texts:
My question is based on my interest in the evolution of the Giraffe's name.
Etymology Online Dictionary puts the following:

Giraffe: long-necked ruminant animal of Africa, 1590s, giraffa(...)The modern form of the English word is attested by c. 1600 and is via French girafe (13c.).

But though the word "Giraffe" dates from at least the late 16th century, as proved above (although I have personally found examples of the word "Giraffe" referring to the animal (not in English though) about a decade prior to 1590)
I am really curious as to why Europeans ceased using the name "Camelopord"?
EOD puts it:

Camelopard: an old name for "giraffe," late 14c

The delightful word refers to the European's belief that a "giraffe" was a long-necked creature whose body looked somewhat camel-like and whose signature spots resembled that of a Leopard.
I have read in numerous essays that this name was widely used to refer to the long-necked animal until the late 19th century (correct me if I am mistaken), albeit I have seen in the 16th century the words "Camlopard" and "Giraffe" have been used interchangeably, so undoubtedly, the word "giraffe" might have been in those "pre-zoologists" minds. Yet it is an almost certain point that the word "camelopard" was the preferred and more widely understood name of the two.

My questions are: why, and when did Europeans begin favoring the word "giraffe" over the "camelopard"
What are other names that the "giraffe" was referred to in English other then Giraffe and Camelopard?
And lastly, a kind of self-theory of sorts: what is the origin of the spelling of the word "giraffe" as it is used in English? I ask this, because of the peculiar use of the double "f" and ending with "e" in the word. This sort of reminds me of the archaic spellings of words in Elizabethan and Jacobean England where a word would be spelled sometimes with repeating the last letter once and then adding an "e" to the end. You see this exceptionally in Shakespeare's quartos and earlier folios, but also in almost all other printed texts of the period. The most famous example of this is probably from Julius Caesar, where the line: "Dogs of War" is spelled "Dogges of Warre".
So is there any possibility "giraffe" was at one point spelled "giraf" in English and the archaic spelling of adding an "fe" at the end stook? and thus became "giraffe"? -- I know this might seem like a rather far-fetched and foolish theory, but I thought "what's the hurt in asking".

^  A magnificently peculiar, early depiction of a "Giraffe" by Conrad Gessner (circa. 1550s)

Here under lies the Original prologue to the question: (initially edited out), and so moved to nether-regions of question to keep focus on the main idea; But since there was a bit of historical background which I would hope some might appreciate, I decided to keep it down here:
(One of my most cherished hobbies is delighting my eyes with the wonderous wood-cuts from the 16 and 17th century of early interpretations of animals (most famously Dürer's "timeless" Rhinoceros)--Of course, in the 16th century Europe gained a profound intrigue into the exotic and with this intrigue, there was quite the exceptional demand to read and see illustrations of what exotic animals and plants could look like (as inevitably, very seldom would it be that a European would have the pleasure of seeing with their own eyes, a Walrus, or a Giraffe, or a Rhinoceros.) And due to these setbacks to the collective understanding of such animals, most artists and historians could merely interpret what others before them had said animals look like, many times these ancient descriptions being misleading.)


texts: I want one word that means Date and Time. For example in "the date and time of the event will be announced later" I want to use single word instead of "date and time"


texts: In the famous Christmas carol "The Twelve Days of Christmas", presents like "geese a-laying" and "swans a-swimming" are mentioned. What does the "a" refer to in this context?


texts: When is correct to use a comma before when? I have read many examples and still don't understand when it is correct to have a comma before.


texts: whats an appropriate word to describe someone who embarrassed themselves a lot?

texts: Im looking for a word to describe a friend who always seems to embaresses themselves.


texts: What H.G. Wells mean with the phrase 'a morning star of hope'?

texts:
In this answer a quote from H.G. Wells "War of the Worlds" was posted:

  That last stage of exhaustion, which to us is still incredibly remote,
  has become a present-day problem for the inhabitants of Mars. The
  immediate pressure of necessity has brightened their intellects,
  enlarged their powers, and hardened their hearts. And looking across
  space with instruments, and intelligences such as we have scarcely
  dreamed of, they see, at its nearest distance only 35,000,000 of miles
  sunward of them, a morning star of hope, our own warmer planet, green
  with vegetation and grey with water, with a cloudy atmosphere eloquent
  of fertility, with glimpses through its drifting cloud wisps of broad
  stretches of populous country and narrow, navy-crowded seas.

The phrase "a morning star of hope" caught my eye. Is this a biblical reference to Lucifer? Perhaps a foreshadowing to the eventual fate of the martians?

Can someone help me understand what exactly H.G. Wells is trying to say with this phrase?


texts:
I'm into computer science. My question is more relevant to making computers "understand" english. However, I would like to make english simpler, even for/by pronunciation.

It may sound... redundant/weird/strange but does anyone know of any existing forms of "simpler english" that is aimed for people who may have learning disabilities or to educate... computers?

Sounds silly I know... but let's say there's a robot/ai that I would like to teach in its simplest form... I would do this to save disk space and learning time (for the machine).

e.g.
English:
I have a dream which requires me to learn an old language in a new way.

Simplenglish:
I hef a drim wich requir mi T learn an O language N a neu way.

Saving some character storage space and increase pronunciation effectiveness, all of which can be mapped against the proper English in a hash table form.

Does anyone know of such kind of "simple" english developed? Other than txting.


texts:
I am trying to think of a word meaning to "participate" or be a in a war.

Example Usage:

  His scars were explained by his [participation] in the war."


texts: What is the possessive form of Bliss as a proper noun?

texts: My daughter is named Bliss. We want to know how to label things like "Bliss's Toy Box" or would it be "Blisses Toy Box" or "Bliss' Toy Box" as you can tell I'm quite confused... Help please :)


texts: In text, 'I believe in you.',What is the meaning of 'in'?

texts:
I saw the sentence like 'I believe in you.'while reading the book.
I want to know the meaning of preposition 'in' in this sentence.


texts: Is this sentence from Fox in Socks grammatical?

texts:
Dr. Seuss was usually pretty good at grammar. Yet his children's classic Fox in Socks includes this line:

Who sews whose socks?
Sue sews Sue's socks.
Who sees who sew whose new socks, sir?
You see Sue sew Sue's new socks, sir.

The third line doesn't look right. Shouldn't it be sews?
(and that second who on the third line looks like it should be whom, but perhaps Dr. Seuss takes a more permissive approach, particularly as he has to make the words flow.)


texts: Is it meant as a compliment or is it more acceptance of a situation? For instance, having loved a partner who died and feeling that you could never feel that way about anyone again and then describing the person you have just fallen in love with you say it's as good as it gets.


texts: Relatively to each other — less awkward word?

texts:
I'm rating the performance of things in different dimensions on a scale, e.g. [--, -, 0, +, ++]. This ranking only describes the relative performance in one dimension, without referring to other things in the outside world or one of the other dimensions.

If I say,

  ... the performance of the things in the dimensions is rated
  relatively.

, I'm not sure that this concept gets conveyed to the reader correctly.

Is there a more fitting word to describe the confinedness of the ratings?


texts:
I want to say without being nasty that this person is "very self-assured at times and needs to tone it down a little and she comes across as being cocky about her knowledge. At times over confident".

How could I re-structure this sentence?

Thanks
Azil


texts:
My sister got this task for her homework and there is this particular bit
"Also the famous waltzes is Frederic Chopin. These works give some sadness. Probably he was very sad because he could not come home at the end of his life."
I mean, I don't even wanna start on "the" before plurals, but maybe it's just a next level grammar that I don't familiar with?
Here's a full text in case you're wondering. Maybe you'll spot a few more

Classical music

Classical music is often associated with the music of the past. Classical music means music produced in the Western world between 1750 and 1820. This music includes opera, chamber music, choral pieces, and music a full orchestra.

Currently, scientists proved that listening to classical music has a beneficial effect on the physical and the moral state of a man. This music always makes you to have emotions or associations, as though reading a good book and, together with its heroes live among them. Classical music also enhances the memory of a man.

Classical music in its limited definition includes the works of Wolfgang Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven.

Henry Percell’s wrote the first British classical opera Dido and Aeneas. Several bars from his song Lilliburlero are used by the BBC as a signature tune.

Benjamin Britten was a master of vocal music of all kinds. Britten started the Aldeburgh Festival. Benjamin Britten began writing music as a child. Later he wrote deal of music for young people.

Also the famous waltzes is Frederic Chopin. These works give some sadness. Probably he was very sad because he could not come home at the end of his life.

Classical music may also refer to the native and folk music of any country. The styles vary greatly depending upon available instruments. This style also includes music being written now, and we may speak of modern classical music.


texts: What do you call when someone points with eyes?

texts: If two people make eye contact and someone points at something (without speaking) with only their eyes,


texts:
I recently typed the following to a friend in an email:

  Last night I went to the theatre to see a play with X. Before that, we went for dinner at a nearby pub for which my cousin came along.

Now is that the correct usage of 'for which', or should I have used 'which my cousin came along to'?


texts: Capitalizing prepositions in abbreviations?

texts:
I've been in the belief that we shouldn't capitalize the prepositions in titles or abbreviations until I started working in a company, where most of the colleagues are American.

When they say "Out of office," they type "OOO" instead of "OoO," and "WFH" (for "Work from home") instead of "WfH."

Am I wrong, or are they wrong? Should I stick with my weird "OoO" or conform?


texts: What the difference between "automatic drive" and "autopilot drive"

texts:
I refer to those smart cars that can distinguish traffic light, avoid walkers or some other work demands intelligence.
For these two phase "automatic drive" and "autopilot drive", which is more accurate? and why?


texts: Is there a difference between "on the internet" and "online"?

texts:
I just got feedback from someone on a piece of my writing. He marked "on the internet" as confusing, compared to the term "online".

However, I felt that both work the same. Is there really a difference between on the internet and online? If so, when should you use them respectively?

For the record, I wrote, "I learned to code from the resources on the internet."


texts: Is "Thank god", as opposed to "Thank God", acceptable?

texts:
People are quite stingy lately about anything with religious connotations, so I'm worried that the phrase "thank God" might tick some people off.

Is "thank god" acceptable? Would that offend people of monotheistic faiths? Or would "thank God" be acceptable to atheists/polytheists too?


texts: Difference between "anything" and "everything"

texts:
Something just came up on a news bulletin, and I'm a bit puzzled.

  I was unaware of everything that happened that night.
  I wasn’t aware of anything that happened that night.

"Not aware" and "unaware" mean the same thing, a lack of awareness (as far as I am aware!), and yet the everything and anything are not interchangeable.

Am I right in this? If so, can anyone explain the intricacy?


texts:
I would like to get some advice on the difference in meaning between the following sentences.

  It is true that there have been great advances in technology over the last forty years. especially the use of mobile phones and e-mail communication are common these days. However, machines that translate from one language to another are still in their early stages.
  It is true that there have been great advances in the technology over the last forty years. especially the use of mobile phones and e-mail communication are common these days. On the contrary, machines that translate from one language to another are still in their early stages.


texts:
Is this sentence correct:

  I'll come sometime end of March.

The expected meaning should be, I'll come end of march but exact date is not known yet.


texts: Is the short-e pronounced as [e] or [ɛ] in standard English?

texts:
In many English dictionaries, I saw the phonetic symbol of short-e is /e/ such as in bed (/bed/). However, I'm taught that the pronunciation of that is /ɛ/. Which one is right in standard English? Does such a difference exist for native speakers?
This question is very different from Could you clarify /e/ and /ɛ/? because I can very clearly understand the difference between /e/ and /ɛ/ in my mother tongue. I am asking which one is correct in standard English, and what's the native speakers' suggestion to English learners on these two sounds.


texts: Expressing "with a higher variance" as an adjective

texts:
Is it possible to express

  has a higher variance

in the sentence

  Dataset A has a higher variance than dataset B

as an adjective? Would

  Dataset A is more variable than dataset B

be the right choice?


texts:
How do you say optional-ness?

I looked at a lot of synonyms of optional to try to find something I could turn into a noun, but nothing looked very good.

Example sentence:

  If what I wrote doesn't indicate clearly that I'm suggesting an optional alternative assignment, then I would invite you to help me phrase the optional-ness more clearly.

Update:

  If what I wrote doesn't indicate clearly that the alternative assignment I'm suggesting is optional, and not required, then I would invite you to help me phrase the lack of necessity more clearly.


texts:
"it would take me 1–2 seconds"
or "it would took me 1–2 seconds"?


texts:
could you possibly enlighten me about any differences between 2 sentences below:

(a) I went to Warsaw this year.

(b) I have been to Warsaw this year.

Thank you very much in advance!


texts: What to put in front of a future role or title

texts:
I'm looking for the antonym of "ex-": a word to put in front of roles or titles that the mentioned person will hold later in life.

For example:
In 1982 I met ???? president Clinton.
The expression "Sunlight is the best of disinfectants" was coined before World War I by ???? associate justice Louis Brandeis.

Would "future" work? Or "subsequent"? Or is there a better word or prefix or phrase?


texts: "Be able to," "can" in reduced relative pronouns

texts:
I am trying to remember whether the sentences below are correct:

I don't know this guy being able to complete this task.
I don't know this guy can complete this task.

I think the first one is correct. (I know they don't mean much but I am asking in grammatical manner.)

I am also trying to remember how to reduce the "who" within the following sentences:

I don't know this guy who has been doing this all along.
I don't know this guy who has done this all along.


texts: A word to describe someone who is oblivious to the atmosphere in a group conversation

texts:
There is a Japanese phrase "Kuuki yomenai", which literally translates to "Can't read the air", and can be used to describe someone who doesn't get social cues or is unaware of other people's moods & intentions.
(There is an equivalent in Korean as well: "Noon-chi up-da")

It's like a combination of oblivious, awkward, and self-centered. I want to use it to describe someone who would keep talking about themselves, dominate a group conversation, and not realise that the others are tired of it.

Would you describe them as "socially inept"? Or does that come with too many mental-illness connotations?

Thanks.

EDIT:
I FOUND IT!

(Socially) Tone deaf!

And thanks to everyone who contributed :)


texts: Is there an English word meaning "the use of uncommon words"?

texts: Is there an English word meaning "the use of uncommon words" or similar?


texts: Using "Neither am I" to introduce an additional comment

texts:
I was wondering whether I can use "neither am I" to add an other comment to a statement. For example,

  I am not ignorant to the shortcomings ..., neither am I blind to the
  negative consequences ....

In my opinion, it is somehow different to

Neither am I / me neither in a specific context

but I could be wrong. Can at least someone tell me whether it sounds weird?


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  When should we  use “can”, “could”, “will”, “would”?

I am not a native English speaker and this would/could thing always bothers me. Please give some example + explanation on this. Sorry if the question is too naive.


texts: What is another word for amount that doesn't mean a portion or dose?

texts:
The word amount means a "quantity of something, typically the total of a thing or things in number, size, value, or extent." - Google.

It gives the feeling of a contained amount of something.

I need a word that doesn't give the meaning of contained amount, but it should mean an uncertain amount that'll only keep rising.

For example a daily "dose" means a daily fixed amount.

I need is to say, "your daily _ of technology" so dose doesn't fit there and amount doesn't either.

EDIT: It should mean something like: Receive your exceptional, daily _ of technology.
In the context of a subscription form.


texts: Is "looking to" considered proper English?

texts:
Is it proper, grammatical English to say,

  "Are you looking to move?"

Should it not be:

"Are you interested in moving?"
"Are you thinking of moving?"


texts:
I like to make question about the happening of some events whether it is happened every day or every week or every month...etc

how can i make question?

this is my try:
Does this event happen every day or every week or every month?

is it right?


texts: Is a value something to "indicate" the valued thing?

texts:
Sorry for the confusing title.

I came across the following sentence and am wondering if the word "indicate" collocates with the word "value" as in this case:

  The PCS (Print Contrast Signal) is a value that indicates the contrast between the bars and spaces.


texts: I'm translating a poem from Bulgarian to English and the poet used a word that roughly translates as unstuffed, i.e. a space that is not empty, but is also not stuffed/crammed. Do you think unstuffed translates this well enough? As it is a poem I cannot translate it with many words.


texts: Difference between "aunt to" and "aunt of"

texts:
E.g.

  You are going to be aunt to my son.
  You're going to be aunt of my son.


texts: I am looking for a word for an abstainer from red meat

texts:
A number of friends of mine describe themselves as "Vegetarian" but then go on to explain that they don't eat meat—but do eat fish and poultry (plus, in one case, bacon).

In my books this is not Vegetarianism but I can't think of a polite word or phrase for it.

Note that these people are not acting from religious convictions, so that rules out dietary descriptors for specific religious restrictions.


texts: What is the sound made by a handbrake being pulled?

texts: I was considering using "creaking" or "rattling". After some googling, I saw they're both associated with a faulty handbrake. Any other suggestion?


texts:
Possible Duplicates:
  “If I was” or “If I were”. Which is more common, and which is correct?
  “Was” versus “were”—word usage in Stack Overflow Ad Image

Which one is correct:
"If I were a cop, I would wear a uniform"
OR
"If I was a cop, I would wear a uniform"?


texts: Literary device: frequently referenced object which never appears

texts: What do you call an object or a person which is frequently referenced but never actually appears? For example, Godot from ‘Waiting for Godot’?


texts: What does the sentence mean about the recruiter and the developer?

texts:
Here's a paragraph gives some advice for programmers looking for a job:

Avoid recruiters at this stage in your career. Sorry to say, but the good recruiters don’t care about novice programmers. Nor should they. Additionally, once you get hooked up with a recruiter, in order for someone to hire you, they have stroke a check to the recruiter. A novice programmer is a long term investment for a company – you’ll get more out of them than they get out of you for quite some time. One junior developer looks a lot like every other junior developer in terms of potential – except the one with the recruiter costs more money that only the recruiter gets.
From A Guide for the Novice Programmer (long post)

What does the last bold font sentence mean about the developer?
It'd be great if someone could tell how to split this sentence for easy understanding.


texts:
As a prank, I wish to arrange the keys on a coworker's keyboard to be a pangram, but in order to do so, the characters can only appear once.

I've done some googling and have not found a pangram that doesn't have repeat characters. With the limited number of vowels, I expect it might be impossible. If it is not impossible, is there one that makes sense?


texts: Why do the French say "dent" where the English say "tooth?

texts:
I am preparing for an exam in "Earlier Englishes" and I have following question out of a mock exam:

Why do the French say dent where the English say tooth?

The answer gives 3 points, so may be there are several aspects.

Sources such as Oxford Dictionaries indicate that the two words are related, but don't give any details:

  Tooth Origin
  Old English tōth (plural tēth), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch tand and German Zahn, from an Indo-European root shared by Latin dent-, Greek odont-.


texts: Why, after a quick lookup at the Google online library, allowing the browsing of the content of available books, can I inevitably find instances prior to the first known use in the dictionary of certain words?


texts: "One home run is much better than two doubles"

texts: It is a quote said by Steve Jobs. I have found a lot about it in www.sqaforums.com. But I don't get it clearly. Can anyone help?


texts: What is a shorter term for "grammatical correctness"?

texts: The only one I can think of is "pronunciation", but that one is more related to the way you say it rather than to the way you write it.


texts: How to explain the lack of auxiliary verb in some questions?

texts:
I am trying to write a lesson about QASM question structure (Where did you go, what will they see etc.) How should I explain the fact that the following questions don't seem to take an auxiliary verb?
How many of the students come from (cityname)?
Which colour suits me the best in your opinion?
Whose parents drive them to school everyday?

I realise the QASM structure cannot be used for 100% of questions but is there a good way to explain when and why auxiliaries are not needed?


texts:
I'm putting words on the end(closing) credits of my frag movie, and what I want to put is who made the animation, who sang the song and who composed them.
I'm not sure if below expressions are correct for end credits.

Animated by Company
Sung by Singer
Composed by Person

I guess the last two are okay, but I'm wondering whether I should say animation by not animated by.


texts: How to indicate elision of a footnote symbol in a quotation

texts:
I'm quoting a passage that includes a superscript indicating a footnote.  I'm not quoting the footnote, however.  What do I do?  If I leave the superscript in, it's distracting, since it suggests that there's a footnote to be found in my paper--at the very least, the reader will probably wonder about that for a brief moment.  If I delete the superscript but don't indicate that I've done so, I'm misrepresenting the original text.  If I replace the superscript with an ellipsis, that would normally convey that there's more missing than a mere superscript.

(My apologies if this is a duplicate.  It's impossible construct a search that would find an existing answer to this question.)


texts: Can I omit the preposition "to" in front of every ing-form verb in a series connected by "and"?

texts:
Given this sentence:

  I look forward to learning new subjects and contributing to teaching them, (to?) facing new and diverse challenges, and (to?) producing outstanding work.

My instinct is that I can omit the second and third to, but can someone please confirm and explain?


texts:
I've been reading "W is for Wasted" book by Sue Grafton and have found the phrase meaning of which I am unable to find anywhere on the web.

  I changed into my sweats and put together a deluxe hot
  hard-boiled-egg sandwich and poured myself a glass of Chardonnay.


texts:
Which form is correct (or more correct): reimplement or re-implement?

And to extend the question a little bit, are there any rules concerning both, e.g. re-scan or rescan, re-evaluation or reevaluation?

Edit:

The primary question is if both versions are correct (or which one is more correct from the English grammar's point of view). I know that both are in use, it's easy to do Google search for example to find out that "reimplement" is even more widely used than "re-implement". But in that case, why LibreOffice marks "reimplement" as incorrect? Is the construction informal? Incorrect? Because clearly is quite popular.

The second part of the question is somehow answered by the other question pointed to in the comment, e.g. I may use the hyphen if that makes the meaning more clear (which doesn't apply to this case IMHO).


texts:
Which is the correct usage?

  Reading on screens causes a drop in productivity.

or

  Reading from screens causes a drop in productivity.

I'm under the impression that the first usage is correct, and indeed shows up more frequently in searches, but I do see the latter used on occasion...


texts: I am looking for a seventeenth century word for a 'shill'

texts: A 'shill' is a con artist's accomplice.  I have seen your discussion on the etymology of this word which is likely to be early twentieth century, but I need an earlier word for a story I am writing set in the early 1600s


texts: "I read this novel four times in Arabic and now it’s the English edition turn"


texts: What is an advanced vocabulary word to replace "truth"?

texts: Truth as in a fact or a belief by the church.


texts: When to use "none" as singular or plural?

texts:
Can someone please tell me which is most appropriate?

(a) "At this time, none of the parties is planning to file a motion"; or

(b) "At this time, none of the parties are planning to file a motion."


texts: Origin of the abbreviation St. for Street

texts:
What is the origin of the abbreviation St. for Street?
Why did an address such as

123 Fake Street

Become

123 Fake St.

?

This question  is related to a history stackexchange question about the observed historical trend in US print newspaper to use St. instead of Street when printing addresses.
It appears, according to one answer on the history question that the following curious facts arise

There does appear to be some historical trend from one form to another in american newspaper print (Street to St)
The shortening from Street to St. only saves 2 symbols in print, rising to the theory that it is related to when listing of people and their addresses became common ( e.g. first phonebooks)
The US Postal Service apparently officially requires/prefers the abbreviation (Section 211 of USPS Publication 28)


texts: What part of speech is "down" in "down went the Titanic"?

texts:
Down went the Titanic.

What part of speech is down in this context? I have to choose between a) Preposition, b) Noun, c) Verb, and d) Adjective. But I think the correct answer should be "adverb", which is absent from the list.

What do you think about it?


texts: How do I end a sentence with a quote mid-sentence?

texts:
For example, if I wanted to say:

  John Muir says in his 5th paragraph, "I splashed on through the swamp,
  strong and exhilarated(.) (. . .)"

Would I end the quote with a period since it is the end of my sentence, or would I use an ellipsis as I ended the quote mid-sentence?


texts: Biding their time to reveal their hidden depths

texts: Is there a phrase for what a person is or is doing who is underrated by people but then shows themselves to contain hidden depths? Not quite a diamond in the rough. Sort of like dark horse. Hmm? Not sinister hidden depths. Like when my intellectually disabled daughter surprises all who underestimate her  by blurting out an insightful comment or clever joke.


texts: Is the origin of the term `gut check` from boxing?

texts: It is such a common colloquialism that discussions of its origin is hard to find. But I assume that its a reference to how when boxing there is a tendency to protect the face leaving one's abdomen exposed. A gut check would be to throw a punch where someone isn't prepared to defend.


texts: Number agreement of "a thing of the past"

texts:
Is the pluralization correct in the following sentences?

  To Do lists are a thing of the past.
  To Do lists are things of the past.
  A To Do list is a thing of the past.

Are they all (grammatically) correct? Which of the three is the best English? Why?


texts: I'd like to express that I went to great efforts to fix an [adjective] bug in my code. Neither "pernicious" nor "persistent" quite match the quality I'm trying to describe. Is there a word that means "hard to eradicate" but not necessarily that the problem itself was severe? The problems caused by the bug were fairly insignificant, but fixing it was a huge pain.


texts: Single term for "elephants going berserk"

texts:
Is there any single term for "Elephants going berserk"?
  Can we say that the elephant got wild and started destroying whatever is in its path?
Is there any term for that?
Hope you understand my question...


texts: Is there any difference between "unproductive" and "nonproductive"?

texts: If you can find any difference between "unproductive" and "nonproductive," could you explain that with some illustrative sentences?


texts: Conditional sentences in business writing

texts:
I found this question strange.

  Complete the sentence with a correct word:
  When you contracted with us to find the right candidates for that position, we .... to send you a list of potential candidates for review.
  Here is the list of words to fill out:
  - will promise
  - promise
  - have promised
  - promised

All 3 types of conditional statement I've learnt so far, would offer the correct word as would promise. But I don't see that option here.

Could you explain this question for me?


texts:
While mixing tea with sugar, We take two glasses, we pour tea in one
  glass & put sugar in other one. we mix them by pouring tea to another
  glass with One glass is held high above the other when pouring.
  But be careful, Tea may fall on your hand with this heights.

I seen people doing this stunt very carefully & also looks dangerous act to me.

What is the single word for this style of mixing?


texts: What happens phonetically in "words that"?

texts: Could you explain to me what happens from the linguist’s point of view when the sounds meet in the speech?


texts: "XYZ caterers is.." or "XYZ caterers are.."?

texts:
In the following statement, which one is grammatically correct?

  XYZ caterers is on to something big

OR

  XYZ caterers are on to something big

I thought that it should be 'are' as caterers is plural. But it has been suggested that I might be wrong. What do you think?


texts: In my first language when we talk about some index rising or, for example, somebody climbing a mountain we often use the phrase that can be directly translated into English like 'crossed the mark (of 1 km above the sea)', meaning that the index or the person have reached certain level/altitude and is now above it. Is there a phrase in English that means the same thing and sounds natural?


texts: Using present tense in past tense narration

texts:
Is it grammatically correct to use the present tense in fiction that's narrated in the past tense? Sometimes, as a writer, you add "general statements" into your narrative. Example:

But random chance just didn’t sit right with him. Nothing in the world
is truly random.

The second sentence is just a general statement, it isn't an event that happens. Will "Nothing in the world was truly random" be the correct version, or maybe both versions are acceptable?
Another example:

Derek thought of a simple plan - he'll leave the Maglite far away from
the tunnel through which the creature comes. The boy himself will hide
behind stalagmites. Then he'll slip away behind his opponent's back
while it inspects the "bait". This course of action should allow him
to avoid any risks whatsoever.

In this case, the narrative describes the plan of action in the present tense even if the rest of it is told in the past tense. Would it be grammatically acceptable?
When it comes to writing fiction in the past simple, I didn't find any decent guides that would mention how different times should interact in the narrative.


texts:
Is it correct to use the phrase "Think on it"?

You can use sleep on it for thinking about something overnight and you can say "I'm thinking on my bed" to mean that I am sitting on my bed and thinking, but is it correct to use "think on it" as a replacement for "think about it"?


texts: Frequently Vs Frequent: adverbial form or adjectival form?

texts:
So normally  adjectives like  frequent modify a noun or a   pronoun, whereas adverbs like frequently modify verbs or adjectives.
However, in this sentence both options seem fine to me but I couldn't tell which form is more appropriate.

Sexual Risk Reduction program  is one of the .... implemented programs in college campuses...


texts: Idiom or expression that would imply "someone is a habitual liar"

texts:
I'm looking for an idiom or expression for describing people who tell lies out of habit (so you cannot trust them at all).

I know that these people are called "compulsive liars", but I'm not looking for psychological terms.

Is there any idiom or expression for describing such people?

For example:

  "Did X tell that to you?! Come on, don't believe him/her. Don't you know he/she ___ (=is a habitual liar)?"


texts: Were the words "woman" and "female" produced after the words "man" and "male"?

texts:
Man and woman, male and female have the same phonetic element and root (man, and male) in English, while man and woman in both Japanese and Chinese language - Otoko (男) and Onnna (女) in Japanese, Nan (男) and Njui (女) in Chinese - don’t have the common phonetic elements as woman and female in English, and are totally different in characters. This means, the word 男 and 女 were produced concurrently, or separately, not in tandem.

I wonder if the words woman and female were produced after the words man and male were invented by old Germans (or Anglo-Saxons) sequentially as in the way Eve was produced from one of Adam’s ribs by the God. – As a reminder, I’ve never been sexist.

This may look a naive question to most of native English speakers, but is basic to me as a non-native speaker.

What do “wo” and “fe” in the words ‘woman’ and ‘female’ represent? Can I see them as prefixes to mean opposite sex to man and male, though I've never seen them being used as a prefix in other words than woman and female?


texts: History of Neither Nor - Negative Meaning with Negative Verb Structure

texts:
I know that neither–nor yields a negative meaning if used in a sentence that has a positive verb structure. That is, when we say:

  Neither George nor James goes to school.

we mean:

  George does not go to school and James does not go to school.

By positive verb structure, I mean the usage of go rather than not go. Since neither negates the positive go, this sentence gains a negative meaning. This is very clear to me. What I am wondering is the history of this rule. At some point in time in history, did the usage of

  Neither George nor James does not go to school.

exist to yield a negative meaning, i.e.:

  George does not go to school and James does not go to school.

Why I am asking this is that my native language is Turkish, and we have the same rule: Ne a ne b (Neither a nor b) must be accompanied by a positive verb to yield a negative meaning. But the rule doesn't really sound logical to many (even highly educated) people, hence they make a mistake of using a negative verb and assuming a negative meaning.

Besides that, Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar, an eminent author, used that very now-incorrect usage in his first page of Saatleri Ayarlama Enstitüsü, a super-central book in Turkish literature. It was the year of 1961 when he did that. Another example is the phenomenal poem titled "Sessiz Gemi" ("Silent Ship"), circa 1920, in which the prominent poet Yahya Kemal Beyatlı wrote

  Neither a handkerchief nor a hand is not waived at that departure.

So I am wondering whether the usage of neither–nor with a positive verb has a pretty solid and stable history, or it was indeed used with a negative verb as well, some time in the past.

Just a resource I'd like to include: "A note on the history of either" by Hotze Rullmann at the University of Calgary, on page 11, shows the negative verb usage with neither only, but I am looking for negative verbs with the full neither–nor.

Update: For the sake of inclusiveness, here is the stock of neither not negating the verb, taken from the aforementioned article:

Shakespeare wrote "Be not too tame neither", to mean "Don't be too tame" but today we'd say "Be not too tame either" to mean that. So "neither" did not negate the "Be not too tame" to yield a meaning of "Be too tame".
Defoe wrote "You don’t know that neither", to mean "There are things you don't know, and also, you don't know that particular one as well". Neither did not negate "You don't know" to yield a meaning of "You do know". The right form today must be "You don’t know that either"


texts: Should you use a comma with "single unified"?

texts:
Should you use a comma in the term "single unified"? Here are two examples. (I have kept the original punctuation.)

The company uses a single, unified database for all its customer information.
The company is a pioneer in using a single unified and companywide platform.

I have read mixed assessments of whether a comma is needed.


texts: If there are two tenses in my sentence, should I repeat the subject?

texts:
Is it correct to say:

  I have done the washing up and am now watching TV.

or

  I have done the washing up and I am watching TV now.


texts: 'I disagree that either of these options is correct'

texts:
I thought that I mastered the usage of "either" (and neither)...only to be unsure about the following sentence (which I heard, not that it was me who said it):

  I disagree that either of these options is correct.

From what I have learned, either here should express "one or the other" (or any but only from two things). But then the sentence does not make much sense to me.
Occasionally, I have heard "either" to mean "both" (but then why not use "both"?) as in:

  Unfortunately I was sitting at the table with smokers on either side
  of me.


texts: “Text from your phone asking me to meet.” Why is it "asking"?

texts:
In the movie Taken 3 (2015), one character is looking at a text message on a mobile phone, and he says to another character:

  Text from your phone asking mom to meet you at the rancho Berrego the night she died. Someone used your phone.

Why is the verb asking in this sentence in the -ing form?

If the verb, ask, is in the continuous tense, why is there no “to be”?
And why should we use present continuous here, and not the simple past?


texts: I would like to know the exact meaning of this phrase (cut my legs out from under me,) because I've been searching for it everywhere, but 'till now I've only come across the definition of "cut the ground from under somebody's feet". And I know it is not the same. Though, I've heard on some TV shows people saying "cut my legs out from under me".


texts: Is there such thing as an online preposition dictionary?

texts:
Is there such a thing as an online preposition dictionary?

For example, I want to use the word "interpretation" but I am not sure of its preposition. I don't know if the correct preposition should be...

  Our interpretation with the text.

or

  Our interpretation on the text.

or

  Our interpretation of the text.

In this case, I think "of" is the correct one but I am not sure because they all sound quite okay to me. I know some dictionaries give sentence examples, which show the prepositions. But the problem is not every word in the dictionary has sentence examples.

So, I am wondering if there is a specific dictionary that I can look up for the preposition of a word.


texts: "Feeling safe? So do I!" — is this grammatical?

texts:
I have a small question regarding the usage of the present simple, present continuous and auxiliary verbs. Is this correct English?

  Feel safe? (Do you feel safe?) →  So do I!
  Feeling safe? (Are you feeling safe?) → So am I!
  Feeling safe? So do I!

In this particular case (3), a question is asked in present continuous and gets answered in simple present. The addressee is making a (powerful) statement that the he/she 'always' or 'infinitively' feels safe, not just actively at this moment.

I'm not a native English speaker, but I was under the impression that this is a perfectly accepted exception to the general rules of English language. Can anyone confirm this or explain why this is not acceptable?

Edit: The actual phrase in question is "Feeling ambitious? So do we", which is a phrase I made up myself. I replaced it with 'feeling safe' to present a more neutral case.


texts: Which is correct: "he don't" or "he doesn't"?

texts:
Which one is correct in a sentence?

  He don't
  He doesn't

I guess "he doesn't" should be correct because he is third person singular but I've seen some people using do with he. Which one is correct?


texts:
Is there a word or short phrase to express the reciprocal of "conformant"? For example, if the production processes at my factory are conformant to ISO 9001 standards, then ISO 9001 standards are (what) in relation to such production processes?

I would like to avoid nouns that connote the notion of standards, since whatever you conform to may not be a standard at all. Thank you.


texts: In what country did the term "railroaded" originate?

texts:
The term "railroaded" in the sense of having something forced through, either unjustly or without proper regard for those affected, clearly has it's origins in analogy to the way early railroads were build, often running straight through private lands and geographic features.

But the sources I've found seem to all refer to this meaning as having a North American origin, which seems odd, since it is Britain that first experienced this practice, with dead-straight lines cutting ancient estates in two, or dramatically cleaving geographic features (a practice that was rare — and rarely directly experienced in populated areas — in the Americas).

Did "railroaded" originate first in North America or in Britain?


texts: Difference between "Don't usually", "Usually Don't"

texts:
I wonder whats different between two.

We do not usually do our work.
We usually do not do our work

Regards


texts:
I was a member of a student government committee created to write a lengthy report on fee usage.  At the end of the process, the Senate voted to accept the report.
In the sentence; "The report was accepted by the Senate" is there a word better than accepted for implying/showing that the report was voted on? I could write it out, but I'm listing this on a resume and would like to be concise.


texts: In 1700s, why was 'books that never read' grammatical?

texts:
Naomi Baron, in Words Onscreen: The Fate of Reading in a Digital World (1 edn 2015). p. 16, quoted Daniel Defoe's The Compleat English Gentleman, composed in the early 1700s:

  I hate any thing that looks like a cheat upon the world. Whatever I am, I can't be a hypocrite. What should I do with books that never read half an hour in a year I tell you?

Is there some linguistic term for the bolded words in the quote that I underlined  in red in the image?
I don't know the precise linguistic terms, thus here's my attempt to word the question using some that I know. Why could ‘read’ could be used transitively and without any auxiliary verb for an inanimate subject? Nowadays we must say ‘books that [WERE] never read’.
How can I interpret this curio so that it feels natural and intuitive to a reader in 2019?


texts: I stand corrected vs I stand to be corrected

texts: What's the difference between "I stand corrected." and "I stand to be corrected."?


texts: What tense should I use here? Present perfect/past simple

texts: It's been two years since the accident and she (forgot or has forgotten?) her lesson.


texts:
I am German and currently writing my thesis in English. Currently trying to categorize my qualitative codes and I am looking for an alternative expression/word for belittlement, that is less negatively connotated. It should be descriptive of making a situation appear less harmful. Minimization is part of the category.

I would greatly appreciate your input and I am looking forward to your answers:)

Best,

Pia


texts: Is there a word for the area of the sky opposite a sunset?

texts:
Looking for a word which refers to the sky directly opposite a sunset. Naïvely assumed it woulf be called nightrise, but that word does not seem to be in use.

Found a word, noctiluca (from nox (“night”) + luceō (“to shine”), which I've been using as a placeholder, but if anyone other than I reads it, they'll miss the point a bit.


texts: What is the male equivalent of an alice band?

texts:
An "alice band" is so named, after the one worn by Alice in Lewis Carroll's stories.

Is there a male equivalent, to describe those worn by men with long hair (e.g. David Beckham)?


texts:
Until it can be replaced by a faster, more efficient, and more economical means of transportation, trucks will Cary most of the freight within and through metropolitan areas.

Why is the 'Until it' wrong?


texts: "Security was a privilege of expensive locks"

texts:
Can I say "security was a privilege of expensive locks"?

I am rechecking a translation, and the use of privilege in this context seems too weird to me. Isn't "privilege" used only with people?


texts: Does the present perfect imply an action finished in the past?

texts:
reading passage:

  Ten Taiwanese film directors, producers and screenwriters have been invited to participate in a two-day workshop in Paris next week, to seek co-production opportunities with their counterparts in France.
  A total of five Taiwanese film projects have been selected to join the workshop, which will take place at CNC from Jan. 15-16.

My questions:

Why was the present perfect tense used? Why not just the past simple tense?
What does the present perfect imply? Does it imply the state of something already being done?

Thank you very much!


texts: Concerning "Lex talionis," is there a stronger word than "retaliation"?

texts:
"lex talionis": (Latin for "law of retaliation") sometimes referred to as the "eye for an eye " principle, a retaliatory action taken with a degree equal to the original offence.
Is there a word (in no particular language) that is similar to lex talionis but the retaliatory action that is taken is of a much higher degree (much more violent for example) than the original offence?


texts:
I'm watching Gravity Falls and I've heard a word "mob-boss". Grunkle Stan says "mob-boss quality" about faux-gold watches:

Dictionary says that literally "mob-boss" means:

  the head of a criminal organization, esp the Mafia

But I've found no information about using this word in an idiomatic way. I have no clue about the figurative meaning of "mob-boss quality" in this context. This is a quality worthy of a head of the Mafia? Or the watches just look rich? What does "mob-boss quality" mean?


texts: Which is correct "get" or "got" in this context?

texts:
You know what it feels like to be ignored and you got angry

[referring to a previous event in the past]

  You know what it feels like to be ignored and you get angry

[~it is not nice to be ignored, yet when X happens you get angry] - habitual/everytime

Are both got and get correct in the above context?


texts: What is a group of cars on the road called?

texts:
For rental agencies and companies, the cars owned would be a fleet. Several cars escorting a VIP would be a motorcade.

However, what if I want to say:

  I dislike being the lone driver in an empty stretch of highway, so I may end up speeding to get from the [group of cars] behind me to the [group of cars] in front.

Is there a good collective noun that would apply to this situation? Or would it be a matter of choosing a general term, like group, cluster, block etc.


texts:
The MVC in Backbone originally stood for Models, Views and
  Collections, since there were no controllers in the framework. This
  has since changed.

Does it mean it has changed from that moment or it has changed from that time to the present?


texts: What does "granular" mean in computer articles?

texts:
I have seen a lot of articles in which they use the word granular.
For example this one :

  The site has granular authorization checks for pages and directories.

or this one :

  Web controls, user controls, and resource access code are all partitioned in their own assemblies for granular security

What does this word mean in computer science ?


texts: Adding a possessive to a singular noun phrase that ends in a plural noun

texts: Which of these sentences is correct: "The clock under the curtains' hour hand broke off", or "The clock under the curtains's hour hand broke off"?  The actual thing being made possessive, "The clock under the curtains," is singular, suggesting that you should add 's to the entire phrase to make it possessive.  This would make the latter sentence correct, but it looks funny to me.  Of course you don't add 's to a plural noun already ending in "s" in order to make it possessive, but what do you do if the possessive noun phrase itself is singular but it ends in a plural noun?


texts:
I have something to ask

I got a question from a reviewer who examined my paper as follows.

In conclusion the authors have reported that slip flow was observed. How much times it was?

At that time, I understood that he was wondering how long it takes to observe slip flow. So, I explained about all the information related to our experiment. However, he questioned again by sentencing the below question.

My question in previous comments was "what slip factor has been observed (e.g., 2 times, 10 times, etc.)?" Slip factor increases with decreasing pore sizes specially when size is in 1 order nanometer scale the slip factor can be even 100 times.

For the question, I didn't make sense what his question is about. I need some comparison between initial and final? Or I should point out how many times the slip flow was observed? Please let me know to understand his intend.

Thank you.


texts: What is the term that describes the image that is seen when something is moving fast?

texts:
For example, when you move your hand back and forth quickly (or just any object), you see "two" in a way. When something quick is thrown, there's a line that is left behind that follows that object.

I suppose "afterimages" suits it the closest, but it doesn't seem to be the right term.

For the second example, I think "trail" works, but I don't think it works for the first example.

Is there any specific terms, or could it only be described?


texts: What is the meaning of the 'x' character suffix?

texts: The sentence is “2x to 100x speed-ups, typically 4x”.


texts: What are some examples of paradoxical words?

texts:
The word "non-hyphenated" is a paradoxical word in that it is a word about words, but it does not describe itself.

I have two questions:

Is there a name for these types of paradoxical words?
What are some other examples of them?


texts:
Defendee as far as I know means 'One who is defended'.
Since English is not my mother's language, I am wondering if the word Defendee is usable/suitable for something like "Self defense" "defend yourself".

For a website I am working on a self-defense project, and I want to have a single dictionary word as a domain, associated with 'self defense'. People need to understand it immediately.


texts:
In the movie Law Abiding Citizen, there is this dialog when Clyde is having meal in the cell at about 48 minutes:

Clyde: Oh, excuse me, waiter?
[The waiter looks at Cyde]
Clyde: You might want to put 30% down for yourself, my man.
[The waiter kind of nods and leaves]

What does "You might want to put 30%  down for yourself" mean?


texts:
What is the meaning of "shark upon the ships" in following statement? Does it say something more than "people are very bad in Port Said"?

  "Some nice-looking faces in the streets, but a good many ruffians ; not
  so bad though as Port Said, where the people simply exist to shark
  upon the ships."

  From Adam's Peak To Elephanta (1892)


texts: Using single nouns to refer to plural entities?

texts:
A friend shared a 1935 communication from an American airman trying to get out of equine training. The airman explains:

  It is requested that I be relieved from attending the course in Equitation, for the following reasons:
  a. I have never liked a horse, nor admired one, except at a safe distance; ...
  ...
  c. I am afraid of a horse, do not understand them, and doubt if they have any sense.
  I fail to see that horses have any place in the science of aviation.

Is referring to, i.e., all horses with "a horse" (singular indefinite generic reference?) common to this time period? Is there a name for this historic trend?

What about the structure of 2 prompts the writer to switch to using "horses"?


texts:
I came across one slang thing:
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=You%27re%20Winner!

While understand that it is grammatically incorrect and you must say "You are the winner", I don't get what’s so funny about it. It does not even change the sense of the sentence much.

I mean nobody laughs at you if you say "I am student" or something like that. What's the deal?

I was surprised when AVGN (a popular Youtube show) made fun about it in this video around 7:40. He acts like it is soooooooo funny, but I just don't get it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6DtVHqyYts


texts:
There is a sentence:

  No sooner had he sat down than he fell asleep.

I just do not understand, is this an inversion? And if so, I still do not understand the sentence.


texts:
According to a forum user the expression, seemingly always expressed as a question, gives the meaning:

  "What am I bid!?" is an expression usually used by an auctioneer when he is starting a bidding process for an object that he is selling. He is asking for someone to offer a price (bid).
  Link

There were two films with this name, one in 1919, and one in 1967 about a person who wants to become an auctioneer. The only place I've seen this in a dictionary is at Lexico, which gives the English->Spanish translation of:

  what am I bid for this vase? — ¿cuánto ofrecen por este jarrón? (Roughly "how much are you offering for this vase?")

The meaning is pretty clear, but I have two questions:

1.How should this sentence be parsed? For example, "bid" is a verb in "What do you bid?" and a noun in "What is your bid?" What is it, or was it, in this expression?

2.Can the expression be conjugated for grammatical person, as in:

  What (are they/is he) bid (at the auction).


texts: Want to answer to my supervisor's question about the status of a task. What come's to my mind is "I'm on it". What's a more formal way of saying that?


texts: Why are Kansas and Arkansas pronounced differently?

texts:
Arkansas is typically pronounced like so:

  “ahr-kuhn-saw”   IPA: [ˈɑɹkənˌsɔː]

However, Kansas is typically pronounced like this:

  “kan-zuhs”             IPA: [ˈkænzɨs]

Why are these two words that are so similar in spelling pronounced so differently?

Both are apparently linked to “Native American” origins. So what’s the difference in the original usages?


texts:
I was doing some creative writing and asked a friend to proofread it. They tell me they choked up at this point:

  ‘I don’t know,’ says Scott. ‘I’ll need to think about it.’

  ‘Let me know if you’ll come’, reply I, an insistent expression surely covering my face. ‘I hope you can make it.’

My friend claims that this is bad grammar, but I beg to differ. I usually take the post-positive subject after a quote; such has been how I have written all my life. I see ‘says Margaret Peterson’, ‘says she’, and other things as such following quotes in many books and newspapers. Is it truly wrong (or archaic) to say ‘say I’ or phrases related to it?

Edit: I hear ‘So say I’ as a statement, too. On the other hand, I never hear ‘So I say’, except in the case of ‘So, I say to him ...’ Would ‘So I say’ ever be used instead of ‘So say I’?


texts:
I am looking for a single word (possibly short phrase) to convey the following meaning.

Taking introduction to Calculus allows you to compute integrals.

What the confusion/dislike from the word allows is that it implies that you were not allowed to do the action before. The context I am using it in is not educational so I cannot use the word teaches.

eg., Vertical Jump training allows you to jump higher. (or something similar to this).


texts: Using "are" when referring to the sum of different categories of information

texts:
I know that the word "infomation" is always singular in English. However, is it grammatically correct to use "are" when refering to sum of different categories of information (e.g., in the following sentence)?

"In this approach, the semantic and location information are obfuscated independently of each other."


texts: Equivalent to "stay tuned", but not for TV or radio?

texts:
I need to advertise that new hours will be announced in the future, in a simple way that sounds professional.

"Stay tuned" would be perfect, except the fact that this is for print, not for TV or radio.

Is there a close equivalent in the English language to "stay tuned"?


texts: This month is the 50th anniversary of Ronald Reagan's "The Speech". The title of his speech is however "A Time For Choosing". Why is it not "The Time For Choosing"?


texts: is there a term for "largest possible minority?"

texts:
A hand of bridge has 13 tricks, and one can win between 0 and 13 tricks in a hand.

Between 0 and 6 tricks would constitute a minority of tricks, with 6 being the largest possible (discrete) minority. Seven tricks would be a majority.

So bidding systems are built on a base of six tricks. That is a bid of "one heart" really means "seven tricks, with hearts as trumps."

Is there a term, such as "superminority," that would refer to this base of six tricks as the "largest possible minority."


texts:
We hope that in doing this we have reduced at least some part of the frustration this issue has brought you.

I’m having uncertainties regarding the in doing this vs. by doing this.
I don’t want it to come off as if we’re only doing this for some reciprocal benefits. We genuinely did something to make up for a customer’s complaint and frustration.

What nuanced differences are there between in doing this and by doing this?


texts: In formal (not colloquial) English, is an organisation such as a sports club singular, plural, or is it discretionary?  E.g. is it preferable to write "The X club WAS formed" or "The X club WERE formed", or doesn't it matter?


texts: Is there any idiomatic expression with the meaning "show all the hidden stuff"?

texts: Which idiomatic phrase can be used to express 'showing all the hidden stuff' (it's supposed that nobody should find that out, some scandal things)?


texts: Word for hiding "all other layers" in graphics design

texts:
In audio engineering, you use the solo function to listen to only one mixer channel, and mute to listen to everything expect the current channel. What is the corresponding terminology in graphics design?
For mute, hide is an appropriate term, but what is the corresponding term to solo.


texts: Which is the correct preposition to use with the verb "match"?

texts:
Which of the following is correct?

  Match the value in the request field with the value in the delivery
  field.

or

  Match the value in the request field to the value in the delivery
  field.


texts: Whats another word for someone perceptive?

texts: Whats another word to describe someone who can pick up on things quickly?


texts: Task breakdown vs Tasks breakdown vs Tasks' breakdown

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  “User accounts” or “users account”
  should a list of tokens be called a “token list” or a “tokens list”
  “Book market” or “books market”

Which one(s) are correct to indicate the division in(to) tasks of a certain undertaking?

1) Task breakdown
2) Tasks breakdown
3) Tasks' breakdown

I would like to understand the "why" of it rather than get an Ngram-like usage statistics chart, please.


texts:
In following sentence of Mario Puzo's novel "Godfather", there is a reference of word "black bile".
"The black bile, sourly bitter, rose in Bonasera's thought, overflowed through tightly clenched teeth. He used his white linen pocket handkerchief and held it against his lips"
What "black bile" really is?


texts: How to punctuate "To be, or not to be, that is the question"

texts:
What would be the correct way to punctuate this line from Hamlet?

Should there simply be commas or should a colon be used? e.g.:

To be, or not to be: that is the question.


texts: Adjective/noun usage, use of 'ones', comparing A with B

texts:
Please tell me which sounds better:

  “In the other three cases a positive deviation of about 2 or 3 mm is observed when comparing the measured with the calculated values.”

or

  “In the other three cases a positive deviation of about 2 or 3 mm is observed when comparing the measured values with the calculated ones.”


texts:
If you use "that" to introduce a full quote from a person is there still a comma and is the first letter of the sentence capitalized?

For example, which one of the following is correct?

Bob once said that "a big fish is a good fish."

OR

Bob once said that, "A big fish is a good fish."


texts: What's the difference between contain and include in English?

texts:
What's the difference between:
'his question didn't include a link on Yahoo answers? ' and
'his question didn't contain a link on Yahoo answers? '
(I want to say there wasn't a link in his question on Yahoo answers).

Someone mentioned there are subtle differences, but just can't tell what they are, so I am wondering that you guys here might have the answer. please help me out.
thanks folks!

By the way, I am a freshman here. any opinion that regarding the DIFFERENCE between them are appreciated,  please feel free to express your opinion, thank you very much your answers!


texts: "Poison" is to "poisoned" as "venom" is to what?

texts:
As the title says, poison is to poisoned as venom is to what?

I tried looking up venomed but it means something different.

Is there such a word?


texts: Is a comma required in "Until now X, that it is about time we do Y"?

texts:
I am wondering if I should leave the comma in the following sentence:

  Until now he has been behaving so badly, that it is about time we do
  something about it.


texts: Word/phrase for vastly different methodologies/theories that lead to taking the same action?

texts:
Is there a good way to describe theories that are very different in their underlying story about how a system works, yet the theories prescribe similar actions.

("actions" assume the theory is about how to best control a particular system eg. training people, running the economy, etc. We could also talk about "outcomes" if the theory is about predicting the world eg. the post-election scramble to explain voter behaviour in politics)

One example is from dog training:

There are many theories about how a dog should be trained (alpha & dominance theories, positive reinforcement, operant conditioning etc...). They prescribe very different things about how a dog thinks, but ultimately the training suggested is far more similar than it is dissimilar: be consistent when trying to ingrain or remove behaviours.

As such, these theories are hard to differentiate by outcome;  they lead you to take very similar actions despite the underlying reasoning for those actions being quite different.

Is there a word or phrase to describe this?  I can imagine there is something in moral philosophy to describe theories that have different underlying tenets but prescribe similar actions as ethical.

SAMPLE SENTENCE:  "Those theories are X, it doesn't matter which you believe as they lead to the same action"

(PS. Best I can think of is physical science terms like "non-differential hypotheses", but that doesn't feel like a good fit here)


texts: How do native speakers know which morphological variations are possible in cases where word-evidence is sparse?

texts:
In this interesting answer to a 4 year old question (which, ironically, I found by browsing unpopular questions on Meta), we find this tidbit:

  Just as in Japanese, not only is the "non-native" stratum considered more erudite than the native one, there are grammatical differences between the strata (although fewer than there are in Japanese). For instance, the suffix -ate or -ation in English can only directly attach to a Latinate word, e.g. vary -> variation, but not bury -> *buriation.

What's interesting about it is I know the assertion to be true, but before reading this answer I could not have told you the etymology of the two words. I did not know vary is derived from Latin and bury from proto-Germanic. But I did know that not only was buriation "not a word", but it could not be one, despite the fact that I am more or less ignorant of the rules of English morphology.

That is, I am ignorant in the "explicit knowledge" sense, but obviously since I know buriation can't be a word, I have some tacit knowledge that I could never voice.

But how is that?  What is it about bury, as opposed to vary, that tells me buriation could not be a word?  I don't mean the decades of exposure and practice I have with English that tells me it isn't a word, but that morphologically speaking, it couldn't be.

Is there a more general rule at play here, something morphological as opposed to etymological? Are there more examples in this category?


texts: What do you do when a sentence ends with a decimal?

texts: In a sentence like "The answer is 0.8." the period looks awkward after "0.8".  Is there a rule for a situation like this?  Sometimes I put a space before the period like this: "The answer is 0.8 ."  However, that looks awkward too.


texts: Zero-sum games guarantee that, for all winners, there is a loser. // Zero-sum games guarantee that for all winners there is a loser

texts:
In various fields of academia, sentences with the following structure (arbitrary examples provided below) are common:

Zero-sum games guarantee that, for all winners, there is a loser.
Zero-sum games guarantee that for all winners there is a loser.

Another random example, to further illustrate what I mean:

Newton said that, for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
Newton said that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

In general:

" " that, " ", " ".

I've always wondered which of these is the "correct" (or "most-correct") way to structure a sentence of this sort. When saying the phrase aloud or just "mentally saying it", the punctuation adds brief "pauses" that partition the sentence in such a way that makes it sound much more pleasant and comprehensible. On the other hand, the second sentence structure has no pauses, and so it sounds relatively unclear and unpleasant. For this reason, I have always used the first structure.

So, to settle my mind on this, which of these is the "correct" or "most-correct" structure for this type of sentence?


texts: Medieval term for sister and brother in-law

texts: Is there a medieval term for sister/brother-in-law? The only example I could find was in GRR Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series where he uses the terms goodsister and goodbrother. Are those rooted in actual medieval terms for in-laws? Were the in-laws even addressed as members of family with specific words? (I've read somewhere that before 19th century the in-laws were used instead of step-mother/father/etc., so they could not be used for the other relation or would be very confusing).


texts: Should there be a comma in "You again?"?

texts:
The original sentence is:

  You again?

In which, I am wondering if I should insert a comma after "You":

  You, again?

Which one is more correct, and why?


texts: Is dreamt the only English word that ends with "mt"?


texts: Word for a sheet of paper that tells you what to measure

texts:
I work in a laboratory environment where the experts measure various parameters of food, water, soil, etc. Before they do the measurement itself they print a sheet of paper on which they can read which parameters they should measure on which samples. How would you call this paper?

EDIT:
Thank you for your suggestions.

These are the words we considered already: datasheet (it isn't too descriptive as we have other sheets with data), measuring sheet (it's a mirror translation from how we call this sheet in our language).

Example usage:
I want to print the "sheet" for these measurements, so I know what machines I have to prepare.
I fill out the "sheet" with the results of the measurements.


texts:
For an introduction to an essay I'm writing, I say the following:

  My hand was shaking. I opened the email, and began to read the first line. I only needed to see those first two words: “We’re sorry.” I excused myself from class and walked down to the restroom. I was alone. It was quiet. I studied myself in the mirror.

I am concerned about overusage of the first-person singular pronoun. Trying to alleviate the problem, I have tried adding the word "although" to the beginning of the third sentence. However, the individual who proofread my work said adding the term was not necessary. Any thoughts on whether or not I should enter/admit the term?


texts: "That's a mercy!" - Is this some kind of repartee?

texts:
I came across the phrase "That's a mercy!" in a textbook dialogue. To put it in context I've reproduced the whole dialogue as below:

Bobbie: You look like hell, dad. What's on?

Sam: Nothing special. You snored a lot last night, and I thought it was a thunder so I closed the windows one by one. Then you began grinding your teeth from midnight.

Bobbie: And you thought a mouse was coming into the kitchen and watched out the whole night?

Sam: That's a mercy!

The whole dialogue makes sense as some sort of family teasing. It's just Sam's reply in the end "That's a mercy" which stands out a bit for me. What does this mean? Is this some kind of quick repartee? In what context do we normally use it?

The textbook has a slant of American English, to put in context.


texts: How do we tell the difference between a prepositional phrase and a particle phrase?

texts:
From the Farlex Grammar Book, their main difference is that particles cannot introduce a prepositional phrase-a preposition + its object-while a preposition always does.
Please look over these proposals. Does these proposals function as the object of the preposition over, or is over merely a particle functioning adverbially with look?
He can't get over her. Similarly, is her the prepositional object of over, or is over merely a particle?


texts: Is the only difference that in USA they write it with s and in UK they write it with c, or is there anything more?


texts:
I have found in a novel the sentence “I have made a call: to make a call.” The context is: the female main character is on the run and distressed, and to try and fix her problems she calls a former fiancé, in a hope to manipulate him.

Is “I have made an X[:] to make an X” a standard phrase? Is it a hidden quotation? Or could it be a play on the different meanings of “call” (phone call, call for help etc.)?


texts: A case on verbs with plural/singular subject

texts:
In the following, I believe the first sentence is the correct one as the verb must follow the subject, which is 'A critical aspect' (thought 'nerdy creatures' is plural) Please let me know if I am mistaken.

A critical aspect that might threaten such achievement is the nerdy creatures.

vs.

A critical aspect that might threaten such achievement are the nerdy creatures.


texts: What's the correct term for horizontally and vertically on a map?

texts:
The horizontal (left-right) dimension is called longitude. The vertical (top-bottom) is called latitude. However, I'm not sure how to adjectivize and adverbize those terms.

The best shot expressing the meaning I can think of is "latitude-wise" for the vertical case. Here, I have two questions.

Is there a more sophisticated term for that? And if not...

What is the most recommended way to express the work-around of mine?
a. latitude-wise
b. latitudewise
c. latitude wise
d. latidudelly
e. lati-what-ever-else-combo-might-be-conceiveable

Of course, the same wonderings go for the horizontal dimension, i.e. "longitude-wise". However, I'd be strongly surprised if it differed in principle from the vertical one.


texts:
I want to express that the homeless are everywhere. Here is my
example:

They are everywhere, in the park, library, and restaurants.

Is there any mistake in the sentence?
When should I add , between different locations?

Thank you


texts: Omitting "is", like in "I think it strange"

texts:
What is the grammar behind the construction "I think it strange/necessary that ...", and when can and cannot this apparent omission of the copula be used? Do we always need the "that" clause?

Also, this seems to be only allowed when the object is a pronoun (it in the above example). That is, we don't say "I think this method strange", correct?


texts:
I have a problem, how to intensify asking for something without turning to loaded, negative begging.

Two heroic fugitives run from authorities and find a temporary hideout. Then two other brave souls full of adventurous spirit offer to take their place, throwing the pursuit off track. It's dangerous, it's generous, but hey, above all it's an adventure the two always dreamed about!

So here's what I wrote.

  "Also, please don't forget you're helping us two fulfill our secret wish. We're not just offering. We are asking you humbly to let us do it!"

"Humbly" doesn't quite ring right for what I want to convey: the two are almost begging to be allowed to take up that mission. They aren't actually lowering themselves to begging, but they want it very much, and try to politely pressure the fugitives into complying.

Is there an adverb, or a phrase that would convey that better? How to make a request strong, still polite (vs 'ordering') and not groveling?


texts: Should there be a space before a percent sign?

texts:
Should there be a space before a percent sign or not?
Should you write 20% or 20 %?

I'm not sure if there is any consensus about this or not. Is one way more common than the other?


texts: "It's cold outside" vs. "There is cold outside"

texts:
Why don't we use "there is" when we're talking about cold outside?

What is the difference in meaning between "it's cold outside" and "there is cold outside"?

Update. Let me explain my question a bit. I know that "It's cold outside" is correct. My real question is about the rule of a thumb when to use "there is" or "it is" in sentences without any subject.

My native language is russian, and we don't have such substitutes (and, as a result, we have a lot of sentences without subjects and/or verbs).

"There is a letter on your desk" is "письмо на твоем столе" (letter on your desk — we don't have any verbs here). For me, "there is a letter on your desk" (what's on your desk?) and "it's cold outside" (what's the weather outside) are quite similar. In both cases we are talking about something that is somewhere.

So I wanted to understand the logic behind that.


texts:
In one chapter of the book, Extremely loud and incredibly close (pages 208-216), the author uses commas instead of periods to join several sentences without listing nor using conjunctions between them.
For example:

We were pulled off the truck and placed under it, the planes dove, I lost conciousness again, when I awoke I was in a white hospital bed, doctors operated on me, they gave me injections and bandaged my body, but it was her touch that saved my life.

Versus:

We were pulled off the truck and placed under it. The planes dove. I lost conciousness again. When I awoke I was in a white hospital bed. Doctors operated on me. They gave me injections and bandaged my body, but it was her touch that saved my life.

Which rhetorical device is this? Is there a word for it?


texts: I am solving the algorithm problem Valid Anagram. The official answer judges that "hello" is a valid anagram of "hello". I am doubting this test is wrong.


texts: Historical frequency of expression "and/or": Corpus search

texts:
What is the historical frequency of the expression “and/or”?

I have a feeling that I almost never see it in older texts, but that it is has become exponentially common in the past five or ten years.

However, Google’s Ngram Viewer doesn’t seem to work because of the slash.

Any suggestions? Or does anyone already have data on the historical frequency of “and/or”?


texts: Parentheses for alternatives in statement

texts:
I often come across a use of parentheses where the parentheses refer to an "alternative layer" of a statement.

An example might be helpful here:

  "Hence, changes in employment that increase (decrease) earnings or that cause investors to expect higher (lower) future earnings should lead to changes in stock prices."
  Cascio, W. F., Young, C. E., & Morris, J. R. (1997). Financial consequences of employment-change decisions in major US corporations. Academy of Management Journal, 40(5), 1175-1189.

I've googled my heart out, but I can't seem to find anything on this kind of usage. I find it mostly in textbooks and academic papers. Is there a specific name for this usage of parentheses, and under which conditions is it appropriate?

UPDATE:
I'm adding a more prototypical example, with a causal link between the pairs of alternatives:

  "The higher (lower) the buyer's perceptions of the pace of technological
  change, the lower (higher) the likelihood that a closed consideration set will be used."
  Heide, J. B., & Weiss, A. M. (1995). Vendor consideration and switching behavior for buyers in high-technology markets. The Journal of Marketing, 30-43.


texts:
What is the difference between "iteration" and "repetition"?

I have looked on wiktionary but I can't catch the difference in their semantics. Does any reference define the difference between these two words?

Wiktionary gives:

  iteration (plural iterations)

  Recital or performance a second time; repetition.
  A variation or version.

  The architect drafted several iterations of the floorplan before deciding on his final design.

  (computing) The use of repetition in a computer program, especially in the form of a loop.
  (computing) A single repetition of the code within such a repetitive process. The code calculates the appropriate value at each iteration.

  repetition (countable and uncountable, plural repetitions)

  The act or an instance of repeating or being repeated.
  (weightlifting): The act of performing a single, controlled exercise motion; also called a rep. A group of repetitions is a set.

Definitions 1, 3 and 4 for "iteration" seem to be synonymous with "repetition" (obviously definition 1 of it).


texts: Pronoun cases (e.g. "my," "his") before gerund constructions

texts:
Which of the following is correct?

It stands in the way of my being successful.

It stands in the way of me being successful.

This led to his succeeding in the workplace.

This led to him succeeding in the workplace.


texts: Is the flow of tenses in the sentence proper?

texts:
"The fine particles of grief which would flow out from the people he sat and listened to and helplessly tried to comfort, seeped inside him and there they had continued to envelop his heart, letting less inside or get outside with each layer that formed on top."

I would like to know if the tenses of "would flow," "seeped," and "had continued" work properly.
And aside from grammar, is the sentence too complex, tedious, or long to be emotive?

Thanks to all who would look into it.


texts: what is an alternative word of "would cut to training hundreds of New York city police."

texts:
The author of the book I am reading uses this phrase number of times.

Watching in shock the reports of Kennedy's murder would cut to working with our government on predicting and preventing such attacks.
Visiting my mother in a psychiatric ward after one of her suicide attempts would cut to touring mental hospitals as an adviser to the governor of California.

I am wondering what an appropriate synonym for cut would be. Perhaps make or create?


texts:
According to the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary, 'little' as an adverb could mean:

  not much; only slightly

Is there a preference among these sentences?

  He little helped his friends.
  He helped little his friends.
  He helped his friends little.


texts: Why are some adjectives formed using "-en"

texts:
There are a set of adjectives (many rarely used) that are all formed by the addition of -en or -n.
Is there a reason why certain words form these adjectives and where do they come from etymologically?

Examples:

Wooden
Leaden
Leathern (p.23 A Tale of Two Cities)
Golden
Woolen
Oaken


texts: What is the rhythm of the following poem?

texts:
When we grab you by the ankles,
Where our mark is to be made,
You'll soon be doing noble work,
Although you won't be paid.
When we drive away in secret,
You'll be a volunteer,
So don't scream when we tell you:
"The world is quiet here."

And how is it so "catchy" (if that's the right word), even when the line lengths are uneven?


texts: Does 'coming from ' necessarily refer to the speaker?

texts: If I were to say something like "That's false, coming from someone who has lived in China for 3 years", then does the 'someone' in the sentence necessarily refer to myself?


texts:
The thief waded through the stream hoping to keep the policemen's dogs at bay.
The captain sailed knowing that the weather would keep the ill-equipped pirates at bay.

What is the source of the idiom "at bay", is it anything to do with baying dogs, or ships in harbour?


texts: Are the infinitives that follow catenative verbs considered object?

texts:
I am confused to find objects of catenative verbs , for example i was looking for the verb refuse and it's transitive and intransitive when i found some examples from oxford dictionary but still not able to clearely find the object, here some examples

He flatly refused to discuss the matterplease where is the object
My brother refused to allow anyone to help him.please where is the object`
He has steadfastly refused to answer my questions.

Please could you help me to understand when the verb refuse is transitive or intransitive in the given examlples .if not please give me more complicated examples of when the verb refuse plus to infinitives is intransitive or transitive.
Thank you


texts: Usage of the preposition 'in' two times in a row?

texts:
The sentence: "This means that if you are in any way different, you could possibly find yourself in a column in a newspaper"

I am not sure whether it is correct to have 'in' two times in a row, maybe on a newspaper? But that sounds incorrect too..


texts: Is the use of the definite article in English peculiar compared to other European languages?

texts:
Example:
The novel by Gabriel García Márquez is titled "El amor en los tiempos del cólera", which, if transliterated to English, should be "The love in the time of the cholera".

But in fact the "correct" translation in English is "Love in the time of cholera".

For comparison, in German we have "Die Liebe in den Zeiten der Cholera", in French "L'Amour aux temps du choléra", and in Italian "L'amore ai tempi del colera".

Is it correct to say that English is peculiar in its use of the definite article? And if so, how did this come to be?


texts: What do you call something that doesn't let you sleep?

texts:
Especially a thought.

Example:

  Like last night, I couldn't sleep. This time, however,
  [...] wasn't my upcoming wedding, but the fact that I was going to get fired
  tomorrow.

So like a disturbance, but one that deprives you from sleep.


texts: "He walks as if he is drunk." Grammatically correct ? Any difference in meaning from "...as if he were drunk."?

texts:
Is it grammatically correct to use an indicative verb after "as if", or "as though" for that matter?

  I've heard someone say: "He walks as if he is drunk."  Would there have been any difference if he had said "He walks as if he were drunk."?

A second example might be:

  It looks as if it is going to rain.
  It looks as if it were going to rain.


texts: I am creating a presentation of slides to be used with a projector. Most of the slides contain lists of incomplete sentences so as to not clutter them up with too much text and overwhelm the audience. I have written the phrases without ending periods. Should they have ending periods?


texts: "A healthy amount" of sugar... so... no sugar? =(

texts:
I've always heard and used the expression "a healthy amount" to mean "a lot". But as I stirred my coffee this morning, I realized that's exactly how I described the sugar that goes in my coffee, and that this amount of sugar isn't healthy by any stretch of the imagination. (It is delicious, though, so I've got that going for me.)

Is this an acceptable use of this phrase? Is it okay to use "healthy" in a way that has nothing to do with what our common definition of "health" is? Would I risk someone putting less sugar in because it's healthier? Am I like the only one who uses this phrase? Am I going to health for this? (Sorry, it was there... har har...)


texts: How to convert passive voice to active voice?

texts:
I am using a proofreading plugin for Wordpress and it says that I should not use passive voice (the selected parts) in the following phrase. How can I rephrase this to use active voice?

  The invalid profile is discarded and a new fresh profile is created.


texts: Do a need a comma when while is used in this way?

texts:
In the example that I'm going to provide and write here, is a comma needed where I put it?

  While reading this book, I found out the events happen in the story have similarities with our present situation.


texts: Should it be "Late policy" or "lateness policy"?

texts:
I am writing a paper that discusses different policies for accepting assignments after the nominal deadlines. Should I refer to it as a "late policy" or "lateness policy"?
Here is a sample sentence:

Figure 2 shows students' ratings of different late/lateness policies.


texts:
Ok don't take me wrong in this one. I'm asking because, I was asked to answer this question and I simply don't have a straightforward answer so please help me out.

What does DreamWorks mean?

I look in here https://www.espressoenglish.net/difference-between-job-work-and-career/  and it says you cannot use the word work in plural like saying *"I have three works to do this week." So that leads me to think a dream cannot have works ): I might sound stupid right there. But, I think it might have jobs instead.

Next the word DreamWorks leads me to think it means that dream works but I don't know if it works hard or it might be implying that dreaming works but IDK.

By the way, this DreamWorks word comes from the filming company DreamWorks SKG Pictures.

See this link: Link

P.S.
I would like to know if the phrase "Good work!" Is a valid expression as in "Good job!" I have the feeling I have seen or heard "Good work!" or "Good work done!" But that's just thought I dont really know.


texts:
My favorite animal are dogs.

Is this acceptable?

I believe this is ok because I see "animal" as one species and "dogs" as the variety of breeds.

Of course, the best answer would be "my favorite animal is the dog" but that's not the point.

Could someone give me a clear, technical answer as to whether or not this is acceptable (grammar)?

Thanks


texts:
What are the exacts words in this line of Aaron Tippin's song "Christmas is the warmest time of the year?

The time is:
1:36 - 1:39

Here's the song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxZz1169s0Q

Are they:
"It's the sound of silence coming soon"?


texts: The usage of "the" in a general statement

texts:
"Gas prices are going up."  Which of the following is also a general statement about gas prices:

  The price of gasoline is going up.
  The gas price is going up.

And could you tell me why? I have this question because although I know, for example, both "Tigers are big" and "The tiger is big" are generic constructions, but I am not sure how to use "the"  when it is a  noun phrase instead of a single noun.


texts:
Are there any English onomatopoeias for disgust / loathe? What exclamations are commonly used to express repulsion?

Something that could be used like:

  (___) dog shit. I loathe it! (some sound here)

… to increase the expressiveness of the sentence?


texts:
I am of the understanding the term applies only to physical text (print or handwriting). Or at the very least applies only to that which you can see. Not what you can hear.
Is this the correct use of the term "legible"?

Example statement (on skype, person #1 has/and is aware of a connection problem and his voice is coming though somewhat distorted but his words are discernible) : Person #1:Hey can you make out what I am saying?  Person #2: Yes indeed, you are legible. Person #3 : yeah man, You are coming in legible.

Is this the correct use of the term "legible"?


texts: When do I use non-, ir-/i-, dis-, a-, or un-?

texts: Between using the prefixes non-, ir-, i-, and dis-, a-, or un-, meaning "not (root word) to do something", when is the best time to use each?


texts: What is the geographical origin of the idiom "be a fly on the wall"?

texts:
Does the following expression originate from English?

  I'd like to be a fly on the wall

I discovered today that a similar expression exists in Brazilian Portuguese: "I'd like to be a fly" (with an equivalent meaning). A quick online search indicates that the origin is American English, 1920s. Could it be that the Brazilian phrase is a translation from American English or is there some earlier origin from Latin, Greek, mythology, etc?


texts: Can I use 'better still' in negative sentences?

texts:
Can I use 'better still' in a negative sentence? I'm especially interested in American English usage. Does it sound natural to say:

  You may not have the access to a trusted counselling, or better still,
  to a 24/7 support?

Meaning that the latter would be much better, but it's difficult to get?


texts: Are there any synonyms for the noun 'crush'?

texts:
I must clarify, when I say 'crush', I mean the subject of an unrealistic, one-sided infatuation. For example, it can be used in this sentence: 'My celebrity crush is David Beckham.'

Could that word be interchanged for another? Preferably, can it be a word which is not necessarily too formal/complex? I've searched online for a while but can't find any synonyms for this form of 'crush.'

I want the word for a novel which is set in an old-ish fantasy period so I don't think 'crush' would feel in-place.  The main character is a lower-class worker.


texts: What part of speech is the phrase "Notwithstanding the foregoing?"

texts:
In a contract document I'm reading, I found the following sentence:

  Notwithstanding the foregoing, your employment is also subject to the following terms:

My question concerns the phrase, "notwithstanding the foregoing." I understanding the meaning, but if you were going to construct a sentence diagram, what part of speech would this phrase have?

My initial reaction was to call it a nominative absolute, but it doesn't seem to fit the usual test (ie, try to subordinate by adding a conjunction + verb of being).


texts:
Maybe it's just me, but "Can I talk to you?" (CITTY) feels like a situation where "you" did something wrong, and "I" want to address it.

"Can we talk?" (CWT) feels more like casual conversation, or at least it's less of a concern about "you".

May I have confirmation on this, or is it just me?

[EDIT] Assume this is written on a note, or sent by itself in a message.


texts: Is the plural for the Easter Bunny "Easter Bunnies"?  Or because it's a proper name, is it "Easter Bunnys," much like the plural you see written on the welcome mat for a family whose last name is "Landry" is "The Landrys'," not "The Landries'"?


texts: Looking for a specific synonym of "selfish"

texts:
A word or phrase that describes best a specific type of person or their behavior. The type of person that would not act upon a threat if said threat is not affecting their personal well-being directly.

Context: "Global warming becomes my problem only if I decide to believe I'll live long enough to see the consequences of it."

Proposals that are tightly related to the given context are more than welcome!


texts: Looking for a word for being in multiple places at the same time (not bilocate)

texts:
I cannot recall a word I used to use 20 years ago that meant being able to be in 2 or more places at the same time.  Bilocate is the only word that comes to mind, but that's not it. This is not astral projection or remote viewing. It's physically being able to accomplish things in multiple locations at the same time. The thesauruses and online sites gave me no synonyms for bilocate. Maybe I'm thinking of a phrase and not just a single word. Any suggestions?

SAMPLE USAGE: I wish there were several clones of me. Then I could ____ and get everything done.


texts:
I need a bit of help with the subjunctive mood here. I was reading Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream when I came across this line.

'Weele rest vs Hermia, if you thinke it good'

I was wondering if 'it' is a subjunctive. It's not really a verb though.


texts: "It was not to be closed" or "It should not have been closed"

texts:
I would like to use the phrase "this question should not be closed" to refer to a question that someone closed—but the expression seems defective because it doesn't get at the fact that the closing already occurred.

Must I use

  This question was not to be closed

or are there better ways to express the idea, e.g., 'it should not have been closed'?

Please, let explain the difference between the alternative expressions and give the context in which one should be preferred to the other(s).


texts: Why are two Past Participles used together?

texts:
The pair were pictured locked in an embrace in an empty Luzhniki Stadium after proud Three Lions supporters filtered out of the ground.
Homes are seen caught in the deluge of flooding east of Fall City, Washington.

As an English learner, I don't understand these sentences.

Can I change the sentences like :

The pair (who were) locked in an embrace in an empty Luzhniki Stadium were pictured after proud Three Lions supporters filtered out of the ground.
Homes (which are) caught in the deluge of flooding east of Fall City, Washington are seen.


texts:
When an -ing verb is applied to describe a noun, is it always an adjective? (or something else)

For example: "A dancing ninja showed up today." - is "dancing" an adjective in this context? (In this case, referring literally to a ninja who dances.)

Specifically, in use: https://twitter.com/DrawmaticAR/status/1225527363489976320


texts: "or not" vs. "or no": Which one is correct?

texts:
Which of the following is correct?

  Are you coming to the gym or not?
  Are you coming to the gym or no?


texts: The word "doubt" as a substitute for the word "question."

texts:
I

I live in India and I have noticed that in Indian English it is normal to use the noun "doubt" as one would use the noun "question" in Western English.

Examples:

"He had many doubts regarding the subject, so he asked his teacher to answer those doubts."

"Sir, I have a doubt, what is the square root of 64?"

Is this usage of the noun "doubt" unique to Indian English, or is it also acceptable in Western English?


texts: Is there any idiom/word for some one who kisses horizontally i.e. inter departmentally equals. but kicks any and all below him

texts: Kiss up, kick down is a popular ism for people who boot lick upward and kick their subordinates but What would you call some one who typically kisses horizontally i.e. inter departmental equals. but kicks any and all below them.


texts:
I am writing someone can “sit still” and doing something persistently, who can stick up to something for years. How to describe this characteristic? Such as steadfast, footed... I just cannot get a satisfied one.

And how to describe the opposite, antonym of it? One that always switches his/her mind and cannot stick up to one thing.

Thanks. Word or phrase will help.


texts: How to use the word "with" to add a clause?

texts:
I'm struggling to understand how to use "with" to combine two clauses in a sentence. Is this sentence below grammatically correct and why?

  Yemen's population is estimated to age even further by 2050, with 57.3% of the population over the age of 60.