverb or expression that means one has:

Taken on too many tasks
Set out to do something that one isn't qualified to do and hence probably will fail
Set out to do something that probably is impossible to begin with


texts:
Danielle Bregoli, a.k.a. the "Cash me ousside" girl, became a meme after she appeared on the Dr. Phil Show. (See also: http://www.tmz.com/person/cash-me-outside-girl/)

Is Bregoli's speech an affected version of AAVE (African-American Vernacular English)? If not, how would you characterize it in terms of dialect?


texts: English equivalent of *refrán*, which is less formal than a proverb

texts:
Spanish makes a subtle distinction between proverbio [proverb] and refrán [?].  This distinction was described well here.  I'll attempt to translate informally from that answer.

  Although the two words can be considered synonymous, the connotations
  are different:

  refrán: a colloquial, folksy saying or piece of advice.  It needn't be about something weighty.  It often features a rhyme, making
  it catchy and easy to remember.
  proverbio: a bit more serioius than refrán.  Generally speaking, it doesn't provide advice about banal matters, but has more of a
  moral, ethics tone.

  For example:

    Marzo ventoso y abril lluvioso sacan a mayo florido y hermoso. [Loosely: April showers bring May flowers; literally: Windy March and
    rainy April bring out a flowering and beautiful May.]

  The subject matter of this refrán is the weather.

  A proverb, on the other hand, is more formal, has a more serious subject matter and attempts to teach something.

Here's an example of a proverb:

  No es oro todo lo que reluce. | All that glitters is not gold.

My German spouse informs me that refrán seems to be similar to Bauernregel (guidance for farmers), but with a particular focus on the weather.  For example

  Der April macht was er will. | April does whatever it wants to.

My question is what is the closest equivalent to refrán in English?

Edit after question was closed as a duplicate of a question that was closed because a sample sentence wasn't provided:

Sample sentence:

  Spanish has a charming refrán that's relevant to your situation: [....]

An additional thought: I'd like ideally to find something as graceful as, for example, "turn of speech."  But that won't work because a turn of speech is a fragment, not necessarily a whole sentence.


texts: What do you call the sets of window bars that are used to protect the window and are opened to the outside?

texts:
I was proofreading a translation and came across the sentence:

  The externally accessible windows are fitted with lockable, outswing metal grids.

What the translator meant really was this (on pictures) - two sets of metal bars that can be opened to the outside. They are secured on hinges and are used to protect the storage area (in my text).

What do we call them in English?

The Russian term is распашные наружу металлические решетки (metal bars that are opened to the outside).


texts:
Suppose some government policy tends to help large communities rather than small ones.

I want to describe this as a noun.

Will "size-advantageousness of policy" be a good choice to describe that?

Or is there any better alternative?


texts: What is a word for hero, villain and anti-hero types?

texts:
What is the word that categorizes hero, villain and anti-hero? I am making a database of comic book characters and wanted to classify them under these, but I'm having trouble coming up with a word other than the generic-sounding "type".

Example:

  "What _____ is Venom in this issue? Is he a hero, villain or
  anti-hero?"


texts: What does “value” mean in the following context?

texts:
Create Value

  “Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.”

  Most people approach the word “success” wrongly. It’s not just being
  bare-wealthy and having big firm who runs mechanically without your
  existence. Success is about getting all mentioned before, step by
  step, so we will be able to appreciate those things while we create
  and sustain them.

  Someone of value inspires others to live the right way and do the
  right thing. Live in accordance with one’s religious, philosophical,
  or spiritual values. A person of value has ethics, morality, decency,
  integrity, principles and honesty. All those things one should strive
  to attain.


texts: Is "-ed" an inflectional or derivational morpheme in "the stressed syllables"?

texts:
In the word "stressed" in the following sentence, is the -ed an Inflectional or a Derivational suffix? Would you please explain to me why?

The sentence is:

  This is one of the stressed syllables.

Thank you so much!


texts: Meaning of "or" in "working on applications to sell or for any other purpose"

texts:
A licence reads:

  If you are an individual working on your own applications to sell or
  for any other purpose, you may use the software to develop and test
  those applications.

I'm having difficulties interpreting the meaning of the sentence, is the part or for any other purpose related to the verb sell which means that you can either sell or do whatever you want with the applications, or does it have another interpretation?


texts:
Sometimes I use the word “incompetent” describe someone who is, typically, in over their head and not smart enough to at least know they are in over their head. But a friend recently used the word “inept” to describe such a person.
To me, “inept” refers to someone who is physically incompetent. Like a basketball player that can’t play the game — yet is somehow in the game — is inept in my mind. And someone who is incompetent can be incompetent in many ways, physically and even logically.
So are  “inept” and “incompetent” interchangeable synonyms? Or is there more subtlety to their use?


texts: Does it seem odd to say "I'm in love WITH you?"

texts: I'm brand new to this site so please be kind. It has always struck me as odd to declare one's love for the very 1st time to another by saying, "I'm in love WITH you."  The brief definition I found for WITH was the Oxford one; accompanied by.  Which means both people would be in love with each other.  Why not just say "I love you?"  Does anyone know where the expression came from?


texts: {This/that vs. these/those} + many + plural noun

texts:
From pag 419 of Mastering English An Advanced Grammar for Non-native and Native Speakers:

Elsewhere, demonstratives normally serve as determiners (as in that exact moment, this way, etc.). BUT in connection with adjectives and quantifiers such as much and many, the singular demonstratives may serve also as degree adverbs, indicating a precise amount or measure:

(14) I didn't give her that much.
(15) Do we need this many recommendations?
(16) The worm was this long.

Yet, despite the number of stars in the sky being uncountable by nature, so no precise amount at all, the sentence I've never seen this many stars (in the sky) is uttered by the character "Ian" in an informal context in the last chapter of the fifth season of Shameless, "Love Songs (In the Key of Gallagher)".

Therefore, is the purported different this/these + many + plural noun still operating? Granted, "precise amount or measure" is quite subjective.


texts: Do we need to use the article "the" while talking about numbers and ratio?

texts:
I would like to know if both sentences below require the article "the" at the beginning of the sentence.

Sentence 1:

Total number of cases in the US has increased by 2.2%.
The total number of cases in the US has increased by 2.2%.

Sentence 2:

Ratio of deaths to the number of cases in the US is 19 to 1.
The ratio of deaths to the number of cases in the US is 19 to 1.

What rules of grammar do I need to consider while deciding if we need to use "the" or not with these sentences?

Clarification: These sentences are not used in headlines but in bullet points to communicate highlights of a day.


texts:
The title makes presumably little to no sense and is in fact a word-by-word translation of a German expression. I am talking about the wheel of a bike and a certain way it is deformed.
I like the German expression since it pretty much describes how the wheel actually looks like. But how do you say it in English?

An obvious option is "The wheel is bent", but this doesn't really specify how it is bent. Maybe one could say "the wheel is twisted" but this doesn't seem right either.

Expressions I have found online inclue "the wheel is out of the true" and "the wheel is crispy" (due to the resemblance to a potato crisp), but for each of them there were people claiming that they had never heard of them (despite being natives).

Is there a catchy way to say it in English?

Edit: Maybe I should clarify what shape I exactly mean. The comment below suggest that bent might actually be the right word, so don't feel put off by me saying it doesn't fit. In my opinion the word to bend could also mean to bend along some straight line, pretty much like to fold. But there is this very specific deformation which is very common with bikes. Just picture the deformation you would need to transform a circle into an eight, not by pinching in the middle but by twisting if you want. But instead of performing the full twist stop half way.


texts: What is the one word description for someone who likes spicy food?

texts: If a bibliophile likes books, then what is the -phile word for someone who enjoys eating spicy food?


texts: What is the difference of “Standing rules” of an organization and “Rules” of an organization?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  What are the differences among ‘Rules’, ‘Standing Rules’, and ‘Bylaw’?

I recently received the articles of an organization (community club) which is captioned as “Standing Rules” of the organization. I don’t know why the word “Standing” is necessary before “Rules”?

Though the free encyclopedia defines “standing rules” as;

“Standing rules are regulations or rules that deal with the procedures and operations of a business or guidance of an institution or administration of a society and are adopted from time to time similarly as any other act of the deliberative assembly. Generally, the standing rules can be amended only by a majority vote."

I don’t understand why the word “Standing” is necessary before “Rules” when the organization and its rules were in place for a decade without any change.

Can you explain me the difference of “Standing rules” of an organization from “Rules” of an organization, and “The Articles” of an organization?


texts: Name for the group comprised of Sunrise and Sunset

texts:
This is not a duplicate of:

Generic term for sunrise and sunset

I'm looking for the word which indentifies the group of "Sunrise" and "Sunset". For example "Volvo" and "Ford" could be members of groups called "cars" or "vehicles".

Instinctively I would call the group "Sun times" but I wonder if there is an official word?