texts: Is there a name for this kind of reactionary argument?

texts:
This question is framed in a technical example but can apply to any area.

I am looking for a word to describe a certain type of argument that a colleague is making to justify a software change which I disagree with. In short, she is concerned about a malicious user making a copy of a dataset and therefore argues that we should explicitly forbid any access whatsoever without permission. I am providing the counterargument that many legitimate users need to access this data and we will be encumbering a large portion of our customers while those with malicious intent could still access this data through another means which is impossible to restrict.

In short, I want a word to describe the punishment of a large number innocents in a flawed attempt to prevent the negative actions of a small population that will still be able to carry out their intentions if they choose to. I'm thinking this would be some kind of situational straw man where we are focusing on a false issue that is easy to rally behind while not addressing the actual needs, but it doesn't sit quite right with me.


texts: How to dissect/parse 'which' followed by five subordinate clauses ? (1786 UK)

texts:
Source: p 174, The Catholic Christian Instructed in the Sacraments ...,  by Richard Challoner, 1786

  A. Continency is not required of all, but such as
  have by vow engaged to keep it: and therefore, before
  a person engages himself by vow, he ought certainly to
  examine whether he has a call from God, and whether
  he can go through with what he thinks of undertaking :
  but after he has once engaged himself by vow, he is
  not now at liberty to go back: but may assure himself,
  that the gift of continence will not be denied him, so
  that he uses proper means to obtain and preserve it,
  particularly prayer and mortification, which, ♦  because
  Luther laid aside, by quitting his canonical hours of
  prayer and other religious exercises, to which he had
  been accustomed in his convent, no wonder if he had
  lost the gift of continency, which he owns he enjoyed
  whilst he was a popish friar.

I guess the bolded which as a relative pronoun, but despite numerous rereads, I'm lost and can't anatomise/parse the phrases after the lozenge (♦ )? Please show the steps and thought processes? This quote exemplifies my persistent scourge; I can't even determine which is the right syntax here:

  1. {Relative Pronoun or Adverb} + Subject + Verb   or
  2. {Relative Pronoun as Subject} + Verb


texts: Relative pronouns after prepositions: is it okay to use them in speech?

texts:
Consider the following usages of relative pronouns:

The lecturer introduces a study in which participants were asked
to choose one attractive picture.
At the university I met famous professors, many of whom were fluent English speakers.

One of my grammar textbooks says that these usages are bookish.

The question is whether I sound strange if I use relative pronouns in these ways in speech (I have TOEFL speaking section in mind).

This may not be a relative pronoun technically, but people sometimes write I have no pen with which to write letters instead of I have no pen to write letters with.  Is the former expression too formal to be used in speech?


texts: Word for not caring at all about anything

texts:
I've looked at this question  but it doesn't quite match the term I'm seeking.

I once heard a speaker use a term to describe the syndrome accompanied with drug dependencies. He said the word and then asked if anyone knew what it meant. His personal interpretation of the meaning of the word was something like, "...the feeling that the world could fall apart around me and I wouldn't care so long as I have my fix." He went on to give other examples such as, "...I don't care how the bills get paid, I need my (insert drug of choice)."

I'm trying to find what the word is for this. Apathetic and indifferent are not it.(though apathetic is close)

It's not just emotional, or physical, or psychological... it's all of these. Basically, almost like a catatonic state of being. Also, and I don't know if this helps anyone other than me, if you can imagine Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh saying, "In the long run, we all die. What would be the point of living? Why do anything when it all ends the same way?"

The way this term could be used in a sentence would be,

  It's pointless talking to Mark right now, he's fallen victim to/to his ______

Update: Okay, I found this from submissivesuccubus.blogspot.com (don't ask), "When the three of us are together, I feel as if the world could fall apart around me and I wouldn't care at all."

Now this example has a positive connotation to it. I'm looking for the negative.

Last Update:
Okay, one more example before I give into nihilism. If I'm sitting at my house, normal night, watching TV, and then a tow truck pulls up and begins to tow my car. I notice, but don't care or do anything about it. Then the phone rings, I don't answer because I don't care. The power goes out, I don't do anything. I sit in the dark now staring at the wall. An earthquake occurs, I don't move. The house falls apart around me. I still sit in the rubble. I don't care. Bulldozers plow away the debris around me. Winter sets in. WWIII, zombie apocalypse, a black hole swallows the Earth and I don't move, don't care.
I've lost something. Something that makes me pay the power bills, something that makes me get up and hide from zombies... I am/ have become/ have __________ If you tell me that nihilism works for this, than I will concede to it (though it's not the word I was looking for) You all are AWESOME-sauce in my book and I appreciate the efforts.

Source: Dictionary.com


texts:
I recently watched a YouTube tutorial which talks about right usage of past perfect tense. For negative sentences in past perfect, a simple rule to frame sentences is -

Subject + hadn't + main verb in past participle.

Example - He had not learnt music before he became famous.

My question -

Is the rule restricted to "hadn't" coming after the subject? Can we not say something like this -

He did not study music before he became famous.

Is this sentence correct? If it is not, what is the mistake?


texts:
I have a sentence:

  Before the Greeks, the ancient Egyptians used it (Golden Section - remark is ours) in the construction of their great pyramids.

In that sentence the words "Golden Section" was written by me - not by the author of the sentence.

In which words (remark is ours; note ours or something else?) do I say (designate) that the notes inside a quote are mine?
What are the most common words (phrases) for such cases (except "italics mine," "my
italics," and such; I am not interested in that)?


texts: A term for a concept formed through abstraction and from categorization?

texts:
For e.g, lets say you take the number 1, 2, 3, 4... etc. From these list of numbers, you can abstract from these ideas the concept of a number. You can't do this if you only know of the number 1, if so, it would be the number, rather than a number, but I digress.

Lets now say you want to define specific types of numbers, like integers, decimals, or primes. This is abstraction though categorization. As you already had the concept of a number, you aren't making an entirely new concept, in and within itself, but categorizing a concept and defining new concepts for those categories, which is part of the main concept.

Furthermore, in the former case, when the concept is formed, you expand your scope, in the former, you are narrowing it down to greater precision. So the two ways in which concepts can be formed should, I feel, be given precise terms.


texts:
What does the author mean by "door culture" in this context?  First-order effects I take to be a metaphor with economics.  However, I don't understand how to translate my understanding of "first-order effects" meaning the first derivative of a formula to "door culture".

  "The Tragedy of the Conversational Commons", by Clay Shirky

  Flaming is one of a class of economic problems known as The Tragedy of
  the Commons. Briefly stated, the tragedy of the commons occurs when a
  group holds a resource, but each of the individual members has an
  incentive to overuse it. (The original essay used the illustration of
  shepherds with common pasture. The group as a whole has an incentive
  to maintain the long-term viability of the commons, but with each
  individual having an incentive to overgraze, to maximize the value
  they can extract from the communal resource.)

  In the case of mailing lists (and, again, other shared conversational
  spaces), the commonly held resource is communal attention. The group
  as a whole has an incentive to keep the signal-to-noise ratio high and
  the conversation informative, even when contentious. Individual users,
  though, have an incentive to maximize expression of their point of
  view, as well as maximizing the amount of communal attention they
  receive. It is a deep curiosity of the human condition that people
  often find negative attention more satisfying than inattention, and
  the larger the group, the likelier someone is to act out to get that
  sort of attention.

  However, proposed responses to flaming have consistently steered away
  from group-oriented solutions and towards personal ones. The logic of
  collective action, alluded to above, rendered these personal solutions
  largely ineffective. Meanwhile attempts at encoding social bargains
  weren't attempted because of the twin forces of door culture (a
  resistance to regarding social features as first-order effects) and
  a horror of censorship (maximizing individual freedom, even when it
  conflicts with group goals.)


texts: Articles in English, the use of "the" and "a"

texts:
The following are sentences I picked up from newspaper articles.

"A smiling Ichiro Suzuki(a popular baseball player) talked at the interview through an interpreter."
"The 22-year-old XXX (a popular golf player) is a 12-time champion on the International Golf tour."

I don't understand why they put an article "a"  in the sentence 1)  and "the" in the sentence 2).  Please help me understand why.  Thank you in advance.


texts: I found that the phrase "be cut out for" is used only in negative sentences (for example, "He's not cut out for teaching"). Is it true? Or can I make a statement like "I feel like I'm cut out for this job"?


texts: Is “one” in the “one of the” construction a pronoun or a determiner?

texts:
In sentences like

One of the criteria is experience.

It was one of the several objects that were sold at the auction.

is one a pronoun or determiner?

Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries cites similar examples for both pronoun and determiner.


texts: Can the word "special" have a negative connotation?

texts:
I am involved with a group that works with children aged about 7, who've been through some difficult things. One of the sessions focuses on how "every one of you is special".

Recently, somebody's teenaged son pointed out that in his school the word "special" is used as an insult. I guess it refers to being special-needs.

Is this use common-place? Is there a better alternative that we could use?


texts: In a list, should it be 'A,' 'B,' 'C,', etc., or 'A', 'B', 'C'?  Should commas go inside or outside?


texts:
I want to say below sentence with using far removed phrase.

  I was soccer player when I was in collage but now I m basketball
  player. So I m not that soccer player guy anymore.

can I say like:

  I m basketball player, I m much farther removed from soccer player than
  i was in collage.

Is that correct?


texts: "bibs and bobs" - what does it mean and where does it come from?

texts: Just exactly what is a bibs and a bobs? And where the heck did that expression come from, anyway?


texts:
The oft-used phrase "all are agreed" doesn't make grammatical sense to me.
It means "all agree" or "all agreed", or even "all are agreeing", with "all" being the subject.
"All are agreed" instead appears to make "all" the object, with some unspoken subject, as might be the case with "all are accredited" or "all are married". So what would be the subject here?
Or is the phrase just an idiosyncratic idiom? And if so, I wonder how it came about?
(Of course, it could mean "all are engaged in being greedy" I suppose :-) )


texts: Given the recent news, I've heard the words "psychopath" and "sociopath" thrown around with little to no differentiation between the two. With no regards to medical practice, what's the difference between "psychopathy" and "sociopathy"? What makes a "psychopath" and what makes a "sociopath"?


texts: Correct capitalization for domain specific phrase?

texts:
I am currently developing a webpage for the local underwater basket-weaving club, and they have a yearly course called "Learn to Weave". Encountering this phrase in multiple pages and e-mails, I am unsure if it should be capitalized, or how.

Which one of the following would be the most correct phrase, and why?

Learn to weave
Learn to Weave
Learn To Weave


texts: Is there a word or phrase for nostalgia for an era in which one didn't live?

texts:
I am thinking that if such a word or phrase existed, that the French, or Germans, or Japanese would have one.

But is there one in English?  Is it even appropriate to say one is nostalgic for an era in which they didn't live?


texts: Where did the term "Double Standard" originate?

texts: Is it from someone flying two flags (standards are a type of banners or flag) and say riding both sides of the fence?   I'm guessing here as I can find nothing on this. but it sounds logical to me.


texts: What does 'turn things over his fingers' mean?

texts:
Below is the first paragraph of Salinger's "The Ocean Full of Bowling Balls". I wonder what to turn things over his fingers means in this context? I imagine the little boy juggling things, but I don't have a clear scene in my mind (why would one need to roll forward to juggle?).

  His shoes turned up. My mother used to tell my father that he was buying Kenneth’s shoes too large for him, or to please ask somebody if his feet were deformed. But I think his shoes turned up because he was always stopping on the grass, rolling his seventy-five or eighty pounds forward to look at things, to turn things over his fingers. Even his moccasins turned up.


texts: how to use indefinite articles with written and spoken initialism

texts:
I know we are to use “a” before words that start with a consonant sound and “an” before words that start with a vowel sound, but in the case of an initialism that have a vowel sound for first letter, but a consonant sound for the abbreviated word, which of the two indefinite articles are to be used?
Example:

I have an SSD drive installed in my computer.
I have a SSD drive installed in my computer.

In the example above SSD is an initialism for Solid State Drive.
I'm inclined to think that there may be separate rules for speech and written approaches to this, as when speaking I would obviously use the first phrase in the example.


texts: Is it bad practice to say "a husband and his wife" because of redundancy?

texts:
Phrasing like "a husband and his wife" or "a daughter and her father" always irked me, for being a bit redundant. Surely, it is enough to say "man and his wife" (or in the case of same-sex marriages "woman and her wife"), as saying "husband" already includes a relationship with, and existence of, a "wife".

Is it bad practice (or grammatically ill-advised) to say "a husband and his wife"?

Also, is it any better to say "a husband and a wife"? How does "a pet and its owner" fare?

Some examples:

  The film ABC features a husband and his wife, on a spiritual journey to master the English language.

  A daughter and her father appeared on my doorstep, asking for donations to Wikipedia.


texts:
The sentence is supposed to be contradicting a previous situation explained thoroughly in the precedent paragraph. The contradiction is on the same subject (in the past/now). Can the sentence be something like "Whereas now ........."?

Would "Now ......" be enough?


texts: Is a "scoff" a sound one makes or is it merely a gibe?

texts:
When one "scoffs," is one actually making a snort-like sound, or is one merely treating something or someone with a disdain? Look at this example from Oxford: ‘‘You, a scientist?’ he scoffed.’ In such a case, is the one scoffing showing contempt through derision, or is he making an actual sound much like a soft cough?

Thanks.


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

texts: The success of the Android platform is being driven by the sheer number of hardware vendors supporting it at both the high and low ends of the market


texts:
I have seen "on the scene" and "at the scene". I don't understand their differences very clearly.

"At the scene", seems to be used in relation to an accident, or incident. For example: According to the witnesses at the scene, more than 50 people died.

"On the scene", can be used this way. Here is a (incomplete) sentence from COCA*: allowed the detective to identify the suspect, pass the information to officers on the scene.

"On the scene", however, can also be used in relation to stage; it might not be a physical stage, rather, more probably a figurative stage.
Here is a sentence from COCA: With the Barksdale empire falling, a new kid comes on the scene with scant regard for the reputation and values of his drug-peddling fore-fathers.

What do you think?

Thank you.

COCA: Corpus of Contemporary American English


texts: Is "swap" an accepted alternate spelling for "swab" in Australian English?

texts:
A client from Australia sent us some documents that pretty consistently use "alcohol swap" to describe disinfecting wipes.

So no, this is not a "what do I use if I don't have gin" type of situation; they're clearly writing what I would spell as "alcohol swab".

None of the dictionaries I checked has "swab" as an alternate definition of "swap", and I checked over a dozen. Is this nonetheless an accepted Australian variant, or is it a simple mistake?


texts: A word meaning "the state of obeying a rule"

texts:
Is there a word that means "the state of obeying a rule".

I'm thinking since it can be said that something 'adheres' to a rule that 'adherent' would fit the bill, but somehow it doesn't sound quite right.

For example
"It adheres to the rule." -> "It is adherent."
or
"Does it adhere to the rule." -> "Yes, it is adherent."

Is is correct or acceptable to use the word 'adherent' in such a manner?


texts:
What is the accessory that is like a net that is worn by women on the head and that comes all the way till the eyes... it is worn on formal occasions and its is quite old fashioned (IMHO).
It is not used to hold the hair on anything I think. Sometimes I have seen that it comes attached to the bonnet...

Update 1: I remember finding the word in the dictionary once.


texts:
From "Red Wind" by Raymond Chandler:

  He lowered them slowly and looked at the man on the floor. The man's neck was twitching a little. His eyes moved in short stabs-sick eyes.

  "Sure it's the guy?" Copernik's voice was hoarse.

What exactly  are 'stabs-sick' eyes?


texts:
I'm reading Malcolm Lowry's letters and his first letter to Conrad Aiken finishes like this:
te-thrum te-thrum te-thrum te-thrum, Malcolm Lowry
Does anyone know what "te-thrum" mean in this case?
Thanks in advance!


texts: Plural of -choron and -hedroid suffixes?

texts:
Many 4D shapes carry the suffixes -choron and -hedroid (such as that as the hexadecachoron/hexadecahedroid).

What would the general plural forms of these suffixes be? Only reason I ask is hope that one of them differs from the regular 'add an s on the end' pluralization.


texts:
In a philosophical text (not related to jurisprudence) I would like to explicitly make a stipulative definition. I can't quite make it sound good.

Some attempts

I stipulatively define X to mean ...
Stipulatively, I define X to mean ...
Stipulatively, X is defined to mean ...

All of them sound awkward to me. How should I write this?


texts: What does “balls” mean as a reply word or interjection?

texts:
Here’s a question again in Jeffery Archer’s The Prodigal Daughter.
Richard (husband of Florentina Kane, the heroine of the novel)
finds in The Wall Street Journal that Jake Thomas, chairman of Lester’s Bank, took a countermeasure to block Richard’s cornering the stock of the bank in an attempt to take over the chairmanship.
It goes:

  Richard swore uncharacteristically as he left the table and walked
  toward the phone, leaving his coffee to go cold.

  “What did you say?” said Florentina.

  “Balls,” he repeated, and passed her the paper.
  She read the news while Richard was dialing.

  “What does it mean?”

  “It means that even if we do acquire 51% of the present stock,
  Thomas’s authorized issue of further two million shares make it
  impossible to defeat him.”

                  – The Prodigal Daughter, Page 244.

I don’t know what “balls” means as Florentina asked back to her husband.
I looked for definitions of “balls” pertinent to the usage in the above quote in CED, OED, and Merriam-Webster without success.

What does “balls” mean? Is it used casually in daily conversation?


texts: A word/phrase for something that is the mirror reflection of something else

texts:
I'm trying to find a word or phrase for the picture we get when we put everything  that is on the right side to the left and every thing that is placed on the left side to the right, while preserving the order in the opposite manner. I mean if we have: pen, pencil, ruler, needle; after reordering we have: needle, ruler, pencil, pen. Or if you have an image, it must be transformed into what you see in the mirror. Or if you have a kettle with its handle on the left side; now after the transformation the handle is on the right side (and actually with reversed image).
By searching the internet I found the words and phrases: Reversed output, mirror output, mirror reflection of the output, reversed output, mirror reversed output. (One more question in parenthesis: Do we have mirrorly reflected output? Are we able to add -ly to mirror to use it as an adverb at all?)
What is the correct and appropriate word for it? I know that if it was just about a string of characters I could use reversed output. But now I have two dimensional objects (like matrices).
As for its part of speech, I want to use the word/phrase as an object, not a verb.


texts: simple present tense or present perfect - long process / short process; specific time/ nonspecific time

texts:
May I confirm if the following rule I know so far for choosing between simple present tense and present perfect tense is correct?

If it is not specifically emphasised as a long process/ time specific process, we use simple present; or present perfect would be used. E.g.,

The government endeavours to tackle poverty
The government has endeavoured to tackle poverty since the last decade


texts:
What is the origin of the phrase "clear as mud”?

According to the AHD it is a humorous expression from the 19th century. Does anyone have more information about it?

  Murky, obscure, totally unclear, as in The translation of these directions is clear as mud. This ironic phrase always indicates that something is far from clear. [Early 1800s ]


texts: Should articles follow "the ... of" phrase

texts:
Which one is the proper form:

  The chapter of a book.

or:

  The chapter of book.

What are the rules and exceptions for skipping an article after "of" ?


texts:
Which one is the proper term to use when talking about interference in wireless networks "treating the interference as noise" or "treating interference as noise"?

When I check google scholars the second one is used more, but it seems we need "the" there.

Example: While treating interference as noise is optimal in some scenarios, decoding interference is optimal in others.


texts: What is the meaning of " it goes on you "?

texts: Someone told me that Americans use "it goes on you" instead of "it suits you."  But I couldn't find the answer on internet.  Is it really common to use it or not?


texts: Why is the indefinite article used in: "like a challenge"

texts:
source:  60-Second Adventures in Thought (Open University)

  How could a humble tortoise beat the legendary Greek hero Achilles in a race? The Greek philosopher Zeno liked a challenge and came up with this paradox. First, the tortoise is given a slight head start. Anyone fancying a flutter would still rush to put their money on Achilles. But Zeno pointed out that, to overtake him, Achilles would first have to cover the distance to the point where the tortoise began. In that time the tortoise would have moved – so Achilles would have to cover that distance, giving the tortoise time to amble forwards a bit more. Logically this would carry on forever. However small the gap between them, the tortoise would still be able to move forwards while Achilles was catching up. Meaning that Achilles could never overtake.

From the context, I think challenges (plural form) should be used to generally describe what kind of person Zeno is and then give specific example — came up with this paradox... I think this is more logical. It seems that liked a challenge has a plural meaning, but I feel very puzzled.

We say “I like flowers” = flowers generally. We don’t say “I like a flower” to describe flowers in general. Why is challenge different?


texts:
Their orientation is therefore well described by...

Does this use of therefore in the middle of the sentence, reduce fluidity or sound not suitable for a written text?

Should I use commas instead?

I am very wary when dealing with such adverbs, because in Italian (my mother tongue) I would insert them almost anywhere in a sentence, without altering the correctness nor the weirdness.


texts: Using article "THE" in writing scientific papers

texts:
I have a question on the use of article "the" in scientific paper. The following is my paragraph that includes my question.
...
This process is given by
x+ y + z = 1.                                                    (10)
It was proved that:
(a) the equation (10) has two solutions.
(b) Equation (10) has two solutions.
(c) equation (10) has two solutions.
...
My question is that (a), (b) or (c) is written correctly. More clearly, we use “the” before “equation” or not?
I think (a) and (b) are true but many people also used (c). Could you please let me know an explanation for that question.
Thanks.


texts:
22- It was hard work and, as the day ……………, I became more and more tired.
  a) wore on
  b) wore out
  c) wore off
  d) wore down

The answer is "wore on": what is the meaning of it?


texts: "No one is born hating..." vs. "No one is born to hate..."

texts:
“No one is born hating another person because of the color of his
  skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate,
  and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love
  comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.”

Source: Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom

Why can't it be "No one is born to hate another…"?


texts: Why is Steam/Cyber/...-punk called "punk"?

texts:
Cyberpunk, steampunk, dieselpunk: why is it called "punk"?

Related but not helpful: Etymology of "punk"?


texts: I can't understand the two sentence from hackerone 《blog-How-To-Server-Side-Request-Forgery-SSRF》

texts:
A cool pivot to escalate the SSRF to a Remote Code Execution (RCE) is by pushing asynchronous jobs on a Redis queue that then get executed by an application using the gopher:// protocol. It’s really convenient that a lot of Redis instances don’t use any form of authentication. Exploiting this, however, warrants its own blog post given the debugging you have to do. Something for another blogpost!

Source

In the first sentence, 'A cool pivot to escalate ... (RCE)' is the subject follows by the predicate 'is'. What's the rest of the sentence. 'Pushing asynchronous jobs on a Redis queue that then get executed by an application using the gopher:// protocol is the pivot to escalate the SSRF to a Remote Code Execution', is this synonym for the origin? And I don't know what 'that then get executed' is used to describe(the Remote code or Redis queue), I guess that is Remote code.  I would appreciate it if anything help.


texts:
I came across a sentence that uses 'iterate on'. Is this usage correct?

  "Unpack customer insights, and iterate on the content and the overall
  design to produce innovative products and features."


texts:
in the question "What's your last name for me?" asked by a clerk for a registration, does the prepositional for me soften it?

00:12 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFjrerZ-EWo


texts:
We're internally using the term "business infrastructure" to group a set of modules, like a web site, an administration portal, an e-commerce engine and so on. While nicely accepted by the team, the term is often shorten to "BI", which, in the software industry, already refers to another concept (more precisely, "business intelligence").
We need to find another term, but the synonyms suggested by the dictionaries will not do (we cannot say "business base", "business groundwork", "business underpinning").
Can you suggest a synonym?


texts: How to interpret the sentence--"A Mother beats up her Daughter as she was drunk"?

texts:
In the sentence above, who is drunk? I looked into the grammar book of my 7th grader (only grammar book I have access to at the moment) but could not find much. When searching on line, I found one page where the solution is essentially given from a cultural point of view which says the sentence could be interpreted as daughter being drunk because she is more likely to drink.

Is there any grammatical rule that would help disambiguate this sentence?


texts:
How do you all pronounce the TH sound when speaking fast?

For example, I've learned to pronounce the TH sound like a continuant sound, for example the hard one: ð. I start doing a Z, so this Z go between the the teeth and creates the TH sound. Like a lisp (definition by Macmillan).

But when I speak very fast, the sound becomes like-stop way. That sounds to me like a big difference, it's so different like a "SH" (continuous) and a "CH" (stop).

When I hear native speakers, most of the time their TH sound sounds like a D did behind the upper teeth; I think this Wikipedia did call "Dental Approximant".

But is very confusing to me, because they're three differents sounds, the TH continuant, the TH stop and the TH approximant.

I would really like to pronounce the continuant one, but sometimes it's impossible, sometimes I just stay silent when I don't know what sounds right and natural.
For example when I say, "The Rules" I might use the approximant or the stop, just for shame.

According to Wikipedia, ð is continuous and the others are variations.

I saw people just doing a T or a D between their teeth.
But, this sound more different yet, because I can do a N, L the same way, so this T/D are just T/D in different places.

I saw that sometimes people pronounce approximants on TH beginning words, and continuants on the middle of words.

Are these variations natural, how do you do your TH?
What is considered normal? How do you learn it at school?
   Is it impossible to run away from these variations?
   Does it sound weird if I say "THen" like "ZHen",  the ZH represents a "Z lisp"?

P.S: the unvoiced TH shows these variations:
Continuant is S with a lisp, stop S with lisp and the T dental approximant.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiced_dental_fricative
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2981115/

Sorry for the errors, I've stopped studying grammar because I just need to learn this first.


texts: How should rhetorical questions be punctuated?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Should rhetorical questions end with a period?

How would you punctuate the following sentence, and others like it? Are there any precedents, or applicable style guides?

  The question is what are we going to do about it?

No rephrasing, please.


texts:
How can you tell when a participle is being used as an adjective?

I feel completely lost trying to guess. Just as a completely arbitrary example

For every dedicated scientist patiently recording atmospheric
pressure and wind speed while shivering at high altitudes, there is a
carnival barker with a bevy of pretty girls willing to dangle from a
basket or parachute down to earth.


texts: Difference between "would have" and "would" in the following

texts:
When we talk about past habitual or behavioral events, what is the difference between the following two sentences?

Every once in a while I would go to this friend's house and we would get into a discussion. By the time I would realize, it would have taken 4 hours.
Every once in a while I would go to this friend's house and we would get into a discussion. By the time I would realize, it would take 4 hours.


texts: I have disabled something and want to enable it again. Can I say that I "re-enable it" or do I simply "enable" it?


texts: Meaning of "an identity of thought and being"

texts:
Hegel asserted that in order for the thinking subject (human reason or consciousness) to be able to know its object (the world) at all, there must be in some sense an identity of thought and being.

Could you give me an example?


texts: Is "get in game" a correct way of asking someone to get online in a video game?

texts: In particular, is it OK to use no article (to avoid confusion with the idiom "get in the game")? Are there any better ways to tell someone to log into the game without saying "log in"? Example: "get in game tonight to claim your rewards".


texts: What does (Death comes as the end) mean?

texts:
My friend and I are having a debate on what does the title of the book (Death comes as the end) actually mean.

Since both of us are not native English speakers, we can't reach a definitive answer. All on account of the use of (as) in the title.

I am arguing that (as) in the title references a point in time:
- Death comes as the end [comes].

While my friend suggests that (as) is equivalent to (like):
- Death comes "like the end".

The book has been translated to Arabic: في النهاية يأتي الموت
Which when translated literally back to English you would get: At the end, death comes. That does not help much in our debate.


texts:
In engineering and energy, is there any difference between a system and a plant? Is it a matter of scale?

It sounds odd to me to use the word "plant" to describe a small-scale system for energy production (something non-commercial, for example a solar power system that could be installed on an individual person's property). I think of a power plant as being a very large structure for industrial or commercial purposes, but I haven't been able to find any reference sites that would justify my reaction. Am I wrong? Does anybody know any rules on this?

This is for a translation into English. The client's first choice is "plant."
Thanks very much.


texts:
I know the ultimate meaning of this is "I have no money."

But why? If ain't means have not, then isn't it true that "I ain't got no money" would be read as "I have not got no money"?

Can I have not got [no money] be interpreted as double negative, and hence determining that "I have money", which is not the true meaning of such saying?


texts: Why does the contraction of "I will" sound strange in certain sentence constructions?

texts:
Recently, while chatting with a friend via text, my friend asked me, "Can you ask them tomorrow?"

I responded with:

  I will when I go.

It occurred to me when writing this response that it would be really weird sounding to say:

  I'll when I go.

However, it would have been normal sounding if I had said:

  I'll ask when I go.

Is there any formal reason why the version without "ask" following "I'll" is incorrect? Or maybe it is correct, but merely awkward?

I suppose there may not be any explanation deeper than, "it just sounds weird," but any informative insights into why, ideally with examples of similar cases, would stand as an answer.


texts: Difference in meaning between “elderly” and "old"?

texts:
Advice being given because of the COVID-19 pandemic, includes the word “elderly”.

I know someone aged 77 who does not feel elderly but does admit to being old.

Is there more of a negative association to the word  “elderly” than to the word "old"?


texts:
I know that verbatim has a Latin origin, but why is it not spelled verbatum?

English does not seem to have many Latin words that end in ‑im.


texts: Interweaving A and E (e.g., æ) in written words

texts:
New to this particular community.

My question relates to the word propaedeutic. In particular, I have witnessed the "a" interwoven with "e" to produce propædeutic. I once read that this is an example of a diphthong. Is the æ glyph simply used to denote a difference in pronunciation? Could anyone shed light on the roots of this linguistic practice?

And, if I may, why is propaedeutic, or propedeutic more generally, not recognized as a word when written out in this context?

Any insight?


texts: “A threat to us people” or “a threat to we people”?

texts:
Which of these is correct:

Global warming is a great threat to us people.
Global warming is a great threat to we people.


texts: Which "not" is not in the proper place: "Not only does (not) she (not) know, but also ..."

texts:
I know that whenever we bring "not only" at the beginning of a sentence, what comes after it has to be in question form.

Now, I'm having a problem with the negative form of this question.
Which one of the following sentences is correct?

  Not only doesn't she know, but also ...

or

  Not only does she not know, but also ...


texts: Can "whether" be used in a question that starts with "Are you sure..."?

texts:
Is it correct to use are you sure and whether in the same question? For example, can you ask:

Are you sure whether you would like an apple or an orange?


texts: Looking for a word: Taking control or changing your environment

texts:
I've heard this word before but can't remember it. It is normally used to describe the stage of teenage development when the teenager starts to try and control or change their environment.

My brain keeps heading towards stewardship but I know it is not correct.

Any assistance would be appreciated.


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Comma before last item in a list

Often times, I find myself writing sentences like the following:

  "... to integrate four granularities
  of features: first, second, third, and
  fourth."

I am just curious to find out if there should be a comma before and. Can someone explain the reason for having (or not having) the comma?


texts: Is "keep updated" proper usage of those words?

texts:
I'm far from being an English major, but I have a simple question.  If someone were to say keep updated in a sentence, is that correct? I know the usage, tense, and other things matter, but is it incorrect to use those two words together?

If you were to suggest that someone keep updated [a statement], would that be correct?

I read another post here (which was similar), but it didn't say anything specific about "keep" or "updated" together.

Update: Thanks to a comment written in response to an answer below, a good example of this would be the sentence, “Whom should I keep updated about our progress?” (Is this correct?)


texts: that word your giving all your attention to

texts:
Is there a single word for "keep in mind"?

  You have to keep in mind that...

  Please keep in mind...

  We have to keep in mind...

If not, please suggest some alternatives.


texts:
Recently listening to a podcast, I heard someone (of unknown British origin) use 'take a punt' in the sense of 'take a chance.' Perhaps this is due to punting in American English referring to American Football, I am at a loss as to why punting would be risky.

Is this phrase common in the UK?
How did this phrase come about and is it related to a sport? (I assume it's not American Football, as punting is the 'safe' play for fourth down, as opposed to "going for it.")


texts:
Is there a word similar to retrieve which means the opposite? (like the words send and receive) I do not know if there is such a combination. I have been thinking about words which mean the opposite my self, words such as:

Drop off.
Send.
Perform.

But I have no idea if the word retrieve has an actual counter part.

EDIT
I'm a programmer and am using retrieve to retrieve data from a task I created earlier, I would now like to provide information to that task.


texts:
To be clear, among

There is one or several apple.
There are one or several apple.
There is one or several apples.
There are one or several apples.

which is correct?

My guess:

Because of the shortest distance rule 1, apples is correct as it is near several.
Though there seems to be near one, the actually object is apples, and thus are should be used.
Thus

There are one or several apples.

is correct.
To make things clearer,

There are one or several apples and a table.

illustrates the long connection between there and apples better.
1 Sorry, I do not know its English name. I just translate it from my language back.

By the way, I do not want to emphasize at least one.


texts: Confusion on using this/that and that/those

texts:
I have confusion regarding the use of that/those and this/that properly.

My first question:

Jobs those are generally involved in a lot of repetitive work are boring.
Jobs that are generally involved in a lot of repetitive work are boring.

I think the first one is correct because we refer more than one job so we should use the connecting word those. However, Grammarly shows that the second one is right.

Can anyone explain the reason?

My second question:

We’re going to eat first and then go to the film. Are you happy with that?
We’re going to eat first and then go to the film. Are you happy with this?

As per Grammarly, we should use that instead of this. Can anyone explain the reason?


texts: "The Stars and Stripes" vs. "Old Glory" vs. "The Star-Spangled Banner"

texts:
Is there a difference in using any which of those terms to call the national flag of the U.S.?
Which one is most commonly used?

The Stars and Stripes
The national flag of the U.S., consisting of 13 horizontal stripes, alternately red and white, and a blue field containing white stars representing the states. Also called Old Glory, The Star-Spangled Banner. [1782, Amer.]
Random House
The Star-Spangled Banner

Stars and Stripes.

(italics) the national anthem of the United States of America, based on a poem written by Francis Scott Key on September 14, 1814, and set by him to the melody of the English song To Anacreon in Heaven: officially adopted by the U.S. Congress in 1931.

Random House
Old Glory
The flag of the United States
Merriam-Webster


texts: Is there a common word that describes programming languages, query languages, and markup languages?

texts:
Languages such as Java or C# are called programming languages. SQL is a query language and HTML is considered a markup language. I'm looking for an English word that describes all these different kinds of language in the context of software development. Is there such a word?

I guess one possibility would be to call them languages, but then it's a problem that you can't differentiate between these languages and natural languages such as English or Dutch.

Sample sentence:

  Alice and Bob put the website together from scratch, employing a variety of (artificial languages) for the front-end, back-end and database-access portions.


texts:
Is there a single word for 'never return' or 'will never return'? e.g,

  She's gone and will never return.

Sorry if it's a poor example I'm not a native speaker of the English language. So, if you find any mistake in what I have written, you are free to fix for me or tell me.


texts:
Macron beat far-right candidate Marine Le Pen to become France's youngest-ever president.

in this sentence

I am confused with its function, to become.

Is it used as an adverb? adjective? noun?

can you give me more examples like this?


texts:
Ice Cube's intro in his newest album starts with

  Yeah, you know me. Super OG.
  Always down to take a knee.

What does this last sentence mean? He won‘t literally take someone’s knee I guess..


texts:
I'm translating a script for a cartoon into English. In one of the scenes a grandpa's talking to his granddaughter. It goes something like this:

GRANDPA

Indeed! I have forgotten! Apparently, your grandpa’s getting a bit long in the tooth. Anyway, would you give your old grandpa a hug?

She turns around slowly. She sees her grandpa with long teeth. She rubs her eyes and the vision’s gone.

Seems clear, right? The thing is in my native tongue we don't say "long in the tooth", we say something along the lines of "be like a mushroom" (= be old). And, unfortunately, that's what you see when you're watching the original episode - a grandpa covered in mushrooms (not with long teeth).

As there's no way the producers are ever going to agree to change the original scene and make it work for the English audience, I need to come up with an idiom combining old age and mushrooms (a tree with fungi, possibly?)

Any ideas?


texts:
Let us suppose we want to say that we want to resume practicing a language before we forget it absolutely. So we will say:

I wish I would resume ... before ...

And what after before? Can we use the same pattern here - that is present conditional?

Also I am curious what conditional should be used if the sentence starts with I wish I resumed and I wish I had resumed, that is hypothetical situation (when we cannot resume) and when we regret we did not resume in the past (and now it is too late)


texts: "Simple is best" vs "Simple is the best"

texts:
As a foreigner, using articles is one of the most difficult part.

What is the difference between "Simple is best" and "Simple is the best"? When I googled it, both appeared with many results, so it seems both are right. Are they same or have some differences?


texts:
I have another thorny little sentence:
"The level is determined on the basis of the placement (community outpatient or STRP) and on the program’s assessment of the patient’s performance and risk."

Someone higher on the totem pole than I suggested replacing the parentheses with commas, which I normally would agree with -- but in this case I'm afraid it will read like elements in a series, and be generally awkward.

I thought of doing something like:
"The level is determined on the basis of the placement, whether community outpatient or STRP, and on the program’s assessment of the patient’s performance and risk."

But I hate to add another word and also I don't know that it even cures the problem I have.

Any thoughts on this?

(please don't advise me about passive voice use. I eventually hope to completely rewrite the whole document, but for now I'm just trying to clarify and pare down wordiness)

Thanks!


texts:
I'm learning the new word "definition" and there are two example sentences listed on my app:

What’s your definition of happiness?
I need a definition for this word.

Should I use "of" or "for" after "definition"? Or both are OK?

Many thanks!


texts: How can I rephrase a question with if clause, to be answered only if the event of the "if" clause happened

texts:
I would like to ask a question which is to be answered only if some past condition is met:

If you did something in the past, could you tell me more about it?

How should I rephrase it?


texts:
Recent news events in the US have resulted in many headlines about "nude photos of young women" and variations.

Obviously it's the women who are nude, not the photos, so why does this phrasing persist? Is it an idiom, or does it just flow better, or is it some other nuance of usage that I haven't seen in other situations?

Edit: I don't think the linked question is directly on point (though I do see the connection), nor do I think just saying "nude photos are photos of nudes, duh" is an informative answer or comment. Defining nude photos as photos of nudes ignores the fact that the headline refers to photos of women.


texts: What word would you use to describe this symbol?

texts: Is there a word for the black "mess" between the yellow star and the green exclamation mark? And is there a unicode character/emoji for this symbol?


texts: What’s the name for Gary and Harry’s blood relationship?

texts:
Imagine that Gary and Harry are these two guys in a hypothetical family,
described in English below and in this diagram represented by the green cells at the bottom:

As you see, Gary and Harry are related to each other by blood, so one is the
other’s something or other.  What I want to know here is what that
something is.  That way Gary could tell someone that “his _______
Harry stopped by the other day”, or vice versa.

In other words, is there a word — or words — that fit these two blanks?

Gary is Harry’s ________.
Harry is Gary’s ________.

This might be the same something, like with cousins, or it might be
different somethings, like uncle and nephew.

Here’s their family tree, which starts with two couples, Andy and Betty
on one hand and Charlie and Daisy on the other, in which none of the
four is related to any other of the four by blood, only by marriage alone.

Andy and Betty marry and have a son Eddie.
Charlie and Daisy marry and have a daughter Fanny.
Later, Andy divorces Betty and marries Charlie and Daisy’s daughter Fanny, and then Andy and Fanny have a son Gary together.
Also later, Daisy divorces Charlie and marries Andy and Betty’s son Eddie, and then Daisy and Eddie have a son Harry together.

That means that Gary is Andy’s son and Daisy’s grandson, while Harry is Daisy’s son and Andy’s grandson. Gary’s half-brother Eddie is Harry’s father, while Harry’s half-sister Fanny is Gary’s mother.

Given that Andy is Gary’s father and Harry’s grandfather, and Daisy is Harry’s mother and Gary’s grandmother, Gary and Harry are definitely related to each other — but how?

Gary is Harry’s ________.
Harry is Gary’s ________.

While I realize that not all extended, by-marriage family relationships
have a name for them in English that do have a word for them in other
cultures, that’s not what I’m talking about here. These are for people who
actually share blood with each other, so you would think some
combination of cousin or uncle or nephew or grandson would work here.

But what?

Here’s that diagram again in case in helps to see it closer to the English description.

This idea and original diagram from F.M. Lancaster’s Genetic and Quantitative Aspects of Genealogy: Types of Collateral Relationships


texts: What do you call a task that requires cleverness?

texts: A task that requires creativity is called a creative task; how would you describe a task that requires cleverness?


texts: What's the idiom for getting lost in a (malfunctioning) bureaucracy?

texts:
In German, the noun "sand"1 has a verb form, versandet, which is used to express how items get completely lost in the bureaucracy of administration, and even are not done at a later stage. Is there a direct English equivalent of this verb? Failing that, what's the closest idiom?

I am trying the following translation:

  German: Die Anfrage ist im Gebtriebe der Bürokratie versandet.
  English: The request got lost in the bowels of the administration.

But I am not happy with it because my impression is that the verb got lost
expresses that something unexpected happened, whereas
the original German meaning is that the administration
is not properly functioning. Also, I want to make it clear that the problem is not with the request - it's not getting lost because it's too complicated or anything like that.

1 Yes, it's exactly the same word, with the same meaning, in German and English


texts: "not meant merely to" vs "not merely meant to"

texts:
I don't know which of the two is more correct:

  This site is not meant merely to determine the popularity of specific tools.
  This site is not merely meant to determine the popularity of specific tools.

Cant these be safely used interchangeably?


texts: Is there any word for the person who often forgets?

texts:
Other than the word forgetter, is there any word for the person who often forgets?

I don’t mean someone with Alzheimer’s disease, just someone who reads a lot but is unable to recall what they’ve read when they need that information.


texts: What part of speech is "baking" in "baking is fun"?

texts: In the sentence "baking is fun," what part of speech is "baking"?


texts:
When ANY is modified by a prepositional phrase that is plural, is the verb singular or plural?

For example:

Whether any of the doors along the hallway is open or not
Whether any of the doors along the hallway are open or not

This is not a duplicate of the linked question, which asks about the difference in usage between things like "any book" (with a singular noun) and "any books" (with a plural noun).


texts: What is the term for a symbol wherein a part of a whole represents the whole?

texts:
A number of symbols exist wherein a part of some whole is used to represent the whole. For example, the atom is often used to represent science, even though it is only one concept in a very broad field. Somewhat more controversially, in one particularly well-known statue, Robert E. Lee is used to represent the American Antebellum South and Civil War, even though he was only one figure in a very broad landscape.

Is there a term for such a symbol, where a part of some whole is used to represent the whole?


texts: Single word for person entitled to receive a sales commission

texts:
I need a fairly specific single word for a person who is entitled to receive a sales commission. "Agent" for example isn't specific enough.

A short phrase is also usable. Adjectives ditto. The underlying field is accounting.

This is actually for use as a database table name, which is why it needs to be fairly specific, but it's an English language question all right ;-)


texts: having the ability to "enthuse for" or "enthuse with"?

texts:
I'm proofreading an application and there is this sentence I'm a bit sceptical about:

"Apart from that, I have the ability to enthuse myself and others with something new."

Wouldn't it be better to say "enthuse for" instead of "enthuse with" or to rewrite the sentence like
"...I have the ability to get myself and others enthusiastic about new things." ?
I've searched for "enthuse for/with" and according to google ngram "with" is more common than "for", which seems to correlate with what I found in the cambride dictionary (https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/enthuse). The problem might be simply solved by exchanging "enthuse with" for "inspire for", but I also really want to know which preposition comes along with "enthuse".
Thank you in advance.


texts: English idiom for keeping a lousy employee on the payroll because of his connections?

texts:
You know (hypothetical) Larry, the CEO's third cousin, who was hired on an important and well paid position even though he totally sucks at it, dragging the entire department down, but the CEO keeps him and blames everything on lower level employees, reducing their pay and rerouting it to Larry?

Is there an idiom in English for this kind of situation?

To clarify, the idiom should reflect the actions of the CEO. In my native language there is an idiom, roughly translating to "keeping someone on the feeding lot" although I feel like the context is diminished in English, it sounds like fattening cattle, while the original context is "keep feeding someone who hasn't earned or deserved it" but even more pronounced, not simply one who hasn't deserved it, but someone who actually doesn't deserve it.


texts: "brand spanking new" - is this correct grammar & polite way to say?

texts:
I saw an add saying "This iphone is brand spanking new" which sound like "brand * new".

I am not sure if this word has correct grammar + polite (ie people use it without any bad or joke meaning)


texts: Is it "fewer than one person" or "less than one person"?

texts: I have been under the impression that the distinction between fewer and less was with countable vs. uncountable nouns. But I've just encountered the claim that it's plural vs. singular. Which is it? Or is this one of those ambiguous cases?


texts:
Why can't we use the word information in the plural form?
"Give me all the informations you've got", even if it's wrong, sounds more beautiful to my non-native ear than "give me all the information you've got", and I don't know why.

Edit: This is not a duplicate question since I know that information is a mass noun; what I am asking is, why can't it be in plural like some other mass nouns can? Why is it like that when it seems more correct with s at the end?


texts: If I say First Monday or Second Monday of the Month what is the name for the First or Second Part?

texts:
Situation:  Someone says i want to meet the first monday of each month.  And i want to tell them that the first wouldn't work.  But i want to say it like:
Please choose a different xxxxx.

IE: if  i wanted to change the day i'd say. "Please choose a different day"

I'm thinking something close to frequency or ordinal..but i'm sure there's a term for it.


texts: How do you say "actively developing" in English?

texts:
In my resume I talked about some projects that I have worked on like: "Created a" "Developed a program" "Designed a program" and in all of my high-tech interviews (like Microsoft) they asked "and you abandoned it?" with a laugh
How can I make it clear that I am still developing and working on the program and advancing them in short and professional way?


texts: What does "legal gambit" mean as a metaphor?

texts: The legal gambit has become an annual event, according to a report in The Orlando Sentinel, and the company recently won a victory reducing the taxes the county wanted to collect on one of its hotels.


texts: Meaning of "Detachment is not that you should own nothing. but that nothing should own you"

texts: I do not understand the exact meaning of this statement: "Detachment is not that you should own nothing, but that nothing should own you."


texts: Alternative to phrase "Plantation shutters"?

texts:
I live and work in Atlanta, in the South. I write descriptions of property for real estate agents. A desirable and popular window treatment here are what is widely referred to as Plantation Shutters.

I want to appeal to all buyers, and avoid offending anyone with the association to slave-powered plantations. I have thought about calling these shutters Estate Shutters. They are historically found in large estate homes in the Southern United States, on the inside of the windows, as well as outside. Does anyone have another suggestion? What are your thoughts about the phrase Estate Shutters?


texts: Which word should I choose in this context?

texts:
I have participated in many campaigns aiming at providing some opportunities for students to perceive vicariously what was going on in the real life behind the economic data which they were familiar with.

I mean that the students may know something through numbers, but he can have a clearer understanding of what these number means if he has direct contact with people. I use "perceive vicariously" , because I want to emphasize "senses" versus dry rationality. But still I think what the senses will give the students is a higher or clearer understanding, not sensation. Maybe "understand vividly“ fits well my purpose？


texts: Is there a dictionary/tool where I can find advanced usage of simple words?

texts:
Is there a dictionary/tool where I can find advanced versions of simple words? (thesaurus is not enough)

For example,

Untapped vs unexploited
Lucrative vs profitable
Prospect vs aspect
Ferociously vs extremely
Prone vs hurt
doppelganger vs friend

I think it's helpful to look for such resources when I'm writing so I can enrich my vocabulary.


texts: Is there a single word that means "root of the issue"?

texts:
I'm looking for a single word that means "root of the issue" or "cause of the problem".

I found the single words "origin", "cause", and "basis", but they do not indicate the negativity experienced from an issue or a problem.

I'm looking to say "I found the _____!".


texts: "are being made to speak, in the course of which"

texts:
Thinking has come to life again; the cultural treasures of the past, believed to be dead, are being made to speak, in the course of which it turns out that they purpose things altogether different from the familiar, worn-out trivialities they had been presumed to say.

Source: Mark Lilla: The Reckless Mind, p. 12.

I am puzzled by the relative clause in the above sentence ("in the course of which it turns out"). Is it in English common that the relative sentence modifies participle which I think is this case?


texts: "No reason why" as a standalone phrase or a sentence

texts: Can you come up with an example, in which "No reason why" would be one separate sentence, perhaps, a short answer in a dialogue. (So, such constructions as "There is no reason why we shouldn't..." must not be considered.)


texts: What does "she was as generous in sharing her death as she was in sharing her life" mean?

texts:
I just started reading this book called "A Dirty Job" by Christopher Moore. The author has dedicated his work to Patricia Moss by this sentence:

  This book is dedicated to Patricia Moss, who was as generous in sharing her death as she was in sharing her life".

I don't exactly get the meaning of it. Is there any kind of irony in this sentence? Does the writer want to say "She not only shared her life with others when she was alive, but also, when she died, she was still generous and shared her death with others and killed them"? or the writer only wants to praise Patricia Moss?


texts: The word for realizing that other people are people too, with stories and depth

texts: I remember coming across an article that said there was a word for the realization that other people are the same as you, with stories, pain, heartache, joy, etc. I believe the word starts with an 's', but I can't figure out what it is.


texts: How would you describe: Read a book, but not cover-to-cover?

texts:
As the title says. I'm looking for a good word or expression for saying something like "I have read only several chapters from random location of the book, but someday I want to read from cover to cover." I was wondering if there's a way to say like "I have ***ed the book, but..."

Addendum:
More specific context is as follows. I'm talking about a textbook that I have used for a class. The class covered only several chapters of the book, so I have read them rather thoroughly, but not much for other chapters that were not covered in the class. So "I haven't read it" is not very accurate.


texts: How can I NOW say that I took a decision about my FUTURE in my PAST?

texts:
At this point of time, I WAS certain that software industry IS not where I want TO BE. Neither the advertising agency. I wanted to practice this lifestyle and learn many things. So, I submitted my resignation in December 2013.

I mean - I was certain (at some stage of my past) that Software and Advertising are not the industries in which I would want to look myself in(in future).

So, the sentence in italics needs to be corrected accordingly.


texts: Can the colon introduce only two objects?

texts:
"Here are two choices: pizza and hot dogs."

Would that be correct, or can the colon only introduce three or more objects?


texts: What does "Fight through the pain" mean?

texts: What does sentence "Fight through the pain" mean? I heard this sentence in XBox360 game Gears of War. Can the sentence be also used with other verbs - can it be simply expressed as pattern "Do something through the pain"?


texts: What word describes the process of a ship being slowly "swallowed" in the sea?

texts:
Trying to find a word which will describe the slow process of the absorption of a ship by the sea. Metaphysical words are also welcome.

  Sea water swallowed the ship.


texts: A word or idiom for a car mechanic that rips you off

texts: I'm curious if there is an English word or idiom specific for a car mechanic that rips you off. In the case of a doctor, one could use charlatan, or quack.


texts:
I have this sentence

  The _____ strength of this novel is the author's life experience

And it needs a word form of lie to fill in the gap. At first, I think it's lying but it sounds weird to me.


texts: Stingy, miserly and frugal: What is the difference in usage?

texts:
Could you please provide an example sentence for each adjective so that to show a situation when only one of the adjectives may be used while the others may not?

The thing that confuses me most is that the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English defines these words like so:

First, it says something like "not a generous person":

stingy: "informal not generous, especially with money"
"a miserly person is not generous and does not like spending money"
frugal: "careful to buy only what is necessary"

Then, it gives a second definition which boils down to "a small quantity":

"a stingy amount of something, especially food, is too small"
"a miserly amount or quantity is one that is much too small"
"a frugal meal is a small meal of plain food"

So, "frugal" does stand out in a sense that it is mostly about food. However, all the three adjectives look way too similar. What's worse, they translate into exactly one in my native language.


texts:
I've been reading a lot about the subjunctive mood lately, and everything seems clearer than it did some time ago, but I still have doubts regarding this mood.
The other day I read the following sentence:

  It's about time someone took my place. And I'd be honored if it was you.

So now I'm confused as to whether was or were is correct in this sentence.

I read that the subjunctive mood only exists in the present and past tense. I think that the troublesome sentence describes future: He would be honored if it was he who took his place.
If this is the case then the subjunctive mood wouldn't apply here, and therefore "was" would be correct.

I would appreciate any help.


texts:
What is the correct punctuation of something like "constant factor competitive algorithm"? This is a term that frequently appears in computer science articles, and I have seen it written in multiple ways.

Here "constant factor competitive" is a property of an algorithm. The algorithm is "competitive", but the kind of competitiveness is further specified as being "constant factor".

Logically I would write it "constant-factor-competitive algorithm", but it looks a bit suspicious. Maybe "constant-factor competitive algorithm"?


texts:
How can we explain the use of this "something" thing? I understand it, and I might even use it, but I'm having trouble putting my finger on what it conveys. I've provided two examples below:

Example 1

Ivan: How's it going Dan?

Dan: Not bad. Super busy these days with this whole tea thing.

Ivan: What is "this whole tea thing?"

Dan: The tea company I bought into. You know about that.

Ivan: Yeah, but why not just say "tea company?"

Dan: I dunno.

Example 2

Ivan: The weekend sure was fun.

Dave: Definitely. I didn't think I was into this ziplining thing, but I had a great time.

Ivan: What do you mean "this ziplining thing?"

Dave: I just mean ziplining.

Ivan: Why not just say "ziplining?"

Dave: I dunno.


texts:
I have a question about the meaning of "against" in the following sentence:
"These communications should be in writing and delivered against receipt."
I don't understand why "against" is used here or what it exactly means.
I'd appreciate your help. Thank you!


texts: "at" or "on" before "10.10.2019, 16:30" (JavasScript `toLocaleString` output)

texts:
Let's consider a time format: "10.10.2019, 16:30". I'd like to use it in a sentence. By example, what would be a correct sentence:

"It started at 10.10.2019, 16:30.",
"It started on 10.10.2019, 16:30.",

or maybe neither of them?
For me it seem to depend on what the grammar rule is: in this kind of formats (with one or many commas), should the focus be put on the first information presented (date in this case and so "on" shall be used), the last one (time in this example and "at" shall be used then), it depends on the writers intention and context and what is the most important information for him or her or there is no rule about it?

From what I've already found it seems the best option would be: "It started on 10.10.2019 at 16:30", but as it's a generated output of some (toLocaleString) JavaScript function, I'd rather keep this format.

I believe I could also use "Start time: 10.10.2019, 16:30.", but I'm more into not using ":".

Thank You in advance.


texts: Meaning of "we're not out to get anybody"

texts: What is the meaning of We're not out to get anybody? This is a message from a teacher to the student.


texts: "Remove a rib [from Adam] to make a whole other person"?

texts:
Is there a word to stand in for the concept of "Remove a rib [from Adam] to make a whole other person"

The sentence I am trying to write is: This will effectively end her ability to ____.

I am trying to use it as a metaphor to describe the way the matrilineal family reproduces itself in the neo-slave narrative Corregidora by Gayl Jones.


texts: Should an "and" be placed before the last item in a list if the item is followed by an "etc."?

texts:
Which of the following sentences is correct?

  There are several types of email uses, such as professional, personal, and promotional etc.
  There are several types of email uses, such as professional, personal, promotional etc.

I am not sure if there exists a difference between American and British English in this case.


texts:
Why is the noun form of pray "prayer"?
Typically, -er is tacked onto the end of verbs to denote a person or thing that does the verb. Hence, print(er), compute(r), write(r), watch(er), do(er), etc.
Alternatively, the noun of the verb to denote the verb itself is often the same base form: address, change, stare, prey, etc.
However, pray(er) does not follow either of the above two trends. Prayer does not denote a person who prays; and pray cannot be interpreted as a noun.
Checking the etymology of both pray and prayer on etymonline.com, they both start at the 13th-c. French verb prier, but with no further indication of why one acquired the -er ending.
Is prayer unique in this sense? Or are there other nouns with an -er ending that similarly don't follow the trend of denoting person or thing that [verbs]?


texts:
I am studying to take the TOEFL exam, which I need to pass if I have any hope of a job promotion. The problem I encountered is the following.
The TOEFL textbook gives me the following example. (It is talking about the acoustic function of human body).

Whenever you speak, your vocal cords vibrate.
The slower the vibration, the lower the pitch.
To raise the pitch of vibrating string, tighten it.

My research:
After googling and looking up the different terms in a dictionary, I came to think that the expression in bold might refer to the fiber of the human beings' vocal cord.
Example.

At birth, vocal cords are composed of a uniform, gel-like material. As the vocal cords mature, fibers develop within the gel, eventually forming a multilayered, laminated string. Imagine a set of guitar strings glued close together with gelatin.

(I don't understand the part "Imagine a set of guitar strings glued close together with gelatin")

A simple string
Despite the complexities of the vocal cord structure, Titze says he was surprised at how well the model of a simple vibrating string explained the cord's range. "Most people would laugh at using a simple vibrating string model for something as complicated as a 3-D, nonhomogeneous tissue structure," he says. "But the string model does an incredibly good job of explaining this range of frequencies."

So my final assumption is that the "vibrating strings" would mean some sort of fibers comprising of a human being's vocal cord.

Would my assumption/understanding be correct?

Thank you for your any support sincerely.


texts:
I've just read a couple of questions concerning the proper usage of the pronouns "I" and "me" in sentences like:

  John and I went fishing

It seems clear and obvious to me, that when the pronoun is the subject of the sentence, we should use the subject pronoun.

My question concerns a different context, though. I'm curious as to which pronoun is correct when used in a short, one-word answer? So, when we hear a question like "Who wants to go fishing tomorrow?", should the answer be:

  Me!

or

  I!

My intuition tells me it should be the former, but I don't really know why.
Is there any underlying rule in English, that dictates which pronoun - subject or object - should be used in the above-mentioned context?


texts: What's the best word for someone that is not an Optimist or a Pessimist?

texts:
What's the most appropriate word for someone that's neither an optimist or a pessimist? Lackadaisical? Disinterested?

EDIT:

What I was going for was someone who is neither optimistic or pessimistic about the future because they basically don't care. This was not so clear earlier.

Lots of good answers below, and in my opinion the ones that fit my intentions best are

Ambivalent
Apathetic
Indifferent
Stoic


texts: Should I used a hyphen for "often-used" and "well-documented"?

texts:
Not sure what this is called, but I have seen the following phrases with and without hyphens:

  The doctor performed a well-documented procedure.

Or:

  He took an often-used road to the farm.

What are those 'contraptions' called, and should hyphens be used or do they go separate (well documented and often used)?


texts:
What is difference exactly between the following two sentences:
 (using "to" vs "for")

1- It is rare for a family to be one and done.

2- It is rare to a family to be one and done.


texts: Is there a word for a person who loves teddy bears?

texts:
My friend has a huge collection of teddy bears in her basement. She collected it from her childhood and she still loves it.

We want to write on her birthday card something like, "Dear Angel, you are the greatest _____ in the town we know.... "

Is there any specific word for such a person  We might also get a gift mug with that word.


texts: What's the expression meaning violate someone's interests?

texts:
I used to think that, for example, "He moved her cheese", would mean that he violate and threatens her interests. (I believe this expression comes from the popular book)
Today I found out that probably I have been wrong.
Could any native English speakers help me out?
If this expression (someone moved someone else's cheese) doesn't mean what I thought, what does it mean?
and what are the popular expressions that mean to say "threaten's someone else's interests"?
Let me give another example: The unification of Germany in the 19th century threatens the interests of France and England. Could I say that Germany moved the cheese of France and England?


texts: Is misplaced emphasis a form of mispronunciation?

texts: I was speaking with someone today and he brought up the TV show "South Park", and he emphasized the "Park" whereas most people (and the show itself, I believe) emphasize the word "South". This got me thinking: is putting the emphasis on the wrong word considered a form of mispronouncing a phrase? I realize that the "correct" way to say a word or phrase is pretty subjective (especially considering dialects), but I guess the question can be limited to consider different emphasis within one dialect.


texts: Parenthetical statements in direct speech

texts:
In some novels, I have often seen parenthetical statements used within direct-speech.

e.g. from War and Peace Page 1

  Non, I warn you, if you don't say this means war — if you still defend all these vile acts, all these atrocities by an Antichrist (for I really do believe he is the Antichrist), then I no longer know you.

While reading such sentences, how should I interpret such parenthetical statements?

To be more specific, should I imagine the speaker actually saying that statement, or should I take it as as explanatory note on what the speaker really intends to say?

Can the parentheses be replaced by commas? I.e. "... by an Antichrist, for I really do believe he is the Antichrist, then I no longer..."?

Since English punctuation often governs the tone of the sentence, this would be interesting to know.


texts: Is there a technique used when someone splits a compound noun into two parts?

texts:
My student has asked whether the splitting of the compound word keyhole into key hole is a particular literary technique. I didn't know!
It's relevant to the text, as it is about disconnection and distance in relationships.


texts: Is using a sentence as a subject grammatically correct?

texts:
For example:

  Attack them directly won't do anything

"Attack them directly" is a partial sentence. In this sentence, we treat that whole phrase as a subject and make a sentence from the phrase. Is it correct?


texts: Regular/Routine, Fasting, Blood test/Blood work

texts:
I would like to expand my vocabulary with some medical terms in English. I have been thinking about how to say, for example, if I go to see a doctor for a blood test.

Q1) Are these phrases correct?

a) "Tomorrow I will have to see a doctor on an empty stomach to take blood for a REGULAR blood test."

b) "Tomorrow I will have to see a doctor on an empty stomach to take blood for a ROUTINE blood test."

c) "Tomorrow I will have to see a doctor to take blood for a REGULAR FASTING blood test."

d) "Tomorrow I will have to see a doctor to take blood for a ROUTINE FASTING blood test."

Q2) Can the phrase "fasting" be used instead of "on an empty stomach" as I write it?

Q3) I came across the term "a routine blood-work". Is it another term for "a blood test"?


texts: Is there a word/term for someone who is interested in many things but is poor/uninformed at most or all of them?

texts: Years ago I observed a single word/term that used more or less the description above, but I have been unable to locate or remember it since then. I am certain that it was a single word, and thus "jack of all traits and master of none" and other popular phrases don't fit. Any help you can provide would be much appreciated!


texts: What does "It's Mandarin for purgatory" mean?

texts:
The phrase is taken from a TV series called "Arrow".
In the beginning of the first episode Oliver says: "The name of the island they found me on is Lian Yu. It's Mandarin for purgatory."
I've never seen a sentence like this one and don't even know how to google it.


texts: Who came up with "nothing propinks like propinquity"?

texts:
The Online Etymology Dictionary entry for the verb to approach references propinquity (NED, psychology, AHD, wiktionary) which contains a reference to an aphorism:

late 14c., "nearness in relation, kinship," later also "physical
nearness" (early 15c.), from Old French propinquite (13c.) and
directly from Latin propinquitatem (nominative propinquitas)
"nearness, vicinity; relationship, affinity," from propinquus "near,
neighboring," from prope "near" (enlarged from PIE *pro "before;"
see pro-) + suffix -inquus.
Nothing propinks like propinquity [Ian Fleming, chapter heading, "Diamonds are Forever," 1956; phrase popularized 1960s by U.S.
diplomat George Ball ]
[ Online Etymology Dictionary - n.b. added links ]

He often used the aphorism (perhaps originally coined by Ian Fleming
in Diamonds are Forever) "Nothing propinks like propinquity," later
dubbed the Ball Rule of Power. It means that the more direct
access you have to the president, the greater your power, no matter
what your title actually is.
[Wikipedia @ George Ball, note omitted]

On Books the Diamonds are Forever can be found (such as  here with the cover of The Diamonds Smugglers, which is Mr Fleming's non-fiction work from the research for the novel); in it, there is the aforementioned heading. When you scroll a few pages down, you have the following:

[Felix]Leiter Chuckled. "Come on lovebirds," he said, looking at his
watch. We ought to get going. I've got to get back to Vegas tonight
and start looking at the skeleton of our dear dumb friend Shy Smile.
And you've got your 'plane to catch. You can go one quarreling at
twenty thousand feet. Get a better perspective from there. May even
decide to make up and be friends. You know what they say" - he
beckoned to the waiter - "nothing propinks like propinquity."
[...] Bond knew that he was very near to being in love with this
girl.[...]
[Ian Fleming, Diamonds are Forever, 26 March 1956/UK]

I don't know the novels, but Felix making some sort of insinuation is not necessarily out of character from what I remember of the movies; I construe the reference as such. But for a U.S. diplomat of the (President)Eisenhower era to be using exactly that and then having the Ball Rule of Power being coined after it strikes me as somewhat odd. Or is it?

Who came up with "nothing propinks like propinquity" (if not for Mr Fleming); is that "heading" from the novel really the basis for Mr Ball using it and for the Ball Rule of Power being coined?


texts: In which way is /dɑːtə/ more formal than /deɪtə/?

texts:
Wiktionary lists two different UK pronunciations of data:

  /deɪtə/ (UK, US)
  /dɑːtə/ (Australia, UK formal)

Under what kind of circumstances would the /ɑː/ sound be used?

Which pronunciation is considered RP?


texts: Which preposition goes with the word 'solution'?

texts:
Though I've found one of the questions with the same topic as mine, I would desire the better elaborated explanation as it confuses me a lot.

According to that question, the answer was that when the word 'solution' is related to answer for social problems, then the preposition 'to' is the most suitable as well as commonly used, and when talking about math problems, for example we say "the solution of this equation", then 'of' fits.

Now my question is, is it grammatically correct to use 'of' for the former case?

To be more specific,

  Kim Kardashian tried to find solutions [to/of] the problem that she and her friends had faced.

I'm aware that in this case we should prefer 'to'. Nevertheless, in this case can't I use 'of' at all? If I do it is it grammatically fine?


texts: Is there a single word meaning 'to grow and flourish'?

texts: Can anybody tell me if there a  single word which has the meaning 'to grow and flourish'?


texts: I suggested we go together / I suggested we went together. Which is the correct usage?

texts:
I am having trouble with something very specific and I found both in usage but one has to be better than the other. Right?

He wanted to go back to Kazakhstan, so I suggested we go
together.
He wanted to go back to Kazakhstan, so I suggested we
went together.

Which uses the correct sequence of tenses?


texts: Say to Somebody about Something vs Tell Somebody about Something

texts:
I know the difference in usage between say and tell. And yet, I wonder if the following sentences, some of which seem to concern ditransitive usage, would be correct or acceptable.

I said to the police about what happened.
I said to the police what happened.
I told the police about what happened.
I told the police what happened.
I said to the police about it.
I said it to the police.
I told the police about it.
I told it to the police.

Your help would be greatly appreciated.


texts: "You are the first one to ask me." vs "You are the first one asking me"

texts: Which one do I pick here? Are both acceptable? I think asking is a present participle and no gerund.


texts: Why do we use the object instead of the subject pronoun in constructions like "stupid me"?

texts:
I'm trying to find out how come we say lucky me and stupid us rather than lucky I and stupid we. My understanding is that this is not a recent invention, but a relic from the distant past where it was a dative construction. However, I don't see the reason for using any case other than the nominative in this construction to begin with.

  He went surfing. → Lucky him went surfing.
  I got pulled over. → Stupid me got pulled over.
  They bought a house. → Thoughtless them bought a house.

This is rather intriguing. After thinking about it for a while, I couldn't come up with any other language, Germanic or otherwise, where simply introducing an adjective would dictate a change of grammatical case. This appears to be an English peculiarity. How far can it be traced back? Can anyone comment on its background?


texts:
Or is there a better way to frame this sentence:

'With the film having been released on 1st of October, the studio is looking forward to big changes for the future.'

To me it doesn't feel like having been is right in that sentence, but I don't care about what I feel, I want to know what's the correct way of writing this.
Thank you.


texts:
In a grammar test I did, the following sentence was to be corrected:
"I first spotted the turtle playing tag in the yard."
It clearly contains a misplaced modifier. The correction suggested was to place the participial phrase at the beginning of the sentence ("Playing tag in the yard, I first spotted the turtle").
Could you, instead, place a comma after turtle?
"I first spotted the turtle, playing tag in the yard."
Based on what I've read about the placement of participial phrases, there's nothing wrong with it, but it looks and sounds strange to me. "I first spotted the turtle while I was playing tag in the yard" seems preferable to me.


texts: "Herpivory"?  "Ranophagy"?  Hurry, I need to mock a French friend.


texts: Origin of the disapproval associated with "derivative" used as an adjective?

texts:
This is the first meaning of the word derivative used as an adjective(Oxford):

  1 (Typically of an artist or work of art) imitative of the work of
  another person, and usually disapproved of for that reason[...]

This is seemingly the only use case where you have this negative connotation. One can trace the etymology of the word:

  early 15c. (adj.); mid-15c. (n.), from Middle French dérivatif (15c.),
  from Late Latin derivat-, past participle stem of Latin derivare (see
  derive). Mathematical sense is from 1670s.

This is very much about things branching out/away, such as a river etc. Yet as late as the late 19th there doesn't seem to be any reference to this idea of disapproval nor to any negative undertone whatsoever(Century Dictionary, 1895):

  Derived; taken or having proceeded from another or something
  preceeding; secondary: as, a derivative word; a derivative
  conveyance.[...]

Q. When does that idea appear in the English language? And in what context? A negative association with derivatists?


texts: "He is a better something" or "He is a better of something"

texts:
I'm wondering which sentence is correct or more correct.

These indicate that he might be a better of an athlete than you are.
These indicate that he might be a better an athlete than you are.

Or just simply

These indicate that he might be a better athlete than you are.

Or are there any better ways to phrase it?


texts: What does baller mean on Match Attax cards?

texts:
In the trading cards for association football made by Match Attax, some players are described as ballers. See https://www.footballcardsdirect.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/EPLMAE1819-BL01.jpeg for example.  This must be in British English.

What does it mean?


texts: What do you call a person who reads other's thoughts

texts:
Need a one word that means a person that can read other from personal experience not like a psychic or a mind reader but like a wise person that knows when someone is lying or not acting like usual. Someone that can read right through other person's actions and know if they are up to something or what their objective is.
Is there such name?


texts: Using and not using indefinite article in phrases

texts: What difference in meaning is achieved by omitting an indefinite article in the second of the following phrases: 'a half of a yellow sun' and 'half of a yellow sun'?


texts: Why is it "yours faithfully" and not "your faithfully"?

texts:
I've been taught to write "Yours" ever since I started writing letters. But today I realised that "your" is an adjective qualifying the person who is writing the letter.
Now, since the adjective for you is your, why is yours always used?


texts:
I would like to understand what differences and relations are between metaphor and idiom, and between metaphoric and idiomatic. Following are quotes from me asking two people on this site:

zpletan said after this answer:

  I would say that something smelling fishy is a metaphor that has
  become idiomatic. But maybe I'm wrong. :) Metaphor is "a figure of
  speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to
  which it is not literally applicable," while idiom is "a group of
  words established by usage as having a meaning not deducible from
  those of the individual words." (New Oxford English Dictionary)

Nico said in one comment following his reply:

  idiomatic means: Peculiar to or characteristic of a particular
  language (OED). So you could have an idiomatic English
  metaphor/simile/allegory etc. as opposed to a French or Spanish one.
  However idiomatic is not restricted to figures of speech, you can say
  that putting the verb at the end of the sentence is idiomatic of
  German.

It looks like different people have different opinions. So are there consensus opinion on this question?


texts: How should apostrophes be used with parenthetical plurals?

texts:
The following two sentences make sense; the first is where there's one system with one or more associated databases, the second is where there's multiple systems with one or more databases:

Backup the system's database(s).

Backup the systems' database(s).

What convention should be used when there may be multiple systems?  e.g.

Backup the system((')s(')) database(s).


texts: The difference between Training Area and Training Box

texts:
Can anyone tell me the difference between the terms " Training Area " and "Training Box " in a military context ?

Thank you


texts: What is the correct usage for I'm a girl in my early twenties?

texts:
Which is grammatically correct?

  I am a girl in my early twenties.

or

  I am a girl in her early twenties.


texts: "the writing is on the wall" vs. "the handwriting is on the wall"

texts:
This morning I heard on NPR someone mention that: "The handwriting is on the wall".

I had a notion that it was a biblical allusion, which was confirmed by: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_writing_on_the_wall, but I don't know if there is a different in connotation.

when I was a kid I don't ever remember the "handwriting" version and it seems strange to me... but it appears to be in common usage.


texts:
I want to seek more clarification on the use of "dedicated to". Understand that dedicate means someone devoting time/effort to a project/research/work (i.e. dedicate his time to studying 18 hours a day), can I use "dedicated to" in replacement of "assigned to"? Please see example below.
"This sheet contains their preliminary assumption on the time dedicated to each employee on the project"
Thanks


texts: "At all" vs "Not at all" in negated sentences

texts:
If I say That makes sense to me. I would say definitively at all.

That makes sense to me at all.

But in the negated sentence I'm not sure. I've the feeling, that it is still at all. But if I say not at all it still sounds OK to my ears but I would, though, separate it with a comma or even with a full stop.
Which one is correct?

That makes no sense to me at all.

or

That makes no sense to me, not at all.
That makes no sense to me, by no means at all.


texts: Please help me to understand this email message

texts:
I have received a message from a company I applied for but I do not know if they meant a polite rejection or still in process.

  Thank you for your application.Due to the volume of applications that we receive, only selected candidate(s) will be contacted. Further, we are unable to provide specific feedback on your application, or recommendations for improvement.We appreciate your time and effort in submission of your application for our review and wish you well in your future endeavours.

Thank you for your time.


texts: What are the subjects of these questions?

texts:
1.Do you think I did well in my Spanish examination?

2.Who won the music festival?


texts: What concepts are formed in a mind of a native English speaker when using the articles a, an, the?

texts:
I have been learning English intensively for 8 years and have been living and speaking in the UK/USA for the past 5 years. It has been 7 years since I have been thinking in English without the need of translation to my mother tongue, however I have to admit I cannot use the articles in English properly. I could learn all the standard rules (indeed I have), but there are many exceptions as it seems to me. I just do not imagine the right use of the articles automatically.

When writing I frequently come across dilemmas or even trilemmas: a definite or an indefinite article or no article?

I would like a native English speaker to describe to me in detail what exactly one imagines in one's head when hearing a word with no article, an indefinite article and a definite article.

I think in the text I wrote here I managed to use the articles properly, however in more complex situations I waver.

For example my current imagination can be described:

When hearing a word with an indefinite article, I imagine one item of something new I do not have in my consciousness right now or one item for which I am concerned only with its existence, any other item of that type would do.
When hearing a word with a definite article, I search the concept in my head which I already know about, have heard just now or is somewhere present around me or it is something specific that the other speaker tries to convey to me.
When hearing a word without an article I imagine it is either something I cannot count and then the imagination is similar to 1. Or it is the name of something, not necessarily a given name, but the name I use for that concept, e.g. father (referring to my father).


texts: Etymology of the meaning of waste as a broad expanse

texts:
Merriam-Webster online dictionary says one of the meanings of "waste" is:
a broad and empty expanse(as of water)
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/waste

I'm interested in the origin of this meaning.
Let me explain why.

Here's from Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 2.

  In the dead wast and middle of the night

This is from Second Quarto and First Folio.
In the modern spelling, "wast" is "waste".

However, in First Quarto, "wast" is replaced by "vast".
My wild guess is that the pronunciation of "vast" and "wast" were the same in the Elizabethan English. Hence the printers of Hamlet at that time mistook "vast" as "wast".
They say First Quarto is unreliable, but it's the oldest text of Hamlet.

In any case, my question is: What is the origin of the meaning of "waste" as a broad expanse?


texts: A word or phrase of running fingers through hair

texts:
Consider two woman walking in a park on a cold windy evening talking with each other.  When one of them was talking the other while listening to her attentively was at times running her fingers through her long hair hair which was moving lazily in the wind(I hope you got the scenario I wanted to convey).
   Is there a word or phrase for such an act of moving ones fingers through ones hair (though actually interested/concerned about what the other person is saying..)?


texts: What phrase, word, or idiom means the opposite of "going down the rabbit hole?"

texts:
I often catch myself going down the rabbit hole, skimming one Wikipedia article... then suddenly it's two hours later and I have ten tabs open about a crazy assortment of subjects.

The Free Dictionary provides the following definition but doesn't offer its antonym.

  go down the rabbit hole
  To enter into a situation or begin a process or journey that is particularly strange, problematic, difficult, complex, or chaotic, especially one that becomes increasingly so as it develops or unfolds. (An allusion to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll.)

Question: What's the opposite of that?

Staying focused, keeping on track, skimming, just addressing the obvious?

Thanks!


texts: can the expression "by car" be used in the sentence below?

texts:
We are on the way to church by car.
Is this a correct sentence?
I am not sure if it is ok to use the phrase "by car" other than go, come, reach, get to or arrive?
Thanks.


texts:
When referencing a specific paragraph, should the word "paragraph" be capitalized?

For example:

"Read Paragraph 1"

or

"Read paragraph 1"

Thanks!


texts: Word to describe the sound of an utterance that has an undertone of being disgruntled

texts:
I am looking for a verb to explain a tone that implies that the speaker is disgruntled, similar to what an employer would sound like while firing an employee for a stupid mistake that has caused a lot of harm to the company. For example, the word growl or hiss has the undertone of anger or frustration.

A phrase to explain the same (e.g., "an edge in the voice") will also help.


texts:
I am looking for a word like industrial but with the root of business. Something that fits in here:

  the [industrial(your word here)] applications of mathematics

I looked for adjectives from business but found nothing. How would you express what I am looking for?


texts: Usage of second sentence posed as a question

texts:
"He might wait till Christmas to gorge on rum cake.

Why should you?"

This is an ad copy for an online food delivery site.
I want to know if the second line - Why should you?, is grammatically correct? Please help.


texts: What's the meaning of "hot codepath" (or "hot code path")?

texts:
I read this sentence (about computer programming):

  As long as this is not in your hot codepath, the extra step should not cause issues.

What does it mean?


texts: Is the edh ð always curved, or can it be straight?

texts: I'm wondering about the orthography of the old english edh ð. It is always drawn (lowercase) as a curved d with the line through it. But I'm wondering if it would be acceptable to just have it be a regular d with a line through it as in đ, or otherwise what other forms it could take (other than the uppercase Ð).


texts: "There was a man known as the 'Toe Suck Fairy'" — is "there" a complement?

texts:
To me, man is the subject and it has two verbs — was and known —, making there a complement.

My teacher argued that the verb is "was known".