texts:
In video games, characters can often aquire new skills, weapons, tools, etc. Usually one must achieve skills in a particular order. This is called a "tech tree".
I am working on such a system, but not for a video game. I don't want to call it a tech tree, because search engines would have a hard time finding this particular thing in all the noise. I am looking for some plain spoken alternatives. (All my alternatives end up sounding pompous or outrageous, like translating tech tree into Latin, etc)

@Amy asked for more context.  I should probably put that context up here in the main question too...

Carl Sagan once said, "If you want to bake an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the Universe." For a long time I have been collecting books, papers, and sometimes artifacts, that would allow a person to follow the trail of some topic in the library all the way down to first principles.  I am now looking into doing this digitally, and I have been stumped trying to name the project. I've always just called it my library, but that doesn't work well as a public name.


texts:
To my understanding, specific geographic regions are always capitalized.
For example, Southern US is proper because it is a specific region.

However, a co-author argues that southern should not be capitalized, because it is an adjective, not a noun.

So which is it? Southern US or southern US?

Per comment: Note that I am speaking of a particular region of the United States, not "a location in a particular sector."  Hence, presumably, the portion of the United States known widely as the (S/s)outhern United States.


texts: What is the difference in meaning between these two statements?

texts:
Their powers should be limited to curbing INFLATION.

.........

  Their powers should be LIMITED to curb inflation.

I've written in uppercase the words emphasized by the speaker (in speech).


texts: What is a word which refers to any number of items that exist as measured quantities in something? This is like measurand, similar to how operand is some kind of modifier to an overall o.


texts: Why were full stops used in old texts after singular words or incomplete sentences?

texts:
This is a table of 17th-century mathematical notation standards by Samuel Jeake.  It looks completely alien, compared to our modern notation, but that's not relevant.  What is important to note, however, is how every piece of text on the table ends with a full stop, regardless of the grammatical context.  From what I know, the convention is to use a full stop to end a piece of text if and only if there is a complete sentence.
Spraying full stops to end even singular words seems to be a common trope in older written English.  This example is from 1671, but newspapers in the 20th-century have done it too.  Why was this done, and what is the historical context thereof?


texts: Where does the phrase "It's a good job that ..." come from?

texts:
In a recent link the phrase "It's a good job that..." is used.
I take it to mean the same as It's a good thing that ...  but I've never in my almost 50 years of English heard job used like that before.  Word-wise it makes no sense to me that it even came into being.

In what part of the world is that expression used, and how did it get started?


texts: strong advocate on vs strong advocate of

texts:
I have the following sentence:
I am a developer, thinker, and a strong advocate on micro-services, architecture and development of blah blah

  I am a strong advocate ON

Or should it be:

  I am a strong advocate OF


texts:
Are these both correct?
"He has a long shot at being the next president."
"He is a long shot at being the next president."


texts: Is its grammatically correct to say "As we grow old we will encounter many a situations together.."?

texts: I know we can use "many situations" instead. But I wanted to know if "many a situations" makes sense.. Tia


texts:
I have been reading up on the correct use of 'which' and 'that' but I am still struggling. I am unsure if 'must be taken regularly' is restrictive or not. Both 'which' and 'that' sound correct to me. Can someone please tell me which word is correct to use in the following sentence:

Arava is a strongly recommended medication, which must be taken regularly.

Arava is a strongly recommended medication that must be taken regularly.

Thank you.


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Words that are pluralized in the middle?

I've heard it pronounced both ways:

  Sons-in-law

and

  Son-in-laws

While one may be more technically correct than the other, are they both equally acceptable based on popular usage?


texts: One word for someone who hates everyone and everything? (Not just humankind)

texts: I know the word misanthrope, but it is used for the general hatred towards humankind. I'm looking for a word, if there is one, which can be used to describe hatred towards everything like humans, objects, existence, systems, etc.


texts: When to use word "experience" in a singular form and when in plural?

texts:
I always thought that the word experience is only singular, but I see people using it as a plural.

Does word experience has plural form and in which cases it is proper to use it?


texts: There's a specific word which is used for drawings (like smilies, cars, cartoons, etc) which we made to pass the time, say while talking with someone or in a lecture. I need to know the exact word for it.


texts: Correct capitalisation of "Machiavellian"?

texts:
Does the adjective Machiavellian always have a capital letter?
For example:

  The Machiavellian Iago manipulates
  Othello into believing his wife,
  Desdemona, had an affair.

Not sure if this is anything to go by but, Microsoft Word corrects the word to have a capital. I am not sure if this is also the case when it is an adjective.


texts: What is the suitable word to use after the word fall or drop to mean it dropped a lot?

texts: In particular i have an index in mind. I think the word heavily is okay, but is there a better word? Or even better is there a word to mean dropped heavily?


texts: What is the difference between "curd" and "yogurt"?

texts:
Most people use the words curd and yogurt interchangeably.

Both are made by fermenting milk.

Is there a difference between the two, or are they the same?


texts: Term for someone who feels compelled to buy everyone she knows a gift

texts:
So just as recent as a few hours ago, I was in an argument with a girl.

She likes buying people gifts for their birthdays and various holidays. Sounds sweet right? Not in my opinion, especially when it amounts to the vast quantities of money she is spending doing so when she makes less than 36 thousand dollars a year.

7 nieces and nephews
3 siblings
2 parents
8 cousins
7 children of the cousins
1 grandma
9 aunts and uncles

For all of them she buys a birthday present when it's their birthday, a Christmas present when it's Christmas; Easter gifts for the children when it's Easter.

She says that she's "generous" while I called her an " an excessive consumerist" who seems to integrate consumerism into every facet of any social event and gathering.

But is there another word for what she's doing, an idiom, psychological term, compound words, or something of the like?

Please don't comment that it's her money to do what she pleases. And please don't comment on the privy of her information. I included all that for contextual purposes.


texts: What was this optical apparatus called? (It was used for showing pictures.)

texts:
What was this optical apparatus called?

This apparatus entered Iran about 120 years ago (in 1900) after the king of that time had a visit from an exhibition in France.

It was used for showing pictures (non-motion ones) and had some round outlets through which the observer could watch the pictures. Its intended use was entertaining, especially the kids.

When the kids heard the call of the apparatus-man, they ran happily towards him, circled around him and stood in line eagerly to watch the pictures after paying some small amount of money.

The pictures could be photos from European cities, famous actors and actresses, different animals, etc.
While the observer was watching through the outlet, the apparatus-man explained each picture in an exciting manner and mesmerized the observer by his stories, so they wished they could visit those places some day in the future.

PS:

Later, other personal devices were invented like the "View-Master" which were somehow a modern version of that apparatus.

Update:

The device had two handles on its top and the showman could go to another pictures by turning/ twisting those handles. The pictures were different yet had the same theme (for example; there were all photos from different beautiful landscapes in Paris). The showman explained each picture and then went to another one.

This is a drawing of the inside part of that device according to definitions I found in Persian websites. Sorry for my bad drawing.


texts: Does 'sewer crabs' insinuate any other meaning?

texts:
The second old man threw his axe down pettishly, spat in the direction of the closed door and went off among the stacks of cordwood.

  The door of the shack opened, the man in the Mackinaw poked his head out of it.
  "Sewer crabs is all," he said, and slammed the door again.
  I put my dollar in my pocket and went back up the hill. I figured it would take too long to learn their language.

  [from 'Goldfish' by R. Chandler]

It is difficult to find out any specific meaning of 'sewer crabs' as used above in any kind of dictionaries.

My guess is:

The old man is just grumbling, and he is talking about something to eat in his shack. In fact he is complaining about eating same crabs everyday.

I heard the sewer crab is kind of fresh water crab, and sometimes live on in sewer.

But the location of the above dialogue is in Westport, facing the Pacific, where sea crabs are abundant. (a western-tip of USA)  So no point in eating sewer crabs there. (I've never been there actually.)

My point is 'it is a cursing remark, not meaning any real sewer crabs'.

Hoping my long explanation just makes a bit of sense.


texts: Term that means making humans look inanimate

texts:
Keeping personification as a related (yet opposite) concept, is there a term that means "to give humans lifeless or inanimate appearance"?

For example, in a recent photo shoot, the photographer placed us behind some tree branches, to blend us and make us look like a part of it. So, as one of the answers below suggests, she depersonalized us, but in a positive, artistic manner.

Edit: this is the photo that made me try to come up with a good word to describe its style:
https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/q71/s720x720/1375270_606767022702401_1593703055_n.jpg


texts: Why is there a comma instead of a semicolon between the statement "'I'm sorry, I don't cry as much'"?

texts: I'm reading a book No Apparent Distress by Rachel Pearson and saw a comma between the following compound sentence "'I'm sorry, I don't cry as much." Why is there a comma instead of a semicolon? Is this not a comma splice?


texts: What is the difference between 'which' and 'that'?

texts:
What is the difference between

  A Random Variable is a variable which represents the outcome of a random experiment.

and

  A Random Variable is a variable that represents the outcome of a random experiment.

?


texts:
Is using a semicolon before a coordinating conjunction connecting two independent clauses wrong? Like in this example:

  Some people write with a word processor, tablet, or even a phone; but
  others, for different reasons, choose to write with a pen or pencil.


texts: I was wondering how to search if certain words are adjectives and/or adverbs

texts: I have a project... due very soon and I'm having trouble finding words  that are both adjectives and adverbs.


texts: A word with a meaning like "append" but not necessarily to the end

texts:
I want to say "The owner information can be appended to the input string". But I don't want to limit the place of this addition to the end of string. It can happen at the beginning, among the string (for example in every other letter), or at the end.
What is the suitable word for this? In computer programming "append" fixes the place to the end and the reader may mistakenly think he cannot use other places.
I have read this question . But by using "prepend" it just lets the place be at the beginning.
Any help would be appreciated.


texts:
meaning of "sum to unity"?
eg
Relative weights of each factor sum to unity so the overall utility scale (for each decision option) ranges from 0 to 1


texts: Do robotic insects have “antennas” or “antennae”?

texts:
I know that insects have antennae and machines have antennas.

Which plural form should I use for something that’s both insectoid and a machine? Does one officially take precedence?


texts:
I've heard in many movies/songs, specially in American English, that they add to the end of sentences the word "dough". For instance:

  I won´t play today dough

Could anyone give me a hint - what does this mean exactly and when it can be used?


texts:
Source Novel

Oh, I knew. She was all alone with Vanja during the day, from when I went to my office until I returned, she felt lonely, and she had been looking forward so much to these two weeks. Some quiet days with her little family gathered round her, that was what she had been looking forward to. I, for my part, never looked forward to anything except the moment the office door closed behind me and I was alone and able to write.

Does this mean "she was alone with Vanja from the time I went..."? "Once I got out to the office, she was alone?"


texts: Another word/way to describe "Core Self"

texts:
I'm looking for another word/description that describes the part of yourself that feels like the core to your soul. The part of yourself that speaks your sincere truth. Other examples (or similar to) that already exist are:

-Self concept
-Self Principal

I need to use this description to describe the difference between when you are speaking from a place of external influence (expectations, social pressures) and the place that you sincerely connect with (core truth/self).

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks very much


texts: "Satisfying" or "satisfactory" or another word?

texts:
In the following sentence, it is better to use "satisfying" or is there another good word?
After "boiler room" should I use "and" or a comma?

  On one of my main projects, I was attempted to design a steam boiler room, the results were very satisfying.


texts:
'Ago' would be an adverb if it told time, but it seems only to be a kind of modifier of adverbs that tell time or to require some other free-standing word to tell time. It cannot stand alone, which seems to me to disqualify it from being considered an adverb. The closest it comes to telling time itself is when it is combined with 'long' as in 'long ago'.
Could it be that 'ago' is just a particle or a function word like 'than' and isn't really a part of speech or even a word at all unless it is combined with some other free-standing word? German has things like this that are particles of verbs as separable prefixes. They look like words in print and are separated when spoken, but do not exist without the verbs to which they are attached in the infinitive form. (wehtun - to feel sorry, or bad. Tut das weh? Does that hurt? To which I can only say, Oy vay!)


texts: Quoting a fictional character from a Book

texts: I am considering having my senior quote be "Where are the Snowdens of Yesteryear?" from Catch-22.  Should this quote be attributed to Joseph Heller, or Yossarian?  If I do attribute it to Yossarian, should I refer to him as 'Yossarian', 'Capt. John Yossarian', or something else?


texts: Is 'log' (short for 'logarithm') considered too informal for an academic paper in the social sciences?

texts:
Should I write (in the main body of the text)

  The dependent variable is the logarithm of GDP.

or

  The dependent variable is the log of GDP.

or even:

  The dependent variable is log GDP.

It strikes me that I rarely see 'logarithm' fully spelt out, even in the main body of the text of academic papers. (More context: I am writing an economics paper.)


texts:
This question regards the sentence in the New Yorker’s  (June 14) article “Lunch at Gitlitze” I quoted in my previous question, "“Battled-hardened,” Is this one of New Yorker's renowned idiosyncrasies?”

  “When we walked into the restaurant, we immediately saw her – my
  father’s battled-hardened nemesis; a waitress named Irene. She was
  standing in back by the kitchen, a cigarette dangling from her mouth,
  one hand on her hip.. She and my father locked eyes like two
  gunslingers stepping on to a dusty street.  “There she blows” my
  father muttered. “Try not to excite yourself,” my mother said.”

I’m not clear with what “blow” in “There she blows” mean. It looks like a slang usage of the verb, blow.

I consulted with OALED at hand to try to find out a pertinent definition to this phrase and the situation of the story – “She was standing in back by the kitchen, a cigarette dangling from her mouth,” and found out the following definition at the top out of more than a dozen of usages.

to send out air from the mouth.

Does “There she blows” mean “There she is smoking a cigarette,” or otherwise? Does “blow” here have a special implication? Is this a slang, or idiomatic expression?

Why did the mother of the author quickly react to this phrase of her husband by saying “Try not to excite yourself.”?


texts: When you feel something hot in your mouth like pepper: are there any other words for it? Pepperish, perhaps? Is "pepperish" appropriate? Not only in the mouth and any other parts of the body


texts: Word for "disliking something at first but then eventually liking it"

texts: Single word for "disliking something at first but then eventually liking it."


texts: A word for "I'm foolishly making random choices"

texts:
Given a set of possible actions, you randomly pick one with no reason whatsoever, because you're a fool.

  I did my exam by randomly choosing my answers.

A somewhat related word might be babbling, which suggests there is a foolish/nonsensical/dumb element in action. But babbling seems to be too focused on conversations rather than option-picking.

The question Single word for random selection doesn't have answers with the "foolish" element.


texts: Name for phrases that sound the same but have different meanings?

texts:
Is there a special name for two phrases that have the same sound, but mean different things from each other? For example

  Wishing well

Could be used in either the context of "I wish you well," or that of "I threw a coin a coin into the well and made a wish."

It would be something like homophones but with phrases. I googled "Homophone Phrases" thinking that would be the appropriate terminology, but only found one blog that agreed with me.

Does anyone know whether there exists specific terminology for this kind of phrase or I should just stick with "Homophone Phrase?"

Thank you!


texts: What is the most common pronunciation of "Sandra" in British English?

texts: When I meet someone called "Sandra" I never know whether to pronounce their name "Sand-ra" or "Sahn-dra". I'm guessing it used to be "Sahn-dra" but with the influence of Sandra Bullock more people now seem to say "Sand-ra". I think this is especially so in Australia where, in NSW at least, they say "dance" not "dahnce". Here in New Zealand I'm not so sure.


texts: Discrepancy in using adjective or adverb with “taste”

texts: One asks “how does x taste,” implying that they’d like an adverb describing the way it tastes. But one answers with an adjective, “it tastes good” instead of “it tastes well,” which would imply that x is tasting something else. What’s the reason for this discrepancy?


texts: How did epilogue and epigraph come to take on meanings opposite spatially when used in books?

texts:
I was thinking today about the apparent similarities in spelling at the start of the two words:

Epigraph
Epilogue

And the fact they have seemingly opposed semantics. The first appearing at the start of a book, and the second appearing at the end.
Etymonline has this to say about the words:
epigraph (n.)

1620s, "inscription on a building, statue, etc.," from Greek epigraphe
"an inscription," from epigraphein "to mark the surface, just pierce;
write on, inscribe; to register; inscribe one's name, endorse," from
epi "on" (see epi-) + graphein "to write" (see -graphy). Sense of
"motto; short, pithy sentence at the head of a book or chapter" first
recorded in English 1844. Related: Epigraphic; epigraphical.

epilogue (n.)

early 15c., from Middle French epilogue (13c.), from Latin epilogus,
from Greek epilogos "a conclusion, conclusion of a speech, inference,"
from epi "upon, in addition" (see epi-) + logos "a speaking" (see
-logy). Earliest English sense was theatrical.

The first description details epi as meaning "on", while the second states that epi means "upon, in addition".
Whereas in the first description we are told that graph is related to "writ[ing]", and in the second that logos is related to "speaking".
No clue then regarding anything about why one is always at the front of a book and the other always at the end. Except for the fact that we are told epi means "in addition", in the epilogue description. Yet why is this not mentioned in the first description?
My question is:

How did these two words come to be completely opposed spatially, when used in the context of text that appears in a book?

1.b. Is there anything in their etymological roots that explains, why one is taken to be that which appears at the start of a book, and the other, that which appears at the end?


texts: Attributes of a TIME: Compared With/ Compared to

texts:
In the following question, should we be looking at comparison between two times in history or comparison between two attributes at different times?
Intuitively, we compare between two people basing on their different attributes and not the attributes themselves.

A. In California today, Hispanics under the age of eighteen account for more than 43 percent, compared with a decade ago, when it was about 35 percent.
B. Of the Californians under the age of eighteen, today more than 43 percent of them are Hispanic, compared with a decade ago, when it was about 35 percent.
C. Today, more than 43 percent of Californians under the age of eighteen are Hispanic, compared with about 35 percent a decade ago.
D. Today, compared to a decade ago, Californians who are Hispanics under the age of eighteen account for more than 43 percent, whereas it was about 35 percent.
E. Today, Hispanics under the age of eighteen in California account for more than 43 percent, unlike a decade ago, when it was about 35 percent.


texts:
I want to say that I am doing my internship in/at [company name].

Please give me some more examples using the word "intern" or "internship".
There seem to be differences between e.g. hospital and business places.


texts: Respective: Lines connect a circle and two respective squares

texts:
Lines connect a circle and two respective squares.

This use of “respective” strikes me as odd. The writer says he uses “respective” so that the sentence entails Case 1 below and precludes Case 2.

Does this use of “respective” accomplish that goal?

If not, what is the simplest way to do so?

Case 1:  Square --- Circle --- Square

Case 2:   Circle --- Square --- Square

(Read each set of three hyphens as a line.)


texts:
I am reading a book and the following phrase left me flabbergasted!

  She pulled back her fingers a second before they were sliced off. [1]

Does it mean that her fingers were sliced off a few seconds after she pulled them back? Or did she avoid that horrible fate by pulling them back?

How would one differentiate these two meanings (except by using the context)?

Edit: I did not specify the next part, because I wanted unbiased answers. The latter are satisfying and the next part is:

  Rachel sat down in the darkness. An oscilloscope scraped against the
  ceiling until the table cracked and collapsed under it.

[1] from Hyperion by Dan Simmons


texts: What's an appropriate word for "timestrip"

texts:
I'm not a native English speaker and I have to describe a certain scenario or a component that actually represents a strip of time. This strip would actually look similar to this with some point on it:

|00:00    |01:00   |02:00   |03:00   |04:00 ....
|___________________________________________ _ _
|
|___________________________________________ _ _

I have to write formal documentation but don't know what would be the best name for this kind of visual representation of time. I feel that using timestrip may not be best.


texts: use of "as that of" as comparative and possessive case following it

texts:
which of the following usage are right ?

1) The life of the rich is as peaceful as that of the poor.
2) the life of the rich is as peaceful as that of the poor's.

3) Your bicycle is as beautiful as that of his.
4) your bicycle is as beautiful as that of him.

now if second sentence is wrong then third sentence should also be wrong.
please explain. I have seen many a time a possessive case followed by "as that of" . so when can we use a possessive case after " as that of"


texts: How does tick off come to mean reprimand, scold.etc., where does it comes from?

texts: I read "his father ticked him off in his birthday."


texts: I regret his not having finished earlier. vs. I regret his not having finished by tomorrow. Both OK?

texts:
I regret his not having finished earlier. Perfect gerund, action preceding regret.
I regret his not having finished by tomorrow. Perfect gerund, action preceding tomorrow.

Is the 2nd. example correct, or should it be: I regret his not finishing by tomorrow?

Thank you.


texts: Which definition of "valuable" is used in "Black pepper was as valuable as gold"?

texts:
Which definition of the word 'valuable' is right in this sentence?

  Black pepper was as valuable as gold at that time.

having considerable monetary worth
having qualities worthy of respect, admiration, or esteem
of considerable use, service, or importance

I think it's number 1 but I want to be confirmed.


texts:
This is in the context of a person who plays recorded music at a party or club. Referring to such a person as a "disk jockey" or "jock" seems hopelessly old fashioned.  Three variants are in vogue and all are heavily used. Wikipedia redirects deejay to disc jockey and states it is "also known as DJ."  From the NYT in 2011: "a not-so-green affair with 50 to 80 people at a hot club with an open bar and a hip-hop deejay."  The same source a couple of days ago: "after having spent 30 years as an entertainment industry functionary — as a D.J., promoter and record label exec."

The Washington Post earlier this month wrote: "Martin Solveig will serve as the house deejay at the Gibson Amphitheatre show."  Also, many stage names in the music business favor one form, as in DJ Spooky, DJ Jazzy Jeff, DJ Skribble, etc.

Is there a preferred version of the term?


texts: Should you say "job status" or "jobs status"?

texts:
I have a web application that displays the status of batch processing jobs on our computer cluster. To me, the title should read:

  Job status

not

  Jobs status

but I really don't know why and I'm not sure I'm right. Could you kindly explain?


texts: A more formal word for the verb "bagging"

texts:
I'm creating process documentation for a company and there is a phase I called "bagging", in which, literally, you put stuff inside bags.

This is in the context of finance operations.  We're bagging money and cheques to be sent via secure courier to be deposited.

However, I find using the verb "bagging" to sound... really crude.  Is there a better term for this?


texts: Is there opposite single word to ‘enunciate’?

texts:
Further to my previous question about the meaning of the word, ‘crisis an hour mentality,’ there was the following line in the article of Washington Post under the title, “For Obama, and Democrats, it’s crunch time.”

  “His mea culpa was all the more notable because it came only a few
  days after he had attempted to put a retrospective asterisk on those
  original assurances, enunciated as he sought to sell his controversial
  health-care plan to a skeptical public.

According to Oxford Advanced Learners’ Dictionary, the word ‘enunciate’ means ‘to say or pronounce words clearly.

Is there opposite single word(s) (e.g. mumble) to say ‘to say or pronounce words unclearly?


texts: Differences between 'sensual' and 'sensuous'

texts:
Both are adjectives;
Sensual:

"Connected with your physical feelings; giving pleasure to your physical senses." (OALD) the origin is from Latin sensulis, from sensus 'faculty of feeling, thought, meaning', from sentire 'feel'.

Sensuous:

"Giving pleasure to your senses." (OALD) the origin is from Latin sensus 'sense'+ous.

Here are two examples:

"The sensual feel of a velvet shirt against the skin."(Merriam Webster)
"The sensuous feeling of silk on her skin." (Longman Dictionary)

I wonder if "sensual" and "sensuous" can be interchangeable or there is a subtle difference.


texts: Does the "defense sickle" exist in english football/soccer language?

texts:
In German football vocabulary, there exists a so called Abwehrsichel during defensive play. The meaning can best be seen at this youtube video at the 09 second mark:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_pFKGDEgUc

How I can translate this term into English. Could I translate it into "defense sickle"? It doesn't sound right to me.


texts: He is in his room 'with a book'/'with a table'

texts:
(1) He is in his room with a book.

(2) He is in his room with a table.

Why does (2) sound strange even if it has the same grammatical structure of (1), which works perfectly.


texts: What is the legal term for someone who isn't a romantic partner but lives in the same house as you?

texts: A cohabitator but not a girlfriend or boyfriend or common-law spouse.


texts: What's the present day status of "kempt", has it survived in usage?

texts:
I am looking for a possible positive form of unkempt.

My first choice was kempt.

But I am not convinced of its usage. I want to be double sure that kempt has survived in day-to-day usage.


texts: Should “I” be capitalized or in lower case?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Why should the first person pronoun 'I' always be capitalized?

I have serious question here. I just want to know whether to use small or capital letter for denoting I in a phrase. Considering the following example, can anyone help me which of the either one is correct.

  Now i want to leave to home.
  Now I want to leave to home.


texts: Is it correct to omit number suffix on dates?

texts:
If I have a date written: Saturday 16 December is it correct ?

Or does the grammar oblige me to add the number suffix to 16 making 16th as in: Saturday 16th December ?


texts: What does the American idiomatic expression "2 x 4"  exactly mean? I've read a very interesting book by Father Donald H. Calloway, No turning back  (an autobiography and a conversion story), and chapter 10 is entitled "The divine 2 x 4". Could that mean the divine surprise, the divine intervention?


texts: Is "With the Wish of Wellness" grammatical?

texts:
Recently one of my friends who is not a native English speaker sent me a mail. In the last phrase he used a harmonic but strange structure instead of the usual phrases like "Best Regards", "Best Wishes", "Sincerely", etc.

That phrase was: "With the Wish of Wellness".

Question: Is this a legitimate English phrase? If not, which grammatical rules does it violate?


texts:
I understand about the conditional, and imaginary, tense but if someone implies something will or won't work, which is the stronger or more definite use?

  Even if he tries, it cannot work
  Even if he tried, it would not work
  Even if he tried, it will not work

Thank you. Sorry I wasn't more clear.

I was curious about the level of intention expressed in language, for a hypothetical situation - ie, whether will, would or could denotes that a person is more likely to do something, in this case try. Saying it would/wouldn't, seems to remove it that bit further from it taking place. I think Barrie has answered what I was trying to find out, ie intention as expressed in language.

eg
1. It could not work (something will prevent it being successful)
2. It will not work (I might try, but probably unsuccessfully)
3. It would not work (I'm unlikely to try and even if I did, it will probably be unsuccessful)

Just curious about this subtle difference in the use of language on a psychological level.


texts:
Mr. X approaches each case with a commitment to effectively represent your interests.

OR

Mr. X approaches each case with a commitment to effectively representing your interests.


texts: Douglas Adams and his foibles. This one is for the Brits, I think

texts:
There are a few versions of the Hitchhiker's Guide series, with slight differences here and there. (I'll read anything, by the way, and I do find certain passages from the series absolutely delightful, and I don't care what people might think or if they'll stop saying hello to me when they find out).

The book version that I have includes this passage:

"You're a jerk, Arthur Dent. A complete kneebiter."

In the audio version, the author reads:

"You're a jerk, Arthur Dent. A complete asshole."

The author (or his editor, anyway) must have figured that the word "kneebiter" would puzzle listeners outside of Great Britain (that rules the seas) - (or something) - and that "asshole" (or "arsehole") was more widely and readily understood. Personally I dislike the word "asshole" (or "arsehole") because it lacks subtlety and can mean altogether too many things.

But what the hell is a kneebiter? Or knee biter?


texts:
After a difficult childhood, the encounter with Rev. Charles, was a turning point in his life.
What other expressions can be used to to define the concept of turning point?


texts: Present Perfect vs Past Simple with the specific date

texts:
Which is better to say?

We would like to have a meeting on the request we sent on January 1-th
2020.
or
We would like to have a meeting on the request we have sent on January
1-st 2020.

And would there be any difference if I write "request sent" without "we".
Thanks.


texts: Is 'absence of everything' better than 'absence of anything' in the definition of nothing?

texts:
The English wikipedia page for Nothing starts with the sentence:

  Nothing is a pronoun denoting the absence of anything.

I was expecting

  Nothing is a pronoun denoting the absence of everything.

since in the context a positive answer is expected.

Googles: N-gram viewer shows that anything is more common than everything in this context, so I assume that anything is the natural choice here. But why is that?


texts:
I would like to know what the difference between records and record is.

Which would be correct — John Allen's Records or John Allen's Record?


texts:
When two nouns come together like taxi driver, the role of the first noun is noun adjunct.  Now the question is what is the second noun's role. I mean the role of driver in taxi driver.
Thanks


texts:
What is a more modern variant of the interjection 'Lo!"

I'm looking for a single word which has the same effect but is less archaic.

It is a very formal context I want to use it in that you may find in a courtroom for example: 'He claims he is innocent of corruption, but lo! He is guilty of taking bribes!"


texts:
I note that this item does not belong on the long side in the drawing.

I want to know if the usage of "belong" is correct in the above sentence.


texts: Etymology of using 'joint' to mean a place

texts: What's the etymology of using 'joint' to mean a place? Like burger joint or juke joint...


texts:
My eldest is a beginning reader. Yesterday we read one of my favorite books, The Wreck of the Zephyr. He pointed at wreck and asked me why that one looked like it said "wuh-reck." I explained that spelling is funny like that sometimes.

This didn't satisfy my curiosity though. Silent w is not uncommon—we see it in the question word 'who' for instance—but it often appears in the combination wr-, and this is what I am curious about.

Was the w ever pronounced in these words (and if so, how)? Do these kind of words all share a common lineage that has some unique sound represented by this combination? (I am thinking of, for instance, that someone told me once that most words with ph come from Greek.)


texts: Neither the plates nor the serving bowl "goes" or "go" on that shelf?

texts:
Neither the plates nor the serving bowl goes on that shelf.
  Neither the plates nor the serving bowl go on that shelf.

What form of the verb is better in this context, singular or plural? Which is correct and why?


texts: Phrase: What does" no wish to all" mean?

texts:
Have you ever heard about the phrase "no  wish to all"?
Can you help me explain it?
The context is a man having conversation with his friend. He's complaining about receiving marketing texts on his mobile phones which made him irritating.
He said " They tend to come from the companies that I know nothing about, trying to sell me things of no wish to all."


texts: What does "Think truly, and thy thoughts shall the world's famine feed." mean?

texts:
I'm reading a book, and I came across the following quote by Horatius Bonar.

  Think truly, and thy thoughts shall the world's famine feed.

Could anybody explain what it means?


texts: What is the meaning of "free credit" here?

texts:
What is the meaning of free credit at this website?

Google translate says that credit means the ability of a customer to obtain goods or services before payment, based on the trust that payment will be made in the future.

How can credit be free?

Does free credit mean that the customer don't have to pay a certain amount of money in the future?


texts: "Potential," "wanna-be": what's an equivalent for "should-be"?

texts:
If "Ooze News could be a title for my website about slime molds," I can say:

Ooze News is a potential title for my website about slime molds.

If "Janet wants to be a pilot," I can say:

Janet is a wannabe pilot.

(There are other connotations to the word "wannabe," but let's ignore that.)
Potential is an adjective, but as the example shows, it modifies the noun in kind of an odd way: while a good pilot is a pilot, a potential pilot is not a pilot. I'm not sure what part of speech wannabe is in the above sentence, but in any case, in this construction it modifies the noun in a similar way.
There are also other noun modifiers that work like this, such as former [noun] or future [noun].
I'm curious if there's one that would express the meaning of the following:

"Ooze News should be the title for my website about slime molds."
"Janet should be a pilot."

This word would have to be able to fill in the blanks in the following sentences:

Ooze News is a ____ title for my website about slime molds.
Janet is a ____ pilot.

I've considered the following options:

"Recommended" and "suggested" both imply a person doing the recommending or suggesting, which is not an implication I want.
"Advisable" is closer, but still has a bit of the same problem.
"Necessary" doesn't mean the right thing.

Also, none of the above seems quite right when applied to a personal noun, like "pilot": "advisable pilot"? "necessary pilot"?
Of course, it's easy to rephrase these sentences in a way that gets the meaning. But I'm curious if there's any adjective or other noun modifier with this meaning in English.


texts: Confused about using "say" in participle clauses and adverbial participle clauses

texts:
I'm using a book to teach my students but in one example it says you can't use "say" in a participle clause because it's not continuous e.g.

Joanna is a woman who says what she thinks,

not

... woman saying what she thinks.

However, in an exercise after the explanation it has this:

I found a note in red saying "get into the car..."

Can anyone explain why I can use the -ing form in this example?


texts: Another term/phrase for kill two birds with one stone

texts: What is another phrase for kill two birds with one stone? Or another term that implies similar meaning?


texts:
How can "cannot be disabled" be written in short form, similar to the way "can be removed" can be written as "removable"?

I didn't find the answer in Google Translate.


texts:
I'm Patricia, from Brazil, and I'm translating my fantasy novel into English. I find it quite hard to express different levels of formality in this language. One of my characters is a mystical entity, so the formality of her speech is supposed to be greater than the rest. Therefore, I thought about using Early Modern English for her. I don't really know if it's correct or even common, but I have no other idea.

I've been studying as much as I can to quickly absorb EME grammar, but I can't seem to find any explanations on the imperative forms of verbs. Should I use -eth or -est on these? I've found some "cometh" around the internet, but I'm confused with whether or not to use -eth in all other imperative verbs. (Honestly, I'm not even sure if "cometh" is imperative or present - or both)
Thank you for your attention!

EDIT:
Thank you all for your answers, they helped a lot! I'll try my best to follow your suggestions. I'm new to this site and I thought it'd take a long time to be answered. I'm really surprised and super grateful!


texts: Why would a "ten bagger" refer to baseball? Where is the ten involved in it?


texts:
The urban dictionary writes:

  GEIL (Guy-el)  The best colloquial
  word ever established by the German
  language. It has slowly assimilated
  itself into English speaking culture,
  particularly the Southeast of America.
  These cities such as: Charleston,
  Charlotte, Atlanta, and Chattanooga
  the word 'GEIL' is used frequently and
  interchangeably between the people
  whom reside there.

  Simple in Context:

  Im so Geil! (Fucked up)  Wanna get
  Geil? (Wanna get wasted/fucked
  up/nutty/lit..etc)  She's fucking
  Geil! (She is hot and DTF) Brad, im so
  fucking GEIL!

  Hey Chad, you down to get GEIL
  tonight?

  Hey is that Wendy Brown over there by
  the bartop? Yea, it is chad. Damn,
  she's GEIL.she's GEIL.

  she's GEIL.

My questions:

Is this true and are there other areas where this word is known and used?
Is there only the sexual connotation or could it also be used like "that's cool" (because the meaning in German has changed that way over the years)
How taboo is it? mild or strong (I guess peergroup dependent...)?


texts: When do I use Present Continuous for near future instead of "be going to"?

texts:
I am reading this lesson about present continuous.
As the writer states

  USE 3 Near Future
  Sometimes, speakers use the Present Continuous to indicate that something will or will not happen in the near future.

Examples:

I am meeting some friends after work.
I am not going to the party tonight.
Is he visiting his parents next weekend?
Isn't he coming with us tonight? "

The lesson says:  Sometimes, speakers use the Present Continuous...

My question is when are these "sometimes"?


texts: 'In a form' or 'of a form': how to express that something must conform to a given format?

texts:
Which one is valid:

  A date field should be in a form 'MM/DD/YYYY'.

or

  A date field should be of a form 'MM/DD/YYYY'.


texts: Which is correct, "voicemail box" or "voice mailbox"

texts:
At work, I commonly type "voicemail box" and "voice mailbox" interchangeably so I'm wrong only half the time. Which one is correct?

I had a similar dilemma with "login to" and "log into", but this site has satisfied my curiosity by suggesting "log in to". I'm begrudgingly ready to create my own portmanteaus "loginto" and "voicemailbox".


texts:
What does "too on the nose" mean, especially as applied to art?

I use the expression but struggle to explicitly articulate what I mean. My best attempt is that I use it to refer to film, music, etc. that lacks subtlety and nuance, for example cheaply getting emotional heft from very directly stating cliched and unsubtle emotions.

Too:

  In addition; also
  More than enough; excessively
  To a regrettable degree - AHDEL/TFD

Obviously, I'm using too in the sense of #2 or #3.

And the idiom on the nose:

  Exactly, precisely; ...This term... may come from boxing, where the opponent's nose is a highly desired target. - AHDI/TFD

I haven't been able to find reliable definitions for too on the nose online (they're swamped by definition of 'on the nose', which is apparently often a positive phrase meaning exact or precise).

You can't be "too on the nose" in boxing. Can it have a negative meaning or is this a misuse of the phrase?


texts: Should “If I ever had a philosophy” be in the past perfect?

texts:
Excerpted from The Hills of Triumph:

  If I ever had a philosophy with which to govern my social life, even long after learning that social is often at the detriment of personal, it would have been no dfferent.

To use the subjunctive for a past thing, we usually use the past perfect, so must I ever had be changed to I ever had had?

I’m not sure, because the presence of ever seems to give us a hypothesis extending to now, justifying the past simple, which can be used for a present hypothetical situation in the protasis.


texts: The error of something between A and B [rewrite sentence in scientific writing]

texts:
Assuming we have a specific equation involving two coefficients A and B.

If A is given and B is unknown, B can be numerically and uniquely obtained by performing root-finding on the above equation(process X hereafter).
If B is given and A is unknown, A can be analytically and uniquely obtained by the same equation(process Y hereafter).

The scenario I concerned:
If A is given arbitrarily, then B can be numerically obtained from A by root-finder. Afterwards, we can transform B into A' by process Y. Although A is theoretically equal to A', there is always a machine epsilon between original A and A' because no computer has infinite precision floating point number - in other words, if we had infinite precision floating point number on computer, then A would be exactly equal to A'.

Now, My question is how do I fluently rewrite the above scenario in the following pattern:
[The error between A and A'...]
or
[The error of A between ... and ...]

The sentence I have tried to write is as follows:

The figure shows the error of A between the given and calculated values from B, which is computed through root-finder.
The figure shows the error between given A and A calculated from B, which is computed through root-finder.

Is there still room for improvement? I will be grateful for any help you can provide.

To Jason Bassford: Both X and Y processes are actually carried out on computer. This is a major cause of why there is an error between A and A'.(the magnitude of error depend heavily on numerical precision)


texts: "We are all just prisoners here, of our own device"

texts:
It is from the song "Hotel California" by the Eagles.

I have a hard time interpreting the meaning of device in this context.


texts: Use of a pronoun in a neither/nor construction

texts:
Neither Ms. Perez nor Ms. Yanaka believes that watching as much television as her son Sam does will lead to anything productive.

Is her correct? or should it be their?


texts: The type of person who always believes they're just turning a corner

texts:
I'm trying to think of the word, if one even exists, for the type of person who always believes they're just on the cusp of getting their life goals in order/accomplished/whatever.

Every week of their life (in this particular instance), they say "Well, I know I made a lot of mistakes up until this week, but this week I've really buckled down and I'm on the road to success!", and never acknowledge that they said the same thing last week...and the week before, etc.

I'm assuming it's a noun, but I'll accept an adjective. (Exclamations and adverbs seem unlikely)

So you'd use this in the following exchange;

  X: I'm sorry that I failed to pick you up after school last week, I was distracted by intern...
  Y: You're always distracted, and always saying that.
  X: Yeah, but I was trying to tell you, I'm not like that anymore; on Monday I had an awakening and I realised I need to get my life in order and be more reliable.
  Y: Yeah, but you've said that every week for almost a year now, having a new "awakening" that you think will really change you - even though you're still literally stuck in the same rut you were in a year ago, you are the textbook example of a [THIS-THING]

There's an XKCD I'll have to dig up that touches on the idea...

https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/resolution.png

Edit: If you enjoy this word-problem, you'll also get Wikied-away reading https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning–Kruger_effect which is not unrelated.


texts:
If I am talking to somebody about a certain group of people in the third person, and then want to refer to the person I am talking with as one of those people, which do I say?

  One of them were you

  One of them was you.


texts: "There's too many numbers" vs "There are too many numbers"

texts:
When people use plural nouns after the word "there's", for example:

  There's too many numbers.

it makes me a bit frustrated. I try to correct it by using "There are," but it still happens sometimes to me (the "there's" situation). Do you think that there are is the correct usage option?  People usually use there's, as I said.


texts:
For quite some time, I've been hearing the phrase "to be honest" almost every day. I've heard friends say it, characters on TV shows, and even an NPR reporter said it in an interview.

Example:

  "To be honest, I don't like spaghetti."

Why do people have to specify when they are being honest? Or I've thought maybe the phrase is actually supposed to mean "to be blunt" or "let me tell it to you straight."

How did the word "honest" get in the mix?


texts: person who's too eager to ascribe malicious intent

texts:
What's the word (formal or slang) or expression to describe a person who customarily and too easily ascribes bad motives to other people's behavior that could also be explained differently?

E.g. I would like to say:

  to a sufficiently X person, that thing could be interpreted as such and
  such..." or "if I were an X, I would think that...


texts:
As I was listening to Homer's hate song to Ned Flanders on The Simpsons, a particular line made me wonder; can someone hate something (the) best? I've certainly heard "hate (the) most". Could something just as equally be hated (the) worst?

  F-L-A-N-R-D-S!
  He's the man that I hate best!
  I'd like to see his house go up in flames!

Source: Flanders is His Name


texts: Is "incredible" always used to describe something good?

texts: If something bad happens and it is not capable of being imagined, can I still use incredible or inconceivable?


texts:
Are the following sentences emphatic sentence or relative clause? Why? What's the difference?

  It is the factory that you visited last week.

  It is Tom who/that I saw yesterday.

Thanks for your englightenment.


texts: Should I use "a" or "an" before particular enquoted text?

texts:
In this sentence: ...was a classic example of a "an eye for an eye", should I keep the "a" before the enquoted text or change it to "an"? I think the "a", pronounced as a long vowel, sounds better.

Thoughts?

Update: This is the original sentence I wrote: It's very much a "an eye for an eye" response. I have rewritten this as The response is very much "an eye for an eye".


texts: Is there a word or phrase to describe a person who doesn't want to engage in serious conversation with you?

texts: Something less roguish than "imp" or "wag." I'm thinking about a person who is perhaps a bit sullen or in need of some levity. The word or phrase would be better if it expressed how this person feels rather than labelling the type of person they are. Maybe a type of sentiment.


texts:
What is the actual name of those rods, which are hung from the ceiling, used to support walkways or overhead catwalks ?

Note: I'm not talking about curtain or shower rods, I'm talking about the kind capable of handling a huge load.


texts: What is the correct plural form of "offspring"?

texts:
What is the correct plural form of the word "offspring"?

From the dictionaries I have looked at, I am guessing it is just "offspring", but Dictionary.com and Merriam-Webster say "offsprings" is also acceptable.

  offspring noun (plural offspring, offsprings)

Dictionary.com

  offspring noun (plural offspring, offsprings)

Merriam-Webster

  offspring noun (plural offspring)

Cambridge Dictionaries Online

  offspring noun (plural offspring)

Oxford Dictionaries

Macquarie Dictionary and OED have no mention of the plural form.

The sentence I want to use the word in is:

  ...more long-legged frogs exist to generate long-legged [offspring(s)].

In this context "offspring" as a plural (without the "S") doesn't sound right.


texts: Word for the ability to deliver clever replies?

texts:
What do we call the person who comes back with clever replies when someone insults them?

Also what is this ability (personality trait) to cleverly thrash rivals on-the-spot called?

  Example:

  Person A: "I can't bear fools."

  Person B: "Apparently, your mother could..."

What should I call Person B in this?

What is the personality trait he possesses that made him comeback so cleverly against the insult?


texts: Word for something difficult or nearly impossible to achieve

texts:
What is a word which means something difficult or close to impossible to achieve? For example,

  A ten-percent growth rate is a __: it is certainly possible on paper, but very difficult to accomplish.

I can think of a castle in the air or an ideal prospect, but I would love to have a simple one-word substitute.


texts: Should I add a comma before 'though' in the following case?

texts:
The dog was lying on his side. He wasn’t
  resting though, of that I was sure. He was dead.

Should I add a comma in the bolded sentence?

  The dog was lying on his side. He wasn’t
  resting, though, of that I was sure. He was dead.


texts: What do "plump" and "stately" mean in this sentence from James Joyce's Ulysses?

texts:
The following passage comes at the beginning of James Joyce's masterwork, Ulysses, an early twentieth century novel. There are a lot of references to Catholic ritual in it.
Here, Buck Mulligan, the hero, is about to shave. He is carrying a straight-edge razor, the kind that is mostly used for legitimate purposes by barbers these days, and a bowl of foam, probably produced by shaving soap and a brush.

Are the words plump and stately adverb or adjective? Do they describe the attitude of Buck Mulligan or his body?

It is necessary to say that both words can according to many dictionaries be either adverb or adjective.

  Stately, plump Buck Mulligan came from the stairhead, bearing a bowl of
  lather on which a mirror and a razor lay crossed. A yellow dressing-gown,
  ungirdled, was sustained gently behind him by the mild morning air. He held
  the bowl aloft and intoned :

The German translator has translated this part very ambiguously.

  STATTLICH  UND  FEIST  erschien  Buck  Mulligan  am  Treppenaustritt,  ein  Seifenbecken  in  Händen,  auf  dem  gekreuzt  ein  Spiegel  und  ein  Rasiermesser  lagen.  Ein  gelber  Schlafrock  mit  offenem Gürtel bauschte sich leicht hinter ihm in der milden Morgenluft. Er hielt das Becken in die Höhe und intonierte:


texts: What do you call a disk with a hole in the middle?

texts:
Compact Discs, washers and Aerobie frisbees are all disks with a hole in the middle. Is there a word (either mathematical or not) to describe this shape? I mean the specific case of a round hole in a flat disk such that the inner and outer rings are concentric circles, like below.

--Edit: Accepted answer

I feel rather unqualified to select one answer as correct, so I'm going to choose the one that says "It depends who you're talking to". I hope that future readers will choose between the various helpful answers here depending on their exact object and their audience. After reading the etymology of annulus, I also hope that nobody ever tries to market an "Incredible Flying Annulus" to 13-year old boys.


texts: "Almost-finished" versus "almost finished"

texts:
I am attaching an almost-finished version of the report.
I am attaching an almost finished version of the report.

Which is the preferred form, (1) or (2)? Why?


texts:
What is the antonym of "color blind"?

  We do not assume that our customers are _____. After all, 5% of our potential customers are color blind.


texts:
When one looks at any garden, every plant has an official Latin binomial taxonomical name:

  E.g.  A favourite of mine, Allium hollandicum - Persian Onion

Now most of those with whom I speak call this particular plant an Allium, this is all well and good until one comes to pluralising the word at which point we divide into those who support traditional Latin pluralisation

  Allia (-um endings becoming -a in plurals)

And those who support a modernisation of the terms with the far more common

  Alliums (following English's standard pluralisation)

A check of Ngrams shows a once used 'Rhododendra' (The Greek pluralisation would lead you to believe that this is an historically correct plural) while its more standard plural is far more commonly used throughout the last century and a half.
On the other hand, 'Allia' was more frequently used than 'Alliums' until only the 1980s while now-a-days it has fallen at the comparative wayside.

Is there a definitive correct and incorrect pluralisation?

If - as I suspect is the case - it is all rather subjective, are they both acceptable in modern language?

Does this follow through to other species names, e.g. should Homo sapiens be pluralised to Homines sapientes as Latin might suggest?


texts: When were st, nd, rd, and th, first used

texts: When were numeric contractions for ordinals first used, as in 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 6th instead of first, second, third, sixth?


texts: What the meaning of "bottom" referred to a time period

texts:
In the sentence

  A lasted till the bottom of B

where B is an event which, in its turn, lasted some years, "bottom" is the beginning of B or the end of B?

I found it in an economic article, the actual sentence is

  the regulatory wave lasted till the bottom of the world 2007-2009
  crisis

(Henry Penikas, "History of Banking Regulation as Developed by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision in 1974-2014 (Brief Overview)", 2015).


texts: Hypernym of academia, researchers and topic enthusiasts

texts: Could academics or acads be used to describe the university faculty as well as researchers? What is a better hypernym of academia, researchers and topic enthusiasts?


texts: Words or terms for kinds of knowledge or thinking

texts:
This is kind of a tough question because the words knowledge and thinking can be defined in different ways. For example, type "kinds of knowledge" and "kinds of thinking" into Google, and you'll get some apparent answers to my question.

However, some of them suggest there are three different kinds of knowledge or thinking, but I'm looking at it in a slightly different way.

One of the most important things taught in schools is communication skills (reading and writing). Math is also a core subject in elementary school onward. Science is also taught in schools.

So here are three "kinds of thinking/knowledge" to begin with. But there are additional categories that are a little more vague than communication, math and science. For example, political science overlaps with ethics, which is highly arbitrary. Religion and spirituality are yet another way of looking at the world around us. Ditto for philosophy. And let's not forget the arts - acting, music, etc.

So it's a little hard for me to even formulate a question. But if you glance at my tentative outline below, what word would you fill in the blank with? I could call them Nine Major Kinds of Knowledge or Thinking, Nine Major Aptitudes, etc.

However, I'm not sure if those are the best terms. Can you think of any better terms or synonyms?

NINE MAJOR ________

communication skills (reading and writing)
mathematics
science
survival skills (formerly used to find food and shelter, though largely lost as people have become more "civilized")
political science (similar to social sciences but incorporates ethics)
ethics
religion/spirituality
philosophy
creative thinking (the arts, for example)


texts: Is there a word for something that gets "acted upon"?

texts: For instance, say I have two individuals and one is active, the other passive. I know I can call the active person the "actor"—he "acts upon" the passive person. But what do I call the "acted upon"? Is there a single word to describe this?


texts: What is the correct form when we have a rate for each currency in a list of currencies. For example if currencies are EUR, GBP and USD there will be a rate (buy and sell) for each one of these currencies.


texts: Is there a noun to describe the status of something being "indoor" or "outdoor"?

texts:
I'm not a native English speaker, and I'm searching for a noun (that may not exist?) that would help me describe if something is happening  "indoors" or "outdoors".
For example, instead of asking, "Is this activity indoor or outdoor?" I would like to ask, "What is the xxx of this activity?"
Indoorness, outdoorness, etc.,  don't seem to exist. Does anyone have an idea?


texts: He must decide who/whom to be. Which is correct?

texts:
Which of the following two sentences is correct?

He must decide who to be.
He must decide whom to be.

I can think of arguments for both sides, but I'm not sure.
To elaborate, is who(m) the object of decide, the subject of be, or the object of be? Does the infinitive form of be have any bearing on the answer? And is there anything else to consider about the position or role of who(m) in this particular sentence that would inform the answer?
The answers to the linked question What’s the rule for using “who” and “whom” correctly? say to "substitute he and him for who and whom." However, that doesn't give a clear answer in this context, because neither of those pronouns sounds right: "He must decide to be he"? "He must decide to be him"? Normally we'd use a reflexive pronoun here ("He must decide to be himself") and it's not clear what case that corresponds to.


texts: What is the rule of 'of' in front a possessive pronoun?

texts:
I'd like to know why sometimes we use 'of' in front of the possessive pronoun and sometimes we dont, like in these questions:

"Is this pen hers or yours?"

"Where is that restaurant of yours?"


texts: Different /ə/ pronunciation at the end of a word; for example, in "phenomena"

texts:
Sorry for my English but I'm a self-taught beginner.
That's why I had been looking at the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) with high hopes until I saw phenomenon’s plural form.
In the singular, everything works just fine, but in the plural phenomena /fəˈnɒmɪnə/, the first /ə/ is pronounced like it should be but the latter /ə/ is pronounced like /ɐ/.
As if that weren’t enough, on sites like Oxford Dictionaries or Wiktionary there are different transcriptions of this word with the same actual articulation (audio)!
Sometimes I feel like every dictionary has its own phonetic transcription using IPA symbols. Not to mention many more transcription methods in use.
Link:
Phenomena pronunciation on YouTube


texts: Cocktail of chemical compounds robustly promoting cell reprogramming protects liver against acute injury

texts:
I would like to edit this journal article title to make it sound better
Which one is the best option?
Cocktail of chemical compounds which robustly promotes cell reprogramming protects liver against acute injury
or
Cocktail of chemical compounds that robustly promotes cell reprogramming protects liver against acute injury
Also, do I use 'promote' or 'promotes'?


texts: What do you call food that is neither junk or healthy food?

texts:
Example:

  After that first encounter, Kazumi and Hidehiko started meeting
  regularly at the McDonald’s. Once they got tired of junk food, they
  switched to __ alternatives like curry rice, soba noodles, and
  miso soup.

Is there a word or phrase for that? Not-so-unhealthy food?


texts: the function of "the origin " in the sentence

texts:
Consider the following sentence:

  A shell mound exhibition center was constructed in 2002 to
  reproduce the distribution of the relics and lifestyle of the
  Neolithic age, the origin, distribution of relics and
  characteristics of the shell mound in the area and the excavation site
  are to be used as a learning center about historical relics by
  students.

I think I need to separate the sentence and I can't get why "the origin" is used in the middle of the sentence. Isn't it a bit awkward ?

and what would "reproduce the distribution of the relics" mean in the sentence? I can't get the concept of it.

I want to separate the sentence like this:

  The shell mound exhibition center was constructed in 2002 to reproduce
  the distribution of the relics and lifestyle of the Neolithic age. The
  distribution of relics and characteristics of the shell mound in the
  area and the excavation site are to be used as a learning center about
  historical relics by students.

Would it get better ?


texts: Why is there an indefinite article before "London"?

texts:
Two years after his reported Reichenbach Fall demise, Sherlock, who has been cleared of all fraud charges against him, returns with Mycroft's help to a London under threat of terrorist attack.

I know, there are city names with articles (like The Hague), but I've never heard someone say a London till now.

Is a London under threat of terrorist attack used here as a description of some indefinite place in London?


texts:
Could you please tell me what the native-like option for this case is:

He diversifies his stock portfolio

OR

He varies his stock portfolio.

I am talking about the stock market (finance).


texts: Meaning of “bejesus” in the idiomatic expression “… the bejesus out of …”

texts: According to multiple online dictionaries, bejesus is a quite common mild expletive used to express surprise and/or dismay and is derived from by Jesus. But what does it mean? The phrase “you scared the by Jesus out of me” doesn’t seem to make much more sense than the derivative expression.


texts: Distinguishing Apostrophes from Quotation Marks

texts:
Say I have a quote within a quote, and inside of the inner quote there is a sentence with a plural possessive, so that there is an apostrophe after the "s." How do I distinguish between the apostrophe acting as a plural possessive or the apostrophe acting as a single quote, ending the quote within the quote?

For example, you have an essay about Person A's writing:

  Person A references the work of Person B, stating that "One example is the work
  of Person B, who writes that 'it is important to have a guys' night out.'
  Person B is mentioning the importance of a break." (88) Person A also...

How would one know that the apostrophe after the "s" in "guys'" isn't the end of the quote within the quote?


texts: Rhetoric: 'Anyone that believes _____, must be _______.'

texts:
Is there a specific name for rhetoric that follows this general form?

'Anyone that _____, (is a, must be, etc.) _______.'

I seem to recall that the above was a specific type of rhetoric pointed out in a freshman writing course. However, I am not certain of its name, and I am having trouble searching Google for this question. If it is considered a type (class, kind, etc.) of rhetoric, I am most interested to know the specific name for this form of rhetoric.

Edit/Clarification:

Note: For discussion purposes, it may be helpful to break this down into two part:
Phrase A: 'Anyone that _____,'
Phrase B: '(is a, must be, etc.) _______.'

1) I call this a form of rhetoric because phrase B contains a derogatory comment intended to shame a person into agreeing with the statement. (I should have been clearer on that.)
2) There is no prefacing statement about a superclass of person, place or things in which deduction can be performed on phrase A to arrive at phrase B.


texts: An expression or saying meaning "don't celebrate too early"

texts: I am looking for a saying or common expression to say that it is not advisable to anticipate or celebrate something before you know the actual outcome. I am thinking about political elections or football match results, but also more everyday expectations about a possible positive outcome.


texts:
Dear English teachers,
I have a question. I noticed that news articles tend to use the definite article "the" when describing a three-letter acronym, e.g. the NFL, the NBA, the NHL, the MLB... etc. However, when describing a four(or more)-letter acronym, the definite article "the" has been omitted, e.g. NASA, FIFA, UNCCD, UNESCO... etc.
Since all these acronyms are describing similar entities like government agencies or international associations, I wonder why different rules have been applied to those four(or more)-letter acronyms?
Thank you for your help.


texts: Why do we call it "gum arabic" and not "arabic gum"?

texts:
Not in use so much these days, "gum arabic" can still be found for sale in small bottles. Is there a reason why it is called "gum arabic" and not "arabic gum"?

  Gum Arabic - Gum arabic, also known as acacia gum, chaar gund, char goond, or meska, a natural gum made of hardened sap taken from two species of the acacia tree,  is used primarily in the food industry as a stabilizer. It is edible and has E number E414. Gum arabic is a key ingredient in traditional lithography and is used in printing, paint production, glue, cosmetics and various industrial applications, including viscosity control in inks and in textile industries, although less expensive materials compete with it for many of these roles.


texts: Can "taken" be used without an auxiliary verb? "When taken to this extreme..."

texts:
Is it correct to use "taken" without an auxiliary (helping) verb?
For example:

  In some cases, a more powerful racial group justifies the domination and, horribly, even the complete destruction of ethnic or racial minorities they consider to be inferior. When taken to this extreme, genocides such as the European Holocaust and the massacre in Sudan have threatened to wipe out entire peoples. (source)


texts: Why "well-behaved" instead of "well-behaving"

texts:
According to the rules of compound adjectives, the Ving/Ved in "Adv-Ving/Ved" form depends on the original verb in a sentence. For example, "well-liked" comes from "somebody [who] is liked well." In this string, because the "liked" is a passive form, when it comes to its compound adjective, it should be "well-liked."

My question is: we say "somebody behaves well." However, when it comes to forming the corresponding compound adjective, it becomes "well-behaved," in which "behaved" seems also to be a passive participle. One would expect "well-behaving".

I have done a lot of research but have found no specific reason for this.
Somebody has said to me that it's just an exception, but I am just so curious about whether there actually is a reason for this.


texts: Identifying the subject: Should ‘who’ or ‘whom’ be used here?

texts:
Now, while I think I have come to terms with 'who' and 'whom', I read an article from Oxford Dictionaries that confused me: https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/usage/who-or-whom
This article states that 'the elderly woman' and 'journalists' are the subjects of these two sentences, and thus, 'who' should be used instead of 'whom':

✗ He is demanding £5,000 from the elderly woman whom has ruined his life.
✗ Mr Reynolds is highly critical of journalists, whom just use labels to describe him.

However, I believe they are actually the objects of the two sentences. If I were to replace them with pronouns, they would be in the accusative case.
'He is demanding £5,000 from her [the elderly woman].'
'Mr Reynolds is highly critical of them [journalists].'
Because the two nouns would be in the accusative case, shouldn't 'whom' actually be used instead of 'who', despite what Oxford says? I would like to know if I am missing something here.
Thanks in advance!


texts: After you "are finished that"/"are finished with that"/"have finished that", brush your teeth

texts: I've been hearing constructs of the form, "are __ed that," which sound wrong to me.  To my ear, the awkwardness would be dispelled if the word "are" was replaced with "have," or "with" inserted before "that."


texts: I wanted to understand the meaning of this sentence properly

texts:
"Pursue your business as it occurs to you, without any desire or purpose of your own towards its object; but continue to turn about your calling, as the potter’s wheel revolves round its fulcrum."
Does the sentence fragment "but continue to turn about your calling" mean that one must be oriented towards doing one's occupation or otherwise? Since, the meaning of "turn about" is to "move in the opposite direction".
What phrase could be used in place of "turn about" to convey the right meaning?


texts: English used to import words from other languages. I was listening to a French station and they used the words 'hate-free zone' and 'selfie'. The last time I remember English using importing a foreign word was ogooglebar which is Swedish for unsearchable. If influence depends on the number of speakers, wouldn't English be importing words from China? Maybe influence depends on the average GDP of the language speakers?


texts: Is ‘there’ being treated as an object (noun)?

texts:
The word "there" in this sentence doesn't seem to be necessary. But if it is there, what exactly is it? A noun? An adverb?

See there where the willow bends over the brook.


texts:
What does "straggle on his chin" mean?

  As I shook his hand, a kid cruising by—no more than a sophomore, judging by the fresh crop of pimples and the serio-comic straggle on his chin that aspired to goateehood—muttered, "Hoptoad Harry, hoppin down the av-a-new."

It was phrase from stephen king novel


texts: What is the verb tense for this sentence?

texts:
These butterflies find the same forests to spend the winter in that their predecessors had found generations ago.

The sentence is correct, but I need to understand the verb tense.  Specifically, what is the tense of had found and why is it the correct tense for this sentence?
The sentence refers to something that took place in the past and continues to take place now.  I thought it was present perfect continuous, but none of the examples I saw were like this sentence.


texts:
Consider "Thank you for coming" and "Thank you for your coming".

Would the latter one be grammatical? Why? Is it possible to recognize latter "coming" as noun? Some say you need no pronoun because it is mentioned before.


texts: Neologism: I am introducing a new term in my thesis for a concept but I am cautious

texts:
Is it arrogant in writing to explicitly say I came up with the term?
Fear of appearing arrogant made me think to just say:

X will be used throughout the thesis to refer to the concept of Y

without informing that no one has used it before.

What do you think? Any alternatives to introduce newly coined terms by yourself?


texts: I have heard the phrase "I am cutting it kinda close!". Why say "cutting it"? When we are not cutting anything here. Why can't we just say "I am getting late" and its like?


texts: Clarification on usage of "unless..." sentence structure

texts:
So recently I stumbled across a pair of sentences in an exercise which made me question the usage of "unless" when it is used at the beginning of the sentence.

In this post, I'd like to clarify which one of the below two sentences is grammatically correct, because the answers attached at the end of the exercise say that it is option (2):

(1): Unless Betty apologises to him, Larry will not forgive her for tearing his shirt.

(2): Unless Betty apologises to Larry for tearing his shirt, he will not forgive her.

Thanks!


texts:
Here is an excerpt from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy:

  'He threw away a copy of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat , he threw away a copy of Godspell: he wouldn't need them where he was going.'

My understanding is that independent clauses should be separated by a conjunction, a semi-colon, or a full-stop. Therefore, shouldn't this sentence read

  'He threw away a copy of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat ; he threw away a copy of Godspell: he wouldn't need them where he was going.'

Although I think the second sentence is technically correct, I would say that the first sentence is more natural. If commas and semi-colons can be thought of as cues for how long we should pause when reading a sentence, then the first sentence is a clear winner. So is Douglas Adams breaking a punctuation rule in the interests of readability, or is no rule being broken at all?


texts: A word for 'not listening and thinking of a response'

texts:
Whats the word used for, people who don't listen to what people say and think of only what they want to say?

I think its definition also says those who think of themselves higher than others.


texts: What determines gender-specific names used for different animal species?

texts:
What determines which male/female terms to use for different animal species?

For example:

"Bull versus cow" is used for cattle, elephants, and camels
"Boar versus sow" is used for pigs, badgers, and bears
"Buck versus doe" is used for deer, rabbits, and kangaroos.

I can't see any logical factor that categorises any of these different species. So what determines which gender-specific terms to use for each species?

A somewhat related question, but which doesn't answer my question, is Why are there different ways of indicating gender for animals?


texts: Word for the extent of truth of an article

texts:
I'm looking for a noun to be used in the following sentence to
express my uncertainty about the amount of absolute truth an article contains.

In other words, I doubt if the information the article contains are based on facts.

What is the word for the 'degree of truth'?

  I am not certain about the _ of this article.

(Sorry I really do not know how I should describe the noun I am looking for.. Using 'degree of truth' to express the idea is a bit strange but I can't think of any other phrase.)


texts: Can one use “may” and “might” in the same sentence?

texts:
Is it possible to use may and might in the same sentence to describe a potential outcome?

For example:

  While Sara may recognise the car, Paul might not.


texts: "I'm no more hungry" or "I'm no longer hungry" or "I'm hungry no more."

texts:
I'm no more hungry

I don't think I've heard the first one very often, but wasn't sure about the last two.

  I'm no longer hungry
  and
  I'm hungry no more

Which of these three sentences should I use? Which sound more natural? Are all three grammatically correct? Which one is the most idiomatic?


texts:
Here is the original sentence:

  In early 1992, Wayne Calloway, PepsiCo’s chairman and CEO, along with the presidents of each of the company’s restaurants, and Ken Stevens, the senior vice president of strategic planning, was (they WERE evaluating?) evaluating two opportunities..

I think this is wrong because there is an "and" after the "along with" prepositional phrase.

So, if we break down the sentence:

  In early 1992, {Wayne Calloway, PepsiCo’s chairman and CEO}, {along with the presidents of each of the company’s restaurants}, {and Ken Stevens, the senior vice president of strategic planning}, was evaluating two opportunities...

The "and" seems to leave us with the noun structure of:
“Wayne Calloway, PepsiCo’s chairman and CEO and Ken Stevens, the senior vice president of strategic planning were evaluating two opportunities...?

Thoughts?


texts: What do you call someone who repairs punctures?

texts: Is there a term specifically used colloquially or formally to refer to a person who mends punctures in tires of e.g. cars, bicycles, bikes, etc.


texts: "In person" equivalent for inanimate objects

texts:
This is much easier to explain by example. So you might hear someone say this photo of her is ok, but she looks much better in person.

I am looking for the equivalent of "in person" that applies to things, e.g.,

  A photo of the house is on the museum's homepage, but it is more impressive [in person].

There doesn't seem to be a concise, elegant way to say this, though it seems there should be, perhaps a latin phrase like in corpore (that's not it).


texts: Word for describing ideas/questions that stimulate thought

texts:
Is there an specific word that could describe ideas/questions that could stimulate thoughts?

For instance, if someone asks a question:

  1). If all the nations in the world are in debt, where did all the money go?

This question seems easy to answer on its face, but in giving the easy answer other questions can carry us into deeper issues of government and finance. How would you describe the characteristic of this question that stimulates thought?

Is there a specific adjective for this or are there just compound/hyphenated adjectives?

Note:

The original post provided the example question:

  Why is red red?


texts: Adverb position in "Listen carefully to what I say"

texts:
I've come across the phrase "Listen carefully to what I say" and I'm really not sure why carefully has gone in between listen and to. It doesn't happen with other verbs; you don't "switch carefully on the light", for example.

When can an adverb follow a verb, and when can it not?


texts: regarding, considering, concerning, in terms of, etc. - interchangeable?

texts:
I'm pretty confused about the usage of these linking words. Is there a difference in meaning? Are they all correct in this context? Which ones are more/less commonly used?

What aspects regarding the fashion industry have changed over time?

What aspects concerning the fashion industry have changed over time?

What aspects considering the fashion industry have changed over time?

What aspects with regards to the fashion industry have changed over time?

What aspects about the fashion industry have changed over time?

What aspects in terms of the fashion industry have changed over time?

What aspects related to the fashion industry have changed over time?

What aspects in relation to the fashion industry have changed over time?

What aspects connected with the fashion industry have changed over time?

What aspects in connection with the fashion industry have changed over time?


texts: I have seen it couple of times in a chat room on the internet. What does "insteadly" mean? Is it a shortcut of  "instead of"?


texts: I was in England and I heard that some people use word "will" as non auxiliary verb, in meaning "wish". Have I misheard? If it is true, in which cases can I use "will" as non auxiliary verb?


texts: What are the meanings of the common verbs we use to mean change?

texts:
Having acknowledged that the meanings of these verbs overlap, how would describe the prototypical use of each of these verbs?

Become

It was becoming dark.
He became a pilot.

Get

It was getting dark.
You get older every day.

Go

She went white with rage.
The milk will go sour.

Come

I came to realize it was the best thing to do.
My predictions usually come true.

Turn

Bruce Banner turned into the hulk.
The traffic light will turn green soon.


texts: Looking for a well-known idiom, phrase, or expression for "[they] make it into a whole procession"

texts:
To describe someone carrying out a standard task in an overly elaborate way, with zeal.

Description should be humorous, snarky, taking a jab at the someone who is overcomplicating things.

Etched in my mind is the bookish sounding phrase, "it's a whole procession."

Colloquially, "it's a whole thing with Bob..."? Where, 'it' is perceived by Alice as something which doesn't require so much attention. E.g. shopping for socks.

Edit: Thanks everyone! "Making a song and dance out of it" and "rigamarole" are closest to what I was looking for. I could use "pulling out all the stops" too!


texts: Is "much" used for emphasis in "much to your surprise"?

texts:
What is the main difference between these sentences:

  To your surprise, he is alive.
  Much to your surprise, he is alive.

Is much only used to emphasize your surprise?

Can I have a conversation with a buddy like this?

  — You tried to kill your husband last night?
  — Yup, I think he is dead.
  — Much to your surprise, he is alive.
  — Oh.


texts: Word for someone who studies to become a teacher

texts: A friend of mine is currently writing her thesis in teaching methodology of mathematics. We are searching for an appropriate translation for the German word 'Lehramtsstudierender'. This is a person who is studying at university to become a teacher, but hasn't graduated yet. We found several expressions like 'student teacher', 'teacher student' and 'teacher trainee' and got the impression that a teacher trainee has already graduated. Is there a difference between a student teacher and a teacher student?


texts:
What is the correct word to replace the italic words in the following sentence? John Smith is the interviewer.

"I just heard part of an interview run by John Smith"


texts:
Consider the fraction 3/7.

In Mathematics, "7" in the expression is called "denominator" of the fraction. But in the case of "3", some people call it "nominator", and some call it "numerator". Which one is true and more commonly used?


texts: In the sentence: "So amazed he cannot speak", is "amazed" an adjective?


texts:
Nerd is defined as an unstylish, unattractive, or socially inept person; especially : one slavishly devoted to intellectual or academic pursuits. (Merriam Webster) The first documented appearance of the word nerd is as the name of a creature in Dr. Seuss's book If I Ran the Zoo (1950).

Dork is defined as a socially awkward or inept person (Merriam Webster), and currently used as a synonym for nerd. However, Merriam-Webster states that Dork is a variation on Dick, which is a variation on Prick. Both Prick and Dick are defined as "a spiteful man." Ex. The captain is a real prick/dick. So in its early use, dork would have referred to someone who's a prick (a spiteful man).

How did dork as a "a spiteful man" become a synonym for nerd, someone "slavishly devoted to intellectual or academic pursuits?" Is there a common linguistic process at work here?


texts:
AFAIK, normally one would write:

"If c is zero and b nonzero or b2=4 a c, then and only then there exists a unique solution of 0=a+bx+cx2."

Is it possible to interchange the if and the then clauses to emphasize the consequence? Is the following sentence good English?

"Then and only then there exists a unique solution of 0=a+b x+c x2, if c is zero and b nonzero or b2=4 a c."

Looking at the answers to another question I have the impression that even the following should be more correct(?)

"Then and only then exists there a unique solution of 0=a+b x+c x2, if c is zero and b nonzero or b2=4 a c."


texts:
Is there a difference between starting a question with How about and What about?
Can we use both expressions interchangeably?


texts: Proper use of 'there' and 'here' in phrase

texts:
I am thanking someone in type
by saying :

  "John and Mary for being there even when you aren't near."

Would it be better or worse to use 'here' :

  "John and Mary for being here even when you aren't near."


texts: Looking for a noun, a person who changed their past view to a new one

texts:
I'm looking for a possibly derogatory noun that describes a person who changed their view from what they believed before. It could also be used to describe a person who expresses different views to different people when asked about the same issue.
For instance: Ben always says that landing on the moon was real, but when talking to Melissa, he suddenly says that it was faked. He's such a ______.
I've tried googling this word, but "fickle" is the only one I can find. "Double standards" does describe the view, but I vividly remember there being a noun to describe a person like this.
I saw a Tumblr post related to this a while ago as well. It said something along the lines of "Changing your mind doesn't make you a ______, it means you've grown."
I'm fairly certain the word ended in -ist as well, but those are all the details I can recall.


texts:
Perhaps better said as the "fields of knowledge". I'm wondering whether there is a single word that describes fields of learning or knowledge. The word should work in the following sentences (where I've used cognitum and cogniti as fictitious placeholders for the singular and plural forms, respectively).

"upon examination of the various cogniti, we can see common…"
"Among the cogniti of classical education, I find Mathematics to be of great interest. As a cognitum it serves as the basis for all other cogniti; the universe itself is a consequence."


texts: It or them: How to refer to a single noun followed by any with a pronoun?

texts:
Is the sentence below correct?

I want to say I can't merely rely on self-learning in order to become proficient in my career, and I need better resources.

  Although self-learning is an essential factor of success for any career, I believe it isn’t enough to achieve full mastery in them.

Or do I have to say it this way:

  Although self-learning is an essential factor of success for any career, I believe it isn’t enough to achieve full mastery in it.

However, as both sound a bit awkward to me, I would appreciate it if anyone could suggest me better substitutes.


texts: Deadlines as instants or periods with various verbs and tenses

texts:
I was wondering whether a deadline is more of an instant or more of a period. It seems to have some of both aspects, but with more of an emphasis on the instant. I thought that this should be reflected in the verbs used in this context.

The total Google hit counts for "the deadline is/ends/passes/was/ended/passed on X", where X is any day of the week, are as follows:

is     509
ends    64
passes  73

was    127
ended  124
passed 181

In the present tense, there's a strong preference for "is", with "ends" and "passes" roughly similar, whereas in the past tense there's a slight preference for "passed", with "was" and "ended" roughly similar.

The present tense usage would seem to indicate that a deadline is conceived of more as an instant ("is", "passes") than a period ("ends"), but the picture is slightly different in the past tense. This might be due to the fact that in the past tense, one is often implying that someone missed the deadline, and this seems to be conveyed better by "ended" than by "was"; that could explain that "passed" is most frequent, since it combines both aspects, both referring to an instant and carrying the negative implication.

I'd be interested in any insight into this phenomenon, especially other usage examples of "deadline" that might throw more light on its being conceived of as an instant or a period. (By the way, the corresponding German "Frist" is also somewhere between an instant and a period, but here the period aspect is stronger, and in the present tense "endet" ("ends") is more frequent than "ist" ("is") by roughly a factor of 2.)


texts: What was "m(o)ustache" called before the term entered the English language?

texts:
"Mustache"  appears to be from the mid-late 16th century of  French, possibly Italian/Spanish origin.

1580s, from French moustache (15c.), from Italian mostaccio, from Medieval Greek moustakion.

Borrowed earlier (1550s) as mostacchi, from the Italian word or its Spanish derivative mostacho. The plural form of this, mustachios, lingers in English.
(Etymonline)

One can reasonably assume that mustaches were commonly worn also before the 16th century as the following source shows:

Jan. 1st, 1535  - Henry  VIII
"In Enland Henry VIII brought back the beard and mustache look. Men wore whatever length and style that suited them".
Questions:
What was the common Middle English term for mustache and why was it replaced? Was mustache used in some literary work that made it popular for instance?


texts: Noun case and case usage for "of you" in the clause "that was kind of you"

texts:
The clause or sentence, "That was kind of you," uses what seems like a genitive case "of you", but I'm not sure what type of genitive it should be considered.

The form of the answer I'm looking for is "CASE: case-use", i.e. "Genitive: apposition" or "Genitive: genitive nominative" or "Genitive: subject".

Research:

Nouns in English fall into one of five commonly-accepted "cases": Nominative, Genitive, Dative, Accusative, and Vocative. The preposition "of" usually allies with Genitive, and I think it would be Genitive here since it is a matter of the nature, substance, and origin for "of you". If I'm wrong, please say so.
But, Genitive nouns can be used different ways. A cup "of water" is about contents or substance, being "Genitive: Substance" or "Genitive: Contents". We talked "about you" treats "you" as a direct object, but it has a Genitive way of being in the sentence, so it would be "Genitive: Direct Object". What would be the use here?

I would think it would be a "Genitive: Subject" because "That was kind of you" technically has "that" as the subject, but "you" is the word who actually was the subject of whatever action was deemed kind.

As for the "close" vote that wanted more research, I consider that an "elaboration", but if it's all the same, can the community please weigh in on the actual question and share knowledge please? If not, is it alright if I answer the question myself. Please what does everyone think?

I later edited to include, to be complete in background: These "5 noun cases" I refer to may be seen in English Grammar for Language Students by Frank Xavier Braun, but his explanation was brief, which is why I ask here. TY all for helping me clarify my very first question on this forum!


texts:
Dictionary definition of attic: The definition of an attic is a room or space directly under the roof.

What if a building has a flat roof? is the space/floor directly under the roof still called attic?
An apartment where I live is on the 27th floor (top floor) of a building with a flat roof. Can I say I live in the attic?
What about other low-rise buildings, 2 floor buildings, without a pitched roof. Do they even have attics?


texts: You have treated me well vs You treated me well

texts:
Trying to write a short goodbye message to my current workplace.
Thanks, company. You treated me well. My stay wasn't that long, but I will never forget all the great memories.
In this phrase, should I say
You treated me well or You have treated me well?
Also, does the phrase itself look fine?


texts: What is a good proverb in response to "two wrongs don't make a right"?

texts:
In an ideal world, I know "two wrongs do not make a right" but in the real world (or at least mine) I have often found that although they may not make a right, they often stop further "wrongs".
However, that does not stop smug third parties sometimes commenting "two wrongs don't make a right" - what would be a an appropriate proverbial response?


texts: What to call a person who attempts to extract favors

texts:
I had a neighbor who, a few days before asking me to do a big favor for her, would perform "considerate" actions for me, like placing my morning paper by my front door, and asking me if I needed anything from the store while she went shopping.

She normally behaved towards me as if I were a tree.
She thought she was being very artful and clever, but it was laughably transparent.
Is there a word to describe someone like this?


texts: "He lies" or "he is lying" for non-habitual actions

texts:
Reading the last pages of Harry Potter 1, Harry is pulled to confront a mirror. When he is asked about what he sees, he invents something and lies to the guy. At this time, the master says the following to his agent:

  He lies... He lies...

Is the use of simple present correct in this context? As it doesn't refer to a habitual action of Harry, shouldn't it be present continuous?


texts:
A recent question asked about the impropriety of "Where's it at?" The question started me thinking about when at is allowed with where. My first thought was that ne'er the two should meet: at is always extraneous.

Some verbs, though, seem to give more room for the pairing. "Look at where" or "point at where" are far less strident than "sit at where" or "is at where". Still, "look where" and "point where" are far cleaner.

It seems to me that at is more permissible when the subject is not at the location stipulated by where. In the two examples above, the subject is one place and directs her attention "at where". The at becomes a way of keeping distance between the subject and the place.

What is the function of at when it precedes where?


texts:
What is a word for someone who hates or intensely dislikes one person? Misanthrope (hatred of humankind) is exactly what I'm looking for except it is too broad. This is a word I intend to use humorously, if it helps.

Example sentences:

Sarah is a ________ because she doesn't hate anybody but Donald Trump.
Ben is a poly-_________ because he hates everyone on his swim team.


texts: Can I use .". if I want both to end a sentence and to indicate that there was a period ending the sentence that I just quoted?

texts:
For example:

In the original publication, the last sentence of the Introduction is: “I love dogs.”. This sentence should be replaced by: “I love cats.”.


texts: What is the independent clause of dependent clause?

texts:
I want to explain my problems with the following sentences:

  "Even boldly going where few have gone doesn't always lead to radical
  conclusions. Over the years, researchers have set up
  weather-monitoring stations in remote areas of Antarctica. According
  to data from stations on the Ross Ice Shelf -where almost all
  those taking part in Robert Scott's ill-fated South Pole expedition
  perished sometime between late February and mid-March of 1912 -
  temperatures as low as those recorded in Scott's journal have been
  documented only once in the past 15 years."

1) In "where almost all those ......", who does those refer to?

2) That same clause started with where. What place does this dependent clause refer to?

3) What is the independent clause for this dependent clause?


texts:
I have heard various terms to describe one's travels East.
Some people say, "I am going out East." Others say, "I'm going back East." Still others say, "I'm going down East." Which is correct?