texts: Is it "biased towards" or "biased against"?

texts:
I've come across both phrases for quite some time and I can't seem to distinguish the difference between both of them.

Suzy is biased towards Thomas.

Suzy is biased against Thomas.

In both cases, it is clear that Suzy holds something against Thomas; but what is the difference between "biased towards" and "biased against"? Is it the degree of bias or is it that both are acceptable?


texts: What is a word for someone who verbally and physically abuses others without remorse excessively?

texts: There's a mother I know of who didn't see that there was anything wrong with physically whipping her own son naked for at least 13 minutes every day during his kindergarten years. She wasn't even bothered by the state of the skin swellings she caused. She used cords and belts. This continued pretty much every day for the next 12 years until he finally moved to his father's home who abused him by using him as a "punching bag". He moved back to his mother's home a few years later but, although the physical abuse has stopped, she still shouts at him very often and clearly does not care how it makes him feel. I'm not looking for a word that describes a disease or disorder because she clearly knows what she's doing. She only acts this way towards her son.


texts: Idiom for doing a job totally carelessly

texts: What is the idiom that best describes someone doing his job carelessly as if he looks like fed up with his job or needs to get fired?


texts: Splitting an English sentence into more lines

texts:
I am wondering if there is a rule for splitting a sentence in English into more lines. For example, I would like to get Tolkien's quote engraved on a tag (necklace).

  All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.

But because the size of the tag, it won't be in one line, so that's why I am asking. In my native language for example you can't write preposition at the end of the line and the word on the next line if you read it "together", with one breath.


texts: What is the English equivalent of "get (something's) eye blind"?

texts:
In Turkish, we have an idiom that can be roughly stated as, "Get (something's) eye blind."
We say this about something unwanted, especially when it is unavoidable yet must be accepted. For instance, if you couldn't go to college because you don't have money, you could say, "Get poverty's eye blind!" This idiom also contains a strong sense of reproach.
I am looking for an English equivalent of—or at least something roughly similar to—this idiom. (It need not be another idiom as long as there is a presentable way to articulate it) I would be glad for your help.


texts: Is someone who retires from their job a retirer or retiree?

texts:
Someone told me he was attending a leaving party for "retirees". Being a pedant, I said

  Aren't they retirers, since they are doing the verb [retiring]?

My interlocutor said that since the people in question had no choice about retiring, they were at the mercy of the verb, just as they were at the mercy of the verb "employ" as employees before their retirement.

We could not agree.

Since, in British English, I hear people say

  I've retired

and also

  I'm retired

I am a little bit uncertain. Can a person be retired like an obsolete piece of equipment, or is the retired in "I am retired" just an adjective as I've assumed?

Are people who retire retirees or retirers?


texts:
I do not understand the bold part of the paragraph found below. Can anyone help please?

the Russian mathematician Ludwig Phillip Cantor demonstrated that there are an infinite number of numbers just between 0 and 1 and more than one kind of infinity – the countable and the uncountable: infinity equals infinity equals infinity and independent of dimension, as the mind-defying proposition goes.

(Art and Science by Sian Ede)


texts: "The ticket is printing" vs "...is being printed"

texts:
You're standing in front of a ticket vending machine and it says "The ticket is printing". Is that correct or should it be "The ticket is being printed"?

EDIT:

If both are correct, which one should be preferred or is more common?


texts:
Maybe it's been around longer, but I first heard somebody say, "No, yeah" only several years back. I thought it was peculiar to that individual, but no: I have heard it many times since, including by somebody whose surname was, perhaps serendipitously, Noyes.

Does anybody know the history of this odd phrase? Is it new, or just relatively new to me? And does it even make sense?


texts: Way back in high school, an English teacher asked me if I understood how I was using the word "for" in one of my sentences. I didn't, and I took it as a criticism. Since that day, I have shied away from using "for" in this way. Today, I ran across a sentence that uses it in that way: "So if you are happy to close-mike a source, don't discount using an omni, which will often sound less coloured than a cardioid, for the spill penalty will probably be negligible." Can someone please tell me if and why this use of "for" is correct?


texts: “In the menu” vs. “on the menu”  (in software)

texts:
I usually see this phrase used interchangeably with the prepositions in and on. I know that their meaning isn’t the same, but I can’t think of situations where we should use one instead of another. Can anyone shed some light on any
differences between these two:

  In the menu.
  On the menu.

Just to clarify, I’m talking about menus of computer programs.


texts: What is the word for someone who is "transcended"?

texts:
This word should have the word "transcend" as its root, and it should describe humans who have improved intelligence and physical abilities (power, stamina, illness resistance, etc) by way of genetic engineering.

The dictionaries I checked didn't have the answer, yet I remember seeing such a word in trans-humanism literature. Maybe "transcendient" or something sounding similar to it.


texts:
If I have a sentence:

  Stimulus places/put me in a state of...

Is there a neat synonym to put/place in in this case? Maybe I can rephrase it and use a different verb?


texts:
This is a translation of my high school graduation certificate:

  This is to certify that XXX, male, ethnic group of Han, born in March 1988, native of A County, B City, C Province, studied in our school from September 2003 to June 2006, has completed all the courses stipulated...

Should I use studied, having studied or has studied in the first sentence?

Also, any advice would be appreciated.


texts: "Walk", "talk": forms not in any other language

texts:
I've heard that the words "walk" and "talk" do not have cognates in any other known language. That is, neither of these very common words in English have similar forms in other languages, Germanic, Romance, or Celtic (those that have large overlap in vocabulary etymology with English).

So my question is of two kinds:

what are some other (common?) words that -do not- share etymology with words in any other language?
what are some ways to such a search automatically? (I feel like oed.com used to allow plain old test search of any entry so that one could have looked for 'unknown' or something similar). Also are there any online English word lists that have some etymological info?


texts: What do I call the operation of printing the expiry date and batch number on a drug vial label?

texts:
Этикетирование и маркировка флаконов осуществляется на этикетировочной машине.
  Номер серии и срок годности на этикетку наносят с помощью маркировочного узла машины этикетирования.

My translation:

  The labeling and marking??? of vials is performed using the labeling machine. The batch number and the expiry date are placed on the label using the marking??? unit of the labeling machine.

The labeling machine starts with attaching a label to the vial. The "marking" section of the labeling machine merely prints out the expiry date and the batch number upon the label that is finished in all other respects.

I wonder what word to use for this operation.


texts:
Which is correct in the following example?

"The following staff are/is (?) absent today:

John Doe
Jane Doe
Bob Doe"


texts: Why is right to use this - This will help us proceed with the review of our boss instead of - This will help us proceed the review of our boss?


texts: what is the meaning of "late movie" in this conversation

texts:
The following is a snippet from a conversation I came across in an English student book (Touchstone 2nd edition 1 - unit 5 part B)

  Eric) ... sometimes I think you watch too much TV.   Mandy) I hardly
  ever watch TV.

  Eric) are you serious ?!

  Mandy) well, sometimes I watch the morning shows and I usually watch
  the late movie.

what does she (Mandy) mean by "the late movie". is "the late movie" a TV show ? a late night show of some sort ?

if it's not a name for a TV show and she's saying that she watches a movie that airs late night, then why does she use the article "the" ? shouldn't it be "a late movie"

I have a few guesses myself by I am just not sure. according to Wikipedia though:

  The CBS Late Movie is a CBS television series (later known as CBS Late
  Night) during the 1970s and 1980s. The program ran in most American
  television markets from 11:30 p.m. (ET/PT) until 2:30 a.m. or later,
  on weeknights. A single announcer (in the early years, CBS staff
  announcer Norm Stevens) voiced the introduction and commercial bumpers
  for each program, but there was no host per se, or closing credits
  besides those of the night's presentation. (The bumpers announcing the
  stars of the movie notably rotated names, two or three at a time, so
  more of the players would be mentioned.)

beyond this, I didn't find much on "the late movie" on the internet.


texts: What are the referents in this sentence containing the phrase "which was that?"

texts:
The passage below comes from a book, What The F.

  The first use is found in sentences like Step the fuck down or Shut
  the hell up. We’ll call this the Get-the-hell-out-of-here
  construction, based on the earliest known attested use, from 1895,
  which was that, verbatim.

In this sentence I want to ask what the bold-faced pronouns, which and that refer to.
It seems that which refers to the use and that to get the hell out of here.
Am I right?


texts: Is there another way to say "man-in-the-middle" attack in reference to technical security breach that is not gendered?

texts:
Our company has determined that the term "man-in-the-middle (attack)", which is computer science lingo, is non-compliant with our stance on gender neutrality.
What is the best way to use this terminology and be gender neutral while maintaining communication efficiency?


texts:
I came across the following phrase yesterday. It's a somewhat old phrase which we no longer use these days.

Context:
The guy definitely has a leak in his attic. Make sure you go in there with a policeman.

I'd appreciate some insights into the meaning of the phrase.


texts: What is difference between the perception of employees and the perceptions of employees?

texts: In some sentences, I see the use of "the perceptions of employees", but sometimes it is "the perception of employees". Whether these paraphrases have the same meaning and I can use both of them? Could you tell me the difference between them? Thanks a lot.


texts:
"Please" or "Sorry" as Sentences
Is please, or, sorry, a sentence?


texts: What word can I use as opposite of trapping?

texts:
I am trying to describe a region of a random walk on a graph (don't worry if you don't know what it is, visualise it as a physical space, e.g. a park). This graph has a part that if you go there, you cannot leave. I named this part "trapping".

I am trying to find a word for the other part, the one you can freely roam around but once you leave, you cannot come back. I thought of repelling, but repelling implies an action, that the part tries to get rid of you. I cannot find anything that fits here. Do you have any suggestions?

I'm also happy to change trapping to something else of it makes it easier to find an antonym.

Edit: This is for a paper I'm writing that has to do with random walks on a graph. I didn't want to scare people off with mathematical lingo, so I talked about physical space.


texts: Is there a word for a place in which the dead are washed before burial?

texts: In Islamic culture and tradition , the dead are washed before they are buried. The people who wash the corpse are called  corpse-washer .These person should be mahram to the dead . A mahram is an unmarriageable kin with whom marriage/sexual intercourse would be considered haram (illegal in Islam). Current usage of the term covers a wider range of people (including parents, siblings and children, but not cousins) and mostly deals with hijab and its cultural and regional norms.The dead are washed and shrouded in a building in or near the graveyard.Is there a word to describe this place in English? we call this place in Persian a corpse-washer house .


texts: Is there a noun(phrase) for a force that upsets a given equilibrium, or creates a state of imbalance?

texts:
Iran's possession of a nuclear weapon 'will surely upset the equilibrium of power.'

I need to replace the verb phrase with a noun/noun phrase.


texts: What's a word like "wander" that implies destiny?

texts:
Could you please help me find a verb that implies that the subject is destined to wander?
For example, in Christian folklore, there is the Wandering Jew, who was condemned to wander until the Second Coming.

Any connotation is fine, from "doomed to wander" to "blessed to wander".

e.g. "the explorer ________ed along the river, consumed by wanderlust."


texts:
Example:

"I probably sent out, 100+ emails today."
100+
one-hundred-plus (?)

How would you say or write the opposite?

"Because your paper's rating is -100- you are now required to gain outside approval before we will consider publishing your paper."
-100- (?)
negative-one-hundred-minus (?)

I am looking for a smooth flowing and less verbose way to say "negative-one-hundred-minus" and a short hand way to write -100-.
I understand that I could word the sentence differently to say "less than negative one hundred or write <-100 but I wan to see what other ways this can be expressed.


texts: How commonly is "but" used in sentences?

texts: Usually, whenever I post a question on Stack Overflow, I have a habit of using the word but excessively.  Is there an alternative word can I use?


texts: How common is the misuse of "literally" to mean "figuratively"?

texts:
This question

  "Literally" and "Decimate" misuse

addresses the misuse of the word "literally" to mean its opposite. I am curious as to how prevalent is such misuse. My hunch is that we are all so attuned to spotting incorrect usages that we over-estimate the frequency of misuse and overstate the threat of the word literally losing its meaning.

How I might go about calculating the ratio of correct usage to incorrect usage?


texts: Why are the vowels in Christ and Christmas different? (and other strange diphthong behaviour)

texts:
Why are certain words pronounced with diphthongs on their own but with monophthongs in compounds? For example:

Words pronounced with diphthongs on their own: Michael, Christ, wise, drive

Their pronunciations with monophthongs in compounds: Michaelmas, Christmas, wizard, driven

All of these changes occur in stressed syllables. Compare that of cycle and bicycle, tricycle which occurs in unstressed syllables.

P/s: Just to be clear, I added the "historical-change" tag because I suspected this phenomenon had something to do with the Great Vowel Shift.


texts:
Which is correct; "in" poverty or "of" poverty?

  The children have survived 10 years of poverty.

or

  The children have survived 10 years in poverty.

Thank you!


texts:
How can the process of studying something intensively be described in one word?

The closest I can think of is cramming, but that has connotations of not actually caring about the subject in question, trying to do the least sufficient amount of work. Even though most people indeed tend to study hard in this fashion, it is also possible to be deeply interested in the subject, striving to understand and internalize all the details.

Example:

  The amount of knowledge that had become available to him was astounding, and he spent almost all of his free time [studying hard] in the university library.


texts:
In Great Expectations, Charles Dickens wrote the following:

  We had not gone far when three cannon were fired ahead of us

I always thought the plural of cannon was cannons, as a rule. This usage of cannon as an uncountable noun befuddled me, so I took to the Internet. Many sources listed it as countable, but some sites like the ones here and here say that "cannon" is correct.

My questions:

Have I been using this incorrectly my whole life, or
Is this some kind of archaic form that died out? If so,
How does usage of "cannon" over time compare to "cannons"?

So much confusion! Thanks for helping.


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
When is it appropriate to end a sentence in a preposition?

If I can't end a sentence with the preposition "with", does this mean that the following sentences are grammatically wrong? If so, why?

At least we have some information to work with.
She is finding the job very hard to cope with.
Blasphemy is one thing I will not put up with.

Does anyone else have any examples of sentences ending with with?


texts:
Is it correct to use word commision as a synonym to order on stock market? In meaning: an instruction from customers to brokers to buy or sell on the exchange.
I know that commision is a fee or percentage for broker for services rendered. But I found out that is commision synonym for order, or placing. So is it correct in this meaning?

I'm asking about noun commision with one 's'.


texts:
Is there a name for a style of writing where the author "speaks" to an imaginary reader in an imaginary conversation?

Example

  When you write for web, you should keep your paragraphs short and your sentences shorter.
  But, why? That's not what I learned in school. Long sentences mean you're smart, right?

  Well, it's harder to read on a screen. Shorter paragraphs and sentences are easier to read. If your content is easier to read, a user is more likely to keep reading. If a user keeps reading, they're more likely to use your service or at least remember your name and brand.

In the example above, the first and third paragraphs are the author, and the second is the _______? Every time I've seen this in writing, the author has referred to the speaker as "imaginary reader," but I feel that this specific style should have a name.

If it were music, I'd call it "call and response" (think "Dueling Banjos"), but the term doesn't specifically refer to the writing device.


texts: Refering to someone whose name has an aristocratic particle

texts:
Context: In French, some last names have an aristocratic particle (e.g. Alfred de Musset). The latter is yet ommited when one refers to a person via its last name only. One would for example say:

  Musset was a French dramatist.*
  La Confession d'un enfant du siècle of Musset.

(Note that there are some exception in the case of a mono-syllabic name (e.g. "De Gaulle was the first president of the fifth French Republique") or some "d-based" particles ("Du Guesclin died in 1380").

Question: Does this rule exists in English? And what about aristocratic particle from other languages (notably von, van, van den, etc.)?

*And not "De Musset was a French dramatist."


texts: What is the etymology of “business” and “busyness”?

texts:
Did the word business originally mean “the condition of being busy” as the word busyness currently means?

Why did it change? It was surely a very useful word, since the awkwardly-spelt word busyness has had to be created to take its place.

I think I’m right in saying the i-ness construction is favoured above the y-ness construction in all other similar words – e.g. happiness, friendliness, haziness, merriness.

What really confuses is me is this: Busyness means now what business meant then. Why change an existing word, then create a similar one which means what the old one did? Why not just create a new word? I suspect there’s a story there, and I wonder what it is.


texts: Is there a word for a question that leads to more questions?

texts:
I'm looking specifically for a word (noun or adjective) that means "A question that leads to more questions". Something that is difficult to answer because it would involve answering yet more questions that arise in answering the original question and so forth. Preferably of a higher "domain" or "scope". For example:

What is the specific emotion 'love'? → What are emotions? → What is thought? → so forth.

Maieutic is very close but to my understanding refers more to a constructive method of reasoning. I'm looking for something between that and 'baseless' or 'unfounded'.


texts:
In Shakespeare's Othello, would the murder of Desdemona be a "cold blooded murder"? When looking up the meaning of a cold blooded murder I find it means that the murder was premeditated or deliberate. Which it was. But I also find it means that the killing was done without any feelings of emotion. Which is contrary to what Othello feels.
So is the murder of Desdemona a cold blooded murder? and Why?


texts: Is the "-b" to be pronounced in the word "limb"? What about "thumb"? "Crumb"?

texts:
I'm confused about the differing pronunciations of words that end in "-b".   For example, I remember being told by some of earliest teachers that the "-b" in limb was meant to be silent, and one should properly pronounce it as lim.

Now, that seems to me in contrast with the pronunciation of the word thumb, which I find, verifying through an impromptu poll of friends just now, is often pronounced with the enunciated "-b".  If that weren't confusing enough, think of the pronunciation of the word crumb; the enunciation of the final b seems clearly wrong to my ear.  But the verb and the participle made out of the noun clearly have their "-b"s enunciated; think crumbled and crumbling.

So I guess my question is: What exactly are the rules here?  Which pronunciation is more faithful to the etymology of these words?


texts: What is the correct way to cite a book's chapter?

texts:
I asked a question somewhere else.

  Chapter 1 of "Machine Learning - A Probabilistic Perspective" by Kevin Patrick Murphy gives this figure (fig_1),

When I cite some content from a book, should I use "Chapter 1 of book name", "Chapter 1 in book name", or any other expression?


texts:
In basketball, you can actively block your opponent's shot. You can get in your opponent's way, and impede his progress actively.

In golf, you and your opponent perform independently of each other. I.e. You can't legally run up and "block" a swing (though that'd be funny if you did). Then, at the end, whoever did the best revealed.

I'm wondering if there's a word representing these two different types of sports. If I can't find a word, I'll describe one as an antagonistic sport (i.e. an antagonist actively combatting you) and the other as an independent sport.


texts: What is the difference between "too" and "as well"?

texts: What is the difference between "I like apples and I like oranges, too" and "I like apples and I like oranges as well" ?


texts: On the difference between "noun + infinitive" and "noun + present participle"

texts:
Infinitive and present participle can be used to modify the noun:

  Infinitive:
  I had no time to read those books.
  Present participle:
  There should be a law banning abortion.

In (1), "to read those books" modifies time, and in (2) "banning abortion" a law.
It is often said that infinitive is used to refer to the event in the future, while present participle is used to refer to the event happening in reality.

In (2), however, the sentence refers to the future because there is no law which bans abortion when this is uttered. Nevertheless, the present participle is felicitously used. The same thing holds of (3):

   3. I don't want a nanny bringing up our baby. — Sydney Sheldon, Tell me your dreams

In (3), also, the event of a nanny's bringing up a baby belongs to the future. Nevertheless, the present participle is used.

In these cases, can you say "there should be a law to ban abortion" or "I don't want a nanny to bring up our baby"? If the answer is no, why the present participle, but not infinitive, is used?


texts: What does the sentence "I lit a cigarette that tasted like a plumber's handkerchief" mean?

texts: In what way does a plumber's handkerchief taste like a cigarette?


texts: Semicolon: Always required before conjunction if internal punctuation follows, even if no ambiguity?

texts:
Is the semicolon in the following sentence necessary? Is it preferable?
To me, it seems that there would be no ambiguity if the semicolon were replaced with a comma, but the writer insists that a semicolon is required because the part after “or” includes commas.

  In that factory process, the production materials can be delivered to
  the line as is; or a substance that is immune to the production
  materials and lubricant, such as B1, B2, and B3, may be included.

I wonder what "rules" there are concerning this type of usage.

The Chicago Manual of Style, for example, says at item 6.59:

  An independent clause introduced by a conjunction may be preceded by a
  semicolon, especially when the independent clause has internal
  punctuation.

  Maria had determined to question the ambassador; but bodyguards
  surrounding him, as well as the presence of dancing girls, prevented
  him from noticing her.

But, again, would there be any ambiguity at all in changing the semicolon after "ambassador" to a comma? If not, is the use of a semicolon in such a case just a matter of individual preference?


texts: What would you call a collection of different types of software and hardware components?

texts: I'm looking for a word or term that comprises all of these into a single entity.


texts: Term to identify siblings - one dutiful, one rebellious towards their parents

texts:
In a story, one person has two sons. One of them loves his parents and other hates his parents and beats them.  In Hindi, the person who cares for his parents is called "Sapoot" and the person who beats his parents is called "Kapoot."

Are there equivalent terms in English?


texts:
I'm from China and I would like to ask English native speakers whether a non-medical professional understands medical terms? Examples:

rhinorrhea
rhinitis
laryngoscopy
laryngitis
laryngostenosis
bronchiectasis
bronchopathy
bronchospasm
pneumothorax
pneumonitis
pulmonologist
pulmonary or pulmonic
dyspnea
bradypnea
tachypnea
apnea
rhinoplasty
thoracocentesis or thoracentesis
pulmonectomy or pneumonectomy
tracheostomy

So do people with a high school degree readily understand the above terms?

I'm trying to compare language learning difficulties between Chinese and other languages.

I know that in China, a person with middle school or even primary school education can understand those terms in Chinese(at least the general meaning)

For my personal experience, I've been learning and using English on a daily basis for 20 years and yet I'm ashamed to say that I look completely lost in front of these words. The explanation for my ignorance of medical terms could be that I've never been or lived in any English speaking country so I'm not exposed to daily language.

What do you think?


texts:
I am studying "American Headways 3" book to learn English.
In unit 7, there is a sentence:

"I kind of like my job, but it's time I applied for another one."

My questions are:

1) "kind of like" is a verb? What is its meaning?

2) Why "apply" in the second part of the sentence is in the past form while the second part is in present form, i.e. "it is"?

3) What is the meaning of the sentence?

Thanks.


texts: Does "idiot" in this context mean "stupid" or something else?

texts:
I've been reading some H. P. Lovecraft stories in English (I'm not a native English speaker, BTW) and quite often the adjective "idiot" is prescribed to certain characters. But the context suggests that those characters are... unusual, not "stupid" (or at least nothing about them suggests this).

Here's a sample quote:

  “It was the eldritch scurrying of those fiend-born rats, always questing for new horrors, and determined to lead me on even unto those grinning caverns of earth’s centre where Nyarlathotep, the mad faceless god, howls blindly in the darkness to the piping of two amorphous idiot flute-players.” – H.P. Lovecraft’s “The Rats in the Walls”

Does the word "idiot" in the above quote refer to mental deficiencies or something else?


texts: Intermediate level student or intermediate-level student? Which one is more correct/preferable?


texts: Word for song sung by cover band, or not original singer?

texts: I can't remember the word used to describe a song sung by someone else and not the original person. Anyone can help me on that one? Thanks.


texts: "What tools is everybody using?" or "What tools are everybody using?"

texts:
I often see "What tools is/are everybody using?" and other sentences of same form used with both is and are. Which one is the correct way to write the question?

What tools is everybody using?
What tools are everybody using?


texts: Is it correct to speak of an object as "cover" ? or to say "behind cover"?

texts:
In gunfights, fighters protect themselves from shots by staying behind objects.  It's called taking cover and staying behind cover.

But cover, just like shadow, is the consequence of the position of two things (persons or light and a person) in relation to a third one (tree).

So because both are limited in time and space, I would tend to consider them more as concepts than objects. However, in my mind, a shelter is definitely an object.


texts: Is "Just a friendly advice" grammatical?

texts:
I know that "advice" is uncountable and thus is incompatible with the article "a".

However, the phrase "Just a friendly advice" seems to be rather widespread.

Is it idiomatic, or incorrect? What is a more grammatical form?


texts: Less vs Fewer: what kind of problem is this? Syntax, usage, grammar?

texts:
If someone consistently misused fewer and less in their speech, would you say they have a problem with syntax, usage, grammar or something else?

What class of problem does fewer/less fall into?


texts: An International English Olympiad question

texts:
I had recently appeared for an English Olympiad, and this particular question confused me:

Q) Choose the odd pair:

A. cat:feline

B. monkey:simian

C. horse:stallion

D. cow:bovine

Now, the problem is that, in the 1st two options, the animals look like each other; but in the last two options, the animals are pairs.

Which is the correct option?


texts: Single word for the phrase "Investing more money to save the money already invested"?

texts:
People do that, they put in more money to save their money at stake.
I'm guessing there's a single word for it.

Thank you.


texts: Why is "strategies to cutting" correct in this sentence?

texts: I'm reading 'When Breath Becomes Air' by the late Paul Kalanithi, and I came across the sentence: "I could see that there were two strategies to cutting the time short..." My question is why "to cutting" is used rather than "for cutting".


texts:
Repartee (inexact quote) from a TV show:

  Person A: Now, we're going to be getting some letters from French people.
  Person B: It could be worse. You might be getting French letters.
  (laughter)

Going by ODO and Webster, French letter appears to be a BrE euphemism for a condom. How did this come about?


texts: "This date and time is" vs. "this date and time are"

texts:
The following sentence appears in a letter I am editing:

  If this date and time are not convenient please contact me at ...

Structurally, this seems okay, but it feels very awkward. Shouldn't it read:

  If this date and time is not convenient please contact me at ...


texts: A word that defines shy, but in a positive context

texts:
I'm looking for a word that describes shy and reserved, but not to portray weakness or one that has a negative connotation.

  Being shy and reserved as an executive doesn't fit well for career
  opportunities.


texts:
Consider such a concise law or rule: AviD's Rule of Usability §§:

  Security at the expense of usability, comes at the expense of security.

It uses the comma splice. Someone suggested that  §§:

  [...] either there should additionally be a comma after the first word or, as I prefer it, there should be no commas in it at all. I think you intended the comma to indicate a pause, which is grammatically incorrect. In this case, try an en dash (with spaces), an em dash (without spaces), or an ellipsis (with or without spaces).

However, any kind of dash breaks up the sentence too much, an ellipsis is just out of place here, and adding a comma at the beginning (after "Security,") would drastically change the meaning of the statement. Also, removing the comma altogether just leaves it as more confusing and harder to parse.

From an unscientific poll of some of the other English readers (in Sec.SE), it seems almost everyone agrees that in this case it is better off leaving the single orphan comma.  (Someone even said that it is legitimate grammar in 18th century..)

But the more I think about it, it seems to be hindering clarity (at least for that user) , does it? .

So, how should the concise law or rule best be formulated?

Does using a comma really hinders readability (parsability) for a significant amount of 21st century English readers?


texts:
I have the following questions regarding this sentence.

To train them is my cause.

What is/are the verb(s) in the sentence?
My guess: train.
Question: only train or to train?

What is subject and predicate?
My guess: subject = My cause, predicate = To train them

What  the type of word (noun,pronoun,adjective,verb etc.) is is?
My guess: verb


texts:
I've noticed in the news that multiple individuals involved in a crime are referred to as co-conspirators.

Etymonline gives the origin of conspire:

  conspire (v.): late 14c.,
  from Old French conspirer (14c.), from Latin conspirare "to agree,
  unite, plot," literally "to breathe together," from com- "together"
  (see com-) + spirare "to breathe" (see spirit (n.)). Or perhaps the
  notion is "to blow together" musical instruments, i.e., "To sound in
  unison." Related: Conspired; conspiring.

Given that the con portion of the word means with or together, is the co redundant?


texts:
My company gives out free promotional items with the company name on it.  Is this stuff called company swag or schwag?

It seems that both come up as common usages—Google searching indicates that the bias is slightly towards swag.  Can anybody provide any definite proof of the root of the word and which one is more correct?


texts: Indirect speech - which statement is correct?

texts:
I read this statement in an English book and I wonder if this statement is correct:

She told me that she still remembers how scared everyone was.

I have learned that in indirect speech statements the present-tense verbs must be converted to past-tense verbs. Rendering the statement thus:

She told me that she still remembered how scared everyone was.

Is either incorrect?


texts: Is there a name for a person who loves waterfalls?

texts:
I love waterfalls and have noticed that there seems to be a name for everyone who loves something. I've found names for people who love water, running water as in a creek or river, the ocean, salt water, but no waterfalls. Is there such a word yet? There are entire books about waterfalls and even waterfall tours and trips. Lots of waterfall lovers out there.
Thanks ~


texts:
Product Owners are supposed to be people people... people persons... persons persons? people's people? people person's? people with people skills.

What is/are the plural/s of "people person"?


texts:
Please let me know either When comparing or In comparison with should be used for cases like the following:

  1) When comparing the existing methods that deal with segmentation using space based point assignment methods (Wenki, 2012), the presented method in this paper has increased the accuracy.

  2) In comparison with existing methods that deal with segmentation using space     based point assignment methods (Wenki, 2012), the presented method in this paper has increased the accuracy.


texts:
Steve Ballmer writes:

  “I want to express my deepest condolences at the passing of Steve Jobs, one of the founders of our industry and a true visionary. My heart goes out to his family, everyone at Apple and everyone who has been touched by his work.”

I can't say if it's wrong, but what is the difference between "on the passing" and "at the passing"? As most other websites use "on the passing".


texts: what is another way to say " I have done task A task B and task C for free for this project"?

texts:
I want another way to say:

  "I have done task A task B and task C for free for this project"

I wish to sound more professional.


texts: Pointing out customer's mistake politely in customer support setting

texts:
If someone sends in a support request with a mistake that they clearly made, what would be the polite way to answer?

I initially used the term

  It seems that you have forgotten to fill in this and that

but others pointed out it should be started with

  You should fill in this and that

In Estonian, which is my native language, using the first is considered more polite, whereas second is seemed more like a command making it a rather harsh way.

Thank you.


texts: Is the sentence "Whose your daddy" interchangeable with "Who's your daddy"?

texts:
Me and a friend are arguing about this case and I'm trying to make the point that a sentence such as:

  Whose your daddy

Is incorrect because the pronoun whose means of which and not who is.
My friend, on the other hand, is trying to make the point that the usage of whose in the sentence shown above is correct.

Which one of us is correct?


texts: The tendency to try to find the answer to questions in one's own mind

texts: What is it called when people try to find in their own minds, rather than by studying and research, the answer to questions they do not know the answer to? This tendency often fuels belief in conspiracy theories, and as some people believe, is what drives the belief in a higher power. I am primarily looking for the general term, but I would also like to know any synonymous or related technical terms (in psychology or philosophy).


texts:
As a student of the English language, I have always considered the meanings of such phrases as I'll meet you... and You'll meet me... to be identical in nature, since the verb meet tends to be somewhat "symmetric" concerning it's subject and direct-object.

However, I was wondering if there is any subtle difference in meaning between the two phrases that might distinguish one from the other, aside from the fact that their subjects and direct-objects have been reversed.


texts: What are the names (/terms) for an anticipated-but-missing rhyme?

texts:
Sometimes in songs or poetry we are set-up to expect a rhyming word but instead another word is supplied. An example is the Killers song Mr Brightside:

  Now they're going to bed.
  And my stomach is sick.
  And it's all in my head.
  But she's touching his chest

To my recollection I've heard these called several different things in the distant past.

So what are these anticipated but missing rhymes (or the works that contain them) called?


texts: What is the proper title abbreviation for addressing multiple people?

texts:
I'm writing a letter to several recipients in the same document and want to address them correctly at the start.

Is the following correct (I suspect not) and if not, what should it be:

  Dear Mr's Jones, Smith, Bloggs and Flintstone


texts: What is the correct way to indicate a singular/plural that ends in (ies)

texts:
I would like to know what the correct way to indicate a singular/plural pair is when the singular ends in -y and the plural in -ies.

With book you can use book(s) to indicate in writing how to form the plural from the singular, but with party, would you use party(ies) or party(s) or something else?

Is there a reference where rules are provided for this?

This question deals with this ‘optional (s)’, but does not mention how to add the (s) if a change in the base word also has to occur.


texts: I'm looking for a word that's like a whimsical fanatic someone who dives in to something for a period of time and then moves on

texts: For example a person might be really into soccer so they do a bunch of soccer until hey get bored, but then they move to carpentry and get pretty good at that and know everything then they move on I, need a good word or phrase to describe this ferocious nomadic interest acquiring.


texts: Term for a politician intentionally causing a crisis just to get credit for resolving it?

texts: What term can one use in as situation where politicians create an artificial crisis which they solve later on to gain some political mileage?


texts: How to properly refer to a person who had changed their name in the past tense?

texts:
A person changed her name from A to B.

"My 6th grade English teacher was A" sounds right, but when I alter the sentence structure to "B was my 6th grade English teacher" it sounds right. These are just 2 variations of the same sentence, so why does the order make referring to the person with a different name sound correct?

According to Past or present tense when talking about firsts that happened in the past?, one should always say "My 6th grade English teacher was..." and not "My 6th grade English teacher is..."

I think the "was" version requires using her old name, but the "is" version (although not grammatically correct) is 1 way to use her new name.

How to properly refer to a person who had changed their name in past tense?


texts: Is this sentence with "assured were safe turned out to be" grammatically wrong?

texts:
"Investments they had been assured were safe turned out to be
  highly risky."

I am confused with two conjugated verbs were and turned.

I think were should be changed into of being. Is there a relative clause?


texts: Does the sentence "His confident visage hid insecurity" make sense?

texts:
I was wondering if this sentence makes sense, and if it does, is the meaning of visage in this sentence metaphoric?

  His confident visage hid insecurity.


texts: How to express the fact that clauses in a compound logical statement are connected by "AND"?

texts:
Say, I have three independent logical clauses, a, b, and c, and they are connected into one logical statement (a∧b∧c).  How do I express this succinctly?  Can I say, "a, b, and c are connected conjunctively?"  I don't seem to get many hits for that construct on Google.

(This is a question about English language and usage, albeit in a very specific field, mathematical logics.  I hope it's still on topic, here.)


texts: I'm not a native English speaker, so sorry if this is a very basic question. Is broadcast a verb? If it is, what is the simple past and past participle: broadcasted?


texts: Do you capitalize counties in this sentence?

texts: Do you capitalize "counties" in the following sentence. Sebastian and Forrest counties are represented.


texts: Is "Canned meats, rated." a valid and correct English sentence?

texts:
Canned meats, rated.
Pencils, handled.
Popes, interviewed.
In other words, is the construction [Subject], [past tense verb] a valid sentence.
If so, does this construction, or the clause after the comma have an actual name?


texts: Guilty of accusing someone of doing something you do

texts: I want to know what it is called when some one accuses someone else of something the accuser also does. Example: If someone says that it's not ok to eat chicken but does so them self, what is that called?


texts: What's the difference between a "delegator" and "delegatee"?

texts:
I've seen both delegator and delegatee used interchangeably in a conversation, and it always leaves me ambivalent to which is correct to use, and when or under what circumstances/context?

It would be nice if someone could point out the difference between the two, and an example would also be appreciated.


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

texts:
I'm reading a manual in which I come across the following sentence:

  As Bill W. explains in the introduction to this manual, the General
  Service Board (the trustees) was originally the Alcoholic Foundation,
  with bylaws as broad as the continent.

I wonder what does it mean the word continent in this context?


texts: Adjective that describes "boosting one's ego"?

texts:
Example:

  Being one of a kind is [...], but lonely at times."

Maybe uplifting? I'm looking for something less formal, though.


texts: Is there a phrase for not arguing about taste?

texts:
In Hebrew there is a phrase that roughly translates:

  On taste and smell there is no point in arguing.

This is of course because both are very subjective.
Is there an English phrase that passes the same sentiment? (That it is senseless to debate tastes).


texts:
In the past, I was taught (in an overly-simplified way) that past participles modify people whereas present participles modify things. For example:

He is bored
School is boring

I understand there are exceptions (e.g. 'He is boring' is correct but has a different meaning), but today I saw the following:

After repeated complaints, the landlord...

Although I know this usage is correct, I can't explain why 'repeated' is used instead of 'repeating'.

Any help would be much appreciated!


texts:
I am writing my MSc project report in English and I want to use the phrase

  "the project in hand"

as a title to a chapter where I will be introducing the project that was undertaken.

Is such an expression correct in English, will it make sense to the examiner reading this or will it sound bad or even not make any sense at all?


texts: I've finished my studies and currently looking for a job?

texts:
I'm writing my first CV (resume) before applying for some jobs.

Is the following sentence grammatically correct?

  I've finished my studies and currently looking for a job


texts: What does these phrase "he is on the field" and "all layers of play shed off as..." mean in this sentence?

texts:
"Chanyeol is as intense when he kisses as he is on the field, all layers of play shed off as he just.. conquers."
I tried to look up the words in dictionary but still i couldnt get what it means.
Someone help me please.


texts: What's the difference between 'group' and 'grouping'?

texts:
I'm not a native English speaker and I was wondering the difference between those two terms.

From what I understood so far 'group' is a generic word used to denote a number of persons/things considered related in some way.
'grouping' is used to denote a group of people sharing a common intent or interest.

Is this the case? It seems that 'grouping' has a more specific meaning and that 'group' can be  used always in place of 'grouping' (because it's a more general term).

So in which case do you use 'group' and in which one do you use 'grouping' instead?


texts: Is it weird to use "this" in past tense narrative?

texts:
Example:

  We talked on the phone for a while. In the end, we decided to hold Tom's funeral this weekend.

So in this case this refers to the current weekend in that past tense story.

However, some people feel that the phrasing suggests present tense.

What do you think? Does it sound more like past tense if one sticks to that?


texts:
I have two representations of numbers, one is with thousands separators that are localized based on country so 1,234,567.89 for English and 1.234.567,89 for German, for example. This representation I'm calling "formatted"
The other is the "plain" representation of the number, in this case 1234567.89. Is there a good term for this numeric, can-be-used-in-calculations representation?


texts: My friend said" Your child is beautiful". Can I report this statement as 'My friend  told me that my child is beautiful' or '.... my child was beautiful' for the sake of grammer rule ?


texts: Word request: a period of time in which someone's best work was done

texts:
I'm looking for a word or phrase similar to "opus magnum" or "masterpiece", but refering instead to a period of time in which a scholar or artist made their greatest achievements.

For example:

  Mozart held a variety of positions throughout his life, but many consider his time spent in Vienna to be his xxxxx.

Edit:

Thanks for all the great answers so far! To give a bit of context, I'm writing a thesis about atomic clocks and I want to make the following simile:

  If timekeeping was born in Egypt 8000 years ago and 1955 was its coming of age, we may today be witnessing its xxxxx.

Initially I was thinking "renaissance" but it didn't quite work with the simile, hence this question. So far I think "prime" and "heyday" fit best.


texts: "Horrendous of childhoods" is it grammatically correct?

texts:
The original sentence is:

  People from the most horrendous of childhoods can have good lives.

Why do we need to use "of" here?


texts: In this sentence, should I say faces/figures/persons/personages or some other word?

texts:
During a retrospect of how the EU has accommodated to financial adversities since 2008, a commentator says that "in terms of _______, nothing has changed", implying that those in charge, at least when it comes to financial matters, have pretty much remained the same.

My first thought was "faces", but my uncertainty eventually prevailed.

Now I'm thinking "figures", perhaps, as in "public figure", "persons", as in, say, the legal definition of a "natural person", or "personages" (which sounds quite nice, though I've never really used it...)

?


texts: Origin and Use of "Do X a favour and do Y"

texts:
We see this phrase used in a purely literal sense:

  Do yourself a favour and have a word with your manager.

  Do yourself a favour and take a break.

But we also see figurative or negative uses:

  Do the Tailors' guild a favour and learn to sew properly.

  Do yourself a favour and stop making mistakes.

Firstly, is it fair to say there are two distinct overtones derived, as indicated above, from the intent of the imperative phrase which follows? In other words, the second type of usage, while still literally true is not intended to be only interpreted in a literal sense.

Secondly, if this is true, was there a point when the latter use rose in popularity. Or is this the case of wit, prevalent since the times of Tacitus, coming to the fore in more recent usage?


texts: Do "Skilling" and "Teaching" have different meanings?

texts:
I'm working on a corporate training project where the project lead insists that we are "Skilling" people (not training them) and we are offering "Personnel Skilling" programs.  She insists it's proper English.   It's driving me nuts.

I'm in no position to argue, but I'd like to at least know what the rule is that is being broken for my own peace of mind.

Can anyone offer the proper justification for why "skilling" just isn't a word, or am I off base here?

TIA


texts:
Suppose there is a study program called "3-year program in Wizwoz". Is it possible to write a sentence such as

  I am applying for a position in the "3-year program Wizwoz" starting in February 2016.

i.e. is it possible to use a quoted name as a direct part of the sentence?


texts:
In a book, there is this sentence:

"My mom would have put this in her What-Have-You-Done-Now? File, but it was SOS to me."

-p 19, The SOS File, Betsy Byars.

Is there a name for this kind of hyphenated phrase-as-title? Thank you in advance!


texts: what is the meaning of "no problem" in British English?

texts:
Here is the scenario:

Today I asked my teacher whether I will get late penalty due to some reasons.

The teacher says "no problem."

Can I consider the response of "no problem" as I will not get penalty?


texts: If there are awards for more than one poster, what shall I write as a title for the posters presentation to be awarded: Posters Awards or Poster Awards?


texts:
I was wondering is the phrase "Thank you in each case" appropriate to say at the end of question asking someone for some help, in formal or informal situations. I very often use it, and was thinking it was okay, but now it has occured me it may look "cold" to people (informally) or not so professional.. Can someone tell me what do English language experts think about that phrase, and what should be better used instead expressing gratitude? (i'm not native in English)
Thank you very much for consideration.


texts: Is "reform" (v. and n.) losing its positive connotation?

texts: OED definitions consistently imply that this word signifies change for the better. But I increasingly find people acquiescing and joining in using the term reform even when they frankly regard the change in question as for the worse. Thus U.S. social workers refer to the 1996 “Welfare Reform” as reform without scare quotes, even when they regard it as a counter-productive expression of animus towards the poor and their children. And people now seem commonly to speak and write of entitlement reform, tax reform, campaign finance reform, health care reform, immigration reform, and so forth, without in the least implying that the proposed or contemplated changes would be (in their opinion) for the better. Have others in this community noticed this?


texts: Single quotes for single characters and double quotes for double?

texts:
I’ve been under the impression that you use single quotation marks for single characters or numerals.

Usage: ‘1’ or ‘a’ and not “1” or “a”.

(You would double quotation marks for anything longer than one character.)

Is this a correct assumption?

Note: I’m aware that there are topics that discuss the usage of both single and double quotation marks, but my question is intended to be a specific as possible as it may benefit others here.


texts: Unnecessarily Using a Long "E" Sound in Plurals Whose Singular Form Ends in "S"

texts: Singular "analysis" becomes plural "analyses". The e has a long sound because otherwise the two would sound the same. This seems to be a pretty solid rule for nouns whose singular form ends in "is" and plural form changes the "i" to an "e". Some people do something similar to any singular noun that ends in "s". For example, "synapse" becomes "synapses". I pronounce "synapses" SIN-ap-suhs. Some people pronounce it SIN-ap-sees. Please tell me I'm right.


texts: Why isn't "Secretary of State" (a proper noun) being capitalized?

texts:
Why doesn't the convention of capitalizing proper nouns apply to Secretary of State, Attorney General, FBI Director, etc?

In American news these days, the names State Department and Secretary of State are frequently written. However, in professional print and web news sources, those proper nouns are almost always (there are exceptions) written in all lower case as such: state department and secretary of state.

What is going on? Even though I see the New York Times writing:

  The secretary of state is a cabinet level position.

I can't do it. I am sure it is wrong. I write:

  The Secretary of State is a Cabinet level position.

cabinet, instead of Cabinet, is a piece of furniture.
secretary, instead of Secretary, is someone who might work at a law firm.

Please, someone set me straight. Maybe I've just been reading news sources with low-quality proof checkers? I mean, I just read "www.rt.com" and they have it as Secretary of State.


texts: Warmth of a seat that has been vacated by a person who was sitting on it

texts:
I fail to recall this word (could be informal in nature) that refers to the 'warmth of a seat that has just been vacated by someone seated on it for some time'.

Anyone?


texts: Is the plural "bosoms" an acceptable word? Or is it always "bosom"?

texts:
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/bosom

I found recently that even an elderly educated woman was referring to her bosom in the plural, as her bosoms.

Please settle my discomfort finally, and clarify if this can be used as a plural word.

I thought it was just English deprived younger kids who used "Bosoms" in this manner. :-))


texts: forgo money - do without money or spend money on something

texts:
"A study conducted at Harvard University found that people were willing to forgo money so that their opinions would be broadcast to others. We are not talking about well-crafted insights here. These were people’s opinions regarding mundane issues, like whether coffee is better than tea. A brain-imaging scan showed that when people received the opportunity to communicate their opinions to others, their brain’s reward centre was strongly activated."

I always thought that "forgo" means "do without" that's why I first thought this sentence expresses that people are willing to do without money (accept that they don't earn anything) as long as their opinions are shared online.

After reading the paragraph multiple times, however, I got the feeling that it means users are willing to pay in order to share their opinions online.

Can "forgo money" translate to "spend money and thus do without the amount you chose to spend"

Thank you!


texts: "The queen of England's crown" or "The queen's of England crown"?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  “My wife and I’s seafood collaboration dinner”

What is the correct way of these two sentences?

The queen of England's crown
The queen's of England crown

Strictly linguistically, sentence 2 should be the correct one, since the crown belongs to the queen and not to England but it sounds really awkward to pronounce.


texts: Which sentence is more correct: "They are playing by the river" or "They are playing at the river"?

texts: I know that both sentences can be used to express proximity, to be near something but "by" sounds much better to me than "at" in this case. In which situation is "at" preferable?


texts: A word or short phrase meaning "the pleasure taken in being different and misunderstood"

texts:
Is there a word or short phrase for this? I have a cell in the back of my head insisting that it's "[something] pain".

The person who feels this way tries to wear their outcast status as a badge of honor, without letting other people realize that they are trying to do so. They are quietly trying to get themselves compared with those great geniuses of history who just wanted to fit in but, because of their genius, could not.


texts:
I catch a lot of grief about this from family and friends, so I figured I'd settle the score once and for all.

In verbal context (though not written), I tend to use the phrase

  ... yesterday night...

rather than last night. Is this grammatically correct, regardless of how uncommon it might be?


texts:
I was hoping to get some feedback on whether or not this sentence is grammatically correct. It's for a report, and I want it to sound formal without putting formality before understanding, and I don't want to write complete gibberish either. Here's the sentence (bold):

"This was something of a mental hurdle, and I think that if I were to begin this work session again, I may have been much more efficient with my initial projects. However, the purpose of a co-op is not only to gain experience, but also to learn that which I could not in the classroom, and this lesson was invaluable."


texts: English expression for "cold-natured" without emotional connotation?

texts:
I speak Persian, and in our language we have a word for a person who more often feels cold than warm (or reverse). The person tends to be cold even when others around them feel warm or when they experience higher temperatures.
I was trying to find an English equivalent for this word, and I came across the expression "cold-natured" (and hot-natured as antonym). However, I think cold-natured can also mean cold-hearted or someone without soft emotions.

Any ideas?


texts: What does a sentence like "Little if......but...." mean?

texts:
I've read it in a news report, "Little if any news will be released during the event(China reform summit), but official news agency Xinhua traditionally issues a dispatch on the last day."

Well, I guess I know what every character means, but I still don't get the idea.
The whole report: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-pacific/2013/11/china-communist-party-kicks-off-reform-summit-201311983528568573.html
The sentence is in the forth paragraph.


texts: Is it correct to use "no?" after a question to get some kind of confirmation

texts:
We are going to the club tonight, no?

Is it correct?


texts: What is it called when comparing two opposite people or things

texts:
Can someone please let me know what is the technique called when I compare two people who are very different? In my case, it is Donald Woods when he first meets Steve Biko in the film Cry Freedom. I have something along the lines of

  face to face, the privileged and the disadvantaged _____


texts: Meaning of "experience pertaining to computer science and diversity"

texts:
I'm applying for a grant and there is a question in the application form as follows:

  As a grad student in computer science, what has your experience been
  pertaining to computer science and diversity?

Is it asking about what I have done for the computer science world? How about the meaning of diversity here? Does it mean the different things related to computer science?


texts: Is there any common context for "enoughs"?

texts: I noticed today that ENOUGHS is valid in Scrabble(tm), and I realize "enough" can be used as a noun ("I've had enough!"), but I'm unaware of any context where one might use its plural.  Perhaps it's used in some setting I'm not aware of?


texts: Antonym of "a picture is worth a thousand words"

texts: I need a title for my essay that is saying that works of words are better than pictures. I was thinking of "a picture is worth a thousand words", but that advocates pictures, not words.


texts:
I might be confused about the "it is X that Y " pattern:

  1a That he is not the best player is a surprise.
  1b It is a surprise that he is not the best player.

  2a That he is not the best player is a possibility.
  2b It is a possibility that he is not the best player.

Sentence 1b is a good rewrite of 1a.  Could the same be said of 2a and 2b?


texts: Should rhetorical questions end with a period?

texts:
Would it be appropriate to end a rhetorical question with a period, to show that it is not intended as a question that one should ponder or attempt to answer?  For instance:

  Why do I eat so much(?)(.)(!)

I don't want anyone to answer it, but it's still phrased as a question.


texts: phrase to describe the diversity of age range of a group of people

texts: Would it be correct to use "chronologically diverse" to describe a group of people whose ages range from very young to very old? If not, what would be a better phrase to use?


texts:
I'm confident in my abilities regarding where to place and not place hyphens except in one area: when you have a phrase that consists of a noun and a noun that consists of a verb with -er at the end, does that get a hyphen?

For instance, if I'm talking about a scheme that will give you twice as much money as you had before, is that a "money doubler" or is it a "money-doubler"? Some instances of this sort of phrase just turn it into one word like "heartbreaker" or "homemaker."

I have no idea what to call this, so I don't know what to Google. Any help would be greatly appreciated.


texts: A more succinct expression for "The day before yesterday"

texts:
Is there a more succinct expression for "the day before yesterday"?

In German for example, gestern = 'yesterday.' The prefix vor roughly means before, so logically, vorgestern means 'the day before yesterday.'

Similarly, morgen = 'tomorrow', the prefix über roughly means over, so again, übermorgen means 'the day after tomorrow.'

(In Mandarin Chinese also you have respectively 前天 & 後天.)

Presumably, there are also similarly logical ways to say "the page after the next" or "the paragraph before the last", etc.

Are there no similarly succinct, and graceful, expressions in English?


texts: Is there a word for the opening of a song?

texts:
I'm looking for a word (if such exists) for the opening of a song.

Specifically, the part before the singer starts singing the lyrics, often a 30 seconds to 1 minute solo instrumental at the beginning of the song. Like how the word kick-off, is used for conversation.

Does such a word exist?


texts: A person who does you a favour then uses it against you?

texts: What is the word for a person who does you a favour then uses it against you?


texts:
I found an article, titled “The mystery of people who speaks dozen of languages” written by Judith Thurman in the latest New Yorker (September 3 issue) very intriguing.

She introduces a 27-year old Peruvian linguist, Miguel Rojas-Bersia, a doctorial candidate at the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistic, who has good command of 22 living languages including English, French, German,Italian, Spanish, Russian, Mandarin, Hakka Chines, Japanese, Korean, Serbian, Esperanto, and so on, 13 of which he speaks fluently and is versed to classic languages such as Latin, Ancient Greek, Biblical Hebrew. Thurman describes this young hyper polyglot as;

  “He looks like any other laid-back young tourist, except for the
  intense focus – all senses cocked –with which he takes in a new
  environment. Linguistics is a formidable discipline.

I have no idea about the phrase, “all senses cocked,” and I checked several English dictionaries at hand as well as online dictionaries without avail.

What does “all senses cocked” mean? Is it a common English phrase?


texts: English phrase for complimenting an experienced person

texts:
There is an expression in Chinese:

姜是老的辣

It literally means old ginger is spicy, which means experienced senior person should be respected due to their knowledge and experiences.

Is there an equivalent or similar meaning phrase in English?

I want to use such a phrase to praise a senior programmer. She helped me answer a question I could not answer through her experiences.


texts: Correct use of possession for the plural 'ladies'

texts:
At a clothing store, you might see a sign saying Men's Clothing, and the possessive use of the apostrophe correctly indicates that the clothing is suited towards the group "Men" (i.e. more than one man). If the apostrophe was after the 's', i.e. Mens' Clothing, it would cause someone proficient with grammar to assume that there exists more than one group of pluralized men to whom the clothing is suited (i.e. tall men, fat men, green men).

An ambiguity arises with the phrase Ladies' Clothing. It would seem that this use would conform to the second case above (i.e. as Mens' Clothing). This is because there isn't really a word spelled 'ladie' ('y' usually becomes 'ies' in plural), so Ladie's Clothing would clearly be incorrect.

So my question is how do you refer to the possession of more than one lady, but not to the possession of more than one group of ladies, and thereby avoid the ambiguity caused when using the phrase Ladies' Clothing?


texts: What's the difference between "although" and "even-if"

texts:
What is the difference between the following sentences:

You may be prevented from crossing the border, although you are in possession of a valid visa.
You may be prevented from crossing the border, even if you are in
possession of a valid visa.

If they have the same meaning, in which circumstances would it  be better to use each one?


texts: Present perfect for past action with present effect

texts: If I seem tired, can I say: "I haven't slept last night"? If not, why have I been told that we use present perfect for actions that have present effects?


texts: I have noticed that sometimes we write ordinal numbers with the "th" a little higher than the numbers. But sometimes I see it just attached to it. Which one is correct?


texts:
I want to know if it is possible to say this: "He has an easy comprehension of theory and methodologies, and a complete understanding of technologies, learning very quick the use of different Business Intelligence tools."

or maybe I should change it to something like this: "He understands easily..."

I tried to find a similar sentence on Internet, but I couldn't find one.

Thanks in advance!


texts:
While most sources seem to agree that death is an important part of being electrocuted, some believe that injuries caused by electricity also fit the definition.

Electrocute: to kill (a person or animal) by electric shock.
merriam-webster.com
Electrocute: to kill by electricity.
dictionary.com
Electrocute: to kill someone by causing electricity to flow through their body.
dictionary.cambridge.org
Electrocution is death caused by electric shock, electric current passing through the body.
Wikipedia.org

Electrocute: Injure or kill someone by electric shock.
oxforddictionaries.com
Electrocute: injure or kill someone by electric shock.
google.com

So do you have to die, to have been electrocuted?


texts:
Is it correct to use uppercase ordinals when the rest of the whole sentence should be in uppercase?

11TH FEBRUARY 2016 or 11th FEBRUARY 2016

among the above, which one is correct? Or are there no such rules?


texts: What is the word for two different sides against each other?

texts:
Ok so you all know cowboys vs Indians, Russia vs USA, blue black vs white gold (the Internet dress)
Is there a word for two sides against each other? If you get what I am saying.


texts: I am looking to for a word that describes a person who often seeks to relate to others. He looks to include outsiders into groups and is able to adjust speech depending on who he is talking to.


texts: Opposite of "prequel" when it isn't a "sequel", or an "original"

texts:
How do you refer to an item that was released earlier, but takes place after a "prequel"?

"Sequel" gives the clear implication that it was released after, this is not what I want.

In some cases "Original" applies, but that only works if the [word I want] was the first. Which isn't always the case.

For example:

"Caprica" is a prequel series to the "Battlestar Galactica" reboot released circa 2005.

But when talking about "Caprica", you can't just refer to that specific earlier work as the original "Battlestar Galactica", because the original was released in 1978, and Caprica isn't really a prequel to the original.

Another Example:

"Lego City Undercover: The Chase Begins" is a prequel to the "Lego City Undercover" game for the Wii U, in this case "Original" probably refers to the aforementioned Wii U game, but might refer to the first Lego City game, or the first modern Lego, one could say "The original Lego City Undercover", but it is quite wordy, and due to the similarities in name might be a little confusing.


texts: What's the word for this geometric solid?

texts:
What's the word for a geometric solid with two congruent regular pentagons in parallel planes and ten congruent triangles on lateral faces?

It's neither a pyramid nor a prism.

I chose pentagons arbitrarily. It seems to me there is a word for such a figure in general, proper with any number of sides on the bases.


texts:
I've found that sometimes I want to write a compound sentence without a comma when it does not sound correct. This is an example:

  Aden knew he was being greedy but was sure that he deserved an extra biscuit.

Compared to:

  Aden knew he was being greedy, but he was sure that he deserved an extra biscuit.

Can someone tell me which of these two sentences is preferable and why? I'm not completely sure, and I hope that I'm not overlooking some obvious rules.


texts: Word to make a distinction between license as a concept and a license held

texts:
What would you call a pilot's license as a concept, and what would you call a license that the pilot is actually holding in his hand?

For instance, a pilot may acquire a Private Pilot License (PPL). There is a series of requirements to obtaining this license. I consider this to be the concept of a PPL. When a pilot passes the test, he is issued the actual license, the one he can hold in his hand.

While the difference might be negligible, for the purpose of identifying concepts that make up the domain model in a software application, it would be highly preferable to have two separate words describing them.

I myself would call the concept a license, and the actual license an issuance, but since I am not a native speaker of English, I am not sure that this is correct.


texts: Using "I do web and graphics" instead of "I do web and graphic design"

texts:
I'm building a website and its mobile version. In the mobile verison I need a shorter tagline. Initially I wrote: "I do web and graphic design." For the mobile version I wrote: "I do web and graphics."

I would like to know two things:

Will the average person understand the meaning of the shorter version?
Are many people using "I do web" or "I do graphics"?

(I haven't seen people using it that way but I do know people who write stuff like: VISINOMEDIA - WEB & GRAPHICS).


texts:
If we’ve lost a team member, do we have ‘one member less’, ‘one less member’, ‘one member fewer’, or ‘one fewer member’?

Thanks!


texts: How might I name the items of a Likert scale?

texts:
I'm using a Likert scale that has 5 possible items:

++ for "I strongly agree"
+ for "I agree"
+/- for "I'm indifferent"
- for "I disagree"
-- for "I strongly disagree"

Now I think that "I'm indifferent" for the item in the middle isn't really the term that should be used, but I can't think of any better term. Any helps there?


texts: What does the extra "e" mean in some names?

texts:
Many times, I saw an "e" on some names. For example:

  blackthorne

Is this only for decoration, or is the extra "e" from old english? Or maybe spelling for certain cultures?


texts:
What are some common slang names for the souteneur - the illicit "manager" for prostitutes?

I'm fairly sure there are a few, but I can't find any in the common online resources and I need it for a fiction story - souteneur sounds way too 'official'.


texts: "Used to be + verb" or "Was used to + verb" for passive voice

texts:
Which one is right?

"My exorbitant tuition in MIT used to be paid by my sister."
OR
"My exorbitant tuition in MIT was used to be paid by my sister."


texts: Is there a simpler, more poetic term for "the detritus of animal life"?

texts:
Forensic scientists collect DNA from cast-off bits of people such as skin cells, blood, and hair.  In many magical traditions, such as Voudoun, bits of a person can be used to direct a spell - blood, nail clippings, saliva, etc.

Is there a term that covers "all the bits and pieces that make up a person or animal"?  The context is mythology, so an obsolete or archaic word would fit in just fine.

Detritus is the closest I've come up with, but I'm not quite happy with it.  I don't necessarily mean "bits which have been cast off," but really all the elements of an animal.  A word or phrase which means "fur, skin, feathers, and/or bone" would be about right.  "Organic matter" has the right technical meaning, but it's, well, too technical.

Clarification: I don't actually need a single word, a short phrase would be fine.  There doesn't seem to be a tag for "word-requests" alone.


texts: For example, would the sentence "I hunger for success" differ from "I thirst for success"? Can hunger and thirst be used interchangeably when expressing desire, or is one more appropriate than the other and in what context?


texts: How to distinguish between uses of words like 'Marry'?

texts:
Marry can be used both transitively:

  "Paul Married Jane"

and intransitively:

  "I got married".

Thus making the word ambitransitive

But it has a third use:

  "Paul, the vicar Married Jane to Bob"

The last use is certainly transitive, but what is the word for this use?

Is this to do with (un)accusative and (un)ergative verbs?


texts: "would like to ask" or "would like to invite"?

texts:
When trying to ask someone to write me a recommendation letter politely, shall I use

  I would like to ask you to...

or

  I would like to invite you to ...

?


texts: What emotion is the 'Mad Scientist' showing when they say "I'll show them all!"

texts:
It's the old cliche of a mad scientist or super-villain; talking to themselves as they prepare their latest scheme they say something like,

  They all laughed at me...but I'LL SHOW THEM! I'LL SHOW THEM ALL!!

Cue thunder and lightning.
As seen in TV Tropes

But I can't figure out what emotion exactly is the Mad Scientist showing here? Desire for vindication?
Desire for vengeance?
Is there a better way to say this other than "Desire for XXXXX"?


texts: Each sentence is emphasising a different message depending on the word stress?

texts:
I need to talk to our lecturer tomorrow.
I need to talk to our lecturer tomorrow.
I need to talk to our lecturer tomorrow.
I need to talk to our lecturer tomorrow.
I need to talk to our lecturer tomorrow.

Please explain how the meaning of each sentence is changed by the emphasised words.


texts: Can the Past Perfect be substituted with past simple + time reference only with state verbs?

texts:
As an English teacher, I often find students unclear about the use of the past perfect. It seems that this is sometimes optional if there is a time reference. I take both these sentences to be correct and mean the same:

  Until I went to the Tower of London, I didn't believe in ghosts.

  Until I went to the Tower of London, I hadn't believed in ghosts.

However, in these two examples, I don't believe they mean the same:

  Until I went to London, I didn't eat sausages.

  Until I went to London, I hadn't eaten sausages.

The first being a habitual act, or decision not to eat sausages; the second the absence of sausage eating during the speaker's lifetime, perhaps due to a lack of sausage-eating opportunities.

So, my questions are, can the past perfect be substituted by the past simple plus a time reference (or conjunction) only when a state verb is involved?

Are there any 'rules'(which time phrases or conjunctions can be used, for example)? I'm sure my students would be keen to know!

Many thanks.

Peter.


texts: What does "tend one's spinning wheel" mean?

texts:
However hard I tried I've failed to get the exact meaning of tending his spinning wheel here.

  It would be argued, and indeed I would argue, that Muslim intransigence would have played a destrucitve role in any case. But the task of persuading ordinary Muslims to leave Congress and to join with the partitionist “Muslim League” was made much easier by Gandhi’s talk of Hinduism and by the long ostentatious hours he spent in cultish practices and in tending his spinning wheel.

  This wheel—which still appears as the symbol on the Indian flag—was the emblem of Gandhi’s rejection of modernity. He took to dressing in rags of his own manufacture, and sandals, and to carry- ing a staff, and expressing hostility to machinery and technology.

I gave the previous and following sentences for a full understanding of the meaning.

It mentions the wheel in question in the following sentence and I get it is the actual wheel with the usual sense of the word.

What I wonder is if there is a connotation here which would mean something like "Gandhi cares for his own interests, no matter what"? I'm asking this because we have the same phrase in my native language with the above meaning.

Or, are there any other possible implied meanings -positive or negative- which I fail to see?

Thank you.


texts:
(Talking about a chimp): "In human age, he would have been on the brink of puberty."

I was told that this sentence is odd because 'be on the brink of' is usually used for something negative: suicides, disasters etc. Though this is most often the case, I don't think this is necessarily true. For example, you can say "on the brink of greatness".

In this particular sentence, would it be sound more natural, comparatively speaking, to use "on the threshold of puberty" instead?

-Edit-

Google Ngram Viewer makes it clear, I think: http://goo.gl/IqozD


texts: What (grammatical) tense to use when doing reference in a paper?

texts:
For example, A published a paper with title B in 2000.

Then, in my paper:

  A says / said that [C works / worked out perfectly].

and

  B illustrates / illustrated that [C works / worked out perfectly].

As the content between [] is derived from the original paper, the tense may vary.

The pair of the simple present tense (in the source) and the simple past tense (in my current paper) is used as an example.


texts: To gain/acquire/obtain comfort with something abstract - is this idiomatic, or at least acceptable?

texts:
I am encountering the expression "to gain comfort", "to acquire comfort", and to "obtain comfort" more and more lately.

Example: "This issue was looked at in depth in 2013 and we obtained comfort at that time."

It does not strike me as idiomatic, even though I have no issue with writing something along the lines of "we are comfortable with the explanation provided."

A quick Google search seems to yield results mainly in a legal or contractual context, so I assume this is acceptable legalese. However, is this expression acceptable in more run-of-the-mill business writing?

Also, could this be a British versus North-American usage issue? The texts in which I most often encounter this expression  are co-authored by Canadian and British authors.

Thank you in advance for your thoughts.


texts: Single word request for ability to reject spurious hypothesis

texts:
I'm writing: "(...) in this way, we compromise precision, and the ability to reject spurious hypothesis (...)".

I'm looking for something like: "in this way, we compromise precision, and __".


texts: Apart from place names, are there any Native American words used in English?


texts: should I say 'a group of friends who lives close by' or 'a group of friends who live close by'

texts:
I'm attempting to design a worksheet for TEFL students. Here's one of the questions:

4) Your friend Tina who lives close by comes to visit you today. You want to ask her what she was doing when it started to rain last night (at around 8pm).
How would you ask her?

Should my question say 'Tina who live close by' or 'Tina who lives close by'

My next question question (5) says this:

5) A group of friends who lives close by comes to visit you today. You want to ask them what they were doing when it started to rain last night (at around 8pm).
How would you ask them what they were doing?

I assume it's 'who lives close by...' or is it 'who live close by'.

Is there any particular grammatical rule or rule-of-thumb which we can follow to work out if it's 'live' or 'lives'.


texts: What does "followed to the T" actually mean?

texts:
I came across this sentence from Amish's Secret of the Nagas book.

It would certainly have worked if Bhagirath's orders had been followed to the T.


texts:
Lately I stumbled across a sentence where one person was talking to another person and used

  But you was thinking about it!

I'v always used "But you were ..." in this case and assumed that it just was a mistake or a joke I didn't get (as a non-native speaker). However, I stumbled across a similar case again today! Were I living a lie?

An earlier question on EL&U, Historical usage of "was"/"were" with "you", asks about this usage during the American Civil War, whereas the current question is about contemporary usage. However, Peter Shor's answer to that question mentions contemporary usage.


texts: How do I emphasize a word using the standard punctuation system?

texts:
I've seen people on the Internet stressing a certain word using "*":

  I do not *like* it, I *love* it!

I think there is no such punctuation as "*". So I'm wondering if I can use some other way to achieve the same goal in traditional English. I've tried quotation marks but then it sounds like I'm posing ironic effect.

  I do not "like" it, I "love" it!

That sentence leaves the impression that I'm loving it in a unusual way.


texts: What is the difference, if any, between "divine providence" and "Providence" (with a capital p)?

texts:
ODO defines providence as:

  providence: [mass noun]  1 the protective care of God or of nature as a spiritual
  power: they found their trust in divine providence to be a source of
  comfort

  (Providence) God or nature as providing protective care: I live out my
  life as Providence decrees

So is there any substantial difference in meaning if I were to replace "divine providence" with "Providence". For instance, in the following context:

  Eugene acquired the chimpanzee, believing the chain of events
  experienced by him to be divine providence. They did not make sense
  otherwise. The chimpanzee was God’s emissary sent to him for a certain
  purpose. If he ignored the chimpanzee, it would be like ignoring
  Providence: impossible for a mere human to do.


texts: How is that correct: "speed is faster" or "prices are cheaper"

texts:
Read in a somewhat reliable source - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clearing_(finance):

speed of trades is much faster...

Also heard once or twice:

prices in this store are cheaper

Does it sound right for native speakers to say so, not "speed is higher" or "prices are lower"?


texts:
Example sentence:

"As the concert ended, the atmosphere was all but ecstatic."

Replace words with synonyms:

all = everything
but = except

The sentence would appear:

"...the atmosphere was everything except ecstatic."

Meaning, "the concert was not ecstatic". It was all feelings except ecstatic.

I regularly hear similar sentences used in the way where "all but" means the exact opposite of my interpretation. The last straw of "curiosity : need-to-know" ratio broke when I heard it used in Band of Brothers--which very clearly implied the use of "all but" as a similar meaning to "very".

There's undoubtedly a hole in my logic.

Edit:

Band of Brothers quote: "He was just one more casualty in a war that was supposed to be all but over."


texts: English-language equivalent to the Russian idiom, 'Not let someone within firing distance near X'

texts:
I've been hard put to come up with the most appropriate English expression for a particular Russian one.

In Russian, an expression that roughly translates as "To not let someone come near X within a firing distance" is fairly common. I believe it's self-explanatory, so I won't going into much detail here. But here's an example of it in use:

  This guy shouldn't be allowed within a firing distance near children.

What would be the best "native" English expression to convey the same idea?


texts: After losing weight, how do I say I can wear my belt tighter?

texts:
So, yes, I have been losing weight, so far down 4kg and 2 to 3 inches in waist.

I am happy and when I was trying to say to someone that now I can wear my belt tighter, I don't know how to say it because I wonder:

Is there a specific name for the holes on the belt?
Is there a specific verb for wearing a belt?

In the end, I said "I can now comfortably buckle 2 to 3 holes tighter when wearing my belt."

Sure, it is easy enough to be understood, but is there a better way of expressing that? Also, can I use "buckle" here for belt, in a same sense that it is used in "buckle up" (car seat-belt)? I know the word buckle actually refers to the rectangular metal thing that holds the belt in place, but the best I could think of is "buckle two holes tighter".


texts: "There Is"/"There are" depends on plurality of the first list element or not?

texts:
It seems I put a stick in the anthill at ELL.

Bounty assigned by outside party, two lengthy, reference-citing answers, one "-1" (awarded the bounty), one "-2", two others scored "0" and "-2" respectively, the answers suggesting one or the other is correct, 73 comments and no consensus so far - and me, as the asker, lost without a clue what to think of the answers anymore -  this is no longer "Learners' Level" question, so I thought I'd bring it here and hear what the experts have to say.

Original question:

Plurality of verb depending on plurality of list elements

An edit was suggested to my sentence.

  There was were an orange, some grapes, two apples and a small pile of cherries on the plate.

In my native language plurality of the verb always follows plurality of the first element on the list. There were an orange,... sounds awkward to me, no matter what follows up. My simple solution was reordering:

  There were some grapes, an orange, two apples and a small pile of cherries on the plate.

But that's not the first time I faced this situation and I'd like to know what the rules of grammar say about that - was my editor overzealous or am I trying to copy rules of my language that don't apply in English?

Someone linked a related question for negatives, where the situation is more clear-cut ("There is no..."). Same applies to connection with "or" apparently, per accepted answer there. Still, nothing for "and".

It seems there is a consensus that in that if the verb goes after the list, it will be plural.

  an orange, some grapes, two apples and a small pile of cherries were on the plate.

There doesn't seem to be clear consensus for:

  On the plate { was | were } an orange, some grapes, two apples and a small pile of cherries

Adding more to the confusion is the abbreviated form: "There's"

  One last note. In North America, at least, there is a widespread use of using a singular form like "there is" and "there was", without regard for the subject item or items, and this "there is" is often shortened to "there's":

    There's three apples on the table!

Could you please clarify this mess?


texts: the correct translation of "attendu que"

texts: does attendu que mean "given that" /"considering that"/ whereas. it appears at the beginning of every paragraph in a french legal document i'm working on and i'm not sure if all of the "attendu que"s mean "given that"( my best option) or any of the other options i listed


texts:
I have noticed an increase recently in use of the phrase "build out" when "build" would suffice. This seems to be mainly an American English phenomenon from what I can see. Here are some examples:

Google... is also set to build out a network in Austin, Texas.

and

Technology services firm Data Stream has signed a 7,882 sq ft lease at the Chicago Board of Trade Building, where it plans to build out a data center.

and

This is a free series on how to build out a website using Wordpress

What is the origin of this usage and why has it become so popular? Is it just meaningless jargon or is there some meaning behind it, i.e. is there a difference between building a website and building out a website?


texts: When is "Does... have...?" correct versus "Is... having... ?"

texts:
I have to generate random questions Yes/No about hotels, restaurants, etc. for a Natural-Language Programming task. The focus is on questions about characteristics about such places that are rather dynamic (e.g., current length of queue, available parking spaces).

I'm trying to cover a wide range of formulations so that not all questions look too much alike (e.g. Is KFC nice? Are the rooms in Hilton Hotel large?). As a non-native English speaker, I stumble upon some problems to guarantee grammatically correct questions. Given the following two example questions:

  Does [RESTAURANT-NAME] have a promotion?
  Is [RESTAURANT-NAME] having a promotion?

I would say that both questions convey the same meaning, with the latter maybe emphasizing the current moment (implying that promotions are rather infrequent and dynamic). Is this correct?

My follow-up question is now: When I can use both forms interchangeably? For example, when I have

  Does [RESTAURANT-NAME] have vegan dishes?
  Is [RESTAURANT-NAME] having vegan dishes?

The second one "feels" wrong since the menu usually doesn't change much over time. Am I correct to say that the possibility to formulate a "Is/Are... having... ?" depends on the meaning/semantics of the question? In other words, I cannot always use both formulations and I cannot trivially decide in a program?


texts: It's a fancy word used primarily in literary analysis to describe when the author allows the reader to predict a future event by dropping hints. This may not be the best example, but when a storm implies that something bad is going to happen. Can someone help? It's driving me crazy!


texts:
Forgive me for the vague and strange title. I honestly couldn't come up with a better way to ask. As an example to illustrate my question, however, consider the following comic from SBMC (www.sbmc-comics.com)

http://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/p-humans

In the comic, one of the participants to the conversation says the following:

  How do you know it doesn't have a rich internal world?

To a non-native speaker, and even sometimes myself (for which English was my first language) this can be very confusing. It seems to me like the question can be interpreted to mean the exact opposite to what the person is asking. In one way, I want to read it as if the speaker is asking for proof that the other person believes the opposite to what they clearly stated.

Is there a term for this kind of question?


texts: "I'm always watching you through a keyhole": is it a metaphor?

texts:
Would this expression be considered a metaphor?

  I'm always watching you through a keyhole

It's a lyric, in the context of longing for someone or something that seems unattainable.

It's from the song “Dilettante”, by St. Vincent; the preceding lyrics are "you're like a party I heard through a wall; invite me."


texts: Facebook reaction 'Thankful' (as 'grateful')

texts:
For Mother's Day, Facebook added a temporary reaction called 'Thankful' which was used to mean 'grateful'. This seemed odd. While I am not a native speaker, I was curious enough to use Google. What I found was the following.

  'We use grateful to talk about how we feel when someone is kind to us or does us a favour'. [---] 'We usually use thankful when we are relieved that something unpleasant or dangerous didn’t happen'. Cambridge Dictionary

Nevertheless, many dictionaries give them as synonymous with one another.

Is there an important difference which everyone agrees on?


texts: What are the patterns/rules for determining U.S. state abbreviations?

texts:
I vaguely recall memorizing the state abbreviations in grades school. And I seem to remember my teacher sharing a few ground rules for helping us memorize them.

No two states may have the same abbreviation.
If there are two words in the state's name, take the first letter of
each. (NY, SD, WV, etc)
Take the first two letters of the state name to form the abbreviation.
Take the first and last letter of the state name to form the abbreviation.

The first two rules are never broken. The second two are broken as needed in order to obey the first one. But which one takes precidence? What other considerations come into play that would have led to choices such as FL, HI, NV


texts:
About a third of the way through his poem "To the Memory of My Beloved the Author, Mr. William Shakespeare and What He Hath Left Us," Ben Jonson writes:

  And though thou hadst small Latin and less Greek,

  From thence, to honour thee, I would not seek

  For names; but call forth thund’ring Aeschylus,

  Euripides, and Sophocles to us,

  Paccuvius, Accius, him of Cordova dead

  To life again, to hear thy buskin tread

  And shake a stage; or when thy socks were on,

  Leave thee alone, for the comparison

  Of all that insolent Greece or haughty Rome

  Sent forth; or since did from their ashes come.

I have always supposed that the first line quoted above meant, as it would today, "And although you had little command of Latin and less of Greek"; but a footnote in George Greenwood, Ben Jonson and Shakespeare (1921) offers the following gloss:

  "And though thou hadst small Latin and less Greek" wrote Jonson. "Here," says the learned Dr. [Clement Mansfield] Ingleby, "hadst is the subjunctive. The passage may be thus paraphrased: 'Even if thou hadst little scholarship, I would not seek to honour thee by calling thee as others have done, Ovid, Plautus, Terence, etc., i.e., by the names of the classical poets, but would rather invite them to witness how far thou dost outshine them.' Ben does not assert that Shakespeare had 'little Latin and less Greek,' as several understand him." (Centurie of Prayse, 2nd Edit. [1879], p. 151). This may be correct, but others contend that Ben's words are to be taken not in the subjunctive but in the indicative mood. It may be so, since Ben was writing on the hypothesis that the player would be generally taken as the poet, and, naturally, had to adapt his language to that hypothesis. Either interpretation will equally well suit the sceptical case.

I have two questions:

1. Does "And though thou hadst" here mean "And even if you had" or "And although you had"—or is it impossible to tell?

2. If it is impossible to tell, were listeners and readers in Shakespearean/Jonsonian times accustomed to having to draw their own conclusions about whether the subjunctive mood or the indicative mood was intended in such cases?


texts:
Consider the following two sentences:

For now, we cannot be sure how the machine worked back then. But once it existed, people would immediately have used it.

Sentences like these, where the first is "regular" and the second uses "would have", are used again and again over several paragraphs to lay out the history of the machine and what the author thinks is true about that history. From context, it seems clear that the author thinks the machine really did exist, and that people really did use it immediately once it existed.
Why does the author say "people would immediately have used it" instead of just "people immediately used it"? Is this an idiomatic way of allowing for the possibility that he might be wrong, or is it something else? (Non-native speaker here.)