texts:
What is the plural of Kraken, the sea monster? It is a word not listed in any dictionary.

Issues:

The word has a Teutonic feel and so might be inflected like German plurals, so 'Kraken' (a null plural)
The word is now part of English and should be pluralized exactly like all other normal English words: 'Krakens'.
If the word came from Greek mythology, to be true to ancient Greek, the plural would be 'Kraka', 'Krakagma', or 'Krakatoa'.
They could be conjugated like sheep, fish, and deer, or like like lions, tigers, and bears.
They (whichever plural is used) don't exist.
Not existing doesn't stop people from making up names or from being styled grammatically.
There is only one Kraken so there is no need to ever talk about more than one.
Not having more than one doesn't stop people from imagining a second or from being styled grammatically.
It is a word listed in a dictionary:

  kraken noun
  kra·ken | \ ˈkrä-kən  \
  plural krakens or kraken
  : a fabulous Scandinavian sea monster

So, of

  The Kraken were released

or

  The Krakens were released

which is it?

Side question: what is the term of venery (collective term) for Kraken? A school of Kraken? A herd of Kraken? A catastrophe of Kraken?


texts:
I was just about to tell someone how something "wouldn't really be much useful" if they leave it the way it is — which is like a much more polite version of useless, but I just couldn't find the word. I'm guessing I just don't know it.

What is an idiomatic euphemism for non-useful?

EDIT:

It was actually an answer to a question, and I was wondering how I would say this answer is not really useful without hurting the person.


texts: Hyphenation rules for product shelf life

texts:
Given this sentence:

  Studies confirm the longest product shelf life of 3 years.

How do I make it correct and clear?

The product has a set of shelf lives (it is a pharmaceutical product). Studies confirm the longest self life, and therefore all the others as well. The longest shelf life is 3 years.

Is some sort of hyphenation needed, like "longest product-shelf-life"?


texts: A better way to say "suddenly remember."

texts: You suddenly remember something you should have done, you meant to do, or that changes your plan. Is there a phrase or word to use instead of "suddenly remember"? I suddenly remember things so often that it makes bad fiction story-telling.


texts: Adele : There's such a difference between us and a million miles

texts:
What the song writer was trying to say by a million miles?

  Hello, it's me I was wondering if after all these years you'd like to
  meet To go over everything They say that time's supposed to heal ya
  But I ain't done much healing

  Hello, can you hear me I'm in California dreaming about who we used to
  be When we were younger and free I've forgotten how it felt before the
  world fell at our feet

  There's such a difference between us And a million miles

  Hello from the other side I must have called a thousand times To tell
  you I'm sorry for everything that I've done But when I call you never
  seem to be home

  Hello from the outside At least I can say that I've tried To tell you
  I'm sorry for breaking your heart But it don't matter it clearly
  doesn't tear you apart anymore

  Hello, how are you? It's so typical of me to talk about myself I'm
  sorry I hope that you're well Did you ever make it out of that town
  where nothing ever happened

  It's no secret that the both of us Are running out of time

  So hello from the other side I must have called a thousand times To
  tell you I'm sorry for everything that I've done But when I call you
  never seem to be home Hello from the outside At least I can say that
  I've tried To tell you I'm sorry for breaking your heart But it don't
  matter it clearly doesn't tear you apart anymore

  Ooooohh, anymore Ooooohh, anymore Ooooohh, anymore Anymore

  Hello from the other side I must have called a thousand times To tell
  you I'm sorry for everything that I've done But when I call you never
  seem to be home Hello from the outside At least I can say that I've
  tried To tell you I'm sorry for breaking your heart But it don't
  matter it clearly doesn't tear you apart anymore


texts: Looking for a certain sentence that refers to "throughout time"

texts: I am writing an essay and I'm trying to say how something has been understood since the beginning of time. I cannot remember the exact phrased use, but it relates to "throughout time" or "throughout generations". I am using it for this sentence: Murder is understood as being the most immoral tendency (throughout time).


texts: Word/phrase that indicates (unofficially) satisfying responsibilities of another position

texts:
I'm working to upgrade my resume with some recent contractual software development I've done. I was the lead developer on a project with a small team, so while my main responsibility was writing code for the project, I also would like to highlight my organizational efforts in adhering to Agile/Scrum processes. Something along the lines of:

Software Development Lead (Contract)

Designed intuitive web interface for ...
Developed responsive and scalable backend service using ...
"Effectively acted as" Project Manager/Scrum Master by ...

I don't want to give the impression that I was actually hired as a project manager, however. I'm looking for a strong verb or verb phrase to replace "effectively acted as" which conveys the fact that I (successfully) assumed the responsibilities of the role while not officially holding the role's title. I thought of "performed duties of Project Managed/Scrum Master by...", but this still feels too clunky and I'd prefer something more eloquent.


texts:
There is no natural law over and above the positive laws. (self-made)

I saw others using “over and above”. Can I use it this way, meaning that x is higher in rank than y? Or “over and above” only means “apart from…”?
By the way, what does the over in this phrase mean?


texts: I'm trying to remember "the" word which is defined as being a statement said in public which is so obvious that it is embarrassing for everyone to have to listen to. For example: if someone enters a house saying that it's raining outside, which can be clearly seen through a window by everyone inside the house, then this statement is so obvious that it is, let's just say, a statement which is not so intelligent a statement for someone to make - such as the statement I just made. HA


texts: Which words are pronounced with an /ɑː/ or /æ/ depending on dialect?

texts:
Certain English words are pronounced with two different vowels depending on the dialect of the speaker, namely with /ɑː/ or /æ/ (in IPA notation).  These include:

  can't, last, fast, past, path, vast, dance

Can you point me to a list of all common words with this property?

I recently heard the word “path” in a sound recording pronounced as /pæθ/, and didn't recognize it despite repeatedly listening.  I was aware that “can't” has two pronunciations, but I didn't know this about all these words.    I am asking this question so that in the future I have less trouble understanding such words.

Update: for search, here is a list of some such words that may be similar, based on the answer: advance, advantage, after, answer, ask, aunt, branch, brass, can't, cast, castle, chance, class, command, contrast, dance, demand, disaster, draft, enhance, example, fast, glass, glance, grant, graph, grass, half, last, laugh, mask, master, nasty, pass, past, path, photograph, plant, rather, sample, shan't, staff, task, vast.


texts: “Everyone else's life” vs “... else's lives”

texts:
It would seem as though this is incorrect, since we each only have one life.

Is my intuition correct that it should be everyone else's life and not everyone else's lives?


texts: Is the pattern "If there is something I love/hate about..., it's..." considered a cleft sentence? Or is it just an emphatic structure?


texts: The name of the method in translation that insists on accordance to the source language?

texts:
I cannot find the right word for this approach in translation theory. I was told that some translation theorists, for example Antoin Berman, say that a translator should have full accordance to the the source language, that is, the language they are translating from. What is that view called?

In translating a text we might try to be faithful to the source text, or might make it more understandable in the destination language (so we add, change, etc). The first approach can be called something like "sourcism" (that is just a made up word, I guess), but I want the word by which it is called in translation studies.


texts: Can a hyphen be used without anything on the right side?

texts:
From this page:

  [...] in early parts of this century when it was the most user- and hardware-friendly Linux operating system available [...]

Is the user- fragment valid (outside this technical/informal context)?

The usage in this context is clear, as it's just avoiding the repetition of -friendly, but is it correct?

Would it be more correct to omit the hyphen?


texts: What Literary device is in use, when the tone/pronunciation/intonation/delivery of a word or phrase gives its double meaning

texts:
Towards the climax of the whodunit movie "knives out" when the poisoned maid Fran says "You did this" she is in fact saying "hugh did this"; hugh being the name of her assailant.

What is the literary device used in the above scenario called?


texts: On a website I manage, there is a widget displaying random links from the archive of the website meaning that it shows links to the old posts. I would like title it beautifully but I cannot think of anything memorable. "From Our Archive" is the literal descriptions but I am looking for something more catchy and more idiomatic. Any ideas?


texts: Is the preposition "in" needed here? "Find the jury sheet in pertaining to..."

texts:
Find the jury sheet in pertaining to the sports event held at central sports club between 6:30 am and 8:00 am today.

  Find the jury sheet pertaining to the sports event held at central sports club between 6:30 am and 8:00 am today.

Which of above two lines are more grammatically correct to write?


texts:
I have this sentence:

  Group theory is one of my favourite areas in mathematics, as evidenced by the fact that I chose to do two group theory modules in my undergraduate course.

I am wondering if it should be evident instead of evidenced.


texts: what does the phrase "singular intellect" mean?

texts: I have heard of staggering intellect but does singular intellect mean the same? Which phrase should be used in what context?


texts: What is the difference between "list" and "lookup list"?

texts:
As per Wikipedia, in the context of computer science, a lookup table  is an array that replaces runtime computation with a simpler array indexing operation.

The only thing of that sentence that I expect you to keep in mind is that lookup table and lookup list are, for the purpose of my question, the same thing.

So the question is, what's the difference between referencing that concept as lookup list and just referring it as list? What's the point of having the word lookup preceding list (or table)? Wouldn't just list (or table) suffice?


texts:
Dears
what word shall be used for saying that two events must not take place at same time?
For example to say that two machines in a room must not simultaneously work. One shall run only after other one turned off.


texts: Word to represent whether something is wet or dry

texts:
I am looking for a word that can represent the wet/dry state of something, without actually using the word "state". Here is the context:
That dirt's ________ is wet/dry.
OR:
The _______ of that dirt is wet/dry

Similar to how you would represent male/female using gender, I need to represent wet/dry.


texts: When and how use ''I'm afraid'' as meaning ''unfortunately?

texts:
(first of all, sorry for my english in general, you ll find a lot of mistakes in my questions)

Ok. A friend wrote me ''im afraid i stay at home tonight'' , and i asked him what did it means and he said unfortunately.

So, can anybody explain me how and use it?
Can i say ''im afraid today ill be late ..'' ??

thank you! :)


texts:
There's an English (probably specifically British) idiom:

  Mum's the word

It basically means that something is secret, and not to talk about it. It can variously mean:

I won't talk about this.
Don't talk about this.
Hide this thing.
Lie about this subject if you have to.

There are phrases derived from it, such as 'to keep mum'.

Also, 'mum' is a British shortening of 'mother'.

So, why is 'mum' synonymous with secrecy? What are the origins of the phrase?


texts:
I am not a native speaker myself and would like to inquire about a particular usage of "this".

Here's an example from the Corpus of Contemporary American English http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/ :
"Anyway, the first mistake I made was I thought the finger bowl was the soup. So I went to get my spoon and to go to the finger bowl and this lady nicely said, that's not the soup. I said, oh, OK.".

My question is: how is "this" understood in the context above (highlighted with bold)? It seems, from the broader context, that it occurs for the first time in the narration, so is it correct that it can be substituted with "a/an" in this context? How frequent is this phenomenon? Is there a special condition for using "this" in that way in narration?


texts: Assumed age deterioration -- is there a word for this?

texts:
When people assume that their bodies, etc. are absolutely going to get worse as they age -- is there a word for this?  I personally think that people are altogether too accepting of this idea -- and that we should be fighting with every tooth and nail to stay as young and fit as we can be, without adopting the lies and "misleadings" of the media, doctors, and other "authorities."

But anyway, is there already a word for this?


texts:
The definition of archipelago by Oxford Dictionary is the following:

  an extensive group of islands

The definition of archipelago given by Cambridge Dictionary is instead the following one:

  a group of small islands or an area of sea in which there are many small islands

I can conclude that, by both definitions, archipelago itself always means plural.

Both dictionaries give us the plural of the word as well, which are archipelagos and archipelagoes.

When should we use archipelagos or archipelagoes which means the plural of an extensive group of islands?


texts: Architectural term for this large horizontal structure below an external window?

texts:
What would one call the large horizontal structural fixture (on which the five faces are embedded)?
The image is from the Chicago Civic Opera Building, built in 1928.

This throne-shaped 49-story skyscraper is home to the internationally
renowned Lyric Opera of Chicago. It features Art Deco and Art Nouveau
styling and ornamentation, musical motifs and an impressive arcade
that runs the length of the east facade
Source: Open House Chicago

Is there a precise, technical  architectural term for such a substantial, protruding, horizontal structure below an external window?
Note that I am not asking about the decorations on the structure, the faces, but the structure itself, which would presumably have the same name even if it were plain (if that's not the case, please do mention that in your answer).


texts:
I was just thinking about these words and was curious what they might be called. After a little scrounging around on Google, the best answer I could come up with was "reduplication." This doesn't seem to be the best fit though, as it focuses on meaning through the duplication, and not the duplication itself.

I was wondering, though these terms are generally used in endearing relationships such as with children or significant others, does anyone know if words like these follow a linguistic tendency/rule/etc., and does it have a better name?


texts:
What kind of property does doesn’t-pass-the-laugh-test have in the expression

  which escalates unreliability to the doesn’t-pass-the-laugh-test
  level

taken from this article? Is it an adjective or a noun?


texts: A heavy burden to bear. Should 'to bear' closely follow 'burden'?

texts:
Psychotic disorders are a heavy burden for the affected patients and
  their environment to bear

Is it erroneous to split 'a heavy burden to bear'?  I feel as if 'burden' and 'to bear' should be closer together in that sentence. It reminds me somewhat of a split infinitive.


texts: Is the idiom 'burn the midnight oil' not used as much lately?

texts:
When I said 'We burnt the midnight oil.', an American guy seemed to have a tough time trying not to laugh. Is this expression so old?

How about 'We did/pulled all-nighters'?


texts: Difference between two seemingly similar sentences

texts:
Is there a difference in meaning between these two sentences below?

All of them do not like cheese.
None of them like cheese.

I've been told that (1) would "open up" for the discussion that all of them do not like cheese, but some of them like cheese.
All these years I have understood that both sentences mean the same thing, the only difference being the emphasis on "do not like" or "like". Thanks in advance for clarifying, I would not like to be caught in another situation where I use the wrong sentence again :)


texts:
I know when Past perfect, and when two past verbs are used in a sentence.
according to what I have read, when two actions or events have taken place in rapid succession, we use two verbs in the past tense, as in:

After he mailed his letter, he bought some stamps.

now the main question is:
is there any difference between the two sentences below?:

1.By the time I got to her place, she had gone.
2.By the time I got to her place, she was gone.

I know that there is already an answer to this in here.
however, all of the users have answered before the asker's editing (when it was a completely different question). And I also want to see if there's a relation to time in here or not. (have the two actions taken place in rapid succession in the 2nd example or not?)


texts:
So I am writing an essay analyzing the poem "Red Beans and Rice" by Elton Glaser, but I have run into a little problem. In my opening paragraph, I have the phrase

  I thought up a nice phrase that I use to describe this poem (and through proxy, New Orleans)

But, I am not quite sure where to place a colon—after the parentheses

  I thought up a nice phrase that I use to describe this poem (and through proxy, New Orleans): Chaotic neutral every day except for Sunday.

Or before the parentheses.

  I thought up a nice phrase that I use to describe this poem: (and through proxy, New Orleans.) Chaotic neutral every day except for Sunday.

I don't really want to use an em dash, as I used one in the line directly above in order to slap a fragment onto the end of a sentence. This is supposed to be MLA formatted, if that matters. After the parentheses feels right to me but both placements just look weird to me.

I am, however, considering just cutting out the DnD reference out of it, as it would require explaining, and that would probably make my essay that much less about poetic analysis and just as much more about Dungeons and Dragons.


texts: How to answer grammatically ambiguous tricky questions

texts:
Here are some examples :

1) The mangoes (will ripe/ripe/will ripen) over time said John.

2) The least considered in the latest Terrorist attacks (are/were/was) the innocent victims.

My choice for 1) would be:

"ripe" if it is considered as a fact, so present tense is good choice.
"will ripe" if it is considered as an opinion of John rather than a fact; the sentence is in the past tense, so past tense is good choice.

My choice for 2) would be:

"were" if it is in newspaper article and it describes a past event.
"are" if it is live reporting of a statement.

I have checked them in this checker, and results show that all of the options are correct.

EDIT1 :And what about:

This (calls/calls for/calls against) a treat.

Uprooting plants (is/are/have been/was) like uprooting your life.

Also please suggest most critical points to consider if possible while answering such questions and apologies for not following the standards for asking the question, i am a newbie so i am getting acquainted with it.But I have done research for these questions and did not get the answer , that's why asked here.


texts: Does the word "system" have any special meaning in literature?

texts:
I'm writing an English rendition of a Farsi passage. There's a word I'm hunting for which means methods of literary styles of writing.

I came across with the word "system" in a "Farsi to English Dictionary", which in my opinion fits the passage.

I checked some dictionaries for special meanings of system in literature and found nothing. Is the word used in literature with an especial meaning? Are there any other meaning used in literature?


texts:
Listening to the Test Match Special commentary (on the cricket match currently underway between England and Australia), I heard the commentator Henry Blofeld complain that the English batsman -Wood- had given a rather "wooden performance". He followed it up with "to employ an eponymous description".

Was this a correct use of eponymous? The expression "wooden performance" already exists - so he wasn't coining the term by use of the subject's name. Had he described a performance by Jones as a Jonesian innings - that would have been eponymous. I would have said he had created a pun rather than to have spoken eponymously.

Purely incidental to this faux pas, Blofeld himself has a curious connection with the eponymous. The name of the master criminal, Blofeld, who appears in every James Bond thriller, was created by Iain Fleming after the name of Henry Blofeld's father - the two of them having been at Eton together.


texts: Difference between "election fraud", "electoral fraud" and "voter fraud"

texts: What is the difference between election fraud, electoral fraud and voter fraud? An example of usage for each word would be great.


texts: Should I keep the same tense throughout the following statement?

texts:
I know that verb tense consistency is something of importance, but sometimes it gets a bit difficult to know where in a statement one can change the verb tense.

Here's one of those difficult examples to me:

Mr. Jenner makes a passing reference to Conrad, Kipling and Lawrence, three contemporary novelists who are somehow different in their general views on life.

Shouldn't I change "are" into "were"?


texts:
So which is right:

there is an entire gamut of hidden costs associated with it  OR

there are an entire gamut of hidden costs associated with it


texts: I'm having trouble with a compound verb phrase (unsure if that's the correct terminology)

texts:
I'm having some trouble getting the following sentence to be grammatically correct:

This is so a person may return to performing everyday tasks, or for an athlete, sport.

My particular concern is with ending the sentence with just "sport." I'm not sure of what the rules are for this kind of sentence, or what this sort of sentence is even called. I considered the following:

This is so a person may return to performing everyday tasks, or for an athlete, their sport.
This is so a person may return to performing everyday tasks, or for an athlete, to their sport.
This is so a person may return to performing everyday tasks, or for an athlete, return to their sport.
This is so a person may return to performing everyday tasks, or for an athlete, playing their sport.

Any help on this is appreciated!


texts: Different answers for questions with how + adjective

texts: If someone asks "How far is Brazil from Argentina", a possible answer is "It's about X kilometers". However, if someone asks "How high is this mountain?" you can answer "It's about X meters high". I think that "It's about X kilometers far" would sound weird, but I don't whether it's correct or not. Could you help me?


texts:
While reading an English poem from Robert M. M'Cheyne (1813–1843), Jehovah Tsidkenu (= Jehovah our Righteousness) there is one stanza that reads

Jehovah Tsidkenu! my treasure and boast,
Jehovah Tsidkenu! I ne’er can be lost;
In thee I shall conquer by flood and by field,
My cable, my anchor, my breast-plate and shield!

I'm particularly interested to know the meaning of "conquer by flood and by field". I know what each word means on its own, yet this sounds like there's more to it than meets the eye.


texts:
I would appreciate it, if someone readily explain the difference between these. As, I yet to get what the first one means precisely, I had to broach such a discussion.

UPDATED:

The world was created in 7 days, or so The Bible says.

The world was created in 7 days, as The Bible says.

The world was created in 7 days, or so-called The Bible says.

Thanks in advance


texts: "Not listening" or "over ruled"; which is correct?

texts:
I gave certain instruction to my subordinate, but he overruled my instruction and acted on his own.

Is it correct to say my subordinate overruled my instruction?


texts: What is the best word for "kitchen products" on an e-commerce website?

texts:
I am wondering what the best word is for all things used in the kitchen, including:

kitchen gadgets
dishes
pans
forks, knives..
kitchen towels
kitchen decorations

What is the best word to sum it all up?

kitchen products?
kitchen things?


texts: Is "Go wash the dishes" a typical English expression used against women?

texts:
I'm from Argentina and it's very common to hear men saying

  Go, wash the dishes

to women when they don't know how to do something or they do something wrong. For example, when a woman is driving.

Is that also a typical expression in English speaking countries?
If not, is there a similar (sexist) expression used?


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  How to use “who” vs. “that”
  ‘Which’ applied to brute animals

Is the use of "who", as applied to non-human animals, ever considered grammatically correct? Would it be correct to refer to a cat as "the same cat who I saw yesterday" instead of "the cat that I saw yesterday", or is this considered incorrect?


texts: Where can we find a list of English words classified by frequency of use?

texts:
I need at least the first 10 000 most commonly used words, but more would be better.

It’s not a problem if the list is a little imprecise.


texts: Articles in "Result is _ map of _ size"?

texts:
I am thinking how to write articles here:

The result is the map of the size x × y which is not a grid.

The result is the map of a size x × y which is not a grid.

The result is the map of the size x × y which is not a grid.

I think the in "the map" because it is specifying size. Probably, a in "a map" when it is mentioned for the first time.
But there is the specific size x × y which makes me uncertain about the case.
How can you say use the articles in such a case?


texts: Why is there an indefinite article in this sentence?

texts:
Why is this not the sea-lion pool with a definite article instead of a sea-lion pool with an indefinite article?

  And the decision to build the zoo around a sea-lion pool was the crowning touch.

It is a particular pool, and it has been mentioned in the text before, so isn’t that the wrong kind of article to use here?


texts: Any words or phrases that mean "being jealous or envious but without letting it be known"?

texts:
I'm really curious because I get jealous over certain things but I of course make sure no one finds out. but I'd like to know if there is a word for it. I'm jealous but I don't in any way show it. My voice or the way I speak doesn't change and neither does my body language (as far as I've been told).

So before I go off topic: is there a term for being jealous or envious and not  showing it?


texts:
Deaccelerate means the same as decelerate, though it seems to be a much less common alternative. I did not know this until recently, as I had used this alternative all my life. It just seemed logical to me, deaccelerate is accelerate with a negative prefix. I came to believe that deaccelerate was the "father" of decelerate, as decelerate seems like a word that derived from the former word due to practicality. I do not know if this is true though. What I do know is that decelerate is a lot more used and much more popular than deaccelerate, something I am reminded off when my browser constantly puts a red line under the word. Yet, it is listed in many dictionaries, proving that it is indeed a valid word.

So then my question is, why isn't deacceleratingly a valid word? Both deaccelerating and deceleratingly are valid words, but deacceleratingly is not listed anywhere and also gets a red line under itself. It just doesn't make sense to me to leave out this piece of the "word's set". Of course, deaccelerate is unpopular, so it's safe to assume that deacceleratingly is even less used, but does it really take that much time to add the word into the dictionaries and Chrome's own browser? I know that this is getting a bit too discussion-like, so I'll return to my core question.

Is deacceleratingly a word? Is it simply ignored by all the dictionaries, but still technically a word, or is it a completely invalid and ungrammatical word?


texts: What's the best way to write the following?

texts:
But on this morning, I sat alone with my thoughts. No radio. No calls. Just me.
Should other punctuation be used to make it more proper?


texts: Can "procrastinate" be a transitive verb?

texts: I recently read in a book about someone who "procrastinated her tax return", which seemed very strange to me. Is this usage common, and if so is it considered correct?


texts: How empty is the container in the phrase "More than half empty"?

texts:
Does "more than half empty" imply that more than half of a container is empty? Or does it imply that the container has more contents than if it were half empty?
Example phrase: "That glass of water is more than half empty."


texts: Is there a term for the useful components of an animal?

texts:
When talking about the "rewards" of killing an animal or beast, what term would be more applicable to refer to the meat, hide, bones, etc.?

In games and other media, the term "loot" is used, but seems too informal or savage for my purposes, which is a formal bestiary for a project.

An example for the use of this phrase or word would be "The ______ of this creature include the shell, teeth, and blood."

Either single words or phrases are applicable.


texts: Need help understanding Intransitive Verbs in these sentences

texts:
I know intransitive verbs are action verbs that have no receiver (or object), such as "She smiled." In the following sentence, "arrived" is the intransitive verb: "Huffing and puffing, we arrived at the classroom door with only seven seconds to spare."

I'm having trouble with this because I can see "door" as the object. "We arrived at the door."

Another example that puzzles me is "My brother laughed at the joke." The intransitive verb is "laughed." I don't understand why "joke" is not the object because that's what was laughed at.

Please help clear up my reasoning.


texts: "used to + verb" Is it in the past or present?

texts:
I have read this sentence recently: "Formal exams are used to assess students at the end of each semester in many countries."

What i can't understand is : "are used to assess" does it indicate what it used to be used for in the past? or he is talking in general (present) that it is used for assessing?. I am grammatically confused.


texts:
I'm wondering whether it's necessary to include commas in the following sentence:

  Unfortunately during meal service the balcony is a non-smoking area.

With commas, the sentence could be written as:

  Unfortunately, during meal service, the balcony is a non-smoking area.

While the second way of writing it seems to be better, I'm wondering whether the first way is strictly incorrect from a grammatical perspective.


texts: Are there English sayings that correspond to the old Japanese saying, ‘There is no wild pig larger than the mountain from where he emerges’?

texts:
In connection with my question about the usage of ‘No detail is too small’ I posted today, I’m curious to know whether you have axioms to correspond to my favorite Japanese old saying, ‘There is no wild pig larger than the mountain (from where he emerges).’

Wild pigs are perceived as violent, reckless and dangerous animal that attack people in the mountain in Japan. The meaning of this proverb is the God is merciful. He does not impose you heavier hardship and acuter agony than you can bear, thus things always go better than you worry about, don’t panic.

I used to tell this proverb to myself like a mantra to keep myself every time I have encountered hardship in my life. I bet it actually works. I’m curious to know whether there is a proverb similar to ‘There is no wild pig larger than the mountain,' which I would like to try to utter in case of emergency.


texts:
Which of the following statements is more common in ordering what you want in a hamburger shop?

1) I'll have a regular hamburger and a small French fries.
2) I'll have the regular hamburger and the small French fries.

Any difference between BrE and AE?


texts:
In this sentence, which one to use and why:

He is not going to change his practices based on (their)(they're) being unpresidential.


texts: A word or expression less cutting than "obviously" for "in a self explanatory manner"

texts:
In a sentence of this kind, in a programming environment:

  This construct is "in a self explanatory manner" not interpretable, since it raises an ambiguity over the language´s syntax which is not determinable by the language itself.

"Obviously" would fit the case of a clear wrong syntax, but this one is not obvious (to (self) explain), although self explanatory (explained stating the (self) obvious).

Especially, I do want to judge the explanation as obvious, without judging the mistake as obvious.

As an analogy for the english language, how should I say:

  The syntax "You I call" is "obviously" wrong since undetermined, however, the same syntax "Answers I need" is clearly interpretable, although "in a self explanatory manner" a wrong syntax, since the language by itself can not determine that Answers don´t need you.


texts: Phrasal verb meaning "to get rid of someone by frightening him/her"?

texts:
Is there such a word? As in:

  He (word here) the robber.

"frighten off" maybe?


texts:
In a recent conversation the following sentence came up:

  I would be honored if you would join me there, {name}.

A friend of mine stated that this is grammatically wrong and the correct way would be:

  I would be honored if you joined me there, {name}

I think that both versions would be fine. Who is in the right here and who is in the wrong?


texts:
I was writing an email in Outlook and its grammar correction suggested I change this:

  I need to do something, then I'll call you.

to this:

  I need to do something, and then I'll call you.

Is the "and" needed there to be correct?


texts: Questions in indirect speech and verb tense change

texts:
Today I had another English lesson and all students were instructed by teacher to ask each other few predefined questions and then to report them. I got the following questions:

"What kind of computers do you have?", which I reported as "He asked me what kind of computers I have."
"What music do you like?", which I reported as "She asked me what music I like."

My logic is that in these cases the situation hasn't changed in the five minutes since the question was asked (I still liked the same music and my computers still weren't stolen) and it is OK to use the present tense here.
But my teacher corrected me and insisted that I should always use past tense without any exceptions. What am I missing here?
Update
I've checked 'English Grammar in Use' by Cambridge University. Quoting Unit 48, "Reported speech 2":

It is not always necessary to change the verb in reported speech. If you report something and the situation hasn't changed, you do not need to change the verb to the past:
direct:   Paul said, 'My new job is very interesting.'
reported: Paul said that his new job is very interesting.
(The situation hasn't changed. His job is still interesting.)
You can also change the verb to the past.

Another example from the same book, "Additional Exercises, Reported Speech", 25.5:

What's your job?
How much do you earn?

Valid answers are:

He wanted to know what my job was and asked me how much I earned.
He wanted to know what my job is and asked me how much I earn.

The last example looks very similar to my own.


texts: Word request: Responding to a question with a non-answer by stating the obvious or taking the question too literally

texts:
I'm looking for a word or phrase that describes someone answering a question by intentionally stating the obvious or taking the question too literally, thereby insulting the person who asked the question (by implying that they asked a stupid question).
For example:

Questioner (holding package): "Who is this package for?"
Respondent: "Whoever it's addressed to"


texts: What's the correct usage of 'it goes to show how much...' and 'it goes to how much'?

texts:
So far I've heard people saying 'it goes to show how much' as a way to use the extent of something to describe another. But then I've also come across 'it goes to how much' and I wonder if there are any differences between them.

For example:

My dad used to scold me a lot but it goes to show how much he cared about me.
My dad used to scold me a lot but it goes to how much he cared about me.


texts:
Please have a look at this assignment:

  "Point out in how far the American Dream has become a nightmare."

It is taken from a German textbook for English learners at an advanced level ("The New Pathway Advanced"- Schöningh p.140):

"

For me personally "in how far" sounds totally normal (I'm German). However, a British person told me that it sounds wrong to his ears and that it should be "how far".
So I was wondering whether "in how far" is American and "how far" rather British?
Or let me ask, is there a rule when to use "in how far" and when "how far"?


texts:
During the course of the last 6-12 months (approx.) online I've seen more and more the mistake of using "it's" in place of "its" and the other way around.

While my habits might have slightly changed, I'm talking about a huge difference here: a few years ago I knew it was supposed to be a "standard mistake", now I notice it almost daily! Even by native speakers!

Assuming it's not "just me", did you notice that? Have any idea of what could be the cause? The only logical thing that comes to my mind is that the Internet is now more cheaper and worldwide, so (no offence intended) we have more non-native speakers and more uneducated people. With "uneducated" I do not only mean they might not know proper grammar: I mean they might not care to write correctly.


texts:
I'm looking for a term or phrase to describe a customer whose apparent brand loyalty is actually due to the high costs (not just the financial ones) of switching to an alternative product.
For example, John's first laptop is a Macbook, which he receives as a gift from a relative. Due to this purely accidental initial introduction to the product, John ends up using Mac laptops all his life. John's apparent life time loyalty to Mac is due largely to an accidental starting point as well as the ever accumulating product-specific knowledge: the more he uses Mac, the harder he would find switching to a Windows PC. Had he been introduced to a Windows PC initially, he might have been stuck with that OS for all his life as well.
I want to describe John in the above example as an "X customer" (of a product), where "X" is the phrase I'm looking for, and "X" should mean "one has always used that product and it's hard to switch to an alternative because of this experience".
Currently I have in mind "momentum customer" or "inertial customer", but neither sounds satisfactory to me.


texts:
Is it grammatically correct to say "I was enthused" rather than "I was enthusiastic"?

If so, what is the difference between the two?


texts: I play Scrabble. I'm learning words with the letter 'q'. What is the usage of the word 'qua'?


texts: What's the difference between "go on holiday" and "go for a holiday"?

texts: What's the difference between    "go on holiday"   and   "go for a holiday" ?


texts: Vick would make Minnesota playoff team or Vick would make Minnesota a playoff team

texts:
Please refer to this Yahoo article:

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-shutdown-corner/adrian-peterson-thinks-michael-vick-would-make-minnesota-playoff-team-162656529.html

I think the headline should say

"Adrian Peterson thinks Michael Vick would make Minnesota a playoff team"

The current headline

"Adrian Peterson thinks Michael Vick would make Minnesota playoff team"

just gives a different meaning.  It means something along the line that Minnesota is a playoff team, Vick would qualify to be in the roster.

Which headline would you write?


texts: 'Need to know the correct English for "snacks served" or "provided"?

texts:
This might be a silly question, but recently I came across in Facebook an event where it was written snacks will be provided.

Is it a correct English phrase or it should be like snacks will be served?


texts: Non-essential dependent clause with comma

texts:
With the following sentence:

  We will take you from here to the top of that mountain, 10,000 feet up.

Is "10,000 feet up" considered a non-essential dependent clause? Regardless, is the comma considered a grammatical error?


texts: objective/subjective pronouns following a verb and before another verb

texts: A grammar exercise says that this is correct:  "The final choice made Heather and I change our decision."  Why is the pronoun "I" correct when, if you dropped "Heather and" and changed "our" to "my" you would use the objective pronoun me (The final choice made me change my decision.)


texts: Word to encompass object's location or size

texts: What is a word to encompass an object's x location, y location, width or height? Basically the word (if it exists) could mean either its location or size. It would probably have to be rather vague.


texts:
I'm an active user of another Stack Exchange site and regularly visit the close vote queue. When a particular filter has been cleared I see the following text:

  There are no items for you to review, matching the filter "[tag]"

The comma in this sentence does not make sense to me. Commas are supposed to represent a pause in a sentence. I would find it to be more natural to say it all in one go.

  There are no items for you to review matching the filter "[tag]"

Before I write up a meta post for the developers to fix this I want to make sure my assumptions are correct.

Can someone confirm/deny that this is proper English and give an explanation?


texts: "If you put in the work to sharpen the steel, it will eventually turn into needles." Do you have a similar proverb in English?

texts:
This is a Vietnamese proverb:

  If you put in the work to sharpen the steel, it will eventually turn into needles.

It means that no matter how difficult the goal (like a long-term mission) is, if you are patient and keep implementing it, one day you will achieve your goal.

For example, learning to speak English like a native is very very hard for me, but if I am patient and keep practicing it, one day I can achieve my goal.

Do you have a similar proverb in English?

Does "Practice makes perfect" express the above meaning?


texts: What is: a made-up word used to rhyme with something you want to mock, called?

texts: For example, "Apple schmapple" to mean "I scoff at your Apple product".


texts: Concise phrase for "former employees' tasks"

texts:
I'm looking for a short, snappy alternative word/phrase meaning "person who has left the company".

I have very limited space available (20 characters) for a label that conveys (in prose):

  List of tasks that are open but assigned to somebody who has left the company

I've tried Thesaurus.com but can't find anything graceful with this precise meaning. "Ex-staff" for example, is adequately short, but equally unpleasant.

Given our wonderful language's habit of a word for every occasion I'm surprised I'm finding nothing suitable!


texts:
Given sentence: Although she didn't have much work experience, she was offered the job.

Question: find the modifier. What type of modifier?

Here we have a dependent clause and an independent clause. The sentence is connected by 'although'. Can we say that the dependent clause is the modifier?

That is, she didn't have much work experience, can be classified as an essential modifier..


texts: Which abbreviation for the world wars is more correct; WWI or WW1?

texts:
At my daughter's school, there is an exercise in general knowledge; this term's is about " The World Wars". The question posed is which abbreviation is correct, the first with Roman numerals or the second with Arabic numerals. Later, all questions use the second. I suspect the teacher is laying a trap so I want to be prepared.

While studying history. I was taught the former was correct;checking the Chicago Manual of Style, both are correct but only one choice should be used in a text.
Have you all any guidance to offer? Oh, one other thing: I'm American trained but we live in Australia and the school reckons it is quite posh, in a British way.

Thanks.


texts: What is the origin of the “- ht” suffix?

texts:
Old English. What is the origin “ht” suffix? Is it related to “th”?
Examples: bring & brought - strong & strength


texts:
I'm about to examine something. This something has been examined before by somebody else.
How do I say in one word (or more) that I'm about to examine this something for the first time, but it is not the first time this something is examined?

Can I say: I do not trust his examination. I will reexamine this something first thing in the morning.


texts: Is there such a thing as a proper verb, like a proper noun?

texts:
I was taught in school many years ago (in the 1960s) that there is no such thing as a proper verb.  Example:  I used the Xerox machine and xeroxed the document.
Or:  I will use my bottle of Windex to windex the mirror.

Is this corrector not?


texts: I am wondering if it is correct to say, "I love it that the children enjoy school", or "I love that the children enjoy school", in colloquial speech?


texts: A word for something you give and the receiver knows you will come back to get it?

texts: What’s the word for something you give someone to ensure that you will come back to get it? For example, if you get a loan, you have to list your valuable assets so they can take those if you don’t pay them back.


texts: "Enables you to quickly and easily identify" vs. "enables you to identify quickly and easily"

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Are split infinitives grammatically incorrect, or are they valid constructs?

I'm currently having a bit of a dispute and would appreciate your help please. Which one is more grammatically correct?

  enables you to quickly and easily identify
  enables you to identify quickly and easily

And why do you think the one that you've chosen?


texts:
I've always been under the impression that, in standard English, "replace" is only paired with "by" in the passive voice, and that "replace with" is the correct active counterpart of "be replaced by":

It can be replaced by a new one. (Right)
We can replace it with a new one. (Right)
We can replace it by a new one. (Nonstandard)

All the related discourse I can find seems to agree that the active "replace by" is unidiomatic.
However, I've noticed way too many counterexamples over the years to ignore. I'm talking about technical papers, textbooks, and the like—definitely not limited to uneducated or unscrupulous writers. The following slide from a lecture is just one typical example.

Why is this? Is there any documented rule that says this is acceptable in some category of technical vernacular? Why is it so common, yet so rarely talked about?


texts: Was Christian a proper name before Pilgrim's Progress?

texts:
I was going to ask this on Christianity.SE but it's not really a Christian Doctrine question; hope it fits here.

I was reading John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress where almost everyone is named for a virtue or a vice except the protagonists (Christian and Christiana). Were those names common at the time of Bunyan or was he the first to use them as a proper name?


texts: Expletive or exclamation meaning "exactly" or "precisely"

texts:
I have a friend who is an excellent non-native English speaker.  However, when agreeing emphatically via text message, he will sometimes say "exact-fucking-ly!"  This sounds odd compared to "abso-fucking-lutely," which is much more commonly used, but means "yes" instead of "precisely."

What is another exclamation (with or without profanity, but carrying the same emphasis) I could suggest he use?

Additional details:  My friend and I live in the San Francisco Bay Area.  Colloquialisms compatible with English spoken in any North American locality should be acceptable.  To be clear, I AM indeed looking for opinions, but some phrases work better than others.


texts: equivalent to the idiom 'Even our intestines fight and fall out inside'

texts:
In arabic, it comes from the noises sometimes heard from our stomachs, and also from peristalses movement that takes place, and the intestine end up touching each other by contracting, squishing and what have you. What it means is that even the very closest of people such as family members, lovers, friends etc will argue and fall out BUT eventually reconcile and things will run smoothly again.'

That thought is taken from the fact, that it is your OWN intestine/your OWN body. It's your own self.

It's said to cheer one up, telling him things will be alright. It's a little humorous.


texts: Half opened eyes when exposed to sunlight

texts: How to describe a scene where someone is not able to open his eyes while waking up in the morning due to bright sunshine


texts:
Rice uncooked is a collection of rice grains. Once they are cooked, I feel grain is not the right term for it. Like a corn kernel, what is the term used for a cooked rice grain (cooked in a batch)?
Sorry if it is ambiguous. I am not able to describe it well.


texts:
I'm designing a magic system for a game. After distributing the various spells and such into similar and evenly powered categories, I now need to name them in a cool fantasy fashion.

For an example, so far I have illusion, mysticism, psychomancy, alteration and imbuing.

Next I need to  name a category that enables things like cursing enemies with slowness, teleportation and summoning rituals, basically space-time magic.

I don't like calling it space-time magic though. Looking around I found some words like chronomancy or temporal magic but those suggest either space or time, not both.

What would be a cool fantasy name for the field of magically manipulating space-time?


texts: Should computer game screens show "you lose" or "you lost"?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Why “I win” instead of “I won”?

My friend and I are designing the "game over" screen for a game we are developing, and I'm thinking of putting "you lost" into the screen design but my friend said it should be "you lose" instead. I'm a bit confused because since the screen is shown after the player lost the game, shouldn't it be in past tense? Yet, I found many images on the web showing "you lose" instead. Should it really be "you lose" instead of "you lost", and why?

Similarly for victory screen, is it "you win" or "you won"?


texts: Is there a word for someone who wisely uses the expertise of others?

texts:
I'm looking for a word to describe someone who is not an expert in a field, but wisely lets experts do the work for them. An example would be someone who owns a cool old car but does not work on it at all themselves, instead paying a trusted mechanic do all the maintenance for them.

My issue is that words like "novice", "naif", "ignorant", "beginner", etc. all have a somewhat negative connotation. But in many cases, it's smart not to try to do things yourself, so that connotation is inappropriate.

I've searched around quite a bit on Google and on here and haven't found much, but would be happy to be pointed in the right direction if this question has been asked. I think the closest I've come is "dependent" or "reliant", but those also have a bit of a negative connotation.


texts: 'There is no such a thing as a free lunch' in academic writing

texts:
In the context of an academic publication in British English, I'm tempted to paraphrase the expression
"There is no such a thing as a free lunch".

Does it sound too informal and, if so, are there more formal alternatives? And, is it too American for a British paper?


texts:
Personification is an object or a thing described with a human-like aspect (eg. The Sun smiled at me).

Can personification also be used to describe a human with an aspect from an object? For example, in Oliver Twist, Dickens says "[Oliver] was badged and ticketed," which describes/compares him with a package or box. Is this a usage of personification or a different type of literary device?


texts: What's the difference between "list" and "desire"?

texts: "To list" can be a synonym for "to desire." Under what circumstances would one choose one rather than the other?


texts: What is a plural noun to refer to a collective of people who have committed suicide?

texts:
I understand there is the plural "suicides," as in "there were 43 suicides", but that doesn't feel quite right for my use-case.

Specifically, I'm having problems with the sentence "Many suicides had healthy long-term relationships before they committed the final self-destructive act." This just doesn't sound right.

But neither does suicidists: "Many suicidists had healthy long-term relationships before they committed the final self-destructive act??!" Blech.

Is "suicides" the correct plural noun for the use-case I am contemplating? What about Nihilists? Self-murderers? While self-murderers could work, it has a negative stigma associated with it, something I want to avoid.

The suffix "-ist" seems like it should/could work:

  one that performs a (specified) action (cyclist):  one that makes or produces a (specified) thing (novelist)
  one that plays a (specified) musical instrument (harpist)
  one that operates a (specified) mechanical instrument or contrivance (automobilist)

  one that specializes in a (specified) art or science or skill (geologist, ventriloquist)

  one that adheres to or advocates a (specified) doctrine or system or code of behavior (socialist, royalist, hedonist) or that of a (specified) individual (Calvinist, Darwinist)

(source http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/-ist)

But "suicidist" doesn't sound or feel right. Suicideers? Suiciders? Suicidelum? Suicidators?

"Suiciders" has potential although it sounds like a slang word.


texts: Are all allophones in complementary distribution?

texts: I am confused about the relationship between allophones and complementary distribution. I learned that similar phones in complementary distribution are usually allophones of the same phoneme. If that's the case, are all allophones in complementary distribution? if not,could you give me a example? Thanks for your answer.


texts: Is there an English name for Piacenza (Italy)?

texts:
Up until now, I believed that the city of Piacenza, Italy, had an English name, equal to its French name: "Plaisance".

However I've searched its article on Wikipedia, and I've noticed it's just called Piacenza.

So, was it ever called Plaisance in English, or it was just some sort of mistake I must have encountered somewhere?


texts: "Which do you like best?" or "Which do you like most?"

texts:
Is there any difference in usage between these two sentences?

  Which do you like best?
  Which do you like most?

I've read there is a slight difference in usage - a subtlety - and would like to hear what native speakers have to say about it in 2014.


texts: Is "convivial" a formal and uncommon word? Can I say "a convivial community"?


texts: A word for a depiction within a depiction?

texts:
I'm conducting an experimental study using paintings. In a small selection of paintings, it is possible to see painting in the background too. I.e., paintings within a painting.

For experimental reasons, we are interested in that which is depicted on the 'real' painting, and not in what is depicted on the paintings within the paintings.

Is there a word, or phrase that would fit the following sentence?

"We are interested in the main painting, but not in the [...] paintings."


texts:
I'm certain I know of a word that basically means "conceptually clever". A word that tells that something is creative and smart, but not necessarily good or well-executed. The words "clever" and "creative" infer it's something good, but the word I'm trying to find indicates that, while it might be a good idea in theory, it might not be so in practice.

For further clarification: this word should preferably not imply that something is either good or bad. For instance, it should be possible to use the same word when referring to both good and bad ideas that are still clever.

Any idea on what it could be? Thanks in advance!

Example sentence:
"I think this game concept is [word], but perhaps you should try something different."


texts: I have seen both "(Something) requires that one specify how.." and "(Something) requires that one specifies how.." used in various contexts. Which is grammatically correct? My sense is that the former is correct because the verb "specify" should be conjugated in present subjunctive within a declarative content clause.


texts: Is it bad to combine "only" and "several"?

texts:
It seems awkward to say "only several", such as "it is only several blocks away".  I could use "only a few", which is non-awkward but seems to imply a smaller number.  (the actual number of blocks is about 8)

Is "only several" ok, or would you look for something else in such a case?


texts: Pronunciation of "banal" in British English?

texts:
How is "banal" properly pronounced in British English?

I know three ways to pronunciate banal but I don't know how to write them here.


texts: Is "have" or "has" more appropriate in this sentence?

texts:
I think both of these may work, but my inclination is that "have" is more appropriate in the following sentence:

About 1 in 3 American adults [has/have] prehypertension.


texts:
I have the following sentence and three versions to write it:

  Ensure string only contains printable ASCII characters.
  Ensure string contains only printable ASCII characters.
  Ensure string contains printable ASCII characters only.

All versions look valid too me and all tell me the same, but what is the actual difference (if any) and which one would be the best to stress the point best?


texts: What is the difference between "inflection" and "intonation"?

texts:
And which is utilized when turning this...

  The monkey is fat.

...into a question:

  The monkey is fat?


texts: Subject-Verb Agreement with Singular and Plural subjects

texts:
I'm trying to figure out how to word the following hyperbolic statement regarding dodgy building construction:

  The only sturdy thing about that building [is/are] the nails holding it together.

Which is correct in this case, is or are? Neither sounds correct.

Even if I reword the sentence, it still sounds awkward:

  The nails holding that building together [is/are] the only sturdy thing about it.

We have three subjects; two singulars and a plural. Grammatically, the main subject is the "sturdy thing", but the nails are the punchline (the context is supposed to be funny).

What's the rule here?


texts: Why do we say "forever and ever" when forever is enough

texts:
Why do we have to add the "and ever"?

Does this phrase have some good old story of its origins?


texts: I am trying not to laugh.  Can I say,"I am trying to keep my laughter away?"


texts: Does the word "beach" come from "bleach?"

texts:
Though there is no widely accepted etymology for the word beach, one suggestion is that it derives from bleach, as OED suggests in a possibility without evidence.

Another conjecture would derive beach < bleach < Old English blǽce, < blác white, with loss of l, of which there is however no evidence.

The idea here is that a beach contains sand and pebbles that are bleached white by the sun.
The earliest definitions of "bleach" are related to whiteness, not to the chemical associated with the term today:

†1. Whiteness, paleness. Obs.
1400   Pol. Rel. & L. Poems (1866) 255   Brest & hert was bete to bleche.

The more mainstream suggestion regarding "beach" is openly available on etymonline:

1530s, "loose, water-worn pebbles of the seashore," probably from a dialectal survival of Old English bece, bece "stream," from Proto-Germanic *bakiz. Extended to loose, pebbly shores (1590s), and in dialect around Sussex and Kent beach still has the meaning "pebbles worn by the waves." French grève shows the same evolution.

I tried to find other sources of the suggestion that "beach" shares an etymological relationship with "bleach."  It is mentioned on Word Detective:

As for the origin of “beach,” theories range from the Old Norse “bakki” (“bank,” as of a stream) to the Old English “baece” (stream) to “beach” being a mutation of “bleach” (as stones are bleached by the sun and water).

I haven't been able to find much more about the question in my own research.
So the question(s):

Is there any evidence linking the word "beach" with "bleach?"
If not, what is the origin of this suggestion?
If there is evidence pointing to an alternative explanation, what is the evidence?


texts: The correct term for when a corporation takes over or expands into a new industry?

texts:
For example, if we wanted to express how Google is expanding rapidly into all areas of the internet and material world, how could we say it? The emphasis here in on their expansion into multiple industries and institutions.

Conglomerate? (as a verb)
Amalgamate?
Merge?
Fuse?
Synthesize?
Consolidate?

So many seem viable, but I know there has to be the one that suits the purpose the most effectively here.


texts: The planet was seen "with" or "through" the telescope?

texts:
Which one of the following is grammatically correct?

The planet was seen through the telescope.
The planet was seen with the telescope.


texts: What is the basis for calling HOME a preposition?

texts:
I have gone through many a post here and elsewhere that treats home in such sentences as

Stay home.

Go home.

prepositions.
Admittedly, this is a fairly new perspective of looking at the POS, thanks largely to Otto Jespersen. However, beyond a smattering of information about this new approach to classify the POS, nothing more is to be found anywhere on the internet. Maybe, I can't zero in on the right information.
My question then is what makes home a special word that we treat it, and not other such words (say, factory, store, shop, etc.), as a preposition? Could it be that such sentences as above became idiomatic through word of mouth and forced a novel classification of home? And how does this change the definition of a preposition, which traditional grammar defines as: A word that shows in what relation a noun or a pronoun stands to other elements of a clause or a sentence.


texts: Does declaring type of something make the word specific?

texts:
Having Checked this question out, I want to know something beyond.

I have the following sentence:

  Nowadays, most of the IT companies adopt agile methodologies for their
  software development process

  Nowadays, most IT companies adopt agile methodologies
  for their software development process

However, I'm not exactly sure which one is correct. Since I think that the term IT has made the term companies specific and known. Is this deduction correct? Can we use the first form on this assumption?

Thank you.


texts:
I would like to know the difference between "For the first time - the first time". It seems to me that sometimes they are interchangeable but at other times they are not.

For example: (not interchangeable)

1) Most animals can swim right away the first time they go into water.

2) Most animals can swim right away for the first time they go into water. (seems like they might not be able to swim the second time)

For example: (interchangeable)

3) They met for the first time in 1980.

4) The first time they met was in 1980.

Plus here is an explanation by a Londoner

*|No, they mean different things and have different grammar. 'For the first time' is a complete description of a time, and it implies other times that came before it.

For the first time, he won a prize. [He had never won a prize before this. This was his first time to win a prize. But he might have tried many times before.]

'The first time' needs to be followed by a relative clause saying what is 'first' about it. Then, including the relative clause, it forms a complete description of a time. It also implies there were not other times before this - this one is the first.

The first time (that) he took part in the competition, he won a prize. [He had never taken part in the competition before this. And when finally he did take part, he won.] |*

Is the explanation correct? I have made up two sentence to test the explanation. Would it be correct to say that in 5 it is necessary to understand that I had been trying to win a prize before yesterday?

5) Yesterday I won a prize for the first time.

6) The first time I won a prize was yesterday.


texts:
I know that its means belonging to some thing and it's means it is or it has but I'm confused with the following sentense use.
Why does "one's own hand" mean the hand belongs to the hand of that person but according to the above rule, it should be "ones own hand"?


texts: when we talk about settlement in litigation, can we use the word "price"?

texts:
When we talk about settlement in litigation, can we use the word "price"?
I feel "amount" is commonly use when we talk about the amount of money one side has to pay to the other.
Can we also use "price" in this context?
For instance, can we say like "My lawyer successfully negotiated with the opponent, so I was able to reach a settlement agreement with a very low price".
I feel it is wrong, but I can't tell why.


texts: I know that normally we say travel by car or in a car, but  would it be acceptable to say 'on a car'?


texts: What alternatives are there to 'de-facto?'

texts:
I'm looking to describe something that people use for no particular reason, other than that other people use it.  It is popular because it is popular.

De-facto seemed like a good fit at first, but my friend pointed out that it sounds haughty.  Are there any synonyms that effectively communicate the "in practice" concept?


texts: Is there a formal rule for word order when it comes to writing somebody's name and job title?

texts:
In the first example, the second sentence has been marked as an error as the name has been written before the job title in the second sentence:

“Primark have succeeded in growing market share. Paul Marchant, CEO of the company, is keen to finalise another store opening.”

This has been marked as an error and edited, putting job title first and then name:

“Primark have succeeded in growing market share. CEO of the company Paul Marchant, is keen to finalise another store opening.”

I cannot find the rule in English grammar to explain why the first example is wrong. Is the first example really unacceptable? If anyone can help explain the grammar rule I would be very grateful.


texts:
What does "taking a cut on" mean here?

Zomato can make revenues both on advertising on the search platform, as well as by taking a cut on reservations that it successfully makes for those establishments.


texts:
Is it correct to write:

"Please be informed that we have sent back"


texts:
What is the difference between the followings?

A. I have been living here for 5 years.
B. I have lived here for 5 years.

Am I correct that these two represent the same event, but A emphasizes the continuity of living while B simply states a fact that you lived there from 5 years ago to the present?
Is it true that the difference in present perfect and present perfect continuous is whether a speaker intends to emphasize continuity or a fact?


texts: Is the phrase 'there is no one single form' correct?

texts:
Is it correct to write 'there is no one single form of ...'?

Is this an example of tautology? Or, is this terminology used for a matter of emphasis? Is there a nuance between the word 'one' and 'single' that makes this necessary, and if so, should there be a comma between 'one' and 'single'?

Examples from my internet search are shown below (usage without the comma appears in the majority of instances):

Just as there is no one single form of literature to express the rich diversity of human culture ...

There is no one single form of democracy ...

There is currently no one, single form of treatment for ...


texts: Why does "Northerly" mean both from and towards the North?

texts:
In the context of wind direction, Wikipedia explains "northerly" as:

  ...a northerly wind blows from the north to the south.

But when describing the heading of a person or vehicle you would be going in a northerly direction if you were heading from South to North.

The two conflicting definitions are described here.

  adj., adv., n., pl. -lies. adj.

  moving, directed, or situated toward the north.
  (esp. of a wind) coming from the north.

I believe the same applies to southerly, easterly, westerly.

How did this apparent contradiction come about? Is there a less-confusing alternative when describing the wind?


texts: Is "best" still a superlative in "best friend", as in can you have more than one "best friend"?

texts:
I was speaking to a 15-year-old native English speaker (in Australia), who referred to someone as her "best friend". Later, she revealed that this wasn't her only best friend. She had four best friends.

She couldn't understand why that was confusing to me (and I didn't want to get into a discussion about "best" being a superlative for "good").

Is this just one girl who is using the term unconventionally, or has the term "best friend" been softened to only mean "very good friend"? (Or even more extreme, has "best" been softened to only mean "good"?)


texts: How can I predict the stressed syllable in proper/brand/trademark/foreign nouns?

texts:
I often encounter nouns that I hear of for the first time, and I can not determine which syllable to stress. Unfortunately, I can not find most of these nouns in dictionaries to check the stressed syllable. These nouns are most often proper nouns, brand names (food, drugs..), trademarks, names of foreign places, cities, rivers, people,... etc.

How can native speakers predict the stress position in such nouns (names they hear of for the first time)? What would you advise me to get the stress right in such words?


texts: Primary is to Secondary as Principal is to...what?

texts:
If something is divided into principal divisions, what is the next level "down"?

For example, if a generic term for a US state or Canadian province is a "principal country division", what is a good name for the next level down, like a county?

Edit: I'll probably just go with Primary Division and Secondary Division, unless someone has a better idea.


texts: Exclamatory questions and punctuation order

texts:
What is the punctuation order of question marks and exclamation points in exclamatory questions, e.g. How easy was that?

It could be How easy was that!?, or How easy was that?!

Are there any prescriptive rules for this(!?|?!) Or should I just do whatever I want?


texts: What is the correct past-tense of flat & sharp in music?

texts:
Which is correct:
A flatted B note was added ..., or
A flattened B note was added ...?

Likewise, would "A sharpened [or sharped] C introduces chromatic passing note ..."

Thanks.


texts:
I know that "tense" indicates time. If that is true, then not every sentence can be indicated of its tense.

Please review these sentences:

"If I could go to the market , I must have taken breakfast (by now)."
"If this great mountain was given my secret, it would have broken."
"If she were tall like you, she would never have asked you to pick those clothes for her."

Here all these sentences have main clauses in past, but I don't know whether past indefinite or not.

Still, these are imaginary conditions, supported by “if”; so can we say that these sentences have no tense?

Some people told me that their roots are in the present as we are indicating the absence of the mentioned conditions implies that the sentence indicates the present continuous, or some other sort of present.

But that sounds strange, as the sentence itself does not narrate the absence of that condition but only the supposition of “if” that were true... so what is the tense.
Thnx for all responses. Now i can safely say that this sentence is making use of auxiliary modals in subjunctive mood. Still according to my perspective, it indicates towards a timeless phenomenon( Though no one knows about the future) still its pointing towards a timeless phenomenon, still if someone wants to refer it to a tense, i think its is present indefinite because it indicates that i am not a bird. "If I were" suggests that I am not.Otherwise the sentence itself does not refer to time. And as i have understood English language does not make use of tense only to indicate time, the total sentence structure depends on many thing sand also the mood of sentence changes the total outlook of any sentence. So tense and/ or mood can be understood if they indicate real things rather imaginary ones.

I failed to understand any better through these answers.


texts:
"The job Y demands familiarity with Z."

How do you say the above sentence, when the familiarity with the product Z is not necessary, but helpful as a part of job Y?
Just to give a little context, the previous sentence is:

"I have worked as X and Y. The job Y demands familiarity with Z."

For clarification, let's say X and Y are professional positions and Z is a product. And the purpose of the writer is to say that the job led to learning Z.


texts:
It seems to me somehow odd to have Usurpation without having a corresponding Usurpate. I know about back-formation, but in that case both words are present. Am I missing something? Are there more examples of the same situation? Is there a specific term for this?

The case mentioned above may be checked in AHD (-ation/-ate), Collins (-ation/-ate), M-W (-ation/-ate), and Oxford Dictionaries (-ation/-ate).


texts: Close to "volatile", but not in the sense that it's unstable or sensitive. More like a volcano or a geyser that could erupt at potentially any time, or one of those popper things you flip upside down and stick on the ground, and it pops up without warning.


texts: Do I need article in front of the word "hints"

texts:
"And you can see hints of fall with the golden yellow leaves on the tree tops"
Do I need article "the" in front of the word hints, and if I don't why not? :)

Also, in the sentence : I should visit places with the most beautiful views.
Does article go in front of the word places or not?

Thanks in advance!


texts:
So, "dip" has come to mean "leave" in American slang. As in, "Let's dip," i.e. "Let's get out of here."

How did that happen? The best I could come up with is: a dip in the road obscures vision, so if you're in a dip, you can't be seen-- and, if you leave, you can't be seen. That's a bit of a stretch, though.

Anyone have a more plausible explanation?


texts: "She can argue her point" right or wrong?

texts:
Is it OK to say in that way?

  She can argue her point.

For example, to say it when describing a person. Meaning she knows what she is talking about and her speech can be proved by certain facts, if required.

The reason why I'm asking is that a trustful friend of mine told me it's not ok to say in that way, but it sounds normal to me.

UPD
Thank you for replies!
Context. Speaking about person:

  — How would you describe her?
  — She is definitely not a chatterer, she can argue her point.

That is, she is sufficiently knowledgeable and articulate to make a logical argument
(Case A is Jay's answer).

Friend's thoughts (in my translation):

  Phrase is not entirely correct. According to Oxford dictionary [1],
  second example “exchange or express diverging or opposite views,
  typically in a heated or angry way” is not suitable since we don’t
  want to say she can argue in an angry way. In first example (“give
  reasons or cite evidence in support of an idea, action, or theory,
  typically with the aim of persuading others to share one’s view”) we
  have to use “argue that / argued for / argue someone into/out of.” But
  it’s my  personal opinion. I haven’t heard natives to use argue in a
  meaning “to give arguments”, they rather use “to prove” / “to give
  arguments” / “to state your point of view” etc.

  Also we have to keep in mind that dictionaries are being made with certain inaccuracy.

References:

http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/argue
http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/argue


texts: researching greater detail about word difficulty

texts:
I noticed that dictionary.com has a word difficulty index which is called "proprietary."

Questions:
Is there an open source list of English words that assigns a difficulty index value to each word?

Are there other indices available?

Is there any position paper (or better) publication that explains how they derive this index for each word?


texts: Can we use the preposition "for" with the verb "scoot"?

texts:
I checked the dictionary and found that I can use 'scoot' with 'off' or 'over' but can I use it with 'for'?

Example:

  Kalya got out of bed and scooted for the toilet


texts: Is there a word for the act of checking an id / passport?

texts:
I am wondering if there is a word, or words, for the act of checking/validating a piece of identification, like a passport, or an id card?

An example would be the customs police officer sitting in the airport arrival section. When that person checks your passport, does that act have a more specific name than "checking", "verifying", or "validating" your passport?

Thanks!


texts:
While co-editing a document, I was bothered by the list:

  ... Iran, Iraq, Libya, Yemen, Somalia, Sudan, and Syria ...

I remember being taught to order lists alphabetically if no other logical ordering exists. I proposed:

  ... Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen ...

Is my proposition "better" or am I just being a pedant?


texts: What does "provided the translations" mean?

texts:
What's the meaning of:

  I provided the translations of quotations from non-English sources

Does it mean, "I translated the quotations"?


texts:
English is a living and growing language, with new words / phrases being added regularly and some from foreign languages.

The Britishers started trading with Mughal India from early 1600's before becoming the rulers in mid 1700's. Many words from Urdu and Hindustani find common usage in English today.

The word "Curry" to refer to the spicy food dish came into use also probably from India.

When did this word 'Curry' start being used in the language?

How and when did the phrase "Currying favour" and the like come into common usage?


texts: An example sentence of Oxford Dictionary seems to be wrong

texts:
When i look up the word"sheer" in the 7th edition oxford advanced learner's English-Chinese Dictionary,it gives me an example sentence"The concert was sheer delight",but i think there should be an indefinite article "a" before "delight",because i think it's more reasonable that "delight" means something that gives you great pleasure here,and it should be used as a countable noun.
Here is the photos i take of my dictionary:


texts:
Can "to fly on" be used to mean "to land"?
Here are two examples:

(1) "The Navy has traversed a long and complicated road in trying to
develop a UAS that would fly on and off its aircraft carriers." [source]
(2) "It was not only a question of life or death for Lt. Shannon Workman,
at the controls, but also a question of whether the Navy was right or
wrong in allowing women to fly on and off aircraft carriers in combat
planes [...]" [source]

I couldn't find a dictionary entry for the idiom "fly on", so given the examples above, I'd like to know if it really means "to land", or maybe it has some more nuanced meaning.


texts: Can you use square brackets to correct punctuation in quotes?

texts:
I know why we use square brackets in quotations. But can we also use it for changing punctuation, in order to make it fit better with the sentence?
For instance:
Original Quote: "We went to the mall today, and had a lot of fun."
Bracketed Quote: "[They] went to the mall today[.]"
I'm doing this because I want to include only part of the statement, and not all of it. Thanks.


texts: "My job is not to worry about those people" — what does "not" refer to?

texts:
In the famous leaked video, Mitt Romney says

  My job is not to worry about those people

An equivalent sentence probably is

  It is not my job to worry about those people

Some media in my home country have translated it to something roughly like

  My job is: not to worry about those people

The difference is that the not can be assigned to "my job is" or either to "to worry about those people. I actually do not know how this difference can be demonstrated by two proper English sentences, so I hope you get the idea.

Question: Can these different shades of meanings be rendered in English just by word order or grammatical particles? Is there any ambiguity in Mitt Romney's statement?


texts:
Below a part of subtitles from the Angry Birds movie.

  77 00:04:25,400 --> 00:04:26,435 Get outta here!

  78 00:04:26,520 --> 00:04:28,440 Already? But you're the only one
  that's had cake.

  79 00:04:28,480 --> 00:04:29,480 What...

  80 00:04:29,640 --> 00:04:30,640 Mmm.

  81 00:04:31,040 --> 00:04:32,268 Oh, that's good stuff.

Can you please tell me what "-'s" is in the bold sentence above? Does "-'s" represent "has", "is" or anything else?


texts: I seek grammatical justification for "I did more than finish the job"

texts:
I see people say such examples as "I did more than finish the job", "He did more than win the game".
In such cases, "finish the job", which is a bare infinitival, occurs as the complement of "than". I wonder is there any justification in grammar for a bare infinitival to function as a comparative clause.
And what is the difference between such cases and those like "I did more than I finished the job"?


texts: Same words next to each other in sentence

texts:
Interested to know if there is any rule in usage for this (other than to avoid it or substitute the second word 'on' to an alternative (e.g. 'during') perhaps) and what it would be termed as:

The word 'on' occurs twice in this example sentence:

And you’re also vital to human rights because you see what goes on, on a day-to-day basis - PUNCTUATION?
And you’re also vital to human rights because you see what goes on on a day-to-day basis - NO PUNCTUATION?

Punctuated or not - which is correct?  (It's not possible for me to amend it, as it is part of a verbatim transcript.)


texts:
Similar to Is there a proper term to describe 1/3 of a year (4 months)

Are there any words to describe a trimester as an adverb? The only one I've seen is triannually (in the link above) which is a bit verbose in my opinion.


texts: A question regarding "Doe behaves as if he was / is the principal."

texts:
I got a few questions regarding this sentence: "Doe behaves as if he was / is the principal."  I know that if the speaker chose "was," it means the speaker knows Doe is not the principal. Now, consider only when the speaker uses "is":

Speaker's intent 1: (1) if the speaker does not know who the principal is and (2) he is just describing how Doe behaves, the speaker could say "Doe behaves as if he is the principal."

Speaker's intent 2: (1) if the speaker knows who the principal is, but (2) he does not choose to use "was"; instead, (3) he puts himself in Doe's shoes, who has not heard of the news yet and who is acting like a principal, the speaker could say "Doe behaves as if he is the principal."

Would you agree with what I have just said in the two paragraphs?


texts: Is there a term for using one language's syntax with another's words?

texts: I'm trying to remember a word the Mac OS X Word of the Day screensaver showed me a few days ago. It's something along the lines of "using one language's words with another's syntax or grammar". This is not linguistic blending, or portmanteaux, or loan words, but more about the grammar and constructs of two languages mixed together. Can anyone think of a word that describes this kind of polyglot phenomenon?


texts: Synonyms for "just as how" or "similar to how"

texts:
Is there a synonym for "just as how" or "similar to how"?

For instance, in the sentence,

  Just as how crabs can live in water, they can also live on land.

or

  Similar to how crabs can live in water, they can also live on land.

The above sentences are meant to be an example. I know there are many different ways to phrase it, but I'm specifically looking for a synonym for "just as how" and "Similar to how".

Thanks in advance


texts: In the context of trends, graphs, statistics, does "to spike" mean numbers going sharply up and then back down, or only going up?

texts:
I always thought a spike in a graph was the shape of a spike or thorn in the physical world, with the number rising much higher than normal for a very short time, and then back to the normal line.
But in recent months it seems people refer to Coronavirus spiking when it starts to go up sharply, whether or not it's going to maintain that new level, get exponentially higher, or go back to normal.
Are these two different senses, is one wrong, is one a new emerging sense, or are they "actually just the same thing"?


texts: Where does the term "hardware" in computer science comes from?

texts: The term Software was coined in 195x. And it was opposed the term Hardware, physical part of a computer system, which is tangible. But where does the term Hardware comes from (from which of the meanings it was derived: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hardware)? Was it transfered from one of those meanings in English language or maybe it was borrowed from another language?


texts: What do you call the act of taking science and making it available to the broader public?

texts: In French we have a word, vulgarisation, which is the act of synthesizing complex knowledge into a form that a broad audience can understand. I know that the final product is called popular science in English, but I'm not sure how you call the process of taking "hard science" and making it popular science, and it seems that vulgarization isn't often used in a positive light.


texts:
In one podcast I've stumbled upon the following dialog (two hosts discussing new version of software, one of them like it other - not, both of them males):

xxx: Ok, we both have tried that version on that weekend and now lets talk about it. Queens rules?
yyy: Yes.
xxx: The thing that I liked most is...
yyy: But on the other hand...

After that it looks like normal discussion. In that context it sounds like a question which you may ask your opponent just before yours argument/battle. Also I could incorrectly recognize that phrase but it sounds like "Queens rules".


texts:
So if you're making a game that a person who plays Limbo might like, you should....

I heard this in one of the videos by Totalbiscuit. He's a game commentator on youtube. I'm pretty sure the guy is from Newcastle. Just in case if it matters. Limbo is a video game.

My question is, is it ok to have a relative clause inside another relative clause?


texts: What term to use instead of "Company" to represent, well, a company

texts:
I'm in the process of (re) designing a software product, and I'm attempting to find the right term to use. Right now, our product has been targeted at a few different industries that operate on a distributor-dealer infrastructure, and our software has been sold primarily to dealers. As a result, we have come to refer to the company (or companies) that are represented within a single database as "dealers", even though they may, in fact, be distributors and the dealers are actually their customers.

The package is expanding in scope and is now going to be targeted at other organizations that may not operate under this model, so the term "dealer" is becoming increasingly diluted. As a result, we are attempting to find a suitable term that is both generic enough not to be unintuitive, but also specific enough so as not to be easily confused with other parts of the database. In other words, simply calling them "Company" could be confusing because users already have other "companies" with which they conduct business entered into the system, and "Company" is the term used to describe them.

So far, only "Company" and "Business" have been found to be suitably generic, but I'm not sure if they're specific enough. I know that software like QuickBooks refers to them as a "Company", but I'm curious if there is something better suited.

EDIT: The database in question is the customer's database, not our own. We design the database and the application, but it's their data. Perhaps a little more information will be helpful, as there seems to be some confusion about what I'm talking about. I was under the impression that people reading my question could actually read my mind, but in case that isn't true:

As stated above, our current model uses the term "Dealer". In our database, we have a Dealer table that stores information about the dealer (or dealers) that our customer runs. In turn, we have a Customer table in their database that represents their customers, and a DealerId column in that table to associate a customer to a given dealership (some of our clients have multiple dealerships that they run out of the same database in order to share other things, such as product lists). What I'm looking for is an alternative to the term Dealer, as our target markets are no longer solely businesses that could be considered "dealerships".

Company would work, but I am concerned with our interaction with the customer becoming confused by mixing usage of the word "Company" for their company with other "companies" that they might interact with.


texts: How do I call something that can be doubled with one word? (double-able)

texts:
Suppose that we're playing a card game. One of the rules is that you can double the numerical value of a card if it fulfills a set of conditions.

So, there are two types of cards: those that can be doubled and those that can't.

Is there a single word that can be used to describe a card that "can be doubled"? Basically, double-able.

  None of your cards is double-able!

Which sounds a bit awkward. I know that I can say

  None of your cards can be doubled!

But I was wondering if there is a one-word solution.


texts: About pronouncing the 's' in plural nouns

texts:
A general rule of English pronunciation states that the 's' in plural nouns is to be pronounced as /z/ if it is preceded by a 'voiced consonant' such as /n/ or /g/, and as /s/ if it is preceded by a 'voiceless consonant' such as /t/ or /p/.

Therefore, "pens" is pronounced as /penz/ and "cats" is pronounced as /cats/.

Now my question is, do native speakers of English always follow this rule? Secondly, and this is what I really need to understand, does this rule apply also to the 's' in the verbs of 'third person singular subjects'?


texts: An elegant word for "relating to knowledge?"

texts:
My ideal sentence is:

My college years represent a __________   journey through which I hope to attain plentiful wisdom about the world.

One candidate is epistemic. Thus,

My college years represent an epistemic journey through which I hope to attain plentiful wisdom about the world.

But this doesn't hit quite right because the purpose of my journey is not about understanding the nature of knowledge (which the field of epistemology is focused on), but to simply attain knowledge. Hence, epistemic seems too academic.
Is there a better word for this?


texts: Nominalization of the phrase “the way they are normally represented”

texts:
In a past exam on technical writing, we were required to rewrite the italicized part of the following clause using nominalization, that is, turning verb phrases to noun phrases:

  "[...] this approach has the ability to also recognize patterns that are modified from the way they are normally presented. [...]"

I might try rewriting it as "the way of their normal presentation."  This sounds a bit weird to me, and I'm not sure if it is common to put a noun phrase after "the way of" in this meaning of "way".

How would you answer this problem?

EDIT: I misquoted the question a bit: the word presented was represented originally.


texts: Eve-teasing... are such words used only in the country of origin

texts:
I was reading a newspaper published in Indonesia and while quoting sexual harassment , the term 'eve-teasing" was repeatedly used.

E.g. The Bontang police arrested two residents for eve-teasing,
beating and threatening a minor girl at...

I looked in the Oxford dictionary which provides the following:

Definition of eve-teasing in English:noun [mass noun] Indian
The  making of unwanted sexual remarks or advances by a man to a woman
in a  public place.

My question(s):

Is it that such words are only used in the country of origin or neighboring countries
Do such words (read-Indian) find a place in AmE and BrE writings too
What is the equivalent to eve-teasing in AmE and BrE
Any anti-women connotations?


texts: Which is more correct: "embodied by" or "embodied within"?

texts:
Which of the following seems more grammatically correct to you?

This subjectivity is embodied by the concept of qualia
This subjectivity is embodied within the concept of qualia

"Embodied within" seems to be more commonly used, but for some reason it doesn't sound quite right to me in this instance.


texts:
Working on some software, in the moderation we are using the word "ignore" for reported/flagged topics by users, but we didn't see anything wrong with what was reported. I don't really want to use the word ignore, because it sounds like an individual action rather than a group action.

Choosing to "ignore" a flagged post, makes that post invisible to all moderators. What are some other terms that cane be used in place of "ignore".


texts: Colon before list. What is used after the list?

texts:
If my list is at the middle of sentence:

  3 proteins: albumin (ALB), catalase (CAT), and epidermal growth factor (EGF)*** were digested with enzymes and mixed with ...

, what should I use at ***?


texts:
I came across a phrase in Seinfeld, it wrotes:

  (Claire passes the table; George stops her and writes something on his
  notepad.)

  GEORGE: Claire, Claire, you’re a woman, right?

  CLAIRE: What gave it away, George?

What does "What gave it away" means?


texts: 'Hot water heater' versus 'Water heater'

texts:
I've heard 'Hot water heater' and 'Water heater' being used interchangeably to refer to an appliance which generates a supply of heated water.

The wording of 'Hot water heater' feels redundant, as heaters usually make things hot.

Is this phrase grammatically correct?


texts: Placing the adverb "today" in a sentence

texts:
I'm not sure about where I should put the adverb "today" in the following sentence:

  His work is regarded as one of the highest peaks of Western culture.

I have a couple of options and I think that, even though with different emphases, all of them have the same meaning.

Today, his work is regarded as one of the highest peaks of Western culture.
His work is, today, regarded as one of the highest peaks of
Western culture.
His work is regarded today as one of the highest peaks of
Western culture.
His work is today regarded as one of the highest peaks of
Western culture.

The first two options are like cheating, I'm sure they are correct. The third one sounds good to me. I'm not sure about the last one but I feel that it's like an incorrect version of the second one.

Is the fourth one OK? Any other option for placing the adverb?


texts:
Is it correct to use me here?
I have read sentences should be no more than 25 words in practice.
Would you say this one is too long?

"Never did I imagine that me, a small town girl from Alabama, would one day be helping to shape the minds of Aboriginals in Australia the intricacies of social norms in modern society."


texts:
The phrase Unmanned Aerial Vehicle describes the military ones that look like planes, e.g.:

and Quadcopters, Hexaocopters, etc. that are used both for civil applications like photography and military applications e.g. for surveillance:

If I speak about Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, every body thinks of the plane-like (1st image). What is the word for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle that doesn't look like the plane-like one?

Is drone a correct expression for these flight objects?


texts: Why is the article omitted before "climate change"?

texts:
In the book "Advanced Grammar in Use" there is a sentence:

  We will talk about climate change in a later part of the course.

Q1: Why is the article completely omitted in front of "climate change"?
Q2: Would it be wrong to say "We will talk about the climate change in the later part of the course." and so add an article for "climate change" and change the article of "part"?


texts: Did word "beavis" mean anything before Beavis&Butthead series were aired?

texts: In other words,why Mike Judge named one of characters "Beavis"? Was there also some slang meaning or word play behind it as in "Butthead"?


texts: Is this grammatically correct? “We were thinking of holding a meeting...”

texts:
The following sentence seems incorrect to me, but I am not entirely certain:

  We were thinking of holding a meeting next Tuesday.


texts: Is there a single word for the image associated with a movie?

texts: For example, if we look at the image to the left of the preview on this page (the left-hand image below, from IMDB), what is the name of that image?


texts:
As a sort of company slogan, does the following sentence require a comma - or would it be acceptable - after "good places"?

  "Making good places great places."


texts: Is "Her coming home was unprecedented" correct?

texts:
Her coming home was unprecedented?

Do all verbs have gerunds like "coming" in the sentence above?