texts: Comma after nonrestrictive adverbial (dependent) clause at the end of the sentence

texts:
I am confused whether comma is required after adverbial (dependent) clauses at the end of the sentence (and the difference, if any, between restrictive and non-restrictive adverbial clauses).
The internet and various style manuals seem to give conflicting advice, so I am not sure what is true or, at least, what is prevalent.
According to Purdue University (Purdue Owl), no comma is needed, except cases on contrast, when dependent clause follows independent clause, presumably because they are all treated as restrictive.
Example:

She was late for class because her alarm clock was broken.

Yet Gregg Reference Manual, 10th Edition and CMOS 16th edition both state that comma is required if the dependent clause following an independent clause is non-restrictive in meaning, but no comma is required if the clause is restrictive.
Gregg gives the following examples of restrictive and non-restrictive dependent clauses (dependent clauses in italics - notice the comma in the second example):

Restrictive: His faxed response came after you left last evening.
Non-restrictive: His faxed response came this morning, after the decision had been made.

While I see the logic and the difference, I would argue that the second example is also restrictive depending on what is being restricted. And, arguably, Purdue Owl would punctuate the second sentence, based on the advice given, without the comma.
So what holds true here?
Is there a majority-accepted rule (or, at least, majority position) around restrictive / non-restrictive adverbial clauses, or is this merely a stylistic / subjective preference? Could all clauses be punctuated as restrictive, aside from some obvious exceptions below?
I know there are some exceptions with negatives clauses (Not because, but because, etc.). And also when the clause is clearly an afterthought (I can do this, if you wish). But in cases like the above where either interpretation is possible what is the prevalent editorial position?
Could I argue that the sentences below should also be punctuated without comma on the ground of stylistic / subjective preference - rationale in brackets?

I will see you at 9.35 pm after the party has finished. ("9.35" describes what time; "after the party has finished" describes circumstances - both restrictive; no comma.)
The plane landed after 10-hour flight at 10 am. ("after 10-hour flight" describes circumstances; "10 am" describes time - both restrictive; no comma.)

Thanks a lot in advance (editing a piece of work and cannot go to sleep as these adverbial constructions keep coming up).


texts:
"32. Percy, Mahomet, ‘The Properties’.
33. Ibid., 1.1.26.
34. Ibid., 1.1.31, 49.
35. Ibid., 4.3.347.
36. Ibid., 4.6.37.
37. Ibid., 5.4.6.
38. Ibid., 5.13, s.d.
39. Ibid., 5.13. 3– 4.
40. Ibid., 5.13.129, s.d.
41. Ibid., 5.13. 9–14. "
The source: Jerry Brotton, This Orient Isle- Elizabethan England and the Islamic World, the footnotes of Chapter 11.


texts: What is the correct punctuation in the sentence "Shall I open the window or you will do it"

texts:
I have a sentence:

  Shall I open the window or you will do it.

I wonder whether the second half of the sentence is grammatically correct (is it an indirect question?) and whether or not we need a question mark at the end of the sentence to convey the meaning of a question.

Thank you in advance!


texts: What do you call this elevated road structure?

texts:
I'm looking for an English term for this:

Notice it's a single piece of road that is elevated, having another one pass underneath it. I wouldn't call it a bridge since a bridge usually goes over a natural feature like a river.


texts: Is a dash used between words in word combinations like fill up?  Or is it fill-up?


texts: when does the noun "time" become a countable noun?

texts:
I am writing an email to my friend and want to use this sentence: "I am having a great time."
I would like to know whether the above sentence is correct.
Also, I know that time can be an uncountable or a countable noun. I would appreciate if you could provide some examples of the word time in sentences and could explain the usage of the word in each case.


texts: Does the noun after "per" need an article (or other determiner) in the enclosed examples?

texts:
For example, in:

There is one property per heading.
There is one property per a heading.

The first one seems “more correct”.  Other examples:

There are two colors per book.
There are two colors per a book.
There are two colors per one book.
There are two colors per each book.


texts: The state of being melancholic is called melancholia. What are similar words for other 3 Graeco-Roman temperaments?

texts:
Melancholic -> melancholia
Choleric -> ??
Sanguine -> ??
Phlegmatic -> ??


texts: Does the English word "have" have a closer relationship with German "haben" or French "avoir"?

texts:
I see the English auxiliary verb have is very similar to Romance counterparts like Portuguese haver, Spanish haber or Italian avere and it appears to me that they have some historical relationship. It also adds to that guess that English has a predominant portion of Old French (avoir).

On the other hand, taking the Germanic origin of English and my belief that such a basic verb can't have a foreign origin, I also think that have has Germanic history, as seen by its old conjugation table closer to German (thou hast / du hast etc., but German uses werden more instead).

So my question is, which one is closer to English have? Germanic origin or Romance (Latin) origin?


texts:
With the popularity of online help (available on the Internet), book-based terminology, such as "chapter" and "book", don't make much sense. For example, as far as the reader is concerned, there are no "chapters" in online help. A chapter is simply a collection of topics or sections. This especially applies to topic-based writing.

I would rather refer to book-based terminology in a more general way. Is it more common to refer to "section" instead of "chapter"?


texts:
The weather reports on the BBC frequently use the word "That" when I was expecting either no article or possibly "the".  For example 'There will be more of that cold weather.' when no cold weather has been referred to, unless they meant yesterday, or last week, possibly.  Am I wrong, or is this just another silly attempt to sound vaguely colloquial?
This use of "That" seems very common currently in what might be called reporter speak, the weather men are not the only example, but they seem to do it a lot. Over the last few weeks I have also heard "that sunshine", "that rain", "that fog". I have hunted around some grammar web resources and can't find any justification for this use of "That".  Have I missed something?


texts:
I'm a non-native speaker and currently writing on a thesis in English. I'm struggeling to avoid the past tense. Accoriding to my advisor I'm supposed to write the thesis in present tense. But this makes sentences like:

  ... are already described in section XYZ.

wrong, right?

It would be great to get some general advice how to avoid this.

PS: Can I use past tense for summaries?


texts: Usage of 'Could' and 'Would' in non-past tense sentense

texts:
Could someone explain me why we should use "Could"and "Would" in this sentence? can we use "Can" and "Will" instead?

"Is this report something that your team could handle for me?  Please review the attached and let me know.  I can’t imagine it would take more than 10 minutes a week".

Thanks
santhosha


texts: Is the usage of "after the break" before the start of a commercial and in an article related?

texts:
The phrase "after the break" is sometimes used before a commercial. It can also used in an article. e.g. "watch the video after the break".

Are these two usages related to each other, apart from having the same three words in the same order?


texts:
I came across the word "harsh" used as a noun today. For example:

  I consistently showed up late to work, which turned out to be a harsh on my ambitions.

The above example is very recent (from 2014), US English.

I looked up the word "harsh" in three different dictionaries and not one had the word listed as a noun. They all categorized "harsh" as an adjective. The noun form is "harshness."


texts: What's the definition of "qualification effort"?

texts:
I've mostly seen it in some legal or related texts, but didn't manage to find any definition.

Sample:

  It jeopardises investment in
  research and innovation, devalues intelligence and the qualification
  effort, encourages organised crime and clearly weakens the rule of
  law. That is why combating counterfeiting must be an absolute
  imperative for all EU Member States.


texts: Justifying one wrong thing by comparing it its opposite which is also wrong

texts:
Is there a word or name for the phenomenon or syndrome in which people try to defend one wrong thing by comparing it something that is total opposite of it but also wrong?

For example:

  Drone attacks are the right thing because they are against terrorism which is wrong.

A more general but abstract kind of example could be:

  I want to kill all the sharks because they are dangerous for human beings.


texts: Why is "say" spelled differently for "said" and "says"?

texts:
As a non-native English speaker, I always have to double-check when the y in say becomes i, when using says and said - I always confuse them.

I suppose there is a grammar rule that leads to this spelling and I hope that knowing it would prevent me from further mixing them up...


texts: use of an infinitive immediately after a relative pronoun with a preposition

texts:
I was wondering if someone could please help me confirm whether or not, after a relative pronoun preceded by a preposition, you can follow up with an infinitive immediately afterwards or if you have to construct a sentence segment featuring a fresh subject (and possibly auxiliary verb). Naturally, I have examples to clarify this query:

Is this possible:

  This will be a good vantage point from which to rain fire down upon the enemy.

Or does it have to be phrased like this:

  This will be a good vantage point, from which we can rain fire down upon the enemy?

The first of the two feels possibly correct, but I am not certain if it is strictly so.


texts: The word "mutable" means changeable, rather than "able to be muted". Is there a word that carries this meaning?


texts:
If this is a run on sentence, can I separate it properly? I would like to still maintain the ideas close correlation with each other.

In this, Hesse tells the reader that we cannot equate the concepts of teaching and experiencing, for to truly understand something we must experience it, which may not be a clear cut path.


texts: Can the word "forbear" be used as a noun?

texts:
This is a sentence from a reading comprehension workbook.

  These are the parents of the new generation, which, by simple inheritance, possesses all the qualities of "toughness" inherent in its forbears.

This was the first time I saw the word "forbear" being used as a noun, so I looked it up in Merriam-Webster but the entry doesn't include any information about the word's usage as a noun. Is the sentence grammatically incorrect?


texts:
The following is an (outdated) article from the Guardian

  Under the terms set before Tsipras, the Greek parliament has to endorse the entire package on Monday and then pass several pieces of legislation by Wednesday, including on pensions reform and a new VAT regime, before the eurozone will agree to negotiate a new three-year rescue package.

I read before that the present simple is often used for future time in a clause with before when both clauses are
about the future. Is it possible to substitute agrees for will agree? If so, what is the difference in the meaning?


texts:
I work for a holiday company and creating an email that gets sent to people who have booked their holiday. It basically is asking them to book "extras" to their holiday. The thing is, some people may have booked these already and it's very hard to take these people out of this big email list. So I've decided I'll keep people in there who HAVE booked their extras and those who HAVEN'T as well. I don't want people who have booked their extras to then think they haven't when they receive this email so I need to word it carefully.

I know what I want to say but don't know how to write it well. I wanted to say something along the lines of:

" If you're already booked these, then don't worry. "


texts: I'm looking for a word whose definition is something along the lines of "growing in intelligence". I'm trying to use it in a sentence like "the people are getting smarter and smarter throughout the years".


texts:
What's the name of this shade of blue?
Is it navy blue or another color?


texts: Is “two-Perrier” lunch a businessmen’s buzz word?

texts:
There was a line, “He was not one for two-Perrier lunch,” in the eulogy for a British politician who made a great contribution to the formation of E.U. system.

Also there is the following passage in the co-authored book, The World's Business Cultures and How to Unlock Them, page 174, by Barry Tomalin and Mike Nicks:

  Like many other aspects of American life, business entertaining and socializing is often informal. Americans tend to eat early, with lunch at around noon and dinner at six. The 'two-Perrier' lunch is increasingly the norm, and working lunches over sandwiches in the office are common. Heavy or enthusiastic drinking is frowned on amongst Americans, but tolerated in visiting Britons.

I assume that 'two-Perrier' lunch’ means a light lunch consisted of light meal like sandwiches and each one bottles of Perrier for two.

Is the word, 'two-Perrier' lunch’ very common in both U.S. and U.K. as the authors say ‘increasingly the norm’? What is it like? Does ‘two Perrier” mean one Perrier for each of two persons?

Is it “One-Perrier” lunch when we eat simple lunch alone, which we call 孤食（koshoku）a ‘solitary lunch’ in Japanese?


texts: Which was the first doctor, M.D. or Ph.D.?

texts:
For which title was the term "doctor" first given?  Was it originally meant for the medical doctor, or for just anyone holding a doctoral degree?

Also:  When did the later usage become common, and why?


texts: Synonym for a specific usage of "after all"

texts:
Is there any other word or phrase that could be used instead of "after all" in a case where it comes at the end of a sentence?

For example:

  Running away was in his nature, after all.

(If you can think of a better example sentence, please let me know.)


texts:
Is there a word for a person whose work is primarily cognitive, not pragmatic, and who builds his career/reputation this way?

It doesn't need to have a negative connotation. Here is an example person: extremely popular on twitter, often invited to speak (paid), verbose / wax poetic, very conceptual, very popular external to organization but not understood locally, focuses work externally but does not have significant local work.


texts:
What is a phrase that describes waking up mentally or a mental wake up call?

You say,

  I know, I know. I need to do this, that and the other, so I had better  _________

to achieve your goals, but instead you remain in your comfort zone ... Wake Up!

"Wake up!" I think is overused and antiquated. I am looking for a fresh phrase that means something like to stop procrastinating.


texts:
I cant find any resources about the user of idiom, what kind of people that use idiom the most? and in what range of age?

Is there any research about that?


texts: Does anyone know the origin of the term "g-string" (clothing)? All of the dictionaries I've looked at are uncertain about the origin of the word. I even tried googling for the answer, but to no avail.


texts: I only know "towards" and always use it before today: "move towards", etc. But today, I come across toward, after referring the dictionary, I find I can't differentiate them clearly. What is the difference between "toward" and "towards"? How can use them?


texts: What does this sentence mean in flannery o' connor's short story?

texts:
I was reading 'A good man is hard to find'
and I could not understand this:

  It isn't a soul in this green world of God's that you can trust", She said. "And I don't count nobody out of that, not nobody,"

Google Books - Page 38


texts: What word means pretending to not understand a naive question?

texts:
The situation would be something like a student asking a teacher a question. The question isn't well worded, as the student doesn't fully understand the topic on which they're asking the question, and the teacher says the they don't understand the question. Or, the teach might say the question doesn't make sense, or it isn't clear. But to a knowledgeable person, the crux of the question seems clear. The student simply can't word the question well, because they don't understand the topic.
The "teacher" is simply trying to show the student doesn't know what they are talking about and the implication is the teacher knows more. For some reason the teacher doesn't explain and re-word the student's question for them.
It's a sort of pedantry. The teacher is more interested in showing they know more than the student rather than clarifying the question and explaining.
It puts a burden on the student to already know some topic before they can ask a question about it.
The question would be fairly basic. I'm not thinking of complicated questions which could legitimately require clarification.


texts: Is the word good as the singular of goods correct?

texts:
This question is somewhat related to inventory, and accounting.

Retail shops keep goods in warehouse. Manufacturers keep products.

Is it correct to say "give me that good", as it is "give me that product", or is there another term which is used for singular form of goods?


texts:
Both CET and eg. Europe/Oslo is called a Timezone. But the city of Oslo is experiencing CEST in the summer-time (as many others).

What is the correct way to refeer to the timezone identifier that Europe/Oslo is?

Will this be a good wording?;

The current timezone is CET
The current timezone identifier is Europe/Oslo


texts: Confusion caused by delays in human communication: layman's term word or phrase

texts:
I'm looking for a general, non-technical word or phrase to describe a situation where natural delays in the timing and ordering of human communication leads to confusion and misunderstandings.

What I'm talking about is sort of similar to the "Telephone game" but depends on the order and timing of communication, rather than the quality of it.

Text messaging provides an opportunity for this: You send three text messages in a specific order, but due to how texting works, the recipient may get them in a different order than you sent them in. This could cause serious confusion and misunderstandings.

In software and hardware communication, there are ways to perform error checking and error correction to avoid these issues, but human beings are really bad at consistently following the same rules every time, and tend to take shortcuts or make assumptions.

The point is that because of natural delays in communication (email, voicemail, texting, etc) a lot of confusion and misinformation can be generated. There are technical terms for this in software engineering and system analysis, but I'm looking for a word or phrase I can use to describe this situation to laymen.

To clarify, I'm looking for a term that describes a situation where human communication delays and errors lead to an escalation of confusion, chaos, and further misunderstandings.

To clarify even further, I'm not looking for a general term for confusion or a general term for latency or delay. I'm looking for a word or phrase that can be used to quickly explain that a confusing situation has arisen specifically because of inherent delays in both communication and comprehension.

Examples: (Using barnfargle as a substitute for some other word or phrase.)

"Yesterday's meeting was a real barnfargle because Judy read the last email without reading the ones before it."

"Sam called Jerry about Judy's memo but Jerry thought Sam was talking about Judy's OTHER memo from yesterday, so they scheduled a meeting where each attendee thought it was about a separate subject.  What a barnfargle that was."

These kinds of situations are quite common in business communication, but also appear when organizing a family get-together, or planning a softball team schedule. They are not specific to any technology, although technology makes more opportunities for them to happen.

The closest thing I've been able to come up with myself is "comedy of errors" but that's not quite it.

There may not be any term for this, but I think there should be.


texts: Words/Expressions that means having all the qualities for creating something?

texts:
I am in search of expression or phrase that can be used to describe something that has all the qualities or skills to create.

Usually, I use the phrase "having all the spices for making a tournament successful."

What alternative expression/phrase can be used to replace "having all the spice" in the given sentence


texts:
Harry looked up and saw, floating twenty feet above them, Peeves the Poltergeist, a little man in a bell-covered hat and orange bow tie, his wide, malicious face contorted with concentration as he took aim again.
  (p172, Harry Potter 4, US edition)

Would you get some specific picture from ‘a bell-covered hat’?

A flop hat, like a bellflower?

A clown hat, whose every horn has a small bell on its tip?

A strange hat, which is encrusted with bells?

I’d be happy if you could give me the right image of the hat.


texts: The grammatical parts of " instead of getting"

texts:
How would you analyze the gramatical form of the bold part of this sentence:

A significant number of people try to catch up on their sleep at the weekend instead of getting enough sleep during the week.

I think this is a prepositional phrase made up of a preposition (instead of) and a verb in its -ing form (getting). Or is getting a gerund? I am not entirely clear on the difference or if there is a difference.

edit: to clarify, this is an exercise that I have been assigned, the three words in bold need to have their form analyzed. So the focus of the first part of my question is not on the meaning, but on form (prepositional phrase: preposition + -ing verb or gerund). My question is really if you agree that it is 1) a proepositional phrase and 2) if the second half of the prepositional phrase is an ing verb form or a gerund (as I'm not clear on the difference, if there is). The second half of the question focuses on the "meaning" of instead of getting in this sentence. I based my answer on this entry https://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/prepositional-phrases?q=Prepositional%2Bphrases

I would also like to ask if this description of the meaning in this context is adequate:

The author uses the expression instead of getting to refer to one action (sleeping more on the weekend) replacing another (getting enough sleep during the week). In other words, the interviewed subjects try to catch up on their sleep on the weekends in lieu of obtaining enough sleep during the week.

edit 2 I've changed my meaning to the following:
The author uses the expression instead of to contrast between one action that the interviewed people attempt to make happen (sleep more on the weekend) from another that does not happen (getting enough sleep during the week).  In other words, the interviewed subjects attempt to catch up on their sleep on the weekends and they don’t get enough sleep during the week.

edit 3 I've changed my form analysis to the following:

Instead of getting is a prepositional phrase, consisting in a preposition (instead of) followed by a verb in its gerund form (getting, the -ing form of the verb get), which is the first part of the verb phrase (getting enough sleep) that is the object of the preposition.


texts: "Speaking Likenesses" - what does the title mean?

texts:
"Speaking likenesses" is a little-known book by Christina Rossetti, published in the late 19th century. It was never reprinted and I haven't managed to get a copy, but it's supposed to be inspired by "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland", but rather didactic. The book contains stories of girls (some good, some bad) who get their just deserts. I don't know much more than you can read here

The only meaning of "speaking likeness" I could find in the Internet is something like "way of depicting people that displays them in the act of speaking, starting to speak or having just spoken".

Does the phrase have any strict meaning? If it doesn't, what meanings could it evoke in a late 19th century reader? I don't even know if it's more about "a likenesses that are speaking" or "speaking that is done by likenesses".


texts: What is the special term for a type of debate where no side would ever agree to the other side?

texts:
I have been curious if there is a term specifically used to describe the kind of debates where both sides would never accept the other's arguments, and there can never be a consensus.
Especially looking at the kind of debates popular these days in comment sections on social media.


texts: What's the difference between a "racist" and a "racially sensitive" remark?

texts:
Former England football captain John Terry has been cleared of making a racist remark to a fellow professional. However it is clear he said something which caused offence, which the BBC sports website chose to call racially sensitive.

  In his summation of the case at Westminster Magistrates' Court last
  Friday, Judge Howard Riddle said that "there is no dispute that John
  Terry directed [racially sensitive] words in the direction of Anton
  Ferdinand".

So what then is the difference between a "racist" remark and a "racially sensitive" one?


texts: Is 'Another Europe is possible' correct English?

texts: Given that we don't have a second Europe, I thought it should be something like 'A different Europe is possible'. Or does this sentence have the same meaning?


texts: About “besides” and “except” - which better fits the blank here?

texts:
I’m having a problem with word choice in the specific sentence below.

“Batman has a friend named Robin who always helps Batman when he is in danger. Very few people know who Batman really is ______ Robin.(except/besides)”

Based on the context, I consider that Robin does know the real identity of Batman, so he should be included in the group of those people who really know Batman. If the “very few people” part were changed to “a few people”, I would be confident that “besides” best fit the blank.
However, when it comes to “few people”(which, in my point of view, should be considered as nearly no one), I’m not sure whether Robin should be included in or excluded from that very group.
So can you help me with the word choice here? Thank you very much.


texts: How do some words get alternate meanings that have nothing to do with their original definition? For example, the word cool means both moderately cold and permitting such a sensation. How are these alternate definitions coined?


texts: What is the best way to convert "tongue-in-cheek" into an adverb?

texts: I was thinking something like "tongue-in-cheekly" but it sounds awkward. Of course, alternatives are welcome, but I couldn't come up with one that conveyed the half-serious playfulness that I attribute to "tongue-in-cheek". Any thoughts?


texts: What's a word for seasonal holiday decorations?

texts: What is the word that describes seasonal holiday decorations that people sometimes put up in their offices or desks to mark certain holidays? I feel like I know there is a word for it but I can't remember it however hard I try now. I thought of a pageant - but that is really a procession or ceremony.


texts: There is what I believe to be a literary device that describes recursion, particularly in footnotes. For example, a footnote of a footnote. You can also have a footnote, that is the footnote of a footnote, and it can go as deep as you want it to. This would be known as ____ in literature. Recursion is taking place, but it's not the word I'm looking for. I believe I discovered this effect when looking at a list of literary devices but my Chrome history just isn't helping me find it again!


texts: "as far as" vs. "so far as" vs. "in so far as"

texts:
Are these sentences the same?

As far as I know, he's going to Chicago.
So far as I know, he's going to Chicago.
In so far as I know, he's going to Chicago.

I think that they are the same in meaning but differ in formality.  I think the first one is formal, the second one is informal, and the third one is very formal.


texts:
Imagine you get a BMW, and then everyone tells you:"Hey, you're gonna be so popular, you'll be driving all kinds of girls in your car", that makes sense.

And now imagine you bought a horse, and you can't use the word "ride" in there, saying:"I'll be riding all kinds of girls on my horse", because that doesn't make sense. So can you only say:"I'll be giving rides to all kinds of girls on my horse", or is there another way of saying that?

Also what about strollers? Would you also just say:"I'll be giving rides to all kinds of babies in my stroller?".

Sorry for the ridiculous question. It's just that in Russian there's a word "катать", for all of the above , I'm just trying to understand how to say it in English .


texts: Why do we often use "apostrophe -s construction" when talking about time?

texts:
Cambridge Grammar says

  We use an apostrophe -s construction (in a year’s time, in two months’
  time) to say when something will happen.

Sometimes, I see people use "5 days' leave" or "On New Year’s Day"

Why not "5 day leave" or "On New Year Day" or "in a year time"?


texts:
I couldn't find an answer to this question by searching the archive. If it's duplicate please let me know, and I'll remove it.

I was wondeing if "work" (noun) is plural or singular? for example, I want to speak about the "previous work" (meaning previous published papers):

Is it correct to say:

  I provide a high-level overview of the previous work, including "their" limitations.

Or I should say:

  I provide a high-level overview of the previous work, including "its" limitations.

I also appreciate any suggestion for a more elegant way of saying that there are "niche" in the previous papers, that I'm going to highlight.


texts: I found "tassle" used in a few British books. Is it a British spelling of "tassel" or an error on the authors part?.


texts: What does this sentence mean ? "Heaven and earth, are the shades of Pemberley to be thus polluted?"

texts:
In Pride and Prejudice, when an old woman (Catherine) asks a young lady (Elizabeth) whether she is engaged with her nephew or not, the young lady neither confirms nor rejects such relationship in a dissembling way.
Lady Catherine censures Elizabeth and criticizes the scandalous elopement of her sister. Then she says this sentence:

  Heaven and earth! Are the shades of Pemberley to be thus polluted?

What does it really mean?


texts: Common phrase for something that changes while you are working on it

texts:
What is a common phrase to describe something that changes while you are working on it without your being aware of it.

For example: you are adding comments to a document, and when you submit them you see that the doc was completely changed in the meantime and your comments are not relevant.


texts:
Donald Trump recently said,

  "We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of
  hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides, on many sides..."

Most if not all news outlets interpret the phrase "on many sides" in this sentence as referring to different groups of people.  In other words, they say he meant to call out not just this display of hatred but other displays by other groups at other times.

But, is it possible from a grammatical perspective that "many sides" is referring to the many sides of "this display of hatred" referred to in the sentence?  In other words, could Trump have meant "we condemn this display of hatred from lots of angles"?

Does my question make sense?  I don't believe the President has made a statement clarifying his comments yet so I am not asking what he meant specifically (who knows?), but from a grammatical/lexical perspective couldn't the phrase "on many sides" in context mean in essence "from lots of angles" or "in a lot of ways"?


texts:
I have drafted a letter containing the statement:

  In assistance with the team, the company registered sales amounting to
  $x in 2014-15

Is "In assistance with the team" a correct use of English?


texts: What is the difference between the following prepositions:

texts:
"He is the best player of the country."
and
"He is the best player in the country."

When should we use "of" and when should we use "in"?


texts: Is there a term for referencing the main character in a first-person song?

texts:
Is there a specific word for the protagonist when the singer sings from the protagonist's point of view?

For example, in the song "Two Is Better Than One" by Boys Like Girls:

  I remember what you wore on the first day
  You came into my life and I thought
  "Hey, you know, this could be something"


texts: Which word I can use as unit to count for fish/shimp and animal?

texts:
[Sorry for bad English]

In a list I have:

Item       Unit     Amount
Choptick   Pair     1
Fan        Pieces   1
Lobster    ???      1
Tuna       ???      1
Chicken    ???      1
Pig        ???      1

(choptick and fan are for example)

In the ??? place, I need words which mean a single and whole (alive) lobster/tuna/chicken/pig. Which words should I use?

I use this list in a restaurant, where the guest see and choose a fish/chicken, then choose how to cook. Then they will pay as how much that fish/chicken weight.

Edit:

As the comment bellow, I make my question more clear: All that fish/animal are alive when the guest order (include the pig, we have a pig breeds which the biggest, full growth one is less than 10 kg, use for party, and we have a farm near restaurant for guest see and pick a pig). And all the ??? place not neccessery use the same word. I need the best word possible for each position. Thank!


texts:
Whats does the expression at scale mean?

Does it mean "on a larger scale" or does it mean "at a level appropriate to the what's available"?
I came up with these two definitions by looking the expression up on the internet, but I still feel very confused.

Here are two sentences:

  Over the course of that first afternoon, the next months, and finally over several years, we honed our practice activities into tools that could help make teachers better, at scale

  If you seek to do somethings great, you most likely live a battle for talent – for smart and capable people who can do great things at scale.


texts:
Is there a single word to state two versions of a software have the same feature?
I would like to say "Version X+1 is comparable-in-terms-of-features to version X"

I cought "isofunctional" online which seems to be specific to enzymes.


texts: "Have good weekends" vs "Have a good weekend"

texts:
As a co-worker walked past me and my team mates this afternoon, he said "Bye. Have good weekends" - by which he meant that he wished each of us to have a good weekend.

Was this grammatically accurate and valid greeting in English? If not, what would be a better way to convey his message?


texts: Word or Phrase For Someone Who Overreacts Against Wrong Source

texts:
The word or phrase (I prefer a word but a phrase will certainly do) I am looking for would describe someone who reacts without thinking and thus attacks something which is not the true source of the problem.

For example, there was a recent news story about a girl who dies from a heart attach shortly after drinking an energy drink, and in the news story her mom claims (without evidence) that her daughter's death was the result of drinking the energy drink. In the comments to the story, many people claimed that they also were sure her death was caused by energy drinks and that energy drinks should be banned. Now if we suppose for the sake of argument that the energy drink did not cause her cardiac arrest, what would we call these people calling for a major economic action without just cause to do so?

I think overreact may not be the best word here because I intend to convey that a person is not just overreacting but is also reacting towards the wrong thing.


texts:
I know about comparison in positive forms:

I like movies as much as you do.
I like movies not so much as I do TV shows.

But is it possible to do the above in negative forms?

I don't like movies as much as you don't like them.
I don't like movies not so much as I don't like TV shows.


texts:
In my report, I am defining/describing some terms. What is a proper way to start and format a sentences like:

  The term crawling denotes the practice of ...

Should I put the word/term crawling in quotes, bold, italic, or something else?

I think

  The term "crawling" denotes the practice of ...

looks a bit ugly but is probably easier to read.

On Wikipedia, most terms seem to be formatted in bold font.


texts: Please teach me how to use ‘hot diggity’, and the meaning of ‘corkscrew twists’

texts:
Theater reviews of newspapers are one of very valuable sources for me to fish for novel　and intriguing expressions to foreign English learner like me.

Recently, I found two words quite strange to me in New York Times review of the new Broadway musical, "Catch Me if You Can," titled "Scamming as Fast as He Can." One is hot diggity, the other is corkscrew twists.
Then I have the following two questions:

I found the definition of hot diggity as an interjection expressing extra excitement or anticipation, and it came from the title of an American popular song written by Al Hoffman and Dick Manning in Wikipedia and Urban Dictionary.

How popular hot diggity is in day-to-day usage? What does it mean here? Is it something like "Oh my goodness!"? I suspect I can find this word in English language text book in school. Can I use it in formal conversation or in writing as quoted in the following text?

  It is about scamming. Its central relationship is between two adversarial but bromantically bonded men. And, hot diggity, it is set in the booze-guzzling, chain-smoking, babe-chasing 1960s, an era that with the success of “Mad Men” on television has become Broadway’s decade du jour.

I don’t understand the meaning of corkscrew twists in the following line of the same article. Can you explain me what it means?

  Though the real-life story that inspired this show is full of elaborate deceptions and corkscrew twists, you will never at any point be confused by its theatrical incarnation.


texts:
Is the following correct:

  Dispositions make implicit reference to environmental triggers; habits do not.

I suspect that it is, but the latter clause is not a complete sentence, hence my doubts. I thought about using a comma, but then I would surely need a conjunctive (e.g. "whereas")


texts: What is the difference between "scold" and "criticize"?

texts:
The word "scold" as defined at http://www.learnersdictionary.com/definition/scold

  to speak in an angry or critical way to (someone who has done something wrong)
  - He scolded [=reprimanded] the children for making a mess.
  - The article scolds [=(more formally) berates, upbraids] the United Nations for not doing enough about the situation.
  - “You should never have done that,” she scolded.

Also, from the same website "criticize" is defined as

  to express disapproval of (someone or something) : to talk about the problems or faults of (someone or something)
  [+ object]
  - His boss criticized him for his sloppy work habits.
  - The judge was widely/roundly criticized for his verdict.
  - The editor criticized the author's work as trite.

I think "scold" is used when you someone senior tells shouts angrily at you for something that is considered considered incorrect, indicating that the recipient is at fault. On the other hand "criticize" could be when anyone "finds fault" without what you have done or the way you do things. I tend to use these words in different situations.However, looking at meanings their synonyms berate, rebuke, censure, lambaste, there does not seem to be much of a difference,could those two words be considered same?

On the same note, could rebuke and censure be considered the same?


texts: What is a synonym for the phrase 'at odds' with someone or something?

texts:
I am writing a book and looking for some kind of figurative language to describe two people that are 'at odds' with each other.
When I say, 'at odds,' the context of my writing is: two characters that are constantly butting heads, one of whom doesn't trust the other, and so the relationship between the characters is always rough around the edges. They tend to find that they are on opposite sides of the argument in their small group of friends almost every time.
I think some kind of simile, metaphor, or other colorful language would be more appropriate in my writing, and I am coming up empty trying to collect some phrases that might be good substitutes. Thanks!


texts: What happens with the score when the first point is scored?

texts:
What happens with the game score when a player scores the first point in match.
E.g. in a football match someone scores the first goal. The score became 1:0.
What happened to the score? In Russia we say that “the score was opened” or “he opened the score”. What is the term for this in English?

I'm also interested in the opposite. What do you call the score 0:0 when no one has scored yet. The score is still ... or the score was not ... yet.


texts: "Can I pick up his belongings when we go back to work in September?" OR "Can I pick up his belongings in September when we go back to work?"

texts:
I worked in a school but I'm not a teacher; my kid is a student in that school. Due to the pandemic, the school was closed but students' belongings and artwork were left in classrooms.

Yesterday, I received emails from the principal and teacher asking parents to pick up students' stuff on a specific date. Different classrooms were assigned on different dates for parents to pick up. As I will come back to work in September for the next school year, I want to email the teacher (my coworker) if I can pick up my kid's belongings in September when the next school year starts.

I do not know how I can express my idea of picking up the belongings when I go back to work. Which of the following is correct?

  Can I pick up his belongings when we go back to work in September?
  Can I pick up his belongings in September when we go back to work?"


texts: What's the correct way of saying that one is pursuing a degree?

texts:
I've seen both "study" and "study for" used and I'm not sure which one is more natural. For example:

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2016/aug/09/whats-it-really-like-to-study-for-a-postgrad-degree-in-europe writes "study for a Master's degree".
https://www.prospects.ac.uk/postgraduate-study/masters-degrees writes "study a Master's degree"

Also, does the sentence "he's currently studying for a M.A. Media Studies degree at University X" make sense? Or is "he's currently studying for a degree in M.A. Media Studies at University X" better?


texts: Term or Title That Embraces the Juxtaposition of Work and Fun

texts: I'm looking for a clever way to describe someone who likes to be positive and have fun but who is also serious about getting work done. The phrase "work hard, play hard" comes to mind, but I'm not fond of the word "play" in this context. So, is there another term or phrase that embraces this juxtaposition and can ideally be used as a pseudo-title for this person during an upcoming team building activity I'm planning? It doesn't have to be a single-word, but short and sweet is preferred. Nouns or adjectives are acceptable in this case.


texts:
I am looking for a word or a phrase to describe someone looking seductively at someone. without implying

having considered these:

stare
gaze

But none of these words connote the seductive sense.


texts:
I apologized if that's been asked before, but this is hard to research.

If you were talking to a child to explain what the mouth is for, what would be the correct sentence?

  We eat with our mouth
  We eat with our mouths

Since "we" is plural I think it could be mouths but we also only have one mouth each.


texts: "He was drinking coffee and left the cafe . . ." Why does this sound wrong?

texts:
I'm trying to find mistakes in this sentence and even the corrected versions do not sound grammatically correct.

Original sentence:

  He was drinking coffee and left the café to catch his bus.

My suggested corrections:

  He was drinking coffee when he left the café to catch his bus.
  He drank the coffee, then left the café to catch his bus.

Are all these sentences grammatically wrong?


texts: What is a more subtle way to express daring?

texts: I am working on a historical essay. I am trying to describe a person who is daring but more subtle than that. This person is always putting himself out there to try new things disconsidering the risks. He is an elegant person with some humor behind him. I am looking for a more subtle way to say this than daring in a single word.


texts:
I just checked the German translation of undelete on Beolingus and found wiederherstellen, which I could translate back to restore or recover.

Could these words be used as synonyms for undelete or are they for cases where more has to be done than just to press a button?


texts: Why do some adjectives follow the nouns they modify?

texts:
Right now I can only think of one instance in which this regularly occurs.  The adjective proper is sometimes placed after the noun it modifies, e.g:

  Reptilia: A class of cold-blooded oviparous or ovoviviparous vertebrated animals whose skin is covered with scales or scutes; the reptiles proper.

What is this word order called, and why is it ever used?

Edit: I really want to know about proper, and while the word hyperbaton relates to post-positivity when it is meant to be rhetorically impacting, it doesn't seem to fit with ubiquitous post-positivity, such as that of proper.  I've accepted hyperbaton as the correct term/reason for almost all post-positive constructions, but I'd like a complete answer to include proper.


texts:
What part of speech is the word "of" in the phrase "made of"?
Trying to  review the word "of" I the command :"Go and make disciples of all nations".
Please help


texts: Please help me understand when to use -ing on a verb

texts:
There are two questions I'm struggling with.

  (1) That I have little interest in art is not the fault of my parents,
  taking me to art exhibits and galleries from the time I was ten years old.

Why is the "taking" wrong? I'm guessing it has to be "who have taken" because of "from the time I was ten years old" but I still don't understand why it's wrong to say "taking."  The word "parents" comes right before the comma so it shouldn't be an ambiguous modifier.  After all, wouldn't it be correct to say the following:

  Taking me to art exhibits and galleries from the time I was ten years
  old, my parents are not at fault for my having little interest in art.

My next question:

  (2A) Though she missed her old friend, Sharon was generally happy at
  her new school, having much smaller classes than her previous
  school.

  (2B) Though she missed her old friend, Sharon was generally happy at
  her new school: it had much smaller classes than her previous
  school.

I know why (2B) is correct, but I don't understand why (2A) is incorrect.  The modifier "having much smaller classes than her previous school" is correctly describing "her new school" so what exactly is the problem?

Thanks in advance!


texts: Why does the word delight have positive connotations?

texts:
I'm sitting here, and hear someone respond to a request with "I'd be delighted". I understand the words to say this is a positive response along the lines of "sure, I'd be happy to help".

But I'm confused right now. When I look at the word, my mind breaks it up into de-light. And to me, that doesn't seem like a positive thing.

Hoping someone can shed some light on this for me (ha).


texts: What do you call a 2D map that shows the characteristics of a 3D train tunnel?

texts:
I have googled for a while and I can't seem to find the correct term for this.

Imagine a tunnel for trains, cars, or anything really. Along the tunnel there are various cracks, fissures, weak spots, etc. To visualize this on paper, the 3D structure must be projected in 2D. I'm looking for a word to refer to this kind of map.

The closest I've come up with is "projection map". Is there a more suitable term for this?

In Japanese it can be called tenkaizu (展開図, てんかいず), but its dictionary or Google translations don't fit since the term is also used for templates for folding paper.


texts: What kind of connotation does "commanding" have?

texts:
I am curious what kind of connotation does the word 'Commanding' have. Does it have the same kind of connotation as a leader has of 'strength' and 'maturity'? Or does it have a negative connotation of a 'controlling' and 'bossy' person? Take the example of the following sentence. He has a commanding persona.

Edit:
Well, a google search gives me the following sentence here. The previous sentence was self-made but, the term seems to be in use. I don't know where to research about connotations so, this is the first place that I came to. Nevertheless, I did search the term in dictionaries and thesauruses and got words such as 'imposing' (google search definition)  and 'dominating' referenced. Wondering if anyone here has any insight. There might as well be no negative connotations attached but, I wanted to know if there were.


texts: What does "God is subtle, but He is not malicious" mean?

texts:
What does the phrase "God is subtle, but He is not malicious" mean?

I've read an answer here, but it doesn't seem to be clear enough.


texts: Why is “I am finished” the Passive Voice?

texts:
I am finished the website for now, but if you have any more problems please feel free to contact me. Thank you for the work and experience.

I looked up the above in a grammar checking website, and it says that am finished is passive voice. From what I understand, this is something that should be avoided for the most part.

Can anyone explain to me why this site said this was passive, and if possible, explain why this is bad?


texts:
from Tom Wolfe's The Bonfire of the Vanities:

"I'll think a something. Half a my practice consists of talking to people who are not anxious to talk." Tawk.
Killian leaned forward and said, "Awright. The first thing you gotta understand is, from now on, you gotta keep your mouth shut. You understand? You got nothing to gain, nothing, by talking about this" — tawkin — "to anybody, I don't care who it is. All that's gonna happen is, you're gonna get jerked around some more like you did by these two cops."
"You someplace you can talk?" he asked. Tawk.

People's accents an manners of elocution are Tom Wolfe's favorite toy. Most of them are instantly recognizable, or at least very easy to figure out. For instance, when he shoes that all New Yorkers pronounce "of" as "a" (as in the first quote in this post, "I'll think a something. Half a my practice consists of ...").

This whole tawking business, on the other hand, is puzzling. In the novel, all law-enforcement officers and lawyers or Irish descent speak that way. The chapter where this is emphasized is titled Tawkin Irish.
Well, yes, many New Yorkers (not just the Irish ... uh ... contingent ...) tend to overemphasize certain sounds, and, yes, the vowel in the word "talking" is one such sound, and I see how the consonant preceding it must strike a non-New-Yorker as explosive, but ... but ...
I looked it up. Each dictionary I consulted ended up assuring me that the vowel in "talk" was exactly the same as the vowel in "hawk," "dawn," and "mawkish."
I don't get the joke. Please explain it to me. What am I missing?


texts: What is the origin of the word "geroff"?

texts:
I am not a native speaker so never had a chance to meet the term in the wild, and only seen it in Harry Potter series mostly used by Ron Weasley.

My somewhat corrupted mind assumed it being a shortened version of "bugger off" but recently I've found sources claiming it is somewhat originating from "get off". It sounds more plausible but is there a linguistic rule that   describes such a transformation?


texts: When someone says they are peckish does it mean they are hungry or feel like a chicken?

texts: The word peck is describing a bird eat. so is the word peckish exclusively for birds? Can you say peckish for a person being hungry as well?


texts: Which is the correct preposition: at or from?

texts:
People often use this term

  I will be working from home tomorrow.

Is it the same as I will be working at home tomorrow? How does using at in place of from change the meaning?


texts: Is there a name for the genre of poetry and song that treats what are ordinarily regarded as undesirable traits as if they were wonderful?

texts: I’m thinking of Rodgers and Hart’s “I Wish I Were in Love Again,” Sondheim’s “Being Alive,” the song from Peter Pan “Who’s the swineiest swine in the world? Captain Hook!  Captain Hook!” and Shakespeare’s sonnet 130 “My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun.”


texts: Using the word 'tiffin' to refer to a lunch box

texts:
In "Indian English" (whatever that means) the word 'tiffin' is used to refer to lunch boxes in south Asia. Please feel free to Google the word if you want a picture of what such lunch boxes look like.

I recently, out of habit, used the word in the US and no one knew what it meant. I was asked if it's a Hindi word or an English word. That got me thinking. I always assumed it was an English word but after quick Google search it does not seem like it.

So my question is does any other place use the word 'tiffin'? If not, how did it take hold in south Asia? Is it an archaic British word that stuck in India following the colonial rule?


texts:
I'd really value your thoughts on this one.
I'm familiar with the following use of 'made of':

The shirt is made of silk.

But I'd like to know if anyone thinks using this phrasal verb as a synonym for comprise/consist of/be composed of/made up of is actually grammatically correct/non-standard usage.

The board is made of five members.
The board is made up of five members.

A few instances of this usage came up on a google search, but I'm not convinced...


texts: Is it "Does social media" or "Do social media"?

texts:
I am confused as to which way to say the following:

"Does social media benefit people?"

or

"Do social media benefit people?"


texts: How do I diagram this sentence ("Boats docked at Toronto in Ontario should be registered with the town hall.")?

texts:
I need help breaking down this sentence, which I found in my grammar book.

Boats docked at Toronto in Ontario should be registered with the town hall.

I'm assuming "docked" here functions as an adjective? And "at Toronto" and " in Ontario" are both prepositions? What is the function of "should be"? Is it acting as a helping verb?


texts: Is there a word for burying one's head in the sand?

texts:
As in a concise way to describe someone who routinely either denies he has a problem in the first place, or if he does accept that problem as existent, he puts it out of his mind as soon as possible and will even go so far as to resort to alcohol, drug use or promiscuity to distract himself from the problem rather than confront it.

Like a combination of "avoidant" and "person who undermines his own reality." "Person who banishes all his problems to an elephant graveyard where they fester and wait to resurge."

"Self-distractive" is what I came up with, but I feel like that's not a word. Plus, I want a more malicious connotation - "distraction" makes it sound too harmless and quirky.


texts:
I just read this sentence and was wondering if it is okay to write it like this.

  You can use your device worldwide, as if it was directly connected to your
  PC.

Are there better alternatives for writing this sentence? Maybe:

  You can use your device worldwide, just like it is directly connected to your
  PC.


texts: Discordant vs controversial vs non-concurring

texts:
Do these three words mean the same thing?

From my understanding, discordant means not agreeing or out of tune. This is similar to non-concurring (as concurring would mean agreeing on something). Also, controversial means something which gives rise to disagreement.

How do I understand the subtle difference in meaning when the wors are so similar?


texts: What is the difference between these two words?

texts:
Which one is correct:

  short answer question

or

  short-answer question

If both of them are correct how do they differ from each other?


texts:
Dash is one of those words with more meanings than letters. These include to rush (I dashed out), to destroy (my hopes were dashed), and a punctuation mark (em dash etc.). There are also various other meanings but those three are the most commonly used (as far as I know).
I can understand the link between the rapid action (to dash somewhere) and destruction, but am stumped trying to find a link between either and the "—".
The online etymology dictionary is not very helpful here:

dash (v.)
c.1300, probably from a Scandinavian source (compare Swedish daska, Danish daske "to beat, strike"), somehow imitative. The oldest sense is that in dash to pieces and dashed hopes. Intransitive meaning "move quickly" appeared c.1300, that of "to write hurriedly" is 1726. Related: Dashed; dashing.
dash (n.)
late 14c., from dash (v.). Sporting sense is from 1881, originally "race run in one heat."

Neither of those touches on the punctuation mark. So, what is the etymology of dash ("-") and how is it connected, if indeed it is, to the other meanings of the word? Any comments on the various other meanings (such as He cut a dashing figure etc.) are also welcome.


texts:
VIP, the acronym for Very Important Person, is from the 1930s, a boom decade for initialisms, according to www.wordorigins.org.

Both Etymonline and the The Dictionary of American Slang say that its earliest usage was in  1933. The usage instance they are referring to is  probably the one by Compton Mackenzie in "Water on Brain" as suggested in "www.barrypopik.com":

  At the moment he has a V.I.P. with him’.‥ Miss Glidden seemed to divine his perplexity, for‥she turned round and whispered through a pursed up mouth, ‘Very Important Personage’.

The same site suggests that the acronym may derive from a transliteration of a Russian expression:

  The term was coined between 1940(1935 ?) and 1945, likely by the Royal Air Force. A transliteration of В.И.П., the Russian abbreviation of вecмa имeнитaя пepcoнa (transliterated as “vesima imenitaya persona").

Whatever the case, the  usage of VIP took off only about a decade later in military contexts as suggested by  www.neatorama.com

  This frequently used contraction was created during World War II by a British officer in charge of organizing flights for important military leaders. In order to conceal the names from enemy spies, each of these were referred to as a "V.I.P." in the flight plan.

Its early usages and its later huge popularity appear to be confirmed also  by Google Books.

Questions:

Was the acronym VIP actually coined by Compton Mackenzie in 1933 or was its usage taken, probably earlier, from  a foreign language like Russian for instance?
When did  "VIP" started to be used outside military contexts to refer to people of the show business as it is most frequently used nowadays?
Why did  acronyms  become so popular especially during the '30s?


texts: What is the meaning of "quote" in the following context?

texts:
I know one of the meanings of "quote" is "a quotation giving the estimated cost for a particular job or service". But I wonder if it means the same in the following context. I haven't heard the phrase "doing a quote" before.

‘I couldn’t get hold of you. Your phone’s going straight to
answerphone. Richard’s out for an hour doing a quote, so I thought I’d
pop over.’


texts: Describing the attribution of a machine's characteristics to humans

texts: Is there a word, an opposite of anthropomorphism, that describes the attribution of a machine's characteristics to humans (e.g., speaking of humans as though they were computers)?   Or, when we describe computers in terms of human qualities, we anthropomorphize.  What do we do when we conceptualize ourselves in terms of computers?


texts: What is the difference in meaning between "photo" , "image" and "picture"?

texts: I checked some other questions, and found that "a photo is an image taken by a camera". But what is an image? What is the difference between image and picture?


texts: Is there a difference between "outdoor" and "open" spaces?

texts: I am trying to describe public and private spaces in a city that encompass spaces such as balconies, courtyards, streets, and parks. Meaning, they are outside buildings' shells. Does "open" or "outdoor" fit better into this specific context? thanks!


texts: Passive auxiliary verb or progressive one?

texts:
Uncle Vernon made another funny noise, like a mouse being trodden on.
                 —Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

Is ‘being’ a passive auxiliary verb or a progressive one?


texts: Would utilizing the word "display" in the following sentence be acceptable?

texts:
My father doesn't display it in public.
For some context, the conversation was about my father's lack to show certain emotion.
Would it be more appropriate to use:
My father doesn't portray it in public.
I greatly appreciate any and all assistance. Thank you.


texts: A term to describe a thick jacket as confining

texts:
What would one call a jacket or some other piece of uncomfortable yet protective heavy-duty clothing that restricts the wearer's movements due to its confining heaviness?

  He wanted to release himself from the __ windbreaker.


texts: Using "if" or not in a sentence structure when expressing doubt

texts:
I use the following sentence construction a lot.

  I'm not sure if this is right.

I was not aware of any problem until recently I noticed that quite a few of my colleagues used it a little differently. It went like:

  I'm not sure this is right.

Now I'm confused. On the one hand, they are native speakers and might be correct on the usage. On the other hand, my education background convinces me that mine is correct too.

Which one should I use?


texts: Another phrase for "The land and its people"

texts:
I am writing a book on tourism and have a section that talks about the land, its cuisine, language, culture, festivals etc. Is there a phrase that can act as a section header?

I am avoiding a cliché like "The land and its people"


texts: Is there a reference for the differences between synonyms?

texts: Bill Bryson's "Troublesome Words" is an excellent book for, among other things, learning the difference between many synonyms, such as "prone," "prostrate," "recumbent" and "supine." But it can hardly be called a massive body of reference, and it deals with many other language issues. Having a reference for the differences between synonyms seems like it could be a much more effective way of understanding them than trying to tease out the differences of meaning in two possibly quite differently worded dictionary entries. Is there such a thing?


texts:
I know that a veterinarian takes care of animals, but what is the action called?

For example, a painter paints, a programmer writes programs, and a surgeon performs surgeries. What does a veterinarian do?


texts: order of the clauses linked by the conjunction 'while': why does it matter some times and at other times not?

texts:
Taken from First Certificate Language Practice, by Michael Vince, page 78, exercise 7, sentences 2) and 7):

2) John has done well in French, but not so well in Maths.
(to be rewritten as, says the key:)

While John has done well in French, he has not done so well in Maths.

(could also be written as:)

John has done well in French while he has not done so well in Maths.
While John has not done so well in Maths, he has done well in French.
John has not done so well in Maths while he has done well in French.

7) I'm not going to pay, although I know that I should.
(to be rewritten as, says the key:)

While I know that I should pay, I am not going to.

(could also be written as:)

I am not going to pay while I know I should.

(but not as:)

*I know that I should pay while I am not going to.
*While I am not going to pay, I know I should.

So, in this case, the order of the clauses matters, whereas it did not in the previous case. Why?


texts:
She is reading a lot these days.
  She has been reading a lot these days.

Which one is correct? Is there any real difference between them?


texts: Why Are Introductory Classes Called "101"?

texts: Many freshmen will kick off their college careers with courses like Psychology 101, English 101, or History 101. When and how did introductory classes get this special number?


texts: I am trying to reduce passive voice and verbose language in a graduate level thesis

texts:
My specific question is finding replacements for the phrase "in order for" and "in order to".  Example:

  Additionally, as global internet penetration increased there was an acute understanding that for access to the internet to remain free the internet would need to be supported.


texts: What's the proper elitist equivalent for the word "slut"?

texts:
What's the posh word for a slut? I have ruled out prostitute, whore, hooker and call girl. I want a posh word for slut which sounds elitist and is very esoteric.

Characteristics for the sluts in my fiction:

  They are strong and don't feel ashamed of their job.

Elites in my book are people who work in the shadows and thereby ultimately control the fate and all the actions of all humanity. People who aren't elite in my book are basically just puppets.


texts:
On the TV show NCIS, Ziva often makes humorous mistakes using idiomatic expressions (English is not her first language - she is Israeli).
I would expect the most common way a non-native speaker would make mistakes in an idiom is related to meaning - either saying the underlying meaning outright (translating the translated meaning back to English from their native language), or substituting synonyms for words in the correct idiom (if they do not remember it exactly).
Examples I would expect are:

Pitch a fit

becoming either

Complain childishly
Pitch a tantrum

However, she substitutes words that sound like the appropriate word, but mean something entirely different, such as the following two:

Does a bear sit in the woods?
American idioms drive me up the hall!

Are these common errors likely to be made by a non-native speaker, or are they just used in the show for comedic effect?
I'd like to hear from non-native speakers who may have had trouble with English idioms (not necessarily American). Did you make these same kind of mistakes, or is it uncommon to do so?


texts: Could the expression unless someone lives under a rock be used in a formal setting? If no, what are some alternatives that could be used instead?


texts: simple present or past in describing an event shown in a series of pictures

texts: I'm correcting my 7th graders' writing assignment in which they're given three pictures of a fat boy who decides to go on a diet and finally becomes thinner. I've been told that using present simple can create an effect of "bringing the character to the present time" and therefore sounds more lively to the reader. But I'm also confused because the pictures certainly deal with something already happened to that boy, so simple past sounds more logical to me. And what if a students starts a sentence like "One day...."? I don't think simple present can be applied here.


texts:
There seem to be many good adjectives to descibe a sentence which effectively gets the point across without wasting words: "concise", "succinct", "terse", "pithy".

But what is a good verb to make the following sentence more concise:

  Please make this sentence more concise.


texts: Is the ACA nickname capitalized “Obamacare” or “ObamaCare” or “Obama Care”?

texts:
I’m writing a term paper and need to know the appropriate acceptable case for “Obamacare”; preferably, I’d refer to it as “The Affordable Care Act”, but the subject of the paper warrants the nickname. I’ve seen articles referring to it as “Obamacare”, “ObamaCare”, “Obama Care” and “Obama care”.

For now, I'm going with “Obamacare”.  Had there been a Legal Questions Stack Exchange, I’d have asked this there instead.


texts: Where / how did the term "sell them down the river" originate?

texts:
In a meeting today a colleague used the phrase, "We don't want to sell them down the river."

It is my understanding that to sell one down the river is to trick or deceive a person in order to gain some advantage.

Three questions:

Is my understanding of this idiom correct?
What is the idiom's etymology?
To sell one down the river is an idiom, correct?


texts: Should suggested names be written with quotation marks?

texts:
Would a suggested baby name be put in quotation marks before the baby's birth? For example,

  I think you should name your baby "Nathan".


texts: Does "nattering" have a negative connotation?

texts:
I hear people saying that they're "having a natter" with their friends, or 'If you want to have a natter about starting a project, give me a call!'.

On different websites there are different definition:

The Free Dictionary - to talk idly and at length; chatter or gossip
Wiktionary - To talk without purpose.
Merriam Webster - to talk about unimportant things for a long time
Dictionary.com - to talk incessantly; chatter.
Oxford Dictionaries - talk casually, especially on unimportant matters; chat
Cambridge Dictionaries - to talk continuously for a long time without any particular purpose

These sounds quite negative to my ears, even rude, but whenever I hear it get used, it's rarely for negative reasons. Also, is it informal? Some clarification would be nice, examples would be awesome!


texts:
I am a little confused about these sentences. Would love to have your help. Thank you...

If possible then please tell then why the other option(s) isn't correct,

Q1 - If you ____ you would succeed.

a) works hard

b) worked hard ( correct. But why? )

c) had worked hard

d) work hard ( why this one isn't correct? )

My opinion: "would succeed" shows that the sentence isn't of past but is of future or present.. Therefore, I think it would make more sense to use "work hard" instead of "worked hard".

Q2 - He cried as if he _____ mad.

a) had been ( correct. But why? )

b) was ( why this one isn't correct? )

c) is

d) will be

My opinion: Shouldn't it be, "He cried as if he were mad"?

Q3 - He ___ himself while running.

a) hurted

b) had hurted

c) hurt ( correct but why? )

d) hurts ( why this one isn't correct? )

My opinion: Shouldn't be "hurts" more appropriate to use here? Or at least "He hurts himself while running" won't be wrong to use? It would mean that he always hurts himself whenever he runs.
I think it would be better to choose "hurts" here instead of "hurt"...

Q4 - He ______ to Paris tomorrow morning

a) goes

b) is going ( why this one isn't correct? )

c) went

d) will go ( correct )

Suppose two men are talking about a third person. If first person wants to tell second person that the third person is leaving for Paris tomorrow then won't he say him that, "He's going to Paris tomorrow morning"?

Thanks a lot :) Will greatly appreciate your help.


texts: Suggest a word for teenish for my teen-ish fantasy

texts:
Hi Sita, got fascinated after reading your review of "All the light we
  cannot see" and would like to add you as a friend. Your review seemed
  totally original and written from heart. I would say that though your
  language was foul and teen-ish I enjoyed every bit of it. Your name
  suggests you are from India but your style of writing and flurrying
  the F-words makes me guess otherwise.

Just sent a friend request to Sita on Goodreads but was dismayed when my Mac showed teenish as spell-error when I thought its a proper word with its meaning well conveyed. I would be delighted if the meaning of suggested word matches with what I want to convey in the quote above.


texts: What do you call a person who writes letters?

texts: I found, from my search, that epistolary is an adjective which could refer to the writing of letters.  But is there noun of this to call someone who writes letters?


texts: Refer to an entity with "it" or "she" or "he"

texts:
Related to this answer, but it's a slightly different question though.

Consider this sentence. I prefer to use the singular form.

  The advantage for the bank is that he/she/it can employ the capital (the loan) during a certain time.

Which is the correct usage? He, she or it?


texts:
I am writing an essay. Should the title be "Impressions on drug usage in developing countries" or "Impressions of drug usage in developing countries"?
In the essay, I am highlighting the people's perception on drug usage.


texts:
So is it right to say "Is John lie?"?
If yes, why not "Does John lie?" or "Is John lying?". Sorry if it sounds stupid, but I'm a bit confused.


texts: Capitalization of job position within a sentence

texts:
Should manager and coordinator be capitalized in this sentence?

Representatives from Jonshore's corporate compliance team, package engineering, and their newly revived package testing lab will be in attendance along with BHRS's National Packaging Safety Program manager and the Eastern Region Systems Integrity Safety Program (SISP) coordinator.


texts:
If you look at published books and journals that have blank pages, you'll find some with printed statements:

  This page intentionally left blank.

Why is there no flected verb ("is"):

  This page is intentionally left blank.

There is some information on wikipedia, but no description of why the verb is missing.


texts:
This is from the transcript of a podcast.

How many times has it happened to you: you’re sitting around watching a rerun of Friends and you think: Man, if only I could catch a whiff of that hazelnut mochaccino they’re all pretending to drink. Well, me neither.
But engineers have now developed a programmable, odor-emitting device that, like it or not, brings us one step closer to realizing the dream of smell-a-vision.

Here is my question:
How to understand "like it or not" here?


texts:
So for example someone works at a juice bar and they say Did the juicer come today?
which could refer to the person who makes the juice or the juicer machine.

What is this called when a word could describe two things?

Example :

  Juicer is _____ in the above sentence.


texts: What is the meaning of "on the side of the future"?

texts: I just came across this article titled "ON THE SIDE OF THE FUTURE".  Tried to google it, but couldn't find any relevant meaning of this expression.


texts: Single word for one who imagines positive things which fail to materialize?

texts: What do we call someone who imagines positive things ahead which never come to pass?


texts: Uniqueness of tense suffix *ood in Stood

texts:
Searching https://visca.com/regexdict/ for verbs like ".*and$" (ending in a n d), revealed some, but only those with the root "stand" have a past tense ending in o o d. Looking for verbs unrelated to "stand" that end in o o d revealed only "snood", which seems like it was a noun that got verbed in the present tense.
Is there something about the origin of "stand" which gave it this unique past tense suffix? And why don't other verbs have it?


texts: Why is it “earn a livelihood at one’s own calling”, not “with/by” one’s own calling?

texts:
Both the usage of prepositions and articles are always the biggest headache for non-native English language learners—I think you’ll perhaps experience the same bewilderment when you first face complexity of the usage of prepositions called ‘te-ni-o-ha’ in Japanese language.

I was caught up with an primitive question, why it should be “earn a livelihood at one’s calling,” not “with/by one’s calling,” in the following sentence of the New Yorker’s (May 3rd) article titled “In Prague,” describing the hardship the thinking segment experienced under the Soviet-backed totalitarian Czech regime during 1970s.

  Once they had been thrown out of the Writers’ Union, they were forbidden to publish or to teach or to travel or to drive a car or to earn a proper livelihood each at his or her own calling. For good measure, their children, the children of the thinking segment of the population, were forbidden to attend academic high schools.

As the text is from Philip Roth who received the Literary Service Award at the PEN Gala recently, it should be infallible.

But I as an English language novice tend to associate the preposition “at” with a speciffic working place rather than generic profession and job. Do we have to say “I earn my livelihood at my calling (writer’s/sales/guardsman’s job),” and no choice of other prepositions?


texts:
So, I've checked Is "must" ever grammatical as a past tense verb?
and  Past tense of "must" when meaning logical probability and I'm also almost confident that I cannot say "must had to." How can I say that?

For example, in these situations (I'm copying the examples from the wordreference forums, where they are still not answered):

  But translating a story, which is already in the past tense, I came across the following problem: What if a text is already in the past, and you basically have to go one tense further back grammatically to express a surmise/conjecture about events even further back in the past than the past of the story. In other words, is there a past perfect form of "must have"?

  Here's the context to make it more clear:

    […] He was walking down the street, mulling things in his head. Maria? Was it really possible that they would meet again here, in London? It must had been 10 years since they had last talked to each other […]

The trouble I'm having is that this doesn't sound quite right to me, but neither does it sound good (to me) if I substitute "must have" for "must had." In the context, it doesn't seem "past-tensey" enough, if you catch my drift. So, would the above sentence be grammatical or not?

A similar example is the following one:

  […] The truth was, Frank was not that much taller than Maria; she must somehow had made herself appear shorter […]

Should it be "must somehow have made herself appear shorter"? Again, would that be "past-tensey" enough?


texts:
I work at a company with the word "biomedical" in its name. Sometimes I see it capitalized in CamelCase, like a programmer would write it ("BioMedical"), and sometimes as one word ("Biomedical"). The second capitalization looks better to me, but I'm not sure. I've also seen the word written out as "bio-medical".

There seem to be too many options. Can anyone enlighten me on the proper capitalization?


texts: Madam is the word to call a woman with respect. Of course it has another meaning. Is there another word used to call a woman with respect?


texts:
Which form of be is correct:

  Very small amounts of salt that [is/are] present in commercial fish foods also help aquatic species remain in balance.


texts: What is the difference between "any" and "all"?

texts:
I am currently designing a web application, and have got into a bit of an argument with the boss over the correct language to use on a search form.

Below is the form in question:

The options here will filter the results, so for example if nothing is selected from the Status dropdown, all jobs will be shown regardless of status, whereas if a status is selected, only jobs with that specific status will be displayed. A job may only have one status, and be assigned to one client.

The wording of the text for the default Client & Status texts are causing some confusion. At present they are set to "All Clients" and "All Statuses", however it is being argued that this should read "Any Client" or "Any Status".

Which would be the correct text to show in this situation, and what is the difference between "any" and "all"?


texts:
I work as an editor for a technical firm, and I'm struggling with figuring out if this sentence and others like it need a comma:

"Very limited grading is necessary to achieve the proposed grades because the site is essentially level and the proposed finished floor elevations are within 1 to 2 feet of the existing surface and surrounding finished grades."

I want to use a comma after 'level' because it's a longer sentence, and that does divide it into two complete sentences/clauses. However, are the clauses truly independent if both of them ('the site is essentially level' and 'the proposed elevations are') relate back to 'very limited grading is necessary because'? In other words, is independence solely a syntax question, or can it also involve meaning?

Sidenote: As an editor here, I'm generally not at liberty to rewrite unless something is technically wrong.


texts:
Which is correct?

  I am writing to apply for the position of ____ in your company.
  I am writinng to apply for the position of ____ at your company.
  I am writinng to apply for the position of ____ for your company.


texts: Can "hometown" refer to a place where one did not necessarily grow up, but that feels like home?

texts: Say I was raised in the Philadelphia area. By the traditional reasoning, my "hometown" would be the name of my Philly suburb. But what if that suburb doesn't feel like home anymore? I'm looking to see if the word "hometown" can encompass the feeling of stepping off the plane and feeling like you're home again. So can the term refer to a place where one didn't necessarily grow up, but that feels like home? What if the person in question doesn't even live in this place?


texts:
What do you call a form of government where the regent never dies?

It doesn't seem to be right to call it a 'monarchy', because there will never be a descendant walking up to the throne.

PS.: I know this will never happen in real life, but the folks on the Fantasy Stack Exchange pointed me here, because it's a matter of nomenclature.


texts: What are the differences between pig and hog? The writer of this article wrote them consecutively, separated by only a comma. Searching Google images result in the same type of animal. The differences between pig and boar are clear though.


texts: What could a part of path of URL be called?

texts:
http://example.com/test/test/coffee.html <- this is called a URL

/test1/test2/ <- this called a path

In this context, what would be a proper expression for a part of that path, such as test2?


texts:
Welcome is a verb,

We welcome you to Rio de Janeiro
They welcomed the good news.
When we arrived, we weren't welcomed

and a noun.

What a lovely welcome.
The cold welcome was unexpected.

Welcoming is an adjective

His cosy home was very welcoming
The people of Rio are so friendly and welcoming.
Oregon is one of the most welcoming states for incoming refugees

as too is welcomed

The sunny weather provided a welcomed change.
A larger size would be very welcomed.

And welcome is also an adjective,

Welcome to Rio di Janeiro!
You're welcome
You are very welcome to stay the night
Sam is always a welcome guest

Collins Dictionary has a very good page about the different uses and meanings of welcome, and says

4. adjective
under no obligation (only in such phrases as you're welcome or he's welcome, as conventional responses to thanks)

But offers no insight as to why WELCOME and not WELCOMING or WELCOMED is preferred. Is there a grammatical reason for this? Is it down to convention and idiomaticity?
Q1: Should I always mark “You're welcomed” as wrong?
Why/Why not?
Q2: Is the full form “You are welcomed” better, more acceptable?

CONTEXT
I am not a professional or qualified teacher but I do occasionally  give private lessons to Italian students of all ages and levels. A private asked me this yesterday, and the best explanation I could come up with was that English native speakers have said “You're welcome” for over a hundred years, so it is perfectly grammatical.

The following questions on EL&U are closely related, but they did not ask “why”. Consequently, the answers posted either ignored the issue totally, or failed to address it in any depth.
"You are welcome" or "You are welcomed" or "You welcome"
Which is correct: "feedback is welcome" or "feedback is welcomed"?


texts:
Okay, this might come across as a fairly stupid question, yet I have to know this. Does anyone know what the communicative function of 'the article' is?

For example, if we consider 'must' and 'have to', the communicative function could be 'Talking about obligation'. I need something similar to this for the article, but I can't come up with anything.

Any help is appreciated!


texts: Why does using a word/phrase/acronym exessively cause the syllables to become more relaxed?

texts:
When working in a professional setting, especially in administration or technical fields, common words/phrases/acronyms get used quite frequently. I've noticed that the more they are used daily, the faster they are physically spoken and the more relaxed the syllables become in the word, often making it sound completely different than when first used/spoken.

Is there a term for this phenomena?


texts:
Which verb has been modified by adverb "directly" in the following sentence?

"Some governments even offer to help protect their critical infrastructure directly, by
deploying sensors in the networks to...."

"offer", "help" or "protect"? Is it right that because of the second part of the sentence the adverb refers to "protect"?

Thank you


texts: What is the correct pronunciation and etymology of "corps"?

texts: I tried looking up the word "corps" on dictionary.reference.com and it says it's pronounced "kawr", "kohr", "kawrs", or "kohrs", none of which match the way I've always pronounced it with the "ps" sound. I have always been a little leery saying it this way because it sounds like a dead body, and if you're talking about the Marine Corps then this isn't the best mental image.


texts: What is the action ot slowly blowing air on the ignited fire to build heat and intensity called? Intensifying the flame. Making a dying flame alive.


texts: What is the difference between "responsibility" and "obligation"?

texts: I must admit that I am confused with these two words. For so long a time, I have been using them interchangeably. I have consulted the dictionary (of course) but I can't seem to pinpoint the glaring difference between the two (if there is any). This may be similar to this question.


texts: Is there a word for specifically leaving behind a trace of yourself for others to find?  Conceptually, something between a time capsule and geocaching.


texts: Subjunctive mood: 'was' usage after 'I wish' and 'if only'

texts:
SFX Magazine had declared the sentence below as follow: 1) STAR TURN, 2) BEST LINES.

  I wish Bernard Cribbins was my grandad. Perhaps he would be willing to
  adopt?

  Rattigan: “If only that was possible.” The Doctor: “If only that were
  possible. Conditional clause.”

Is 'was' after 'I wish', 'if only' and 'if' (in conditional clauses) colloquial?

Does it be used in formal speech and writing?


texts: What is the correct form of this sentence?

texts:
This sentence sounds funny to me:

  To finish this task it is imperative that all effects are considered in the used step-by-step plan.

While the same sentence, with the last verb in a different position, does not:

  To finish this task it is imperative that all effects are considered in the step-by-step plan used.

Are both acceptable? If so, do both "sound" the same?

Additionally, which role does "used" serve when looking at the syntax of this sentence?


texts:
I saw this sentence from BBC Learning English.

I have almost cried to pieces.

What's the meaning of this sentence?


texts: Idiom opposite to "the straw that broke the camel's back"

texts:
In my native language, we say something like:

No matter how full the bag, a grain still fits.

Example:

Person A: I know we are close to the page limit, but can we still fit this sentence in the article?
Person B: No matter how full the bag, a grain still fits.

Is there an equivalent idiom in English?


texts: I have come across the word FATHOM. Is it a commonly used verb in the AmE? Meaning to think, understand smth. Thank you!


texts: When do we use 'have been +adjective and have been +noun? When to use?

texts: What is meaning of I've been respectful? and what is meaning of 'reflecting on  a year gone by?


texts: Colloquial usage of "for to" instead of "in order to"

texts:
Earlier today I was talking to a friend and said something like

  I'm gonna buy carrots for to make stew.

After my friend finished chastizing me for this obviously wrong grammar, I decided I was curious about it. However, it was hard to find anything with a search engine seeing as "for" and "to" are extremely common words.

What is the origin of this colloquialism? Are there specific geographical regions where people might say this?

Or at least, let me know if I'm misremembering something I heard a long time ago


texts: Is it possible to say "to refund (an amount) to an order"?

texts:
I sent a Customer a partial refund. I want to inform her using the verb to refund + a preposition. Considering my native language, I would say

  I've just refunded $20 to your order.

According to my research the correct preposition is for ("I've just refunded $20 for your order").

Is it possible in principle to say "To refund (an amount) to an order" when it comes to a partial refund? And if not, can you please explain why? Well, I am trying to impose this construction to one I would use in my native language and it seems quite logical to me.


texts: Phrase for a Language Having Many Words for a Phenomenon

texts:
So those who have learned a second language probably have noticed that there are lexical gaps in one that aren't in the other. For example, English (and I believe at least West Germanic languages in general) has a lot of words based on the manner of motion, while many languages don't. It's impossible to translate to say French the words "slither" or "plod" without using multiple words, for example. Similarly, Korean has a huge number of onomatopoeia (and I believe words for colors) compared to most languages.

I've also read that Japanese and Dutch have a large number of words for rain (especially when you count agglutination) and Eskimo and Sami languages have a large number of synthetic words (based on polysynthesis and agglutination respectively) referring to specific forms of snow and ice. And I believe it's rare to find so many cynically precise terms for human thought and wants as in Yiddish.

This isn't quite about lexical gaps, per se. This is about a language having a sort of lexical abundance that the great majority, if not all other (at least widely spoken) languages lack. Some of these might be readily formed via compounds, (like Korean nureon (saek) is "deep yellow"), while others might be extremely hard in the context of a translation rather than a dictionary (like Yiddish oftselakhes is "the urge to do something to spite the person who just told you not to do it"), but regardless, it's a type of phrase, word, or perhaps just a morpheme that a language is nigh exceptional in the number it has.

So how would one refer to it? How would one say something like, "An example of _____ in English would be the many words for manner of motion"? It's my understanding that "lexical specialization" refers to something quite different, and while "linguistic relativity" will often include this concept, it also carries a lot more baggage with it. "Vocabulary specialization" won't get you anywhere either, except in colloquial speech.


texts:
Which is correct?

I wish everything was as easy
OR
I wish everything were as easy


texts:
Often, you see something like

  Alas, I couldn't afford it.

But isn't it possible to use it all by itself?

  I couldn't afford it. Alas!

What about in combination with "however", as in

  However, alas, I couldn't afford it.

If these last two situations don't work, are there any alternatives to "alas" that would work instead?


texts: What's the meaning of Jon Skeet's phrase?

texts: This Quora question is about Jon Skeet that was answered by himself. He used this phrase - "whatever you happen to think that's worth" (3 paragraph, end of the 1st sentence). What does that mean? I don't get it, please explain.


texts:
I've found recently a second variant of pronunciation of 'cafe' word: http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/cafe.

The usual one is /ˈkafeɪ/ ˈkæ-'fay

But the OD link gives this too: /ˈkafi/ ˈkæ-fee

I have heard this second pronunciation before on BBC. I'm eager to know if it's formal/informal version? Who and when say that?


texts: How do you say "let's bring some other people in this conversation"

texts:
To Enlarge/Expand the conversation

sounds more about expanding the focus of the conversation, not the fact that we want to discuss this issue with other people.


texts: Can my teachers be trainers or would I be taught by my shoes?

texts:
I am working in an educational organisation and we often co-operate with other institutions from other European countries, e.g. in EU-wide projects.

Very often we have to write applications for European funding, and in those applications we have to present ourselves. Quite commonly, someone presents his organisation in terms such as

  XYZ is a vocational training centre in ABC. It employs 350 trainers.

Each time I read this I feel an urge to correct it to "teachers" because for me, "trainers" sounds like sporting shoes.

Is the use of "trainers" in this context (for people like teachers, instructors, educators, etc.) appropriate, or does it sound silly and should be avoided, and what would be the best alternatives?

Explanatory addition after a number of comments received: It seems, for many native speakers my question is unintelligible. A common comment is that context made it perfectly clear that instructors are meant, not shoes. Yes of course, context makes it clear, I understand this. However, in my native language (German) in good writing style you would try to avoid unwanted ambiguities anyway, just in order to not irritate the audience by offering options for malevolent association. There are words with multiple meanings that are "harmless" in that sense where you wouldn't mind, but other words, especially when one of the meanings is something low or mean, would be subject to more caution. I just thought the quite contrasting meanings of "trainers" - "experts usually honoured" vs. "shoes usually smelly" - might constitute such a stark contrast in English, too, and therefore the expression might be advisable to be avoided. - But many comments seem to suggest that this is not the case.


texts: Is there an English word for "the ability to be deleted"?

texts:
I was wondering if there exists a correct English word for "the ability to delete something"?
The phrases I want to use this word in are:

Toggle the option "that enables the object to be deleted."
Toggle the "ability to delete" this file collection."

My first thought is "Deletability". But I'm unsure this is an correct word in English

Toggle the deletability option of the object.
Toggle the deletability of the file collection.

Is "deletability" a correct word? If not what would be an appropriate word?

EDIT:
added another phrase where i wanted to use "deletability" since the laste example was not so clear.


texts: Another way of saying "even with this considered"

texts:
Basically, the second sentence seems horribly clumsy to me. I've spent so long looking at it that I have a mental block of how to change it.

  So, an act could be seen as wrong owing to a different account of morality such as that of Kant’s or even utilitarianism.  Even with this considered, Scanlon must accept that what follows from his explicit claim about what makes an act wrong is that wrong acts are wrong because they are unjustifiable to others.

The phrase even with this considered does not sound right at all to me but I can't think of how to express it differently.


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I have a grammar question. I have seen that in news paper reporting writers almost always use "past tense". Can you please tell me why?

Silliguri, November 15 : Another Mig fighter plane of the Indian Air Force crashed near a tea garden here resulting in the death of flying officer A.S. Chowhan and wing commander N. Dogra.

My question is, can I use "present perfect" as I have mentioned no time frame. Actually it's a sentence from my grammar book and it uses simple past tense.

Kolkata, March 9 : Team India pacer Mohammed's Shami's wife, Hasin Jahan has accused him of infidelity and physical assault over several months. On Wednesday, a day after she posted a series of screenshots that she claimed were conversations between Shami and other women, She went to Lalbajar police station with her lawyer to meet senior cops.

I found the above reporting from my newspaper. I doubt if it is also corect to use "simple past" tense in the first sentence.

I think "present perfect tense" is also correct as there is no time frame mentioned.

Can any native speaker please help me?


texts:
Is there any significant difference between the following sentences?

Were it to be thought tasteless, I wouldn't do it.
Were it thought tasteless, I wouldn't do it.

Is the former implying that such thought would be slightly less likely? I'm British, but this question niggles!