texts: Introducing an alias in technical literature

texts:
In technical literature (namely, a requirements document), what is an appropriate way of introducing an alias which is used from there on; instead of the full, completely-defined term?

I'm looking for a short, concise way of expressing it, without sounding archaic (like henceforth) or informal (like AKA).

I know I can use the "Definitions" or "Glossary" section (and I'll be sure to add it there also), but I want the text to be as self-contained as possible.


texts:
What is the term for an image created out of words? E.g. a picture of a tree created out of the word 'tree' for the branches and leaves etc.

It's usually created out of the name of the subject which it depicts. Children do this 'word image' exercise a lot at school.


texts: What is a more formal synonym of Catch-22?

texts:
I need a word to describe a situation where someone is given two or more conflicting rules or requirements, which contradict each other making it impossible to comply with all of the rules at once.

Here is an example similar to what I have in my workplace:

The report must contain 10 sections.
Each section must appear on a different page.
The report may be no more than 2 pages in length.

Example sentence: The requirements for preparing the report presents a Catch-22 for employees.

Catch-22 appears to be the correct word for this scenario, but also seems informal. Is there a much more formal word, even perhaps a Latin term for this king of logical fallacy?


texts: Word to refer to someone who takes an oath

texts:
I need to find the word for someone who swears an oath in writing a description of a ceremony. E.g.,'At this point in the ceremony, the [insert-word-for-oathtaker] raises her right hand.'
Etymologically, the word that seems most correct is juror, but that seems wrong given how specifically its modern use refers to a member of a jury. Is there a word that fits this situation? Jurat and adjuror both seem to have their own specific meanings today which do not mean simply one taking an oath.


texts: Is the describer needed in 'not...but..." type constructions?

texts:
Consider these two sentences:

"His actions reveal him to be a husband who is not jealous but is zealous."

"Those words demonstrate not his jealousness but his zealousness."

Are the words "is"/"his" needed before zealous / zealousness?

They wouldn't be needed if the sequence were reversed:

"His actions reveal him to be a husband who is zealous, not jealous."

But what about when the negation comes before the assertion?

Also are commas needed? Where?


texts: It seems sometimes 'if' really means 'if and only if' (abbreviated as iff), and sometimes 'if but not necessarily only if'.   Is there a better usage with 'if' than the regular/default way?  Should I be more careful when writing technical writings?


texts: What is the function of "doing" in "when doing something"?

texts:
Can anyone please explain if "doing" in "When doing something" is a base+ing verbal, or a present participle used as a verb in an elliptical sentence, or something else entirely.
Here's an example of a sentence:

  "When training, athletes build their endurance by practising their
  sports for long, exhausting hours."

And if it indeed is a part of an elliptical sentence, why is that so, and how is that different from this:

  "Last weekend, I saw lots of ducks splashing around in the pond."

I understand that in this sentence splashing is a base+ing verbal, functioning as a modifier in a noun phrase.


texts: Parts of speech and functions: "Bob made a book collector happy the other day"

texts:
Having been bamboozled by various questions and answers on this site, I'd like to know what are the parts of speech (POS) and grammatical functions of the words and phrases in the following sentence:

  Bob made a book collector happy the other day.

Here I am particular interested in the status of the following items:

book
happy
the other day

But I also need the parts of speech and functions of all the individual words in the sentence. By functions I mean subject, complement and the like. I would also like to know the evidence for the assignments to specific functions and parts of speech.

The reason for asking this question is because the status of the three items listed above may be thought contentious by some people. For example, it might be argued by some that book is an adjective, whilst others will say it is a noun. Similarly, the other day some will argue is an adverb. Whether adverb here should be regarded as a function or part of speech in such analyses seems unclear.


texts:
How should the following sentence be punctuated:

  If it's not raining, where should we go? The lake? The beach?

I ask because the last two questions are fragments.


texts: What is the term used for people who get drunk easily?

texts: Is there another term for someone who cannot handle consuming large amounts of alcohol besides the term 'lightweight'?


texts: Someone in another one of my questions said that it is not; however, I must ask, "Is farcically an acceptable replacement for ludicrously?" Based on the definition of farce, I can partially understand why it would not be. One of the definitions of farcical also adds to this. However, synonyms for farcical include: absurd, ridiculous, preposterous and ludicrous. If these are synonyms, why then would farcically not be an acceptable replacement for ludicrously? In addition, under some of the definitions of farcical, it is indeed defined as ludicrous or absurd. If this is, why then would farcically not be an acceptable replacement for ludicrously?


texts:
My question is a follow-up to one in which I identified stealing and killing in a particular sentence as gerunds. Bill J commented to the effect that if objects followed these gerunds, the latter became verbs.

My questions are why and what form of the verb? For me the grammatical distinction between “I dislike killing” and “I dislike killing sheep” is simply that the gerund complement in the first becomes a gerund phrase complement in the second.


texts: The correct syntax for "I/We remain" at the end of the letter

texts:
I want to sign off a letter with the following:

Letter text.
We remain,
Sincerely yours,
Mr Person
Head of Accounting

Is this correct usage? Isn’t this like having 2 salutations? Is it ok to have 2 salutations?


texts:
The noun "Scalp" means (mainly):

  The skin covering the head, excluding the face: 'hair tonics will improve the condition of your hair and scalp'

  1.1 [historical] The scalp with the hair belonging to it, cut or torn away from an enemy’s head as a battle trophy, a former practice
      among American Indians.

[Oxford Online Dictionary]

If you look at the definition of "ticket resale" in [Wikipedia], it could be a common thing for any sports, concerts, etc. in any country.

I understand what "to scalp tickets" means, but I don't understand how "to scalp" has evolved to mean "to resell".
Does "to scalp" have a stronger connotation of "illegality" than "to resell"?
According to [Oxford Online Dictionary], it seems that "to scalp" is mainly used in North America. What would be its counterpart in BrE?

  North American informal Resell (shares or tickets) at a large or quick profit: tickets were scalped for forty times their face value

I could get the below Ngram Viewer for AmE, but couldn't find any usage in BrE.


texts: Question about adverb placement in these sentences

texts:
I'm confused about the adverb placement. I heard that adverbs that indicate manner should be placed at the end of a sentence, but I have seen many sentences that do not follow this rule. For some sentences, it sounds awkward if I place the adverb at the very end.
Which is correct?

In order to help him learn the concepts and techniques skillfully, did you ensure that you prepare the lessons?
Did you define the terms to students precisely, clearly, and nicely?

OR

In order to help him skillfully learn the concepts and techniques, did you ensure that you prepare the lessons?
Did you precisely, clearly, and nicely define the terms to students?


texts: Historical Basis for "To Graduate" Being Only a Transitive Verb

texts:
About nine years ago, I received from a quite insistent source the claim that the verb "to graduate" is transitive, and, specifically, that the intransitive usage was wrong.  For example, the following are claimed to be correct:

  The university graduates you.
  You've been graduated!  [You have been graduated by . . .]
  I graduated university X!
  I graduated from university X!

(The last is interesting since it actually doesn't have an object; it has a prepositional phrase).  While e.g. the following are claimed to be incorrect:

  I graduated.
  You won't graduate!

This has led to this question, which establishes that both uses are acceptable in modern usage, but that the intransitive usage was less common in the past.  Not wrong, mind you, just less common.

Looking in dictionaries, it seems that Dictionary.com, Merriam-Webster, Cambridge, and TheFreeDictionary indeed all support both usages as correct.  Something interesting happens with Oxford.  The most complete definition is on the sub-site for American English and lists intransitive as the primary definition with two different types of transitive usage as being "informal" and "North American".

Under all this, I would like to ask a related question:

Is there any merit to the claim that the intransitive usage of "to graduate" is wrong?

The claim specifically is that the intransitive usage is a modern invention (>1900), and that dictionaries have shifted to allow it.  Is this indeed the case?  Or, has the intransitive usage always been allowed but just was less common before now?


texts:
Meaning of solution

Which one of the following does it mean?

An attempt to solve a problem which may or may not be correct
Correct attempt which 100% solves the problem

Refer the following context:

  I have attached my solution above. Please let me know if there is some mistake in the solution provided.

In this I'm not sure if my attempt to solve a specific problem is correct or not but I have shared it. Can the word 'solution' be used here?


texts: in collaboration with or in cooperation with for the credits in a book

texts: Which words would you use in cooperation with or in collaboration with to describe someone who helped you in the production of the book.  For example, you the author explain orally what you want to express and the cooperator or collaborator writes it down himself in his own words. Which of the two phrases suits best?


texts: Proper notation for citation covering multiple consecutive lines

texts:
I am writing corrections for a document. There is one error I have spotted on a line. Then I have recognized that the same error occurs again on the next line as well.

Say that the first occurrence of the error is on line #4. I could very well write "4-5", then again, it doesn't look as good as "4f" which I hope that it stands for "4 and the following one line". Is this right? I think I have seen something like that at some point in my life, but I'm not sure.

So the question is, does a notation like "line 4f" exists to denote "4th line and the following one line"?

Furthermore, say that the error spans even further, does "line 4fff" stand for "4th line and the following three lines"?


texts: What happened to the missing object or objects in “for us to define as we see fit”?

texts:
Reading through this paragraph, I wonder why the object to see is missing from as we see
fit, even though the interpretation remains natural and smooth without it:

In 1783, Goethe wrote, “Nature is ever shaping new forms: what is,
has never yet been; what has been, comes not again.” If this is
true, then the aims and objectives for nature reserves are for us
to define as we see fit. It is now generally accepted that
there is no default setting for how the world should look. Natural
means different things to different people. For some research
workers, natural states are those that existed before the Europeans
turned up and started clearing land, farming, grazing, and controlling
wildfires. This definition is being revised now by other researchers
because humans have been altering the world for much longer than
the Europeans have been colonizing the world. Furthermore, some
human-induced changes are impossible to change. In addition, we
must realize that environmental and ecological changes are normal;
the world is in permanent flux and few of our present major
ecosystems are more than twelve thousand years old. Records from
paleoecological studies seem to indicate that for any given place,
over time there are many alternative, very different “natural”
states.

How should I look at this clause? What is the correct reading?
I see two possible readings for this mysterious object omission, depending on where you insert the object or objects:

“as we see them fit” (them = the aims and objectives for
nature reserves = subject)

“are for us to define them as we see them fit”
(them = the aims and objectives for nature reserves = subject)

I think case 1 has a semantic error because the aims and objectives
for nature reserves are not equal to those that we see fit. So
phrases used in the subject should not be used literally in the as clause.
Case 2 is my personal opinion, but I'm not certain because I
can't find any reference.
Please explain each case and suggest another possible reason with
references so that I can better understand this odd pattern with
a missing object.
I just want my opinion checked and wonder about others' opinions, but my
previous questions like these have been closed and I got some warnings.


texts: what is the spelling rule that applies to "zeros" and "heroes"?

texts: What is the proper spelling rule that applies to "zeros", "heroes" and the like?


texts:
Which of these is the correct use of transfixed ?

He moved ahead, his eyes transfixed to the sword.
He moved ahead, his eyes transfixed by the sword.
He moved ahead, his eyes transfixed at the sword.
He moved ahead, his eyes transfixed on the sword.

They all sound proper to me but which of the above is grammatically accurate ?


texts: Capitalization of tussenvoegsel at start of sentence

texts:
What is the proper capitalization of tussenvoegsel at the start of a sentence? For instance, if we were talking about Vincent van Gogh would we say:

"Van Gogh was an artist."

or

"van Gogh was an artist."

The following article did not capitalize the tussenvoegsel which is why I bring up this question. http://phys.org/news/2015-10-ornithomimus-dinosaur-tail-feathers-skin.html


texts:
What is the pronunciation of already in the song Without Me by Halsey?

What phonological processes take place resulting in such a pronunciation?

(min 3:03) https://youtu.be/ZAfAud_M_mg?t=183


texts: Is "must" ever grammatical as a past tense verb?

texts:
I have seen uses of must that appear to be in the simple past tense. Sometimes these seem grammatical, but sometimes not. Examples that help illustrate my confusion:

  He knew he must go to New York - sounds fine to me.

  He went to New York because he must - sounds questionable.

  Because he must go to New York, he bought plane tickets - sounds completely ungrammatical.

  He must go to New York - grammatical, but with no other verbs to provide context, can't interpret this as being past-tense.

My question: is this past-tense use of must ever acceptable? Is it only acceptable in certain contexts - if so, what are those contexts and why?

(Note - I'm not looking for had to. Have is a different verb, so had to expresses the same meaning as the past tense of must, but it itself is not the past tense of must.)


texts: When to use "explain why" versus "explain why/why not"

texts:
I had a question regarding... another question I encountered.
The question is phrased like so:

Is water a gas?  Explain why.

That's not the actual question, but the ideas by the supposition are the same.  To elaborate, water is generally thought of in its liquid form, but water can be gaseous, but, it is usually referred to as water vapor if it is gaseous.
Essentially, the way I read that question is that it is asserting that water is a gas, and I should be explaining why.
But, if the question was written like this:

Is water a gas? Explain why/why not.

I'd probably be more inclined to read the initial question as less of an assertion, and inevitably that it is more of a prompt that water isn't a gas and I should be explaining why it isn't.
Are both my interpretations correct?  Or is the existence of the "/why not" not relevant to how I should interpret the question?


texts: Difference between "Merchandise" and "Goods"

texts: In an economics and accounting context, what is the difference between goods and merchandise ?


texts: Is there a word for the victim of a broken promise

texts:
Related question: Is there a word for a "promise breaker"?

I want to refer to the victim of a broken promise. A quick search online led me to believe that promisee is an acceptable word but it sounds a bit childish to me.


texts:
How to pronounce sheet to minimize the risk of confusion with shit?

Usually what one means is clear from the context, but it'd still be very awkward if it accidentally sounds like shit.


texts:
1)
A. A series of computer instructions relating to each other is called computer program.
B. A series of computer instructions relating to each other is called a computer program.

2)
A. The computer instructions written in a programming language are called code.
B. The computer instructions written in a programming language are called the code.
C. The computer instructions written in a programming language are called a code.

I was told that for 1 B is correct and for 2 A is correct. So sometimes an article is required and sometimes not.

I would appreciate if anyone could point me to a rule or an explanation I can study so I can learn how to decide by myself which of sentences like these are correct:

The rectangles an Excel Worksheet consists of are called cells.
The rectangles an Excel Worksheet consists of are called its cells.

The three values representing colors are called color code.
The three values representing colors are called a color code.
The three values representing colors are called the color code.

In coding  = is called assignment operator.
In coding  =  is called an assignment operator.
In coding  =  is called the assignment operator.

Converting code into machine language is called compilation.
Converting code into machine language is called a compilation.

Joining character strings end-to-end is called concatenation.
Joining character strings end-to-end is called a concatenation.

A combination of an operator with a series of integers and / or strings is called expression.
A combination of an operator with a series of integers and / or strings is called an expression.

Thank you, Vidul


texts: I threw a coin in a well that [was] or [is] in the forest

texts:
Which statement is correct and why?

I threw a coin in a well that was in the forest.

vs

I threw a coin in a well that is in the forest.

Also, is the "is/was" before "in the forest" called a linking verb?

Lastly, is the phrase "that [was/is] in the forest" an adjectival phrase that is describing forest?


texts: what's the difference between "I know." and " I know that."?

texts:
example dialog:

  "yes, yes, it's your job. I know that."

Can I just say "I know" instead of "I know that"?

another one: do I say

  It is very pretty.  Where did you buy?
   -or-
  where did you buy it?


texts:
Consider the following sentence,

"Your request will be confirmed in an e-mail".

Is this sentence grammatically correct? If it is, could someone please explain what "in" means here?

PS - I think I've asked the question in the wrong exchange. Sorry.


texts: Are there certain rules when punctuations i.e. period, exclamation, and question mark can be placed inside or outside the quote, or both?

texts:
Which of these sentences are using the proper usage of punctuation?

Nicolo said, "I'll let you know if anything changes."
Nicolo said, "I'll let you know if anything changes".
Nicolo said, "I'll let you know if anything changes.".

Or is there a certain rule when all of the sentence is correct especially when writing novels or stories.


texts: "small room" vs. "little room" / "big room" vs. "large room"

texts:
I never had problems with small and little before.

However, I only had known about a small room before I saw the word a little room in a textbook (Family and Friends by Naomi Simmons). Is it the same?

Also, as I always use big, I'm not so sure about large. Big room and large room were the same to me. Is it right?


texts: Is there any pejorative term to designate a graduate student? (E.g. in French thésard is often used pejoratively, while doctorant is always neutral).


texts:
Simple question - the context is having user of your app unsubscribing. Would you say

We're sorry to hear you leave

or

We're sorry to hear you leaving

I was thinking of first options because it mentions action that's already been done (but still happened in present if that makes sense).

Thanks in advance!


texts: Is "moving forward" at the end of a sentence grammatical?

texts:
News media talking heads come up with new buzzwords and phrases over time.  One such phrase that has been widely used of late (specifically at the end of a sentence), is: moving forward.

For example:

  Economists expect to see significant progress in this area moving forward.

Is this correct to say, grammatically speaking?


texts: Usage of "the" before a noun that is followed by a restrictive pronoun

texts:
I wonder if that is correct to leave "the" out if the noun that is followed by it precedes a restrictive clause, such as:

  and government-affiliated kindergartens in cities that were selected by random
  sampling all across the seven geographical regions.

So should we always say "in the cities"?

PS: The sentence belongs in a scholarly context.

Thanks in advance!


texts: Should I pluralize "University" in the phrase "Yale and Harvard Universities"?

texts:
I'm wondering if I need to pluralize "University" in the following sentence:

"Our expert panelists, including former admissions officers from Yale and Harvard Universities, will discuss..."

Should it be plural and capitalized? Singular? Lower case?

I appreciate the help!


texts:
If I would like to say that I like to play around with simple, not overly-complex, sometimes even bare things, should I say I like to play around with simplicity or with minimalism?

Background: This is to be used as introductory wording to my website, whose design goal is to be as simple as possible while conveying all the information that a personal website should convey.


texts: How is malice different from aggression?

texts: I am having trouble understanding exactly what malice is and how it is different from aggression? In social psychology, aggression (which is contrasted with accidental harm) is defined as intentional act to cause harm, whether it is as means to an achieve some other goal (instrumental aggression) or as an end in itself (hostile/impulse aggression). On the other hand, malice is also defined as intentional or purposeful desire to do harm. So keeping this in mind, would it be appropriate to think that every act of aggression, whether instrumental or impulse, is essentially malicious?


texts:
This will depend on whether he's suitable for the job.
  This will depend on whether he's suitable for the job or not.
  This will depend on whether or not he's suitable for the job.

  It is still not defined whether we're following that approach.
  It is still not defined whether we're following that approach or not.
  It is still not defined whether or not we're following that approach.

"Or not" doesn't really seem to be needed to complement "whether". Why do people use it then? Is it redundancy and nothing more? Or is it for emphasis? Or are there cases when "or not" is required for the sentence to be grammatical?


texts:
Which of the following is correct?

  The program persists the data in the database.
  The program persists the data to the database.

In feels a little more natural to me, but I have no particular basis for that.


texts: Comma or space in long numbers and the UK Standard Rule

texts:
Is there a strict rule in the UK on how to write long figures?  If so, which one is it?

For example, if I need to write long numbers and follow the UK standard, which figure is correct?

  10 000 000 000 people (ten billion people) or 10,000,000,000 people ?

Same example but with another figure: which one is correct?

  £1 000 000,85  or  £1,000,000.85


texts:
I received legal documents pertaining to hiring in which every use of the word 'hire' was proceded by the indefinite article 'an'. Example:

  An hire takes place once...

Is this correct or acceptabel usage of 'an'. If so can you explain when it is correct and why?


texts: Frank Herbert's Dune book begins with a sentence that describes Castle Caladan as a pile of stone that has been home to 26 generations of Atreides Dukes. Not being a native English speaker, I am  left to wonder as of what does it mean. Does the word "pile" here really mean that the castle was actually a ruin?


texts: What is the proper term for promotional items given out to employees for an internal campaign

texts:
Companies sometimes hold events and give out stuff to employees like T-shirts (#WeRock), posters (Vision/Mission/Core Values), stationery, etc. for internal campaign promotion purposes.

The word we normally use is "company gifts", but that doesn't seems correct. We are not really giving gifts to employees; these are not gestures of goodwill or favour; these are "tools" for them to spread the hype.

What would be a proper word for such promotional items?


texts: Is the use of "whence" and "wherefrom" dated?

texts:
I rarely see these words ("whence" and "wherefrom") written and I can't remember hearing them anywhere.

Anyhow, I find them to be a good replacement for "whose", which people use even for animals and inanimate objects, like in the sentence that follows:

  My father had a Dodge Dart, whose tires were constantly flattened by
  the Loyd's kids when he was not home.

But I don't know if it is appropriate to write these in this context or if they're even current usages.
The word "whose" seems more appropriate to use when talking about people.


texts:
Can we use “verb s/es” at the beginning of a sentence? For example: “It looks good” becomes “looks good” or “goes into the room, he looks shocked” or maybe if you have more examples that can enlighten me better, I will truly appreciate that.
Thank you in advance


texts: "The custom and fashion of today will be the awkwardness and outrage of tomorrow"


texts: Is there a word for something that isn't your first intention?

texts:
For example if a student wishes for a storm because he wants his classes to be suspended. His main intention is to have no school but not necessarily to have a storm.

Not sure if this makes any sense. I'm pretty sure there's no word for it but I don't know because English is not my first language.


texts: I am writing a summary for a facebook campaign, and I want to say "each post reaches over 1000 viewers in average", does it sound right? Should I use "on average" or "in average"?


texts: What is the difference between "because" and "for"?

texts: Is there any substantial difference in the usage of "because"and "for"in a sentence/


texts: Is there a idiom/phrase to describe addressing a problem that doesn't actually occur or exist?

texts:
This happens a lot in workplaces when some HR perk is announced, people complain that they worry that someone will take unfair advantage of the new policy and it is implied that complainer's work will be negatively impacted by other people doing so.

However, there is no proof that this situation actually will occur. Is there an idiom or phrase to describe this kind of paranoia or demand for additional rules?

The closest I can think of is "tilting at windmills". Google and SO mostly find results where the problem is actually a benefit, or where a proposed fix doesn't address the actual problem. But what about when the problem is imaginary?

This is different from An idiom meaning someone's doing something useless and has no result at the end, where they look for a phrase about actually doing something that yields no result, whereas in this case, people are perceiving something that doesn't exist and trying to make a "solution" which would actually affect others.


texts: Is there a single word that encapsulates both attendance and punctuality?

texts:
I'm creating a report that contains both, whether a person showed up and, their tardiness.

I'm thinking I might be able to just call it an attendance report, but I don't know if that also implies that it keeps track of their punctuality.


texts: Using "at odds with" and "akin to" in the same sentence

texts:
I am trying to use "at odds" and "akin to" in the same sentence but I am not sure if the sentence below is grammatically correct:

  "I only heard in the past that this city was at odds with the other
  city's eccentricity and more akin to this third city, in its interest in
  education and culture"


texts: I understand that "will" can be used to describe someone's habitual actions but how do I choose when to use will or present simple to describe habits.


texts: How should this sentence be punctuated and why?  "The children enter the school their new uniforms shining."


texts:
When to use Universe or universe?

I'm editing a document where it is "The Creator of the universe". Is it correct?


texts:
Page 315 of the Collins English Usage reads

If you are talking about the past and you want to say that it was not
necessary for someone to do something on a particular occasion, you
say that they didn't need/have to.
I didn't need to say anything at all. Fortunately, she didn't have to
choose.
However, in a reporting clause you can use needn't.
They knew they needn't bother about me.
If someone has done something and you want to say that it was not
necessary, you can say that they needn't have done it.
I was wondering whether you were getting properly fed and looked
after, but I needn't have worried, need I?

However, I cannot see any difference of meaning/usage between Didn't need to vs Needn't have done


texts:
When was the word "system" used for the first time in English?

What was the usage of the word in that time? (in English)

Does it have special meaning in Music? If yes, is the word widely used by Musicians? (I've heard the word was first used in Music for a special meaning).


texts: Different pronunciations of "she's" depending on the meaning

texts:
According to The Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary, the contraction she's may be pronounced both with a short [i] sound(as in pit) and a long [i:] sound(as in sheep) when it means she is, but it must be pronounced with a long [i:] sound when it means she has.

I've always thought that she's is pronounced with a long [i:] only when it's used emphatically, regardless of its meaning. For example,

1.She's not coming with us. (she is, [i])
2.She's been doing well.    (she has, [i])
3.She's the one who stole your keys. (she is, emphatic, [i:])
4.I don't have your keys. She's got them. (she has, emphatic, [i:])

According to the dictionary, however, I am wrong at least in my example 2. English is only my third language, so maybe I don't distinguish between [i] and [i:] as well as I should, but I hear the word she's in examples 1. and 2. pronounced in exactly the same way.

Questions for native speakers:

Were you aware of this difference in pronunciations of she's?
If I(or anyone else) were to pronounce she's from example 2. with a short [i], would you actually sense that something was pronounced not quite as it should have been?
Would you pronounce she's with a long [i:] in a non-emphatic context?


texts:
I am having difficulty whether to use the word by or in in the following sentence. Which is (more) grammatically correct of the two, and which would be clearer to understand:

Its population as recorded by the 2016 Census was 6,000.

Its population as recorded in the 2016 Census was 6,000.


texts: What does ‘the first-person epiphany’ mean?

texts:
I found the word, ‘the first-person epiphany’ in the article written by Jeffery Klugar, under the title “Be careful what you wish for” that appeared in Time magazine pretty long ago (February 11, 2010). I knew the title is the borrowing from the title of the first album by Gabby La la from Wikipedia,

The line including ‘the first-person epiphany’ reads:

“You never get over the moment you realize that you’re definitely going to die. You’re usually a small child when the insight hits, and you usually have a vague idea of what death is, but the first-person epiphany – the “Wait, that‘s going to happen to me? Experience – change everything. Your sense of time and its fleeting passage can never go back to what it was before you discovered that you are on the clock."

Though I understand ‘the first-person epiphany’ means ‘one’s own intuition or inspiration,’ I’m not sure, nor whether this is a colloquial expression that I can use like ‘My first person epiphany is - -’ or a rather pedantic expression better not to use in daily conversation. Can you tell me about the usage of this word?


texts:
My first question is straightforward. What is the meaning of the following idiom (from Dusa McDuff's translation of Crime and Punishment):- "some bread and salt together but a pinch of sniff apart." It was spoken by a person, of a marriage that he was not approving of.

My second question is how translation of idioms and sayings should be approached. Should they be translated literally or matched to another idiom in the target language closest to it in meaning or should it be removed in favour of plain text.


texts: Repeating a subject twice - a matter of style or grammar?

texts:
Is repeating the subject twice in a sentence considered a grammar error or bad style? For example:

  Epic Game Music will be held for the first time in Poland at Poznan
  Game Arena and Game Industry Conference 2018 and it is planned as a
  powerful and emotional opening event for...

or maybe the subject should be omitted and the sentence should go like this

  Epic Game Music will be held for the first time in Poland at Poznan
  Game Arena and Game Industry Conference 2018 and is planned as a
  powerful and emotional opening event for

Which way is more correct and sounds better to your ear?


texts: “I’ll believe it when I see it” for things that aren’t supposed to be referred to visually?

texts:
I’m looking for an equivalent idiom that refers to actions that aren’t supposed to be referred to visually.

Example:
Person A owes person B money and day after day says he will pay person B back. Eventually, person B just says “I’ll believe it when I see it.”

That sounds awkward to me and I’m looking for a more appropriate idiom for examples such as the one above.


texts: Is the hyphen required in this suspended compound?

texts:
Is the hyphen required after '$5 million' (followed by a single space) in this suspended compound?

He owned a $5 million- to $10 million-a-year business.

Is that impeccably punctuated?

or should it be:

... a $5 million to $10 million a year business (this looks cleaner)

Thank you.


texts: What is the difference between deficient, scant, scarce, meager? how to use them?

texts:
I got this this answer:

  Deficient and scarce mean there is not enough of something or that
  something is lacking. Scant and meager mean that there is not very
  many of something, barely sufficient. That does not necessarily mean
  that the amount is deficient, though most of the time it does. If I
  say the desert has scant forests, that does not necessarily mean too
  few - just that there are few of them. The four are related and the
  meanings overlap at times, but they are not quite the same.

can anyone explain little more?


texts:
I asked this question before, but I am looking for it in a different language.

The language of the word is German.
The meaning of the word I am looking is 'shadowless' or 'Has no shadow.'


texts: If a “tittle” sits atop an “i” or a “j” (“ı” or “ȷ”), then where do “jots” sit?

texts:
In the KJV translation of Matthew 5:18, it reads:

  For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

If a tittle sits atop an i or a j (ı or ȷ), then where do jots sit?

So what is a jot, anyway?

P.S. Here are the Unicode code points missing their tittles:

 i  0069       LATIN SMALL LETTER I
        * Turkish and Azerbaijani use 0130 for uppercase
        x (latin small letter dotless i - 0131)
        x (mathematical italic small dotless i - 1D6A4)
 j  006A       LATIN SMALL LETTER J
        x (latin small letter dotless j - 0237)
        x (mathematical italic small dotless j - 1D6A5)
 ı  0131       LATIN SMALL LETTER DOTLESS I
        * Turkish, Azerbaijani
        * uppercase is 0049
        x (latin small letter i - 0069)
 ȷ  0237       LATIN SMALL LETTER DOTLESS J
        x (mathematical italic small dotless j - 1D6A5)
 ɟ  025F       LATIN SMALL LETTER DOTLESS J WITH STROKE
        * voiced palatal stop
        * typographically a turned f, but better thought of as a form of j
        * "gy" in Hungarian orthography
        * also archaic phonetic for palatoalveolar affricate 02A4
 ʄ  0284       LATIN SMALL LETTER DOTLESS J WITH STROKE AND HOOK
        * implosive palatal stop
        * typographically based on 025F, not on 0283
 ᶡ  1DA1       MODIFIER LETTER SMALL DOTLESS J WITH STROKE
        # <super> 025F
   1D6A4      MATHEMATICAL ITALIC SMALL DOTLESS I
        = \imath
        x (latin small letter dotless i - 0131)
        x (mathematical italic small i - 1D456)
        # <font> 0131 latin small letter dotless i
   1D6A5      MATHEMATICAL ITALIC SMALL DOTLESS J
        = \jmath
        x (latin small letter dotless j - 0237)
        x (mathematical italic small j - 1D457)

    # <font> 0237 latin small letter dotless j


texts: Is there a word to describe the feeling of heated argument?

texts:
When you have the feeling where you know that you must step in and start saying something or even defend about something when people points it out.

For instance, when a couple had a healthy heated discussion.

I want to find an alternative sentence/word for heated discussion, but with the fact when you feel the need to argue or disagree or defend with another person to prove them wrong or show them the knowledge that you have.
So, it is more on how to describe this feeling?


texts:
I don't feel like this belongs on SU, so I put it here.

I know that "OS X" is pronounced "oh-ess ten," but how should the common construction "OS X 10.9" be pronounced?

The primary possibility I can think of is:

The X becomes silent: "oh-ess ten-point-nine"

However, this feels awkward when reading from paper and there are suddenly silent words in the middle of sentences. Because of this, I also see as a possibility:

This construction is unpronounceable and should be read "oh-ess ten mountain lion"

Of course, my personal favorite (the least accurate) is:

The 10 becomes slient: "oh-ess eks-point-nine"


texts: Is this sentence correct? It seems wrong, but I can’t pinpoint why!

texts:
I am proofing work for someone and this sentence seems incorrect, but I'm not sure why I think that. Is it truly incorrect? I feel like 'comes' should be 'come'.

  He stumbles back downstairs to the kitchen, feeling the weight of the last few days comes crashing down on top of him.


texts: "A child don't know anything" in Gadsby — grammatically right?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  The grammaticality of “that don't impress me much”

In Gadsby, which is almost grammatically not wrong at all, occurs just a solitary construction that I thought was awkward. It is said that "... folks today who claim that 'a child don't know anything.'" "No child knows anything" could own its position, as it is grammatically right, and contains not that symbol that Gadsby's author is trying to avoid.

Could I obtain a justification for this display of grammatical inaccuracy? Is it a willful play on grammar?

For additional information, Gadsby is a lipogram, by Mr. Wright. You can flip through it at this link.


texts:
I am looking for a word that has a similar meaning to "adjacent," except referring to time instead of space. For example, maybe I'm at a film festival and I'm watching three movies in a row, and I want to refer to the three "adjacent" films.

"Subsequent" gets close to the meaning I want, but that word focuses on one thing following another in time, whereas I would like a word meaning "next to," either before or after.


texts:
I am wondering the meaning of the "financially weathering".

The example sentence I have seen is
http://loe.org/shows/shows.html?programID=12-P13-00027

  Also, financially weathering a weatherization makeover.

If we say the above sentence with other others, how can we say?


texts: What makes cliche a useful distinct term as compared to idiom

texts:
Some context:

I wondered about the distinction between cliche and idiom as seen by EL&U.SE and posted a question on meta (https://english.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/7740/where-does-englishlanguage-se-draw-the-line-between-cliche-and-idiom?noredirect=1#comment31642_7740) seeking clarification on the matter.

My conclusion about the difference in general was that a cliche is an idiom that has to become so common as to have fallen out of favorable usage (and as such seems to be a matter of frequency rather than some defining characteristic.)  A few other users responded indicating that seemed to be a reasonable way to describe the difference.

My question is why did a separate term (cliche) come into usage as a label to describe the subset of idioms that were overused and thus less favorable?

Note I'm not asking why cliche specifically, but why a term was coined at all.


texts: Try not to wake her by A) talking too loud or B) talking quietly?

texts:
As I see it both can be correct:

Try not (to wake her by talking too loud).
(Try not to wake her) by talking quietly.

I'm not sure which one a native speaker would use. Any preferences?


texts: Is "yay or nay" an acceptable alternative to "yea or nay"? I have seen it several times in recent weeks, enough to make me wonder whether it is an emerging usage or just a common typo.


texts:
Title says it all probably.

Does anyone have any recollections of this usage?

Any definitions of the word "ask" as an adjective, possibly dialect and possibly meaning astringent?


texts: "Neither can live while the other survives"-- does it make logical sense?

texts:
At the end of the fifth book of Harry Potter, "The Order of Phoenix", there is a prophecy concerning Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort:

  The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord ( Lord Voldemort) approaches ... born
  to those who have thrice defied him ( that's Harry Potter), born as the seventh month dies
  ... and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have
  power the Dark Lord knows not ... and either must die at the hand of
  the other for neither can live while the other survives ... the one
  with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh
  month dies ...

I am confused over the phrase

  neither can live while the other survives

What does it mean? Does it mean anything? On the surface it seems it does. But upon further thinking this phrase is self-contradictory. If neither Potter nor Voldemort lives, then by logical deduction, the second phrase "while the other survives" is certainly false. Similarly, if either Harry Potter or Lord Voldemort survives, than it follows that the first phrase "neither can live" is logically false.

Juxtaposing two contradictory statements together in a single phrase makes the phrase completely meaningless. It's like saying "I am A, but I am not A"-- is this phrase true or false, or neither true nor false? Similarly, "neither can live while the other survives" can this phrase be true, or false, or can neither be true nor false?

Do I miss anything? Harry Potter's author JK Rowling's English is subtle indeed!


texts:
If you have a possessive proper noun but want to add extra detail by using dashes, how should it be written?

Example:

  Penny - our neighbour - has blonde hair.

Would any of these options be correct?

  Penny's - our neighbour - hair is blonde.
  Penny - our neighbour's - hair is blonde.
  Penny's - our neighbour's - hair is blonde.

I know it's not an ideal construction, but I'd still like to know.


texts: Etymology: The root of the words 'real' and 'reality'

texts:
I wish to identify the oldest known root from which we derive the words 'real' and 'reality', et cetera.

I got as far as determining the origin of the English words real and reality is Latin res, meaning thing, matter.

I found one online reference indicating res may have been derived from the (20th) Hebrew letter resh. I found that reference here. But I have not found much else linking these two words.

I would like to know if anyone with more knowledge on such things has any insight on this. The Hebrew letter resh, interestingly, was derived from an image of a man's head (which one could arguably say is rather linked to our perception and determination of what is real). Also, I understand resh can refer to a container, and boundaries. Latin res refers to a thing. Philosophically, it could be said things are the product of man identifying boundaries within what is otherwise a unified world, and through a process of reductionism classifying the product of these boundaries as separate things.

What I would like to determine is simply whether there is any plausibility to the idea of a link between Hebrew resh and Latin res.

Thank you.


texts: A word to describe hidden sexual intent... play on words

texts: What's a word to describe hidden sexual intention? e.g "Haha I was reading your profile and ...you seem pretty tight ;-)"  How would I respond with a word that describes double meaning of a sentence to actually mean a sexual advance on the sly? Does that make sense? A play on words..


texts:
I am looking for a word that implies the unique/non-translatable aspects of a specific place or culture. It's for an academic paper, so feel free to pull suggestions from theory etc.

  The author argues that the text does not appeal to universality but, on the contrary, to {{what is local/not shared by others}}.

Current option is "locality" or "the local" but neither feel quite right.


texts:
Could you please tell me the differences between adjective + to inf and adj + preposition + Ving .For example,

I am happy to be here vs I am happy with being here

I am afraid to be late vs I am afraid of being late


texts: I see this expression in shopping carts, and it seems related to tracking the shipment, but I don't understand what it is. Could please anybody explain that?


texts: Is it correct to say "banks and financial institutions"?

texts: When writing about Banking & Finance, it's so tempting to refer to business customers as "banks and financial institutions". Yet, somehow I feel uncomfortable doing so, because banks themselves are financial institutions, too. Probably, the temptation to extract "banks" from "financial institutions" stems from the fact that banks constitute quite a big share of all financial institutions, including also brokerage firms, exchanges and more. So, from the perspective of marketing, I have a natural inclination to emphasize banks as a separate customer segment, but the linguistic consideration doesn't let me do it so easily.


texts:
If the following use of "for which" is not correct, how to rephrase?

  This is why I think COVID will be with humans forever. We can't even get rid of measles, diphtheria, and cholera, all for which we
  have had vaccinations forever.


texts: The Equivalent Term for Pharmacy in the UK

texts: In the States, we use the term "pharmacy" or "drugstore," but what is the equivalent in the UK? I checked two sources, but came up with nothing.


texts: I came across this sentence: "Jim and Huck spent days of indolent lassitude on the craft." I wasn't quite sure what to make of the phrase 'indolent lassitude' because to my mind they both sort of signified the same thing.


texts: "One is only poor, if they choose to be." Can "one" and "they" be used like this?

texts:
I wonder if the following phrase is grammatically correct: "one is only poor, if they choose to be".

This is a quote from the song "Coat of Many Colors" by Dolly Parton. I know that songs don't follow strict grammar rules, but I wondered if it is correct. I understand the meaning: a person can have a good life even if he is poor.

Anyway "one" is singular, "they" is plural. Is that correct?


texts: Do "good for you" and "I am happy for you" have a negative or positive connotation?

texts: I am not sure if this is the right place, but I was wondering if "good for you" and "I am happy for you" have a negative or positive connotation.


texts:
When you are editing a stored program, check it out of the source control system
  and load the checked-out copy into the MySQL Query Browser or other
  tool.

  When you are satisfied with your changes, save the stored program code to a
  disk file and check it into the version control system.

How do you understand these two phrases?


texts: What's the difference between "write" and "write out"?

texts:
I'm trying to get the difference between the verb write and the phrasal verb write out.

For instance.

  I wrote out my CV.

  I wrote my CV.

As far as I'm concerned, they both have the same meaning..


texts: Distinctions between "Goods" and "Commodities"

texts:
I was wondering what differences and relations are between goods and commodities, from economics perspective?

From good:

  In economics and accounting, a good is
  a product that can be used to satisfy
  some desire or need. More narrowly but
  commonly, a good is a tangible
  physical product that can be
  contrasted with a service which is
  intangible. As such, it is capable of
  being delivered to a purchaser and
  involves the transfer of ownership
  from seller to customer. For example,
  an apple is a tangible good, as
  opposed to a haircut, which is an
  (intangible) service. One usage that
  preserves the distinction between
  goods and services by including both
  is commodity. In microeconomics, a
  'good' is often used in this inclusive
  sense of the word (Milgate, 1987).

Does the highlighted sentence mean
that commodities consist of goods
and services?
From commodity:

  A commodity is a good for which there
  is demand, but which is supplied
  without qualitative differentiation
  across a market.1

Does it say that a commodity is some
special kind of good? Is this contrary to Part 1?


texts:
Should the phrase time consuming hyphenated or not?

In the context I'm using it in, the hyphen seems right.

"Painting the walls with chalkboard paint and providing chalk allows customers to make their mark without creating a time-consuming mess."


texts: Is "Goldbrick" commonly used in American English?

texts:
I came across the slang term "Goldbrick" in the American WWII cartoon Private Snafu The Goldbrick (Warning: possibly sexist at the start, and possibly racist near the end).

I'd never heard the word before, which makes me suspect that it's only found in American English.

Is the term commonly used nowadays in the United States, including outside of military contexts?


texts: Present Perfect Progressive in scientific writing?

texts:
Scientific writing is generally supposed to be written in present tense (focus on proof of the existence of the result, not how the author arrived at it).
However, I have a case where this results in verbose writing, with the important concepts at the end of the sentences.

Which of the two should I choose?

1. Present Perfect Progressive

  Automatic language detection has been performed on the 10045139 labels of the 2015-5-9 snapshot of X. The 983 datasets have been sorted in descending order by the percentage of labels detected as English. The first 50 datasets with at least 100 labels that were confirmed as labeled in English by manual inspection were chosen for the benchmark with two questions for each selected dataset.

2. Present

  The 10045139 labels of the 2015-5-9 snapshot of X are each assigned an estimated language tag by automatic language detection. Each of the 983 datasets is assigned a score s = |number of labels detected as English|/|number of labels|. The benchmark comprises the 50 datasets with the highest score s for which (1) manual inspection confirms the language as English (2) the number of labels in total is at least 100. The benchmark contains two questions for each dataset.


texts:
There was a cartoon drawn by cartoonist Emily Flake in the New Yorker (January 14) under the caption, "With apologies to Manchurian candidate.

The cartoon shows a man who looks like Mr. Donald Trump looking at a scantly dressed woman (possibly Mrs. Melania Trump) who is striking a pose in front of him.

The script reads:
“Darling, why don’t you have a look at my Inauguration outfit?”
http://www.newyorker.com/cartoons/daily-cartoon-011217-inauguration-outfit

What does "Manchurian candidate" mean? Is it funny?


texts: Someone who gives an answer for the sake of an answer

texts:
How would you define an act or a person who answers a question with an answer they know might not necessarily be true, for the sake of providing one?

eg.

Tim - What's the name of Microsoft's new operating system?
Bob - Ermmm. Windows 9.
Tim - Thanks Bob.


texts: Prefixes milli- and cent- used for years

texts:
The prefix "milli-" means "thousandth" (e.g. 1000 millimeters in 1 meter) and the prefix "kilo-" means "thousand" (e.g. 1 kilogram is 1000 grams).

Why is the period of 1000 years called a "millennium"? Why don't we use the term "kilennium"? In fact, we already use Y2K as an abbreviation for "Year 2000". Doesn't it make more sense that a "millennium" should be the time period of one-thousandth of a year?

Likewise, instead of "century" or "centennial", of which the prefix "centi-" means "hundredth", shouldn't we use "hectennial" for 100 years?


texts: I am writing to a Professor as a prospective graduate student. I want to tell him that I will be one step ahead at the begging of my masters program since I have taken several graduate courses already. So my tone should convey that I am a promising candidate and should not be boastful. I want to tell him that by assessing this knowledge I will start my master thesis sooner and I would be more successful. I guess that there are good ways in English to state this point. I would be very grateful if anyone could help me to express it.


texts: What does “burrow (one’s) nose deep” mean? Is it an idiom?

texts:
November.30 NPR Books introduces Emily Dickingson’s poems on leftover envelopes under the title, “Emily Dickinson's Envelope Writings”

  “Readers always seem to want to get closer to Emily Dickinson, the
  godmother of American poetry. Paging through her poems feels like
  burrowing nose-deep in her 19th century backyard — where "the grass
  divides as with a comb," as she writes in "A narrow Fellow in the
  Grass."

As I was interested in the phrase, “burrow nose deep in sth,” I checked both Cambridge and Oxford English dictionary to find whether it’s an idiom or not. Neither of them carries “burrow nose deep” as an idiom.

However, I found some of examples using “burrow (one’s) nose deep:
“If Obama replaces her with an accursed DINO who will burrow his nose deep between Bankster cheeks, it will be because that's what he wants to do, not because it's what he has to do. - www.politicsplus.org/.../will-warren-or-a-dino-head-th...

“Where do I live if not in your woods? I burrow nose deep in dead leaves and silt soil by the river's edge. Your crows march wicked sentinel steps.”- gilliancornwall.blogspot.com

Does “burrow nose-deep” literally mean “dig in / bury deeply,” or have other figurative meanings like intimacy? To me “burrow nose-deep” in episodes of Emily Dickinson and Obama’s replacement of staff appear to be used in different meaning?

Is it an idiom or simple combination of “burrow” and "nose deep.”?


texts:
Is there a specifc incident or origin story for the common joke/comedic phrase "my dog ate my homework"? I always wondered whether there was a student who became notorious for not turning in their homework and using that excuse, or whether someone somewhere used it as a flimsy excuse and everyone thought it was funny, or any other reason...

If no one can find anything, do we at least know how long it's been around as a saying?

Also, how often does it turn out to be true? Has anyone here who owned a dog during childhood ever actually had that happen to them?


texts: Why are 'blueish' and 'bluish' both considered correct spellings?

texts:
My nine year old son fought hard on this and is taking a stand on spelling bluish as blueish.  I'm certain his teacher will mark it as a spelling error in his writing... Several dictionaries have indicated both spellings are acceptable. A character in his story says

  What is that blueish white piece of
  ice floating in the freezing cold
  Antarctic waters?


texts: Should I omit the article? Also, is the preposition "of" redundant?

texts:
In the sentence below, should I omit the article because "efficiencies" is plural and uncountable? Is the second "of" redundant? How can I make this sentence more concise?

The factors that influence the containment and mitigation efficiencies, the spreading rate, and the total contamination of the waste and of the surrounding environment were also investigated.


texts: Grammar knowledge - cause for low knowledge

texts:
I have to formulate this question very carefully. So I would say I have the impression that the knowledge in grammar matters of English mother-tongue speakers
is as an average lower when compared to speakers of other languages.
I am not quite sure whether everybody will agree.
I wonder what may be the causes.
One cause is obvious. As English has reduced almost all grammatical endings and has elegantly replaced the function of grammatical endings by other means such as prepositions, auxiliary verbs, modal verbs and position it is a lot more difficult
to see how the grammar system of English works.
I am astonished to see how many people have problems with basic grammar things such as word classes or structures of sentences.
But I assume there must be other causes. I would be interested to hear opinions.


texts: Word for falling in love with dead person after seeing their picture

texts: Suppose someone falls in love with someone who's dead, by seeing his picture or by hearing about him. What would this person or situation would be called?


texts: Someone just told me that my business website structure should be "well-siloed"... what does that mean.

texts: I know they're referencing a silo but i'm not understanding how it correlates/translates to business structure and presentation. are they talking about the function of the silo?


texts: How can I not use duplicate verbs in the same sentence?

texts:
In the following sentence:

  It seems that solitary life may serve the statue - quo preserving inertia whereas joining social life does one become aware of his/her full potential

Should I repeat the phrase:

  ...whereas joining social life may serve...

or should I leave as it is?


texts: Is a band referred to by "Who" or "What"?

texts:
If someone were to ask what your favorite band was, which of the following would be correct?

Who is your favorite band?
What is your favorite band?

I feel like this is obfuscated by groups named after the lead singer. For instance, "Dru Hill" or "Sisqo" would not be a proper answer to "What is your favorite band?" as they are individuals.


texts: I know the difference between A.D./B.C. and C.E./B.C.E. in terms of the religious accuracy i.e. that Christ was probably born in 4 B.C., what I don't understand is how this affects the C.E./B.C.E. interpretation of the calendar.


texts: Why is the plural of 'leaf' spelled 'leaves'?

texts: I am a bit confused about why the plural of leaf is leaves. Can anyone explain why leaves is the plural form?


texts:
I have checked on the NOAD, but I didn't find the origin of Americana; it's reported that it means things associated with the culture and history of America, especially the United States, but not the origin of the word.

I have a hypothesis, but it doesn't explain why Americana is a plural noun. Does anybody know the origin of the word?


texts: What is the origin of the phrase "knock-down, drag-out"?

texts:
I can find this phrase in a few dictionaries:

knock-down, drag-out — marked by extreme violence or bitterness and by the showing of no mercy knock–down, drag–out political debates

But I don't fully understand why these two phrases became such a common saying. Why did this particular combination come to mean a particularly terrible fight or war? Is there something in each phrase that brings a particular meaning? Or does it just something that sounds catchy?
If it helps, here are the notes from etymonline that points toward the 1800s as the time of origin:

knock — Knock-down, drag-out is from 1827.
drag — Drag-out "violent fight" is from c.1859

"Drag-out" came to mean "violent fight" but almost 30 years after the phrase "knock-down, drag-out" was recorded. So why did the phrase include "drag-out"? What did it mean in the 1820s?


texts: Could anyone help me to explain this quote?

texts:
I have read this quote:

  The difference in winning & losing is most often, not quitting.

I am so curious for some issue below.

I wonder why "not", as in "not quitting", has a comma in front
of "not"?
whether "quitting" is a present participle or a gerund?
Does meaning of this sentence change if "not" is placed after "is"?
Is "not quitting" a reduced form of an adjective clause?
Is it possible that "not quitting" comes from "The difference which doesn't quit in winning & losing is most often"?

PS. Thank you in advance for answering my question and I am so sorry if I make you confused.


texts:
I need to know whether one could say he "got a dream of" something instead of saying that he "dreamt of" something.
Would the former usage be grammatically correct?


texts: Referring something which is not the last item, but one before the last one

texts: what is the true phrase to refer something informally and formally which is not the last one, but one before the last?


texts: When I was reading P.S Your Cat is Dead by James Kirkwood, I remember stumbling upon a single word that meant an explosion of positive emotion, but I can't recall what that word was. The word had a heavily positive connotation. Any ideas?


texts:
so I'm translating an RPG book from English to Brazilian Portuguese and stumbled upon (for the first time) with the expression "strident note". I'm not familiar with it, and although I can sort of grasp the overall idea of the excerpt where it appears, I wanted to have a better understanding of its meaning, but my attempts to google it returned no results with its meaning, just examples of usage.

Can anyone help me? Here's the excerpt:

  "Ana's ultimate goal is to persuade her husband to use his authority
  to have the cigani identified as an undesirable pagan influence on
  [...]. Unfortunately, Father Filopovic is a more tolerant man than she
  had anticipated, and a strident note has entered her calls to
  eject the cigani."


texts: Compound adverb — "kick-start a party soccer style"

texts:
I have asked this question in ELL site, but there were not much reply, and so I decided to ask the same question here. Though I will change the question a little bit to exactly what I need more and to stop you from repeating the same answer that I already got from ELL site.

Here is the link for my question in ELL

  Times Life tells you how to kick-start a party soccer style as the FIFA World Cup 2014, in Brazil, gets underway.
  — The Times of India

I understand the meaning of this sentence, but I was curious to know that why there was no in before the bold part of the quoted sentence.

One answer in ELL site suggests that soccer style is by itself acting as an adverb. Hence there is no need for any preposition. Fine with me, but I am wondering how to decide which compound words I will use as an adverb and which I won't.


texts: Do the following three expressions have the same meaning?

texts:
My flight is scheduled for 7 p.m. from New York.

My flight is scheduled for New York at 7 p.m.

My flight is scheduled for New York, 7 p.m.


texts: Why does the letter ‘o’ appear in the word ‘people’?

texts:
My two daughters demanded to know this. I speculated that it was artificially inserted, perhaps in the 17th-18th century, perhaps to make the word look more like populus, somewhat similar to the way the spurious ‘s’ was added to ‘island’.  I later learned that the Middle English spelling was peeple or peple, which I think tends to support this hypothesis, but I don't know. The picture is further confused by the existence of the Old French form people. Perhaps the ‘o’ was dropped, and then the older form was revived?

I consulted several dictionaries before posting this, including the Online Etymology Dictionary, and did not find any with a definitive answer.

Is anything specific known about the introduction of the ‘o’?


texts: How to refer to multiple entities that belong to multiple entities correctly?

texts:
So, for example, there are multiple books by multiple authors, and I want to talk about them. Is it correct to write "books authors"? Because "book authors" sounds like authors of one book...
I saw another example like this "The list contains English and French country names as well as the local names of the countries". I see countries are singular in the first case but plural in the second.
My use case is making identifiers in programming (variable and database table(s?) names), and I have not seen much use of "of" there. Maybe I should introduce "of" nevertheless.


texts: How do I ensure "since" takes the meaning I want?

texts:
I have a sentence like this:

  Since I graduated, I have been working for xyz in abc.

Since can mean:

in the intervening period between (the time mentioned) and the time under consideration, typically the present.
for the reason that: because.

As both fit, the sentence is a little ambiguous in my opinion.
I want it to mean the first (time duration). How do I make sure it does that?

"Since the time I..." sounds valid to me, but is there a better way to put it?


texts: Is thriple,a couple with 3 persons, a recognized word or a rarely used slang word?

texts: I cannot find "Thriple" in Cambridge or Oxford dictionary. I do not know if it is really used or not.


texts: What is another word for 'pronoun' within this problem domain?

texts:
An excerpt from the the song "99 Bottles of Beer" would be the following two verses:

  2 bottles of beer on the wall, 2 bottles of beer. Take one down
  and pass it around, 1 bottle of beer on the wall.

  1 bottle of beer on the wall, 1 bottle of beer. Take it down and
  pass it around, no more bottles of beer on the wall.

As you can see from the words in bold, one difference between these verses is the word "one" and "it". These words are pronouns representing the thing that is being taken down.

I'm trying to come up with a term that generalizes this concept. One options would be to simply use the term "pronoun". In other words, the "pronoun" for the first example verse is "one" and the "pronoun" for the second example verse is "it".

However, I am wondering if anyone can come up with a term to generalize "it" and "one" that is more related to the domain of the "99 Bottles of Beer" song.

As an example, the second word in each verse is another difference between the two example verses. We have "bottle" and "bottles". In this case, we can generalize these terms to represent the "container" for the beginning of that verse.

The "container" for the beginning of first example verse is "bottles", and the "container" for the beginning of the second example verse is "bottle". The concept of a "container" is related to the problem domain. It would be less descriptive to generalize this difference as a "unit". It's still correct, but it seems less related to the "99 Bottles of Beer Song". It's too general.

I feel that "pronoun" is similar to "unit". It's too abstract. Is there a word that can be used instead of "pronoun" that is more closely related to the song? Similar to the way "container" is more closely related than "unit"?


texts: "Distribution worker" vs. "distributed worker"

texts:
I cannot differentiate the meanings of the two words. Could you please clarify?

In general, when should I use a noun (distribution) or an adjective (distributed) for verbs similar to distribute, like organize, create?


texts: Does a parked car lie in the street, or sit in the street, or stand in the street?

texts:
Does a parked car

  lie in the street

or

  sit in the street

or

  stand in the street

?

Is there a rule to determine which verb to use with a specific noun, when the noun describes a thing – like a ball – which cannot have different positions, contrary to a human being for instance?


texts: Which is correct "lean on door" OR "lean against door"?

texts:
The questions is self-explanatory.
I've actually seen "lean on door" to be more frequently used, but I've also heard the latter form.

Is there a difference between these two forms?


texts:
As in

  'The cat jumped over the dog,' Jack said

What would you call the "Jack said" part?


texts: The words India and England sound the same but why are the starting letters different?

texts: For example why can't we use Endia or Ingland. Any specific reason?


texts:
Problems in complex adaptive systems are neither mathematically
  tractable nor are they [amenable?] to statistical techniques.

I don't think 'amenable' is correct here. What would be a proper word to use instead?


texts: How is possession indicated with an apostrophe for a name ending ss?

texts:
Hi assuming you have a name like Cross, Tess or Ross. What is the correct way of writing including the apostrophe assuming the owner is a singular entity?

Eg.

Ross's apples
Ross'es apples


texts: "Present perfect" vs. "present continuous" for completed actions

texts:
Sometimes the present perfect continuous tense has the same meaning as the present perfect tense, and  it makes me feel confused. I don't know which one is the better to use. For example:

Someone has eaten my chips.
Someone has been eating my chips.


texts: How is Period, Comma, Semi colon, Colon read?

texts: I understand that, when encountering a period, comma, semi-colon, or a comma, in reading something aloud, one normally makes a slight pause. Does the length of that pause depend on which of these punctuation marks it corresponds to? For example, do people, on average, pause for longer when encountering a period, than when encountering a comma?


texts: How do I ask a question about someone's order of birth?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Framing a question whose answer is an ordinal number
  How to phrase an asking sentence that must be answered with an ordinal number?
  How to ask a question to get a cardinal number answer

My friend is the second child of her mother.
How would I ask her that apart from asking - Are you the second daughter? - like I need to ask the order of her birth. How will I ask it?


texts:
To nominalize a verb, you sometimes use the gerund.

  to happen --> a happening

Sometimes it's a different word.

  to arrive --> an arrival

so we don't write

  to arrive --> an *arriving

Is there a rule for when to use each method? Currently I just use whichever sounds good, being a native speaker.


texts:
I have recently heard that phrase (touch the blue paper) from a native English speaker¹. Is it an erroneous alteration of the expression light the blue touchpaper or is it a correct² phrase in its own right?

  1. from the West Midlands, if that matters.
  2. by correct, I mean in current idiomatic usage


texts: Is this meaning for the word Paradigm correct?

texts:
I have seen the word paradigm described as:

  The way any individual perceives, understands, and interprets the surrounding world

and it doesn't sit right with me. My understanding was that paradigm was to mean "the way things are modelled globally", rather than on an personal basis. I have looked up the word in a few online dictionaries and on Wikipedia which seems to suggest that it's:

  A typical example or pattern of something; a pattern or model

which is not too dissimilar from the meaning that I have been told, but I think subtly different in the direction that it seems to be looking. I.e the common usage suggests that the model is derived by others and given to the individual as a way of explaining a complex issue, where as the way I have been told it is the individuals own method of understanding.

Is the reading I have recently been given significantly incorrect and if it is what is a better word to describe that?


texts: What do you call a person who starts learning something before you do?

texts:
For example, someone who started learning and playing badminton five years before you do, under the same instructor. Another example, like a senior person in the same school.

Thanks.


texts: Are there any differences between "appearances at" and "appearances on"?

texts:
We say:

  Her appearance on "Friends" was just amazing.

and I think we also say:

  His appearance at 84th Annual Academy Awards was somewhat surprising.

So, are there any differences with these sentences? Is it exchangeable, or is there any rule to use proper prepositions in each situation?


texts: Tyrion Lannister Acquits Himself? Guess Again!

texts:
If I were to say that, in his perilous negotiations with the slavers (transcribed below), Tyrion Lannister had “acquitted” himself, would I be saying that Tyrion had A) repaid or settled a debt or obligation incurred (i.e., the insult of the slaver’s disparaging assumption) or B) conducted himself in a specified manner? Either sense seems plausible, but not both in the instant case.

Prior to my inquiry I was unfamiliar with sense (A). On the few occasions I’ve encountered the usage of “acquit” outside of the legal sense of being found “not guilty,” it has always collocated with “well,” as in the latter sense (B) and the lexicons I’ve consulted fail to specify the conduct. Is it even possible to “acquit oneself” other than adroitly (well)?

Scene: Boss Slaver and his Lieutenant discussing the fate of their captives

  Lt. Slaver: (indicating Jorah Mormont) Salt mines?

  Boss Slaver: That ... or a galley-slave. He looks strong enough.

  Lt. Slaver: What about the dwarf?

  Boss Slaver: Worthless. Cut his throat.

  Tyrion: Wait. Wait. Wait, wait, wait! Let’s discuss this!

  Boss Slaver: And then ... chop off his cock. We’ll sell it for a fortune ... a dwarf’s cock has magic powers.

  Tyrion: Wait. Wait. Wait, wait, wait! You can’t just hand a dried cock to a merchant and expect him to pay for it! He has ta know it came from a dwarf! And how could he know, unless he sees the dwarf?

  Lt. Slaver: It will be a dwarf-sized cock.

  Tyrion: Guess again!

ACQUIT

Collins defines "acquit" thusly:

  acquit vb (tr):

  3. to repay or settle (something, such as a debt or obligation)

  4. to perform (one's part); conduct (oneself)

  [C13: from Old French aquiter, from quiter to release, free from, quit]

Whereas, the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language defines acquit:

  2. To conduct (oneself) in a specified manner: acquitted herself well during the interview.

  3. Archaic To release or discharge from an obligation, such as a debt.

  4. Obsolete To repay.

  [Middle English aquiten, from Old French aquiter: a-, to (from Latin ad-; see quite in Indo-European roots).] Definitions/etymology from TFD

SPOILER ALERT: Tyrion manages to hold on to his genitalia ... so far.


texts:
I often make mathematical claims in some of my class. However, at this point, I recognize that anytime I attempt to "prove" something, more often than not there may be a flaw in my proof.

This puts me in the awkward position of writing "Claim" followed by "proof" when in fact, I highly doubt whatever logic I just put forth actually proves my claim.

What is a less strong word for "proof"?

EDIT: example

Claim: 2^.5 is not a rational number

Proof: .....the usual attempt (someone smarter than me can add it if they feel inclined)

It's not that this proof is flawed. But suppose I attempt it and I give an "attempted proof" that happens not to be right. Then my attempt is not a proof whereas the usual proof is a proof because it actually proves the claim whereas mine attempts but fails.


texts: What is difference between sadness and sorrow?

texts:
What is the difference between sadness and sorrow? I researched a lot on internet but the results literally show the same meaning.

If both sadness and sorrow are different, what are their usage?


texts:
"In all patients, the injection was administered proximal to the knee."
"The ankle is distal to the knee."

What is the meaning of "to" in these sentences ?
--- Comparing or a connection, relation between things ?


texts: Word meaning an assortment of boring, small, less important tasks to accomplish

texts:
In a day, I usually have a few small tasks that are necessary to do and somewhat consequential but easy and short to accomplish and are kind of a distraction from the main work I hope to accomplish over the course of a day.  I'm sure I'm not the only one with such tasks.

Examples are: checking and replying to emails, planning and scheduling activities, delivering items to colleagues, briefly following up on previous requests, etc.

What's a word to describe such tasks?  If it matters, I'm looking for a word that describes putting all such tasks together in my schedule so I can do them back-to-back at the same time, a time which I have isolated from my main, more important work.

Edit: these tasks aren't always routine.  "Errands" would be an accurate term to describe some of them, but not all.  There are some routine tasks and other non-routine errands.  And the tasks are not all unimportant.  I'd say most of them are important or semi-important, it's just that it's a simple matter to accomplish them.

Second Edit: A lot of the suggestions I've received seem to focus on the tasks being boring or dull.  These tasks are not necessarily boring or dull, in fact many of them are fun or interesting.  The main feature of these tasks is that they are small, easy tasks that get in my way of accomplishing the big things I actually hope to accomplish in a given day.  They are not necessarily related to the big things I hope to accomplish.

The closest words that I have come up with or have been suggested so far are: menial, trivial, and errand.  What is a menial, trivial, non-routine, errand-like task that doesn't necessarily involve going out (as the word "errand" implies, at least for me)?


texts: Which of these is the correct usage "working [with / on / in]"?

texts:
I am trying to update my profile. Which one of these is the correct sentence that I should use in my profile?

I am a developer working on Microsoft technologies.
I am a developer working in Microsoft technologies.
I am a developer working with Microsoft technologies. (Currently, I have this after I tried the above two.)


texts:
I am aware this is a nonsensical / silly question, but my last question
got me thinking about this. Say you have a hypothetical verb ending in -us. Lets pretend this verb is the word "Cactus".
Some fake examples of our hypothetical -us verb.

To cactus or not to cactus-that is the question!
I cactus with my friends on weekends.
I just cactused my pants!
Are you going cactusing this weekend?

Now if you tried to make "cactusing" plural how would you go about that?

Cactiing

or

Cactusings

What is the proper way to express multiple "cactusings".


texts: Is there an adjective that describes someone good at controlling a vehicle, i.e., means a very "skilled pilot"? Trying to avoid using the word "pilot", "driver", etc.


texts: "Remain a cool kid" vs. "remain as a cool kid"

texts:
Which of the following is grammatical?

  He wants to remain a cool kid for the rest of his life.
  He wants to remain as a cool kid for the rest of his life.


texts: When is the word rate used in the plural?

texts:
To evaluate the transmission rate of the LRU channel,we evaluate it as
a covert channel using one target set.
When d = {2, 4, 6}, the error rate is large on E5-2690.
Figure 5 (top) shows the error rate of the channel versus the
different transmission rates
Detailed analysis and evaluation of the LRU channels, including
evaluation of the transmission rates and bit error rates of the LRU
covert channels on both Intel and AMD processors and comparison of the
LRU channels with the existing cache channels from the perspective of
encoding time and cache miss rates.

The rate in the last sentence is plural. Why not use a plural number for the previous rate? Especially in the second sentence, it clearly refers to not one. Including words such as channel makes me very confused. Sometimes they use plurals, sometimes not? Is there any way to judge?
These rates all refer to the results on a graph.
Thanks!


texts:
I understand that you'se is not considered a formal English word by the Oxford. Colloquially, many people use the word you'se all the time in common conversation. As such, there is a gap in formal English for pointing out the subject as two or more people being adressed.
For example, if I were to say

  You should buy that Lear Jet.

It would be pronounced the same as

  You [people] should buy that Lear Jet.

The only thing separating the two statements is context, which is sometimes hard to encapsulate across different media etc.

Why then is you'se not a formal word for this situation?
For example:

  You'se [all people being addressed] should buy that Lear Jet.

It becomes obvious that verbally, the pronoun of the conversation is now referencing more than one person and dispelling confusion.
I understand that ye was the Middle English form of this word.
As such, why is you'se frowned upon?

Edit: For non-Australians, the word you'se is equivalent to y'all and can be substituted throughout my question.


texts: Is the use of a hyphen between "non" and an adjective strictly necessary?

texts: Do I need to put a "-" between "non" and an adjective? As an example in physics we say "a non isolated photon", "non tight photon"... The context is very formal (paper publications and similar). Is there a general rule? Are there some differences between countries?


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Are these plural or singular?
  Should we use plural or singular for a fraction of a mile?

I want to write price of some thing in my site.
As I know (maybe I am wrong) for things more than one we have to use "s". Related to 1.99 which is correct?
What is the correct pronunciation?


texts: What is the connotation behind the preposition "gone"?

texts:
I found few examples of the word gone as preposition; I know that this form is chiefly used in British English, and that it means "later than the time mentioned". But I couldn't grasp the connotation behind this word.

  It was gone ten o’clock by the time they arrived.
  It's gone six already.

Can anyone please define the word connotatively, and provide some examples to create a clearer understanding of how it works?

I also know that connotation means the secondary meaning of a word; so I need the secondary meaning of the word gone. ODO defined its primary meaning as "denotation".


texts: Single word for "epiphanic sense of accomplishment"

texts:
Regarding that moment where information (joke, plot, etc) is delivered in a way such that the audience nearly misses the content of what is said, and subsequently feels an orchestrated false sense of accomplishment at having caught the line and its meaning. I've got a smorgasbord of words that cover the flash of discovery (eureka, epiphany, click, etc) and a few that work for the triumph aspect, but none that mesh the two. I'm certain I've heard this situation described in either one word or at least a succinct phrase. Insight?

Also, eureka and the like may give the wrong sense. I more closely associate them with finding the information or what-have-you all in a flash, whereas this situation is more of bringing information, gathered quickly, into abrupt focus. An epiphany of understanding, not discovery.


texts:
I'm getting confused on the usage of the words, holiday and holidays. When I want to say that I had a good holiday (or is it good holidays!?) with my family in Melbourne for 5 days, should I say:

  Our holiday in Melbourne was great!

Or should I say:

  Our holidays in Melbourne was great!


texts: "Let I uncover you" grammatically correct?

texts:
In this song the lyrics read "... So let's uncover me and then let I uncover you..." To me this sounds wrong but i'm not a native speaker and the same phrase is repeated multiple times and the word "I" could have easily be replaced with "me" since both are just one syllable.

So I wanted to ask: can "...let I uncover you..." be grammatically acceptable?


texts: Why isn't the definite article used before "closest" in "Who are you closest to"?

texts: Why is there no definite article before "closest" in the question "Who are you closest to in your family?" My only assumption is that "to be close to someone" is a set phrase and it is used without an article.


texts: Is there a noun for the word "exact" that is like the word "similarity"?

texts:
I am not sure how to word this correctly, but I am looking for a noun for the word "exact" that is basically like the word "similarity". Would the word "exactitude" be what I am looking for?
Here is the sentence as it stands now: "I could see the similarities, and the exactitudes, between our lifestyles."
Is this acceptable, or is there a better noun that I do not know of?


texts: "To help to the project" vs. "to help with the project" vs. "to help in the project"

texts:
Which of the following is grammatical?

  He explained how the school teachers help to the project.
  He explained how the school teachers help with the project.
  He explained how the school teachers help in the project.

The teachers aren't part of the project, they give info about the students' progress in school.


texts: Single word to describe some tasks performed sequentially

texts:
I'm searching for a single word to describe a session made of independent tasks performed sequentially.

For example when you go to a medical center (this is the context where it has to be used then technical terms are preferred) and they perform many exams to achieve a diagnosis:

  "In order to diagnose your problem in this [word here] we need to perform an Exercise ECG and an angiography".

I thought about session but I'm not sure it's right one and I'd prefer something else because it's already used on the same context with another meaning. Also examination may be an option but I'm not sure about its usage in this context.

EDIT: assume performed tasks are generically called procedure or test.


texts: What does “one’s peers” mean in “No free man is to be arrested, or imprisoned … save by the lawful judgement of his peers” mean?

texts:
Jill Lepore quotes a clause in Magna Carta, “No free man is to be arrested, or imprisoned … save by the lawful judgement of his peers or by the law of the land,” in her article in New Yorker March 21st issue that came under the title, “After the fact,” which is preceded with the following paragraph;

  “A “fact” is, etymologically, an act or a deed. It came to mean
  something established as true only after the Church effectively
  abolished trial by ordeal in 1215, the year that King John pledged, in
  Magna Carta,”

According to Oxford English Dictionary, “peer” is;

a member of the nobility in Britain or Ireland, comprising the ranks of duke, marques, earl, viscount, and baron.
a person of the same age, status, or ability as another specified person.

Cambridge English Dictionary provides almost same definitions as the above.

What does “his peers” in the quoted clause of the Magna Carta specifically mean? Is it aristocrats, or commoner’s colleagues?


texts: "Whose duty was" vs. "whose duty it was"

texts:
I read the following sentence in the book Word power made easy:

  Charles C. Boycott was an English land agent whose difficult duty it was to collect high taxes from Irish farmers.

Is there a need for the it between duty and was?


texts: I read somewhere that the prefix be- can be used as a causative and this got me thinking. Does this mean that because means to cause to cause or to make cause?


texts:
I'm looking for a synonym for the word "factotum" ("a man  who do everything").

Is "handyman" a good synonym for someone who is able of doing  manual work in different domains (electricity, construction...) ? In particular, does this word have any connotation ? I search a neutral word.

Is "factotum" a well-known word ? In fact, we have the same word in French but most of the people doesn't know/understand it.

Thanks a lot


texts: Is the following sentence grammatically incorrect?


texts: Expression for talking pseudo-smart, but not saying something of value?

texts:
What do you say when someone uses many words, without getting to the point and without saying something really of value with regard to a particular topic? I'd like to emphasize that it's really a lengthy statement with only little content which is actually relevant to what has been asked.
It can seem sophisticated, but when you look closely it's either trivial conclusions or doesn't even answer the question.

I've heard the expression "mental masturbation", but maybe there are better ones.

EDIT: It is not merely lengthy or long-winded. It is rather off-topic or not relevant. It can be rather focussed and condensed - just on things which are irrelevant. Often the talker believes he is being very clever by mentioning complicating stuff.


texts: A word for a person who does something wrong if it's for powerful people

texts:
What's a word for someone who is generally good but might perform without a blink of an eye a sin of sorts, if it is for someone who is powerful, out of awe and admiration for that person and their name in society.

So for example a social worker who knows a family is treating their children badly but despite the fact that the children beg her to help, because she knows the family is rich and powerful and there is a sort of non-spoken agreement that these people can get away with anything, she does nothing...

Hope that makes any sense.

example: She knew Madeleine was suffering there, but one glance at her mother in the hall, arranging her gold necklace reminded her that it was nothing to worry about. She left the house with a positive written review that was left with no weight on her conscience, and out of pure __________.


texts: Term for puns in graphics - "Can"cer be beaten

texts:
Is there a name for this construction or wordplay?

It can be both:

Cancer be beaten
Cancer can be beaten ("Can" in "Cancer" is emphasized for the purpose)

It can be called a wordplay or a pun but I thought there might be a specific name for it. In this example, it is a phrase within a phrase because there is a word within a word.

I checked this Wikipedia article but nothing seems to fit:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_forms_of_word_play


texts:
When I was chatting with my friend, as a part of our conversation I used a phrase. "You have laptop nah." He replied, first try to change your English, it sounds ridiculous, using words nah, right.

To give a brief insight of the context, here is the conversation between me (A) and my friend (B).

A: Hi, is your headset working, the other day you had a problem.

B: I found, that the problem was with my system. I tried with the new headset on the same system and it still had voice issues.

A: I think, you have laptop nah.

B: First, stop using words like nah, right. That sounds stupid. No offense.

I have two questions here:

Am I wrong in the above conversation?
When to use nah, right in the sentences?


texts:
I often uses the verb provide for describing interfaces between components. For example:

  The interface IMath provides the common math functions for (...).

I don't want to use the same verb every time.

Does the usage sound natural to native speakers and are there alternatives to describe it?


texts:
Grammatically, when we construct a first conditional sentence, the if-clause is followed by a result clause with a "will" in it. However, in many formal texts written by native English speakers, I see that the result clause contains would instead of will. I have been searching for a grammar lesson explaining this for more than a year but of no avail. Could you please help me understand what is going on in such a structure? Here is an example from one of my textbooks:

If we continue in this fashion, letting the paint colors get progressively lighter with each successive choice experiment, she may express indifference at each step. Yet, if we offer her a choice between the darkest shade of gray and the final (almost white) color, she would be able to distinguish between the colors and is likely to prefer one of them.


texts: Having a hard time with the present tense for informative situations

texts:
Ok imagine you're somewhere to fix things(e.g. there is a ticket), and then you need to update the status that you fixed it, for example an IP(internet protocol), should I use present tense or past tense.
I think I should use the present tense.
in my case I have to let them know that I made an IP static, but the tricky part here is I don't wanna use the "I" subject so I want it to be sound more passive.
"199.1.1.1 is made static!"  <- it's a fact and I am saying it!! I am not sure, I think this one is the correct way
Or
"199.1.1.1 was made static!" <- this means it was static but not anymore or we don't know if it's static anymore, if I am not wrong?!so this can't be right!
or
"199.1.1.1 has been made static!" <- to my understanding this means this ip is made static at some point in the past, and it's still static, correct me on this, I think it sounds off this one?!, I am so confused.


texts: What would I call the author and date line in a blog?

texts:
What can I call the second line in a blog post heading such as below? I tend to call this the author and date line, but is there a single term that encapsulates this identity?

  Blog Post Title

  Written by Some Person | 14 July 2015                    <-- what's this line called?


texts:
I have recently heard the phrase bugger-lugs used to refer to a person present, as in "How much do I owe you, bugger-lugs?". I have also heard it used to refer to a moderately mischievous child ("what have you been up to, bugger-lugs?"), and I can also remember my mother using the phrase to refer to the cat, in the same way as the mischievous child.

But does anyone know where the phrase comes from? I have tried a search and found the results here, which doesn't shed much light on the matter. Green's Dictionary of Slang suggests it is an affectionate term of address, usually among men, and hints at a naval origin, but otherwise sheds no light on the matter.

Edit following Hugo's link produces possibly an alternative meaning:-

  "Well known in 40s / 50s Lancashire. For many years I thought it was 'bug-a-lugs', never having seen it written ... gross or corpulent habit' from fusty + lug.('lug' in the sense of heavy or slow) Perhaps from buggy-lugs or bugs-in-lugs?"


texts: Is "How are you?", when used as a greeting, an idiom? Is there a better word for it?

texts:
When passing someone in the hall, you might say "How are you?" as a greeting, but not meaning it literally, as you don't really require an answer. Is "How are you?" (or "How's it going?", etc.) an idiom when used this way?

"Idiom" doesn't seem appropriate because that combination of words generally has the literal meaning. Is there another word for this?

Sorry if I am not making this clear. If I can clarify in some way, please ask.

Edit: Could someone explain why this question might have been voted down? Not complaining, just trying to learn.


texts: What is the word to describe a situation where one makes a big deal out of things that can be done with little effort?

texts: What would be the word(s) or an idiom to describe a situation where a person is portraying the situation as if it is a lot of effort to do something when in fact it can be accomplished with just a little effort?


texts:
I wonder whether it is ok to combine i.e. or that is with in this example. Consider that an example meeting situation has been described already and John has been introduced. The document also describes other examples so I tend to use in this example.

The following sounds good for me:

  The task of writing meeting minutes is up to the person who last joins the meeting, in this example that is John.

While this one doesn't:

  The task of writing meeting minutes is up to the person who last joins the meeting, in this example i.e. John.

Putting i.e. in front might solve it:

  The task of writing meeting minutes is up to the person who last joins the meeting, i.e. in this example John.

Which alternatives are ok? Or would you generally recommend to not use i.e. and in example together, because i.e. is thought for explanations which has no exceptions? If it is preferred to not use them together, what is a better replacement to make clear that the conclusion is related to the example in this chapter?