texts: What does it mean to call something Leviathan in comparison to others?

texts:
Wordweb describes Leviathan as:

  The largest or most massive thing of its kind
  Monstrous sea creature symbolizing evil in the Old Testament

A recent Economist article (see The drug war hits Central America) has this usage of Leviathan:

  Whatever the weaknesses of the Mexican
  state, it is a Leviathan compared with
  the likes of Guatemala or Honduras.
  Large areas of Guatemala—including
  some of its prisons—are out of the
  government’s control; and, despite the
  efforts of its president, the
  government is infiltrated by the
  mafia.

It is clear from this text and the rest of the article that Guatemala and Honduras are worse off than Mexico. If that is so, why is the word Leviathan used to refer to Mexico? From the above meaning of Leviathan, should not Mexico be the worst amongst the three? What is the typical usage of this word Leviathan?


texts: Why isn't "stress" capitalized in "Kirchhoff stress"?

texts:
I am confused by the rules for how common nouns can be converted into proper nouns.

For example the word "lake" is a common noun. Yet the common noun "lake" can be part of a proper noun. For example the Great Salt Lake, Utah Lake, Sevier Lake, and Rush Lake.

When looking at the noun "stress" the same thing does not appear to happen. For example the Kirchhoff stress, the Biot stress and the Jaumann stress for a few examples. Why is the "stress" component of the examples above not capitalized? Are they not part of a proper noun?

Even more confusing is the "nominal stress", where neither words are capitalized. Am I correct in thinking that the above examples are not proper nouns but are capitalized as they are named after people? If so are they classified as common nouns?


texts:
This is a passage in the movie The Social Network at 01:14:49:

  Mark says: "Yeah, that reminds me, we're gonna need more money, Wardo."
  Eduardo replies: "Yeah, no, I agree. More servers, more help."

(Emphasis mine.) I want to know why Eduardo says "no" after "yeah". How can he use them both in the same sentence? Is this an idiom?

Note that the quote is based on the subtitles, so I didn't mishear a "yeah, I know" or anything like that.


texts:
I know this verb does not take "to" after the direct object. Although, I spot T.L. Short in his "Peirce's Theory of Signs" always inserting "to" in this construction. What happens? Is it some formal-style feature or something idiosynctratic? Is there something inaccurate with the rule instead?

For example:

  But Peirce supposed that the argument for realism (the underlying argument that he discerned, and not an argument found in his Scholastic sources) denies the existence of anything not general and that the argument for nominalism (again, one he discerned) makes the individual to be the cause, external to experience, of those sensations that make up experience.

...

  It also makes the real to be independent of what you or I think about it, which allows for there to be real thoughts, dreams, mistakes, and so on, that is, things that are not independent of what is thought.

...

  Those are the three problems with Peirce’s early semeiotic: it makes the object signified to disappear; it makes significance to be arbitrary; and it fails to tell us what significance is.


texts: "Get to do" in an obligatory or imperative situation

texts:
Can we use "get to do" in an obligatory or imperative situation?

As in these,

  We get to finish this work by Friday. (Meaning we have to finish this work by Friday.)
  I get to reach the station in an hour to get on the train in time.
  (Meaning we have to reach the station in an hour to get on the train in time.)
  We get to tell people to escape this
  building right away.
  (Meaning we have to tell people to escape this building right away.)


texts: double negative - no one ~ who hadn't also

texts:
No one would want to be famous who hadn't also, somewhere in the past, been made to feel extremely insignificant.

Is the sentence a double negative?
Is "who" a relative pronoun which modifies "one"?
Is the subjunctive mood be used in the above sentence?


texts: If the verb for making something deeper is to deepen, what is the verb for making something shallower (as shallowen is not a word)?


texts: "40-50 years old" vs. "40-50 year olds" when referring to a group

texts:
In formal research, which is more correct, and why:

the group of 40-50 years old
OR
the group of 40-50 year olds

In any case the phrase in bold is to be treated as a noun only, as in:

  The middle group of executives, ie. 40-50 years old is well
  balanced....

Without a range, the hyphenation rules I am used to would suggest "15-year olds" for instance.  However "the 15-25-year olds ..." doesn't present well, does it?

There are related questions here, but none that seem to exactly address this topic. Eg.

Pluralization rule for "five-year-old children", "20 pound note", "10 mile run"

The main difference perhaps is that I need to use ranges, which already use a hyphen.


texts:
I have found this sentence in some of my books and I come across with this sentences below. What I am not clear is the first and second bolded part.
“That carcinogenic substances are contained in many common household items is well known”
First bolded

I think wouldn’t it be correct if it was only “contained” which is a short form from (which are contained)

Second bolded

Not sure, why the verb “is” was used here since the subject is plural.

Sorry if the title is not related


texts: Which are good phrasal verbs for "start working on something"?

texts:
I would like to say something like this:

Person 1: "We have these two tasks for you..."
Person 2: "OK. I will start working on them!"

Which are good, natural and native ways of saying that?
I feel that

OK. I will take them in

could be a choice, is that right?


texts: Is there a word/phrase to describe torching dead bodies?

texts: I am looking for a word to describe torching a dead body; does cremate suit?


texts: When praising someone, does their name come before or after the accolade? What's the difference?

texts:
What's the difference between:

  Gloria, you are amazing!

and

  You are amazing, Gloria!


texts: Can we replace 'of' with 'on' in the following construction?

texts:
Are the following two constructions substitutes? In other words, can they be used as an alternative to each other?

• The boy broke the knob of  the door.
• The boy broke the knob on  the door.

If the answer is 'Yes', would there be any difference in meaning?


texts: What is the difference between 'make decision' and 'take decision'?

texts: What is the difference between make decision and take decision? When to use the one and when the other?


texts:
"I thought I would show you guys some of the highlight products for 2017 that I fell in love with, and I think you should know about. "

Please I'd like to ask about what exactly does the "highlight products" in this sentence mean. Does it refer to the products which are important or really helpful? Like the things/products that I must have in my daily life?

I'd be appreciating if somebody can answer my question. Thanks!!!


texts: What is the name for the second decade in a century?

texts:
Inspired by this question, we have

80's : "The Eighties"
90's : "The Nineties"
00's : "The Naughts" or "The Naughties"
10's : ???


texts: Meaning of "moderates" in "Lower IQ mediates or moderates the association between childhood infection and adult psychosis"

texts:
From a news article:

  “Prospective birth cohort studies suggest that childhood infections are associated with increased risk of schizophrenia in adulthood and with abnormal neurodevelopment in childhood/adolescence as measured by school grade or neurological soft signs; however, studies using IQ tests in a general population sample are rare,” Golam M. Khandaker, PhD, department of psychiatry, University of Cambridge, and colleagues wrote. “It is unclear whether lower IQ mediates or moderates the association between childhood infection and adult psychosis.”

I understand it thus: if lower IQ mediates the infection-psychosis link, this means that it is somehow relevant to the process that leads to psychosis, that lower IQ is part of the "chain of events" that result in psychosis. Some brain circuitry is sub-optimally tuned, some connections are lacking, and hence decreased IQ and, if other factors turn out unfavorably, psychosis.

But what do the authors mean by moderates? Can decreased IQ somehow diminish the risk of psychosis?


texts:
What does this phrase mean? The context is from the play No Exit by Jean-Paul:

  And,  to tell  the  truth,  I  had quite  a  habit  of  living  among  furniture  that  I  didn't relish, and in false  positions.  I'd  even come  to like  it. A  false  position in a  LOUIS-Philippe dining-room—you know  the  style?—well, that  had its  points,  you know.  Bogus  in  bogus, so to speak.

In addition, I would really appreciate if anyone could explain the meaning of whole paragraph.


texts: Is there a word that describes the phenomenon, often seen on SE sites, where someone says they are asking a question "for a friend", but actually mean themselves?


texts:
When is it fine to drop to be when should precedes it?  For example:

  It should prove to be successful.

vs

  It should prove successful.


texts: what is the word to be used when describing your subordinate achievements

texts:
what is the apt word that is to be used to describe the enthusiasm to learn and involve in work.

  Completed the assigned work well within the time and also proactive in learning the subject.

Does the above statements make any sense, I would like to recommend his promotion also  please give suggestions


texts: No capital letter in the beginning of a sentence? "... particles. de Broglie was able to show that ..."

texts:
I encountered the following text (from  a textbook): "... particles. de Broglie was able to show that ... "
Is it correct to make an exception from the rule of a capital letter in the beginning of a sentence, if it begins with a name, which starts from a non-capital letter, like the French "de Broglie"?
I don't think so...


texts: What is a 'non productive' syntactic structure?

texts: I am going through some of my old school notes about English idioms and the text describes idioms as having a non productive syntactic structure. I don't understand and couldn't find anything more about the 'non productive' part of the phrase.


texts: Conjunctions coordinating vs subordinating

texts:
I have a question about the conjunction so.

ABeka, which is an advanced homeschool curriculum, classifies the conjunction so as a subordinating conjunction. The book states that it is used to join clauses of unequal grammatical rank.

Other sources list so as a coordinating conjunction. I need to know which one it is.


texts: "a" and "an" - What is the name for adding characters for better pronunciation?

texts:
We say "a while" but "an hour". The n seems to be added for better pronunciation.
What is the name for this linguistic construct (adding characters to improve pronunciation)?
In French, latent word-final consonants are pronounced before a vowel sound which is known as "Liaison" but this seems to be the wrong term for the addition of characters in English.


texts: Word (or shorter phrase for) "evaluate the relationship between"?

texts:
I am creating a poster to describe some research I have done. Listing the objectives I have something like (edit: using more sensible comparisons):

Evaluate the relationship between height and weight
Evaluate the relationship between height and width
Evaluate the relationship between height and color

This is clearly not an efficient use of space, and I dislike the redundancy.

Is there a word, or shorter phrase that I can use to replace "Evaluate the relationship between"?


texts: How to express the willingness to learn things necessary on the job?

texts:
I am applying for a job in finance where I think I am just a beginner. So there are a lot of things I will learn on the job. I want to express that I am ready for it and to make clear that I am an career entrant. I thought about something like:

"I am willing to enhance my knowledge in finance."

I am not happy with this and I do not know how to express what I want in a nice sentence. So I want to state that I am ready to expand my knowledge where it is necessary and that I am eager to learn new technologies (which are necessray for this) job on the job.


texts: Explanation in simpler english of "written premium"

texts: I just received an email from an insurance company where the full amount wasn't paid. The answer was: "As a gesture of good will, we will write this outstanding premium this time." Does this mean, that they will pay the leftover price? I am not a native so I don't really understand this phrasing.


texts:
Yesterday, when I was looking a bit closer on a teabox from Twinings, I noticed the phrase:
 "By appointment to her Majesty the Queen."
According to google and my dictionary this phrase means:

Okay, so far so good. My question now is, can this phrase " by appointment to" be used in other contexts as well? I only found is in combination with the British Queen. (It's just that the "to" was a bit confusing to me at first. If this phrase could be used in other contexts, could it only be followed by personal names and nouns?)


texts: What's the meaning of 'the underdog' in 'This outfit would be the underdog to a stiff breeze'

texts:
I have seen the sentence 'This outfit would be the underdog to a stiff breeze.' in a quote of the newspaper 'TIMES'.

I was looking for 'breeze' in the collins online dictionary and this phrase appears as an example, but without context.

If you look 'underdog' in the dictionary, you get: 'The underdog in a competition or situation is the person who seems least likely to succeed or win'. But I don't know how to apply this definition to the clothes. I can't understand what's the meaning of 'the underdog' in the sentence.


texts: What is a suitable word for a desired/ideal level of education?

texts:
Boss speaking to employee:

  "yes, you have the minimum education level but I'd say that for this task the __________ education level is X"

I used the word "minimum", but is there a better way of saying it?

(I need to say that for doing a specific task (such as "calling a customer on the phone") there is a minimum level of education.)

Saying "ideal education" is not good because it can mean "the highest possible education".

Should I say "desired education"?


texts: Why does "complex sentence" vs "compound sentence" matter?

texts:
This question asks about (teaching) the distinction between complex and compound sentences.

I have managed to read really quite widely in linguistics for more than fifty years without ever as far as I can recall encountering this distinction. To me it appears completely pointless and nitpicking.

Would somebody please enlighten me why it might be of any interest or value to make the distinction, never mind teach it?


texts:
i try to build a phrase in the context of Master application :
 We said :

  let me know if there are further requirements for my application .

or

  let me know if there are  further requirements about my application .


texts: What is this rhetorical scheme or literary device called?

texts:
I can't recall the name of the rhetorical scheme or literary device involved with using the same word more than once within the same sentence but with different meanings:

"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."

fear - verb
fear - noun

"Turn right right here."

right - adv. directional
right - adv. in this place

"My feet are but feet away."

feet - noun lower appendage
feet - noun distance


texts: Word for the act of growing a limb back?

texts:
So when a limb gets removed you are dismembered.

But some animals, like lizards, can grow limbs back.  E.g. if they lose a tail it can grow back.  Is there a word for this process?

A humorous word for it might be to be remembered.  I love the idea of a lizard remembering its tail.


texts:
What is an unambiguous usage of punctuation after a block of code?
For example, suppose I have the following:
something = "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog :)"
that = find(isequal('b'), something)
looks = find("brown", something)
like = replace(something, "brown" => "red")
code = ":"")"^2

Now this is a new sentence, but there could not have been a full stop inside the code, as it would modify it.  One could argue that if the succeeding line begins with a capital letter, one should imagine a full stop after the code, while if it doesn't there shouldn't be one.
The situation is trickier with commas though. Observe the following example:
something = "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog :)"
that = find(isequal('b'), something)
looks = find("brown", something)
like = replace(something, "brown" => "red")
code = ":"")"^2

where something is something. Here there should have been a comma before "where", but where should one place it?
It gets even worse. The capitalisation argument breaks down with proper nouns. For example we might have:
something = "The quick brown Fox jumps over the lazy dog :)"
that = find(isequal('b'), something)
looks = find("brown", something)
like = replace(something, "brown" => "red")
code = ":"")"^2

Fox is a really good guy. "Fox" is now a name, and thus should be capitalised. In this situation all three cases (full stop, comma, no punctuation) are plausible. Note that the first sentence after the block/the continuation of the block's sentence (since it's ambiguous) does not convey any logical meaning in this example, but it just goes to show how an ambiguous sentence/series of sentences could be formed.
Is there an unambiguous resolution to this?


texts: Is the expression “to run someone out” an actual saying?

texts: I’ve hear it before, but can’t seem to find an actually source that says it is a common phrase used. As far as I know, it means to kick someone out. But let me know if you’ve used it before or if it is correct to use such expression.


texts: Principle and Practice or Principles and Practices? A Grammatical Question

texts:
A very simple question: I have come up with a title for a project and don't know whether to use the singular or plural: 'Principle and practice for betterment' or 'Principles and practices for betterment'.
Which one is correct or are they both grammatically sound in the context of being a project title?
Thank you in advance.


texts:
In the conclusion of an essay, which fits better?

Through this experience, ...
Throughout this experience, ...

It sounds better to me with throughout, but I really do not know why. Any explicit example will be greatly appreciated.


texts:
I have the following technical instructions for our software product:

Go to ~/directory
Download here [link to the file]
Execute the following command: [command]

Should I use here or there in the 2nd step? Or maybe you can suggest another elegant and simple way to instruct our users?


texts:
Suppose I lend a game to my friend, John. After he returns it, I might say to someone else:

I was returned my game (by John).

I'm torn on the correctness of this. Specifying the agent makes it look less right to me, though not outright wrong. Maybe I ought to use "from" instead of "by"?
I know for a fact it's grammatically valid to phrase this in the active voice like so:

John returned my game to me.

I'm comfortable with changing this into the passive voice:

My game was retuned to me (by John).

I'm fairly confident we can shorten the active voice version a bit by removing the preposition:

John returned me my game.

"John returned me" on its own implies John gave me back to someone or some place. Putting the object right after changes the meaning. However, I'm having doubts about whether this same principle translates over to the very first wording I mentioned. If mine doesn't hold up, is there any way to convert the last phrasing to the passive voice?
Edit: Seems this is a matter of monotransitivity vs. ditransitivity. Always nice to learn the name of a concept. Thank you all for your input! I now realise I was most likely drawing a parallel between "return" and "give".


texts:
I am in the process of finalizing an academic research paper and I am struggling to identify the correct hyphenation for the title:
Option 1: Adaptive Chirplet Transform-Based Machine Learning for P300 Brainwave Classification
Option 2: Adaptive Chirplet Transform Based Machine Learning for P300 Brainwave Classification
I have attempted to ascertain the correct or acceptable version of the title based on other academic papers that have a similar phrasing, but it seems as though both are commonly used.
Is one more correct than the other? For reference, I am at a Canadian University submitting to a conference hosted in Malaysia run by an international professional association (the IEEE).


texts: It seems that cancel and cancel out can be used in the same way. For example, A cancels B or A cancels out B. In which context is one preferred over the other?


texts: What is the difference between “that” and “the” in this context?

texts:
What is the difference between these two sentences:

  In that third week of November, I started school.

and

  In the third week of November, I started school.


texts: English word for “monnaie” in the context of money creation

texts:
The actual quote is:

  Un débat sur la monnaie n'a pas encore eu lieu. Il aiderait pourtant
  à clarifier les choses, plutôt que d'attendre la prochaine crise.

Current translation is:

  A debate on [money] has not yet occurred. Yet it would help to clarify things, rather than wait for the next crisis.

The article where this was cited was about money creation and the statement could imply that the system has its part to play in a crisis.

I attempted to translate it into English but "money" in the place of "monnaie" doesn't seem right.

Money is a generic term in English and could lead people to think the quote is about financial or money-related problems and not the monetary system itself.

Wiktionary gives one translation as currency which seems close. However, it could again lead a reader to think specifically in terms of a dollar/pound/euro/etc and not money in the general sense as an token of exchange.

Unless mistaken, monnaie can have a larger sense. What the author is actually talking about is the way any money besides cash is created and I gather he has an interest in complementary currencies.

Any suggestions?


texts:
e.g.
I didn't get to where I am now unless ...
or
I wouldn't have got where I am now ...
Are these both correct?
The first sentence I found in a EFL series New English File.
I have never heard this used in HampshireUK nor have I ever used it myself.


texts: Connotatively neutral alternatives to "ignorant"?

texts:
The word "ignorant" has a denotative meaning along the lines of "to lack knowledge" or "to not know", but its connotative meaning, by my understanding, is negative.  Are there any synonyms of this word that have a more neutral connotation?

The stack exchange question here suggests that "uninformed" might be suitable for this purpose, but there seems to be a split consensus on that word's connotation; some see that word as connotatively negative as well.  Historically, I myself have used the phrase "to not know" as a safe alternative, since it isn't my wish to stigmatize others for lacking knowledge; however, this substitute is slightly verbose.  Are there other possibilities?


texts: "and been" vs "and has been" when "has" is repeated.

texts:
I have the sentence:

  The role has gotten easier and easier to play, and been forced upon me more frequently than not.

I was wondering if and been is correct to use in this case, or if "has" must be used again i.e. and been or and has been.


texts:
Which sentence is correct:

I'm eating less chocolate at the moment because I am on a diet.

I eat less chocolate at the moment because I am on a diet.

Which tense should be used here?


texts: Etymology and meaning of "discretionary"

texts:
I found this sentence on a page about MyPyramid:

There is one other category:

Discretionary calories, represented by the narrow tip of each colored band,
including items such as candy, alcohol, or additional food from any other group.

Could you explain to me the etymology and meaning of discretionary, including easily understandable examples of usage?


texts:
I was wondering if it is fine to write

  From this project, I have learned [blah blah], and this is the most important harvest I have received from this project.

What is a better metaphor or better way to express the meaning?


texts:
Which sentence is correct?

  ...where successful people are giving lectures and people could
  exchange knowledge among themselves.
  ...where successful people are giving lectures and people could exchange knowledge among them.


texts:
From Yahoo answers and other sources I could find, it is suggested this means that the beat of the song changes, however when it is mentioned in song lyrics it is usually mentioned as something someone does e.g.

  Beastie Boys known to let the beat, mmm,  drop!

...

  Will.i.am drop the beat now

What is someone doing when they "drop the beat"?


texts: What type of grammar is 'than they would be if ...'?

texts:
I briefly search 'than they would be if ...' on Google, but nothing interesting relevant shows up upon a glimpse. Here's an example sentence:

  Proof-of-concept technologies, although important, are less valuable than they would be if they were supported by careful experiments that identify key attributes of the design or principles that span applications.

My understanding is it's saying that it's more valuable if they are supported by experiments. My understanding of using 'than' is that it compares two things, A bigger than B, etc; here a subsentence goes after than, instead of just a noun. Is this a special usage of than? What type of grammar or sentence structure is 'something than they would be ...' called?


texts:
I realise there is a small element of subjectivity, but for the purposes of efficient use of the English language, I wonder if one should say "take a decision" or simply "decide". I feel like many, if not all, uses of "take a decision" could just as easily be said as "decide" but I hear the latter relatively rarely.

My question is, do they mean exactly the same thing?


texts: Word for the mutual transfer of belongings to their appropriate domains

texts:
I'm looking for a word that describes the following situations:

A man and a woman are breaking up. Over the course of their relationship, their possessions have become intermingled: a box of his LPs at her place, a bottle of her shampoo at his. They agree to a series of events through which he takes back what's his and she hers.
A company has two branches, one for accounts payable and one for accounts receivable. The company receives a large flow of correspondence pertaining to both. To sort this, they hire an uninitiated temp to determine which mail goes to which department. While in some cases the temp gets it right, in many cases each department receives mail which would better fall under the other's jurisdiction. Every week, they engage in a transfer where a courier from each department trades the other for the misdirected mail.


texts: What does the word 'dicta' ('dita'?) mean in the song 'Who's That Chick?'?

texts:
The song 'Who's That Chick?' by David Guetta featuring Rihanna features the following line in the chorus:

  She's been a crazy dicta, disco fever and you wonder...

Lyrics websites disagree on the word in bold: 'dita' seems to be a common alternative. To my ear it sounds more like /ˈdɪktə/ than /ˈdɪtə/ or /ˈdɪttə/. (You can listen here - the chorus starts at about 1:10.)

I can't find any definitions of 'dita' (or 'ditta' or 'ditter' etc.) that make any sense in the context of this song.

As for 'dicta', there is a sole entry on UrbanDictionary:

  A woman that appears to be quiet when you first meet her, but once you begin unraveling her personality you realize that she scarily independent.

While this might fit the song, I can't find any evidence for it apart from an anonymous answer on Yahoo! Answers. The wording of the answer is very similar to that of the UrbanDictionary definition; both may well have been written by the same person. The definition happened to appear in December last year, not long after the song was released.

Perhaps the lyricist was out of ideas and decided to invent a new word.


texts: Using "as" to connect sentences or omitting it to create a relative clause

texts:
I have the following sentence:

  We take advantage of these approaches as described in the following section.

Or is it better to omit "as":

  We take advantage of these approaches described in the following section.

I am not not quite clear how the meaning change with/without 'as' in this case. Any insights?


texts: Past Perfect Sentence structure for yes/no questions

texts:
Which of these is correct and why?

Had not you seen this movie before?
Had you not seen this movie before?


texts: Which is correct: "...as a new..." or "...as new..."?

texts:
I've been having this discussion for a few months now: should I write "the molecule has been identified as new anti-inflammatory drug" or "the molecule has been identified as a new anti-inflammatory drug"?

I believe the second option is correct, but English is not my native language, and I can't find a rule to justify my opinion. Is there any rule that states the requirement of the article?

Sorry if this is really obvious, and thanks in advance.


texts: What is a word to describe a person who wears several masks?

texts: What word best describes a person who is deceitful and very complicated to understand? As they say, he wears several masks.


texts: How many phonemes are in the word “queen”?

texts:
I am in the process of digging into phonemes as a way to help teach our son to read.  I don't remember ever having formal instruction on the role of phonemes in speech, and I am actually having a lot of fun learning.  I have been practicing myself based on this list of the 44 phonemes in the english language: Phonics Guide.

But I'm stuck on something: I think the word queen should have four phonemes:

/k/ /w/ /ee/ /n/

I think the phonetic script backs me up:

/'kwi:n/

Looking it up, though, I am getting mixed signals:

This source has three phonemes: http://www.fcrr.org/curriculum/PDF/G2-3/2-3PA_2.pdf, but I'm also seeing sources reference four phonemes.


texts: What's the Origin of the phrase "build bridges?"

texts:
For the past several days, I am coming across with "build bridges" phrase.
I am keen to know about the origin of this phrase. I've done a lot of research on the internet but couldn't find it. Theidioms.com – that provide idioms' origins also denied having any clue of its origin. And Phrases.org.uk have no post at all related to this phrase.
I've explored it in many books, but I got a goose egg only.
My research ends at theidioms.com/build-bridges.
Many thanks in advance.


texts: “There is a window in the wall.”vs.“There is a window on the wall.”?

texts: My question is which preposition should be use here. Besides, can I say “the wall with a window in it”? Or do you think “the wall with a window” is good enough?


texts: Is the usage like "sugar free" correct in grammar?

texts:
I ask a question in Unix&Linux forum recently, I say: "I want to make sure that it's not malware contained", moments later, a senior community fellow rewrite that sentence to " I want to make sure that it doesn't contain malware."

I think the grammar of "malware contained" is similar to "sugar free", is this kind of usage correct?


texts: Using 'respective' [adj] when referring to a single implicit thing

texts:
Consider the following sentence:

  Sign up at example.com and apply your final model in the respective
  competition.

Is the word respective used correctly in the above sentence? There is a slight difference from the usual usage in that the competition has not been explicitly mentioned. Furthermore, it is just a single competition, whereas respectively is usually used to relate multiple characteristics to their respective objects.

Neither Macmillan nor online Oxford Dictionaries nor online Cambridge Dictionary list this usage, but to me it sounds too familiar to be wrong. I am not a native English speaker though, which is why I'm asking for your advice.


texts:
I would like to ask which one of the following sentences are grammatically correct? And any suggestions for similar context would be greatly appreciated.

Without WikiLeaks or Julian Assange, the crimes of the empire would have been called just another 'Conspiracy theories'.

OR

Had there been no WikiLeaks or Julian Assange, the crimes of the empire would have been called just another 'Conspiracy theories'.

Best Regards,
John


texts: Use of apostrophe in adjective phrase containing a possessive

texts:
I work and write for a tech company that has created many first-in-the-world technologies. In press releases, I often write something like “[Company name] today announced another world’s first with the development of [new technology].” My question has to do with talking about these technologies collectively, as in a sentence like: “These world’s first technologies have made [company name] a leader in the industry.”

When “world’s first” is used as an adjective phrase, are there any rules dictating the use of the apostrophe? Should it be “world’s first technologies” or “world-first technologies”?

An acquaintance believes “world-first technologies” is correct, but that just doesn’t sound right to me. I didn’t find anything that addresses this particular (admittedly persnickety) quandary in my Chicago Manual of Style (15th edition) or online. Any and all insight would be welcome and appreciated.


texts: What does “draft” mean in “draft a cyclist”?

texts:
I would like to be able to understand this question.

Also, in British English, would this be named "draughting"?


texts: Using "like how" vs. "just as" after a comma in a comparison

texts:
In a sentence comparing two related ideas, it strikes me as strange to say ____________________, like how ____________________.

For example,

  The car was painted when it was old, like how the house was painted
  when it was old.

Is it just a matter of preference to use "just as" instead?

  The car was painted when it was old, just as the house was painted
  when it was old.

The latter sounds more correct/natural to me, but is there a grammatical issue involved? Are both forms acceptable?


texts: Materials on proper use of English tense

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  How do the tenses in English correspond temporally to one another?

Could anyone suggest to me a good online source to help me with the concepts of English tense? I've tried searching with Google but haven't found anything. I'm looking for material which starts from the basics and gives a comprehensive review of the subject.

I am looking to learn about the correct usage of "have," "has," "had," "do," "does," "have been," "had been," etc.


texts: When sound is reduced, does how to identify syllables change?

texts:
I would like to ask how many syllables are counted in natives' minds in an occasion where reduction happens.

When "and" is reduced into 'n', its syllable nucleus is lost, and, for example in this phrase "water n hot water", it's unclear for me that this reduced "n" is identified as a syllable or identified as a coda of "ter" at the last of "water".
Similarly, it's unclear that as word "excellent" is at least basically composed of 3 syllables, 'ex', 'ce', 'llent', when the middle syllable's vowel is reduced and lost completely, this word is recognized in natives' minds as composed of two syllables, "exce" like "eks" and "llent" or basic three syllables "ex" like "ek", "ce" like "s", "llent".


texts:
In the sixth panel of this web comic the character says, "Get wound, Sturmvoraus*! I do not need your help."

So, what does "get wound" mean in this context? I googled it, but only got "getting wound up", which means "getting excited" or "getting worked up" to me, which doesn't seem to make a lot of sense here. How would you interpret it?

* "Sturmvoraus" is the name of the red-haired character. He is in a sort of personal rivalry/power struggle with the brown-haired character, but they are currently forced allies with common goals and trust each other to a degree because of that.


texts: Intersecting with the x-axis / intersecting the x-axis

texts:
Which is correct?:
"The function intersects with the x-axis" or "The function intersects the x-axis"

Is the verb 'to intersect' in the mathematical sense accompanied by the preposition 'with'?


texts:
I saw this entry in Urban Dictionary (I know, not the best place for formal English, but it does do a pretty good job at collecting slang).

1.hang
short for "hang out"
"I'm just gonna hang at Lolita's place today"

My question is, do people really use "hang" for "hang out"? i.e. do people really say "Let's hang some time". I have never heard of people saying it, and it sounds awful to me. It sounds like you want to hang yourself.


texts: Use of Either... or, or, and or in English

texts: Can I say "A test comprises an equal number of items concerned with either prospective or retrospective, long-term or short-term, and self-cued or environmentally-cued memory subscales"?


texts:
What is grammatically correct?

  I participated in the math club, in the cycling club and in the computer game design club.

or

  I participated in the math club, the cycling club and the computer game design club.

or more formal. If you write an enumeration that starts with in the, do you have to repeat the words in the each time?


texts: Whats critical analysis of both sides of story is called?

texts: What word or term for visualizing a phenomenon, news or event in history or in daily life from both perspective is called?. For example some event that happened in your country or a war your country fought, the basic sentiment of most people will be in support of their country or military but if you want to put forward a case both in favor and against of that war without following the general emotional consensus in your country what that would be called


texts: "A bunch of nincompoops!" Really ? In the 21st century?

texts: With the FIFA World Cup going on here, I recently heard a tourist use the word "nincompoop" in the sentence "A bunch of nincompoops!".  Then I realized I hadn't heard that word for a long, long time. To be more precise, since the 70's.   Is it still in use ?  Where ?


texts:
The series in the sentence below and its positioning sound awkward. Micro, small and large are all adjectives, but public listed? Has the rule on parallelism been violated? And should anything be hyphenated? I'd like to know what's the best option for cleaning up this sentence:

  Data were gathered from all micro,
  small, large and public listed housing
  developers in XXX.

My attempts:

  Data were gathered from all housing
  developers, micro, small, large and
  public listed,  in XXX.


texts:
In the final appeal Lord Campbell said:

    No one can suppose that Lord Cottenham could be, in the remotest degree,
    influenced by the interest he had in this concern; but, my Lords, it is of the last
    importance that the maxim that no man is to be a judge in his own cause should
    be held sacred. And that is not to be confined to a cause in which he is a party, but
    applies to a cause in which he has an interest.

What does the adjective mean here? It can't be definition 1.2 'The lowest in importance or rank', which is logical, but contradicts the sacredness of the above maxim?

Source: P48, How the Law Works, Gary Slapper


texts:
What is the origin of using the word "grasshopper" as a term for a neophyte or trainee? The most reliable reference I have is Urban Dictionary, who claims that it is from a 1970's television series called Kung Fu.

I would also be curious to know if this is a term which appears only in American English, or in other countries as well.


texts:
between saying

"I told him that if he doesn't hear from me after three days, please call the police."

and

"I told him that if he didn't hear from me after three days, please called the police."

This is confusing since some English speaking people mix present tense and past tense in sentences. Your answer is appreciated.


texts: Why are there a lot of different types of the same verb?

texts:
Sometimes, I come across with strange 'ordinary' verbs which has two forms and they are not phrasal verbs:

You have to bandage that cut.
You have to bandage up that cut.
Chop the onions roughly.
Chop up the onions roughly.
I was very stressed before the exam.
I was very stressed out before the exam.

Why there are so many forms?!
Which one should I use and when should I use particular form?
Is there because of AmE and BrE or other things?


texts: «'s» or «of the» which one should I use?

texts:
I want to know if «'s» sounds more natural than «of the...». E.g.:

'My computer's keyboard' or 'The keyboard of my computer'. Thanks in advance.


texts: Pittsburgh English - dropping the "to be" before a verb

texts:
This is a region dialect issue, while discussing local idiosyncrasies the question came up is the following sentence grammatically correct with or without the "to be"

"The clothes on the line need to be dried"

In Pittsburgh, the regional dialect causes the "to be" to be dropped from speech.

"The clothes on the line need dried"

Although understood by the community and speaker, is this valid english?


texts: Is it "species of plural" or "species of singular"?

texts: Is it correct to say "a species of moth" or "a species of moths", or are they both correct? Is it the same if I use "family" or "genus" instead of "species"? Does it matter if I continue with another taxon, such as "This is a species of moths in the geometrid family."


texts: Should I have used "but" or "and" in this sentence?

texts:
The sentence in question is:

  Why would Aunt X be cold [but/and] not Aunt Y? I thought X was the one
  who started it?

Which one is more correct?

I opted to change the sentence to read:

  Why would Aunt X be cold instead of Aunt Y? I thought X was the one
  who started it?

I would still, however, like to know which one is more correct, if not both.


texts:
Which of the following is correct:

1) Don't come in, I'm busy.
2) Don't come in; I'm busy.
3) Don't come in.  I'm busy.
4) Don't come in I'm busy.

And why?


texts: Why (and for whom) does "unbeknown" become "unbeknownst"

texts:
I know there's been an earlier question What is the meaning and usage of the word “beknownst”?. But nothing there satisfies my curiosity about that extra -st at the end.

I might have supposed the "extended" version to be dated / formal / literary, but I just heard it on the UK Channel 4 news. C4 newsreaders are normally far more relaxed about diction than those on other major channels (with glottal stops and dropped aitches aplenty).

So, what's the situation as regards actual usage? Is there a UK/US difference? And how does that extra -st come about in the first place? It doesn't seem connected to the archaic the second-person singular (as in Macbeth's "Thou com’st to use thy tongue; thy story quickly.").


texts:
Oxford Dictionaries Online defines [interior] decorator as follows:

  1.1 chiefly North American A person whose job is to design the interior of someone’s home, by choosing colors, carpets, materials, and furnishings.

  1.2 chiefly British A person whose job is to decorate the interior of buildings by painting the walls and hanging wallpaper:
  she became a painter and decorator (emphasis is mine.)

  Other example sentences:

  The police had been informed, together with the building contractor and the decorator, who came to view the damage we had caused.

  There was a time when a decorator painted walls in small rooms white as a matter of course, believing that white would make a room appear larger.

  Our builder tells us that it is all right to paper the newly plastered walls, but our decorator says that he is a traditionalist and would prefer to wait some time for possible cracking, due to drying after the heating is switched on.

Per Collins English Dictionary:

  (Professions) Brit a person whose profession is the painting and wallpapering of buildings.

Per Cambridge Dictionaries Online:

  UK a person whose job is to paint the inside or outside of buildings and to do other related work: a firm of painters and decorators

What would be the AmEng equivalent for BrEng decorator as defined by ODO?

I thought of painter and paperhanger and painter and [wall]paperer, but I would be better off with a single word, if there ever is one.

WALLPAPERER

  A worker who papers walls
  Donald was a painter and wallpaperer for the Painter's Union, Local 48 in Worcester for many years. (emphasis is mine.)

  The Free Dictionary by Farlex

PAPERHANGER

  One whose occupation is covering or decorating walls with wallpaper; a paperer.

  American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language

PAPERER

  One whose occupation is decorating walls with wallpaper.

  The Free Dictionary by Farlex


texts:
Can one use present continuous to describe tendencies, such as:

  Oh this word? It's not being actively used these days anymore.

This sounds good to me, but I can't find a grammar rule to support this.


texts: Word/phrase for mindfulness of health and nutrition?

texts:
I'm trying to explain that in the summer months, when there may be an inclination to hit the beach and exercise outside, some people may be more careful about what they eat and try to reignite their workout habits.

So is there a word or phrase that captures this healthful focus/mindset?


texts: A word which is like 'manually' but means 'by eye' not 'by hand'?

texts:
We make software for searching video and I am continuously explaining that this product 'avoids the need to watch video manually'. This grates with me because 'manually' means 'by hand' and you don't watch with your hands.

Is there a word which is the counterpart for 'manually' but means 'by eye'?


texts: Does this sentence require a comma somewhere?

texts:
Mark Twain understood that lampooning a bad idea with humor was the
  most effective criticism.

I just can't help but feel there's a comma in there somewhere, but I can't figure it out!!


texts: Is there a word for my relation to ex-wife's child?

texts:
If I marry a woman and she has a child, I am a step parent.  But what if the sequence is reversed? For example, suppose I am married to a woman, get divorced and she subsequently has a child by someone else.  Is there any word in the English language to describe what my relationship (if any) is to this child?

This is my situation; I'm close to this child and always at a loss to describe our situation as other than family friend. Can anyone offer another suggestion?


texts: What sounds more natural in this case: as, since, or for?

texts:
I couldn't see the rest, for I was pushed to the ground.

  I couldn't see the rest, as I was pushed to the ground.

I assumed both options are correct? In that case, which one sounds more natural? Which is more likely to be said by a native speaker of English?


texts: What describes the effect of the way back seeming faster than the way there?

texts:
There's plenty of theories as to why this may be the case:
Your memory may just be faulty;
The perception of time changes as the first time your brain was processing 'everything' due to the route being unknown but reduced the perception of time when it recognised a familiar route and didn't need to process so much;
It actually was faster, you spent less time evaluating which way to go and second and subsequent times took a faster route, etc, etc.

But is there a word for this?


texts: Using the verb "line" for something round

texts:
When we use the verb "line" in the following sense:

The room was lined with bookshelves.
We drove along a tree-lined highway.

Does "lined" necessarily have to denote things that run in a straight line? For instance, if you're walking in a round or twisting corridor where the walls are clearly not straight, can you still say something like:

The arching corridor was lined with torches?
The circular room was lined with bookshelves?


texts: Word for someone who does not accept the fact because he belongs to a different group

texts:
I belong to political party A and my friend belongs to party B. Whenever I present the fact with proper data, he still doesn't accept it telling some reasons not to accept the fact.

Is there any word for this kind of person?


texts: "what are the intentions of this girl" or "what the intentions of this girl are"

texts:
I am writing an essay. Can you help me with the order of words.

"Even though it is not clear what are the intentions of this girl with respect to this boy, he is totally deluded and wants to buy something for her"

or

"Even though it is not clear what the intentions of this girl are with respect to this boy, he is totally deluded and wants to buy something for her"

For me the first option sounds better but I don't think the second one is wrong.

Thank you!


texts: Is there a punctuation problem here "Policeman shoots dead Apple area manager for not stopping his car"?

texts:
I did come across a sentence in a news sharing application

"Policeman shoots dead Apple area manager for not stopping his car"

(Apologies for this gruesome news)

But it's weird that it can be read in two ways..

"(Policeman shoots dead) Apple area manager for not stopping his car"
"Policeman shoots (dead Apple area manager) for not stopping his car"

Obviously, statement (1) is what needs to be inferred and statement (2) is funny. The difference as I understand is where you make the pause.

I know I am likely to be wrong here somewhere and I want to know where.
Please throw some light on this and feel free to extrapolate. :)

Thanks!


texts:
I have searched and failed to find the origin of the term "Someone let the cat out of the bag".

Wikipedia defines letting the cat out of the bag

  Letting the cat out of the bag is a colloquialism meaning to reveal facts previously hidden. The facts were usually hidden from a specific target audience or theatrical audience. Examples include:

  revealing a conspiracy (friendly or not) to its target
  in a movie or play, the revelation of a plot twist
  letting an outsider into an inner circle of knowledge (e.g., explaining an in-joke)

But admits “The derivation of the phrase is not clear.” And likewise do The Phrase Finder and Mental Floss who all cite the same two origins; namely,  cat o' nine tails, and pig in a poke. It seems nobody has a definite answer.

Anyone?


texts: "Resources monitoring" vs "Monitoring of resources"

texts: Please help me understand a difference between phrases "resources monitoring" vs "monitoring of resources", "characteristics of devices" vs "devices characteristics" and the like.


texts: Secret origin of the dude = butthair meme

texts:
My daughter came back from Catechism today with an interesting spiritual fact.  Apparently she was told that a dude is another name for butt hair.

It's entry 17 or so on urban dictionary, dated 2006 and searching the internets I see some old stuff from the early aughts referencing a collective conscience that remembers being taught that a dude was an elephants butt hair, or an ingrown one at least.

Is there anything in print in pre-internet days or even a half remembered joke that corroborates this fact, or is it pure mimetical nonsense?


texts: Is it appropriate to treat "FYI" as a noun?

texts:
Since FYI stands for "for your information", I would tend to use it like this:

  FYI, I think the fish has gone bad.

In other words, the acronym simply replaces the phrase. However, I've heard FYI used many times in the following way:

  As an FYI, you shouldn't mention his ex-wife.

Here, it is being used as a thing. This doesn't quite sound right if you fill in what the acronym stands for. It's as if a for-your-information is taken to be an object in a similar fashion to a(n) FAQ.

Anyone have some insight as to whether the second usage above is considered valid?


texts: What is the role of phrase "as many as" in "... as many as five commands ..."?

texts:
I have a sentence as follows:

  You may need as many as five commands to draw a simple triangle when using the basic layer.

My question is:

Is the phrase "as many as" crucial ? Will the meaning change if I remove it from the sentence?

Does the phrase mean "at most"?


texts: Is "after" in this context solely a local colloquialism?

texts:
There are a number of turns of phrase that I have to avoid as an English person speaking to an American audience. Would it be possible for someone to clarify whether this colloquialism is American-friendly:

  Q: Can I buy four candles?

  A: Is this what you're after?

I'd speculate that this is an abbreviation of "chasing after", which in itself is a colloquialism for "looking for".

Does this phrase cross the Atlantic? Or even make sense outside of the West Country?


texts: Difference between the use of "for" and "of"

texts:
I am always confused by the difference between the use of for and of in cases like these:

  Principal component analysis of microarray data.
  Principal component analysis for microarray data.

Which of these is correct? Is it OK to use both? If yes, when should I use 1. and 2., respectively?


texts:
My question starts from this question which asks about difference between currently and right now, which is not that complicated.  However, in the middle of exchanging comments, I found a few points in relation to classifying adverbs and prepositions that I would like to ask here.

Wikipedia (I looked through other definitions, but it looks clearer) defines a preposition as:

  The word preposition comes from Latin: prae ("before") and Latin:
  ponere ("to put"). This refers to the situation in Latin and Greek
  (and in English), where such words are placed before their complement,
  and are hence "pre-positioned".

  A preposition comes before its complement; a postposition comes after
  its complement. English generally has prepositions rather than
  postpositions – words such as in, under and of precede their objects,
  as in in England, under the table, of Jane – although there are a
  small handful of exceptions including "ago" and "notwithstanding", as
  in "three days ago" and "financial limitations notwithstanding".

I am not asking a question about why ago could be considered as a preposition like notwithstanding which can be pre-positive and post-positive at the same time. I can guess why ago could be classified as a preposition, however, dictionaries say it is an adverb, not a preposition. I know dictionaries are for general public, not for grammarians.

The previous question about now seems to be more focused on the dual usages of now as an adverb and a noun. However, grammars like Oxford Modern English Grammar list now as a preposition (p.76).

Now, why in the world is now a preposition?
If now is a preposition, how about the adverb immediately?
Can you call a word (part of speech) that takes no complement (or object) preposition? Then, why do we use the word preposition for such words? Wouldn't it be better if we use a brand-new grammatical term?


texts:
As the boy tames the wild bird, it evokes pleasure in him away from his hardship in society; the bird is bettering us here.

verb
gerund or present participle: bettering

improve on or surpass (an existing or previous level or achievement).

Bird (animal) substituting human failure: that is what it means.

Can this clause be reduced as the bird bettering us here and use a comma instead of a semi-colon.

Or is that  wrong.


texts: Is “Do your worst” understood to be a cheeky double entendre?

texts:
Can be said (good-natured or not) to an opponent before a match in defiance of their abilities.  “Bring it on” is a similar phrase.

I just realized it can be a backhanded slight.  “[I hope you] do your worst.”

Is that just understood by the general populous and I missed it all along, or is it impossible to know?

Maybe it originated in a Shakespeare play or something and it is understood to be one or the other.


texts: Verb meaning "to alter someone's famous saying"

texts:
I'm looking for a single verb, or at least a succinct way of saying that you are slightly, but intentionally, modifying a famous phrase.

For example, if I were to refer to Alexander the Great's campaigns as "blood, sweat and spears", this would be a pun on the titular phrase from Winston Churchill's "blood, sweat and tears" speech. Could I, in one word, say: "To _____ Churchill, we are about to see 'blood, sweat and spears'"?

Addendum

There are some excellent suggestions for the case where the modification is meant to be witty or funny. However, there should be some options for a more sombre use as follows:

  "To _____ Churchill, due to the difference in public spending, an iron curtain is being drawn across this country".

I should clarify that a further meaning I wish to convey with the chosen word is that I am in no way attempting to falsify, criticise or contest the original saying. Quite the opposite, I am taking a respected saying and altering it for humour or emphasis. Please bear in mind that the above two examples are purely rhetorical; I'm not writing a comedy sketch or biography.


texts: Why is the plural 'oxen'? Is it acceptable to use 'oxes'?

texts:
According to a English grammar rules, we add 'es' when the noun ends with 's', 'ss', 'sh', 'x', or 'ch'. With these rules, 'ox' would become 'oxes' in the plural.

Can 'oxes' be used as the plural of 'ox'?


texts: Can anyone think of an idiomatic expression in English to show how exclusive something is? What I'm looking for is an expression that will instantly communicate to a native English speaker that only the super-rich will be able to access this thing (whether it be a product, a club, a location, etc.).


texts: "Take on responsibility" vs. "take up responsibilty"

texts:
I now have to take _ additional responsibility.

Are both on and up grammatically correct? Is there a difference in meaning? When to use which one?


texts: In my writing, I am talking about a character who is a, for lack of a better word, drama queen. But because this character identifies as a male, should another character call him a "drama queen," or something else like a "drama king?"


texts:
Always I appreciate your answers. Today I made a list of the usage of Can and Could for my better understanding for English. Though, I am still getting used to with this site. Therefore, my list is not so quite neat after all. And also there must be errors for the contents. If you help and correct those of contents, I would be truly happy about it.

When they are used as possibility.

  can : High positive possibility. Present tense.

  can't : High negative possibility. Present tense.

  could : Low positive possibility. Present tense.

  couldn't : Low negative possibility. Present tense.

  can have pp : High positive possibility. Past tense.

  can't have pp : High negative possibility. Past tense.

  could have pp : Low positive possibility. Past tense.

  couldn't have pp: The same meaning with "can't have pp" but more formal.

When they are used as ability.

  can : Be able to.

  can't : Not be able to.

  could : Was able to. (When the context shows a past situation)

  couldn't : Wasn't able to. (When the context shows a past situation)

  can have pp : (Not used)

  can't have pp : (Not used)

  could have pp : Was able to do it but not happened. So they are sad now.

  couldn't have pp: Wasn't able to do it but somehow they managed to do it. And they are happy about it now.

Thx.


texts: I'd like to say something like "Then, we have the question: why did this happen?" What is a proper way to say this using the phrase "The question then arises..."? Is it "The question then arises as to why this happened."? If this is correct usage, are there other continuations of this phrase (i.e. "The question then arises") that I could use?


texts: What is the proper alternative for 'credentialize'?

texts:
Usage:

  The emergence of a second competitor in the market will help
  credentialize the product and the vision.


texts: Meaning of the "hunt his/her own meat" idiom

texts:
From the description of a theatrical performance:

  At a dinner party in the wilds of New Jersey, two married couples
  discuss a younger acquaintance–a polyamorous woman who also hunts her
  own meat. Fascinated, they invite this mysterious woman and her two
  live-in boyfriends to a New Year’s Eve party, which alters the course
  of their lives.

Is it an idiom and, if so, what is its meaning?


texts: Grammar rules for "I would rather be a lonely man than to play"

texts:
I searched all over the internet and always found contradicting answers concerning the following topic.

In this sentence:

  I would rather be alone than to go out tonight.

if I apply grammar rules it would have to be "than go out tonight",
but I found a lot of people who saw nothing wrong with the first version. I want to be sure about it and get a correct answer!


texts: I want to use a definition from dictionary.com but I can't find it anywhere else.

texts:
My essay is about the Greek Tragedy "Oedipus the king". I want to use the term cosmic irony in a paraphrase but I am unsure whether or not it would weaken my argument. Since I can not find support for this idea in another credible website.

  "Main Entry:       cosmic irony
  Part of Speech:     n
  Definition:     the idea that fate, destiny, or a god controls and toys with human hopes and expectations; also, the belief that the universe is so large and man is so small that the universe is indifferent to the plight of man; also called irony of fate
  Example:    Crane uses the theme of cosmic irony."

My sentence would be: "Consequently, this demonstrates how fate victimizes Oedipus and hints the idea of cosmic irony" then followed by a quote/paraphrase of the definition. Should I use this term or not? Would there be a better way to phrase my argument?


texts:
I'm wondering whether the following phrase is stylistically appropriate:

I'd like to pitch you a proposition.

Specifically, I'd like to know whether "pitch" goes well with "proposition."

I'd appreciate your help.


texts: What is a word, or phrase, for something that is so obscure that you no longer want to do it?

texts:
My coworkers and I are using an internal request site and we are trying to figure out the correct word, phrase, or expression for our feelings.  The site, and it's instructions, are so obscure that it takes enough time to just completely turn you off to using it, almost to the point of disgust.

Is there a word or phrase that accurately represents this?

EDIT: Here is an example:

I go to some webpage, www.usethistool.com.  It is a form for requesting new software to be installed on my machine.  There is no button or link that says: "Order software here" instead there is a link that says "View Cart".  Once you click that, there is another link that says, "Add to Cart".  That brings you to a form with a few fields, but nowhere to attach files.  After you click another "Add Cart" button at the bottom, you go to another page where you can add attachments.  You continue this button clicking for a few more pages until finally it is "in your cart" and ready to be serviced.

The whole thing took an obscene amount of time and I would've much rather climbed up and down 5 flights of stair to go to different offices, if need be.  The experience left us confused, unclear, and border-line afraid to use it again.


texts:
I have a few questions about the verb 'to languish.'

In the OED, it suggests that this word must be used for a living thing. Couldn't it be used metaphorically for something like an idea or a literary genre that has a kind of "life?"
Most usage suggests that languish cannot have an object. Can't languish be used with a prepositional phrase (with an object of course), for instance? Can something languish into a pale imitation of itself? This usage (languish into) was more common 200 years ago but has almost died out according to ngram. Any ideas on why?

Any clarification would be greatly appreciated!

(I posted this in the wrong place at first, apologies for repost)


texts: Indefinite article used with people's names preceded by an adjective

texts:
Which one is correct and why?
This story is about a fifteen-year-old Samantha who likes animals.
This story is about fifteen-year-old Samantha who likes animals.


texts:
I've come across this sentence:

  A sudden rap at the door brought her from her reverie.

I think it should have been written as:

  A sudden rap at the door brought her back from her reverie.

English is my second language and I'm wondering if the first sentence is accepted in American English.

Oxford dictionaries and other dictionaries online do not list an example of this type of usage, so please help.


texts: "your grandfather’s and my health" or "your grandfather’s and mine health"?

texts:
"Thank you, my dear, for always caring about your grandfather’s and my health.” my teary-eyed grandmother said turning her gaze towards me.

or

  "Thank you, my dear, for always caring about your grandfather’s and mine health.” my teary-eyed grandmother said turning her gaze towards me.


texts: A single word name for the "I don't know" gesture

texts:
I have no idea if it is country specific, but in our country if someone doesn't know something he or she would put their lower lip forward.

However, I cannot find  a name for this lip gesture. Any help is appreciated.


texts: How does the phrase "used to" work, grammatically?

texts: It is common to hear people say "used to" to indicate that they did something in the past but no longer do; for example, "I used to play basketball."  How would "used to," used in that context, fit into a sentence diagram?  What part of speech is it?


texts: Need a word for applying a process in a chemical/alchemical context

texts:
This is for a fantasy-themed game, but since I want a word that is a real English word this seemed an appropriate place to ask.

I'm looking for a word to describe a category of processes applied when combining reagents/reactants, such as applying heat.

  "You create a potion by combining reagents by means of a __________ [generic word
  that could cover a process like heating/chilling/steaming/mocking]"

In a culinary context one could use "cooking" generically to cover various methods like sauteing, boiling, roasting, etc.

A single word would be ideal, but a 2-word phrase would probably work as well. It would not need to be common in modern English, but would need to be recognizable as English.


texts: "Sitting on one's head and make them work" - English counterpart?

texts:
Imagine a person who has agreed to do you a favor but he won't do it unless you are physically present in front of him/her. You couldn't expect him to do your work if you tell them once and leave them so they do it when they get time. In my mother-tongue, it's called 'sitting on one's head and make them work'(translated). I was wondering if there's one in English too.

EDIT: I realize sitting on one's head might get misconstrued as to be equal to someone's who is in-charge but actually the people are at same position of responsibility and the person (who agreed to do the favor) knows exactly what to do and how to do the said thing.

EDIT 2: The person who has agreed to do the favor is probably reluctant to do it or just forgets it or simply lacks the sense of urgency, thereby needs to be accompanied by the person asking the favor, so doesn't forget about it and do it instantly before anything else.


texts:
If someone started a story thus,

  In a time lost, in a certain yet unknown place, is the Castle of Umberdeen ...

How could an entity be a certainty and yet unknown? It does not make sense. But then, do we need to apply logical mathematical principles to a fantasy romance.

Is the kick-off sentence to the story oxymoronic? Perhaps, someone has a different interpretation of "certain".


texts: Should emoticons be regarded as punctuation marks?

texts:
According to Wikipedia, “[p]unctuation marks are symbols that indicate the structure and organization of written language, as well as intonation and pauses to be observed when reading aloud”.

Does this make emoticons – when used along with a sentence, e.g., “I am good :)” – eligible to be considered as punctuation marks? They seem to satisfy the “intonation” criterion.


texts: Non-vulgar alternative to “Don't care a ____”

texts:
I am writing a poem for school. The verse with the word I need to change is this:

  7 hours is too long
  In much too short a day
  You really don’t care if you get an answer wrong
  Because you don’t care a _____ about radioactive decay

The only thing I can think of is the word shit, but that word is too offensive. I have tried looking for inoffensive alternatives at Real Life English's Not so Offensive Alternatives to Bad Words in English, and wordhippo but these alternatives do not sound great, especially in a poem.

I also searched for don't care a ___ on the free dictionary by Farlex's idioms website and "don't care a fig" came up, alongside some other suggestions I tried from the autofill suggestions. Most worked literally, but I am looking for a more clever and poetic word or words that could be used in a way that relates to my poem. I am not just looking for any old answer. I do not want you to simply search for "don't care a…" on google. I want suggestions that fit creatively into my poem.


texts: British Railway Stations - How do Brits read railway time tables?

texts:
This question is related to two others referring to "how to speak out loud 24-hour clock times".

It has been asked how do English-speaking countries that officially use the 24-hour clock system refer to times greater than noon, like for instance 13:00hs (1 PM), when in fact, in the very same UK, such situations happen daily, at Post Offices and Railway Stations.

So, since this situation actually happens daily in the UK, I was wondering how do Brits deal with it? Please bear in mind that there are many different possibilities, situations or cases of speech, that will not necessarily turn out in the same fashion. I will mention a few that come to my mind.

a) When telling someone that his train departs at 13:00.

I would guess: "Your train leaves at one." (it may be obvious that its one p.m.)

b) When quoting or going through a timetable for someone else (for any reason)

I would guess: "That train leaves at, let me see, fourteen, sixteen, twenty and twenty-two hours".

c) When the station speaker goes off announcing departure times.

I would guess: "The train departing at twenty-three twenty-two is delayed and will be departing at twenty-three thirty (hours?)".

I think that there are two basic ways of treating the information or the time-table, as raw data, or in a processed form. When you process it, I think you are in position of adapting and telling it the way you would find best, but when you read it "raw", like in cases where you have to read out many different times, or a full timetable, I guess that there is no point in going through all the burden of "converting" every single time to a 12-hour clock time, even when in UK, which officially uses a 12-hour clock.

I'm tempted to call to a UK Train Station to actually check on this, but maybe you can shed me some light into this matter? I think the same happens in US, with Railway Stations too and other public transportation systems as well?


texts:
Is either of these grammatically and semantically correct?

  As part of my undergraduate thesis, I undertook a project under ...

or

  I undertook a thesis research project under ...

If not, how do I phrase it such that it indicates I took up a project and submitted a thesis on the subject?


texts: Should we set off a second modifying phrase before a noun?

texts:
I know the question itself is awkward!
I was going to write something like the sentences below, but I was not sure about the punctuation.

1.Evidence on something is scant in global and almost non-existent in national scale.

2.Evidence on something is scant in global, and almost non-existent in national, scale.


texts: Is there a word for a personal or informal definition?

texts:
What's the correct way to say something such as "my definition of good C# code is etc.".

I could say "I would describe good C# code as having the following attributes and adhering to the following rules: etc.", but that seems rather long winded.

Similarly, I often hear the expression: "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."  I looked up the definition of insanity, and that's not it.  If we're speaking English, the definition of a word should be its corresponding text in the dictionary.  Is there something else to call those expressions like the above examples, other than  personal or informal definitions?


texts: Unique or different word for "challenging yet rewarding"

texts:
I tend to look for words that aren't commonly used, for example, schadenfreude (pleasure derived by someone from another person's misfortune).

I'm looking for a word that means challenging yet rewarding.


texts: Idiom for something that can not be defined, such as job satisfaction

texts: What could be the idioms used for saying something that can not be defined,  such as job satisfaction.


texts: Single word for the complete collection of all family created media assets (photos and videos)

texts: I have terabytes of digitized family pictures and home videos. I am organizing them and having trouble naming the root folder for all the digital assets. The word "Pictures" and "Videos" by themselves is not sufficient description of all the content within that folder. Looking for a good single word that combines "Pictures" and "Videos" into a one entity. "Media" and "HomeMedia" are the ones I've come up with so far, but not crazy about them as it implies other things like music and movies which belong in an "Entertainment" folder.


texts: Can someone simplify the 2nd and 3rd point (from top) of the post given in image below?

texts:
I am confused about what the 2 paragraphs (specified in title) actually mean.
So far my brief understanding of:
Paragraph/point "2"→ Authors who refuse to write a story where they dont express their political views means their political views are wrong.
Paragraph/point "3"→ Okay this I don't get at all... " 'Conflating' didactic stories with authours who have any interest...." doesn't conflating means to mix/blend? How do stories mix with authors' responsibility regarding the message they give out in their work disingenuous? I tried searcing meriam webster, oxford and wikipedia's dictionary but 'conflate/conflating' only means 'mixing'
Just trying to get a better grasp on English here, this is NOT a post about political views nor does this post intend to start a discussion regarding how mordern literature( i.e stories in video games) should be etc.


texts: "lives of people have remained a mystery" ...weird?

texts:
Consider this sentence:

  The lives of people whose tools and pottery have been found on its [Lake Titicaca's] shores have long remained a mystery.

Does this sound weird?

I'm particularly interested in the connection that "lives of people have remained a mystery".  This goes in contrast with the fact that we actually know little about their lives.  And even though they are connected with something we perceive as a mystery, the time span of the mystery goes far beyond the actual lives.  Does the tense use reflect this correctly?

Or could/should this be phrased differently, more clearly?


texts:
I looked up the usage of "such that" in the dictionary, it says:

"such that, so that: used to express purpose or result: power such that it was effortless"

if the subordinate clause following "such that" is an adverbial clause, what is the role of "power" in the whole sentence? If "power" is the subject of the sentence, where is the predicate? Is something omitted before "such that"? I feel this setence is odd because there is only a noun before such that. I also find another sentence in the dictionary :

The damage was such that it would cost too much money to repair.

I guess the meaning of "such that" is same here. But why the second sentence has a "predicate"("was") while the first one does not? So can I also alter the second sentence to the form of "The damage such that...."? If I omit the predicate-"was" here , is this sentence still right?

Thanks!


texts: Is it correct to say "I studied the book with Mr.XXX as my mentor/tutor/teacher"?

texts:
I wonder if it is correct to say the following to mean Mr.XXX was my mentor and helped me in learning the book. Could you suggest a better equivalent for what I am trying to say? To explain it better, I've taken a course and Mr.XXX is the teacher and the book (called YY, for example) is my course book.

  I studied the book with Mr.XXX as my mentor/tutor/teacher.


texts: a single word that says a person(child) was taught one thing and has not been told about alternatives

texts: A word that means teaching or giving someone only one thing and not letting them know about other alternatives (e.g. teaching a child of only one religion?)


texts: Can "harder" be used when the base case is null?

texts:
I'm mostly concerned with being able to say "I should try harder" when I'm currently not trying at all.

This seems right to me, but other similar situations like "I should jump higher" if I'm not jumping seem incorrect.


texts: Succinct way to describe "clocking in" page on a web app

texts:
A Swedish colleague has asked for my suggestion for web app page titles. The task has left me and a fellow native speaker stumped... The answers should apply to British and American English.

A page for users to "clock in" and "clock out". We're even unsure whether or not there is a better term for indicating presence at work than this.
A page to view all clocked times. My initial thought was "timesheet"?

Thanks!


texts: "justify" vs. "align" in the context of alignment

texts: A function offers an option. The value of the option decides if elements in a column are aligned right, aligned left or centered. Is it OK to call this option justify or is only align correct?


texts: Is it CoViD? Or COVID? Covid? How should the word be spelled?

texts:
I have seen it spelled COVID-19, but I have also seen Covid-19. In addition, I believe I have seen CoViD-19, capitalising only the first letter of each word from which it was abbreviated (for it isn't an initialism). Which type of capitalisation is to be preferred, and which is acceptable?

There is also DDoS, Distributed Denial of Service, which also keeps the case of each letter in the original (thought it is somewhat different from our abbreviation).


texts: Single word or phrase - conspiratorially exchanging glances

texts: Is there a single word or a phrase for conspiratorially exchanging glances when someone does something inappropriate?


texts: When I shelve only one thing, am I not putting it on one shelf?

texts:
As there are plenty of nouns used as verbs, why is it that I do not shelf, but rather shelve, an idea? Since the -lves is just the special case plural of -lf, it seems curious that the -lve is used to construct the verb form.

I looked up some of the etymology, but it is of little use:

  1591, "to overhang," back formation from shelves,  plural of shelf.  Meaning "put on a shelf" first recorded 1655; metaphoric sense of "lay aside, dismiss" is from 1812. Meaning "to slope gradually" (1614) is from M.E. shelven  "to slope," from shelfe  "grassy slope," related to shelf.

Is this an odd degredation of the word, or something else?


texts: Not Synch, Unsychronized or Out of Synch?

texts:
Which form sounds better/is more correct ?

Not synchronized
Unsynchronized
Out of synch

The context, if relevant, is a digital certificate, which must be validated by its issuing entity.
I want to phrase the certificate quality of being not in synch/unsynch/out of synch with its issuer
Update:
My real and only intent in posting this question was to check if any of the 3 forms listed above is incorrect/not used/not valid constructs in English. I admit that, if this is what I had in mind, the question is undoubtedly poorly phrased.
It's important to remark however, that, had I wanted any guidance in which term to choose from a technical perspective, I would most definitely not have used this SE site to post the question. I have been using SO, among others, for 10 years and that would obviously come to mind.


texts:
I have a question about some sentences.

  John is better than Sarah and Mary.

or

  John is the best.

If I'm comparing three things (John, Sarah, Mary), why am I using a comparative adjective?

I thought it was only for two people or things, but this is three.


texts: What is an 'end-of-the-pier entertainment'?

texts:
Reading "Nothing To Be Frightened Of" by Julian Barnes I found this phrase. This is the full paragraph.

  If there were a games-playing God, He would surely get especial ludic
  pleasure from disappointing those philosophers who had convinced
  themselves and others of his nonexistence. A.J. Ayer assures Somerset
  Maugham that there is nothing, and nothingness, after death: whereupon
  they both find themselves players in God’s little end-of-the-pier
  entertainment called Watch the Fury of the Resurrected Atheist. That’s
  a neat little would-you-rather for the God-denying philosopher: would
  you rather there was nothing after death, and you were proved right,
  or that there was a wonderful surprise, and your professional
  reputation was destroyed?

What kind of amusement do you enjoy at the end of a pier? The hyphens tells me that there is hidden something more. Is this something like a reality show kind of 'Big Brother'?


texts: Present continuous form for oblique subject

texts:
Someone told me that the following is not correct:

  May the blessings of god always shower on you

and should be

  May the blessings of god always be showered on you.

My friend's argument is that blessings can't shower by themselves, thus it should be in a passive form. Are both correct?


texts: What is a word that could define someone who likes to cause conflict?

texts:
What would you call someone who does things knowing specifically that his/her actions will cause pain and/or conflict or completes an action just to get someone in trouble or hurt them?

For example, in Private Peaceful there are two people that are in love, but the Colonel goes out of his way to tell the father of the girl that the boy is a thief and would be bad for their reputation.

What is a word that would describe him?


texts: Should I hyphenate "up-to-the-minute" in this case?

texts:
I have had a look at some examples on here, but I am still not sure. Should I hyphenate "up-to-the-minute" in this sentence?

  We can supply you with up-to-the-minute intelligence on distributors, companies and geographical locations, allowing you to make an informed decision.

OR

  We can supply you with up to the minute intelligence on distributors, companies and geographical locations, allowing you to make an informed decision.

I am leaning toward hyphenating as it is an adjective for intelligence, and also a longer sentence so possibly misread, but I am not sure.


texts: Difference between "such a beast as" and "a beast such as"?

texts:
I've written a text with the sentence

  He was very proud of driving such a beast as the Flying Scotsman

Someon has suggested I change it to

  He was very proud of driving a beast such as the Flying Scotsman

Are both sentences correct and do they have different meaning?

My gut-feeling is that the first version indicates that the Flying Scotsman is a beast and that he is proud of driving it, whereas the second indicates that he is proud of driving beasts and that the Flying Scotsman is one.
Does this nuance exist?


texts: Difference between ‘"folder" and "directory"

texts: What is the difference between folder and directory in the context of computer science?


texts: Is there something wrong with this sentence?

texts:
I wrote in my English test:

  From 1960 both boys and girls have been allowed to study here.

Is there something wrong with that sentence?

Maybe I should have said:

  Since 1960 both boys and girls have been allowed to study here.


texts:
Can 'Candidature-Ship' be proper word . or it must be just Candidature !
Like , I would like to apply my candidature -ship for the post Retail Manager .
Is the sentence is Valid ?


texts: Does the phrase "but although" work together?

texts: I have the sentence: "But although you hate me now, I believe that you will forgive me over time." I'm not sure if the phrase makes sense because the words are essentially the same word. Any help?


texts:
I came across the word, ‘train-wreck’ and ‘train-wreck style,’ both associated with singers behaviors these couple of days in newspaper articles and clips on internet sites after the sudden death of Amy Winehouse; for examples;

Dark star: Why Amy Winehouse is not just a celebrity train-wreck? – www. slate com.
Public Speaking, Train-Wreck Style: When her turn comes to speak at the dinner, she (Anne Hathaway) awkwardly seizes the microphone being passed around the table and adopts the tone of a stand-up comic telling sick jokes – NYT Jan 9, 2009.

The first example can be referred to an ‘accident’ likened to train-wreck’ of the celebrity. But second example apparently does not seem to be referring to any train accident. I checked both Oxford Dictionary and Merriam Webster Dictionary, but there’s no entry of ‘train-wreck style, nor character.’ Does it mean a bankrupt character or behavior style of a person? What does ‘Train-wreck style’ exactly mean?


texts: What is the "with" modifying in this sentence "He was watching the monster with a smile."

texts:
I'm reading such a sentence and confused by the "with":

He was watching the monster with a smile.

(Let's say there is a kind of monster can smile.)

Who is smiling? He or the monster?

Is there an ambiguity here? If there is how can I correctly express the meaning?


texts:
I've heard a grammar rule which is, if there is any verb followed by a preposition except the 'to' preposition, the verb must have a 'ing'.

As example, I've this sentence:

  I am going for playing.

Where the 'play' verb is in 'ing' form.

But in this sentence:

  I am going to play.

the 'play' verb is in normal form.

I just want to know that is the rule correct? If correct then is there any other exceptional preposition like 'to'?


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Is there any rule for the placement of space after and before parenthesis?

Should you put a space in between the outside of parentheses and punctuation?


texts: Single adjective meaning "for a long time"?

texts:
Basically I want to say:

  Sheep grazing is one of the possible ways to restore the biodiversity
  of alpine meadows that have been uncultivated for a long time.

But I would like to form much nicer and simpler sentence. I would imagine something like this:

  Sheep grazing is one of the possible ways to restore the biodiversity
  of [THAT WORD] uncultivated alpine meadows.

So I am looking for a single word that would beam "for a long time" which could be placed there to make the sentence more fluent :-)

The only thing I can think of is "longly" but this sounds suspicious to me :-)


texts: Meaning of "Don't be a dog in a blanket"

texts:
As a child, my father (born and raised in the north-west of England) used to occasionally admonish one of us by saying "Don't be a dog in a blanket". I've never exactly understood the meaning of the phrase other than I remember it was usually used in the context of protecting some item in a selfish and sullen manner.
Has anyone else heard this phrase before and could they provide further context and meaning?


texts:
I read a book about how the capital limits of a company are limited by the risk inhereted in the complete industry sector. They give as an example oil companies and the last paragraph is:

One last point on the oil and gas industry is to note that some of the
strongest companies in the world are in this sector (e.g., Exxon Mobil,
Chevron Texaco). While some of these firms were dealt a great hand as
spin-offs from the John D. Rockefeller organization way back when, they
have not permitted the industry’s risk dynamics to lead to significant
deterioration in their financial profiles.

I am not getting the following:

    While some of these firms were dealt a great hand as
    spin-offs from the John D. Rockefeller organization way back when, they
    have not permitted the industry’s risk dynamics to lead to significant
    deterioration in their financial profiles.

I tried to put it together by looking up single words and how they translate, but I am not getting the meaning of this sentence. What does it mean?

So when Exxon was created out of the Rockefeller company people expected the new oil company to be a good "idea", so they expected the company to be succesful. Why should this lead to a deterioration in the financial profiles of the companies in the oil industry?

I mean if Exxon would have been know as a bad company with weak chances in future it would have a high risk, so the risk in the oil industry would have increased and this would have deteriorated the financial profile of companies in the oil business?

The sentence begins with a "while". If it would be a "because" I would get it.


texts: Is there a semantic difference between "pedophile" and "pederast"?

texts:
If I understand the etymology of pedophile and pederast, both mean child lover.  Is there a difference in their connotation?
In some recent local news stories that discuss changing sex offender laws, the controversy has centered around dividing the pedophiles and the rapists from the more questionable cases of older teens having sex with younger teens.  In a lunchtime debate, I contended that we should not worry so much about the pedophiles as we should the pederasts.
Which brings me to the crux of it.  My understanding of these words is that

A pedophile is sexually attracted to children.
A pederast has sex with children.

Therefore, one can be a pedophile without having sex with children, and as a matter of fact, once a pedophile has sex with a child, then that person is a pederast.
However, given the reaction to my statement, I feel I may have a fundamental misunderstanding of the meaning of the word pedophile.  Does this word imply more than just attraction?  I thought -phile indicated an affinity for something, not necessarily an indulgence in it.
Update: There are some great answers here.  I was inspired to look deeper and found that in the English language, there are only four words ending in -erast.  These are pederast, paederast (alternate spelling), philerast (the boy in a pederastic relationship), and federast (merging "federalist" and "pederast").  It looks like pedophile and pederast may be unique in the English language for this -phile/-erast distinction.


texts: wish sentence with past perfect ... before going

texts:
Seonaid!
I often use your https://www.perfect-english-grammar.com
It is very helpful. Now I need your personal help.
Please can you help me? I am an English teacher and I have a question about something, which I don't know/ understand.
This is a sentence from a test:
Complete the sentence with the correct form of the verb.
Don't you wish you ....................... a year off before going to university? (take)
The correct answer is had taken, according to the test key.
My question: How do we know, that here we speak about past situation?
Otherwise we could use also  took.
This is form English in Mind, book 4, entry test, Cambridge, by Sarah Ackroyd.
I live and work in Bulgaria, in a small town. If my students ask me this question I do not know what to say.
Please, write me soon.
Krasimira Kuzeva
facebook: Krasimira Kuzeva Kripadhara


texts:
Wiktionary

nickname from the Somerset slang for "friend" or "mate", e.g. Acker Bilk

Other dictionaries don't seem to even mention it, let along talk about its etymology.
How did “acker” come to mean friend in West Country English?


texts:
So my English teacher gave us some work and we had to write down 'pneumonics' for some words. I'm fairly sure it's spelt 'mnemonic.' Who's correct?

Edit: The usage being the "memory" words, for example:

Alliteration

Facts

Opinions

Rhetorical question

Emotive language

Statistics

Triples

Where the mnemonic above would be 'AFOREST'


texts: "Debussy, but EPIC for the new Godzilla trailer"

texts:
I have read (by accident, I'm sorry) a short news article that had the following headline:

  Debussy, but EPIC for the new Godzilla trailer

The article text for this was as followed:

  Godzilla 2: King of the Monsters continues the trend of making
  classical music EPIC by turning Claude Debussy's "Clair de Lune" into
  a spine-tingling blast of EPICness.

Is this a "correct" or widely understood way to form a headline in english? What kind of construct is this? A noun followed by ", but [adverb] ..."? What is this supposed to express?


texts: Which one is grammatically correct: “gold jewelry and wood jewelry” or “golden jewelry and wooden jewelry”

texts:
I don't know whether to use "Gold Jewelry" versus "Golden Jewelry" and "Wood Jewelry" versus "Wooden Jewelry".

Let's say the sentence is "Art of gold(en) jewelry" and "Art of wood(en) jewelry"

Using this sentence, which one is grammatically correct ?
Could it be a difference between British and American English about this ?

Thank you


texts: What is wrong (if anything) with the phrase "it don't mean nothing"?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  The grammaticality of “that don’t impress me much”
  “I don’t know nothing” vs “I don’t know anything”

I've noticed that sometimes people say "It don't mean nothing". But I would expect to hear "It doesn't mean anything" or at least "It doesn't mean nothing".

Could anyone clarify why is that? Or it's totally OK to say that?

Here is an example from the movie "Hamburger Hill", http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ernKt7JpNfM


texts:
I wonder if we can put "A" before a proper noun. Here's an example I found on Google:

  As a Vietnam veteran I remembered that it was 16 years after my tour in Vietnam.

I wish to know why the author use "A" before "Vietnam." Thanks.


texts: Is it gramatically correct to use past tense when referring to the future?

texts:
I was doing some testing on my local machine that involved changing my system clock to a future date.

When I compiled my project, I received warnings that read:

  Warning: xxxx.class was edited in the future.

To me, saying "was edited in the future" is a contradiction of terms. However, given the limitations of time, I suppose it does make sense.

Is it grammatically correct to say something has been edited in the future? Would the answer to this change if time travel were possible?


texts: An idiom for "going with the most likely option"

texts: What's an idiom for the action of going for the most likely / most appropriate option? I had been saying "placing my bets with _" but it turns out that doesn't exist :D Must have got it from "hedge your bets" which I don't think means the same thing - also, what does this mean?


texts: Is “shall” an appropriate word for a scientific thesis?

texts:
May I use the word shall in my scientific thesis?

As in

  The relevant ones shall be introduced in the following.

Or is shall considered slang or outdated?


texts: Is it common for "unmitigated" to be used hyperbolically?

texts:
In Thousands of radioactive boars are overrunning farmland in Fukushima, the word "unmitigated" is used, even though it isn't an unqualified disaster, as noted in the next sentence.

  Nuclear catastrophe is always an unmitigated disaster. The only beneficiaries, albeit in a perverse fashion, are animals,  which tend to flourish in areas humans evacuate.

Is it common for unmitigated to be used hyperbolically even when it isn't actually unmitigated, akin to "literally" being used even when the person is being figurative?


texts:
In my youth, my father used to read me The Magic of Oz by L. Frank Baum.
The magic word that was used to transform, Pyrzqxgl,  was very difficult to pronounce. Are there any guidelines on pronouncing it?  Where would the accent be, if any?


texts:
I know similar questions have been asked before, but I'm having trouble reconciling the following sentence, received in an email:

  Can we ask whomever is your contact there to email us a job so we can check backward compatibility?

I could understand using objective case if the sentence were "can we ask (him) to email...", but I get tripped up considering "whomever" to be the subject of "(he) is your contact there".


texts: What is the meaning of "tëuk" in this sentence, and "wizzle" in this other one? (might be Middle English?)

texts:
I'm reading T.H. White's The Sword in the Stone to my daughter, and mostly I can find explanations for the historical lexicon (fewmets and corkindrills and so on), mainly relying on this rather useful site. But these ones stumped me, and the internet:

"Tëuk" in this sentence:

  "Us be'nt no common urchin" quavered the poor creature staying curled
  up tight as ever. "Us wor a tëuk when little by one of them there
  gentry, like, as it might be from the mother's breast"

I'm guessing it's "taken", just from the context. Is the hedgehog speaking a Yorkshire dialect? I read it in my best broad Yorkshire.

And "wizzle" in this:

  If you are feeling desparate, a badger is a good thing to be. A
  relation of the bears, otters and wizzles, you are the nearest thing
  left to a bear in England.

BTW I thoroughly recommend it to anyone with an interest in English, historical fantasy, where J.K.Rowling got her ideas from, and creative anachronisms.


texts: Verb related to confidence that means unconvincing

texts:
Please help me find the correct verb to fill in the blank:

  His actions don't ..... confidence.

I think it means that his actions do little or none to convince others.


texts: I am writing about a person who may contain the key to turning a way of life, or an ideology, on its head. He may change the way the people who follow the ideology see everything. They don't know yet if this is good or bad, but they know it's big. So he himself is the rift, the pivot, the turning point--is there a word for this? Ex. "It is my conviction that I've encountered a ----- in [philosophy]."