texts: Does using "and", "or" or "and/or" change the meaning of these sentences?

texts:
Consider these sentences...

1)...

No unreasonable limitations and regulations will be willingly obeyed.

No unreasonable limitations or regulations will be willingly obeyed.

No unreasonable limitations and/or regulations will be willingly obeyed.

EDIT: (Will unreasonable regulations that aren't limitations be willingly obeyed? Does the use of "and" instead of "or" make a difference to the meaning?)

Is there any difference in the conveyed meaning of these sentences when "and", "or" or "and/or" is used? In other words, are "and" and "or" interchangeable in cases like this? Lets assume, based on some hypothetical context, that the adjective always applies to both nouns. The question is not about which sentence has the best choice of words, but rather about whether the use of "and" or "or" makes any difference to the meaning of the sentences.

Some more examples... I tried to use plural nouns that both refer to physical objects as well as more abstract concepts. In each case, the second noun is purposefully chosen to be related to and/or inclusive of the first noun.

2)...

No wilted flowers and plants will be sold.

No wilted flowers or plants will be sold.

No wilted flowers and/or plants will be sold.

EDIT: (Will wilted plants that aren't flowers be sold?)

3)...

No low-quality bricks and building materials will be used.

No low-quality bricks or building materials will be used.

No low-quality bricks and/or building materials will be used.

EDIT: (Will low-quality building materials that aren't bricks be used?)

4)...

No impractical suggestions and requests will be considered.

No impractical suggestions or requests will be considered.

No impractical suggestions and/or requests will be considered.

EDIT: (Will impractical requests that aren't suggestions be considered? Note that "requests" can be construed as "asking for a suggestion to be implemented", Therefore in this sentence "requests" are meant to include "suggestions" )

5)...

No inconsiderate remarks and conduct will be tolerated.

No inconsiderate remarks or conduct will be tolerated.

No inconsiderate remarks and/or conduct will be tolerated.

EDIT: (Will inconsiderate conduct that isn't remarks be tolerated?)


texts: What is the difference between "amiable" and "amicable"?

texts:
I am going to take the TOEFL in 3 weeks, so I am working hard on studying the "Series Of Selected Words". I happened to encounter two words, amicable and amiable:

  Amicable

According to Merriam Unabridged,

Then I took a look at:

  Amiable

I am now ruminating on these two words, but I am still confused.

Could someone help me understand when or under which circumstances should I use amicable or amiable?


texts: "That heresies should arise, we have the prophesie of Christ..."

texts:
That heresies should arise, we have the prophesie of Christ; but that old ones should be abolished, we hold no prediction.

This is a quote from Religio Medici (1643) by Thomas Browne. It's quoted in Contact by Carl Sagan.

How does this sentence structure work? What does this mean? I'm particularly confused by the use of "that."


texts:
Is the subjunctive “were” in the sentence, “He seems as if he were spell-bound,” construed as counterfactual? Does it always preclude truth, or does it only here suggest that it was highly improbable that the subject, “he,” was spell-bound?

If I exchanged a past-conditional “was” for the “were” would it open possibilities in the sentence? And would a present indicative “is” make any sense at all? The present tense doesn’t seem to me well fitted to the phrase “as if.”

And if I could ask a question further: when were these distinctions drawn between “were,” “was,” and “is” regarding the phrase “as if”?

Thank you for your time!


texts:
They reached the island with an airplane (,)and (,) realizing that no
  damage was done to them (,) were happy, since they had finished their
  journey.

I know there has to be a comma somewhere in the sentence, but I just cannot determine it. Where is the comma needed in this sentence?


texts: Where can I obtain an English dictionary with structured data?

texts:
I would like to download an English dictionary -- not just a word list -- in a structured format such as TXT, XML, or SQL.

Specifically, I need phonetic pronunciation and parts of speech (definition is not required).

Surprisingly, I can't find this online anywhere. Wiktionary is available for download, but it only the mediawiki articles themselves. Crawling all articles and extracting the phonetics and parts of speech would be a huge exercise.

Is this available anywhere? I don't mind paying.

Note: cross-posted on StackOverflow.


texts: Can “chronological” refer to future events?

texts:
Quoting Merriam-Webster:

  chronological: arranged in or according to the order of time

Quoting the Cambridge dictionary:

  chronological: following the order in which a series of events happened

Does that mean that “chronological” can not refer to future events? E.g. would the following usage be incorrect?

  I listed the concerts I'm planning to go to in chronological order.

If so, what other word/phrase could be used instead?


texts: 'Predator' is to 'Predatory' as 'Prey' is to...?

texts:
I'm trying to find a word like 'predatory' that refers to prey instead.

Looking through some physical books gave some information about the root word 'praedor', for which I found this Wikitionary page. A quick search on Merriam-Webster only returned some near-antonyms for 'predatory':

  herbivorous, vegetarian; gentle, submissive, tame

None of these words really capture what I'm after. I'm trying to catch more of the behavioural side of prey, but I want to use this word almost like a quality for a human.

Example sentences of how I would like this word used;

"Jack had been noted for his ... tendencies."
"Rabbits are mammals of a ... nature, [...]"

Thanks in advance.


texts:
Is saying "each and everyone" redundant?

Also, what is the difference between "each and everyone" and "each and every one"?

Thanks


texts: Do frequency adverbs that go at the beginning of sentence need a comma? (Occasionally, Sometimes, etc.)

texts:
Do frequency adverbs that go at the beginning of sentence need a comma?

Which of these alternatives, if any, is better?

Occasionally, I play football with my friends.
Occasionally I play football with my friends.


texts:
I have read them in few disconnected articles and in conversations but could not understand them completely.

"These kids I tell you" or "kids I tell you" expression meaning.

What do they mean ?


texts: Is it necessary that every statesman is a politician?

texts: I used to think that every statesman is a politician before coming across this post so I just wanted to clear that if there could be a statesman who is not a politician.


texts:
Wikipedia describes payload as,

  Payload is the carrying capacity of an aircraft or launch vehicle, usually measured in terms of weight.

Etymonline says,

  payload 1930, from pay (n. or v.) + load (n.). Originally the part of
  an aircraft's load from which revenue is derived (passengers, cargo,
  mail); fig. sense of "bombs, etc. carried by a plane or missile" is
  from 1936. Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

However, Google n-grams has some results from earlier, like this one from Automotive Industries, Volume 30, Chilton Company, Incorporated, supposedly 1914, page 976:

  dead weight of not more than 3,500 kilograms, and the heavy trucks,
  whose dead weight could be 5,500 kilograms, were both to carry a load
  of at least 2,000 kilograms, and with the aid of trailers should
  transport, respectively, a payload of 8 and 15 tons more.

or page 1338:

  HERETOFORE the Prussian army administration has wanted for military
  transportation work only motor trucks capable of carrying a payload of
  5 to 6 tons

or Vol. 22. page 721,

  The tilt should be adjustable with relation to the direction of the propeller shaft and the whole power plant and the payload.

suggesting that the word was used earlier. One starts to wonder, whether this is a military terminology, and how did the usage later developed, whether the boom around the '55-65 as seen on n-grams is a result of (literal) rocket science or rather computers (later networking?) or something else.

(source) (ngram search)

Are there more information about how this word was coined and how did it develop?


texts:
What is the meaning of this expression? Does it mean that something meets the expectations or it is up to standard?

Edit: Here is an example of usage.

http://www.edition38.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=150120&st=40

  that is one seriously pimp car! i have three old school favourites,
  bmw e30, golf mk2 and the 190e and this cuts the biscuit! good work


texts: "I feel stressed" or "I feel stressful"? Which one is correct?

texts:
I say "I feel stressful" but my  teacher, a native speaker of English, says that I should say "I feel stressed".

Both stressful and stressed are adjective.

Which is correct, I feel stressed or I feel stressful?

Why do  we have  "It is very interesting" but not "It is very stressing" yet "It is very stressful"?


texts: Why is "pineapple" in English but "ananas" in all other languages?


texts: For how long will we store your data?. Is this a correct sentence?

texts:
I have these two sentences in the legal text of my website. Then the context is a "legal context" and the sentences is about the data the visitors of my web send me.

Sentence 1: For how long will we store your data?

Sentence 2: Who will your data be disclosed to?

Is there a better way to write them?


texts: "A continuous competition" or "continuous competition"

texts: I want to describe that school life is full of continuous competition, should I say "School life is continuous competition" or "Scool life is a continuous competition" ?


texts: Term for rhetorical device of claiming not to intend what you are about to do?

texts:
What is the correct term for the rhetorical act of claiming you do not intend (or are not doing) what you are about to do?

Examples:
"Not to open a can of worms, but what if we just scrapped the whole project?"
"Not to start a flame war, but what do you think of the vaccination controversy?"
And of course: "No offense, but..."

Apophasis is almost right but applies only to the special case of claiming you will not mention the thing you are mentioning. What's it called when merely mentioning is not the thing you claim you are not doing?


texts: What is that point in business where it is extremely difficult to generate new business/customers called?

texts:
I think the title is sufficiently clear.

To add a little more clarity, if a business is performing extremely well, we generally say it has "peaked".

Is there a word/phrase/idiom that implies something opposite to "peaking" in business context?

Usage Sentence: (Only tentative, answers can contain their own usage examples)

  ABC Inc.'s Smart Phone business _______ when a recent survey showed that it sold only X(single digit) units and added less than Y (also single digit) customers in the previous quarter. It comes as a shocking surprise as the same company had sold 1 million units within the first week of its launch.

or

  Nobody is buying ABC Inc's smartphones any more. Their business __________.


texts: Idiom for "don't put me with somebody together in the same sentence"

texts:
I am looking for an idiom used when people say that you are as good/bad as somebody, but you don't agree with it because you think you are not on the same level as them, or that you are way better than them.

Is there any idiom like "don't put me with somebody together in the same sentence"?


texts:
I am really confused about how to use don't mind in negative sentences. Which one is correct?

I can understand you, if you don't mind not speaking so fast.

I can understand you, if you don't mind speaking so fast.

I can understand you, if you mind not speaking so fast.


texts: May I ask what is the verb form of statistics or is there any replacement word with the meaning of "the act of doing statistics"?


texts:
Jinn or djinn is a word we middle east people use for demons. I found this word in an English dictionary too, but it seems that this word is never used in plural form. For example, when you want to say "I was attacked by three demons" it works, and Microsoft Word did not underline it, but when using "Jinns" it seems not correct.
What do you think about it? What is the right way to say "three jinns"?


texts: Why don't dictionaries include the most common meaning of the word "punt"?

texts:
Why don't dictionaries include what is, in my opinion, the most common meaning of the word "punt", which is to "(strategically) give up"

  They punted on the hard problem.

Neither Oxford's, nor M-W list this meaning. In fact, M-W lists ten different meanings, many of which I never encountered.


texts:
Why do we call dull, old-fashioned or banal things corny? As in corny movie scenes or corny jokes; not, vegetable or corn related characteristics.

This blog article I found on Google suggests it originated in old seed catalogs.

Yet etymonline doesn't mention this theory, and compares it to "corn-fed" as an epithet:

  perhaps originally "something appealing to country folk" (corn-fed in the same sense is attested from 1929).

So what's the real story behind "corny?"


texts:
Does the game shown in the following picture have a particular name?

(I ask because a similar game does not exist in my country and I would like know its rules.)


texts: How "much" emissions or how "many" emissions?

texts:
The following is what I found in the website of US Energy Information Administration.
Is the word "emissions" usually used with "much" as in the quotation? If so, why is the verb "are" used instead of "is?"

How much of U.S. carbon dioxide emissions are associated with electricity generation?


texts: Is there a grammatically correct replacement for "a whole nother level" that retains the intended meaning and emphasis?

texts: In the sentence "I had had great experiences before, but this one was like a whole nother level", I understand the idea, but I'm also aware that saying a whole nother is not grammatical. Is there an alternative way of saying the same sentence such that 1) it's grammatically correct and 2) does not lose the original meaning and emphasis?


texts: Could you explain the differences among voiced stop, voiceless unaspirated stop & voiceless aspirated stop?

texts:
Look at this picture for explaining various mechanics of pronunciation with the vocal cords.

Source: wikimedia commons

I don't understand it much.

Here is what I understood

  -voiced stop: your vocal cord vibrates before you release the air

  -voiceless unaspirated stop: your vocal cord vibrates right at the time you release the air

  -voiceless aspirated stop: your vocal cord vibrates after the time you release the air

Could you explain it using simple easy-to-understand language?


texts: Is there a specific linguistic term for words like "Carolingian", "Ricardian" and so on?

texts:
I'm talking about words used for the followers and eras of kings and queens.

They have a Latin origin. Is "Latinisation" enough, or is there something more precise? I've done a search, and haven't found anything.

EDIT: Sorry, my question was vague. While the responses below have given great answers, I'm primarily interested in whether or not there's a technical term for the component where Latin is used as the basis for the words.

(And as an aside, the pattern isn't consistent. For instance, we have "Elizabethan" and "Georgian" [not from Latin], but also "Jacobean" [from Latin].)


texts:
I do not like biology nor do I like chemistry.

"do I like chemistry," being the independent clause doesn't make sense to me on its own.

If my grammar/punctuation in this question is incorrect, please tell me. I'm trying to improve it for a job I have answering emails.


texts:
Could you give me some tips on how to simplify and understand long sentences like the following? For example, when to take a pause; what to look for; etc.

This
meant communications had to be relayed by a satellite which had been cunningly
located for the purpose at a place where the interaction of the gravitational fields of
Earth and Moon meant it could orbit a point in empty space.

Source:https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2020/11/21/china-plans-to-bring-back-the-first-moon-rocks-for-40-years


texts:
I would like to see what is the closest word I can get that means vulnerable to the elements. One word is preferred, as opposed to a phrase. Here is a basic example:

  Steel is ____________, but titanium is not ____________.

Ideally the word is not only relevant to corrosion like in the above example, but also other elements, whatever they may be (sunlight, wind, cold, ect)

  Chemlights are ____________, but flashlights are not ____________.

(in the 2nd example the element implied is sunlight. Sunlight will degrade the chemlight, but will not impact the flashlight's performance -- not that you would use a flashlight on a sunny day, assumed you used at a later date at night after exposure to sunlight)


texts: Idiom for doing trivial things during a crisis

texts:
I'm looking for an idiom for when someone will do small, irrelevant tasks during a crisis instead of working to solve the crisis.  The focus of the phrase wouldn't be on procrastinating, it would be about ignoring the crisis entirely.

Some examples:

Choosing to organize the supply cupboard when a short deadline suddenly appears
A stock trader doing low priority market research during a market crash
Sweeping up the ashes while your house is still on fire
Changing the oil of your car when you have 4 flat tires

Is there an idiom for this?  I feel like it has been on the tip of my tongue for days now.


texts:
I am using the next phrase in a letter of motivation for applying to a master program:

  I am convinced that joining the Master of Science in X at the X-University will deepen my knowledge and broaden my perspectives in ...

I am not sure if "joining" is the correct word to use in this context, or if I should replace it by "enrolling in", "pursuing" or "undertaking".

I would really appreciate your suggestions.


texts:
Which grammatical features does English lack, which it is expressively poorer for? These could be features found in other languages – living, extinct or invented – or even be completely new imaginings. What features deny through their absence utile nuances of meaning? What features might drive us to more elegant and thus profounder speech? And what adaptations could be made to the way the English language is used to achieve equivalent results without creating ambiguity?

Please post each feature as a distinct reply, so that they can be up- (or down-) voted individually.


texts: Where to use a hyphen with the abbreviation of a chemical element (e.g. C, N, P)?

texts:
Working on a scientific paper I stumble over the use of common abbreviations for chemical elements (e.g. C, N or P for carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus) in combination with other nouns or adjectives. Should I use hyphens for this and if so, where and why?

For example, would it be:
"The N fertilization caused..." or
"The N-fertilization caused..."?

And am I studying an
"N-fertilized site" or an "N fertilized site"?

Searching through other literature from my field has resulted in somehow mixed results, however writing without hyphens in the first case and with hyphen in the second seemed more common to me.

As a foreign speaker I'm also glad for all redirections on grammar rules for this, googling this special case did not help me yet.


texts:
I've just put a new web page live, and now one of my sentences is bugging me. The sentence in question is:

  It was developed internally and made available for the world.

The part that I'm not sure about is made available for the world. Is for correct here, or would the appropriate word be to?

It sounds right to me, but I'm not sure if I'm breaking a rule.


texts: Should I place a comma before ‘considering’?

texts:
Example sentence:

  Susie thought it likely that Mary would avoid her today, considering the way she stormed off last night.

If because of took the place of considering in this sentence, there would be no comma before it, but I’m not sure if the same rule applies to considering since the meaning is different. I naturally put a comma before it, but it sounds off to me. Should there be a comma before considering or not?


texts: Origin of "Every dollar you spend is a political act"?

texts:
Who was the first to say this?

  Every dollar you spend is a political act.

I find it here and there and it seems like a quote, but I can't find the origin.


texts: What is the direct object of "I imagined" in the context "as I imagined would be the case"? (i.e. I imagined what?)

texts: In my previous question Is the phrase “as I imagined would be the case” grammatically correct and why?, someone referenced this other question: Where is the subject in "as was traditional for unmarried women"?, which deals with missing subjects in sentences that start with as. That would account for "as would be the case". But what about "as I imagined would be the case"? What is the direct object of I imagined? I imagined what? I would appreciate a syntactic analysis of the phrase "as I imagined would be the case" to help me make grammatical sense of this and other similar complex sentences.


texts: When should you use italics to reference an example and when should it be inside apostrophes?

texts:
When should you use italics to reference an example or quote, and when should it be inside apostrophes instead?

(I am trying to tighten up here. I write in advertising and we break so many rules with the register being conversational, I’ve fallen out of touch with some basics.)

Here are some examples:

  A man said the other day, 'why are all the trees orange?'
  A man said the other day, why are all the trees orange?

Also, should the above quote begin with a capital letter, and must there always be a comma preceding it?


texts: Correct grammar form for two people owning the same object?

texts:
Which is correct?
Paul's and Freda's Anniversary or Paul and Freda's Anniversary?


texts: What is the history and regional dispersion of the affirmative "yup"?

texts:
Living in the Pacific Northwest, a person I'm close to frequently uses this word instead of the more common "yep" or "yeah". As I haven't heard it regularly from others and she has Southern American roots, I wondered what the source of this word is and what geographic regions it's most common.

My limited searching of several dictionaries and some Google searches gave a variety of origin years ranging from the early 1900s to the 1980s. None of them cited this first usage and I was unable to find information on on regional distribution at a sub-national level; apparently this is primarily an Americanism, though this was not well cited either.


texts: Is there a non-prepositional (i.e. more active) verb that captures "X is diminished by Y" where Y is the object of the verb?

texts:
I'll give two examples to try to clarify what kind of word I'm looking for.

"The water diminishes the fire. The fire is diminished by the water."
The water and the fire are set against each other, so in a way they are both acting in opposition, and in such a way that only one of them can "win" or "remain". However english seems to favor the water as the "actor" even though they are both acting against each other. It seems that the fact of the water "winning" against the fire promotes it into becoming the active agent, and somehow the fire's loss against the water makes it the object. I am looking for a verb that allows the fire to be the active agent: "the fire V the water", where V is some verb that describes the fire setting itself against the water (object) and losing some or all of its essence as a result.

I'm wondering if there is such a word for V that does not require some sort of help using a preposition, like "the fire dies from the water", which seems to make the water the active agent. I'm really wondering if there is a very direct verb, so that V is just a single word, or at least so that the water is the object.

Another example:
Let y ≥ 1, so that y has a certain fixed "strength". The relation x ≤ -y means that "y diminishes x": as y increases, x decreases (without bound). We can also say that "x is diminished by y". What does x do to y? We know that y might have to decrease if x increases. However, this is limited because y ≥ 1, and so x's success "against" y is bounded: x must always be less than or equal to -1. Indeed, x does not increase in response to a decrease in y but we can always increase y by some amount that is large enough to decrease x. In this way the relationship is asymmetric. So clearly x's conflict with y is somehow tragic because its success is bounded and its failure is unbounded. We can say that "x counterposes y", but it doesn't quite capture the fact that x loses to y or is likely to lose to y. What we really want is something like "x (poorly counterposes) y". So is there some word that means "to oppose something poorly/weakly/asymmetrically/badly", or "to oppose something and become weakened as a result"?

One verb that kind of works in these situations is "suffer": "the fire suffers the water", and "x suffers y". However this verb only weakly embeds the opposition between the fire/x and water/y. Another problem with this word is that it doesn't convey that fire/x is at a profound disadvantage, just that its relationship with water/y is somehow "bad" or at least "not good".

So ultimately I'm curious if there exists a transitive verb that is equivalent to something like "oppose at disadvantage", and in particular for the verb to not include any notion that the force of opposition is at all balanced with that which it opposes.

If it seems that no such word exists, is there a technical (language based, non-cultural) reason for it?

EDIT:
Global Charm asked for another example:

"Alice humiliates (diminishes the status of) her school rival. Alice's rival is humiliated (status is diminished). Alice's rival V alice."

In my opinion Alice's rival is in some way actively involved with getting humiliated: in one way or another Alice's rival entered into a rivalry, and positioned herself to be defeated by Alice (even if defeat wasn't certain, it was possible). We could guess that Alice's rival probably poorly opposed Alice.


texts:
I'm confused whether the verb answer should come with the preposition in or without it in a sentence "the timing a question will be answered in is important" or "the timing a question will be answered is important"? If both sentences are right, is there any difference in the meaning between the two?

Also, does the sentence sound natural or it should be rephrased?


texts:
Season's Greetings:

  exclamation, noun [plural] UK    US
  something written on a Christmas card as a way of expressing a Christmas greeting. (dictionary.cambridge.org)
  A non-religious greeting uttered by well-wishers near the winter/solstice holiday period. (www.wiktionary.org)
  Used as an expression of goodwill at Christmas or the New Year. (ODO)

Ngram Season's Greetings.

Is there a reason why this expression is used only to refer to the Christmas period and not to Easter or other holidays periods?

Related: Is there a season's greeting for Halloween?


texts: Is there a symbol to indicate a fraction normalized to the unit interval (0 to 1)?

texts:
I'm looking for a symbol/character that quickly conveys to the reader that the number that follows is to be understood as a decimal fraction in the range from 0 (minimum) to 1 (maximum). So for example "humidity: 0.4<symbol>" would represent the same idea as "humidity: 40%".
This would be analogous to the % (per cent) and ‰ (per mille) signs. When you read a table column labeled as "% humidity" or "% unemployment" you understand well and immediately that the numbers that follow below are relative to the range 0 to 100.
I want to use this in in table headers, function annotations, on UI buttons, as boilerplate text, and so forth. I.e. anywhere where there isn't a lot of space and it's better to be succinct. It would appear alongside other shorthands such as Σ for sum, ⌀ for average, Δ for difference, # for ordinal, etc.
For now I'm using the unit interval notation [0, 1] or [0...1] as a prefix or postfix but it's not always well understood.
Edit: I should mention that I'm typically unable to modify the data itself, so I can't just change 0.4 to 40% and use the percentage symbol.


texts:
In the article, "Not nein...but TEN reasons why we should love Germany", the following phrase is being used:

  LET’S face it, Britain and Germany have a little form over the past century.

Obviously being some kind of typical British humour (I suppose), what does "to have a little form" mean exactly, where does it come from and is it also used in the US?


texts: Why there are two different meanings for "triweekly"?

texts:
Context: I am looking for a term to indicate a time period of 3 weeks/21 days

For instance, a "fortnightly" event would occur every 2 weeks/14 days.

My Usage:

  The "Read for the Visually Challenged" is a {fill in word for 3 weeks} event as part of CSR initiatives organised by our comapny.

When I searched online, I stumbled upon Triweekly, an adjective with two entirely different meanings

  occurring or appearing three times a week
  occurring or appearing every three weeks

[Merriam-Webster]

Ideally, I mean #2, but will this create a confusion? Why does it mean 2 different time periods? Is there another word to indicate a period of exactly 3 weeks?

P.S: I am not looking for "monthly" since this event is conducted every 3 weeks and it could be possible that it occurs in the first and fourth week of the same month.


texts: Prepositional phrase modifying multiple nouns

texts:
I am working with a client on a website and he has submitted the text below which I believe is not written correctly.  Although we know that there are five boroughs in NYC, it seems the five boroughs are also related to Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester.  I have corrected it by adding "as well as" after "City of New York" but my client has asked me to use the original text.  Is there a rule or clear explanation that I can cite to clearly explain why this is not the best sentence structure?  Also, what is the term for the phrase "as well as" that separates the nouns after the preposition?

Text in Question: "We have appeared for decades in the five boroughs of the City of New York, Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester Counties"


texts: What's the difference between "erroneous" and "wrong"?

texts:
Are these words totally interchangeable?

  I made the [erroneous/wrong] decision.


texts: What do you call a person who mocks, ridicules makes fun of you but can't take a joke on themselves?

texts:
What do you call a person who mocks, ridicules, makes fun of you at your expense in private or public but can't take a joke on themselves. The person would get angry at the slightest hint and probably start accusing you of this or that subconsciously using every defending mechanism (logical fallacies) that they can use.
I want to know to be able to communicate my feeling towards the person in question, without being too wordy and exhausting their willingness to listen. The person has previously been quite impatient of long explanations.


texts:
What is the term for a group of liches?

  In fantasy fiction, a lich (/ˈlɪtʃ/; cognate to Dutch lijk, German Leiche, Norse lík and Swedish lik all meaning "corpse") is a type of undead creature. [Wikipedia]

A group of unicorns is a blessing.  So what is a group of liches?


texts: Term for pertaining to the polar direction

texts:
I am discussing a system (in a scientific context) which is described with spherical polar coordinates. This has a radial coordinate r, a polar angle θ and a azimuth angle φ. A diagram can be found on the linked page.

I would like a term to describe (for example) motion in the polar direction (increasing or decreasing θ). The equivalent terms for the other two directions would be "radial" and "azimuthal". There are several possibilities:

"Polar" is the obvious choice, but this could also mean motion of the pole itself.
"Poloidal" seems to mean the correct thing, but might only refer to a toroidal, instead of a spherical, geometry.
"Poleward", but this has connotations of only being towards the nearest pole. Hence the word we are looking for is to "poleward" as "vertical" is to "upward".
"Vertical" is used by some, as the θ direction is parallel to the z-axis in the equatorial plane, and the z-axis is commonly taken to be the vertical direction. However, this is inappropriate close to the pole when the θ direction becomes horizontal.
"Latitudinal" describes the correct direction, but seems odd when not paired with "longitudinal" for azimuthal motion.

Is there another term, or is there a clear best option?


texts: when say: she's gone, which one is correct: she is gone or she has gone

texts:
in this text:
"I can't find my daughter. I was buying these clothes at the register,
  And she was right behing me, and now she’s gone."

written "she's gone".
how I understand which one is mean?
she is gone?
or
she has gone?
thank you


texts: A word or term to describe someone who likes to make people look stupid

texts:
Is there a word for someone who tries to trip you up during conversation almost so you muddle your words and sound confused to the point where they appear to have have won a debate?

Someone who uses tactics such as these to appear that they've won a debate without actually winning based on the merit of what they have said.

They'll instead try and trip you up, or purposely respond to what you said as if it was outrageous, ridiculous or comically funny?

Their responses have no substance but their tactic is to attack what you have said, if this makes sense?

It's almost like a 'troll' but their tactics are not readily apparent to others as being 'trolling'.

Ideally you'd like to be able to say "She is such a/an X" or "She wins all her arguments through being an/a X" or "She wins her arguments by doing X" or "She only won that debate through her X tactics". Something along these lines would be helpful.

Edit: this question was marked a duplicate but the duplicate post isn't exactly the same as what I am asking. The confusion tactic is an element of their behaviour but it's also to ridicule or pick one word of what you said and attack that specific use of word, etc. All your answers have been very helpful. Thank you


texts: "Anyone Remember?" Or "Does Anyone Remember?", Which is Correct?

texts:
Which of these sentences is correct?

Anyone remember global dimming?
Does anyone remember global dimming?

If both are correct, where is each of them used?


texts: What is a "dear grandma, love egg" moment?

texts:
Robert Peston recently wrote on his BBC blog:

  But it would mean that the perceived quality of all the trillions of dollars of bonds it has sold would deteriorate (here is one of my "dear grandma, love egg" moments - when a government issues a bond, it is borrowing from investors).

What on earth is a “dear grandma, love egg” moment?


texts:
David studied for his math exam for several hours

David received the highest grade in his class.

I would rephrase like this: Receiving the highest grade in his math class, David had studied for his exam for several hours.

But this sounds wrong to me, somehow??
People could think the two thing happened all at once?

David studied for his math exam and David received the highest grade in class
After studying for his math exam for several hrs, David received the highest grade.

Now, which one of these 3 sentences separates the two things by the right amount of time?


texts: What's the meaning of phrase "for fun and profit"?

texts:
What's the meaning of phrase “for fun and profit”?
Previous question only ask about origin, not meaning, and I cannot find it in dictionary: http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/fun+and+profit


texts:
Both of these things run on electricity. I can't figure out why electrical equipment can't be  electric equipment?
Even after some research, I can't give the proper answer.


texts: What is a word that means "created out of nothing"

texts:
I am writing an article and I am having trouble finding a word for "to create out of nothing." The following are slightly different forms to show you the general 'feel' of the word that I am looking for.

"to obtain without [any] effort"
"to create without any input"
"producing something effortlessly or from nothing"

A Latin word for this that I was thinking of is Ex Nihilo but I was hoping for more ideas.


texts: Is a comma appropriate in "Sounds good, thanks."

texts:
If I am writing "Sounds good, thanks.", is a comma appropriate between "Sounds good" and "thanks"? It seems awkward/too much to instead do "Sounds good; thanks." or "Sounds good. Thanks."

Would the same rule as above apply for situations such as "OK, thanks." and "Yes, please."?


texts: What do we call "being chosen by God as a prophet"?

texts:
You're a prophet. You receive revelations from God. You have miracles. You bring a religion, possibly a holy book, and so on.

But what is the technical term to describe the moment you've been chosen by God as a prophet?


texts:
What is the difference between the following sentences?

  Even in those days he played golf on Wednesday.
  Even in those days he played golf on every Wednesday.
  Even in those days he played golf every Wednesday.

In a non-progressive sentence, which adverb phrase (in those days, or every Wednesday) is used to refer a serial state (habitual)?


texts:
I'm really struggling with semicolons and I know I need an independent clause after the semicolon but I feel like that makes the whole sentences flow a bit sharp?
would this be correct:
"My prior knowledge of this sector was limited; therefore, I was surprised to learn about the different strategies business used to outcompete different firms"
I know I need to get rid of therefore to make it independent but I feel like the vibe of the sentence would change?
please help and thank you!


texts: Frasier: "Goose" and italian soccer team?

texts:
I'm watching the Frasier  season 2, episode 23 and there's line that goes:

An Italian soccer team was sitting at the next table, Maris announced
she was in the mood for a goose, and - perhaps inevitably - tragedy
ensued.

Cue laugh track.
What's funny about the line?


texts: Verbs: Using "had" + Verb, vs. not. What's the difference?

texts:
How does using "had" change the sentence meaning or grammar below - is it needed?

Jamie returned to the table to grab the plane Bill had folded for him while they were waiting for the food.

vs.

Jamie returned to the table to grab the plane Bill folded for him while they were waiting for the food.

(on a separate but maybe similar note: Is there a difference between saying "...the plane Bill had folded..." vs. "the plane that Bill had folded...")


texts: Which is grammatically correct? Open or opens?

texts:
1)The quest of finding methods of expression that is authentic to oneself open up doors

2)The quest of finding methods of expression that is authentic to oneself opens up doors


texts:
Here we see the different terminology for wharf, a pier, a jetty and a quay - which all depend on whether they are built on piles or fill; extending out from shore or parallel to shore.

Strangely missing from this is floating platforms - pontoons.

My question is:  Are there different names for a pontoon if it is parallel or extending out from the shore?


texts: What's the difference between "kind of" and "a little bit"?

texts:
I am a little bit angry.
I am kind of angry.

I searched the two phrases, but can't found the difference.
Are them the same?


texts:
I'm TA:ing a programming course and am writing up the instructions for a lab in which the students will implement a toy stock trading platform. I'm not too familiar with financial lingo, so there is this one term I need some help with.

What's the term generally used for a completed trade? That is, I want to buy 10 shares in X at $10 per share, you want to sell 10 shares in X at $10 per share, so I buy your 10 shares and now we have a... what?


texts: When did British and American crochet terms diverge?

texts:
In crochet basic stitches are called different things. For example a single crochet in America is called a double crochet in the UK, a double crochet in America is called a treble crochet in the UK, etc. I think (and this is a guess) that they are both consistent, with the American versions named after the height of the stitch and the UK version named after the number of loops on the crochet hook.

When did they diverge?

Crochet feels like an old craft that must have been commonplace around the time that Europeans settled America. Describing crochet stitches must have been similarly commonplace so what would cause these two usages to develop - is there a history of crochet terms that would chart this out?


texts: Are there English equivalents to the Japanese saying, “There’s a god who puts you down as well as a god who picks you up”?

texts:
There is an old Japanese saying, “捨てる神あれば、拾う神あり-Suterukami areba hirou kami ari,” meaning “There’s a god who puts you down as well as a god who picks up you.” In other words, “In this world, some people help you, and some people harm you” or “Fortune and misfortune come alternately.”

For example, when you are fired from an IT company, and then hired by its rival company with a higher salary three months later, your peers will say to you “You're a lucky man. There’s a god who throws you away as well as a god who picks you up.”

I’m curious to know if there are similar sayings in English to “Suterukami areba hirou kami ari.”


texts: A term to describe a deceased relative who died before you were born

texts:
My paternal grandfather died before I was born, and my father assigned his given-name to my middle-name to honour his memory.

I could describe him as "my late grandfather" but "late" simply means deceased - I'm wondering if there's a word or short phrase to describe a relative who had a somewhat untimely death (he died in his 60s) that would otherwise have been around to see me grow up.

Basically a more succinct version of "my died-before-I-was-born grandfather".

(Secondarily, should my question say "...that would otherwise have been..." or "...that would have otherwise have been..."? The repetition of "have" seems incorrect, but lacking it also feels incorrect).


texts: Is magnanimity the right word for courage, insight and willingness to overlook or forgive?

texts:
Definitions of magnanimous in some of the most authoritative dictionaries:

Oxford Dictionaries Online:

  Generous or forgiving, especially towards a rival or less powerful person.

Dictionary.com (Random House Dictionary):

  Generous in forgiving an insult or injury; free from petty resentfulness or vindictiveness.
  High-minded; noble.
  Proceeding from or revealing generosity or nobility of mind, character, etc.

American Heritage Dictionary:

  Highly moral, especially in showing kindness or forgiveness, as in overlooking insults or not seeking revenge.

And the Wikipedia entry for magnanimity:

  The virtue of being great of mind and heart. It encompasses, usually, a refusal to be petty, a willingness to face danger, and actions for noble purposes. Its antithesis is pusillanimity.

All of the dictionaries define magnanimous as either generous, forgiving or all-encompassing moral (which may include courageous). Only the Wikipedia article has the explicit definition of courage in magnanimity.

My question is: is magnanimity the right word for courage, insight and willingness to overlook, accept or forgive? I am looking for a single word or two words (nouns) that expresses the same meanings as courage, insight and willingness to overlook or forgive combined.


texts: Someone (in most cases an academic) who is well-rounded in the field of ancient manuscripts, with solid training in history and/or literature, one or more ancient languages, paleography, and codicology. Thank you


texts: "Take care, sir!" - how formal/informal is "take care" in the meaning of "goodbye"?

texts:
According to oxforddictionaries (and also e.g. What does "Take care sweets" mean?), take care used at the end of a conversation has the meaning of goodbye:

  Said to someone on leaving them.
  Take care, see you soon
  Angel, have a nice trip, take care, and remember to e-mail me!

All the examples of the usage I found sound to me like the informal language.

I recently called an IT service desk of a big company. The assistant addressed me quite formally and politely (sir here sir there, could you, would you be so kind etc.). However at the very end of the conversation she said take care, sir.

This sounds to me like a mixing of styles, but I am not sure.

How formal / informal is take care used in the meaning of goodbye? Is it appropriate to be mixed with the addressing by sir (when meant seriously and not in a funny way)?


texts: What are the limitations on the "there + preposition" construction?

texts:
I use words such as thereof, thereupon, and thereafter relatively often, but I occasionally find myself wanting to use this construction with different prepositions. Most times it's therefor, which I find is used mostly in legal contexts, but what about odder ones such as thereunder, therebefore, or (for the sake of argument) thereamongst?

The only words of this sort I know to be in commonish use are:

thereabout
thereafter
thereat
thereby
therefrom
therein
thereof
thereon
thereto
thereupon
therewith

I guess what I'm really asking is whether this is a productive construction. I mean, I may sound anywhere between stilted and insane if I overuse it, but I'm more concerned with whether it's considered correct. Thoughts appreciated, references doubly so.


texts: Confused about the answer for "Neither the employees nor the owner (cares/care) about the customer."

texts:
I'm sorry I couldn't be more specific in my question title. I don't have the vocabulary to pinpoint what exactly I have difficulties with yet; therefore, I'll try to explain through examples.

I came across this exercise on College Panda and was confused:

"Neither the employees nor the owner (cares/care) about the customer."

I thought the answer was "care" because "employees" and "owner" could be summarized with the pronoun 'they'.

And you would say, "They(plural) don't care about the customer".

But apparently, the answer is, "Neither the employees nor the owner cares about the customer." Does that mean, when using two nouns in tandem, you are supposed to base the subject/verb agreement on the noun directly preceding the verb?

E.g. with "My daughters and my son play/plays together", the verb "play" must agree with "son"; with "My son and daughters play/plays together", the verb "play" must agree with "daughters"?

Sorry about any confusion.

TL;DR: Please explain why the answer isn't "care"

Thanks in advance!


texts: What is the military term for kicking militants out of a city?

texts:
What is the military term for driving militants out of a city, and declaring the city completely militant-free?

I got an advice to use the word "cleansed", but I am not really convinced it is the right word.


texts:
Each day in the office we choose a 'word of the day.' We have started to keep a list of the words.

What should the list be called?
 1. Words of the Day — implies many words but one day
 2. Word of the Days
 3. Words of the Days


texts: Word for something so obvious there is no need to state it

texts:
I am currently twirling around in circles trying to find this word.  I've heard it used before, and I want to use it in something I am writing, but I can't remember it.  On the tip of my brain, but not falling off.

Anyway, the word means something like to state the obvious truth, and it is so obvious that there is little point in stating it.

If I were to use it in a sentence, it would be found in the blank:

"To state it is to utter a ________."

Well, that might be a poor sample sentence.

Edited to add:

Okay, those are all good Thesaurus words, but not the one I am looking for.  A further clue is that the word is somewhat pejorative, or perhaps somewhat negative. And it is definitely a noun.  I will recognize when it is posted, I promise.


texts: “Thought as” vs. “Thought of as” vs “Thought of as being”

texts:
Which  of the following phrases below are correct?

The referred maps are to be thought
as translations, as means of identifying the tangent spaces.
The referred maps are to be thought
of as translations, as means of identifying the tangent spaces.
The referred maps are to be thought
of as being translations, as means of identifying the tangent spaces.


texts:
Teddy's father is a prominent physician who puts a great deal of
  pressure on the boy to achieve at a very high level. As an only child,
  Teddy felt that all his father wanted from him was that he do well in
  school. He thought that the only time there was affection in their
  relationship was when he got a great report card. He stated unhappily,
  "He never has any time for me ─ except to check if and how I did my
  homework. I just want him to love me." I advised the father as
  follows: "Give him the quality time he needs from you.

"Teddy felt that all his father wanted from him was that he [do] well in school."

"He" is a singular noun and therefore requires a singular verb "does", so why did this author use the plural verb "do" after "he"?


texts: Is there a word or phrase for conceding a debate just to end it?

texts:
When an argument or debate degrades to nitpicking insignificant points, such that it becomes too tiresome and unproductive to continue, one party may concede the debate simply to end it.

Perhaps the points being debated are so mundane or tangential to the central topic that they are irrelevant.

One person outwardly admits defeat, but the internal motivation is exhaustion, boredom or a desire to keep the peace, rather than sincere conviction.

Is there a single word or phrase to describe this act?


texts: What's the correct way to say a movie trailer? for example: "Inside out's trailer" or "Inside out Trailer"?


texts: Environmental Health and Safety vs Environmental, Health, and Safety guidelines

texts:
Can you tell me when to know which EHS (which can be either of the above two definitions) definition is correct?  I read the first definition as the guidelines for the health and safety of the environment (2 things) and the second definition as guidelines for the environment, for health, and for safety (3 things).

I work in an industry where the acronym is used very often and, maybe I'm reading too much into it, but I think that there is a distinct difference in those two meanings.


texts: Is there a word for somebody who cares for his/her child too much?

texts:
I have just finished watching the 3rd season of Lie to Me.

I am wonder whether there is a word for somebody who cares for his/her son/daughter/child too much, like Dr. Cal Lightman?


texts: Is this contraction of 'there is' acceptable to native speakers of English?

texts:
In the Slate article, The Curse of “You May Also Like”, the following sentence has a contraction of there is that doesn't sit well with my ear for American or British English. I wonder whether any of our native English-speaking users find it acceptable and grammatical. I think it's not idiomatic, is ungrammatical, and is unacceptable, but I may just be too old and ornery to cozy down to this level of change in language usage. NB: I first coined the phrase cozy down to and then found an apt example of cozy down on the Internet.

  Amazon's knowledge, however, goes deeper than Netflix's: Since it also runs a site where we buy books, it knows everything that there's to know about our buying behavior and the prices that we are willing to pay.

Is this acceptable?


texts:
I found online the following:

  Pedestrians are pushed off to the sides.

  either in the middle or off to the sides.

  Off to the sides were open fields.

  ...flows off to the sides of the...

  ...swam off to the sides.

  Even people off to the sides of these stage speakers enjoy
  well-balanced, detailed sound...

  ...protesters would stand off to the sides yelling or booing...

Why not at the sides or simply to the sides? I understand swam off to the sides to mean swam away to the sides, but many others elude me.

Back to: "Pedestrians were pushed off to the sides". Interestingly, "push off" is also an idiom/phrasal verb with a totally different meaning. I imagine one can guess in our discussed case "pushed" and "off" are separate. That's one of the hardest things for non-native speakers of English, however, figuring out when those particles are part of the preceding verb, and when they are part of something else in a sencence. It adds to confusion. That's why you hardly ever hear non-natives using phrasal verbs and particles where the meaning is not very very very obvious. In addition I have not heard of a single book on the Enlish language explaining particles beyond the basics. Just saying.


texts: Is “I’ve boughten many vinyls” correct in its use of “boughten”?

texts:
Per Merriam-Webster (https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/is-boughten-a-word) boughten is an adjective.
According to my non-native-English-speaking friend the sentence "I've boughten many vinyls" is not grammatically correct.   Is he right?
Adjectives (boughten) can be used to describe pronouns (many),  so although my sentence may be odd in today's times, is it grammatically correct?   If not, what rule is it breaking?


texts: What is the right way of saying this: "we're giving our opinion OF/ABOUT you"

texts:
I've done some research but I still don't quite understand the difference between "of" and "about" after the noun "opinion".

Edit: the original sentence is "we're giving our honest opinion OF/ABOUT you".
I don't know if that changes anything, but a source said "of" is more common when there's an adjective in the sentence.


texts: Why are promiscuous women known as "slappers"?

texts:
Women who aren't interested in much more than sex are referred to as "slappers" in British English.

  British informal, derogatory a promiscuous or vulgar woman.

Why is this?  I can't find any solid etymology information.


texts: Should this phrase be contained in commas, parentheses, or nothing?

texts:
I tried to figure out if this is correct. I just don´t know if I should use commas before and after "rather than one", a parenthesis, or no comma at all.

I think that "rather than one" is non-essential information and it is not part of the object "three consecutive adjectives alike". Am I in the clear?

  Since the writers used three consecutive adjectives alike, rather than one, and highlighted the noun “MURDER”,  a negative attitude towards non-standard behavior is communicated to the reader.


texts:
There are several words in English starting with touch, such as touchwood, touchstone, touchline, ect. (a list can be found here : http://www.scrabblefinder.com/starts-with/touch/ )

I would like to know if there is some intuition or some rule that can suggest the meaning of (the majority of) these words. Is it true that majority of this words were formed in the same way?


texts: Nuances between "extenuate" and "palliate"?

texts:
I'm looking for a word which defines the act of "making an offence look less severe". However, this can be done rightfully (because an offence might in reality be excusable because of unfavorable circumstances) or unrightfully (because there are no excuses for the offence, but the offender is trying to get away with it anyway, so this word is most likely pejorative).

Are there different words to describe each situation above, that I could use in everyday language, without sounding too formal?

What about 'extenuate' and 'palliate'? What other words are there, that have more exact definitions like these two?


texts: Meaning of "pull this up" in this context

texts:
I have an online purchase to return to the store for some reason. I received an email from the staff working in the company saying that

  Attached is a copy of your return invoice. The store should be able to
  pull this up and process.

I have never seen the usage of pull up like this, I guess it's meaning deal with and handle here, but I can't find such definition in dictionaries. Is this a legitimate and common usage of the phrase pull up?


texts:
Gans calls these ‘prediction machines’, because these algorithms make
forecasts about the outcomes of decisions and optimise accordingly
(based on definable trends in behavioural data).

In this sentence 'optimise' seems to be used as an intransitive verb since there's no objective for it. Can this be possible? If so, what does it mean?


texts: Can "it" refer to or represent any element showing in the foregoing sentence?

texts:
In human soul sensory capacities are as fundamental as intellectual
  ones. It attain perfect goodness through many different powers
  including both intellectual ones and sensory ones.

I use the first word of the second sentence “it” to refer to “human soul”
which functions as a part in an adverbial modifier. Is it ok?


texts: Punctuation question: quotation marks around names in dialog?

texts:
If you refer to a name alone and not along with a person in dialog, do you put single quotation marks around it?

E.g., "Yeah, I agree with you there. 'Jon' is pretty common, but the same could be said of 'Jeffrey,' too."

E.g., "I could go with the name, Jon, sure, but I prefer 'Jeff' instead; or maybe since my last name's Thomas I'll go with 'Tommy.'

Made up examples, but they convey what I'm iffy about fine I think. Thanks for the feedback!


texts: Changing clause of condition to absolute phrase and participle w

texts:
1a. When I have money I will buy a car.
2a. If my parents allow I'll go abroad.
Can these sentence be changed into a absolute participle phrase? For example
1b. Having money, I'll buy a car.
2b. Parents allowing, I'll go abroad.


texts:
Sentence 1: They made a decision.
Sentence 2: They will go to the park tomorrow. (tomorrow is based on
now, not the time when they made the decision)

How can I join them together using the verb "decide" plus to-infinitive or plus an objective clause without changing the meaning?

1.They decide to go to the park tomorrow.
2.They decided to go to the park tomorrow.
3.They decided to go to the park the next day.
4.They have decided to go to the park tomorrow.
5.They have decided that they will go to the park tomorrow.

Which of them are correct? or Do you have any better ones?


texts: The object of "I don't like people telling me what to do"?

texts:
In the sentences

  I don't like people telling me what to do.
  I'm fed up with you telling me what to do.

What are the objects of like and with? Is it "people" or "people telling me what to do" for the verb like?

Why can't I use a sentence just after like or with?. That is to say:

  I don't like people tell me what to do.
  I'm fed up with you tell me what to do.


texts: "People with different profiles" or "people with a different background"

texts:
Speaking about technical and non-technical people (management), which word is the best in this case? Profile or Background?

The whole sentence is "To provide training for people with [different profiles] | [a different background]"


texts:
I need help because I don't know how to rewrite these sentencese in a formal way:

1) This is the area of research that he is working on.
2) Here are some new statistics that you can have confidence in.
3) This is a theory that there's little support for.
4) Is this the person who you entered into correspondence with?
5) The editor that she sent her article to has replied.
6) Unfortunately, the conference that you enrolled on has been cancelled.


texts:
In the following sentence:

  Directly substituting all continuous-time components of X by their previously described discrete-time counterparts results in Y because/as [...]

I'm unsure if "previously described discrete-time" should be hyphenated the way it is. According to this answer any words ending with "ly" are usually not hyphenated so I think "previously described" is correct.

My gut felling is that "previously described discrete-time" is correct, but I'm unsure if it should instead be "previously described-discrete-time" according to the examples of compound adjectives with more than two words that I've seen.

The reason I'm unsure is that if instead of "previously" I used something that doesn't end with "ly", for instance "well", the hyphenation would become "well-described-discrete-time"... right? So does the "no hyphenation" rule for words ending with "ly" affect the hyphenation of the following adjectives? If not (which I don't think it does), then what is the correct hyphenation for this sentence?

I don't think this is a duplicate question as I couldn't find other similar questions, but please do correct me if I'm wrong.


texts: Can collection be used a verb? Eg. the activity of data collection over the activity of data collecting

texts:
I am writing a research paper about data collectors, but there is no existent terminology for the activity of such collectors. Would it be data collecting? Or data collection?

Example from my paper:

Data collecting/collection is defined as the large accumulation of data with a cohesive theme with the aim of enriching a personal collection.


texts:
What sentence is more correct?

  I wish you luck in your studies.

Or

  I wish you luck at your studies.

Or the both variants can be used?


texts: "Questions like this" or "questions like these"

texts:
On a comment to one of my other questions on this site, a user said:

  It’s much easier to answer questions like this when you specify where
  you've come across the word.

Is the use of the word this correct in such case?

I would be inclined to say “questions like these”, or if I wanted to use the singular form I would rephrase it as “a question like this”.


texts:
There is a well known proverb,

  A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush

However, I have discovered that the earliest English version of this proverb according to phrases.org.uk is found in John Capgrave's The Life of St Katharine of Alexandria, 1450:

  "It is more sekyr [certain] a byrd in your fest, Than to haue three in the sky a‐boue."

John Heywood's 1546 glossary quotes it as:

  Better one byrde in hande than ten in the wood.

The 7th century Aramaic Story of Ahikar has text that modern translations render as:

  Better is a sparrow held tight in the hand than a thousand birds flying about in the air.

Etymonline's entry for bird includes a quote from circa 1530:

  A byrde yn honde ys better than three yn the wode.

Which is the same number as the quote from 1450.

Yet I have only ever heard of there being two birds in the bush. I was not aware there was any variation in the number of birds.

When is the first recorded use of two birds come about, and
Why has this version become so prevalent?

The only reason I can think of is for it to be printed and widely circulated - is there any proof of this?


texts: Unreal conditional for future in question

texts:
I have a real trouble to properly translate to English following Russian phrase 'У вас будет хоть что-то более интересное, чем это?'. As far as I can understand, it's a question with unreal condition with relation for the future tense.

A rough literal translation would be: 'Will you have at least something which is more interesting than this?', but this translation loose all 'unreal' part and I'm not sure if I used tenses right.

Update: Few people helped me to make it less boring: 'Are you going to have something more interesting than this?'.

How this kind of construction is named in English?


texts: Is there a viable synonym for the verb "nod"?

texts:
Reading through my manuscript, I realize I have overused the verb "nod" - as in "This sounds great", she agreed nodding.

It seems to me there is a slight problem in that there aren't any great, viable synonyms for a gesture that is very common in human conversation.

Or am I wrong? Is there any alternative to overusing this expression?

To clarify, I'm looking for a verb indicating the gesture (i.e. the motion of the head), not the meaning of agreement (such as e.g. "This sounds great", she concurred)


texts: "ABIDE" vs "AWAIT" - What's the difference?

texts:
In English Dictionary, under 'ABIDE', it says that

to wait for : await

• to abide the coming of the Lord

• abide the day of His coming

• abide one's time

Under 'AWAIT', it says that

to wait for

• await summer vacation

• await trial

• await your arrival/reply

• Awaiting the favor of your prompt attention.

Can I use “abide” instead of “await”? In what situation would you use "abide" instead of "await"? Are they actually the same? Could you give me some more examples to illustrate the difference more clearly?


texts: What are some alternative phrases for "using the whole buffalo"?

texts: I'm concerned that this phrase may be insensitive to Native American culture, and I'm looking for alternative, culturally sensitive ways to make a point about not wasting resources.


texts: Confusion over "respected" in the following sentence

texts:
I'm confused what this sentence means. Does it mean that many people consider X respected, or that a few people consider X respected?

  not a few people consider respected
  and X to be an oxymoron

Side question: is this sentence structure convoluted or is it just me?


texts: How to explain that we stopped giving out cards for the day?

texts:
My restaurant uses a queue card (or ticket, I'm not sure what they're called) system.

Question is, how should I say when I want to let my customers know that our restaurant stopped giving queue cards for today (due to 300+ queue cards being distributed that day or other reasons)?


texts:
Is the diphthong [ai] on a non-primary stressed syllable a hypercorrection?

Some American people pronounce the prefix "anti" like an-tie.
For example, here's a pronunciation of "anti-Christian"
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/american_english/anti-Christian

Another example:
Most British people pronounce "finance" like fie-nance with the primary stress on the second syllable.
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/finance

Yet another example:
"organization"
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/organization

These diphthongs are non-primary stressed.
I wonder if they are originated from hypercorrections.

Edit (Oct. 18, 2015)
This question was closed because 5 users (tchrist, Janus Bahs Jacquet, Drew,
Edwin Ashworth, Myst) didn't understand what I was asking.
I think it's pretty clear what I was asking.

  Is the diphthong [ai] on a non-primary stressed syllable a hypercorrection?

Maybe they didn't know the meaning of "hypercorrection".
Here is the definition of "hypercorrection" by Oxford Dictionary.

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/hypercorrection
The use of an erroneous word form or pronunciation based on a false analogy with
a correct or prestigious form, such as the use of I instead of me as a grammatical
object (as in he invited my husband and I to lunch).


texts: Who does the verb "argues" and preposition "to" refer to in the following sentence?

texts:
At least to argues E.Pessen in his iconoclastic study of the very rich in the US between 1825 and 1850.

I don't quiet understand both to and argues. Does argues refers to E.Pessen?

Can anyone please turn this sentence into the normal form, such as "E.Pessen argues XXX"?


texts:
Which one of these is correct?

Rescheduling due to attendee unavailability OR

Rescheduling due to attendee availability


texts: Why is "but" used in the given sentence even though it seems correct without it?

texts:
The sentence in question is:

  Brookfield was but one of many feeding streams.

What purpose does the word but serve here?


texts:
If you end a question with a proper noun that requires quotation marks, i.e. a play's name, do you still put the question mark (?) inside the quotation marks?

EXAMPLE: Did you see "South Pacific"? -or- Did you see "South Pacific?"


texts: A word or phrase for something thrown away that is repurposed

texts:
What’s a word or short phrase for the following? An object, person, animal or something else that is thrown aside because of its uselessness but picked up by some others and it's being used for the opposite purpose it was meant for.

I can only think of the noun 'frippery', 'kamikaze' or 'a materialistic thing that's irrelevant' but I'm not sure. Thank you!


texts: Context understanding and structure of sentence

texts:
America's capacity utilisation, for example, hit historically high levels earlier this year, and its jobless rate (5.6% in August) has fallen below most estimates of the natural rate of unemployment—the rate below which inflation has taken off in the past.

I don't understand the sentence after the dash mark. First, does the rate refer to jobless rate or the natural rate of unemployment? Second, I don't understand the meaning of the last sentence neither in the context of jobless rate nor the natural rate of unemployment. Is the author using the subjunctive mood? It would be nice if someone could explain or rewrite the last sentence for me.


texts: Which Is correct: 2500 calories Is/are enough for the average man?

texts: Which is correct: '2500 calories is enough for your diet' or '2500 calories are enough for your diet'?


texts: Question about headline "Inmate Dies Anyway"

texts:
I came across this headline: "Oklahoma Stops Botched Execution. Inmate Dies Anyway." (link)

I was truly disturbed by the use of "anyway".  To me, it implies a nonchalant attitude about something that is highly sensitive and controversial.  Am I wrong?  Is the use of "anyway" acceptable?

Update:

What made me post this question is the use of "anyway" in casual speech. For example, after a pause, one side says "Anyway, should we go to lunch?" So, I have this feeling about "anyway" being a less-than-worthy word that one would not use in formal settings. Am I still wrong?


texts:
Since verily means truly or certainly. Can I use it where I would normally use certainly?
Like:

I certainly think that is appropriate.
I verily think that is appropriate.

If yes, are there instances where these are not interchangeable?


texts:
Is there a single word for "going the extra mile"?

If possible carrying the connotation, if not the denotation, of being awed and possibly humbled by the lengths to which someone went.


texts:
Is the below sentence grammatically correct.

The Annual Report highlights our financial performance in 2018, as well as our citizenship, corporate governance and talent related activities from throughout the year.


texts: I just read that a person who envies is called an 'envier'. What is a person who is being envied called?


texts: While the term 'left-wing" is relatively neutral, "leftist" has a derogatory air to it, or so it seems to me. Am I correct? Does anyone have any references for this? All I could find was this, which suggests that the derogatory nature associated with the word is more common in the US.


texts: Usage of "self-absorbed" to describe metaphors

texts:
I recently posted a few metaphors I came up with and someone on a stack exchange website said it was overly descriptive and "self-absorbed," and another person said it was "self-indulgent."

My question is how can metaphors be self-absorbed or self-indulgent? Wouldn't the self refer to the metaphors? They were saying the metaphors themselves were overly descriptive and etc.

I can see how people can use words the way they want to, but how do the usage of those words in that context even make sense?

If I said I wrote self-indulgent metaphors, that would make sense, but saying the metaphors themselves were self-indulgent makes me perplexed? Is that correct usage?

Also, just curious, but what would the difference be between:

I wrote self-indulgent metaphors.

The metaphors I wrote were self-indulgent.

I self-indulgently wrote metaphors.


texts: What is the meaning of "rake in the bucks"?

texts:
I've read the phrase in a post by Joel Spolsky:

  You should be starting to get some ideas about how to break the chicken and egg problem: provide a backwards compatibility mode which either delivers a truckload of chickens, or a truckload of eggs, depending on how you look at it, and sit back and rake in the bucks.

I somehow feel that the meaning is:

You earn so much money that you have to collect them with a rake.

or

You will see money as leaves on the ground (because you have so much of it) and you will collect them with a rake.

We have an equivalent phrase in our language (Persian) that refers to someone who has a lot of money, and says he shovels the money.

How much am I right?


texts: Is the question "If you didn't break the vase, who did?" a conditional sentence?

texts:
My problem is that I was taught (I think wrongly) that whenever a conditional sentence refers to past, there should be past perfect tense in the if clause, as in example 1.

Example 1:

  If you hadn't broken the vase, you wouldn't have angered your parents.
  [He broke the vase, no doubt about it.]

But is example 2 still a conditional sentence, and is it correct?

Example 2:

  If you didn't break the vase, who did?

We're still referring to past, but we don't really know whether he did it or not.

Is this an example of a conditional sentence? Why or why not? How do I recognize a "past" conditional sentence?


texts: What's the meaning of "Bread, you know it makes sandwiches"?

texts:
I have often heard the sentence

  Bread, you know it makes sandwiches

in various contexts - as a painting on a wall in a living room or in a motivational book.

What is the meaning of it?


texts:
I needed to write a business e-mail to my US partner just after Christmas day.
Are there any established forms of such a greeting?

Something like

  I hope you had a nice Christmas


texts: Two different meanings of Present Perfect Tense

texts:
I have a problem in the interpretation of the following sentences in the present perfect tense.

  1) I have worked for them since 2006.

Does it mean I am still working for them or I don't work for them any more?

  2) I have lived in this house since 2006.

Does it mean I am still living in the mentioned house or I don't live in this house anymore?

EDIT: Please note that there is time expressions in both sentences.


texts:
Should I say 'he' or 'him' in the following situation?

Even I am not going, let alone he.
Even I am not going, let alone him.


texts:
A definition of "product" is goods and services which are designed to be sold.

But how about a system which is not directly sold, but is designed to deliver services? E.g. an Information System which then supplies services to customers. There may be many such systems, each offering different ranges of services.

Sample sentence: "We have implemented several "products" to offer on-premises cloud services to internal customers."

I have looked in online dictionaries, but can't find this usage of "product".

Can we say that these systems are products? They have genuinely been "produced", but they themselves are not sold. It seems odd that a word about creation is defined only by how it's bought.

The word "system" or "information system" seem too general, and doesn't give the connotation of assembly or production.

And if we can't say these systems are products, is there a more accurate word or compound word or phrase, please?

Thanks for your help!


texts: Can a subject complement be always replaced by a noun (phrase)?

texts:
I'd like to know if there is a noun phrase meaning anything will die (disappear) eventually (not limited to life, but including other things not related to life). I know an adjective for this meaning as mortal. But I want to find a noun phrase with the same meaning. The purpose is to find a noun (phrase) alternative to a classic syllogism as:

All men are mortal.
Socrates is a man.
So Socrates is mortal.

Generally, we want to know if a subject complement can always be replaced by a noun (phrase).


texts:
I'm looking for a word or phrase that describes the specific type of word-play or idiom in these examples::

  The movie Rocky Horror Picture Show is so bad that it's good.
  Chinese Crested Hairless dogs are so ugly they're cute.
  Eating these high-fat triple-chocolate brownies is so right that it's wrong.

(BTW: The above are not my actual opinions, just examples of the usage I am asking about!)

I had thought about chiasmus, but it doesn't fit exactly.  Any other ideas?


texts: What is a single word for everything going your way?

texts:
I need an adjective that conveys the meaning of things going the way you want them to.
For example if you are a king you would want everything during your reign to go your way.

  When I am king, I want a ______ reign.


texts: Is the expression "I am still to see" correct?

texts: For example: I am still to see that happening


texts:
Could you please see if I have the correct solution for this task:
"Write the sentence, using 'have (has) been'/'have (has) gone'. Don't forget about full stops.
Example 0. I haven't seen Kate for ages. (She/Paris/for a year)
Answer 0. She has gone to Paris for a year.

I have already come home. (I/Poland/for a year)

P.S. My try is:
1. I have been to Poland. I was there for a year.

(Can we incorporate the period "for a year" into the sentence "I have been to Poland."?)
So what's the right solution? Thank you in advance!


texts: Word for a person that's hard to get rid of

texts: I need a word (or an expression) for a person that you can't get rid of, no matter how hard you try. Like a nuisance, but more poetic I guess.


texts: Is there a technical term for words that can denote both activity and its result?

texts: Is there a technical term describing words that can denote both a state (result) and an activity? For instance: composition (the activity of composing vs. the result, a composed piece), configuration (the act of changing a set of elements vs. the resulting tableau of elements)


texts: Difference between Present P. and Past P. for completed actions

texts:
I am always get into dilemma situation whether to use "I have" or "I had" for immediate past event.

For example:

  I have discussed with you
  or
  I had discussed with you

The discussion happened yesterday night and I am referring about same discussion while writing an email.


texts: Does "snide" mean something different in the US vs the UK?

texts:
I'm a native British English speaker and to me the word "snide" (as in "a snide comment") conveys an idea of nastiness and maliciousness as well as slyness and underhandedness.

Does the word snide convey any of those ideas to speakers of US English?

I'm asking because I've come across a few comments online written by Americans where they used the word snide in a way that didn't make sense to me as a Brit in the contexts it was used.

Does snide have a slightly different meaning in US English or is it one of those words like ironically or literally that is sometimes used incorrectly by native speakers?


texts:
This phrase comes from The Gambler by Fyodor Dostoevsky, translated by C. J. Hogarth. Here is the full sentence:

  "But I was an uninvited guest at the luncheon—the General had forgotten to arrange otherwise, or I should have been dispatched to dine at the table d'hote. Nevertheless, I presented myself in such guise that the General looked at me with a touch of approval.”

I looked up a Chinese translation, which is my first language, and it says this: "The general took a discontented glimpse at me."

The question is: is "a touch of approval" a negative expression that can be interpreted as "discontent" or "dissatisfied"?


texts:
What is the history behind the name "ghost pot"? Why is it called "ghost pot"?

First, what is a ghost pot?

  Also known as a derelict crab trap, a ghost pot is a crab pot that has
  lost its float and cannot be recovered by its owner.

  https://www.lafishblog.com/ghost-pots/

I surmised three possibilities.

Ghost is wandering and haunting. The ghost pot is also wandering around.
Ghost is someone who is dead.  The ghost pot is a pot which is dead because it cannot be used.
Ghost is scary. The ghost pot causes harm to marshes.


texts: Why is there a "riding" in "Little Red Riding Hood"?

texts: I get the little, the red and the hood... but how does the riding fit in there?


texts: Rhetorical strategy by collecting many agreeing individual perspectives to prove something right/wrong

texts:
I believe there is a specific rhetorical strategy by using large number of agreeing perspectives to prove the author's point (e.g. Person A said...Person B also stated...Company C explained)
The closest I can think of is testimony but I can't guarantee that as the strategy I'm looking for.
Can anyone clarify? Thanks!


texts: What does it mean to speak with "mock deference"?

texts:
I can find many instances of this expression, especially in descriptions of characters' lines in written dialog, but I can't find any mention to the expression itself. I understand that deference means polite submission and respect, so I take mock deference to mean that it's mocking someone by speaking with deference; like an employer calling an employee by boss.

Not being a native English speaker, I'm looking for a grounded meaning of this expression so I can be confident that I'm using it right.


texts: "An awful lot": Any negative connotation?

texts:
Today was my first time I saw people use "an awful lot of" instead of "a lot of".

It reminded me of "terribly good", which obviously has little negative connotation. But how about "an awful lot"?

Does the person saying it imply that he hates the state of there being too many of something?


texts:
When I want to use to implying to 2 verbs, do I need to use to again? For example, which one is true?

I'm eager to improve myself and to be involved in r&d activities.

or

I'm eager to improve myself and be involved in r&d activities.


texts: Verb "telescope" in mathematical formal use

texts: I have recently seen the verb "telescope" applied in a mathematical context, as a synonym of "derive" or "compress". Like in the following sentence: "This expression can be telescoped as follows:..." I was wondering if this usage is enough formal to be included for example in a scientific publication


texts:
I want to create a noun phrase that means the number of X that would be phrased like X number.

Should X be singular or plural?
e.g., student number or students number?

In either case, I would like to know why and what is the name of this "rule"?


texts: Is it recommended to include a preposition when listing several components of a sentence in parallel?

texts:
Consider the sample sentence below (quoted from a manual Here):

  When you evaluate a list, the Lisp interpreter looks at the first symbol in the list and then at the function definition bound to that symbol. Then the instructions in the function definition are carried out.

My question is: is it recommended to keep the duplicated "at" in the second bold text?
Is it ALWAYS recommended to keep the preposition before such parallel structure?

Appreciate any advice.


texts: Link available in two languages: "and" or "or" between the languages?

texts:
I'm translating a Belgian press release from French into English. In the article, there is a link to a Belgian website. The link is not in English, so obviously no use to a monolingual reader of English.

I am adding a few words in brackets before the link to say that it's only available in French and Dutch.

Should I say "Available in French and Dutch only" or "Available in French or Dutch only"?

I'm leaning towards "and", but I can't explain why. Just as a native speaker and it "feels" better to me. But I can't find any concrete rules stating which is correct, or are both OK?


texts: Succinct way of saying "Related to Take a Byte"

texts:
I have a website with many RSS feeds (http://www.sonihal.com/rss-feeds.html) that include

1 - My blog entries

2 - Articles that relate to the blog's subject area

For instance, the website has a blog related to information technology (I call it "Take a Byte")

But I also created another RSS feed from several information technology websites, and I called it "Related to Take a Byte", but I find this name too long.

What is a succinct, yet descriptive name for this type of blog to let the user know this RSS feed is related to articles that are posted under "Take a Byte".

In other words, I would like "Take a Byte" to be included in the RSS feed hyperlink.

Thanks!

I using "Take a Byte" as an example. Am looking to apply the same word format to other RSS feeds from Internet that is similar to my content.


texts:
Some topics are not controversial so it is easy to be neutral and rational when discussing them. Other topics are more controversial (e.g., abortion) so they make it difficult to remain objective. Regarding the second group, I want to say (with the word "topics" as subject):

  Some topics [] biased analysis.

What to put in the brackets?
Encourage?
Promote?
Facilitate?
Are vulnerable to?
Are prone to?


texts:
"[In] any way, shape, or form" is a rhetorical idiom, in which shape and form tend to function as intensifiers. It is normally used for emphasis where the non-idiomatic phrases "[in] any way" or "[in] any form" would have been sufficient, and perhaps clearer. It is reliably attested at least as far back as 1826 (Colonial Times), already as a fully-formed idiom. Since this source is a provincial newspaper that can hardly have been responsible for popularizing the phrase, it must already have been in use before that time. However, I could not find any discussion whatsoever regarding its origins.

Earlier examples are found (around the 1790s) of the phrase in any shape, having much the same meaning, in both British and American usage (Mornington; Washington). However, this seems to have disappeared in later usage and been supplanted by the modern three-term form, which may have originated about 1800. Examples of both phrases are found during the 19th century, but afterwards most further usage of in any shape by itself seems either to mean a literal shape, or the sense of shape meaning condition, e.g. "not in any shape to/for [...]". Etymonline suggests (Etymonline) that the latter arose about 1865 in AmE, and so cannot have influenced the earlier usage. Thus it seems that the inclusion of shape in the idiom may have been motivated by the existence of the phrase in any shape, using a sense of the word that was seemingly current in the 18th century but had become obsolete by the 20th.

No dictionaries that I consulted included any clear description or origin for the modern idiom, only mentioning that it is indeed an idiom and offering usage examples. I also could not find any detail about the sense of shape employed in the phrase in any shape: Webster notes in 1828 (Webster) a sense of shape meaning manner, but no further detail is given.

If one understands any way, shape, or form straightforwardly, its emphatic intent is seemingly obscured, rather than strengthened, by the inclusion of what appears to modern speakers as an inappropriate or irrelevant term. My impression is that shape, specifically, is seldom, if ever, appropriate in any current context in which this idiom is used. It could be argued that the emphasis now comes from the contrast between the modern meanings of the various alternatives offered, but if so, it would presumably be understood that at least one of them is usually contextually inappropriate and the phrase is a rather self-conscious cliché.

So, I would like to ask: when and how did this sense of shape originate, and what led it to be displaced by the modern idiom also including way and form? Was the resulting three-term phrase always an essential pleonasm, or are there any attested, or at least reasonably plausible, cases in which way, shape and form are simultaneously applicable without being redundant, in either their original or modern senses?

References:

Colonial Times and Tasmanian Advertiser. Vol. 11, no. 528: Hobart Town, Tasmania. 16th June 1826. Print.

Richard Wellesley, 2nd Earl of Mornington. Letter to Henry Dundas, Fort St. George, 7th June 1799. In The Despatches, Minutes, and Correspondence, of the Marquess Wellesley, K. G.: During His Administration in India, Volume 2, Montgomery Martin, Ed. London: Wm. H. Allen. 35. Print.

George Washington. Letter to Mary Washington, Mount Vernon, 15th February 1787. In The Writings of George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources 1745–1799, Volume 29, September 1, 1786–June 19, 1788, John C. Fitzpatrick, Ed. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1939. 160. Print.

Douglas Harper. "Shape", entry in Online Etymology Dictionary. Accessed 21st November 2015. Available: http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=shape

Noah Webster. "Shape", entry in An American Dictionary of the English Language. New Haven, Connecticut, 1828. Republished as Webster's Dictionary 1828 - Online Edition. Accessed 21st November 2015. Available: http://webstersdictionary1828.com/Dictionary/shape


texts: 'Hearing the sound, they came out of the house'. In this sentence what is the part of speech of 'hearing'. In my opinion it is present participle but my book says it is gerund. Can anyone explain me how to differentiate between the two? All I know is that in "V1+ing + noun" format, it is a present participle if the noun is the doer of that action(e.g. running deer) otherwise not.


texts:
If a said to b "do this or that", would b be disobeying a if it did both?
In others words, in English is "or" the same as xor, the exclusive or?


texts:
In a sentence like this:

  I wouldn't even dare to think about the results.

vs

  I wouldn't even dare thinking about the results.

Are both of them correct? They seem fine on the surface, but when I say it out loud there seems to be something wrong but I don't know (if it's wrong) which part it is wrong.


texts: I always see "fine-grained" in technology articles. What does it mean?


texts: Hypernym for "conjunction" and "disjunction"

texts: Is there a hypernym for conjunction and disjunction, in their logical senses? Just using "junction" doesn't seem right to me.


texts:
I often find it confusing when to actually use commas, (i) and when not to. As a result, to prevent run-on or long sentences, I tend to put them in where I would pause in speech. Usually, this does not pose that many problems anymore, but in somewhat more complicated situations (ii) I still find myself wondering if the pause in speech would generate a comma in writing (iii) or not.

I know there are many questions about punctuation of this sort, but all I've found have been too specific to put me at ease. As a concrete example, I am struggling with the following sentence from my thesis:

  (1) Dynamical properties usually mean properties of a system that are unchanged as the system progresses. For instance, this incorporates the properties of being fix, periodic, and stable, for points, but also as we shall see, for orbits.

Question 1: In (1), I do not really know how to use commas in the second sentence. Is the problem punctuation or rather formulation? Should I restate the whole sentence, or could commas be moved/removed to make it better? Initially, I even had a comma after 'also'; I am not really sure about this either. (To make things clear: 'fix', 'periodic', and 'stable' are words describing properties of the noun 'point', but also of 'orbits'.)

Question 2 (optional):  Consider (i), (ii), and (iii) in §1 of this question. In (i), is the comma correct/wrong or perhaps correct but unnecessary? (Does it perhaps have to be 'and when not to use commas.', for it to have a comma?). In (ii), the sentence becomes very long, and I find my self wanting to insert a comma, but I feel it is wrong here, am I correct? In (iii) I am pretty sure there should be no comma, but exactly why is this? (Is it just to short?)

English is not my first language, but feel free to nitpick on as much grammar as you want throughout. I am eager to learn as much as I can.


texts: Does this sentence use ironic quotation marks correctly?

texts:
Women ‘sold, resold’ in name of tradition

Selling is the real part, no? I find no irony or double meaning there.


texts:
I encountered today in a text this sentence:

We found a decline in colonization with isolation.

Does it means that colonization declines when isolation increases? Or when it decreases?


texts:
I am writing and editing scientific papers and sometimes I come accross the noun "results" and become very confused as to what preposition should follow.
It usually happens when the paper is mentioning simulation results for/of a variable that was an output of the simulation process.

Example: Let X1 be a variable that is one of the outputs of a simulation. The paper reads: "In Table 1, the simulation results for/of X1 according to variations of X2 are presented".
I think "for" is the correct preposition but I also see people using "of" in similar cases.
Could you explain which one is more appropiate?

Thanks in advance.


texts:
I'm looking for word to use to the following situation, I want to indicate a weak belief. I think something is probably true, but I don’t have all the evidence to prove it.

I am trying to express the following in a more succinct manner.

  Without having reviewed all cases in detail, this case which I have reviewed in detail would seem to be an extreme example.

I did consider notationally, but that doesn’t seem a valid usage.

  Notationally this would seem to be an extreme example.


texts:
is there a word that can be used instead of negatively affected. For example if two companies merged and many people lost their jobs in the process. I want to refer to those who lost their jobs as negatively affected by the merge. someone who suffer consequences of an action or an event.

I was going to use "the disadvateged" or " the hurt" but the first s not even a word and the second seems unfit to describe what am trying to say.

Another example


texts: Why does the word 'peasant' have such a negative meaning in English?

texts:
In French the word *paysan (fem. paysanne) translates to English as 'farmer', as well as 'peasant'. (Collins).

It is by no means demeaning in many European countries (including France) to refer to someone as a paysan. It means a type of country person, but not necessarily one of low social status. Many landowners are described thus.

According to the OED almost all the meanings of peasant are demeaning, indeed they take the trouble to point out that it is a word which has effectively ceased to refer anyone in Britain, and is generally applied to agricultural communities in poor countries. Peasant is nowadays mostly used in Britain as a term of abuse. Not even agricultural labourers are referred to as 'peasants'.

Was there ever a wealthy peasant class in Britain, and in her original dominions such as America, Australia etc, and if so where has it gone?


texts: Proverb/Idiom for Free from certain problems only to get trapped into other?

texts:
I am looking for a figure of speech which means something vaguely like this:

"Free from certain problems only to get trapped into other"

Is there a proverb or phrase for this because I am not satisfied at all by the way this sentence is framing itself.

Thanks.


texts: A journalist writes a daily column for a newspaper.  When referring to his daily content, which word should I use:  'columns' or 'column'?


texts: What are entries of the same year called

texts: I want to know a word for a group of students who enroll in a university at the same department at the same time. I tried looking it up in google but didn't get any real results.


texts: What Exactly is Meant by "X Puts Y to Shame?"

texts:
In the movie Camelot, Lancelot told Guenevere that "your face has a luster, that puts gold to shame."

What does "put to shame" mean in this context?


texts:
The original text:

My mother turned 80 this part fall. One night a few months before, I'd asked her what we could give her and what she would really like.
"Maybe something big",I encouraged, knowing that my brothers and I would buy whatever we could afford. I guessed that any gift she might think up would be something like bath salts or a wrinkle cream.

What does the adjective big imply about the gift? And is it possible to figure out the time when this conversation happened according to the only context?


texts: "I have a theory...". What do I really have?

texts:
I am sure we all have heard, at some point, someone saying, 'I have a theory about X. I think....'. I have realized now that actually, a theory is a system of ideas that has been verified systematically (/experimentally) to be an explanation of some phenomenon, like the theory of gravitation. Therefore, the word should not be used so loosely as is done in popular culture today.
I realize that this meaning of theory, as 'an idea used to account for a situation or justify a course of action' is recognized, but especially when talking in a scientific context, it seems somewhat inappropriate to use it with that meaning - since I am using also that word for meaning something far more specific. Also, the fact that there are dozens of websites claiming this use to be somewhat incorrect, has some significance.
Moreover, Merriam-Webster notes -

However, there are two senses of theory which are sometimes troublesome. These are the senses which are defined as “a plausible or scientifically acceptable general principle or body of principles offered to explain phenomena” and “an unproven assumption; conjecture.”

So my question is, what would be a better replacement, in a situation where someone is trying to pose his/her "theory" about something? I was initially thinking using idea, but it lacks the sense that it's supposed to be an explanation. I was also thinking something like hypothesis or conjecture, but I wasn't sure.