texts: Is this type of conditional sentence used by native speakers?

texts:
I was wondering if any native speaker uses the following type of conditional sentence:

  If my mother-in-law was coming tomorrow, I would have spent
  all day cleaning the house.

The sentence appears in Conditionals: A Comprehensive Empirical Analysis, by Renaat Declerck, Susan Reed (2001). The book says the sentence is counterfactual.

([Link to sentence in book] (https://books.google.com/books?id=RtyewWWe1LAC&pg=PA44&lpg=PA44&dq="If+my+mother-in-law+was+coming++tomorrow,+I+would+have+spent+all+day+cleaning+the+house"))


texts: Origin of using "clocked" to mean "noticed"

texts:
The word "clocked" can be used to mean "noticed", as in:

  Bob: I'm gonna park here a minute. Did you see any traffic wardens
  about.

  Geoff: Actually, I clocked one down the road on my way up.

I'm not sure how widespread this term is, but it's very common here (The Midlands, UK).

I've always thought it a bit of a curious term. Can anyone suggest as to how this usage came about. It is something to do with "time" (i.e. "clocking" someone on a stopwatch)?


texts: How to know how to pronounce an "-e" ending based on spelling?

texts:
I’ve always wondered how the -e word ending should  be pronounced:

For example (correct me if I’m wrong), the words apache, Adobe, Skype, etc. have the -e ending pronounced like in the word be.
However (again, correct me if needed), the words bite, Cheyenne, Bourne have a silent -e at the end.

Is there a way to guess the pronunciation, or do you just need to know it?


texts:
This post uses the expression:

  These days forcing everything in 3D is no particular advantage. Graphics card can whale on 2D problems just as efficiently as 3D ones. It's just a question of writing some different shader programs.

What does it mean? And is it a phrasal verb ("to whale on [sth]" like "to keep on going"), or is the preposition simply connecting the verb normally ("to whale [on sth]" like "to stand on the floor")?


texts: Which is the correct usage: "With regard to/with regards to" or "In regard to/in regards to?"

texts: After reviewing answers found in the "Similar Questions" area, I didn't see a definitive answer.  To me it seems any writer or speaker is "regarding" something so the word "regard" would be singular.  The writer could be regarding several things, but this difference would not automatically dictate the word "regard" to be used in the plural, would it?


texts: Is the title of a US President permanent?

texts: Ultimately I'm wondering whether the descriptive in "former President [Name]" is superfluous or necessary in everyday usage, such as when talking to an audience who knows who the current president is.


texts: How do I determine subject and subject complement in "A side-effect is the spread of commercialese to other domains."?

texts:
Consider this example:

  Commercialese is an instrument of art,
  designed to enrich and invigorate our
  language—surely you will all agree
  with this—, and we should encourage newcomers to learn it. However, a side-effect is the
  spread of commercialese to other
  domains. This we must object to,
  because we need to keep this precious
  instrument in our exclusive possession.

How do we determine what the subject complement is in the second sentence, "a side-effect" or "the spread"? In this case you might say it doesn't really matter.

[Edited]

Here are a few examples from Fowler's:

  The only comment necessary ... is
  that, when ... it makes no difference
  to the meaning which of two words is
  made the subject and which the
  complement, the one that is placed
  first must (except in questions) be
  regarded as subject and have the verb
  suited to its number: Our only guide
  was the stars, or The stars were our
  only guide. Such apparent exceptions
  as Six months was the time allowed
  for completion / The few days Mrs.
  Kennedy will spend in London is in the
  nature of a rest for her, are not
  true ones, for here the complement
  makes it clear that the subject,
  though plural in form, is singular in
  sense (*a period of — *).

So we are to take "six months" as singular because we can imagine it to be an attribute to an omitted, singular head noun, "a period of". But couldn't we imagine this for many other sentences? Consider "the stars were our only guide": I could say "the light of the stars was our only guide". So how is "six months" much different? Isn't there inversion at work here? And is there no way to pinpoint a subject, apart from its position before the verb?


texts: Where did the words "white-collar" and "blue-collar" come from?

texts: I can kinda see the "white-collar" image, with formal dress shirts, but "blue-collar" is not intuitive to me, and Dictionary.com and Etymonline are not helpful as to the reason for the color choice.  Does anyone know the reason for the color blue in "blue-collar"?


texts: What is an alternative for "Considering the fact that"

texts:
What is an alternative expression for "Considering the fact that"?

To understand the context, please consider the following sentence:

"Considering the fact that mixed-use buildings were new at the time, it seems appropriate that the builders came from different backgrounds and industries."


texts: In grammar, what do we call this specific usage of "this"?

texts:
In spoken American English, often times people who are telling a story use the determiner "this" not as a demonstrative, but rather as a word that serves to emphasize the impact of something. Examples:

"I go inside and I see this beautiful girl..."
"We were in the woods and then this huge bear appears..."
"When we woke up, there was this huge fire."

In these examples, the narrator does not use "this" to refer to a familiar object. It doesn't mean that we were in the woods and "this bear right here, not that one, but this one I'm pointing to, appeared." "This" is somehow used for dramatic effect for something new and usually impressive.
The reason I am trying to determine exactly what kind of usage this is is because I am trying to resolve a translation problem that often occurs within my team and speakers of my native language. Most people just go ahead and translate it conventionally as a demonstrative, but the sentence doesn't make much sense in my native language, because the determiner "this" implies that the object is something known.
Has this been defined anywhere in grammar terms? Googling this has turned out to be a nightmare.


texts: What's the correct pronunciation of "Israel"?

texts:
From Google I have gathered there are several ways for pronounce Israel, I have pronounced it is-rye-el. From googling it some seem to indicate it acceptable and another says it is vulgar and should be avoided, so I come to you, which one is it, as it seems it is used often enough...

Edit: Adding links to the links I looked at before asking and referenced above.

Page that offers two ways of pronunciation neither is-rye-el

http://www.howjsay.com/index.php?word=israel

Mention of several pronunciations including is-rye-el

http://www.choralnet.org/205055 . Mention that is-rye-el is vulgar and barbaric

More mentions of is-rye-el and how it is pronounced in the east.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20091227010727AAygoKG

More mentions of is-rye-el and other common pronunciations, at least one commenter seems to think is-rye-el is the usual way it is said in America.

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/archive/index.php/t-623574.html


texts: Word for piece of furniture in the hall/lobby for storing shoes

texts: What is the proper word to refer to piece of furniture in the hall/lobby for storing shoes? In Russian we use for this word "тумбочка" which can be translated as bedside-table, just adding "shoes/for shoes" to it ("обувная тумбочка"). But obviously bedside-table doesn't fit for referring to "piece of furniture in the hall/lobby for storing shoes" in English. What is proper name for this piece of furniture?


texts: Does the term "graduate applicant" mean "a person who applies to get graduated" or "a graduate who applies for something"? If it is the second one, what can we call a person who applies for a graduation program?


texts:
1 'They have never had any money'

A:  Does this mean that they had no money in the past and they still don't now? or
B:  Does it mean that they had no money in the past but the they do now?

......................

2 'They never had any money'

Does this indicate that they didn't have any money in the past and they are likely to remain this way?


texts: Words to describe different kinds of visibility

texts:
I'm looking for a word to describe something that you can't directly see but you still can see ... .
E.g., you can see a muscle if it's big and flexed but you can't see it directly because it is under the skin. You don't see, e.g., its color.

So if someone says the muscle is visible - it's slightly different than if someone says the skin is visible - because you can see the skin color but for the muscle, you can't see its color.

I've checked the Oxford thesaurus for visible and various other words but I didn't find any word that would capture that difference.

Does anyone know if there's a word to describe that?

Example sentence. I need it to describe things so "The muscle is X." where X is that special kind of visibility.

Thank you


texts:
I was studying conditional tenses, and i have come up with 3 sentences which involve the same. Need some help in assessing them.

Ahh! It's sunday. If i was a good cook, i would invite my girlfriend for lunch.
I wouldn't have waited for her, if i had known, she would be that late.
If i had cooked this a bit long, it would look even more good.

Are the above sentences correct?


texts: One espresso, or two espressi? A double espresso or two espressos? What's the plural of espresso?

texts:
What is the plural of "Espresso"?  Some places, especially in Europe spell it "Espressi", some ask for two espresso's.  It seems that in Italy, the masculine plural of a noun generally does end with -i so Espressi may be the correct way in Italy, and as "Espresso" does derive from Italy, should we use their spelling?  Then again, in France or other places it may be more common to ask for two espresso's or a double espresso.

The different options I've come across are:

Two Espressi
Two Espressos
Two Espresso's
Double Espresso

Which is correct?  (Or if none of these are right, what is the grammatically correct way to refer to more than one espresso in England?


texts: What is the formal way to reply mail with requested attach file

texts: Is it grammatically correct, and a formal way to reply mail with my attached ID card? If I say “I have attached my student ID card. Please check it”


texts: Singular / plural form of the noun ‘type’ (meaning printed letters or typeface) – what are the rules?

texts:
When is the noun type (meaning typeface or text set in type) used in singular form and when is it used in plural form?
Is it  referred to as a singulare tantum?
In which case is it an uncountable noun and in which case is it countable?
For example which one is correct and why?

Serif type is based on the formal principles of letterforms of the fifteenth century.

Serif types are based on the formal principles of letterforms of the fifteenth century.

Thanks


texts: Correct usage: 'frictions in the market' or 'frictions on the market'

texts: I am searching for the correct usage of this term: Should I say 'frictions in the market' or 'frictions on the market'?


texts:
So which one is correct if someone just came from an adventure:

"Any pictures from the adventure?"
"Any pictures of the adventure?"


texts:
I'm editing an article, and a piece of dialogue is giving me some trouble.

  You were practically a co-owner you’d been there so long.

Is this written correctly, or would a comma break up those two clauses? I.e.:

  You were practically a co-owner, you’d been there so long.

Any help appreciated.


texts:
Recently I was translating few phrases for Google translate in my native language.

I came across a phrase "lost in the echo" . Googling around to find the meaning and usage

of this phrase but no luck .. (many references to Linkin park song :) )

Can anyone explain the same?


texts: which preposition should i use with( delivery) ? in /for/by

texts:
I have been wondering, which preposition should I use with this mcq

  Given the COVID 19 pandemic, I am ordering my food ___ delivery.
  1) for
  2) in
  3) from
  4) by

I go for (in) as it expresses a state or condition, or by as ( delivery as a mean of transportation ) so what do you suggest guys?


texts: What is the standard formula at oral exams?

texts:
In my language/country when a teacher is testing a student (in ordinary classroom routine or at an exam) will say"

(would you like to) Talk about Milton!
Tell me what you know about Coleridge/ the French Revolution/ etc

I realize that this translation doesn't sound well in English, so, could you tell me what is the common way to interrogate a student?


texts:
What's the pronunciation of the word "waft"?

The audio pronunciations at Google and dictionary.com say it rhymes with "raft", i.e. with a long "a" sound.

Merriam-webster.com and dictionary.cambridge.org instead pronounce it more like the word "soft".

Which pronunciation is correct? Are both pronunciations considered correct?


texts: Can "grammatical" mean "grammatically correct"?

texts: I have been seeing phrases like, "That sentence isn't grammatical" etc. recently, and at first I wrote them off thinking, "Oh, well that technically isn't right, but I get what he's saying so I'm not going to make a fuss..." The thing is, I've been seeing it more and more, by different people, and I can't tell if it's just that the speakers (well, this I've been seeing this on the internet, so I guess it "the posters") aren't native English speakers, or I've missed some sort of shift in the usage of the word "grammatical". Can anyone shed some light on this?


texts: 'Not' followed by 'as was the case of' is possible?

texts:
I'm wondering if the phrase

  Not as was the case of [...]

is possible.

For making it clear, the synonym is "Not like the case of ...".


texts: Expression for Yes/No/Unclear(?) in medical score-based diagnosis

texts:
This is a repost of a question in CrossValidated which received no attention.

https://stats.stackexchange.com/questions/169085/yes-no-unclear-count-score-based-decision-quest-for-terminology

In medical research, scores are often used to assess the severeness of symptoms, and thresholds for pathological/normal are defined. For example, when a score from a questionnaire is 81, and the threshold is 80, this is considered a pathological finding.

I would like to point out that such a threshold is artificial, and that a green/yellow/red system can be more useful. So scores above 90 would be considered "most likely pathological", scores below 50 "most likely normal", and the yellow zone in-between would be "no decision, look for other criteria".

To explain the concept to physicians, what would be a good name for the middle range? "Indifference"? "Uncertainty"? "Undecided"?

So how would you complete the sentence:

"Scores between 50 and 90 are in the xxx-zone; for these patients, please consider additional criteria for diagnose".


texts: What is a word/phrase/archetype for someone / something that is frequently misidentified

texts:
Is there a word or phrase for someone/something that is frequently misidentified?
Or a cultural archetype/example --- I have a vague memory of some literary or TV character who's a fugitive criminal and can't be identified by witnesses except in an inconsistent manner ("He's short and slim, with brown hair!" "He's a big burly blond guy!" "I didn't see her clearly except for her eyes and smile!")
other examples:

the blue/gold dress https://www.wired.com/2015/02/science-one-agrees-color-dress/
seals / sea lions are commonly confused


texts: I recently wrote "giving in to temptation" in an English assignment. My teacher told me that this was incorrect, and that it should have been "giving into temptation." This doesn't seem to make sense. Which version is correct?


texts: Can someone provide an explanation regarding the etymology of the adjective "hell-bent?"

texts:
It's etymology is given as:

  hell-bent, 1835, U.S., originally slang,  from hell + bent

How do the the words "hell + bent," when taken together, form the definition "determined to achieve something at all costs?"

Edit (thanks to Medica's response):

In this context, could somehow "hell" imply going to disproportionate or irrational lengths to achieve an end? The term "selling one's soul to the devil" comes to mind as well in this sense.


texts: I really like to chat with English folks, so I have wished them Merry Christmas. To my surprise I have noticed the following pattern — the British answered "and to you", but Americans "you too". The former was a form I hadn't seen before and I felt really awkward. My question is, which one is more polite and what is the difference between them?


texts: "Theoretical reasons" vs "theory reasons" for describing reasons which come from the theory of something

texts:
Imagine you are studying music. The theory of music tells you that note 1 sounds good next to note 2. You want to reference this in something you are writing. As I see it, there are two ways. The first is to write, "for theoretical reasons, note 1 sounds good next to note 2." The alternative is to write "for theory reasons, note 1 sounds good next to note 2." The issue I have with the former way to write it is that it could be interpreted to mean the reasons themselves are theoretical. How to get rid of the ambiguity?
Edit: since the analogy seemed to be clouding things I will write more or less explicitly what I have in mind. I am writing a paper in mathematics. I have the following sentence I wish to communicate:
"The object is of interest, not only for reasons arising from the theory, but also for reasons arising from practical applications."
Of course I could just write the above, I know that, but I am curious about alternatives or the particular use of "theory reasons" which i think shouldn't unaccepted (although I have been sufficiently convinced it's unacceptable here).


texts: The proper term for a person who uses words incorrectly

texts:
What is the proper term for a person who uses words incorrectly, hoping to impress
 others?


texts: What part of speech is “this” in the following sentence

texts:
My friends and I are having a stupid argument about this sentence:

Someday this pain will be useful to you.

I claim “this” in this sentence is an adjective modifying pain, but they claim it is a demonstrative pronoun in this instance. Can someone please confirm what part of speech it is? This does not seem hard to me but they seem so confident against it.


texts: What's the meaning of "upon doing something"

texts:
I come across the following sentence.

  Upon compiling his results for many thousands of plants, Mendel
  concluded that the characteristics could be divided into what he
  called dominant and recessive traits.

And I was told: After the first part (compile his result) was done, then he made a conclusion. Since it is using compiling which looks like part 1 and part 2 happened that same time. How do you thing?


texts:
I am not a native speaker. I hope I have a more or less accurate understanding of what the phrase "count your blessings" means ("not everything is bad, you should not really complain", is that so?), but I am struggling to understand the literal meaning. I only know bless from the context of "God bless monarch/country" and when someone sneezes, but I can't really connect that verb to the countable noun.

What is the origin of the phrase "count your blessings"? Is it known when and in what context it was first used?


texts:
In New York, basketball phenom Jeremy Lin continues to whip fans of the Knicks into a lather.

What does whip [somebody] into a lather really mean?


texts: What could be a single word or phrase for the one who helps people to achieve their goals?

texts: I was just wondering about this word to suggest it to my friend to use it for the NGO he is going to start soon.


texts: Where does gender attach in "brotherly/sisterly"?

texts: If Leia loves her brother Luke, does she feel sisterly love (because she is his sister) or brotherly love (because he is her brother)?


texts: Trouble with translating "brainwash the populace to believe"

texts:
I am not a native English speaker, so I am not sure I understand the bolded sentence correctly:

The anti-hero is actually the main character in some contemporary works of literature. Guy Montag in "Fahrenheit 451," Winston Smith in "1984," who unwittingly ends up challenging those in power -- that is, those who abuse their power to brainwash the populace to believe that the ills of society have been eliminated.
Source: An anti-hero of one's own - Tim Adams
TED-ed video

Is the infinitive "to believe" related to the populace or to those who abuse the power? I mean, I have two versions in my mind:

They (who abuse the power) believe that the ills of society have been eliminated by brainwashing the populace.
The populace believe that the ills of society have been eliminated because authorities have brainwashed them.

Question: Can you tell me which of the above versions is correct?


texts: Why do you drive on a "parkway", and park on a "driveway"?

texts: I've always been fascinated by these two words, as they seem to have the exact opposite meaning as expected. Is it because of the etymology? Or perhaps the meanings were switched at some point in time?


texts:
for the first time, I read something using the 2 words "nodded abstractly". I Google  it. People use it quiet often...

I read it there:

  “Welcome aboard,” said Justin, one of the programmers. He stood up and grabbed a rubber chicken from a nearby desk. “Kevin and I are going to integrate our changes now,” he announced to the rest of the group. A few people nodded abstractly, already intent on their work.

My question is, how can a person nod abstractly or in an abstract way...?


texts: Where does the word “wankers” come from?

texts:
The term wanker is derived from the verb wank in the sense of to masturbate.  However, neither the OED nor Etymonline can trace it further back than that: both claim it is of “obscure origin”, which just means they don’t know.

As with my question on snogging, this term seems to have come into vogue around the mid-20th century, but nobody knows where or how it started.

So where does the verb to wank come from?


texts:
Some software I am using has got the word "Glossarise" in it, which baffles me immensely. My spell checker hates it but googling for the word returns results for sites like Urban Dictionary but no reputable dictionaries or resources.

Since I am in the position where I work for the company that writes this software, I figured I'd suggest it gets fixed and replaced with an actual word.

In the software, the word is used to apply custom glossary entries to text on a page, following a process where you select the word or phrase and then click a button on a toolbar which is labelled as "Glossarise".

What is the verb for "Glossary"?


texts: Single Word Describing The Concept Of Language Barrier As Applied To Language In A Non-traditional sense

texts:
A single word carrying the connotation or literal meaning of either, "real language" or "official language" that is roughly antonymous with the word vernacular.

To provide more context: I am seeking to use this word to describe a "real language" in the same way that English or Danish is a "real language".

The purpose being to describe a language barrier in a nontraditional sense. For example, if we take the concept of a language barrier and apply it to programming languages or any other domain specific language that already has an established vernacular or jargon associated with it. Such that an outsider to that particular domain could feel as though there is something of a language barrier between themselves and a member of that specific domain.

The end goal is that we can make make the assertion that language barriers don't necessarily apply only to languages as we define them in the form of English or Danish but also to a vernacular or jargon used within a specific domain.


texts: How does "not least" mean "in particular; notably"?

texts:
What's an intuitive derivation behind ODO's definition that helps to internalise its meaning?

  not least = In particular; notably

I couldn't find the etymology for this ??adverbial phrase?? I also checked on ELL.

  [Source: p 1 of PDF]
   You may find, however, that answering one question helps you answer the next, not least for the purposes of elimination
  as well as general understanding of the subject matter and the structure of the main and
  subsidiary arguments.

Update Oct 26 2014:
 the patent meaning = something other (better) than the least.

User Kris's answer above confirms that not least debases something, to a point on the scale that is higher than 'least' (from the linked ELL answer above). So how can this degradation mean 'in particular', to draw extra attention to something that you should be particularly interested in (as stated in user AmeliaBR's answer)?


texts: What is the difference (in terms of usage and connotation) between "loath" and "loathe"?

texts: I'm having difficulty in understanding the differences in usage (and understanding which one is used from pronunciation/context) between "loathe" and "loath" - could anyone help clarify it ?


texts: A word like "confession" for relating personal details but lacking connotations of guilt?

texts:
The writings here are my confessions.

is essentially what I mean to say, minus the implication of guilt, or, with more words,

  The writings here describe personal details about myself and my thoughts.


texts: One word for a person who is chasing a hopeless cause

texts: What do you call a person who is chasing a hopeless or lost cause?


texts:
I heard "how-being" on international media and was wondering if it is correct.

  I asked about his health and how-being.


texts: What's the term for expressions like "man's man" or "lawyer's lawyer"?

texts:
To indicate an exemplar or someone well-respected within their own group or occupation, sometimes you see expressions like "man's man" or "lawyer's lawyer." Is there a name for this construction?

This isn't to be confused with someone who provides a service serving another in the same profession, like a lawyer defending another who's been sued.

Some examples of the expression:

Dennis Drabelle in the Washington Post:

  Enter Jack Tobin, a former Miami defense lawyer who made so much money “defending insurance companies in personal injury actions” that he retired early  ... As the title of James Sheehan’s engaging thriller makes clear, Jack is a “lawyer’s lawyer,” and the case against the convict, Thomas Felton, cries out for a second look.

Imran Amed in The Business of Fashion:

  As I later learned, Peter was a real editor’s editor, having mentored and trained writers who would become key staffers at some of New York’s most important and respected media organisations, from The New Yorker to The New York Times.

Gregory P. Kane in The Baltimore Sun:

  Detective Brenda Leigh Higgs, a 15-year veteran, called Chief Johnson "a policeman's policeman" who "hasn't forgotten what it's like to be a policeman on the street."


texts:
An author has this sentence:

  Kids should not be forced to show physical affection through hugs, kisses, roughhousing, lap sitting, or handholding.

I checked the dictionary* to see if handholding needed a hyphen, and saw that the definition in the dictionary related to the metaphorical use of the term to mean "solicitous attention, support, or instruction (as in servicing clients)."

Is there not a way to use the -ing form of the word to mean the literal act of holding hands?
Do I need to change the sentence to holding hands to avoid confusion?

  Kids should not be forced to show physical affection through hugs, kisses, roughhousing, lap sitting, or holding hands.

*Updated in response to comments: I actually checked two online dictionaries: Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary and Merriam-Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, which includes Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged. Both gave only the definition I quoted above.


texts: Is there a difference between "clothe with" and "clothe in"?

texts:
I would use the verb clothe either with the preposition with or in. Is there any difference in meaning?
On free dictionary I found this example:

She clothed her children ***in*** the finest garments.

In the KJV Bible I found:

And David was clothed with a robe of fine linen (1 Chron. 15:27).

Is clothe with less used in modern language? Is there any difference between clothe with and clothe in?
I would like to use it in a sentence in a text of rather antiquated atmosphere, so less common use would also be ok. The sentence would be:

The brightness of her new life clothed her with/in a garment of
joy that was hard to ignore.


texts:
What does run around doing something mean?

For example:

  I can't see any reason to run around deleting the recovery partition.


texts:
In the physical public forums where democracy began (the Athenian Agora, etc.), the "public conversation" was face-to-face, meaning anyone capable of hearing it was also capable of speaking into it. This meant that each citizen's engagement with the public conversation was  "bidirectional" - they were constantly being informed by the thoughts of others, while inserting their own thoughts where they please. They are both speaking and being spoken to on an ongoing basis.

What's a better word than "bidirectional" to describe what I'm trying to describe here?


texts: What does the idiom 'It is noon in New York' mean in Chicago?

texts: I do not have a context for the idiom. All I know it is from/related to Chicago. I did not find this idiom online.


texts: What is the rhetorical device in "can of whupass"

texts:
Quantifying something that is not measurable for dramatic effect.

As in:
"Im going to open up a can of whup-ass on you"
"4 tons of american pride"
"I give zero fucks your problem"

I cant think of many other diverse examples, but I am sure there are more.

What is the name of this rhetorical device? Does it exist formally?


texts: What's another way of saying, "The problem with that is..."

texts: I have a call center rep who constantly tells customers, "The problem with that.." or "Let me tell what the problem with that is."  What would be a more appropriate phrase?


texts:
One’s nationality is the status of belonging to a particular nation.

One’s status of belonging to a particular US state is called what?


texts: Shared root to "bobech", "bobbin" and "bobby"?

texts:
Is there a shared etymological root to the following words?

Bobech (glass collar on a candle)
Bobbin (in a sewing machine)
Bobby [pin] (woman's hair pin)

I just learned the word bobech last night, and it made me wonder, simply due to the phonetic similarities.


texts: The emphasis of adding "just" in the phrase "I'm just glad" is lost on me. What makes it different from just "I'm glad"?


texts: Should I use a colon or a semicolon in the following sentence?

texts:
Unlike the fictional character, Gaby didn't control gravity:/;
  gravity controlled her.

Should it be a colon or a semicolon? Why?


texts: subject verb agreement: "the downside are the messages"

texts:
Which is the correct one:

  the big downside is the imperfect messages the user gets.

  the big downside are the imperfect messages the user gets.

I am almost sure the second one is correct with "the messages" being the subject and "are the downside" the predicative nominal.


texts: Why is "Two friends of my parents' have just left..." grammatically correct?

texts:
I just trying to solve this, but my English is not so good. Could anyone help me? Why is the letter a) correct?
thanks a lot in advance

  Complete the following sentence: "Two ________ have just left for Argentina".

a) friends of my parents'
b) my parents' friends
c) friends of my parents
d) friends' my parents


texts:
Usually we would say 'the making of XXX' to describe the production process of something. Like, the making of a car...etc.

But I just heard somebody said 'XXX making of' as an activity title. The title is like "Car making of". May I ask if this inversion sounds natural, as an activity title?


texts: Interested in him learning French - with accusative 'him'

texts:
Good morning everyone!

Is it correct to say " I' m interested in him learning French in the future"?


texts: Proper yes/no answer to a question posed in negative form

texts: Should the question, "Does anyone not understand this?" be answered yes or no, if one does understand?


texts:
A recent article on supernovae began with:

A little under three million years ago, a massive star exploded in our galaxy about 300 light years away. This supernova was so close to our planet that, depending on where it went off, our evolutionary ancestors might have seen it as a bright light in the sky. As our solar system traveled through radioactive specks of stardust left over from the explosion, some of the dust broke through our atmosphere and rained down on our planet.
Now a recent find from deep within our still-vast ocean is helping us piece together details of a cosmic event that may have changed our planet millions of years ago.

That last sentence has me scratching my head.  The oceans are of course vast, but what is the author implying by using the phrase "still-vast"?

EDIT
The meaning of "recent find within our vast ocean" is clear - the ocean was, is, and will continue to be very large.  So unless the author is just wasting wasting ink, still-vast must mean something different.  Compare and contrast the meaning of still-vast with vast alone.   Possibilities include the ocean is expected to become less large, the ocean has already become somewhat less large but is still very large (as ab2 says, this doesn't fit with reality), the ocean is expected to become less unknown (more explored), or something else.


texts:
In the following sentence should cheese be singular or plural?

  Pizzeria-style crust topped with herbs, spices, Mozarella, Provolone and Parmesan cheese/cheeses & pepperoni.

Pepperoni must be the last word.


texts: Older pronunciations of the "-ity" suffix

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Rhyming conventions of Early Modern English

Andrew Marvell's poem To His Coy Mistress from the mid-1600's follows an AABBCCDD[...] rhyming pattern. Therefore, it is jarring when we get to the couplets:

  And yonder all before us lie/
  Deserts of vast eternity

and

  then worms shall try/ That long-preserved virginity

This implies that either:

"lie" used to be pronounced as "lee" to rhyme with "eternity", and "try" used to be pronounced "tree" to rhyme with "virginity", or
much more likely, both "eternity" and "virginity" used to rhyme with "lie"/ "try".

Is this the case? If so, did this apply only to a few words like "eternity" and "virginity", or to anything with the super-common "-ity" prefix, like "formality", "ability", or any of the words listed here? And furthermore, if that is also the case, then when in the last 300 years did the change happen so quickly and so thoroughly that I cannot think of a single present-day "-ity" word that rhymes with "try"?


texts: A word that means an undeniable statement, stated emphatically

texts:
I'm looking for a word that means an emphatic, definitely correct, powerful assertion, kind of like "undeniable" except that doesn't capture the action aspect of making a statement. (A thesaurus didn't help).

Things that almost work and why:

Proclamation - it gets the loud announcement aspect but misses the factual and undeniable aspects. One can make an incorrect proclamation.
Axiom - An axiom is certainly accurate and provable but axiom gives no indication of the method of delivery.
Apodictic - it gets the clearly established and beyond dispute but again misses the emphatic delivery aspect

Contextual examples:

to describe the act of yelling "the building is on fire" to twenty people who are standing nearby and somehow haven't noticed fifteen-meter flames coming out the windows. "Bob was kind enough to make the _____ that the building was on fire."
When someone has a banana in their ear and they can't hear you say "you have a banana in your ear!" you've stated a _____.

In response to close vote as discussed in comments below: "..undeniability (stating the obvious) is only a part of the idea to be conveyed. In my example of the fire, no one knew the building was burning so though it was obvious, no one noticed. The question you link to [as duplicate] requests something that describes telling a fact everyone already knows.."


texts:
In this commercial the lawyer says to a potential client:

  You keep your trap shut and I'll keep your trap open

What does it mean?


texts:
A comma is commonly used as a short form of the word and in newspaper headlines. In what other contexts is this convention common?

This question came to mind as I was trying to parse the following clause from “A Visit from St. Nicholas”. The comma between obstacle and mount seems like it must represent the word and.

  As dry leaves before the wild hurricane fly,
  When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky;
  So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
  With the sleigh full of toys — and St. Nicholas too:


texts: Is there a usage of "the" that indicates one out of a group of many?

texts:
Considering the sentence
Nearly anything can be a weapon in a martial artist’s hands., the indefinite article a indiciates that this can be any martial artist out of all in the world.

Next, consider The wise warrior stops a ranged attack before it nears him. Here, the definite article the is used, but still, I am quite certain that the sentence talks about any "wise warrior", or that one would even qualify as a "wise warrior" by performing the named action (among others, probably).

Is this a correct usage of the, indicating one out of a group of many?
What is this usage called properly?

Finally, consider Through judicious placement of wounds, the marksman ensures that his enemy cannot escape him.
I am wondering whether this could be the same kind of use for the definite article as in the second example, or whether to a native speaker this sentence indicates a specific individiual (that is a "marksman") that would be clear from context.


texts: Telling present participles and gerunds apart

texts:
"I have started swimming."

This could mean I have just started moving my arms. Or it could mean that I have enrolled in swimming classes. To my mind one interpretation is a present participle and the other is a gerund. Of course, if I said "I have been swimming" there would be no ambiguity.

"I have started swimming circuits." Is there still ambiguity here? Can 'swimming' be seen as a gerund with 'circuits' as its object?

And what kind of verbal form is 'I have stopped/started/continued running" etc? Is it a form of the progressive, or is the 'ing' form automatically a gerund here? "I have stopped doing that"--is 'doing' a gerund, or are there many forms of the progressive possible that I've never seen explicitly discussed?

Oh, and one more. Sometimes there is more than one meaning that can be derived from the 'ing' form. 'My knitting' could mean 'my action of knitting' or it could mean 'the bundle of linked thread that I have created by performing this action'. Are both meanings gerunds or is the second meaning (which is a physical object) a full noun?


texts:
I was wondering if the expression "I thank you for your answer" isn't nicer than " Thank you for your answer".

For comparison, saying "I thank you" in French is nicer because the person who says it is more involved than when he/she simply says "Thank you for ...".

Is it the same thing in English?

Thanks :-)


texts: Is it appropriate to use terms "software bug" and/or just "bug" in formal report? What else could be used instead? Defect?


texts: How to write correctly chains of nouns with plurals like "Messages List" and "Apple Count" for IT

texts:
Especially in IT it is often neccessary to write chains of nouns like "Messages List" because one cannot use "The list of messages" for variable name in a programming language. I can't understand how to construct them correctly for plurals, ex. "Message list" or "Messages list" ? What grammar rules concern this subject?

As a maybe special case, I'm interesting in naming the number of something, ex. the number of apples. It is common to use "apple count" (altough 'count' means counting, not quantity). What is right, "apple count" or "apples count", and why?

I found a little bit similar question. Maybe both forms are allowed?


texts:
I've recently come across this sentence in which I've managed to understand all of the new words for me except for the last one - power. After looking it up in several dictionaries I still haven't figured out what its meaning here is.

  Filming the movie on location in New York and San Francisco and on an elaborate backlot in Los Angeles adds a verisimilitude that the filmmakers hope will offer a different kind of power.

Thank you for your explanations.


texts: What is the word equivalent to "dine with me" for lunch?

texts:
While "Would you dine with me tonight?" is to eat dinner with me.
How can I ask some one to have lunch with me?


texts: Question tag for a sentence starting with "few"

texts:
Which is correct?

  Few people knew the way, didn't they?
  Few people knew the way, did they?


texts: Punctuating "What are you going to do, sue me?"

texts:
For example:

  What are you going to do, sue me?

Is that correct? Or is there supposed to be a question mark after the first question:

  What are you going to do? Sue me?

It seems like "Sue me?" is not a complete sentence. Did I have it right the first time?

"What are you going to do sue me?" seems too abrupt though; shouldn't it have a comma?


texts: Phrases for (someone) making a short visit/appearance

texts:
When I need to visit to any place for a very short time, say, for  10-15 minutes
  A politician coming late and leaving in minutes at a fundraiser.
  An acquaintance just dropping by to say Hello.
  A supporting actor

Phrases such as  "drop by," "drop in," "come over, etc. come to mind"

What kind of phrases do we associate with such a short filmsy appearances.

Is there a single word?


texts: Why do we have two versions of the indefinite article? When did this happen? Are there any texts where only one is used?


texts: How to use possessive case in the following sentences?

texts:
We can say:

the smell of it

Can we say:

the arrival of him
the son of me

And we can't say:

a suggestion of Mr. Smith (should be Mr.Smith's, right?)

Can we say:

a suggestion of Mr. Smith appointed at that time. (the modifier is long)


texts: Meaning of “it” in “it [. . .] settled into its unbreakable parts”

texts:
Please help me understand the meaning of “settled into its unbreakable parts” as used in this excerpt below from  Flannery O’Connor’s The Violent Bear It Away:

He was sitting forward on the seat, looking out the window at a hill covered with old used-car bodies. In the indistinct darkness, they seemed to be drowning into the ground, about half-submerged already. The city hung in front of them on the side of the mountain as if it were a larger part of the same pile, not yet buried so deep. The fire had gone out of it and it appeared settled into its unbreakable parts.
The boy did not intend to go to the schoolteacher’s until daylight and [. . . .]

Please tell me what the it  refers to here. Is it the city, or the fire?


texts: Is "have/has got" a perfect for BrE, but not AmE?

texts:
In BrE the past participle of get is in most cases got, while in AmE it is almost always gotten.

Does that imply that in the context of BrE "have/has got" is a genuine perfect construction, whereas in AmE it is just a standalone phrase?


texts:
Some time ago, I heard the pronunciation of the word peripheral on a TV show (Brain Games, to be exact). Very surprised to hear /pəɹɪfəɹəl/, I asked two close relatives whether that was how the word should really be said, in their opinion. They asked, "How else would you say it?"

Apparently, my pronunciation of /pəɹ.ɪ.fɹiəl/ doesn't exist in any dictionary and the closest I could find was one on Wiktionary, /pəɹɪfiəl/ with no ar. It makes sense etymologically: the word is a form of periphery with the suffix -al added.

My questions: is this pronunciation widespread? Is it a form some consider archaic, such as rooves (which I also use)? Do you think it's just a solecism that came about by analogy with periphery?


texts: A phrase that means: "increased" my inquisitive nature"

texts:
I would like to describe how an experience increased my natural inquisitiveness, or made me more inquisitive than I already was. For example:

  The experience opened my eyes to countless opportunities, and increased my inquisitive nature.

How do I phrase that sentence? I know there's some expression to do with the "spark of inquisitiveness" inside me, and "flames", but I just can't remember it :)


texts:
This question Why do we talk a blue streak?, had me thinking—why do we use blue for rude ?

Dictionary.com has it: lewd, indecent recorded from 1840 "(in form blueness, in an essay of Carlyle's)" and a link to blue laws, which means almost the exact opposite, but no origin.

Source: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/blue


texts: Another word instead of agent / agency for someone who sells on behalf of another

texts:
I am starting a company and it is essentially bringing the estate agent model to another market.

I will be selling other persons products for them from taking the imagery to doing the actual selling and handling of finances.

I cannot use the term agency in the name, but cannot find anything else that matches the same meaning.

Broker is not the image we are looking for, any other suggestions?


texts:
When we refer to two people, which is right — "both of you" or "the both of you"?

Are both the same or is there any difference between them?


texts:
In grade school, eons ago, I was taught to say "I am fine."   Today, most people say, "I am good."

Recently, I received scorn for an old man saying, "I am fine," as it was argued that "fine" would apply to a younger person, likely a female.

Where is consensus on this, and what would an acceptable response be?


texts: Word for feeling amused by someone/people being ... stupid?

texts: Is there a word for feeling amused by someone or some people do something ... erroneous or stupid ?


texts: there is a fine line between encouraging and discouraging to study languages

texts:
There exists a fine line between encouraging and discouraging to study languages.

Is it a correct sentence?


texts: Why is there a comma in "Man discusses his, wife's experience"

texts:
Why is there a comma after "his" in the headline? Does this mean his AND his wife's experience? Is it correct english, or slang?

"Man discusses his, wife's experience being injured during the Boston marathon bombings."

Source: http://abcnews.go.com/US/video/boston-marathon-explosion-video-attack-victim-hard-mad-18969745


texts:
I found myself discussing the eating activity of my cats with... my cats. Anyway, I said to them "Huh, you two didn't eat your breakfasts!" At this point, I paused, realizing that sounded very odd to me.

If multiple people each have a breakfast, are there "breakfasts present", or is it just "breakfast"?  Either way, why does "breakfasts" sound so bizarre to my ear?


texts: Words or phrases to describe factionalism or compartamentalization in an organization

texts:
I am looking for some suggestions for words or phrases to describe the situation when a high degree of formality or competition exists in an organization, company or similar large entity. Several examples:

There is an instance of a BBC newsreader in a live broadcast saying something to the effect of "we asked BBC news for comment on this incident, but the head of BBC news did not respond"
The production line department on the first floor of a factory, which produces light bulbs, sends a bill for lightbulbs to the accounts department on the second floor
During World War II, the German armed forces were notorious for detrimental inter-service rivalries, so that the airforce might refused to follow tactically prudent orders from the army etc


texts: "yields" vs "yields that" in math context

texts:
I have learned that a commonly mistake in math papers is the phrase
by ... we have that ... instead it would be correct to just leave the that.
Now I am wondering how to correctly use yield. In particular, when I am saying something like
Applying theorem XY yields a=b.
I had a discussion about that and I would say this is correct but some say that it should be
Applying theorem XY yields that a=b.
I found this on this website, which suggests that I don't need the that, but I am still not sure.
Another occurrence where I am not sure whether this is correct is Theorem XY yields the convergence of the sequence. Can I use yield as a synonym for imply?
How do I correctly use the verb yield?


texts: A term to describe the phenomenon that people travel more and know much better abroad but interestingly, than their local country/city?

texts:
I don't know if you have this experience, or if you have noticed, that a lot of people who like travelling abroad, have actually not been many places in their own city, probably because it's so close to their home that they think they can visit any time, hence they keep deferring and turn out have never visited even once in their life.
For example, a Parisien might have been many great tourist attraction sites around the world, like the Great Wall, the Iguaçu Falls, the Machu Picchu, the Angkor Wat, but have never visited le musée du Louvre, despite it being located within his/her city.
I have encountered this many many times in my life(including myself, haven't been to the Great Bronze Buddha and Disneyland in Hong Kong after years), thus I really want to have a vocabulary to describe this phenomenon.
Thank you in advance.


texts: What is the correct title for this poster?

texts:
My son has an educational poster and the title bothered me. I thought it should be "Blending Consonants Is Fun", but couldn't fully explain to him why. It seemed to me that because it's clearly correct to say "blending is fun", rather than "blending are fun", then it should also be correct no matter what we are blending, whether or not that thing is plural.

Which is correct and why?


texts:
Her has two forms:

Possessive form of 'she': This is her pen; She is her mother
Object form of 'she': Give it to her; I know her

For simplicity, please let me refer to the first form of her as possessive she and the second form of she as object she.

The object she is surely a pronoun. But the case of possessive she is confusing.

The Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English says that possessive she is a determiner, whereas Swan's Practical English Usage says that possessive she is both a pronoun and a determiner.

I am confused. Is possessive she both a determiner and a pronoun? or is it only a determiner? If it it both, why does the LDCE define it only as a determiner?


texts: Can "probability" be used interchangeably with "rate"?

texts:
In a document about a barcode reader, I came across an expression "scanning probability" to indicate the percentage of successful reading of barcodes by the barcode reader in question.

I would use "scanning rate", but can "scanning probability" also mean the same thing?
To me "probability" seems more like "possibility" and does not apply to the case.


texts: What does it mean to say "what was it about me?"

texts:
It's part of a business letter:

That’s kinda in my mind, like, “man, what was it about me--” and I’m fine with it now, it is what it is. When I was younger, I used to wonder about that a lot. Like, “golly, what was it about me that a person could think that--”

Just like, “what is it about me that would allow someone to even entertain the possibility that I could do this?” Is that the thing?


texts: What to write in a MLA format page header, if the work is a collaborative one?

texts:
As shown in the image below (upper right corner), we must put a surname before the page number according to MLA format guidelines. However, I am now working on a document that I and two others have collaboratively produced. We all put in the same amount of effort, so I cannot just put one name on there.
Do I just put three surnames before the page number? Should I just randomly choose one person's name? Or can I not put any name before the page number?


texts:
Donald Trump used a vulgarity to describe Hillary Clinton's loss to President Obama in 2008 Democratic presidential nomination as follows:

  Even a race to Obama, she was gonna beat Obama. I don't know who would be worse, I don't know, how could it be worse? But she was going to beat -- she was favored to win -- and she got schlonged, she lost, I mean she lost," Trump said, using a vulgar Yiddish word for a man's penis.

[Source: CNN Politics]

According to Oxford Online Dictionary the word schlong means as a noun:

  A man’s penis.

There is neither a definition as a verb nor its verbal usage.

According to Online Etymology Dictionary:

  "penis," 1969, from Yiddish shlang, literally "snake." Compare
  schmuck. As a verb, "to have sex with," by 2005. Related: Schlonged;
  schlonging.

It does have a verbal usage, but strangely it says it started to be used in 1969. The linked Ngram Viewer seems to support it.

What is its etymology? How did it get its traction? Is the word shlong or sclung related with it?
How vulgar is this word? When a word like f-word is spoken, it gets automatically bleeped, but it didn't when it was spoken by him.


texts: What is the legal term for funds that are not fund-of-funds?

texts:
I am looking for the legally correct expression for funds that are not fund-of-funds. Those funds do not invest in other funds but to at least 90% directly in stocks or bonds.

In German there is the expression "Zielfonds" which would be "target fund" in English - which is not correct as I assume. I looked through law texts in Enlish and I did not find a specific expression for this and I wonder whether it exists.

Maybe the right word is just "fund" and fund-of-funds for a distinction?


texts: lengthy sentences/second subordinate clause

texts:
To further drown him in statistics, amongst all the bowlers who bowled in more than 5 innings away from home in the last 1 year of ODI cricket, Ashwin has the second-worst bowling average after Xavier Doherty, which is really not a surprise.

Is the usage of 'which is not really not a surprise' fine, or is it flawed? It refers to only the main clause 'Ashwin has the second-worst bowling average after Xavier Doherty', which is the surprise part.


texts:
The passage below comes from Word Smart.

  In grammar, the antecedent of a pronoun is the person, place, or thing
  to which it refers. In the previous sentence, the antecedent of it is
  antecedent.

When I read the first sentence I thought it refers to a pronoun.
(Am I right?)
Then the next sentence says 'the antecedent of it is antecedent'.
Which means the writer thinks it refers to antecedent.
In that case my assumption about the reference of it is wrong.
When a book says something which doesn't accord to my thought, I know I am more wrong than right.
But I want to double check.


texts: Want + Present Participle or Infinitive?

texts:
I want people to enjoy the show.
or
I want  people enjoying the show.

Is it possible to use both?


texts: Noun to describe a person whether easy or not to be influenced by others

texts:
I am looking for a noun to describe whether a person is easy or not to be influenced by others.
I think this noun should have the meaning of level in it.

For example, if I want to use a noun to describe whether a person has a huge impact on others, I can use the word "influence".

So, what is the right noun to describe the "to-be-influenced" level of a person.


texts: Does the expression “web technologies” have a euphemistic/promotional character ?

texts:
In German, I sometimes come across the expression “Webtechnologien” as a direct adoption of “web technologies”, which usually relates to software, programming, web development.

I've always found the use of the word “technologies” slightly odd here – it seems to have a somewhat promotional character to me, whereas something like “techniques” would come closer to a 'sober' choice of words, though maybe not a perfect one, either... I'd like to know if this is in fact an impression that is shared by native English speakers.


texts: Word for "doing/getting away with something only because you're 'concealed' in a big group..."

texts:
Is there a word for this behavior?

Doing or getting away with something just because you're in a big crowd setting where you don't perceive your actions to be noticeable to most people and therefore there would be no consequences?
Google keeps trying to push "herd mentality" on me, but I'm not talking about someone following a pack, I'm talking about someone using the pack as a cover to do something recklessly as they feel no one would notice or care.

Scenario 1: Full big box gym class with 50+ attendees in close proximity of each other, Becky decides to have a full blown conversation with her friend while performing a half-assed workout, she thinks nobody minds, 50 sweaty bodies in one room and blasting music, what's some extra noise on top of that?
But Becky also attends a boutique spinning class the next day with only 10 spots per class, also with her friend, but this time she won't say a word the whole hour as she's got more spotlight on her (less bodies around her) and is afraid of being judged for talking over the instructor.

Scenario 2: Becky finishes her favorite granola bar while crossing a very busy street, she throws it on the sidewalk almost certain nobody saw her or if they did they don't care/won't confront her about it.
But Becky also has a long meeting later that day, with her boss and 10 of her coworkers, for what she prepared in advance packing another granola bar. This time when she is done, she puts the wrapper in her pocket and a few hours pass by before she gets a chance to drop it in a bin, she doesn't want the judgement of her peers if she would pull the same move she did on the street earlier that day.

Is there a word/definition for this type of behavior/mentality? Also an explanation? (Other than being deeply inconsiderate?)

Thanks.


texts: Is "princessship" a real word? Are there any other words which have the same letter 3 times consecutively?

texts:
One of my friends argues that princessship is the only word which has 3 identical letter comes together (s) ,but I think there is no word such as princessship.

Can anyone tell me whether this is a real word, and if there are any more English words which have 3 letters consecutively?


texts:
Let's say:

John Doe writes a book -- Me and My Dog Spot.  On the page after the title, he writes: For Nancy.
My aunt gives this book to me for my birthday, and on the title page, she adds in her penmanship: Dear Jen, this reminds me of you and Fluffy. Love, Aunt Marge

I'd refer to #1 and #2 as a dedication, but are there more appropriate terms?


texts: difference between "be free" and "get free"?

texts: What is the difference between the two? And if I want to meet a friend what would I say "I'll be free soon " or "I'll get free soon "


texts: They set a prisoner free / They let a prisoner free

texts:
Could you please explain for me why I cannot use "let" in this sentence ?

My friends said "They let a prisoner free" is wrong but I cannot understand why let is unacceptable in this sentence.


texts: Simple past tense vs. perfect past tense

texts:
What are the difference between the following sentence?

I ate apples.
I have eaten apples.

When should we use simple past tense? When should we use perfect past tense?


texts:
Is this sentence correct?
"Excellent communication, organizational, and leadership skills demonstrated through various awards and volunteer activities."


texts: How should I write this sentence in grammatically correct way?

texts:
This is my sentence:

Do you know what temperature and humidity in your room are?

Should I invert in your room and are? I don't know, maybe it will be more accurately: "Do you know what temperature and humidity are in your room?"
How should I write this sentence?


texts: The word "was" to not use in writing, dont use the word was

texts:
My english teacher told me to get rid of all "was"s in my essay and to replace them. I did it even though it seemed a bit difficult to re-write all my sentences. When writing essays is the word "was" bad? Or it's just him?
To be honest, some of the sentences did sound better without the words.
He gave us a list of words to refrain from like "was, is, are, were, be , been and being."


texts:
Which way is correct?

1. For the 5th,7th and 8th sets of parameters
2. For the 5th, the 7th and the 8th sets of parameters

Thanks!!


texts: Can a gerund be modified by an adjective?

texts:
Is the sentence below grammatically correct?

  Good writing requires hard work.

Or should it read:

  Writing well requires hard work.

Can a gerund be modified by an adjective or must it be modified necessarily by an adverb?

If it can be modified by an adjective, when you diagram it, would the good come off of the word writing on the stilt, or would it go below the regular baseline?


texts:
"When we get there, they will have been waiting in the lounge."
"When we get there, they will be waiting in the lounge."
Okay, both of the sentences refer to the future, but how are they different?


texts:
Why is "to get" sometimes used where "to be" could be used? Is this usage grammatical?
Examples:

The video got uploaded to the web site.
The video was uploaded to the web site.
He got thrown in the pool.
He was thrown in the pool.
We got caught!
We were caught!


texts:
For instance can I be willing to do something even if I don't want to do it?

If I'm willing but not exactly "eager", can I still claim "willingness" or is it just compliance?

Is desire a prerequisite for willingness?


texts: What could be a dictionary approved, synonymous alternative for 'intentful'?

texts:
In sentence:

"I was intentful on the completion of the work today."

I'd thought of using the following sentence too:

"I was desirous about completing the work today."

But, it doesn't sound as appropriate to me, as it wasn't merely a desire or a wish that was being harbored, but the thought was more toward the ambition. The more proper and correct term, intent, suggested by a commenter, does seem usable. But, it still feels lacking, as it's too infested with intention to me. Like, it emphasizes more toward the intention?

Supplementary:
Desire vs Intentful -- as I distinguish:
The former would be just a wish a person would hold, while Intentful may lean more toward sketching a methodology into achieving one's goal.


texts:
The data center must be flexible. There should be no restriction/restrictions on user's choice of protocols.

What should it be?


texts:
Censorship is the mother of metaphor. - Jorge Luis Borges.

My literal understanding doesn't give me the real, implicit meaning of the quote of one of the greatest authors.

Hope for your reply. Thanks in advance.


texts: What is the word for accepting help from someone else, not by merit, but because they know you?

texts:
So, say that someone is about to start at a new school, and your sister says "Oh, I aced that class! Let me introduce you to the teacher; maybe he'll give you less homework/give you more opportunities."

For some reason the word "hedonism" is rattling around in my brain, though I know that's not it. Also maybe it's the opposite of "altruism"? I'm having an off day and can't for the life of me figure it out.


texts:
I'm trying to describe that two nations which both guarantee their citizens the right to free speech, asssembly, etc, can have different enforcement policies, resulting a a nation that:

a) has less freedom than another, or
b) has fewer freedoms than another

I feel like "fewer freedoms" is incorrect because the same individual freedoms (press, representation, whatever) are guaranteed in law, only being implemented differently.

I feel like "less freedom" is incorrect, because freedom describes a state of not being restricted, which seems like an boolean rather than a spectrum.

So am I misunderstanding one of these words?  Is either acceptable?


texts: Why is there no "autumntime" or "falltime"?

texts:
Why is "autumntime" (or "falltime") not a word?

wintertime => sure
springtime => fine
summertime => lovely

But apparently autumn/fall has no equivalent. Why?


texts:
I have the following sentence:

  To this end, I first devised a novel
  algorithm to enumerate all possible
  partitions; ways of dividing a network
  into meaningful parts.

I was told that the final semi-colon fragments the sentence and that I should change it.  I am not sure what punctuation I should here, or if the sentence needs to be restuctured.  In case it isn't clear to anyone, a 'way of dividing a network into meaningful parts' is a definition of a partition.

Any suggestions appreciated.


texts: Can you embed a main clause, or does it always have to be subordinate?

texts:
Like in the following example:
Some of you may not have heard of Dr Watkins, but he is an expert in psychology from the University of Oxford, and he said that “...”
Or should the comma before ‘and he said that’ be removed?
The commas are placed here primarily to mimic pauses in spoken English.
Thank you!


texts:
Turn up and Come up are able to mean "appear"?

When can I use come up or turn up?


texts: Best way to represent comparative information in paragraph form?

texts: Let's say normally I have a table, and the left hand column has a requirement in it, and the right hand column has how the requirement is fulfilled.  But because of a lack of support for tables, I need to represent this in the briefest manner possible for many, many items, without committing the literary sin of the text becoming boring, because I am repetitious in everything but the nouns.  How do I do this?


texts: Etymology of "nick" in, in the nick of time?

texts:
We have the nick meaning prison, as in "he served time in the nick", then we have  the verb to nick, meaning to steal; but if the police catch you red-handed, then "you've been nicked". And if you led a very bad life you could end up meeting with Old Nick, which as we all know is the Devil's nickname or nick 1
. And before I forget, Nick is also short for Nicholas.

If, however, something is in good nick 2 it's usually in admirable condition, but if we spot a few nicks on a porcelain ornament we consider it damaged and we might choose not to buy it. Be careful handling it though, the edges might be sharp and nick your skin.

I can see how the different meanings of nick 3 are related to one another in the examples above, but what escapes me is how did nick come to mean the last critical moment of time.

  She was saved in the nick of time

Was her death stolen away? Does the nick here mean a small chip, a notch or a very small but significantly sharp edge of time that allowed her to be rescued? Or maybe, historically speaking, nick was a measure of time? Is the idiomatic expression, I wonder, "to be in time" related?

Can anyone shed any light? Thank you.


texts: One or more of your [plural noun] now need/needs to be sold

texts:
This bugs me as neither sound correct! Which one of these is correct, and why?

One or more of your houses now need to be sold.
One or more of your houses now needs to be sold.

It seems like it should be the latter as we're saying "more" and using a plural.
These sound fine:

One of your houses now needs to be sold.
More of your houses now need to be sold.

So I can't put my finger on why none of the top two don't feel right!


texts: Contraction for "owe on"; would it be "owe'n" or "ow'n"?

texts: What would the contraction for owe on be, owe'n or ow'n?


texts: 'Discouraged' as an antonym of 'recommended'?

texts:
We're designing short informative messages to be displayed as feedback on a design application. The usage of a particular type of lens is either recommended or recommended against.

The positive message is:

  Type-1 lens recommended for this design

For the negative message, we could have:

  Type-1 lens not recommended for this design

But I'm not sure this is assertive enough, since we want to actively advise against using it, and this sounds neutral to me (We don't recommend it, but we aren't recommending against it, if you know what I mean). I thought of:

  Type-1 lens discouraged for this design

but I'm not sure if it's correct, or if it sounds weird.

It would be easier if we used active sentences ('We recommend' as opposed to 'This is recommended'), but we prefer to keep a passive voice.

Is there a good option?


texts: What do you call the two groove settings in a stapler?

texts:
Stapler anvils have two kind of grooves on the anvil that allow pins to close inwards and outwards?

What word/phrase is used to refer to these settings?


texts:
I'm translating a movie and there's one sentence I could not understand.
In the movie a doctor tells his friend:

  Doctor: Find something sharp to penetrate his skull.(to help the patient).
  Friend: About time we killed him.
  Doctor: Way to read the room!

What does "Way to read the room!" mean?

Can someone suggest how I can write this in another way in English?
So I can translate it right.


texts: Compound adjective "free-molecule" vs. "free molecular"

texts:
I've been asked by a reviewer to change all occurrences of "free-molecule", which I use consistently throughout my manuscript, to "free-molecular".  Typical usage examples: "particles colliding in the free-molecule regime", "calculations based on the free-molecule theory".

My question is, which of the possible four combinations below is grammatically correct/incorrect and why, and which would you recommend to use (my personal preference is 1)?  Are there any rules to guide the choice?

free-molecule
free molecule
free molecular
free-molecular


texts: What is difference between process and progress?

texts:
What is difference between process and progress.
Does progress mean how many percent completed of process ?
Best regards.


texts: Can "with" be replaced by "to" after verbs?

texts:
Does this replacement change the meaning to something wrong?

Examples:

I came with her or I came to her

I talk with you or I talk to you


texts: "The did have one good pro sailor, Ed Roach, for "beef on the rope" and shipkeeping and cooking."


texts: When double "l" is considered American English?

texts:
I'm struggling with "enroll" and "enrollment". Both answers (this one and this one), given to this question, as well as Wikipedia seems to be suggesting, that double "l" is more common in British English, while single "l" in American English.

However, on contrary to above, when browsing grammarist.com or Longman I can clearly see, that double "l" is claimed to be American English form, while single "l" seems to be British English form.

Is "enrollment" some kind of exception (and if yes, then what kind)? Or why double "l" is sometimes considered British English and other time -- American English?


texts: More General term for "appliance operator"

texts:
In the HAM radio community the term "appliance operator" is used to describe people who use radio equipment but don't understand how the equipment works. In IT these people are disparagingly called Lusers.
http://www.eham.net/articles/11116
Is there a term for this in other broader contexts? In engineering what could you call a technical person without the underlying theoretical/technical understanding.


texts: What does this uncommon phrase mean? Does it mean "it made his head spin"? Or maybe it means "it went to his head"?


texts: Using commas for lists containing independent clauses

texts:
To be clear, a is the acceleration of the object, F is the net force on the object, and m is the mass of the object.

Can we use commas for connecting independent clauses as a list? Is the above sentence grammatically correct, or is there a comma splice?

I think we can use semicolons instead of commas, but then there would be a lot of semicolons, which is, as I've learned, something to avoid if possible.


texts: Is there any situation where I should use ‘Thank you’ instead of ‘Thanks’?

texts:
The EL&U’s archives told me ‘thanks’ is slightly more informal than ‘thank you’. I’d like to get a little more specific info.
I’m now reading Harry Potter series and came across the following scene.

“Well, I just thought I’d congratulate you again on your splendid performance against that Horntail, Harry,” said Bagman. “Really superb.”
“Thanks,” said Harry, but he knew this couldn’t be all that Bagman wanted to say, because he could have congratulated Harry in front of Ron and Hermione. (Harry Potter 4 [US Version]: p.445)[Bold font is mine]

N.B.: Bagman is the head of a department of Magical Ministry and he is much older than Harry. They are acquainted with each other.
It seems to me that ‘thanks’ can be used in any occasion, even if the speakers are distant in their ages and social positions, but is there any occasion where the word isn’t appropriate? What makes you choose ‘thanks’ over ‘thank you’?
Also, can I use it for answerers and commentators in this site?
I often see ‘thanks’ this site, but I think they might be acquainted with each other in a chat or something. I tried writing ‘Hi, thanks’ a couple of times, but I can’t wipe off a feeling that I might be far too familiar and make people unpleasant.


texts: The curious case of "UChi" and its pronunciation

texts:
The Free Dictionary tells me that UCHI is the acronym for The University of Chicago. But if that were the case, shouldn't it be TUOC?

I visited the official university website and it says said

  Our official full name: The University of Chicago
  Wherever possible we prefer to use the full name of the University: The University of Chicago.
  […]

But

  Social media abbreviation: UChi
  In social media platforms, UChi is an acceptable abbreviation when UChicago [its official informal name] won’t fit due to character constraints

UPDATE   May 07 2018
The University has since updated its site, the information can now be found on pp.16-17 on the pdf.

The University recognizes that UChi is not an acronym, and calls it an abbreviation, I can tell because is made up of the first three letters of  University Chicago

It then goes on to explain why U of C and UC were rejected. Apparently, these acronyms are used by other universities but it fails to mention anything about TUOC.

The same website also omits the issue of its pronunciation, leaving me to ask how do I pronounce the abbreviation UChi?

The letters ch  is usually pronounced in three different ways:  The first is [tʃ] as in church, cheese, cherry, butcher, speech, and so on. The second is [ʃ], this normally occurs in some  French loanwords such as machine, chandelier, chic and moustache. And the third sound is pronounced [k] in words of Greek origin, such as stomach, school, Christmas, chemistry, technology and others, too numerous to mention.

I can confidently discard the third sound [k] based on how I know Chicago is pronounced, which leaves me with the sounds [tʃ] and [ʃ]. Is the “ch” in UChi the voiceless postalveolar affricate t͡ʃ or the sibilant /ʃ/? Wikipedia tells me that that the latter is also called a voiceless palato-alveolar fricative

Is there a reason why the institution snubbed TUOC in favor of UChi? Is this form of abbreviation exclusive to UChicago?
Is UChi pronounced as one word, (you chee /juː tʃiː/ or you shee /juː ʃiː/ ) or as initials?
Is writing the abbreviation "UChi" in block capital letters a mistake?

This post is not a duplicate of the Difference between an acronym and abbreviation?

I am not asking what is the difference between the two forms. As I mentioned previously, and clearly, UChi is an abbreviation not an acronym such as NATO and IUPAC, or an initialism such as FBI. If nothing else, I have proved that the question is not one of general knowledge (unless perhaps you're a Chicagoan).


texts: What is a word that describes two things that are true but appear to contradict?

texts: For example, the absolute sovereignty of God and the free will of man.  The Bible teaches that both are true, yet they appear to contradict each other on a human level of understanding.


texts:
I need to update my fb status:

  in search for true love

or

  in search of true love

Which one is grammatically correct ?


texts: I am trying to identify tenses from complex sentences. but I am not sure what counts as a tense. so my question is probably: What counts as a tense? what is the bare minimum for something to be called a tense? can it exist without a subject? Thanks beforehand


texts: Which term groups "bare", "unfurnished", "semi-furnished", "furnished"?

texts: We're building a form and need a category name that has the words listed above as options. Is "furnishings" correct?


texts:
Is the word 'internet' translated in any language?

Is it regarded as a global word? A global english word?

If so, is it the first word to used globally in every language?

Edit: looking at the response it seems I need to define what I mean by global word. I mean spoken word written phonetically, not written specifically in roman alphabet.


texts:
Could you help me understand what the exact meaning of the second sentence here is? I find the italic part the most bewildering: "That sentence would or should probably cause a double-take for right."

  The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has just opened a
  magnificent exhibition of Islamic art of the Seljuqid period. That
  sentence would or should probably cause a double-take for right at
  the artistic and intellectual heartland of this beleaguered empire,
  Americans are celebrating one of the highest summits of Islamic
  civilization at a time when US Muslims are subject to one of the
  ugliest phases of Islamophobia in their recent history.


texts: Word for going through the motions / doing something because you are supposed to

texts:
I use perfunctorily a lot.

Then I learned I use it wrong.

I thought it meant to do something dispassionately or because you have to or to go through the motions. But actually it means

  carried out with a minimum of effort or reflection. (NOAD)

Now, this isn't too different from the meaning I thought, because if you are doing something dispassionately or by obligation or are just going through the motions then you will carry it out with minimum effort or reflection, but the definition does not capture all that I thought it did.

What is the word that I want?

I fear I am not being clear. I fear that my desired definition and the real definition are too similar.

My desired definition includes "carried out with a minimum of effort or reflection" but it also includes a sense of obligation. You can do something with minimal effort because you want to do it but are just low in energy or because you are distracted or because you are hurried. The word I seek would make clear that the minimal effort is due to a lack of care—perhaps even more than a lack of care: maybe even disdain for the task.

This word would probably perfectly describe how most of us would perform tasks at a minimum wage job we have held too long. We would do it, maybe even well, but without any real care for it.

Another example. I ask this question now because I was going to write that people often pray "perfunctorily"—it is not heartfelt; it is done because people think that prayer is supposed good and important, but don't actually feel that it is.

I tried to find the word I want.

Cursorily, briefly, hastily include an aspect of speed. The word I seek doesn't need to mean the action happened quickly; indeed the lack of desire might even mean it happens slowly.
Dispassionately does not incorporate the sense of obligation.
Obligatorily does not incorporate the lack of thoughtfulness. You can do something obligatorily and meticulously.
Going through the motions is probably closest but, being a phrase, is difficult to turn into an adverb or even adjective. (Alternate, lesser answer would give me going through the motions in adverb form.)


texts: about the usage of "the" before a possession construction

texts:
There are examples I took from Murphy's English Grammar in Use, Unit 81B

the Carters' house
Mr and Mrs Carter's house

I couldn't understand why the latter goes like that and not like "the Mr and Mrs Carter's house"

According to my logic "the" belongs to "house" and not to "Carters"


texts:
I saw this in a post:

  ...it is okay or at least not immediately wrong.

What does immediately mean in this context? Although I have looked up this word in several dictionaries, its use in this context still remains vague to me. I really do need clarification on this.


texts: Is "The trick is to not try to tell yourself not to think about the bad things..." a double-negative used correctly?

texts:
An answer to the stackexchange question I've just been bitten by a rattlesnake; how, exactly, do I “keep calm”? includes the following advice:

The trick is to not try to tell yourself not to think about the bad things1, but instead tell yourself to think about something else. Tell yourself to think about what you need to do now to get proper care and treatment. Tell yourself to think about what you will do to celebrate your recovery. Tell yourself to think about something mundane, like your job or your favorite TV show or that hobby project you've got going.

and has the footnote:

1Look everyone! A double negative used properly.

Does the term "double negative" have a formal definition? (It seems to have a tag at least.) If so, is this one? If so, is it used properly?

From what I recall being taught quite a long time ago, a double negative is the negation of two words in a row, or nearly so, with the intent of a single negative. For example

That's not no proper way to negate.

versus

That's not a proper way to negate.

In my original, quoted snake-bite example above, a negation is used twice, and it is used intentionally both times to arrive at the intended meaning. As helpfully pointed out below, The Oxford Dictionary Online says:

A negative statement containing two negative elements...

1.1  A positive statement in which two negative elements are used to produce the positive force...

The first does not specify (to me at least) if the desired outcome is positive or still negative, and the second mentions "positive force" but I don't think it means the double negative is intended to result in a positive result. Rather I think "positive force" means a positive emphasis on the negative statement.
At this point I've gone way past my limits of understanding of the English language in the hopes that it demonstrates an honest attempt at doing research into the question. While I'd love to understand if there is more than one kind of double negative, I'm primarily asking about the quoted phrase.


texts:
It's common in science to say something doubled (x2) or even quadrupled (x4) or quintupled (x5). However, higher orders of change are less frequently written in this form. The only exceptions are changes of 10x, 100x, 1000x , etc., which are often referred to as changes in "order(s) of magnitude."

This leads to my question: If I have a value that has octupled, is there another way to refer to this increase by avoiding usage of the uncommon word "octuple?"

"Increased 8x (or 8 times) seems more like informal speech being placed into text, but perhaps I'm wrong about that.
Does "increased by an order of eight" work?
Or perhaps, it's more appropriate to say "increased by a factor of 8"?


texts:
What is the correct (grammatical) simple past and past participle form of the verb quit? Is it quit or quitted?

She quitted her job. (She has quitted her job.)

She quit her job. (She has quit her job.)


texts:
Is it correct to say "I wished I had learnt something somehow"|| Is there a better way to say it in few words ?? (After much practicing I felt I was not getting good at a skill, so, in my childhood days I wished I could become skillful, sure, I did not want to skip the process but was sometimes frustrated so to speak)

Timeline: childhood days, wishing for the future; which was not a reality in the then present time.

I want to express a feeling that I had in the past. And in that point in time, I had a strong desire to learn a skill but was in the process of learning.

Context
We all know learning a skill takes time and perseverance. But we sometimes become impatient as the process of becoming a pro from novice is time consuming. Hence, we start wishing "Somehow I be as good as xyz(pro)" etc.

Any help in this regard is highly appreciated.


texts:
We have polar opposites: hot & cold, ascending & descending, young & old, exhale & inhale, smooth & rough. We have words such as "opposite" and "duality" that describe these relationships.

Then, we have words that combine opposites into a single concept: temperature, inclining, age, breath, texture*. These unified concepts maintain or respect the opposition, often as ends of a pole or spectrum, rather than collapsing them to a singularity. What's the term (if any) for the class of these words?

One use of the word is to ask for a word that combines opposites: "What's the literal-figurative ____?", "What's the ____ for objective & subjective?"

In some contexts, "axis" is used, but doesn't seem generally to carry the desired meaning and requires the context to make sense. "Synthesis" is unsuitable because it involves creating a new concept that reconciles the conflict, rather than contains the opposites. "Dichotomy" doesn't include cases where the unification is continuous. "太極" ("tàijí" in pinyin), in some conceptions and translations, can carry this meaning in Chinese, with the meaning of unifying the polarity of yin and yang; the Wikipedia article on tàijí captures in a quote from Zhang and Ryden's "Key Concepts in Chinese Philosophy":

  Any philosophy that asserts two elements such as the yin-yang of Chinese philosophy will also look for a term to reconcile the two, to ensure that both belong to the same sphere of discourse. The term 'supreme ultimate' [tàijí] performs this role in the philosophy of the Book of Changes.

The phrase "two sides of the same coin" is closely related in sense; the word I'm looking for would be the coin.

* "Texture" could be said to combine other opposites as well, such as "hard" and "soft".


texts: Does the word "except" increase the negativity of the sentence?

texts:
I have encountered a set of instructions that contains the text:

  The option exists to expand onto the second drive while the system is
  live. Except for simplicity, there isn't any reason not to.
   - CentOS Wiki - How to Convert a CentOS 5 System to RAID1

As far as I can tell the last sentence can be rewritten as: "For simplicity alone, there is reason to."  Is that correct and does the word 'except' make the last sentence a triple negative statement?

Edit: for clarification the thing being decided to do or not to do, is if it should be done with the system in its live state instead of offline.


texts: Do I refer to the previous month or to the last month

texts:
I'd like to ask about the difference between "last month" and "previous month", if there is any.

I am a software developer and I use those relative words as a search input values for date search.

I am wondering, whether last month is correct if I want to refer to the previous month or not.


texts: “If this, and if that.” With or without Comma?

texts:
I’ll appreciate it if you wash the car, and if you take out the trash.

Should I use a comma before and, or not?


texts: What is the meaning of "shoot" in this context?

texts:
The following quotation has been taken from The Mark on the Wall by Virgina Woolf.

  Tumbling head over heels in the asphodel meadows like brown paper parcels pitched down a shoot in the post office!

What does shoot mean here?


texts: use of the relative adverb "where" - a case where

texts:
Can I use a relative adverb "where" when "case" or "instance" is an antecedent?

"case" and "instance" is not a location, but I have seen "a case where" and "an instance where" a lot.


texts: What's a word for a group of questions asked together?

texts:
Is there a word for a set of questions that are asked together and are related? For example, one asks the question:

   Do you go rafting?

And follow up with:

   If yes, where?
   If no, what do you do instead?

I'd like a word that represents this collection of questions, some of which are meaningless outside of their grouping. Is there such a word?

I have a couple of ideas in mind (linked here so I can limit influencing your opinion).

I'm looking for something much smaller than an interview (which is a larger collection of loosely-related questions), and different from a page (which is a physical arrangement of questions).


texts:
I am wondering whether the sentence

  That school has all smart students

is a valid alternative to

  All the students of that school are smart.

Is it idiomatic/grammatically sound? (Let's assume that there is no risk of ambiguity, namely that by reading the first sentence no one is going to think that e.g. all the smart students of the town go that school.)


texts: What are the differences between "element" and "item" regarding a list

texts: Does it make a difference if I use element instead of item in the context of a list (list-member)?


texts: Active vs Passive voice in lab reports, and history of scientific usage

texts:
I've had some discussions in the past with TA's who would tell my undergrads "Lab reports are written in the passive voice".

Aside from whether or not this is correct (let's come back to that in a bit), where does this come from?  Some guidelines I've found that insist on the passive voice (e.g., http://guides.lib.purdue.edu/content.php?pid=232776&sid=1925925) claim that this is done to de-emphasize the role of the investigator, and thus provides a tone of objectivity.

Such arguments never seem to have attribution. Is this a commonly accepted reason, or simply a rationalization?

In effort to prevent this from becoming an opinion-based argument, can anyone point me to a major scientific journal's style sheet or instructions to authors that specifies passive voice for scientific communication?  I've published in a number of them, and never came across such an instruction.

As to whether passive voice is correct in this context, I'm thinking of telling my students that there has been a historical tendency to use passive voice for scientific communication, but there seem to be recent trends promoting active voice.  I'll point them to examples of both (the previous link and http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/scientific-reports/ for the counter-example), and tell them that I'll accept either style  (It will alleviate boredom during grading, if nothing else).  Does that sound like an acceptable approach?


texts: What's the difference between a jumper, a pullover, and a sweater?

texts:
Following on from a recent question, in Australia we have the word jumper for a knitted long-sleeved garment, typically woollen and long-sleeved.

When cosuming foreign media I always assumed the terms pullover and sweater were the names of the same garment in either Britain or America but was never clear. How much semantic overlap is there? Are any two or more terms used in the same region and if so how are they used differently? Or are is it purely down to regionalism?

I'm also interested in other words that I may have overlooked which are synonyms of any of these three in some areas or some varieties of English. In fact some posters have mentioned jersey, which I have heard many times but I'm not sure if it refers to the same garment or something a bit different.


texts: What does the phrase "Begging the question" mean?

texts: What does the phrase "begging the question" really mean? And does it even matter if I use it correctly? Almost everyone just uses it as a synonym for "posing the question" these days.


texts: Using stative verb "want" in progressive

texts:
Some days ago I found an interesting question.
As I know we can use some stative verbs in continuos with a difference in meaning. There are two sentences:

We'd been wanting to go to New Zealand for years, so sixtieth birthday was a good excuse

We're wanting to buy a new TV, but we are not sure what to get

There was an explanation: We can use a continuous form of "want" if we have ongoing or repeated process; indirectness or politeness. Is it really acceptable?
P.S.: I am not a native speaker


texts: What does G2 (chapter title) refer to in Death by Meeting?

texts:
In Death by Meeting, by Patrick Lencioni (the book is about leadership), There is a chapter entitled "G2." Since it is the title, there is not enough context for me to figure out its meaning, that is, what could it refer to and how it is related to the content of that chapter. I guess it has something to do with sports since the book uses massive sports (golf,baseball, basketball, football) references, but I have not found anything useful so far.
The chapter narrates a phone call between Will, who is kind of a consultant, trying to make the company's (Yip's) meetings more effective, and his friend Maddie, "an administrative assistant to one of
Playsoft’s other division heads." Playsoft is the parent company. There's been a merger (Yip is part of Playsoft now) and Will wants to know more about J.T., the man in charge of M&A. J.T is trying to put pressure on Casey, Yip's CEO, and make him resign, while Will is trying to save Casey through improving his and Yip's performance.
The chapter before "G2" is entitled "Out of the Bag," and the one after it, "The Monthly Strategic," which is the name that the author has chosen for one of the four types of meetings he suggests in the book.
Other chapter titles are: Mining, The Hook, No Prisoners, Light Bulb, Detention, Coming Clean, Bad Sequel, Wet Feet, On The Table, Smoking Gun, Fireworks, etc.


texts:
So I'm reading a book, there's some humour on a page where there's an 'Advice guy' that says things.
Here's three of the things he says:

1)"Treat yourself to
a cold one! You
deserve it!"
That I know refers to beer

2)"Tell your boss
the report will
have to wait. There’s
powder at Aspen!"
I found the meaning of that here

3)"That shade of
green isn’t really
workin’ for you..."

I don't quite get the third one, what's the play on words here?

Edit:
So I did add some context in a comment below but I'm editing this so you have it here as well.

Well, this is from a book on programming using Java(Head First Java). But this particular part is just there to add in some humour. The authors are known to make a lot of remarks which don't necessarily have to do anything with programming directly. The context here is that the advice guy gives you advice when you're having those 'long days of coding' (and possibly need someone to cheer you up, I suppose). These things are usually references to something from the real world or rather just a play on words. Like the second quote, powder on Aspen. That's to say there's fresh snow at the Aspen ski resort thereby hinting at you taking a break and going skiing there. So really, it's either a reference you get, or you don't.. there isn't so much as to the context. That's how the authors wrote the book(The humorous parts I mean, some-people-get-the-joke-some-don't-kind). In this case, I could get the meaning of the first two quotes but couldn't guess at the third one.  Looking at the answers below, it does seem like just a remark at clothing, but I asked for confirmation/possible variation.


texts: I want to find a word that basically means to miss, where miss is in the sense of “feel for the loss or absence of”. But I am looking for a more spiritual word. I came up with to dream for or reminisce but both don’t really fulfil what I am looking for. I am looking for a stronger word that is synonymous with miss but is more spiritual.


texts: Jealousy and envy seem to have resentment tied in with them, and that's not what I'm trying to express. This is like, I want something someone else has, and I am sorry that they got it before me, but I do not resent them for it. They deserve it and I'm respectful of that, I just wish I had it.


texts: What's the meaning of ladybug when you use for men

texts:
I would like to ask when you say , he's a ”ladybug”.
Does it have a meaning like "He's a womanizer. or like he's a player."?


texts:
Is it correct to say : "It is informed to all"?

At times people mention it very freely that "It is informed to all the participants". This usage does not appear to be correct for the word of "informed".


texts:
We're providing a web service where users can create topics and categories. A category can either just be a list of topics or have authored content(s) in addition to a list of subtopics. It is therefore possible to view a category in two modes: "List" (showing subtopics) and "Contents" (showing authored content).

I'm not native English and I don't know how to label the links that switches between "List" and "Contents" view mode.

Should it say "Content" or "Contents"?

I've tried searching for an answer to this and for example read this q&a but due to the lack of knowledge in English from my part I still cannot figure out which one to use.

Perhaps we should label those view modes differently all together, i.e not use "List" and "Content"/"Contents" at all?

Any help/suggestion would be appreciated.