texts:
Is there a single word for time of the day?

A collective expression for morning, afternoon, evening, etc.

An example I can think of to better explain what I'm looking for:

  Good ____! - Insert the correct time/part of the day here to greet someone at 11 AM.

In the above sentence, I would like to replace "time/part of the day" with a single word.


texts:
The phrase someone used to is used to talk about habits in past.

  A year ago, I used to (not) do stuff.

Now I was wondering about a particular kind of question. They are kind of rhetorical and they contain a negative:

  Wasn't he British?!

Here's an example: I read a book and 10 pages in I realize how much writing sucks. I actually like the author. I tell a friend and he or she says...

  Really. Didn't he use to write really well?!

Is that correct (I suppose not)?
Would it be understood?
What could I say instead?

Also...

would the following be understood as an attempted play with the language:

  Usedn't he to write very well?!


texts: Present perfect or future perfect with "by then" in an imperative

texts:
The sentences:

Make sure you've finished your assignments by then
Make sure you'll have finished your assignments by then

I know that in normal sentences (not imperatives), you use future perfect with by then. For example: I will have finished those assignments by then. What about imperatives? They both sound odd. Should I have used this instead: Make sure to finish your assignments by then?


texts: "Fudge" vs. "dodge" (an issue, question, etc.), and "fudge" as another term for "cheat" in AE

texts:
In AE, can "fudge" and "dodge" be used just about interchangeably to convey the sense of circumvent [= avoid or try to avoid answering, fulfilling, or performing (duties, questions, issues, etc.)]?

Are these terms acceptable in whatever register of the English language but the most formal prose?

Also, Does "fudge" have any currency in modern day colloquial AE to mean "cheat or welsh [fudge on an exam, fudge on one's promises, etc.]?


texts:
Can anyone explain how predicament from the Latin word family dicere ‘to say’ and praedicare, can develop the meaning precarious situation? Etymonline can't.

  early 15c., "category, class; one of Aristotle's 10 categories," from Medieval Latin predicamentum, from Late Latin praedicamentum "quality, category, something predicted, that which is asserted," from Latin praedicatus, past participle of praedicare. Praedicamentum is a loan-translation of Greek kategoria, Aristotle's word. The meaning "unpleasant situation" is first recorded 1580s.

I think this curious development is quite a jump and I'm considering not using this curious word anymore, even if it is used.


texts:
I was talking about a new logo with a friend and I asked him why there's so much white. He told me that it's not white, he just doesn't know what colour will it be. I replied:

  Then use transparent background, which, unlike white, couldn't end up
  in the final logo.

The question is, are the commas properly placed in the sentence?


texts: what's a powerful word replacement for "Desire" and "Yearning"?

texts:
I'm searching for a replacement for "yearning" or "desire". Something that is power, fit for a burning, fiery description.

Originally I wanted to use 'a yearning brewing within..." and "a latent, dormant desire feels almost subconscious."

Please help. THanks!


texts: Sometimes we have a concept which can be described with multiple words only. As far as I know, we use the word phrase to describe these multiple words. Can I use the word term if I want to talk about both single- and multi-word definitions?


texts: Name for the Study of Weapons, Guns, and Arms

texts:
What's the term to name the study (or science) of weapons, arms, and guns?

I've come accross Ballistics, but it's limited and more mechanical term.

And Military Science might be broader term.

Weaponology is a great word, but is too neologistic and sounds funny.

I'm looking for both historical and modern terms.

Weaponry might be the best choice for the that, though the term has plural connotation and indicates more the design and production rather than the study.


texts:
I think it is common to say

  I did well on the exam in AmE.

  I did well in the exam in BrE.

Which prepositions are suitable for the following situations when we mention the exam we took? Regarding that, how are they used differently in American and British English? And do we need to use article the?

  I did well on/in/at (the) Math exam.

  I did well on/in/at the presentation.


texts:
It is something in this sentence, which does not seem correct to me. Maybe the way I use whom?

  We use 70% of the data to estimate the probability of default of the remaining 30% of the data. In addition, we use the model in Section 5 to generate the latent space of the clients to whom we estimated the probability of default. <


texts: Looking for another term for "reality tv"

texts: My own opinion is that "reality tv" is a misnomer and I would feel better if I had a more accurate term. I'm unable personally to come up with anything better than pseudo-reality tv.  Has anyone come across a good term for it?  It should be self-explanatory. I don't want to have to explain the term or get into a discussion whenever I use it with a new person.


texts:
Who do you want to talk to?
Whom do you want to talk to?
Which one is correct sentence?


texts: Difference between 'derives from' and 'prompted by'

texts:
Let's imagine we have a task and this task has a child task.
So what's the difference in relation between parent task and child task if the child task has status:

Derives from
Was prompted by

Translation to the native language gives me pretty similar understanding, so I want to clarify the difference.


texts:
Many people use "should of" and "would of" which is wrong, where "should have" and "would have" would be right.

(wrong) - You should of gone to the party.

(right) - You should have gone to the party.

Even more people use "if" in a wrong way, where "whether" would be right.

(wrong) - I don't know if she went to the party

(right) - I don't know whether she went to the party

It seems that at some point enough people can use some wrong grammar that they reinforce each other, and it becomes out of control.

My question:

Does this wrong grammar ever become right? If it does, at what point does it? Is it when the majority of native speakers use this wrong grammar?


texts: How do New Zealanders teach vowel sounds when they mostly pronounce vowels short 'i'?

texts: I have often wondered when listening to New Zealanders speak how they actually teach vowels in schools. I am Australian and we tend to drawl out the vowel sounds but lots of other nations do not - New Zealanders for example use the short i sound for a lot of their vowel pronunciation.


texts: What does the phrase "as a matter of course" mean/ where does it come from?

texts:
What does the phrase "as a matter of course" mean and where does it come from?

  The Prime Minister should have taken action "as a matter of course".

It is an odd phrase that I've often felt doesn't make enough sense to have become a cliché, or perhaps that's exactly why it's become a cliché.


texts: Which adjectives can describe 'intellect' and 'education'?

texts:
I use 'great' too many times, I would need something more lively and original. I have a sentence like this:
In order to acquire this, one does not need a great intellect, nor a ... education
Thank you!


texts:
There are many homonyms in the English language, words that are spelled the same and pronounced the same but have different meanings. A few examples:

A grizzly bear can bear great weight.
I stake out the house while perched on a stake.
I took a bow after shooting my bow.
Take your pick of any pick or shovel.
I came to see the Bishop's see.

Are these considered one word or two? Does it perhaps depend on their etymology? Maybe if both meanings can be traced to the same root they are one word and if they derive from different sources they are two? Alternatively, how are words defined? Is it in terms of spelling, of meaning, of origin or a combination of the three? The free dictionary defines word as

  A sound or a combination of sounds, or its representation in writing or printing, that symbolizes and communicates a meaning and may consist of a single morpheme or of a combination of morphemes.

That definition can be read as describing homonyms being both single (a word is a representation of sound in writing) and multiple (a word communicates a meaning) words.


texts: What is the antecedent of "The x of y, which"

texts:
What is the antecedent of "which" in the following sentence?

"The door of the car, which is discontinued, broke."

Is the "the door of the car" discontinued, or is "the car" discontinued?


texts: Does "you're" also qualify as a valid contraction for "you were"?

texts: If not, is there a way to write "you were" in a short form?


texts:
I came across the following sentence in a book by the English nature writer Robert Macfarlane;

  Sunlight fell in bright sprees on the floor (of the wood).

What part of speech is 'spree' in this context. It's a noun of some sort, but can anyone help more specifically?


texts: Converting direct speech to indirect speech

texts:
Please tell me what will be the indirect-speech form of this sentence:

  The boys shouted, "Don Bosco Public School well played?"

The question mark confuses me.

Here is the original question:

with options:                (manually transcribed)

(a) The boys     asked    for Don Bosco Public School well played.
(b) The boys     applauded    Don Bosco Public School
saying that it had                                      played well.
(c) The boys     cried    for Don Bosco Public School well played.
(d) The boys     cheered  for Don Bosco Public School well played.


texts: What word can I use as a salutation meaning I am feeling like you are avoiding me


texts:
Rephrasing the entire question:

Do we use the article "the" when we use an adjective with a proper noun? Which of these is correct, and why?

  The terrible Mr. Brown set my boat on fire.

  Terrible Mr. Brown set my boat on fire.

  The US-based Galacto, Inc., takes care of its customers.

  US-based Galacto, Inc., takes care of its customers.

Do we use the article "the" when we use an adjective with a proper noun? Which of these is correct?

  The Switzerland-based ABC Fund operates in most countries of the EU.

  Switzerland-based ABC Fund operates in most countries of the EU.

I have a feeling the first sentence is correct but that it sounds a little old-fashioned.
What about phrases like, "The terrible Mr Brown"? You could argue that we're actually saying, "The terrible man Mr Brown". Said like that it sounds like an appositive, but is there something else going on here? Is there a term for this kind of phrase?

EDIT: By using the noun fund in my example, I have not made it clear what the question is. How would "the" work in "The US-based XYZ, Inc."?


texts: The total opposite (contradiction) of Infallible

texts:
I am looking for a word that means "can do no right"
Fallible is not the word I am looking for since that means "can do wrong"


texts: Why do some words change inflection when used differently?

texts:
Are there rules that determine if a word changes inflection depending on its part of speech?  Some words seems to change inflection whether a noun or a verb, while others are pronounced the same.

I realize not every person pronounces every word the same, but I'm going to throw out some observations I hear commonly.  Forgive how I type pronunciations or where emphasis lies--I am not familiar with universal pronunciation guidelines, so the best I know is writing phonetic English.

Words that do change inflection from noun to verb:

Contract - CON-tract vs. kun-TRACT
Defect - DE-fect vs. de-FECT
Precipitate - pre-SIP-i-tit vs. pre-SIP-i-tate

Looks like inflection doesn't change on this, but still a single-syllable change in pronunciation

Contrast - CON-trast vs. kun-TRAST

"What is the contrast between working the day and night shifts?"
"How does this contrast with your opinion?"

Words that do not change inflection whether noun or verb:

Compare
Appeal
Scramble


texts: Been looking for a Word sort of like Chauvinism

texts:
A word that expresses a person highly prejudiced in favor of their homeland or culture. Chauvinist is too harsh and it seemed to myself and a friend that the word was just out of reach. Zealot is also too strong. Any suggestions?

Sentence: I had no idea that he was so ______. Or I had no idea was such a _______.


texts: A single word for an immigrant from a different part of the same country

texts:
I'm looking for a single word for 'immigrant' here, that specifically refers to people from a different part of the same country.

"As the capital city, X has a very large immigrant population".

I feel that immigrant in this sentence could be understood to mean immigrants from outside the country.


texts: What is the term for a Monarchy with only a King or a Queen, but not both?

texts:
A typical Monarchy can have a king, queen, or both.  What is the term for, like the current British Monarchy, having only one of a king or a queen in power?  Surely there is a term that distinguishes that situation from one where there is a King and Queen sitting.

To clarify: The answer to the question is a term, not a historical or political definition.  The usage of the term I am looking for would be to illustrate needing to have both a king and a queen, not just one or the other.

In other words: what is the common nomenclature for having a king, or a queen, but not having both?  It is irrelevant who has the power.  What matters is that the king doesn't have a queen.


texts: Other ways of saying "letting me know" or "telling me about"

texts:
I want to say “my advisor has been very helpful, from helping me decide which classes to take to letting me know/telling me about the resources available to me”.

I think saying “letting me know” or “telling me about” is too clunky.

Are there any other ways of saying this?


texts:
I'm looking for a word for a change, especially in a game.
Example

  The Bulls were winning but then there was a big ____ and they lost.


texts:
Consider following sentence

  They are helping some candidates in getting admissions to the institute.

In the above sentence, whether it should be "to" or "in"?


texts: When someone says not to make labor of it what does it mean?


texts: Another way of saying positive or negative connotation?

texts: Is there another way of saying positive or negative connotation? e.g. The positive 'happy' contrasts with the negative 'sad'.


texts: Why can I vary the position of the noun phrase only in certain sentences?

texts:
It is possible to say this:

  It formed inside him an ambition to teach his students all the more.

I brought the "inside him" to the front of the noun phrase "an ambition to..." since the noun phrase was too long as below.

  It formed an ambition to teach his students all the more inside him.

But I realized that it does not always work.

  He kept in the book bag an apple. (Does not work --- so literary)
  I have to say: He kept an apple in the book bag.

3rd one sounded so literary that I would not consider using it if I were writing just a formal email or an essay. So, why is it possible to reverse the order and still make it sound normal only in 1st sentence?

Is it usable only with noun and noun phrases, or is it also possible with adjectives?

Please give me some examples of reversed sentences that includes preposition that includes both time and place.


texts: Can something that "will have been done" happen before the sentence is spoken?

texts:
There is a tense (can't remember its name) where in the future, something was done. The form is "< time-in-the-future >, the < noun > will have < verb >-ed".

My question is this: might < noun > have already < verb >-ed at the time of speaking?

I would usually use this form if it will < verb > sometime before < time-in-the-future >, but I think it could be used the aforementioned way.

As a sample sentence: "tomorrow, the probe will have passed Jupiter." could it have passed yesterday?


texts: How to spell the contraction of "might as well"

texts:
I often say a word that sounds like "mares-well", as a contraction of "might as well". E.g. if someone said "shall I throw away this bread" I might say "you might as well, it's totally mouldy", except I'd pronounce "might as well" as something like "mares-well" (where 'mare' is pronounced like the 'mare' in 'nightmare').

Is there a written form of this sound? If so, how do I spell it?


texts: Black and lab mouse - using coordinated adjectives and attributive nouns

texts:
Many nouns are used attributively. Is it correct to use them with actual adjectives by linking them with and?
Some other examples I can think of are:

Young and news reporter
Cold and orange juice
Tall and palm tree
Economic and language barrier


texts:
I want to ask my supervisor to let me take an extra course this semester (I need his permission to do so), but I wonder how I should put it very politely. Does the following sound natural?
"I wonder if I might take three courses instead of two courses next semester?"


texts: Is there a short phrase to describe forgetting to do something because something else had your attention?

texts:
I'm trying to determine if a short translation exists for the Greek word "ξεχάστηκα", which literally means "I got forgotten" but is generally used to express that the speaker forgot to do something because their attention was given to something else.

An example usage would be the following (using "got forgotten" for now):

  "I got forgotten and missed the ship."

(Implying that the speaker was absorbed in something else -which they don't mention- and forgot to look at the time until it was too late.)

Possible candidates would be simply "forgot" and "got carried away" but both don't match the usage entirely.

"Forgot" requires that you say what you forgot to do, implicitly or explicitly:

  "I forgot to look at the time, and missed the ship."

"Got carried away" seems to me to imply that you did too much of something rather than forgetting to do something else (although I could be wrong) and also requires you to say what you were doing, even vaguely:

  "I got carried away doing something, and missed the ship."

It's entirely possible that no word or phrase with this exact meaning exists in English and that translating a phrase where the original was used would require changing the context, but I thought it would be worth it to ask.


texts:
Many countries have "land" in the end of it.
like England, Poland, Switzerland, etc.
which means the land of the English, the land of the Swiss, etc.

Many other countries have "stan" in the end of it
like Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan , Afghanistan, etc.
stan means land in their language, it become the the land of the Kazakh, the land of the Turkmen, etc.

My question is about "-ia".
Many counties have "-ia" in the end, like Australia, Serbia, Nigeria, Croatia, Russia, Tunisia and many many more. I'm not sure where that come from or if it has any meaning?


texts:
The following sentence is the context.

  Accordingly, in the next few chapters, which deal specifically with the tags, we’ll spend a lot more time on the OGNL expression language. On to chapter 6!

Your answers or comments are appreciated!


texts: What does the sentence in a legal document mean, i have tried my best to understand, but I am unable

texts:
Hereinafter called the "FIRST PARTY/ DEVELOPER" (which expression unless there be anything inconsistent therewith in the context shall
mean and include his legal representatives, executors and assigns) of
the ONE PART:


texts:
If the verb ditch means "to make a forced landing of (an airplane) on water”, as Merriam-Webster reads, what verb can be used to mean “to make a forced landing of (a helicopter) on water”?

Or, if ditch, contrary to what Merriam-Webster reads and according to Andrew Leach’s definition below, is simply to make a forced landing (ditch in a field), what verb, possibly a single word, can be used to mean “to make a forced landing of   (an airplane) on water”?


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Meaning and usage of “bite me”

Here’s the dilemma: What body part does the oft-used expression, “Bite me!” refer to?

All the males (man on the street) I’ve surveyed, say the bum, the tushie, indeed, the derriere. Most women don't know and profess to never use this expression. I've had a few varied answers, but I’d say 85% so far agree that’s it’s the human posterior.

Is there any relation or association with the Bard’s “I bite my thumb at you, Sir”?


texts: What verb is a good synonym for “over-rely”

texts:
The word “over-rely” does not seem to appear in online dictionaries, so I’m not sure if I can use it safely. Is there a good synonym?

Here’s an example:

  Don’t over-rely on Google for searching the Web.


texts: What parts of speech are the words "about and how" in this sentence?

texts: “You should wake me,” I say, thinking about how I can interrupt his sleep two or three times on a bad night.


texts: In what context or situation (if any) would the words "try to see me" make sense?

texts:
If there is such possible situation, please, describe it.

Please don't insert any punctuation between those words and keep their order intact.


texts: Why is "sauté" spelled with an accent and "repartee" not?

texts: Why are these words spelled differently? They have the same sound at the end, right?


texts: I am not a native. Is the following sentence authentic?

texts: I want to know if you are the only interviewer and do we use English or Chinese for our interview?


texts: Why use "the" in "than the 3.5bn years ago"?

texts:
Why has the been used before 3.5bn in the sentence below? Doesn't the sentence make sense without the the?

Researchers hope rocks collected here will confirm that volcanic activity on the Moon continued until far more recently than the 3.5bn years ago that is the estimate derived from studies of currently available samples.

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


texts:
It sounds the man saying

  what you're about to see is the story of a young man whose name is Ben
  Underwood. when he was born at an early age he had cancer in both eyes
  and they had to be surgically removed.

where he has a obvious pause between can and cer, I occasionally heard some other guys talk that way.

Is it common to pause in the center of a word? why do people do that?


texts:
Sometimes I get done working and my mind is utterly exhausted. I want something to entertain me mindlessly.

Is there a good verb to describe this action?


texts:
Is there a stated rule on use of infinitives in a sequence? Or is it a question of style?  For example,

  It is vital for a viewer of this movie to listen for its main character's underlying position, to contrast it with those of the other characters, and ultimately to determine which view is true.


texts:
By which word can I refer to the gap between two dates?

Say, how can I better form the sentence below?

  She reduced the gap between the dates of taking tests. She used to take it one month and the other, now she takes it after every 15 days.

What should be the best fir for gap here? How can I make the sentence better and smaller?


texts: Word for parents of your child's partner

texts:
There are words for relationships obtained by marriage or partnership of family members: xxx-in-law. But, surprisingly, there is no word (that I know of) for the parents of your child's partner. Or is there? Or did we forget it?

I wish there was a word for it (also in Dutch, my native language), because it is always hard to describe this common relationship concisely.

For who is interested: the Malay language has besan: relationship between parents whose children are married to each other.


texts:
I am reading a book "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!: Adventures of a Curious Character" where an author wrote

  So I could never understand why Tamara always went to the trouble of
  introducing me to all these nice girls, and then, even though things
  would start out all right, I would always end up buying drinks,
  spending the evening talking, but that was it. My friend, who didn't
  have the advantage of Tamara's introductions, wasn't getting anywhere
  either--we were both clunks

  After a few weeks of different shows and different girls, a new show
  came, and as usual Tamara introduced me to a girl from the group, and
  we went through the usual thing--I'm buying her drinks, we're talking,
  and she's being very nice. She went and did her show, and afterwards
  she came back to me at my table, and I felt pretty good. People would
  look around and think, "What's he got that makes this girl come to
  him?"

So what does it mean to be a clunk (if I can use it so)?


texts: Formal writing: replace "in fact" in a sentence

texts:
I am writing my PhD thesis, and I have a sentence that begins:

We will, in fact, prove a stronger condition:

Is there a more formal way to begin this sentence? Specifically, I am looking to remove "in fact" in favour of a more formal word or phrase.
I considered "Veritably, we will prove a stronger condition:", but it didn't feel right.
I am also happy to be told "in fact" is formal enough.
EDIT:
The sentence that precedes this sentence reads:

Proving Theorem 1 hinges on demonstrating that...


texts: Difference between 'Redundant' and 'Superfluous'

texts:
(I made a search for this question on this forum but surprisingly did not find related questions. Which is odd because surely this question is asked often.)

First, the sentence I'm trying to use redundant/superfluous in:

  From what I know, fiction is created from fantasy by people you call
  authors. At the risk of sounding discourteous let me say that I do not
  trust fantasies. Life is not a fabrication played out on stage. This
  is why I feel people who write fiction are redundant. I myself never
  speak of things I have not experienced firsthand.

I was told that 'superfluous' would be a better word choice in place of 'redundant' because using 'redundant' would suggest that the speaker is scornful of only those 'authors' who are 'extra' when he is scornful of 'all' authors. But using 'superfluous' here sounds simply odd to me.

OED gives the definitions of the two words as:

  redundant (adjective) -  not or no longer needed or useful;
  superfluous: an appropriate use for a redundant church many of the old
  skills had become redundant

  superfluous (adjective) -  unnecessary, especially through being more
  than enough: the purchaser should avoid asking for superfluous
  information

This site explains them as:

  Superfluous (from Latin, and literally meaning “overflowing” — the
  second part of the compound is related to fluid) means “extra, more
  than is necessary.”

  Redundant has the same literal meaning as superfluous — the second
  part of the compound is related to wave — and the identical basic
  connotation, though it also has the senses of repetition, abundance,
  or extravagance, or duplication as a safety measure.

The more I try to dig into the meanings and connotations of these words the more I'm left confused. Any inputs on this?


texts:
I am looking for a single word for "very expensive".

It is going to be used, e.g.,

  I bought [very expensive] software.


texts: How well does this sentence structure work?

texts:
I'm proofreading someone else's video game script, and I'm having a bit of trouble with her use of absolute phrases. She likes using absolute phrases in her sentence structures, like so:

My fingers trembling with fear, I carefully dial the number in my phone.

This is something I think we can all agree is correct, but what about when she applies that structure for sequences of events? For instance:

Finding the phone, I carefully dial the number with trembling fingers.

In the first example, my fingers are trembling with fear as I'm dialling the number. It's not a sequence of events; they're both happening in conjunction with each other. In the second example, though, there is a sequence of events. First I find the phone, and then I dial the number. I can't dial the number as I'm finding the phone.
How well does the sentence structure work in sentences like the second example? Does it sound weird or is it OK? Am I right to leave it in there, or should I suggest alternatives such as:

Having found the phone, I carefully dial the number with trembling fingers.
After finding the phone, I carefully dial the number with trembling fingers.
I find the phone and carefully dial the number with trembling fingers.

Some more opinions would be welcomed!


texts: Why do we use 'did' with questions using the simple past tense?

texts:
Where did you go last night?
  Where went you last night?

Is there a reason we say the first of the previous two sentences as opposed to the last one?

I know the second sentence is ungrammatical. I was just wondering if there was more of a rule than just "asking questions in the simple past needs 'did' + verb in the present tense."


texts: "assigned randomly" or "randomly assigned"?

texts:
I am creating a simulation that has 10 units and each unit gets either a squid, a fish, or a person.

Here is my example sentence: "A squid, a fish, or a person is randomly assigned to each unit."

It could also read: "A squid, a fish, or a person is assigned randomly to each unit."

Do I say that the units are randomly assigned or assigned randomly?


texts: I am looking for the term that describes words that are defined as "of or pertaining/related to ______" or "the study of_____". Thank you

texts: I am looking for the term that describes words that are defined as "of or pertaining/related to ______" or "the study of_____". An example of this would be sartorial which is of or pertaining to suits.


texts: What does it mean when someone says "no-one got a bad word to say about you"?

texts: Also what word would you describe someone that you depict "no-one got a bad word to say about you"


texts: When and why did “mess” come to mean an untidy condition?

texts:
According to numerous dictionaries mess comes from the past participle of the Latin mittere meaning “to send”, because it was what was sent to the table.

Indeed, many uses of mess seem to jibe with this origin: mess of beans, mess hall, messmate, mess kit, and so on. The biblical mess of pottage has its own meaning; still it refers to Esau’s meal.

But the most common current meaning of mess appears to have nothing to do with food. So when and why, or at least how, did English mess come to mean “an untidy condition”?


texts:
In a job offer, I encountered a question "What is your travel status". What does "travel status" mean in this context?

The company offering is from a different country than the receiver of the offer. The receiver would be working remotely.


texts: Capitalising the definite article in names

texts:
When I was a youngster some mumble-mumble-mumble decades ago, I was taught that, in the instances of names of persons, places, and things which carried the definite article the, the article wasn’t capitalised.  Hence, the Batman, the Empire State Building, the Medal of Honor.

In the last twenty years or so, I have seen the capitalisation of the in names proliferate.  Now, it’s The Batman, The Empire State Building, The Medal of Honor.  When I point this out as an error, I’m generally met with the argument, “No, those are names, and all words in a name are capitalised.”

Did I get it wrong, way back when?  Or is it one of those things in which style has trumped rule, and now the standard is to capitalise the definite article in names?


texts:
I am looking for a word that means my nervousness for my future.
In other words i like to know what will happen to my life in the future,
and i am looking for a word that could describe this.thanks and i would be very happy and thankful if somebody could answer me.


texts: Is it possible to make passive voice of following sentences

texts:
What will be the passive of these sentences? Are 'going' and 'go' intransitive verbs in these sentences?

I am going to school
I go to London

Any help would be appreciated.
Thank you


texts: What is the first part of a joke called?

texts:
How does one refer to the first part of a joke?

The follow up is often referred to as a punchline but I'm unsure how to refer to the first part. Is it a 'joke' or does a 'joke' include the punchline?


texts: Where does the phase "buy it" (to die) come from?

texts:
In English, the verb "buy" can be used to refer to somebody's having been killed, usually in the past tense; for example:

  Harry bought it in World War 2.

Where does this phrase come from?


texts: Am I using the proper verb number in a sentence that uses the word "each"?

texts:
Consider the following sentence:

  Before we introduced the Frame to the building market we made sure
  that each trade that came in contact with it, from architects,
  bricklayers to the painters were happy with our product.

I am using trade here to mean a group of people employed in a particular occupation.

Is "each trade" the main subject of the clause with were?
Is "were" the proper verb form to use?

Thank you so much for your kind anwser!


texts: How to start an official letter to a company (not an individual)?

texts:
When you send a letter to a person in a company, you start with dear ...,
But how do i start the letter when I'm writing to a company itself, not an individual in there? I don't even know which position in that company will receive the letter.
For example if the company name is google, should i start with Dear google, ...?


texts: "I would like to be sent something" "Could I be sent something"

texts:
Are these sentences grammatically correct?

I would like to be sent some information on your hotel facilities.
Could I please be sent some information on your hotel facilities?

Which of these is a better option?


texts: Gender-neutral equivalent of "Man of the world"

texts:
You and I are men of the world. Where does this leave the fair sex?

I'm looking for a noun or noun-phrase that captures the essence of "Man of the world", but which can be equally applied to men and women.

I suppose I'm looking for a noun for a person who has enough savoir-vivre to be equally comfortable as a baseball game, an operatic performance, a beau monde cocktail party, and a strip club. A little help, please?

Alternatively, I could accept a gender-specific equivalent that applies to women.

"She's been around the block" has all kinds of ... uh ... irrelevant ... connotations. As does "woman of the world."

The kind of woman I have in mind knows her Verdi and Giordano; favors Hals over Rembrandt and has a weakness for John Singer Sargent; can fix her own plumbing if need be; can appreciate an expensive bottle of champagne and can drink, sing loudly off-key, and dance with the best of them at a truck stop. She's hardly a stranger to an evening gown but doesn't mind wearing mountain boots. She has read, and can casually quote from, Marcus Aurelius, but she can hold her own in a conversation about last season's Stanley Cup champions. She's hardly a bleeding heart, but isn't sanctimonious either: when a hobo sitting on the sidewalk pushes his plastic cup towards her, she won't pretend that he doesn't exist; nor will she lecture him on the benefits of getting and keeping a job: she'll deposit a five-dollar bill in his cup and continue on her way. Above all, she's not easily embarrassed. Yes, she will step into the alley to pee when she can't hold it anymore and has no other options, and she WON'T make a big deal of it.

A word or a phrase, please.


texts: Are phrases or idioms like "state-of-the-art" appropriate for a formal technical recommendation report?

texts:
I am supposed to write a technical recommendation report for my English class. My supposed client is a banking company and I would like to write a report on which endpoint protection software is the best choice for the company. This is a few sentences that I wrote:

  Moreover, new and more advanced complications within the security of the digital industry emerge every day. It is essential to ensure that the software is equipped with a state-of-the-art technology advanced enough to build a defense against these complications.

Does this paragraph sound formal enough? Or is there anyway it could be phrased better such that it would be more suitable to be read in a recommendation report?

I also wrote an alternative version of this, but I am not sure if it is any better.

  Moreover, with new and more advanced complications within the security of the digital industry emerging every day, it is essential for the software to be equipped with an ultramodern technology that could build a strong defense against more developed threats.

Which one sounds more suitable?


texts: The pronunciation of "try to" vs. "tried to"

texts:
I know that try to is pronounced /tɹaɪɾə/, but how is tried to pronounced?

It wouldn't make sense for it to have the same pronunciation, because then we wouldn't be able to differentiate between those two, since context might not be enough. Is it the vowel length?

I was thinking maybe /tɹaɪdtə/, but I'm not sure.


texts:
Is there a word to say when someone frowns anxiously?
Example: You just wrote a song and sang it for the first time for your best friend. By the end of the song you look at your friend, unconfident and with your forehead wrinkled and eyebrows on a /\ shape, anxious to hear his opinion about it.


texts:
Specifically the phrase "two years".

Just like how you can say two moons for “two months”.

I've thought of: "two periods" but that doesn't seem right, and "two seasons" but not quite sure if it is correct.

Poetic or not as long as it would still be understandable to some extent.

The phrase goes something like this...

  For it [flower] has seen [two something].


texts:
I heard someone use the expression "he cracked the shits" today which is universally recognised (at least in Australia) to mean "lost his temper".

It struck me that it is a strange expression and the origin is not obvious. It is often used in a context where a threshold of frustration has been reached and the person "cracks it" or loses control and responds angrily, so this may be part of it. Perhaps "the shits" is just tacked on as an intensifier.

I'm pretty sure I've only heard it in the context of Australian English. Is this expression known and used outside Australia, and does anyone have a better explanation of how it might have arisen?


texts: Idiom/word for someone who kowtows to his superiors and kicks his subordinates

texts:
Apparently, a "bicycle rider" is "a current German idiom for someone who kowtows to his superiors and kicks his subordinates". (Source: Hannah Arendt, Eichmann in Jerusalem.)

Any similar expression in English to describe this sort of person?


texts:
I'm Russian and in the Russian language we use one word if we want to say that something will happen later than it has been planned. So usually I have difficulty in choosing a proper word among postpone, delay and defer.

I understand they bear slightly different tinges of meaning but hitherto I have failed to catch this difference.


texts: Is there another word for 'beyond earth'?

texts:
I've used 'extraterrestrial' twice in a paragraph already, so it's starting to get repetitive...

Edit: The sentence I'm hoping to prove is 'Humans have reached [insert word] scales', referring to the furthest we've went in the universe.  By reaching I mean actual physical human presence, which excludes anything discovered or photographed by probes, and limits us to the Moon.  Hence, the question is to find a word describing Earth-Moon scales.

In response to the numerous suggestions below:

Unearthly or cosmic scales is too grand and fails to convey what I'm gunning for - a sense of humility and a slight disappointment at
the lack of human achievement in interplanetary matters ever since
the completion of the Apollo program.
Alien scales just sounds plain silly.
Extrasolar, interstellar, or intergalactic scales are factually incorrect.

So far, off-planet seems to suit my purpose the best for now.


texts: What is the meaning of the phrase "a man of the world"?

texts:
The name of one of the Ernest Hemingway's short stories is "A man of the world". It seems to me that I understand the meaning of this phrase out from the context of the short story. But all the same it seems a little vague to me due to the fact that this seems to be an idiom with its own specific meaning. All the meanings of this idiom which I managed to google don't seem to fit in full for the name of the short story.

Could you help me to grasp the meaning of the idiom in this short story?

Edited (added):

"A Man of the World" Summary (from http://www.bookrags.com/studyguide-ernest-hemingway/chapanal059.html )

  Blindy is a blind man that wanders among the local bars playing slot machines. He smells very bad and has a difficult time finding someone to give him a ride between bars. His favorite bar is the Pilot, where he gets along well with the bartender. The bartender explains how Blindy became blind. During a fight, his eyes were gouged out and then bitten off by his opponent, Willis Sawyer. Blindy, who refuses to be called by his previous nickname, Blacky, is content with his life and pities Willis Sawyer.....


texts:
What does the term "famously absent" mean? I was reading the wiki article about Ward Lamon and saw it in there:

  Ward Hill Lamon (January 6, 1828 - May 7, 1893) was a personal friend and self-appointed bodyguard of the American President Abraham Lincoln. Lamon was famously absent the night Lincoln was assassinated, having been sent by Lincoln to Richmond, Virginia.


texts: Person who believes that men and women have defined roles

texts: While a male chauvinist is defined as someone who believes that men are superior to women, what would be a word for a man who believe that men and women have defined roles, without implying the superiority of one or the other?


texts:
As a trainer of English as second language, the following statements have caused much dismay among my students. Kindly help clarify.
Which line in each pair (below) is correct?

They are all there but me or
They are all there but I
Who do you take me for?
Whom do you take me for?
I would not do that if I were him.
I would not do that if I were he
He answered more questions than I.
He answered more questions than me.
They are wiser than us.
They are wiser than we.
We are poorer than they.
We are poorer than them.

Thank you very much.


texts:
I have draft where I want to say something like," At first sight, the problem seems intractable, but a careful analysis shows ..."

I feel "at first sight" seems a bit un-academic. Is there a better way to say the same thing?


texts: What is it called when something is unimportant for several years, and then it becomes important?

texts:
I've been writing a paper about a math concept (called "permanent") that, upon its discovery, nobody really cared about it because it has very few useful properties. It was until several years later that someone realised that it is actually pretty important/interesting.

So, as you can observe, I'm talking about something that has been "on the dark" for several years, and then suddenly it was the boom.

How do you describe such thing? Something that was apparently completely useless and then it became fairly important? For context, I'm trying to figure out a nice title for the paper.

Here's a dumb version of the title I'm trying to make up:

  The permanent: rise from nothing to something.


texts: What is the difference between "urgent" and "critical"?

texts:
When it comes to "the level of importance", what is the difference between "urgent" and "critical"?

I have my own idea, but I recently came upon a scenario where the relative level of importance was reversed from my expectations. Thus, I'm looking for a standard/objective difference between the two.


texts: A word for the sentiment: "You're the most beautiful man/woman I've ever seen" (but in reality I've seen others)

texts:
It is common and flattering to tell a man/woman

  You're the most beautiful man/woman I've ever seen.

The thing is, this is never true. It's just like calling someone a "best friend". In most cases, people have multiple friends, all of equal importance, all "best friends".

For people, there are so many beautiful people in the world that singling one out as "the most beautiful" is a hyperbole. However, the effect of saying

  You're the most beautiful man/woman I've ever seen.

Is profoundly less romantic if you say, in an attempt to not 'lie',

  You're one of the most beautiful men/women I've ever seen

I need a way to rephrase this sentiment such that it implicitly acknowledges the untruth of the notion of a singularly "beautiful" person, without diminishing the truth of feeling behind the statement "You're the most beautiful man/woman I've ever seen".

For example: There have been several women, at various stages of my life, who have so enthralled me that I consider them all among "the most beautiful women I've ever seen". I knew I would be lying if I told a current partner, "You're the most beautiful woman I've ever seen", since this neglects the truth that I in middle school there was someone else I felt the same about, and her occupation of this position in my memory is not irrelevant, and to ignore it would be untruthful.

The assumption here is that anyone who thinks their partner is "the most beautiful person in the entire world" is not owning to the truth that they likely will encounter other people they would feel the same way about.


texts: Is there a term or phrase to describe an invitation you extend to someone only because you expect that they will not accept it? I've been using the made up "faux-vite," but I suspect there must be a proper name for this.


texts:
I'm looking for a word to describe when everything is exactly wrong.  "Imperfect" isn't what I'm looking for, as it can be used when some things are right and other things are wrong.

For example, suppose I'm predicting that a series of coin flips will all be heads:

If every coin is a head, I was 100% correct and have made a perfect prediction.
If some coins are heads and some coins are tails, I was neither 100% nor 0% correct and have made an imperfect prediction.
If every coin is a tail, I was 0% correct and have made a _______ prediction.


texts: What does it mean to "drink a lot of haterade"?

texts: A friend recently posted on their Facebook status that she has "apparently been drinking lots of haterade lately"[sic]. Does this mean other people are annoyed with her or she's annoyed with other people? What does this phrase mean?


texts:
Does erudite carry positive or negative or neutral connotation?

I received a comment on my writing style from a mathematician a while ago

  Why not try for direct active voice and stop trying to make it sound erudite?


texts: In pirate speak, do you say "be ye warned", or "ye be warned"?

texts:
In pirate speak, do you say

  be ye warned

or

  ye be warned

?


texts: Fastest way to learn new difficult words to widen vocabulary?

texts:
I am training for the GRE. I am wondering what the fastest way to learn difficult words is. Recently, I have been using a method that puts a lot of words under an umbrella. For example:
Umbrella term: education
cyclopedia: a work containing information in all departments of knowledge
erudition: quality of having great knowledge
opsimath: education late in life
polymathy: having knowledge of many arts and sciences
didactic: moral instruction
All of these words are learned in bulk, because they all relate to education. Is there a resource online that reflects this method, or is there a resource that does it better? Note that all these words are in current usage, they're not narrow & technical, yet they're very uncommon & rare. On a frequency list of vocabulary, they would show up at the bottom.


texts: Replacing relative clauses in a sentence

texts:
I came across the following sentence in a book.

  Worst of all is sitting in a window seat next to someone I don't
  know who is sleeping, I feel trapped.

As far as I know the word someone is defined by two defining relative clauses  in the sentence which are :

a. Someone (who /that) I don't know

b. Someone who is sleeping

I would like to ask if I can rewrite the sentence  by replacing the relatives clause and reducing them. In this case which ones sounds correct and natural? I ask this question because it is sometimes confusing how many relative clause can be used  consecutively and how to connect them at best in a formal writing perspective.

For example :

  Worst of all is sitting in a window seat next to someone sleeping who
  I don't know, I feel trapped.
  Worst of all is sitting in a window seat next to someone sleeping  I
  don't know, I feel trapped.
  Worst of all is sitting in a window seat next to someone who I don't
  know  sleeping, I feel trapped.
  Worst of all is sitting in a window seat next to someone who I don't
  know who is sleeping, I feel trapped.
  Worst of all is sitting in a window seat next to someone who is sleeping who I don't know, I feel trapped
  Worst of all is sitting in a window seat next to someone who is sleeping  I don't know, I feel trapped


texts: Does this word qualify as a word - "evermore-so"?

texts:
I've not seen this used much. Can someone perhaps direct me to a more appropriate word.

Edit: I would like to use it in emphasizing a current situation where something has become abundant over a short period.

Ie:

  Cyberspace is filled with various x, y and evermoreso now the extensive option for z.


texts: Alternatives to "Sleep in the bed you made"

texts:
I seem to recall one having something to do with the "hole you dug" but maybe I made that up.

Either way, I'm interested in any other expressions of this form. And to clarify the expression means basically to deal with the situation you have created for yourself.


texts: What is a word to describe a person who lies to achieve a personal goals?

texts: I heard a news anchor use a word to describe Donald Trump as someone who lies to accomplish, achieve personal gain.


texts: What’s the difference between using “would ᴠᴇʀʙ” and “would have ᴠᴇʀʙᴇᴅ” in the “then” part of conditionals?

texts:
Is there any difference between:

If I were you, I would work harder.
If I were you, I would have worked harder.

And can we use was rather than were in both sentences?


texts: Expressions starting with 'as' - does 'as' imply a rhetorical obviousness?

texts:
Being a non-native speaker I might have the wrong instinct about this, but I feel a common theme in the following expressions:

as God is my witness
as I hope to be saved
as you value your life

To me, they seem to convey that whatever else is said before/after is underpinned by the axiomatic nature of the phrase. That is, they imply:

I wouldn't lie because obviously God is always a witness to my actions
I wouldn't lie because obviously I want to be saved
you should do [whatever] because obviously you don't want to lose your life

Is there something to this, or am I off beam? Also, which part of speech and meaning of 'as' is used here?


texts: Difference between “I will call you” and “I give you a call”?

texts: What is the difference between I will call you and I give you a call?


texts: I am not a coffee drinker, but I just drank some coffee. I said to my Hispanic friend, "I am WIRED!" and had to explain what the slang term means. However now that I think about it, that's an awfully strange term for "very very awake." Where did the word come from?


texts: Is there a term in English (or any other language) to refer to the movement of a large, rapidly spreading fire?

texts: I like very specific words and this would help me with a poem I'm writing. Also, if you have any references for very specific words/know any yourself (English or otherwise), they would be appreciated. (:


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  How does one correctly use a semicolon?

I'm wondering about the difference between just ending the sentence and starting a new one based on the same subject and using a semicolon to branch the two sentences together.

Can anyone help me on this one?


texts: What is the proper name for idiomatic, exclamative phrases?

texts:
I'm wondering what the proper term would be for exclamations like "Hell's bells!", "Billions of blue blistering barnacles!", and "By Lucifer's Beard!". Specifically, I'm wondering about phrases, uttered either in amazement or under some kind of stress, and that are idiomatic (in the sense that the words themselves do not convey the meaning without context). Is there an actual English term for such utterances?

I'd prefer a single term to describe them, but a phrase would do. I would like something a little less of a mouthful than "idiomatic exclamation", and hopefully in wider usage.


texts: Is there a terminology for verbs describing the subject?

texts:
Is there a terminology for verbs describing the state of an subject? For example:

He is a man
He suffers from headache
He lives in America
He loves swimming

As compare to an action against an object:

He ate an apple
He took away my book

If possible, I would like to have access to a complete of verbs of both types.


texts: I would like to start a blog and title it 'On the Way to Success'. I know that there is a term 'road to success'. I wonder if 'On the Way to Success' is a correctly written phrase, and what would be a meaning of it?


texts:
I found these words in The Hindu and search their meaning but not able to find exact meaning:

  The recent encounter killing of two Maoists in Wayanad in Kerala is suspected to have been the trigger for the foiled rail sabotage bid.

I found meaning of these words like below

foiled – prevent (something considered wrong or undesirable) from succeeding.
sabotage – deliberately destroy, damage, or obstruct (something), especially for political or military advantage.

Can anyone please tell me the what this sentence tells us?


texts: Classic contemporary design and contemporary classic design

texts: I am trying to translate a word in another language that roughly translates to either one of the phrases above. Basically the term is supposed to describe a design that is timeless and a classic. I am not sure why the word modern/contemporary was included (could be a mistake), but I would like to know if either translation would make any sense in English. It seems to be an oxymoron, but maybe someone can suggest a possible meaning for either phrase.


texts: "What lies ahead of our company" or "What lies ahead for our company"?

texts:
When I checked the dictionary, I found examples of 'of' only. However, when I used it in the following sentence:

  What lies ahead of our company, ...

it didn't make sense to use 'of' for an entity, and I've been advised to use 'for' instead.


texts: Word to use when you don't understand a sport or video-game language

texts:
I've been trying to find this word for ages. It's on the tip of my tongue, but I can't find it. Here's a scenario:

  Guy 1: Did you see that curve ball by that baseball player?
  Guy 2: Yeah that was really well done!
  Guy 3: I don’t understand a thing Guy 1 and 2 are saying. They are using so much _____

The blank part is a word that I can't remember.


texts:
I drank of the jar.

Is this 'of' an old usage?
But I can't find the proof for that.


texts:
What's the difference between "to dedicate" and "to inaugurate" in the sense [to open or begin use of formally with a ceremony, as of a highway, park, or building]?
What's the story to "dedicate"?
How did it evolve from the sense [to address or inscribe (i.e. a literary work) to a person or a cause, etc., as a mark of respect or affection] to the "inaugural" one?
Sources:

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/dedicate
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/inaugurate


texts:
Is there an opposite of "keming", where there's a kerning problem involving too much space between certain letters? For example:

  The page looks pretty good, but the spacing between the "_" and "1" is a bad case of ____.

Wiktionary doesn't have an entry for "keming", and Wikipedia mentions the concept of "keming" in the section Automatic and manual kerning but doesn't mention any opposite.


texts: Use of commas with repeated coordinating conjunctions that share the same subject

texts:
What is the rule for using commas with repeated coordinating conjunctions that share the same subject?

Example (how to punctuate this sentence without rewording it):

  I woke up early and then washed my face and went to the store.


texts:
I have often written sentences in the following form which combines a statement with a question, separated by a semicolon. For example,

  I understand you have received payment for my order; will it ship by Monday?

Is this use of the semicolon correct, and is the semicolon commonly used in questions?


texts: The word "pending" is quite frequently used in English. Accordingly, I used to think that "to pend" is a verb, and some of the online English dictionaries tend to agree. However, my copy of Oxford dictionary of English doesn't recognise "to pend" as a verb. Is it not? For example, is this ungrammatical: "there were still five cases pending on the decision of the Highest Court."? And later: "those five cases used to pend on the decision of the Highest Court".


texts: One word for an exactly opposite situation

texts: Is there a word to describe an exactly opposite situation? In context, if someone describes a situation in which he found himself, and I tell him I found myself in the exactly opposite situation, what word would describe this? Let's assume irony may be involved in some way, but that is not the word I am looking for.


texts:
Is there a single word that means roughly the opposite of "Megalomania"?

I tried separating the word in to parts, and finding opposites of the individual parts, and the word I came up with was Micromania.  But looking that up led to a definition very different from the opposite of megalomania, so now I'm stuck again.

Working off of this definition of megalomania: "delusion about one's own power or importance", What word means "delusion about one's own (perceived or actual) lack of power or importance", especially when it's to the severity of being a psychological disorder.

EDIT: After reviewing the answers so far, and playing around with adding prefixes and suffixes to existing words, something else I came up with that somewhat describes what I'm looking for is Autonihilism.  Nihilism being the belief that everything in life or in the world is meaningless or worthless, while the "auto-" prefix narrows the focus from the whole world or all of life down to just ones-self.  But I was hoping to find a word already in use, rather than one I created myself (and I'm not entirely certain that "Autonihilism" actually means what I described it to mean, except as far as I get to choose what my own created words might mean.  But the description might still help others understand more clearly what I'm looking for)

EDIT 2: Comments regarding "abjectness" led me on a search through Thesaurus entries until I found "Apathy".  A person with the condition described by the word I'm searching for might not consider their situation to be abject, merely a fact, just like a megalomaniac might not recognize the abjectness of their megalomania.  The apathetic indifference of the affected individual to their own condition, simply treating it as a fact of life, is relevant.  An outside observer might consider their condition to be "abject" in severity, while the individual themselves would not.  In this sense, it's very different from something like abjectness or depression, where the affected individual might very well recognize the harm that comes to them from the condition.  The word "Apathy" itself seems to relate to what is going on around the individual, while the word I'm looking for relates to the individual's view of the individual themselves, and so doesn't quite fit, when used alone.


texts: What word describes: "a person who always follows the rules"?

texts:
I'm looking for a word that describes a person who strictly follows a set of rules without exception. Something close to obeyer or fanatic, but with an emphasis on 'Strictly following the rules'.

Usage example:

  The website was taken over by [users who obey the rules strictly].


texts:
I'm a student and about to write my first scientific paper in English. I'm currently not sure how to name the "table of contents".

The dictionary says that "Contents" is more popular, but I have seen other students using only "Table of Contents".

What is more professional? What do you prefer?

(If you find any mistakes in my sentences [or suggestions for improvements] just tell me.)


texts: During my college years, I worked as a landscaper becoming increasingly drawn to the wild plants and their uses in folk medicine.


texts: “All you have to do is read” vs. “All you have to do is to read”

texts:
I was speaking to an English learner and said, “All you have to do is read a lot.” And they thought that sentence wasn’t grammatically correct because I dropped the word to between is and read.

They thought it should be “All you have to do is to read a lot.” That sounds weird to me.

How do I explain to them the reason you drop the to? Or am I incorrect and it really should have a to?


texts: What happened to the word "awesome" between 1760 and 1790?

texts:
Recently I noticed a strong increase in the usage of the word "awesome" between around 1760 to 1790. Then this word became again absolutely uncommon for a while. See the usage graph below.

What happened there?


texts: Someone who {shaped / has shaped / had shaped} policy for 20 years

texts:
First a little history before I pose my question. Without this history my question may not fully make sense.
King Fahd of Saudi Arabia had a stroke in 1995. After this stroke, Crown Prince Abdullah governed in the king's name for about ten years, after which Abdullah officially ascended to the throne until his (Abdullah's) recent death (in January 2015).
An online opinion article referring to Abdullah's reign wrote this:

Since his death on Friday at age 90 and his succession by his
half-brother Salman, Abdullah has been praised as a cautious reformer
and shrewd politician who shaped Saudi policy for nearly 20 years,
after his predecessor had a stroke and Abdullah ruled as crown prince
in the king’s name.

My first question: Should  the writer instead of writing "who shaped" (past tense) have written "who has shaped" (present perfect) when referring to the recently deceased Abdullah?  Or perhaps because Abdullah has died, the writer should have written "had shaped" (past perfect). What's your opinion?
My second question: Since Fahd's stroke occurred before Abdullah's taking power, shouldn't the writer have written "had had a stroke" (past perfect)?


texts: How can "lebensphasenorientierte Personalpolitik" be translated to English?

texts:
In German, "lebensphasenorientierte Personalpolitik" describes a human resource policy that adapts to the life stages of employees, and enables a work-life balance.

Is there an equivalent English technical term for this?

The literal translation "Life stage oriented human resource policy" does not seem to be the proper term.


texts: be laughed out of the building - I'd like to know the use for laugh

texts:
everyone! I encountered the following sentence, but I'm curious about the use of 'be laughed out of'.
I'd like you to give me great answers. Thank you so much.

If you had gone to her court in 1850 and suggested that this empire would be over within a generation, you would have been laughed out of the building.

I searched and got some answers:
laugh someone out of something -- to force someone to leave a place by laughing in ridicule. The citizens laughed the speaker out of the hall. We laughed the city council out of the auditorium.

In reference to the finding, I could rewrite the sentence changing the voice from passive and active. Like this:
they would have laughed you out of the building.

they would have laughed you out of the building. = you would have been laughed out of the building. --Is that correct?

I hope to see your opinions. thank you.


texts: Which one is correct "I think he like it" or "I think he likes it?"

texts:
I am confused if I need to use 3-person verb from with a sentence like "I think he like/likes it."

What is it called in English?


texts: Would it be correct to say that "whose" is "the only interrogative possessive pronoun"?

texts: I am creating a crossword puzzle for submission to a newspaper. For the entry WHOSE, would it be correct to say "The only interrogative possessive pronoun" as the clue? Would pedantic solvers approve or complain?


texts: Which one has better influence in academic writing?

texts:
I am writing the acknowledgment of my article and so I wrote:

I  would like to appreciate the Reviewers' subtle comments on
improving this article.

My main problem is to use in improving or on improving. I found both forms used in different sentences on the web. And so I wonder which one has a better taste in English.


texts: Does this imply a mutually exclusive relationship?

texts:
"The process of successfully growing into the world requires negotiation between hard work and new pathways"

are 'hard work' and 'pathways' implied to be mutually exclusive by this statement


texts: Is the Canadian in 'That's the Canadian in you' an adjective or a noun?

texts:
That's the Canadian in you.

Is this Canadian a noun or an adjective? To clarify the fog, I asked 92 to 96 native speakers residing in the U.S. for the acceptability of the following three sentences. However, both 'English' and 'Englishman' were equally accepted. I thought if 'English' was accepted more, I was going to presume the 'Canadian' was an adjective with the ellipsis of personality or something, and that if 'Englishman' was accepted more, I was going to suppose it was a noun.

That's the English in you. [acceptance: 73.0%]
That's the Englishman in you. [72.8%]
(That's the Englishmen in you. [32.6%])


texts:
When should I use "amount" as opposed to "number"?

When media are referring to number rather than volume, they often use the word "amount" rather than number, as in "a large amount of people" Is this correct? Is this Preferred? Is this acceptable?


texts: I'd like to know if it's I care for my life or about my life. Does anybody know which is the right answer? Or if both are correct?


texts: Is there a word for "pretending to ask?"

texts:
Is there a word for when you're asking someone something only to go through the motions and uphold social norms?
For instance, when you ask "Can I come in?" before just going in their house or whatever (in particular, you do not reasonably expect the answer to be "no," and they're also expected to go through the "routine" when they answer).


texts: Why is the plural formation of "participle" simply formed by adding -s.  The etymology of the word is Latin in origin.  Would it possible end with an -I or -ae. . . or some other Latin plural ending???  Help!


texts:
I've never understood the difference between these two terms. I understand the difference between semantics and syntax, or between semantics and grammar, but I'm not sure what's the difference between the meaning of the words syntax and grammar.

Crosspost @Linguistics.SE: What's the difference between grammar and syntax?


texts: Can "craving" refer to non-food desires?

texts: Usually the word craving refers to the wish to eat a certain foods. Can it also be used in other contexts? e.g. " I have a craving for Mozart" "I'm craving a comedy film"


texts: As I stand on/at the ______ of a new chapter?

texts: Can someone please fill in the blank for me? I can't remember how the phrase goes. I don't want to say "stand at the start of a new chapter" because that sounds clumsy. I had originally tried "stand on the edge of a new chapter" but that doesn't sound quite right either. Can someone suggest a better word or an entirely new phrase referring to the same thing?


texts: Is there a term for "likes" and "dislikes" on a social network?

texts:
What is the term to use for "likes" and "dislikes" on social networks? Are they marks or grades or rates or anything else?
My purpose is that I'm programming a system where I have a Post domain object. It can be liked or disliked (as in every social network). Then how should the enumeration type representing these two values be named?


texts: Keeping the same word-order in a sentence without changing the meaning?

texts:
In the first Venn diagram below, the two circles represent Freedom and Love, in that order. In the second diagram, they are the same Freedom and Love, but the label “Love without Freedom” puts each title-word under the wrong circle.

I need to be able to express “Love without Freedom” without changing the order of the words: “Freedom ___ Love”. Is there a word which reverses the focus of “without”?

I don't want to change the order of the circles in the second diagram because that won‘t be an obvious change, and they are supposed to fit together as a whole in the ideal option.

Edit
Is this clearer?


texts: What I've done is [past participle or bare infinitive]

texts:
What I've done is plant an idea in your head.
What I've done is chosen the products of several investment companies with proven track records.

I was wondering why the bare infinitive sounds right in the first, but the past participle sounds right in the second.


texts:
I have the following sentences:

Simulations show cost reductions of between 4% and/to 15% and
reductions of between 2% and/to 4% regarding the demand.
The method leads to improvements of between 15% and/to 54%

I always want to specify a range. Would you rather use 'and' or 'to' in these 3 examples?
I'd appreciate every comment.


texts: Word request for 'too grand to be explained'

texts:
I am looking for a word that means 'too powerful/grand to be explained in words.'

Sentence:

  He argued that passion was something inherent, an entity too intrinsic to be []

Compartmentalized/explained may work? Not really what I'm going for though.

This is based off of Eliot's quote:

  "It is obvious that we can no more explain a passion to a person who has never experienced it than we can explain light to the blind."

So if that helps to give context... :)

If an adequate word doesn't exist, I am thinking:

  He argued that passion was something inherent, an entity too intrinsic to be cinched into words.

or

  He argued that passion was something inherent, an entity too intrinsic to be cinched by words.

Which of these is more proper? Is there another phrase that would work better?


texts: Is it not a sort of genius to cut always to the heart?

texts: I'm reading The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller. Its narrator asks, "But is it not a sort of genius to cut always to the heart?", and I don't quite get what it means.


texts: What do you call it when a story gives a warning to the reader?

texts:
I'm writing an analysis of quotation from The Handmaid's Tale. In the story, the author puts in an anecdote of an interview of a Nazi soldier's wife. I comparing that to Offred's recent meeting with the Commander. It seems like Atwood brought up that memory to serve as a warning to Offred (But she doesn't notice why that memory is triggered).

Question: What do you call it when a story gives a warning to the character(s) in the novel?


texts: Is the idiom "what price [something]?" used here in the sense of "how about [something]?" - or not?

texts:
An excerpt from the movie 49th Parallel (1941), a dialogue between heroes.

(the bulk of it by an anthropologist (A) writing about Indian tribes of Canada)

  (A) Yes, I've discovered some rather amusing things during my researches. Blackfoot tribal customs, for instance, closely resemble those of a certain modern European tribe. I'm gonna read you something about that. Where are we?  "From the earliest age, their small boys were trained in the arts of war which they considered to be the only pursuit worthy of a man. But they preferred to attack by night, rather than by day and wherever possible, to shoot the enemy in the back. Their smaller neighbors lived in constant danger from them. They also believed in first terrorizing their opponent by covering themselves in war paint and beating loudly on their tribal drums."  Well, doesn't that sound familiar to you?
  (B) Familiar? I don't quite understand.
  (A) Well, what price Goebbels, eh? And listen to this.. When a tribal leader really desired to drive a point home, he used that most terrible of all public speaker's weapons - repetition, constant and unutterably wearisome repetition. Old man Hitler himself.

It seems that the meaning is

  Well, how about Goebbels, eh?

I've read the replies to the question "What does What price X? mean" but the senses listed there seem not to comply with "how about".

Maybe I'm wrong with my reading of the sense as "How about Goebbels?"?

Maybe the meaning is "Why would you need Goebbels then such customs have already existed?", in the sense of "Goebbels's tricks are really worth nothing - because it has been done before"?

P.S.: YouTube link, time is 01:29:38


texts: What is the origin of the expression "riding a hobby horse"?

texts:
I am curious about the origin of the expression of a "riding" a "hobby horse" (or "stick horse", as it is in Danish — we have the exact same expression) as an idiom for a 'pet topic' or 'fixed idea'.

I've only found traceback of the word "hobby" to a horse breed widespread in the 15th century, but have not been able to find anything about the origin of the idiomatic expression as such.

A mere guess on my part, possibly far-fetched, is that it might have derived from the hear-say of witches supposedly riding broomsticks (broomsticks
 have all times undoubtedly served as stick-horses). Possibly during
 1700s - J.Swift's Meditation Upon a Broomstick (1701) parodying
 R.Boyle's contemporary arguments of any given thing reflecting God's
 relation to man or his soul - which were very popular (one might say a
 hobby horse) in the household where he presented it.

Also during the 1700s emerged depictions of witches riding their brooms "the wrong way" (ie. like a stick-horse). Similarly F.Goya's "Linda Maestra!" (#68) from his collection Los caprichos (1799) of which many of the
 pictures may be seen as quite satirical, drawing on metaphoric or
 idiomatic symbolism. In the same collection broomsticks also appear in
 (#20) "Ya van desplumados", in which one woman use her broomstick (her
 "stick-horse"?) to sweep out little men appearing as chickens while
 another woman, by the way she is holding hers, rather appear to be
 using it to beat them up.

Is it possible that during the 1700s - possibly facilitated by Swift's
 'broomstick meditation' - the "broomstick" might have emerged as an
 idiomatic expression and a forerunner to the present-day "stick-horse"
 or "hobby-horse"?

Or does anyone know more specifically documented about the actual origin of this expression?


texts: What's wrong with "We hope you will find our Qualifications to be well-organized, concise, and most of all, to exceed your expectations."

texts:
Why is the following sentence grammatically incorrect?

  We hope you will find our Qualifications to be well-organized, concise, and most of all, to exceed your expectations.

I've asked three grammar whiz friends and they have all told me "it just isn't right."  I need reasons and rules! I wrote this sentence as a closing to a cover letter....


texts: How to describe a person who loves everything about nature and the outdoors

texts: I'm looking for a good adjective to describe a person who loves experiencing nature, as in a person who has been in the Boy Scouts for most of his life, loves fishing, hiking, mountain climbing, sleeping under an open sky, ice fishing, canoeing, crosscountry skiing and other things along those lines.  A true-born “nature freak.”


texts:
Are there any "fake" French words used in English?  By "fake French" I mean words that are of French origin but are not actually correct French. This could happen if the word changes as it becomes adopted by English speakers. "Fake" may not be the best term for this -- if anyone can think of something better, please let me know. I mean French-derived terms that have evolved to the point of no longer being common-usage French.

Some examples of the reverse, i.e. "fake English" words used in French:

relooking, which means makeover -- this is derived from the English word "look" but "relooking" is not used by English speakers
happy end -- minor difference, but in the US at least we say "happy ending" and not "happy end"
brushing -- blow-drying your hair is called "un brushing", clearly derived from English, but if you announce "I'm going to get a brushing today" nobody will understand you
afterwork -- I'm not certain here, but I think "an afterwork" is extremely rare in English. In French, however, "un afterwork" is common and refers to meeting up after work, e.g. at a bar
smoking -- in French, "un smoking" is a fancy dinner jacket, which comes from the English "smoking jacket" -- but you can't say "I'm going to wear a smoking tonight" in English, at least not in the US
Inspired by Dan's comment: footing means a jog; you can't say "I'm going on a footing" in English, and the French wiktionary article explicitly states that this is a "faux anglicisme"
Found after following links on wiktionary: un lifting means a facelift; it's another English-derived French word that was never actually used by English speakers

The word "fake" in my title might be confusing -- I'm not looking for words that are pronounced with fake French accents, but rather for French-derived words that have evolved to the point of no longer being common-usage French (or that were never used in French to begin with, the way the French word footing was never used in English).

This question was closed for being too broad; this edit is an attempt to narrow it down.

I'm looking specifically for words that (a) are used in English; (b) are derived from French; but (c) would not make sense to a French speaker, either because the word was never used in French in the first place, or because the French and English versions of the word have drifted extremely far apart.

An example of the reverse is "un footing" in French: "a footing" is complete nonsense in English, and it would be hard to even guess what it means.

Some examples of words that aren't what I'm looking for:

The US usage of entrée doesn't really satisfy criterion (c) above: sure, the meanings have diverged a little bit, but barely.
Same comment as above for the US usage of petite -- it's still understandable to a French speaker.

I'm particularly interested in French-derived words that were never used in French, the way "footing" and "relooking" were never used in English.


texts: What term is used for a colony's owning country?

texts:
Is there a term for the country that owns or rules a colony from overseas?

Sample sentences:

Quebec's ____ was France.

After the French and Indian War, Quebec's ____ was Britain.

Spain was a major _____ and it colonized many countries throughout the world.

The word "colonizer" emphasizes the colonizing aspect more than the ruling aspect, so it does not seem to fit always, such as in the second sentence. I need to emphasize the control over politics, not the act of settling.


texts: When do you use the plural of "medicine"?

texts:
Or in other words, I am asking: How do you "count" medicine? Is the word "medicine" like "gas" where a collection of gas is still called gas:

  The air was filled with nitrogen gas.

Instead of:

  The air was filled with nitrogen gases.

And only in terms of types of gases do you use the plural:

  There are many types of gases in the atmosphere.

So, in the following example:

  He gave him some medicines.

Does that mean he gave him different types of medicine, or different amounts?


texts: Is there a word for "the day after overmorrow" and "the day before ereyesterday"?

texts: I know overmorrow (the day after tomorrow) and ereyesterday (the day before yesterday) themselves are obsolete alike. I would like to know whether English has ever had  words for one day farther than that, I mean "the day after overmorrow" and "the day before ereyesterday".


texts: What does "fall into history" mean in this context?

texts:
I couldn't figure this sentences out, because of the "falls into history" expression. It's an academic article, I thought maybe it doesn't me "to be forgotten" like in the song. Would someone please enlight me?
Here comes the text:

"Perhaps going back to Hegel, who used the term phenomenology of the spirit to trace the steps of humanity’s Geist as it falls into history in order to come back to itself, we can find a plausible answer to these questions. "

"They do not see the Spirit as some abstract, disembodied, and other-worldly idea of humanity that only falls into history only in order to go back to itself."

Thank you in advance!


texts: Americans stereotype Canadian pronunciation of "about"?

texts: Americans think that Canadians pronounce about as aboot (I've never heard anyone pronounce it that way) yet they pronounce route as root.  They know how to pronounce out, about, router (as rauwter) but then why do almost every American pronounce route as root and they don't see the double standard?


texts: "Negative" vs "Minus" when referring to the temperature below zero?

texts:
I have read in some dictionaries that, when referring to the weather, the “–” sign is spoken as “minus” — for example “minus 10 degrees”.

Is “negative 10 degrees” also common and interchangeable with "minus"?


texts: What would be a better name for somebody's personal sphere of life (e.g. close people, partners) - "private domain" or "private space"? I think the option with "domain" fits better in the context of people, but wanted to check...


texts: Is "Health" ever utilized as a rejoinder or a blessing-directive?

texts: When a person in the vicinity sneezes, a German says, "health!" (gesundheit); when a Mexican (or all Spanish-speaking?) wait[er,ress] delivers food to a table, [s]he says, "health!" (salud). In what circumstance does an English speaker say, "health"? Ever?


texts:
Is the following sentence grammatical? "Whom who was in his prime has Floyd Mayweather fought in his career?"

I want to question whether Floyd Mayweather has fought any boxer during the boxer's best, so is it okay to use the relative clause "who was in his prime" to describe the word "whom"?


texts: Is it possible for a word in a sentence to have two grammatical functions at once?

texts:
I just saw this question, which is about the whoever/whomever choice in these sentences:

  I will kill whomever I despise.
  I will kill whoever despises me.

It made me think; what is the object of the verb kill? Is it not who(m)ever? Then what is the object (subject) of the verb despise in the first (second) sentence?

And in general, is it possible that a word should have more than one grammatical function in a sentence? How?

Edit:
(This edit is a about the specific examples given above. If that's not an issue for you, just ignore it and read Greg's post, which answers the question in the title.)

Turned out my examples were not to the point. I Quote from A Student's Introduction to English grammar by Huddleston and Pullum, p.191:

  Fused relatives
  The final relative construction we consider in this chapter is the fused
  relative, illustrated in [19]:

  [19 i]:  Whoever said that was trying to mislead you.
  [19 ii]:  I 've eaten what you gave me.

  This is a more complex construction than those dealt with above. Here the
  antecedent and the relativised element are fused together instead of being expressed separately as in simpler constructions. The underlined expressions here are thus NPs whose head is fused with the first element in the relative clause.

  Whoever in [19 i] is simultaneously head of the NP and subject of the relative
  clause, and its gender indicates that we are talking about some person. The meaning is thus comparable to that of the non-fused

  The person who said that was trying to mislead you.

  What in [19 ii] is likewise head of the NP and object of gave in the relative clause, and the non-personal gender gives a meaning like that of the non-fused (and more formal)

  I 've eaten that which you gave me.

So in I will kill whoever despises me, the object of kill is the whole relative clause (i.e., whoever despises me), and whoever is simultaneously the subject of despises and the head of the clause.

I'm not really comfortable with the idea of an NP whose head is a dependent of an element (here, the subject of a verb) inside that NP. It's a loop. There may be another way to describe this construction, so this loop could be avoided, but I'm going to leave it here for now.


texts: Have grammar rules changed through the history of the English language?

texts: When I want to know what form a word has say in 12th century (end Old English, begin Middle English), 14th century (end Middle English), or any other time in England history, I only need to track the word's etymology, and I've got the evolution of said word. But what about the grammar? Should I assume similar rules as the current ones? Is there also any consideration depending of the caste of the person speaking, such as a peasant in comparison to a clergyman or a noble? Is there any interesting reading or online resources on the subject I should know about? (If the scope of the question is too broad, area of interest are 12th century and 14th century.)


texts: If a word or phrase is used and has evolved its own meaning peculiar to a specific group, is this described as jargon or is there a closer semantic match?


texts: Should "brother" be capitalized in a letter salutation?

texts:
John Smith, a member of my congregation, would be addressed as brother in face-to-face conversation. If I write a letter to him, should I capitalize this word? For example, as in:

  Dear Brother Smith,


texts:
I'm wondering what's the meaning of the following phrase:

Bennett took a poke at the President's refusal to sign the bill.

I've found some explanations of "to take a poke at", but still they don't seem to me to be the case for the above mentioned sentence. They just don't fit the structure, so the sentence makes no sense. Thank you in advance.


texts: How do you classify words like 'Helllloooo', 'Hiyyyaaa', and 'whoooooo' used frequently in Twitter?

texts: When looking at many Tweets you can find many 'elaborations' on words, eg. hi > hiiiii, hello > helllloooooo, down > downnnnn. They are not exactly slang in my own opinion, maybe they are but of a different type. It seems like they are trying to convey an emphasis change or draw more attention. Also, they are not completely new words and don't look like they might become either. Have such modifications been categorized? Is there a name to identify such usages of normal words? From what I know I have only seen them being used in Twitter.


texts: which one is more suitable, "with" or "of"?

texts:
I have the following sentence.

  The second metric is top-k accuracy,
  which calculates the percentage of query images whose k nearest
  neighbors contain at least one image of the same class.

In the above sentence, I use of in one image of the same class. But someone told me to use with. I can not decide which one is more suitable? Is it proper to use either of the two words?


texts:
I have often wondered about the (seemingly) arbitrary capitalization of words in 17th & 18th century English, and again today, came across this quote by Edmund Burke in Sylvia Nasar's Grand Pursuit (pg. xii):

  Edmund Burke, the philosopher, railed at the plight of miners who "scarce ever see the Light of the Sun; they are buried in the Bowels of the Earth; there they work at a severe and dismal Task, without the least Prospect of being delivered from it; they subsist upon the coarsest and worst sort of Fare; they have their Health miserably impaired, and their Lives cut short."

Emphases mine & quoted from Burke's Vindication (pg. 59) according to the secondary source, which Wikipedia tells me was published in 1756.

Are these typographical issues? What are the rules, if any, that governed capitalization of words in texts from this time?


texts: stock [uncountable] vs livestock [uncountable, plural]

texts:
STOCK [uncountable]: farm animals, such as cows and sheep,
that are kept for their meat, wool, etc. SEE ALSO livestock
LIVESTOCK [uncountable, plural]: animals kept on a farm, for
example cows or sheep https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/

The difference between both terms is the possibility of being a plural noun that only livestock offers.
Is this correct?


texts: What is the word for a piece of art depicting several people?

texts: It's like a portrait, but it's of several people, not just one. It's a still frame (as opposed to something like a video or movie), but a "still life" only depicts inanimate objects, so that term doesn't work, either.


texts: Need help in converting passive voice to active voice

texts:
I have the following sentences:

  A Struct's member can't be defined as abstract, virtual or protected.
  It is also called as Rectangular Arrays.

I need to convert them into active voice.
Can someone help me out, I am unable to do it.


texts: Does "subject" still apply to inhabitants of monarchies nowadays?

texts:
When it comes to the following meaning of word subject (from here):

  a person who lives in or who has the right to live in a particular country, especially a country with a king or queen

Although the definition is broad and seems like a synonym for citizen, I wonder if it is correct to use subject to refer to common citizens of countries like England or Japan nowadays.

Or does the word imply some degree of subjugation, being more suitable to refer to people of older colonial times (like British subjects living in colonial India)?

Thanks!


texts: Can a verb split a subject and its attributive prepositional phrase?

texts:
Recently a program gave me this text in a dialog box: "All purchases have been downloaded for this account." While I understand its meaning, splitting the subject (the noun and its attributive phrase) makes it awkward in my mind.

"All purchases for this account have been downloaded" seems clearer to me. Is there a grammar rule to cover this?


texts:
He was there.

In this sentence is ' there ' an adverb?

I get very confused when I have to identify parts of speech.

Any help would be appreciated.


texts:
What is the difference between a command and an invitation?

Both seem to be directed to elicit an action. Are there structural differences between the two?


texts: Word order in question with "do you think" and "do you know"

texts:
People say:

  "How old do you think I am?"

and

  "Do you know how old I am?"

I am wondering:

What's the reason causing the different location of how old between the two questions?
Can we say

  "Do you think how old I am?"

and

  "How old do you know I am?"

If we can't, what is the reason?


texts:
Given the Wikipedia's list of profanities, you will see that it's somehow detached from the rest of curse words. The most commonly recognized profanities usually describe a body part, person or an (usually inappropriate) act. However, 'hell' is the only one that actually bears the negative connotation as a result of its origin - which is strictly of religious background.

Why is it then, that while still being considered inappropriate to use, you can hear it on the radio, tv and in other media without being censored or blacked-out?

Is there any source in form of a dictionary that could point out the severity of the word's usage, or some kind of category that would help in categorizing, and perhaps distinguishing it from the other, way more vulgar, curse words?


texts:
She says there is singularity problem in the first two parts and missing article in the third one. However I couldn't find them. What am I doing wrong here?

"Firstly, more than 10,000 Somalian liras are being wasted on heating every year according to online heating cost calculator of Building Green Inc"
"Finally, student productivity is decreased by 15% because the temperature measured in the library is 6 Celsius degrees higher than the ideal room temperature according to a research done by Helsinki University "
"For that reason, this paper is going to propose three solutions to waste of heat on ^ first floor of Bilkent Library Block A"

Bold parts are problematic.


texts: The mayor as well as his brothers is/are going to prison

texts:
Which of these is correct?

The mayor as well as his brothers is going to prison.
The mayor as well as his brothers are going to prison.


texts:
In the chorus of the song "Gone Country" by Alan Jackson, there is this sentence:

  She/He's gone country, look at them boots

How come them is used instead of their? I am not a native English speaker so I am interested in knowing about this peculiar (at least to me) word choice.

This existing thread would tend to indicate that them can be used for that, but look at that boots don't really make sense?


texts: What's the difference between "the one thing" and "the thing"?

texts:
Could anyone help to tell the difference between these two sentences:
"That's the thing I want to do" and "That's the one thing I want to do"
Thanks


texts: The double 'i' is cool, but what's the rule?

texts:
At least to a self-professed geek, it's cool to write words like fungii and radii, so naturally, in some informal communications, I take every opportunity to apply the suffix where it's probably not supposed to be used.

Thus I ask, what is (are) the rule(s) for the double 'i'?


texts: Phenomenon, when a phrase (lit. trans. into English from other regional language) has obvious mistake(s) and still uncorrectable due to popularity

texts:
Let me layout an example to make the situation, described in question more clear:

There is a popular road in a city of Gujarat, India whose name when literally translated into English means "Horse Racing" or for the sake of completeness, "Horse Racing Road". It's literal translation in Gujarati should be ""Ghoda Dod" Road" where "Ghoda" means Horses and "Dod" means running/racing.

But, the translation has become to "Ghod Dod" Road, maybe due to fast usage of words or maybe just laziness to complete the first(or one) word and then move on to next one during a continuous conversation, and then maybe no one cared to rectify it.

So, what is this type of phenomena or event called, are there more of these phenomenons in other regional/national languages too apart from english ?


texts: What is the origin of "giving [it] the old college try"?

texts: What is the origin of giving [it] the old college try?  In particular, is it referencing an old ritual that might have percolated amongst alumni of the old and prestigious New England colleges/universities?  I tried Googling, but I'm not really finding an authoritative source at the moment.  If nothing definitive can be found, I'd at least appreciate a date of first attestation.


texts: What shall I use to start before a subsentence, which or with?

texts:
Jane is the best student with her math score of 100.

Or

  Jane is the best student, which her math score is 100.

Which one is the more appropriate expression?


texts: What do they say in a linked video? (5 words)

texts:
A video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUVvDM0tIjU

Now parts I'm not getting:

0:21 'till my father was (?). I've been so (?) for quite...'
2:09 '...a shift from (?) enlighting to...'
2:21 '...right on the (?) there.'
2:51 '...connection with the consumers is gonna (?) to the brand.'

If you can help, please, just type a nubmer and a word (words) which corresponds to the number.

Big thanks. Anthony.

PS: Not only I wasn't able to get certain words I also messed up words right after/before those. :)


texts: "Seeing someone slowly lose interest in you is one of the worst things."?

texts: I'm new here and the sentence "Seeing someone slowly lose interest in you is one of the worst things." Same with "Watching someone die.." Why are the verbs "lose" and "die" in their base form? Also are "seeing" and "watching" gerund or progressive?


texts: Does 'nana' mean just grandmother or grandmother from father's or mother's side?

texts: While I read Nana or Nanna? (When Referring to Grandmother) in wikitionary it also means one's grandmother https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Nana, it doesn't tell whether it means grandmother from father's or mothers side or it doesn't matter ?


texts: What is a word, preferably a noun, referring to a liquid that begins with M?

texts:
I am seizing up on this point while making an alliteration.

All I found was:

Moist - Refers to property of another material (a surface, the air, etc.) that involves liquid not the liquid itself
Mellifluous - Seems to refer more to liquid-like proprieties of sound then to liquid.
Mucus - Very specific to biological fluids, and inclusive of semifluids.

There is some tolerance with usage, but I image it as follows:

Vivian held the chilled vial of **** over the open chamber.
A roiling **** bubbled and stewed in the cauldron.
The magnificent mixture of mellow ****(s) merged meekly with the murky mire.
A multi-chamber canister full of ****(s) was plugged into the side of the device, to fuel the reaction.

EDIT:

The story so far:

  Meticulously modeling and manipulating microbial monsters to manufacture microliters of immiscible mass, mileage for our multitudes of magnificent machines.

The 'im' irks me. Is it viable? Is there a better option?

The substance in this case... fuel... is definitively not miscible.