texts: Origins of '[politician's last name] derangement syndrome' and of 'derangement' in the sense of 'insanity'

texts:
In recent months, Donald Trump has characterized critics of his administration as suffering from "Trump Derangement Syndrome"—presumably, an irrational hostility to anything Trump says or does. The Wikipedia article on this topic asserts that Charles Krauthammer originated the practice of characterizing avid hostility to a political figure as a "derangement syndrome," back in late 2003.

Google Books search results indicate that partisans of other U.S. politicians have claimed that their opponents suffer from similar mental maladies—"[George W.] Bush derangement syndrome," "[Bill and/or Hillary] Clinton derangement syndrome," and "Obama derangement syndrome," for example. As far as I know, U.S. writers and speakers haven't extended this diagnosis to historical figures from other lands—for example, "Pol Pot derangement syndrome"—although I suppose that nothing but an insufficiency of ideological zeal stands in their way.

My questions:

Which political figure was first to be characterized as the victim of a "derangement syndrome," when was the existence of the syndrome first asserted, and by whom was it asserted? Is Wikipedia correct that no one before Charles Krauthammer ever used this expression?
Does any clinically recognized mental disorder exist for which the approved medical term includes the phrase "derangement syndrome"? If so, when did that term come into existence?
When did the word derangement acquire the meaning "insanity"?

Some background

The expression "[politician's last name] derangement syndrome" seems to go back at least to 2003, as evidenced by this question (by Jim Axelrod of CBS News) to President George W. Bush at a press conference held on January 12, 2009, just before the end of Bush's second term in office:

  Q. Well, a couple of years ago, Charles Krauthammer, [conservative] columnist and Harvard-trained psychiatrist, coined a term, "Bush derangement syndrome," to talk about your critics who disagreed with you most passionately, not just your policies, but seemed to take an animosity towards you. I'm just wondering, as you look back, why you think you engendered such passionate criticism, animosity, and do you have any message specifically to those—to that particular part of the spectrum of your critics?

In fact, the Townhall version of Krauthammer's column "Bush Derangement Syndrome" carries a publication date of December 5, 2003, so Krauthammer's assertion of the syndrome's existence came less than nine months after the United States invaded Iraq in late March 2003.

A Google Books search for "derangement syndrome" indicates that a physical condition involving various forms of joint displacement was characterized as "internal derangement syndrome" as early as 1964 [the phrase is not included in the text shown in the snippet window] and that researchers in 1967 proposed the designation "cholangiolar derangement syndrome" for a liver condition related to hepatitis. Later instances of "derangement syndrome" describe problematic conditions involving the human spinal column. I have not as yet found any use of "derangement syndrome" as a description of a mental condition prior to 2003, however. In all of these occurrences, the use of derangement seems to follow from the original meaning of derange (as given by Merriam-Webster's Eleventh Collegiate Dictionary (2003): "to disturb the operation or functions of."


texts:
For a role playing project I would like to have attributes that are derived from religiously sounding words. I know this is fairly imprecise, so perhaps examples are good: instead of strength I use fortitude, instead of wits - prudence, and instead of empathy - charity. One word that eludes me is agility - there is no good word I can find for it. One idea I had is vigilance, but I am not sure if this is a very good match.

The question: is there a better synonym for agility that would fit the religious aesthetic?


texts:
Consider the examples:

"My name is Ricky."

He said his name is Ricky.

The tense is not backshifted in #2 because his name is and will always be Ricky. Also consider:

Ricky says: "I live in Paris."

Ricky said that he lives in Paris.

The tense is not backshifted in #4 because he still lives in Paris.

For examples #2 and #4, it is possible to not backshift the tense because the reporting words are still true at the time of reporting, but what will you say about the following examples:

  I asked what his name is.
  I asked where he lives.

Here, is it correct for #5 and #6 to not backshift the tense?

If #5 and #6 are correct, then under what conditions is it correct to not backshift the verb like that?


texts: Idiom for opportunistically exploiting a situation to one's advantage

texts:
I was wondering what various figures of speech could be used to describe a situation where somebody exploits a situation in order to push their own agenda. For example in Persian we have 'Catching a fish from muddy water'. Are there any English equivalents?

EDIT

Per request, let me clarify further what I have in mind:

I'm looking for a figure of speech used to describe a situation: say something happens, and the previously dogmatic opinion of somebody about the something, could then be somewhat justified after an accident, and that person would gloat and say 'I told you so', much like politicians would do from a given incident and use the turn of events to justify their own agenda. What idiom could you then use to reply to that person? Like 'You're really [idiom about opportunistically exploiting] now'.

A real example here:

Politician A and B are engaged in a debate. Politician A has been running the country for the past 4 years and has been lenient toward gun control, whereas politician B and his party have been critical of this leniency from the outset. During these 4 years under Politican A's reign, society has been very safe and healthy, with no gun crime whatsoever, and the population have actually been happy with Politcian A's gun policies. A month before elections, a psychotic army conscript starts shooting at people in the street and kills 2 people. Politician B will then launch a scathing attack on Politcian A for being reckless in his decision making and not heeding the advice of others, intentionally failing to point to the fact that the person committing the crime is an army personnel and has had his guns for a long time, and would have had his weapons with or without a stringent nationwide gun policy.

What would be a good figure of speech to describe Politician B's exploit of the incident to his own advantage?


texts: Word or phrase for "mechanism/ability to pause machine in a certain condition"

texts:
Air conditioner (or any cooling machine) has mechanism/ability to pause cooling a room for a while. If this ability doesn't exist, the room will get very cold and could freeze anything in the room.

Is there a word or phrase for this mechanism?


texts:
I came across the phrase “I’ll jam down their throats” in the following sentence of the Reuters’ article (June 30 issue) dealing with the Davis Cup, titled “Pat Rafter Wary of 'Awkward Chinese.'”

  Our biggest problem is if we are complacent and we take them easy," he said. "That will be the one thing that I will jam down their throats—they will be very tough.

In search for the meaning of the phrase, I found a similar phrase, “jam one’s belief down someone’s throat” in the following example.
.

  I mean, vegetarians and vegans don't try to moralize or jam their beliefs down everyone else’s' throats, right?—www.foodaq.com/html/General/44813.html.

What does “jam down something one’s throat” mean? Does it mean to force someone to swallow (accept) something or surrender to someone? Is this a popular phrase?


texts: Rather unusual usage of the word “churn”

texts:
I came across this sentence in a book:

  "One especially strategic family room, where all these dark socio-cultural and political dimensions are dramatized brilliantly, is the kitchen, where the women of the home churn dreams, fears, social and political intrigues away."

I'm not all that fond of the sentence structure, but I was really wondering about the word churn in that context.

From contextual analysis, I think I understand the meaning of the sentence: the women congregate in the kitchen, where they have lengthy conversations about dreams, fears, society, and politics.

However, when I looked up the word churn in a dictionary, I couldn't find a good definition that mapped to this usage.

In addition to the process of making butter, Collins lists four additional meanings of the verb:

  (sometimes foll by up) to move or cause to move with agitation ⇒ ideas churned in his head
  (of a bank, broker, etc) to encourage an investor or policyholder to change   investments, endowment policies, etc, to increase commissions at the client's expense
  (of a government) to pay benefits to a wide category of people and claw it back by taxation from the well off
  to promote the turnover of existing subscribers leasing, and new subscribers joining, a cable television system or mobile phone company

and Macmillan mentions:

  [intransitive/transitive] to move something such as a liquid around violently, or to move in this way ⇒ the churning seas
  [intransitive] if your stomach churns, you have a strong nervous feeling in it because you are worried, afraid, or upset  ⇒ My stomach was churning before the first performance.

I suppose "ideas churned in his head" comes closest to the meaning in the book, but I don't get the feeling from the context that the women are particularly agitated. As a matter of fact, the use of the word away almost makes it seem like the conversations are therapeutic, not something that agitates or worries.

So, my questions are:

1) Is there some other definition of churn that I'm not aware of? Or is the author merely using some literary license, and bending the meaning of the word?

2) Assuming I'm interpreting the passage correctly, what other words could have been used in place of churn in this context?


texts: Does modal "will" have mood or tense, and if so what is it?

texts: Reading elsewhere on this forum, it seems that "will" when used as a modal auxiliary is not regarded as having tense (despite that dictionaries seem to regard "would" as its past tense), even though it is used to convey future tense. Instead, posted comments seem to regard "will" has having mood. If that's the case, what mood? Often related modals like would, could, should, and might are considered to have "conditional" mood, I don't see what their counterparts (will, can, shall, may) mood designations are.


texts: Is there a word to replace 'Being different from'?

texts:
I want to say:

  Being different from traditional paper-based reading, computer-based reading, in this case, refers to the act of reading with the aid of computer system, which may or may not be designed for the special purpose of text presentation.

If the sentence can be improved in any way, please feel free to give me some recommendations.


texts:
I am new on this forum, English is my second language so every now and then I come across some very confusing rules. Here is my first question:

  What time suits you?

Why do we use "s" with suit?


texts: Any idiom or phrase to describe the opposite of "love me, love my dog"?

texts:
In English, there is an idiom called "Love me, love my dog" of which  Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary gives the following definition: (https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/love-me-love-my-dog)

  said to warn someone that if they want to be in a relationship with
  you, they must be willing to accept everything about you

I think this idiom can also be applicable to other not-in-a-relation situations, say.

  If you truly like your teaching job, you must be able to stand
  students' naughtiness and once-in-a-while mischief, because love me, love my dog.

Is my understanding about other not-in-a-relation situations correct?
This is mainly what I want to ask. Any idiom or phrase that can
describe the opposite of "Love me, love my dog" with the meaning:

  said to describe the situation in which if you hate something or
  someone, even if there are great qualities or merits in that, you
  still have a strong hatred towards it.

Is "Hate me, hate my dog" OKAY ?  Like the following example:

  You cost me a golden opportunity to be admitted into Harvard
  University years ago. Now even though you are willing to give me a big
  sum of money, I will not forgive you. As the idiom goes: hate me, hate my dog.


texts: Meaning: "Let's set this party off right"

texts:
There is a sentence in Bruno Mars' 24k magic

  Let's set this party off right

what does "off right" mean here?


texts: As I understand it, laws are made to protect property, regulations are made to control our behavior (both are made by governments), but rules are made by individuals or organizations. Please explain these.


texts: Idiom for random/arbitatry decision making

texts:
Sometimes an entity's (be it a person, company, or a government) predictions/choices/decisions seem to be completely arbitrary (based on no evidence or observation).

A very colorful example of this is South Park's Margaritaville episode. When learning that a bank is going bankrupt, a board of judges or whatever decapitate a chicken, and throws its beheaded body into a pit divided into different areas with actions written on them, such as "Bail out", "Do nothing", "Pay $10000", "Sue", etc. The headless chicken runs around for a while until it finally drops motionless on one of the areas in the pit. The judges' verdict is based on where the dead chicken lands.

In Armenian we have an idiom "մատից հոտ քաշել", which literally means "to smell one's finger". Smelling one's finger, of course, does not give one any useful informations, so basing one's forecasts/choices on the "results" of smelling one's finger is completely random and arbitrary. For example, in Armenian one could say:

  You can't trust the weather forecast. I think they simply smell their finger and come up with a prediction.

or

  How does he know all this?
  He doesn't, he just smelled his finger. (i.e. his claims are based on nothing)

or (in a maths class)

  Teacher: Can a rational number raised to the power of an irrational number be a rational number?
  Student: Yes.
  Teacher: See, you have to prove it, you don't get to just smell your finger and answer yes or no.

Hopefully the South Park example and the մատից հոտ քաշել examples fully convey what situations I am talking about. So what idioms are there in English that can describe the arbitrary decision-making/choices?


texts: Is this sentence 100% correct? "Are you going to be in the library at lunch today? "

texts: All I'm trying to ask is whether or not my friend is going to be available in the library at the time of lunch(12:00).  Even though I'm bilingual/multilingual in three different languages including English, lately some aspects of the language has been confusing to me as I'm learning a new language.


texts: Does a fronted preposition in a relative clause create an exception to the "that" vs "which" rule?

texts:
In a sentence that requires the use of "that" instead of "which," can "which" still be used when followed by a preposition.

Original: "I have the photo that Seinfeld signed."
Using preposition: "I have the photo on which Seinfeld wrote his name."

I understand that the latter is correct, but I'm curious as to why it is correct. Does anyone have a deeper analysis about why it sounds weird to say "on that Seinfeld wrote his name," beyond just the fact it sounds weird. I'm looking for an actual grammatical explanation because I work with technical writers who flip around the above options often and I would like to know more about the mechanics of why this works.


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Comma before last item in a list

I grew up learning British English rules and we were taught that while using commas to list or enumerate items, there should never be a comma before the and. For instance:

  I bought bread, milk, apples and oranges.

I've seen this rule less prominent these days, especially in the US. The same sentence would be:

  I bought bread, milk, apples, and oranges.

While this usage would have my English teachers up in arms, it seems quite normal here. Is it more of a pseudo-archaic use, is it more enforced in British English?


texts:
Will omitting "to" change the meaning of these sentences?

Luffy, name one mall you've been to.
In the places you've been to, did you see any dragon balls?


texts:
Which sentence is correct for passing of time? "Whatever the time passes", "Whatever the time it passes over" or "Whatever the time goes on".
I need it for my scientific paper. My complete sentence is: "As it is evident, whatever the time passes, the convergence rate difference of the algorithms becomes more apparent."


texts: A word that means 'gnashing' but related to 'gums'

texts:
Here's a sentence I made up.

"The zombies stumbled towards her ____ing their toothless gums."

I can't use 'gnashing' because of its definition.

  gnash

  /naʃ/

  verb

  gerund or present participle: gnashing

  grind (one's teeth) together

  Google Dictionary

So what were the zombies doing?


texts: Placement of adverb in independent clause preceded by dependent clause

texts:
Which sentence is correct?

To simplify the notation, we will denote henceforth the distance by d.
To simplify the notation, henceforth we will denote the distance by d.


texts: Why do they keep saying "an alien race" instead of "an alien species"?

texts:
An "alien race", when speaking about non-Earthly beings, make no sense. They would not be a "race" (of humans), but a different species. Just like a dog is not a "race" of humans, but a separate species. Within dogs, there are different races or "breeds" as they call them in that context. The point is not specifically the word "race" but the mixing-up of two very different concepts.
Two individuals of the same species (such as two humans from different parts of the world) can have offspring even if they are from different races.
Two individuals of different species, such as a human and a dog, cannot have offspring. Because they are different species. Of course, they are also different races, but that is only technically true and doesn't make sense in the context, since the species (which is much more fundamental) is different.
So, an "alien race" (not talking about "illegal aliens" from a different country on Earth) makes no sense. It would be an alien species or, if you want to avoid the words race/species for whatever reason, an "alien life-form".
So why do they keep butchering the English language when they must know better? I see this all the time in sci-fi context.
The English language is being slowly morphed into absolute gibberish, even among people who clearly must know better.


texts: Are there specific situations where one spelling variant is recommended over another?

texts:
I am not a native speaker of English so I get confused when writing since there are sometimes two different spellings of words in English — by which I mean an American spelling and a British spelling.

Are there specific situations where one spelling is recommended over the other?


texts: Distinguishing between "opposites" of "ortho-"

texts:
There is a class of transformations in physics called "orthochronous", meaning that they preserve the direction of time's flow.  ("Ortho-" from the Greek for 'straight' or 'right'?)  As far as I am aware, while there is no word for the opposite---a transformation that reverses time's flow---there is certainly such a concept.  So I need the word to describe that concept, and I can easily think of two possibilities.  But I am unclear about the distinctions between them.

Heterochronous.  ("Hetero-" from the Greek for 'other'?)
Parachronous.  ("Para-" from the Greek for 'amiss', 'irregular', or 'distinct from'?)

I would lean toward hetero-, but I'm not entirely sure why.  My attempts at establishing the Greek origins are amateurish and tentative, of course.

Is there a strong distinction between these two options?  If so, which best describes my desired usage; if not, should I just pick one at random?

(I'm also entirely open to better options.)


texts: Is there a more literary term for a "parallel" in a story?

texts:
Right now I'm writing an essay on Death in Venice, and I'm having trouble finding the right word or phrase to express how Aschenbach is parallel to the old man on the boat to Venice (both dress up to fit in with youth, some repetition of specific phrases in descriptions, youth from Pola vs youth from Poland, etc.).

The closest word I can find to describe what is a "parallel". I see this word used a lot on the internet to describe (usually in TV shows) when something that one character did in a past episode is similar to something that a character (usually different, but I've also seen it used to point out character development via slight differences in the parallel).

It kind of describes two completely separate scenes that have a much more powerful meaning when juxtaposed (usually very blatant mirroring, etc. to point this out to viewer/reader). In my case, it would be the scene with Aschenbach observing the man on the boat and the scene where Aschenbach applies makeup for Tadzio.

Specifically, the man on the boat foreshadows the "endgame" for Aschenbach. In my essay, I've referred to it mostly as foreshadowing, but I think the depth of the connection that Mann makes warrants something a little stronger. The word foil came to mind, in terms of the intensity and how it's character specific, but obviously, it has the opposite meaning of what I'm going for.

I did think about just using the word "parallel", but I when I looked it up, the definition for the word parallelism came up, and as a literary term it seemed from this definition, it seems that this word as a literary device refers to parallel syntax and a not to a broader similarity.

I've come up with "symmetry" and "mirror" to describe individual aspects, but I was wondering if there is a proper term that encompasses the broad connection between the two characters.


texts:
In a tweet, President Donald Trump wrote

 @realDonaldTrump June 24, 2018

  The United States is insisting that all countries that have placed artificial Trade Barriers and Tariffs on goods going into their country, remove those Barriers & Tariffs or be met with more than Reciprocity by the U.S.A. Trade must be fair and no longer a one way street!

The tone is certainly threatening and the term “artificial” carries strong negative connotations.

Am I correct to assume that an artificial tariff is similar to manmade? If so, aren't all tariffs artificial? The tweet seems to accuse the barriers and tariffs of being unnecessary, and the POTUS demands that they be removed.  But doesn't every country place tariffs on imports? Why are the ones imposed on American exports "artificial"? Are they "fake" and/or illegitimate?

Oxford Dictionaries provide the following definition of the term artificial

  1. Made or produced by human beings rather than occurring naturally, especially as a copy of something natural.
     1.1 (of a situation or concept) not existing naturally; contrived or false.
  2. (of a person or their behaviour) insincere or affected.

Question:
Is the phrase “artificial trade barriers and tariffs” used in the world of foreign and domestic commerce?  What does the word artificial refer to exactly?


texts: Is there a word to describe someone who knows a place or an area very well?

texts:
Like someone who is proficient in/at something, for example:

He is proficient in English.
She is proficient at her job.

Maybe there are more synonyms for proficient, but I used that to give my examples. I believe it is more formal and distinct than 'be good at something'.
So, how to describe a person who knows a place very well, and they can say; we know every nook and cranny, or like a mother she knows her child.


texts:
In the Remarks section of a Microsoft dbset.add page I read

  Remarks: Note that entities that are already in the context in some other state will have their state set to Added. Add is a no-op if the entity is already in the context in the Added state.

What is no-op used for, and what does it express?  Is it "not operational"?
I checked in several dictionaries but was unable to find it.


texts: I looked it up and think it's something to do with "hobbyhorse", and that it seems quite a popular expression in the early 19th Century,but English as my second language I have doubt with my own conclusion/findings.


texts: A word to describe people who don't care about friendships

texts:
How do you describe a person who doesn't care about making or having friends, just likes to pass the time with anyone in any gathering without sticking to specific people as his real friends?

I want a word here that has a negative connotation.


texts: Which is appropriate to use "budget for" or "willing to pay"

texts:
Someone wants me to help him on assignment etc. Is it correct to ask

Whats your budget for this?
How much you are willing to pay for this?
Will 100$ work for you ? (Here I am directly giving the price whereas in the above two I am trying to get some Idea from him)

Any alternative better way?
It sounds more of a negotiating thing


texts:
If I ask a pupil about what clothes he wears to school, which is correct?

  Do you wear a uniform to go to school?
  Do you wear uniform clothes to go to school?


texts: Person conducting street shows with monkeys

texts: Is there a single word for a person who conducts street shows involving monkeys?


texts: Personality trait describing someone who enjoy making others feel good (genuine)

texts:
I am trying to figure the best way to describe a personality trait which involves somebody spreading joy to others and getting joy, not from the act, but in response to the positive feedback from those around them.

It sounds similar to makenism/makenist but I can't quite place it.

Example: "That man over there did something funny and he is now laughing because he made every one happy, he must have the _______ trait."

This is the best I can do I am afraid however, I really hope you guys can help out.


texts: How to say a case of "multiple of multiples" correctly?

texts:
In programming I often step into cases where names of variables have to indicate a group of groups. How do I properly formulate them in terms of multiplicity word endings?

Examples (concrete questions):

"indices of sector vertices" I write as "sector vertex indices". Should it be "sector vertices indices"? I have to get rid of the "of" word because that is not in style.
in "sector vertex indices" does "sector" have to end in "-s" as a sign of identifying its feature later, like "sectors vertices"?
"names of variables" I would write as "variables names". That seems legit. What if i turn it into "program variables names"? What would be the correct writing of it?

Are there any known rules about these matters?


texts: looking for a collection of words that define a taxonomy

texts:
I'm looking for a set of words that define a logical, hierarchical structure to define a simple 3 level taxonomy, but it needs to comply with the following requirements:

The words must be related, like for example category->subcategory or species->subspecies->family are.
The words should be very general, so I can apply them to any subject.
The hierarchy must be well-defined and acknowledged.

I was thinking about something like theme -> topic -> subject, but one could argue that topic and subject are the same thing. Is there another combination I could use? This comes from someone who does programming for a living, where this kind of things are very usual and easy to achieve.
Thanks.


texts: Is there a word for the letter that a diacritic is applied to?

texts: If I am speaking about a letter that has a diacritical mark (e.g. 'á'), what word or phrase should I use to reference the base letter (e.g. 'a')? I'm looking for something a little more concise than "the letter that it modifies" or "the letter that it is added to". I couldn't find anything helpful from Googling, and a cursory look through the Wikipedia article on diacritics didn't reveal any usage of such a word.


texts:
I'm looking for one word terms that describe the concept of making legal contracts. I'm trying to write a paragraph incorporating the terms, and saying "the study of contracts" repeatedly gets redundant. I have two main queries; they are as follows:

What is a single word for a person who makes contracts?
What is a single word for the study of making contracts?

I know they aren't actual words, but I was looking for something like "contractologist"/"contractology" (the latter of which doesn't exist but is a website, here). I searched several places on the internet, but they yielded nothing:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contract#Third_parties

http://www.lectlaw.com/files/bul02.htm

What word describes a person who signs an official document?

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/175238

http://smallbusiness.findlaw.com/business-contracts-forms/how-to-write-a-business-contract.html

http://work.chron.com/lawyers-specialize-contracts-21736.html

http://www.wikihow.com/Study-Contract-Law

...among several others. Bear in mind, for the first question I'm not looking for "attorney" or "lawyer"; I need a word specifically and exclusively for someone who writes contracts.

Thanks for the help.


texts: I have a problem with using "too" in a sentence. In what situation would you use "too" instead of "so" or "very"? Please include an example to illustrate the difference.


texts:
I'm a bit confused about this.

Which example is the right one?

From all the fellow writers, who was the best?

From all fellow writers, who was the best?

Is there a reason why "the" should be used before the adjective in this case? Is there a reason for it not to be there? Thanks.


texts: Why does the word dilemma have two pronunciations?

texts:
The word dilemma has caused a dilemma.

According to Oxford Dictionary (http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/dilemma)
Pronunciation is :  /dɪˈlɛmə, dʌɪ-/

Which is di-lema or dye-lema.

The website "howjsay" (http://www.howjsay.com/index.php?word=dilemma) also gives two pronunciations.

I just don't understand why it has two pronunciations. Also, is one UK and the other US? I am unclear as to which pronunciation I should stick to. Does it vary according to its position in the sentence? Or should I randomly shoot the one the pops up in mind?

Any assistance would be highly appreciated.


texts: What does "minority" mean in this speech?

texts:
[[26]]Mussalmans are not a minority as it is commonly known and understood. One has only got to look round. Even today, according to the British map of India, out of eleven provinces, four provinces where the Muslims dominate more or less, are functioning notwithstanding the decision of the Hindu Congress High Command to non-cooperate and prepare for civil disobedience.
Source: Presidential address by Muhammad Ali Jinnah to the Muslim League, Lahore, 1940
I thought 4/11 means Mussalmans are a minority


texts: My father had no much money / My father did not have much money

texts:
Can both sentences be acceptable?

(1) My father did not have much money.
(2) My father had no much money.

If one of them is incorrect, what is the grammatical reason why?


texts:
Using the expression as (much) ... as, I want to express that the quality or degree of someone's beauty is about the same as that of her intelligence. I'd like to know if it is correct to say either:

  She is as smart as she is beautiful.
  She is as much smart as she is beautiful.


texts: Word for a story you read or you write (fiction), and then happens in real life?

texts:
The question arose when I was reading "The past tense" by Hilary Mantel. Near the end, the teacher creates a little story using the student's names to represent some of the characters. One of the characters in the story happens to have his head turned backwards. The next day when the teacher comes to class, the students say that John Kumalo, the student whose name was used in the story as the character with the backwards head is in the hospital and that doctors are trying to untwist him.
TL/DR: I want to know if there is a word describing the fact of telling/creating/reading a story that you think is fiction and then it happens in real life
I tried finding something related to foreshadowing or prophecy/premonition to no avail
Another example is Marianne (The French TV show) where the protagonist writes about a witch and then all the occurrences in her book also happen in real life.


texts: Proceed vs. Proceed further/ahead- Redundancy

texts:
In a training session on Business English, the instructor often said, proceed and proceed further, usually, after a pause by the speakers or whenever he interrupted.

    Examples:

   I heard you saying something, please proceed.
   Adi, you mean e-mails ?.....Oh!Ok!, please proceed further.
   Please proceed further....

I looked up a few dictionaries and my understanding is that "further/ahead " is redundant

Is there a broad diference between "proceed" and " proceed further"?


texts: What is the difference between the words "as" and "like"

texts:
What is the difference between as and like?
What is the difference between such as and like?

  I take many private lessons like (such as) English, French and chemistry.
  He runs like a horse.
  He runs as a horse.

Are these sentences correct and why?


texts: Noun for an irresponsible person in a position of power

texts:
I am wanting a noun for an irresponsible, careless, inconsiderate person who is in a position of power or control or leadership. For example:

[noun]s are the downfall of our system.


texts: 'Nothing in the world equals Dubai' - Is the use of 'equal' correct?

texts:
Is this sentence correct?

I am a bit confused about whether it is able to convey the meaning (there is no place like Dubai in the whole wide world).

Can I use 'equals' to emphasize the fact that a place is unmatched when it comes to beauty and tourism?

Thanks


texts: can we use a present tense before "since"?

texts: Is it grammatically correct to say "it is 2 months since we've been dating"? Because I heard with "since" we must use a perfect or/and a past tense, like "it's been 2 months since we've been dating".


texts: Can "edition" be used to mean "the act of editing/changing something"?

texts: As one say creation for "the act of creating something", couldn't the word edition mean "the act of changing something"? I was under the impression it was the case. But a remark from one of my colleagues, telling me I should use editing instead, prompted me to check on Wiktionary. As it turned out, I didn't find the meaning I searched under the definitions. Note that my colleague and I both are not native speakers. So which of us is right?


texts: Are there any words in English meaning "goodbye forever"?

texts: I'm not a native speaker. I want to know if there is any word that you use to express that yourself and the listener will not have a chance to see each other again, or that it is incredibly unlikely you ever will. Such as when they are going abroad or dying.


texts: 'China Academy of Engineering Physics' or 'Chinese Academy of Engineering Physics'?

texts:
China or Chinese?

Personally, I feel it should be 'Chinese', but actually it is 'China'.


texts: A word or set of words for "tenancy in common" without real estate connotation?

texts:
Is there a word, combination of words or neologism that essentially brings to mind the idea that my new company is creating a contractual structure through which a group of people can collectively participate in the ownership of a good thing, which (without said structure) they otherwise would not have access to? Since this will be used in the context of corporate branding and marketing, the word(s) hopefully would be useful as either a company name or a product name, although I can play with this given right word(s).

Perhaps another word for "tenancy in common" or "condominium" but without the real estate connotations?


texts:
I would like to ask about the meaning of "stage-cutch" in David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. it appeared in my translation test this afternoon and I didn't find any definition of it.
In my opinion, it may be the misspelling of "stage-coach" made by the character in the story. Is it correct?


texts:
Is this a common phrase? I thought it was but then I consulted Google and only got 3 results.

Maybe there's something wrong with the phase or a more common version?

Example:

  I ran into the crop field. Before I could go far, though, a sight
  ahead stopped me.


texts:
"What is origin of the expression "Shut my mouth wide open."?
Google search for the phrase produced nothing of interest.


texts: What does "It had better be good" mean in this context?

texts:
From the Wellcome library collection:

When the Wellcome Trust Sanger Centre (now the Sanger Institute) was named after him in 1993, he told the Director, John Sulston: "It had better be good."

What do we make of what Sanger said? Does he mean that now that it bears his name, the institute ought to do good work? (That sounds unusual given that Sanger had an unassuming style and did stellar research all his professional life.)

From New Oxford American English Dictionary:
had better do something: would find it wiser to do something; ought to do something: you had better be careful.)


texts:
I like to use the idiom 'phone it in' in the sense described by Wiktionary:

  To fulfill a responsibility with a minimum effort rather than the appropriate level of effort.

For example: 'He used to try his best at this task but at the moment he's really phoning it in.'

However, friends and colleagues do not seem to recognize the idiom. Is there an equivalent idiom that might be more likely to be understood?


texts:
I am trying to figure out the sentence that does not belong to this paragraph.

The researchers developed three criteria for the test subjects. The test subjects needed to be women because the drug was marketed to them. Also, they needed to be between the ages of 21 and 35. Having subjects during the prime childbearing years would eliminate age related causes for drug failure. Another cause of drug failure might be incorrect use. Finally, all subjects need to have abstained from illegal drug use. Prior drug use can interfere with the drug's efficacy

I thought it would be the second sentence, but apparently this is wrong. Which one would it be and why then?


texts: I have two favorite sports they are hockey and downhill skiing.


texts: What's the difference between 'reliant', 'relying' and 'dependent'?

texts: I wanted to say that someone's project has some dependencies on my previous work and that project reuses some part of my work. Which word or phrase should I use?


texts: Where does the Irish idiom "at all at all" come from?

texts:
It's a common stereotype of Irish-English speakers that they end sentences with "at all, at all" as in

You want a drink at all, at all?
You have any money at all, at all?

My question is twofold -

Do Irish-English speakers actually say this, or if they don't say it now, did they say it in the past?

Where does the idiom come from?


texts: Interpretation of ambiguous sentence "You Can’t Put Too Much Water into a Nuclear Reactor"

texts:
"You Can’t Put Too Much Water into a Nuclear Reactor"

This sentence is from a book, "The Definitive ANTLR 4 Reference" authored by Terence Parr.

The author used this sentence as an example of ambiguous sentence and mentioned that it can be interpreted in two ways.

(1)They should be careful not to put too much water.

(2)They should put lots of water into the reactor.

But I can't see how to interpret it in way of (2). How should I do it?

When I interpret it in way of (1), I see the words "Too Much Water" is one group and noun, and I can't put it into "Nuclear Reactor".


texts: Is this a positive or negative sentence?

texts:
I heard a sentence like this:

  How will Bill ever know that?

Can someone tell me if this is a positive or negative sentence and what are the guidelines to decide which it is?


texts: Meaning of "as much to be pitied as ever I see" ("Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens)

texts:
I have some questions about a sentence from
Chapter 42 of the novel Great Expectations.
Here is an excerpt:

“So fur as I could find, there warn’t a soul that see young Abel Magwitch, with us little on him as in him, but wot caught fright at him, and either drove him off, or took him up. I was took up, took up, took up, to that extent that I reg’larly grow’d up took up.
“This is the way it was, that when I was a ragged little creetur as much to be pitied as ever I see (not that I looked in the glass, for there warn’t many insides of furnished houses known to me), I got the name of being hardened. “This is a terrible hardened one,” they says to prison wisitors, picking out me. “May be said to live in jails, this boy. “Then they looked at me, and I looked at them, and they measured my head, some on ’em — they had better a measured my stomach — and others on ’em giv me tracts what I couldn’t read, and made me speeches what I couldn’t understand. They always went on agen me about the Devil. But what the Devil was I to do? I must put something into my stomach, mustn’t I? — Howsomever, I’m a getting low, and I know what’s due. Dear boy and Pip’s comrade, don’t you be afeerd of me being low.

I'm having trouble with the sentence “This is the way it was, that when I was a ragged little creetur as much to be pitied as ever I see ...”.
Does “to be pitied” modify the leading character of the novel Great Expectations?
Does “as much ... as” mean “to the same degree”?


texts: Can anyone advise on a guide to the usage of "enote"?

texts:
I am looking to use "enote" in a mathematical description where the symbol occurs before the concept, and denote seems inappropriate. (I suppose with rewriting this can be overcome, but that's a different matter which doesn't help with my query.) I learned this usage somewhere, many years ago, but am unable to find a web resource on the usage of enote to check my recollection. Any guidance is welcome.

Edit #1: Although I don't have access to a library right now, I note that some other people have concerns about certain usages of denote (possibly those where one could correctly use enote?!)

http://www.waywordradio.org/discussion/topics/going-against-convention-while-writing-in-your-field-denote-by/


texts:
I recently came across the word "sequelitis". As the word does not seem have entered into any of the standard dictionaries yet, the best definition I was able to find is from Wiktionary, which defines it as follows:

  sequelitis (uncountable)
  (informal, derogatory) The tendency of a well-received work to spawn many inferior sequels.

With an internet search I was able to track down a few instances of the word that predate the 1996 quotation listed in Wiktionary by a few years:

Los Angeles Times, January 4, 1993:

  In the world of film, this philosophy of safety has resulted in the current epidemic of sequelitis.

Los Angeles Times, February 20, 1994:

  Screenwriter Jeb Stuart and screen star Harrison Ford seem to be suffering from bouts of sequelitis.

This leads me to believe this word may have been coined and first used in publications in the early 1990s. What is the earliest recorded use of "sequelitis"?


texts: Satisfactory solution to the spelling of regular past participles of new verbs ending in a hard C

texts:
In my region, a medical evacuation by air ambulance is referred to as a "medevac" (also spelled medivac). Although this is a noun, in my observation it is more frequently used as a verb ("I'm going to have to medevac you," the doctor said.). I want to spell the past participle "medevaced" but this reads -- to me -- as though it should be pronounced medevassed (rhyming with 'vast') or even medevayssed (rhyming with 'waste') because there's an E after the C, making it soft.

With "old words" like the verb "to arc," there appears to be a solution. I have seen the past participle of "arc" spelled "arcked" (and the gerund "arcking") though both more commonly I have seen spelled without the K. Although this drives me crazy because "arced" looks like it should sound like "arssed," at least there is an established alternative, the addition of the K. But because "medevac" is a new word (according to Merriam-Webster the noun entered the language in 1966, and there still appears no agreement on how to spell it), and because "evacuation" does not have a K, I am reluctant to add the K that "arc" enjoys.

Is there a way around this problem?


texts: Single word request describing civic development or status

texts:
I am searching for a word that has the same contextual purpose as "economy" in the following sentence.

The Chamber of Commerce enacted policies intended to encourage, improve, and expand the community's economy.

The word would encompass city or community beautification, planning, expansion, resident or citizen moral, etc. As the word "economy" encompasses the idea that living in the community is desirable in that it's profitable (available jobs, good salaries, etc.), the word I'm looking for describes the idea that living in the community is desirable in that it's a pleasant place to live, the area is clean, well maintained, and effort is made to make it beautiful (flowers, trees, paint...), the people are nice, there are local festivals and night life, the schools are good, and the local government doesn't have any outstanding scandals.
In the end, the word should fill in the following space:

The Chamber of Commerce enacted policies intended to encourage, improve, and expand the community's _______.


texts:
I want to ask someone to send me some information and I think that I have those two options:

a) I would appreciate you sending me this information.

b) I would appreciate if you sent me this information.

My feeling tells me to use a) but I don't really know what kind of structure that is. b) is obviously a regular conditional clause type 2, so that's a safe bet. But what are the rules of a)? The present continuous is used to express actions that are taking place currently, but here it's considered more like a desired action that will take place some time in the future. Is this sentence correct? If so, why is that?

I would appreciate someone shining a light into the darkness of my grammatical despair.


texts: What does hand off mean in mobile technology?

texts:
I am reading a review about iOS 8 but don't know what hand off means and also don't know what versatile means here, I found several meaning for versatile but don't know which one is the best for it here.

iOS 8 review
Love
•   Handoff
•   New keyboard is versatile
•   Health app will be big
Hate
•   Still no resizable icons
•   Not available for iPhone 4

(Source)


texts: What's the expression of "necessarily satisfied" in mathematics?

texts:
I want to say:

  Consider a>b, if b>c, then a>c is necessarily satisfied.

Will it be better by using "must"

  Consider a>b, if b>c, then a>c must be satisfied.

or with nothing

  Consider a>b, if b>c, then a>c  is satisfied.

Thank you very much!

More clearly, I want to use "satisfied" because a>c is a constraint where "a" is a variable while "b" and "c" are constants. I want to express that since "a>b", if  "b>c", then constraint "a>c" should not be considered. So how should I express this? Thnaks for your suggestion.


texts: Word or phrase like "underground' but hidden in the air not beneath the surface?

texts:
I am looking for a straight forward word or phrase to describe an occupation that is essentially underground/undercover work but I specifically want to stress that the work happens in the air/above the ground (sky, mountains, trees etc) not below the ground as underground implies. The specific meaning I am looking for is that it is hidden in terms of not physically visible or easy to get to, but also that there is a level of secrecy amongst the employees.
Looking at these two words in more detail and what I'd like captured from them:

Underground: in concealment or secrecy; not openly:
Undercover: working or done out of public sight; secret; engaged in spying or securing confidential information:

Examples of types of occupations that would fit the above:

Stealth aircraft pilot
Surveillance person mostly situated at a high vantage point
Watch tower guard working at a top secret facility

Example sentence (using 'airborne' as a placeholder):

When I was airborne I understood what I had to do, but now that
I've gone underground, nothing makes sense.
When I was working airborne, I enjoyed the work. Now I'm working underground and don't know which way is up.


texts: Can a noun can be used as a verb for an idiom?

texts: Is there really an idiom called "don't playground with us" which is similar to don't mess with us? I often found slang in movie/series that a noun can be used as verb also like "Let's chair him up" or "You only want my sister to bed her". Is that common for an idiom, and is it often used in daily conversation even though not grammatically correct?


texts: is there any reason to write Computer Science, Department of

texts:
On some universities’ web pages, like Oxford university, they write:

  Computer Science, Department of

For me it is more intuitive to say:

  Department of Computer Science

Can somebody explain why a preference is given?


texts: What is someone called who incurs expenses?

texts: What do you call a person who incurs expenses? Is there a specific word in English?


texts: English equivalent of the Hindi saying "Dusre par bill fadna", meaning "putting on others what YOU want"

texts:
What is the English equivalent of the Hindi saying "Dusre par bill fadna"?

The meaning of the Hindi saying is stating a request as though it is others who want it when in fact it is you who want it really badly. The translation is "presenting the bill as another's request ("Bill = invoice" as known in India)"

Example:

John and Roger moved into a block of apartments at around the same time, and soon became good friends. Some time later, Roger told John that he would like to go the local theme park. But John repeatedly rejected this request ... so Roger eventually stopped asking, but without any ill feeling. A few months later,  a cute girl named Jennifer moved into the same apartment block.

Within a few days, Jennifer popped the same request to go to same the theme park to John. John this time eagerly agreed to it, but highlighted his big-heartedness by saying that actually it was Roger who wanted to go.

In this situation, the Hindi saying aptly fits. John is 'putting the bill' on Roger when actually it is he who is (now) eager to go (just because there is a cute girl involved). But the 'blame' is on Roger and John is innocently(!) saying yes to both of their requests.


texts: Where does the expression "long odds" come from?

texts:
In English we say an event has "long odds" if it is unlikely to happen, and "short odds" for the opposite.

The question is why?

Best I have been able to get from people:

Long over even (if you are betting then the odds you get from the house are larger then for an even bet)
Long as in something being a long way away and harder to hit/achieve/get to.


texts: Meaning of the Oscar Wilde quote about “never have an emotion that is unbecoming”

texts:
Came across this quote in an "Inspirations" booklet attributed to Oscar Wilde:

  The secret of life is never have an emotion that is unbecoming.

Found the related quote by Henry Wotton:

  The secret of remaining young is to never have an emotion that is unbecoming.

This is a double rainbow for me. What's inspiring about this quote? Seems a bit tragic, or contradictory, if anything.


texts: What does “’Beyond lay a void’ like the one at the pit of stomach” mean?

texts:
There was the following passage in Time magazine’s article (October 8, 2015 issue) under the title of “The great migration of 2015”:

  “Airports are not scary. They are purposely bland, simple to navigate,
  reassuringly similar. What’s scary is the uncertainty embedded in any
  journey, a vague foreboding that informed the theory of a flat earth,
  which merely assumed the horizon was exactly what it appears to be: a
  precipice. Beyond lay a void like the one at the pit of the stomach
  when you find yourself in a place where you know none, darkness is
  gathering and nothing is like back home.”

I cannot make out the meaning of the line “Beyond lay a void like the one at the pit of the stomach. I know the pit of the stomach is the solar plexus, but what does “Beyond lay a void,” and the following line signify?

If it means "Beyond the precipice at the end of horizon, a void lies like the one at the pit of stomach," what does "one" represent for?


texts:
I think I just heard the word "hedgy" (rhymes with "edgy") used in conversation, with the deduced-from-context meaning of hesitant or tentative. It was something like

  The news came in but everyone in the capital was a bit hedgy.

I looked it up in the usual places but did not find anything. Is this a word? Does it mean what I think it means? Does it have something to do with hedging one's bets?


texts: Companies searching for tutors to teach its employees or their employees?

texts: Our platform is designed to pair students (and/or their parents), searching for tutors, with tutors, for online and offline one-to-one or group lessons, and for Companies searching for tutors to teach its employees (or their employees)?


texts: Does the 'crux of the matter' in this phrase make sense?

texts:
I only recently came across the phrase 'crux of the matter'. I thought it would be quite useful. So, I tried forming a sentence, but I am not sure whether it is right? Could someone confirm it for me?

  Even though such extravagant weddings may sound like a dream-come-true
  to you, the crux of the matter is that you’ll be wasting a lot of your
  money.


texts: What's a synonym for transcend, but in a downward (metaphorical) direction?

texts:
Is there a word that could fill in the blank of this sentence I'm trying to write?

Another way to broaden possible adoption and impact is to work on problems or solutions that cross the boundaries of unaligned or competing theories and methods by operating at a different level, by transcending or ________ing them.

I just want to suggest the idea of scientific work happening at hierarchical levels of abstraction, and that you can avoid problems on level D either by hopping up to level C or down to level E.
I better get back to actually writing now, but if anyone can think of a word to fit in there, I'd love to know it. I got nowhere with online thesauri.
Thanks!
Oh --- a different pair that suggested the same contrast would be good, too.


texts: there is a plethora of investigations which indicate/indicates

texts:
"There is a plethora of investigations which indicate how it works...."
or
"There is a plethora of investigations which indicates how it works.."

Does the verb "to indicate" refer to the plethora or investigations?


texts:
In Nero Wolfe "Before I die", the gangster's sidekick asks for spaghetti and gravy. After Wolfe's chef Fritz prepares him spaghetti with the type of gravy used for roast beef, it turns out that the gangster meant tomato sauce when he said gravy. Looking on the internet there is a lot of confirmation that some Italian-Americans use "spaghetti and gravy" to mean spaghetti with a tomato-based sauce, for example discussions like this:

Hot From the Kettle: Talking Tomatoes with Ariane Duarte  (Aug 05, 2010)

At the bottom there is an answer like so:

  I think the Italian Immigrants in New
  Jersey put their own spin on a lot of
  things.... [Gravy] is an Italian
  American invention. I never heard red
  sauce called gravy until I roomed in
  college with my Italian roomate from
  Hoboken.

I also found at Serious Eats, Sunday gravy: anyone have a great recipe for it? (Jan 20, 2008)

  Gravy is one of those words where
  Italian immigrants picked the closest
  word to their native word. My father
  was born in Naples (Italy, not
  Florida) and called it gravy. That's
  good enough for me.

Can anyone confirm or deny this?
What is the origin of using gravy to mean spaghetti sauce?


texts: Distinction between "belief" and "beliefs"?

texts:
Under what circumstances does “belief ” use the plural form “beliefs” ?
Does “beliefs” have any unique sense distinguished from “belief” ?


texts:
Which one of the following sentences is correct?

No errors or exceptions is found in the logs.
No errors or exceptions
are found in the logs.


texts: When did formal "you" and "we" for showing respect in English wither away?

texts:
It appears that the current form of English only has the casual or irreverent form of pronouns like "you" and "I"; English lacks the formal or respectful version, which is present in many other languages. By contrast, in formal Hindi conversations, one refers to the first person as "hum" which roughly translates to the regal "we" in English. One refers to the second person as "aap", which translates to "thou" in archaic English, but appears to have no equivalent in current English.

In which historical era did English shed the respectful forms of pronouns? What was the historical context of such linguistic pruning?


texts:
Often I hear the follow said (or similar variations):

  So if I don't see you till then, have a nice vacation.

Now I suppose that the intent is that if I don't see you until you leave, then I'll wish you now with have a nice vacation.

However, to me the sentence seems flawed if you take it at face value, in that it could sound like the wish have a nice vacation is only being given on the condition that  I don't see you till then.

So I'm wondering if

the given form of the sentence is in fact okay (and not flawed) and
Is there an alternative succinct way of saying the same thing?


texts: What is the past form of the structure "used to"?

texts:
We generally change the tense of the verb and shift back when reporting something (unless it's still true, has just been said, or is a scientific fact). For example, "I was sitting in the car" changes to "She said she had been sitting in the car". When backshifting, how should we change "used to" in the indirect speech?
For example, when we are reporting the sentence
"I used to play volleyball when I was a kid"
it changes to an indirect speech and becomes
"She told me she ____________ play volleyball when she was a kid"
a) used to
b) had used to (odd, I think)
c) ?
Is "used to" similar to other modal verbs such as "should" and "would" with which we don't do the backshift in the reported speech?


texts:
I'm looking for a term or saying with the meaning of becoming the subject of bad news.

In a sentence: "If you [do something bad], you risk becoming [the word or term I'm looking for]"

Cheers!


texts: What is the Function of Apostrophes in this Idiom?

texts:
The idiom 'Cross your Ts and dot your Is' is often written with apostrophes as though they were in the possessive forms:

  Cross your T's and dot your I's

It's ubiquitous online, even on dictionary websites. But I don't understand why the apostrophes and don't know the rule of grammar that permits it. Can someone please explain the correct rule that governs writing it to me?


texts: The teacher , teacher, the students, students

texts:
The following is a quotation from a book entitled  Teaching English as a Second Language:

  The teacher is viewed as a knowledge provider  and the students as the receivers of knowledge , and the teaching  as  a process of transmitting knowledge from teacher to students. (Wu & Fang, 2002)

I have understood the whole sentence  and the author is talking about how teachers and students are  viewed in the teaching learning process.

In the beginning of the quotation, they used the definite article  before the word teacher because they are considering the teacher as  a class of people, but the use of article the before  students makes them particular, and the omission of the article before the second teacher is incomprehensible to me .

I could understand the omission of article before the word students as meaning students in general

Since the authors are established educationists,I think they used them deliberately.

I would like to know about the use of articles in the passage


texts: Is "king" an adjective or a mass noun in this usage?

texts:
I have been curious about a usage of the word "king".

a country where football is king (Oxford Dictionaries Online)
In mergers and acquisitions, cash is king. (Cambridge)

This is a very common usage, but it doesn't seem to accord with dictionary grammar. According to both Cambridge Dictionary and Macmillan, the noun king is a count noun. But the absence of an article here suggests it is either used uncountably, or even adjectivally. Are dictionaries wrong? Which case is it?
Another slightly different example is as follows:

It is widely considered to be king of the supermarket chains. (ibid.)

These sentences read perfectly natural and idiomatic to me, but I am still wondering, if "king" is a noun here, why is it not preceded by the definite article?


texts: What's good wording for "souls of people who died of injustice"?

texts:
I am translating an epic to English. In the original, it has the phrase

He wields his godly lance, the lance full of souls of people who died of injustice.

"He" is the protagonist. He is described as the strongest, the most handsome, the bravest man in the world. He would overcome many obstacles and achieve wonders.
The phrase "souls of people who died of injustice" in the original language has only 2 words. As it is repeated a few times in the epic, I would hope that the wording I use would also be concise.
More than shortness/utility, this phrase reflect an important point of their moral view of wars, justice. This view is consistent with other philosophies in the epic about human, humanity, human rights. So I hope it would be concise and memorable.
Words I don't think can be a good fit:
These words have been discussed in comment section and then moved here by a moderator. I believe some suggestion are excellent by its own right, none of them are "bad" or "wrong". However I considered them to be not a good fit into the story as a whole. Future readers should also consider these words in their particular case.
"Martyr" seems to assume some kind of posthumous validation/recognition. I don't think any positive implication is appropriate in this case. Also "Martyr" have a strong link to religious belief. These souls are simply victims of war, also no religions are identified in the epic.
I feel "souls of the oppressed" is a little bit specific in a direction that introduce new meaning. The epic does not have any significant oppression angle. Being oppressed is a consistent state of rights-stripping actions, usually within a directional policy. Injustice could refer to one or many unrelated/related actions that are unjust. You could live your whole life as a privileged person and still died of injustice like a robbery or being framed.
I don't feel "Souls of the slain" is clear enough of the judgement aspect. Injustice means it's judged to be wrong. This epic often made it clear what's right and wrong


texts:
These seem to mean exactly the same thing. They surely sound different though, so maybe I'm missing some subtlety. Do the sentences have a different meaning?

  It seems like a random occurrence.

vs

  It seems a random occurrence.

I'm also curious about this one:

  It seems to be a random occurrence.


texts:
Is it possible to use whose as the possessive form of which?

Based on classic films -- whose screenplays were mostly dramatic --
Bordwell exposed his theory of the hero.

Is that correct?


texts:
As an American, a large part of my impoverished experience of British accents comes from ancient BBC comedy imports on PBS. I'd very much like to identify the regional accents the following actors are using:

the farmer Maurice Moulterd in Are you being Served? Again! (aka Grace and Favour) (the second series where they're running a country inn).
Alice Tinker and Owen Newitt in The Vicar of Dibley
Onslow from Keeping Up Appearances

All four have distinct ways of speaking (not necessarily the same, but then that's the problem, I can't tell).

Which accent does each of these four use?


texts:
I always thought that "soft spot" is used for living things..

E.g.

soft spot for someone
soft spot for my pet dog
soft spot for the fishes in the pond

But I was wondering can it be used for non-living things as well.. for example:

He had a soft spot for numbers. <- does it make sense ?
He had a soft spot for counting. <- what about this
He had a soft spot for counting activities. <- better or worse?


texts:
"They are the only responsible for the situation"

"They are the only ones responsible for the situation"

"They are the only one responsible for the situation"

Which of these options is/are grammatically correct? There are many hits for all of them in Google.

I would've thought the third option is incorrect.


texts: I am writing an article about a fancy cocktail bar and I am looking for an alternative to the phrase "drinking here is a serious business". Normally I am pretty good at this but, I just have the same phrase floating around my head and I can't get rid of it. I am sure you will all have some excellent suggestions!


texts:
What would be the correct spelling for "in between" for the following:

  From the Sierra's to the sea and everywhere in between.

or

  From the Sierra's to the sea and everywhere inbetween.


texts: I host international students and am always helping others. Whats a good word to express my desire to help others? I want a japanese tattoo with a powerful word but dont know what to use that relates to me helping them learn the English Language and Canadian Culture.


texts: Grammatical Error: He is such a man who is liked by everyone

texts:
Is it grammatically correct?

  He is such a man who is liked by everyone.


texts: Is "The way people write has changed" an independent clause or dependent clause? In any case please explain in detail. What is the subject, verb and object if there is or if there isn't. Thanks in advance.


texts: What did the master mean by: “Then thou shalt drink!”?

texts:
In The Proverbs, Epigrams, and Miscellanies of John Heywood (1562) among the many historical  English proverbs which I recognized, one particular epigram stood out. Entitled “Of Catching a Fly” It isn't particularly difficult to grasp its meaning but a few expressions and one phrase had me puzzled. Here is my translation in modern English

  A boy on his book clapped hand to catch a fly.

A boy while studying his book, clapped his hands to catch a fly. (OR)
While studying his book, a boy slapped his hand down to catch/kill a fly

  “ Hast her? ” cried his master.

Do you have it? His schoolteacher cried.

  “ Nay, God wot I.”

No, God knows if I have.

  “ Then thou shalt drink! ”
  “ Master, I have her, I think.”

Then you shall drink!
Master, I think I have her.

  “ If thou have her,” said the master, “ thou shalt drink ”
  To furious masters, what helpeth fair speeches?

“If you have her,” said the master, “you shall drink”
To furious masters, what good comes from *graceful speeches? (eloquent?)

  Flies caught, or not caught, up go boys' breeches !”

Whether flies have been caught or not, boys' buttocks go up !

Rare expressions and meanings

wot: the third person singular, simple present form of wit: knowledge, be aware of

breeches: I searched online for the meaning (I already knew they were a type of old fashioned  trousers for boys and men) because the phrase “up goes boys' breeches” made little sense to me. I found to my surprise that the singular, breech, is a rare term for buttocks or backside.

The rest seems pretty clear, but what does the phrase, “thou shalt drink” refer to? I assume it's unpleasant because the pupil hurriedly retorts he has caught the fly, but why is having a drink a punishment? I'm guessing the schoolteacher is about to cane the boy, a typical school corporal punishment in the United Kingdom. A form of punishment which  in 1987 became illegal in state schools and was finally banned in public schools in 1999. In the above Wikipedia link,  there is no mention of drink being a punishment or slang.


texts: Hypernym for human organs, body parts, etc

texts:
I'd like to find a hypernym for human organs such as liver and lung, body parts such as left upper arm, piece of muscle such as biceps, and other systems such as human body fat, body fluids.  Is there a proper word I can use to refer to these?

Edit: How about just "anatomical component"?


texts: What's a specific word for a programmer who has contextual knowledge of a particular programming language, framework, environment, etc?

texts:
This term was used by an old Senior Developer of mine but for the life of me I can't recall it. The context of the conversation was that he wasn't necessarily more skilled than an Intermediate Developer, but he had more knowledge and experience in particular areas. In a sentence, it would be used like, I have more _____.

My brain keeps giving me the terms region knowledge and area knowledge, and I feel like those may be close, but are definitely not it.


texts: When did the expression "Poor man's " originate?

texts: Just wondering where the expression comes from and who is considered responsible for coining it.


texts: "Without first having..." vs. "Without having to first..."

texts:
Which one of the following is better?

  Without first having...

  Without having to first...

Is there a difference?


texts: How do I correctly describe a thing that has been subject to Currying?

texts:
Currying is a particular technique from the field of logic with an important application to programming languages. Currying a function that expects multiple arguments yields a higher-order function that expects one argument. The technique is named after Haskell Curry, who made it popular.

I am searching for the proper adjective to describe the resulting function. It is tempting to call it the curried function. In fact this is often used and will probably be understood by the audience but is it also correct?
I am uncertain, because of the difference between the name "Curry" and the verb "to curry".

edit: Because there seems to be some confusion, I want to make it clear that I am not searching the common adjective (which is "curried"), but rather the proper one. For instance, I could also write "Curried" to indicate that the word is the derivative of the name. But is it even appropriate to change the "y" in the name to a "ie"?

How do you create the past participle of a name that has been turned into a verb?


texts: What type of object is 'whom' in this sentence?

texts:
In the sentence

  Whom is she calling?

what type of object is whom?

Is whom an indirect object because she is doing the calling to a person referred to as whom?


texts: What are some familiar expressions can I use to mean someone is lucky?

texts: I am in a context where I would need a familiar (but not vulgar) short expression that means someone is lucky. Can someone help?


texts:
I am writing a technical document with a lot of acronyms.  At the start of the document I have an acronym list the spells out in full all the acronyms used in the document.  In this table I have capitalised the first letter of each word.   This includes some acronyms where more than just the first letters of each word contribute to the acronym e.g.  Emissions Control (EMCON)
I have had some comments from a colleague that suggested in my list of acronyms I should capitalise all the letters in each word that contribute to the acronym as follows:

Acronym  Description

EMCON    EMissions CONtrol

This doesn’t seem right to me, can anyone help specifically pointing to any authoritative source on the matter (rather than "some bloke on tinternet said…")


texts:
I think it is natural to say the following:

  Every planar graph can be colored using at most four colors.

However, an editor told me to add commas, as follows:

  Every planar graph can be colored using, at most, four colors.

The commas seem awkward to me.  For example, I don't think you would insert them in a sentence using "at least."

  Every football team needs at least two linebackers.

Googling tells me that the use of "at most" without commas is fairly standard in mathematical writing (which is what I am doing). Is this convention considered correct in other contexts?


texts: What is the difference between 'Frequentative' and 'Aorist'?

texts: I've looked on Wikipedia, done some searching, and still I am unable to figure out what the difference is between the two.


texts: Is it simply an issue of an awkward phrase or are there specific grammatical problems?

texts:
A question on a grammar/writing test is as follows:

  Wilmers and Estes caution, however, that having more otters will not automatically solve the problem of higher levels of carbon dioxide in the air.**

The question asks if the bold phrase should be changed or not to the following:

  A) No change
  B) increasing the otter population
  C) the otters multiplying
  D) having more otters than other locations

The correct answer is B) increasing the otter population, which seems right to me, but why? Is there a reason beyond "because it sounds better?"

**The question is from a passage about how otters eat sea urchins, which in turn consume kelp forests, forests that absorb carbon dioxide in the air. Thus, the presence of sea otters preserves the kelp forests that lower carbon dioxide.


texts:
Is the that-clause in the following sentence a predicative complement or a displaced subject with it being the dummy subject?

It seemed that he was correct.

My understanding is that if the that-clause is a subject, then the sentence could be paraphrased to That he was correct seemed. which seems ungrammatical.
It would become grammatical though, if to be true is added.

That he was correct seemed (to be true).

I don't know whether I can analyze a sentence like that.
However, if the that-clause is a predicative complement, then what does it refer to?


texts: What is a word or phrase to describe a forced smile from someone who is not practiced in smiling?

texts: I'm trying to think of a word to describe a forced smile by a person who feels no joy, but is trying to be friendly. I am imagining Clint Eastwood's character from Gran Torino.  What would be a good word for his half-grimace, half-smile?


texts: Prepositional Phrases, Meaning, and Function

texts:
I’m having difficultly explaining how the prepositional phrase functions in the sentences below.   There are 3 similar sentences with the prepositional phrase “for each person”.  I’ve listed my explanations as 1st, 2nd, 3rd.   I’m not sure if I’ve got the functional part correct, though I think I've correctly explained how the meaning of the sentence changes.   Your assistance is appreciated.

Eg. 1)  For each person build a table that shows the selections…

Eg. 2)  Build a table for each person that shows the selections…

These first two sentences have the same meaning.  If you have 5 people in the scenario, you are building 5 tables.

1st:   “for each person” is a prepositional phrase that functions as an adverbial phrase that modifies “build”

2nd:  “for each person” is a prepositional phrase that functions as an adjective phrase that modifies “table”

Eg. 3)   Build a table that shows the selections for each person…

This sentence has a separate meaning from the 2 above.  Regardless of how many people you have, there will be only one table.  That one table will contain the selections for all the people (or ‘of’ all the people---that’s not a distinction I’m concerned with here).

3rd:  “for each person” is a prepositional phrase that functions as an adjective phrase that modifies “selections”


texts: What do you call a word that can be spelled forward or backward forming two different words

texts: Trying to find the name of the word that describes a word mean spelled backwards or forwards is meaning and having different meanings. For example: reward and drawer.


texts: What Part of Speech Modifies a Preposition?

texts:
Is there a rule for which part of speech modifies a preposition? What part of speech is the italicized halfway in the following sentence?

"He stopped halfway out the door."


texts: What do you call these "rolls" on old clothes?

texts:
Below is the picture of what I mean. So, I wanna know the name of these "rolls", what are they called? Pellets? Rolls?

As you can see, some people use razors or fabric shavers to get rid of them.


texts: Why is the sentence "She sighed, and began whispering again" grammatically incorrect?

texts:
That's a line from a Twilight book. It's a grammar mistake pointed out by this website.

She sighed, and began whispering again.

I don't see anything wrong with it. Is the comma the mistake?


texts:
I was given three incorrect sentences and the task is to correct them. I've googled many examples and explanations of parallel structure, but I'm still unsure whether my solutions are correct:

INCORRECT: "My boyfriend took me dancing and to a movie."
MY SOLUTION: "My boyfriend took me to dance and a movie." OR "My
boyfriend took me to a dance and a movie."

INCORRECT: "Climate change affects humans, the environment, and is scary."
MY SOLUTION: "Climate change is scary, and it affects humans and the environment."

INCORRECT: "John Richards criticizes standardized tests because they are compulsory, funded by the government, and destroy students' humanity."
MY SOLUTION: "John Richards criticizes standardized tests because they are compulsory, government-funded, and destroy students' humanity."

I hope you'll be able to help me and hopefully explain my mistakes.


texts:
This sentence is shown in CGEL by Pullum at p 1085:

  (1) The others I know are genuine. [An example shown in CGEL]

The book says (1) is intended to mean:

  (2) I know the others are genuine.

The book says (1) is not intended to mean:

  (3) The others that I know are genuine.

In this CGEL example of (1), there are no commas around "I know" as in

  (4) The others, I know, are genuine. [Not an example shown in CGEL]

The book analyzed The others as a "prenucleus" noun phrase that was positioned to the left of the "nucleus" clause I know ___ are genuine, where the gap represents the subject position.

Here're my questions.

Is (1) natural English when intended to mean (2) as claimed by CGEL?

If so, what's the difference between (1) and (4)?


texts: Formal approach to choosing between "there is" and "there are"

texts:
Consider:

  There (is/are) a banana and two oranges?
  There (is/are) two oranges and a banana?

I'm looking for a non-colloquial and formally correct way (British English) of writing these two sentences if there is any. Any references are welcome.


texts: Use of possessive apostrophe for 2 people who have the same attitude

texts:
'No uncertainty exists about Jim and Bob's attitude to Stan - they despised him.'

or -

'No uncertainty exists about Jim's and Bob's attitude to Stan - they despised him.'

I have seen questions related to two people sharing a wedding or a house but what if two people each have an attitude and it's the same?


texts:
Guys I am very much doubtful about this sentence I want to say my client
" I don't want to put myself in a situation when you Placed  me order and I did not have the material"
Is is correct if not pls correct


texts: Is someone granted a role said to be "roled"? Or "rolled"?

texts:
This came up while trying to name things while writing an app, specifically, naming the class that represents a user and the roles they have in the system (e.g. student, administrator, etc).

AFAIK it's not commonly used, but it's concise and seems natural to me to describe a user who has been granted any role as a "roled user".  A coworker spelled it differently, referring everywhere to a "rolled user".

I'm inclined to think those mean rather different things.  I haven't been able to confirm that by searching because I can't avoid getting overwhelmed with irrelevant results for "roll" rather than "role" or "rolex" rather than "roled".

Is "roled" a word?  Does it mean what I think it means?  Does "rolled" also mean what I think "roled" should mean?


texts: Is "cry" an intransitive verb, or can it be transitive? - as in "Cry me a river"

texts: When I look up the word, it should be an intransitive verb (no object). However, I'm still curious about the title "Cry me a river". Can I say that "I cried a bucket"?


texts:
Imagine an old map, a map with a path to a treasure, like the ones you remember from cartoons. The map's partially destroyed, because it's so old, and it has been exposed to air, and heat, and water, and people touching it, you name it.

My question is: what happened to the paper?  Which verb describes it best? I mean the proces of paper getting thinner and more delicate, to the point where a touch can make it turn into powder. Does paper decay? Decompose? I guess not in this case, as the two IMHO refer to what happens when bacteria "feed" on organic matter. So what is it?


texts: Agreement after disjunctive compound subject_"My brother or one of my sisters" — singular or plural?

texts:
Should I use 'was' or 'were' in this example?

  I was always delighted when my brother or one of my sisters was/were asked to do them.


texts: Capital letter in parentheses after full stop

texts:
I am writing up a project and I am wondering whether or not I would capitalize the first letter in brackets where the brackets are the start of the sentence.
For example, consider the following: I like French. (Not really).
Should it be (not really) or (Not really)?
Thanks in advance


texts: Difference between "extremities" and "extremes"

texts:
What is the difference between extremities and extremes?

Which is more appropriate when attempting to convey that someone blows things out of proportion or is a bit hyperbolic? For context, this is the title of a sub-chapter.


texts:
I'm interested to learn why the following four-word phrases have stress on different words.

  "Little Red Riding Hood" (stress is on little and riding)
  "Infamous National Rifle Association" (stress is on infamous and rifle)
  "heavily bearded young man" (stress is on heavily and man)

Here are the sentences:

  There was a cute little redhead named Little Red Riding Hood.
  She was a recently paid-up member of the infamous National Rifle Association.
  The heavily bearded young man jumped out.

Only the third sentence has its stress on the last word of the four-word phrase: "man".

Can someone please tell me how the four-word phrase stress works based on the examples provided above?


texts:
From the book : English Grammar and Exercises by L. R. H. Chapman, book 4:

"must is a defective verb, with only this one part, which is used to speak about the present time or a near future, as in these sentences: I must answer this letter at once; I must get up early tomorrow."

But then it is used in the both following examples with the past tense.

I really don't understand. Could you explain, please?

"After dinner Mr. Drew told the girls that he must leave
the hotel for a few hours."
(The Haunted Bridge by Carolyn Keene)

"The chimes of a clock warned Nancy that she must return
to the car to meet her father. "

(The Message in the Hollow Oak by Carolyn Keene)


texts: Is it in any possible way correct to say "become touched"? Example: ...Disappointed that they don't give us attention we desire, we can become touched and perceive even biggest compliments as slights.


texts: Citation of Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) in academic writing

texts:
I am referring to companies in a certain SIC classification and I am not sure if it's necessary to add a proper citation, when first mentioning the SIC classification, to the "Occupational Safety & Health Administration, U.S. Department of Labor (1987)" or if it is sufficient to add a footnote on this and perhaps add a nocite entry into the references.
The entry in the references would look like this and is based on a @misc bibtex entry.

Occupational Safety & Health Administration, U.S. Department of Labor (1987): SIC description for 1311. Accessed: 2016-03-22.

I am just unsure if this is perhaps common knowledge and doesn't need an own citation.


texts: “I like to do (be) something” vs “I like doing (being) something”

texts:
This is what I read in an answer to a previous question:

  Verbs Followed by Either Gerund or Infinitive

  Sometimes the meaning changes according to the verb used.

  <…>
  (dis)like
  <…>

I’d like to ask a more specific question: What is that change in the case of (dis)like, exactly? What is the difference between, say, I like being married and (?) I like to be married, I like to eat paper and I like eating paper?


texts: Meaning of "being sold as a silver-bullet"

texts: I was reading an article about software developers and read that something is being sold as a silver-bullet. What does it mean?


texts:
Is there an adjective for low-toxicity, or can it be used as an adjective itself?

It sounds strange to say, for example, materials that are low-toxicity.


texts: Is it possible that the word "suffix" has a Hebrew origin?

texts:
Etymolonline states that the word "suffix" is of Latin Origin.  However, the Hebrew word for "end" is sof (סוף) pronounced like in "sofa".

Since a suffix comes at the end of the word, I often thought that it may be the actual origin.

Or is it just a coincidence?


texts:
I want to say something along the lines of:

  The ideas proposed within Emily Brontë’s novel ‘Wuthering Heights’ would have shocked its original audience.

Where “original audience” means the audience for which the novel was first written.

Is there a better phrase that would fit here?

Note: I don't mean target audience (as some people seem to have though), I just mean the first readers of the novel.


texts: Usage differences between "glum", "grumpy", "sulky", "glower", and "morose"

texts:
I learned from my English book these are synonyms. However I am curious to know what the specific usage of each word is. How much interchangeable are they with each other?

Consider the sentence below.

  Raghu has been reprimanded by the principal for his low scores in term exams. His face is _.

Which word is suitable to fill the blank, and why? I have difficulty in choosing the right word in this case.

Dictionary meanings:

  Glum: looking or feeling dejected; morose;

  Morose: sullen and ill-tempered

  Sulky: morose, bad-tempered, and resentful; refusing to be cooperative or cheerful

  Grumpy: bad-tempered and sulky.

  Glower: have an angry or sullen look on one's face; scowl

For me, all the words seem suitable to fill the blank.


texts: What does the "Executive" in "Executive Summary" mean?

texts:
I am wondering whether an "Executive Summary" is intended for an Executive, or whether it has another meaning. Most reports I read are not, as far as I know, intended to be read by anyone in top management, so it seems unlikely that they would have a summary intended for them.
A google search for "executive summary etymology" led me to wiktionary, where it states the etymology of the phrase is...

executive + summary

I didn't find this particularly helpful...
The wiktionary page on "executive" gives definitions as an adjective and as a noun, none of which make a lot of sense to me for use to describe a summary of a report:

Adjective
1.Designed or fitted for execution, or carrying into effect.
2.Of, pertaining to, or having responsibility for the day-to-day running of an organisation, business, country, etc.; as, an executive act, an executive officer, executive government.
3.Exclusive. an executive bathroom
Noun
1.A title of a chief officer or administrator, especially one who can make significant decisions on her/his own authority.
2.That branch of government which is responsible for enforcing laws and judicial decisions, and for the day-to-day administration of the state.


texts:
Is it popular to use 'I says' in conversations in spoken English?
Especially when we talk about the past in the present.

"Hey, John do you remember Linda?"
"Yeh"
"We were talking yesterday and she says, how's John?"
"And I says, oh, he's okay, and then she says, are you still friends?"
"I says, sure."


texts:
Pretty much every adjective that ends in the suffix -able or -ible gives rise to a related noun:

corruptible becomes corruptibility
mutable becomes mutability
respectable becomes respectability
irritable becomes irritability
gullible becomes gullibility

There are only two exceptions, as far as I'm aware: we have horrible and terrible, but no horribility or terribility. Now why would that be?

These words seem to have another strange aspect to them. If something is irritable then it is not able to irritate but inclined to be irritated. If I am respectable then I'm not able to respect, but inclined to be respected. The -able ending does not generally denote ability.

But horrible doesn't mean inclined to be horrified; it really does mean able to horrify. And terrible doesn't mean inclined to be terrified; it means able to terrify. In other words, these two exceptions to the rule about cognate nouns also seem to be exceptions with respect to what type of property they describe.

Are these two oddities related somehow?


texts: What is the correct way to describe a phrase that is a part of a sentence, taking into account the ordering of the words?

texts:
How do I write a criterion whereby it can be used to help someone decide that a name is considered a part of another name taking into account the ordering of the sequence of the name into account?
For example, consider the three names:

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien
Ronald Reuel
Reuel Ronald

This criterion would allow someone to understand that only name 1 & 2 would fulfill the criterion if the object is name 1.

What I can currently think of is:

The Name must be an exact subset of another Name.

However, I am not confident that phrasing it this way would allow English speakers to immediately understand what I'm trying to say.
So I'm wondering, are there any phrases/words/ways out there to better describe what I want, or am I just being too self-conscious?


texts:
I am wondering if there is an individual term or phrase that describes the occurrence of complimenting one thing by directly putting another thing down.

An example could be if Abe says "I really enjoyed this baseball game because the previous one was so bad."

It's not exactly backhanded, but something else.
I'm not actually sure there's a word for it, but I am curious as to if there is. Thanks


texts:
Certainly in other languages like my native Swedish, a negative is expressed with the verb followed by not.

Jag pratar inte Svenska = I speak not Swedish = I do not speak Swedish

In English, however, a negative is expressed in a very odd way.

I do not speak Swedish.

The DO NOT seems to me, to be a double negative, and should cancel itself out to leave - I speak Swedish!

In older styles of English, certainly language around the time of Shakespeare, it was common to write: I speak not. I speak no. = I do not speak.

How did the verb in bold evolve to the I do not speak construction that we use today?


texts: What is a word which describes something you are looking for

texts:
The word would fit within the following context:

  I found the ______ of my search.

I know there there is a simple word which describes an object which is being searched for, but I just can't remember what it was.


texts: Past perfect sequence in reported speech

texts:
Context:
Yesterday, John was in the hospital visiting Bob, who was taken there the day before yesterday because he'd had an accident: the brakes on his car failed, his car rolled for some time, and he crashed into another car. While in the hospital John told me about the accident on the phone, and now I'm telling someone else about what John told me yesterday (I say one of the sentences below).
Sentences:

John told me yesterday that Bob was in bad shape after an accident, and that the brakes on his car had failed, his car had rolled for some time, and he had crashed into another car.

John told me yesterday that Bob had had an accident, and that the brakes on his car had failed, his car had rolled for some time, and he had crashed into another car.

Question
Is it correct to use three past perfects (as in sentence #1), and is it correct to use four past perfects  (as in sentence #2)? Does that sound natural in the context given? Thanks.


texts:
Should I say :

1- I think I know you , I think we have met before.

2- I think I know you , I think we met before.


texts:
So I came across a sentence while reading the book On The Map:

  His[Eratosthenes’] world map was drawn in about 194 BC. No contemporary version
  exists, but the cartographer’s descriptions were interpreted for a
  Victorian audience, and this remains the generally accepted and
  widely used reproduction.

It really makes me wonder what does "a Victorian audience" mean. If the map was drawn in about 200 years BC, how could it be firstly interpreted only during the Victorian era, some 2000 years later? What does "a Victorian audience" here really mean?


texts: What to call an object that inspires aspirations?

texts:
Take this building. I find it particularly inspires in me aspirations – aspirations of social prestige and material success.

So I am then aspirational. Is there a word that describes the building, with its role of inspiring aspirations in people? "aspirational" almost feels like it fits, but its definition seems to limit it to the beings who aspire:

  having or characterized by aspirations to achieve social prestige and material success

Is "aspirational" a valid word to describe that building? If not, what words might be appropriate in conveying "the inspiration of aspiration"?


texts: Is there a single word describing earning money through any means?

texts:
I am using compound word "money-oriented" too much in my essay. I want another word for it. Person who not only thinks about money all the time but also earns money through any means. They are ready to earn money even in the middle of war. They don't think what is right or what is wrong. Only one thing they can think off is making money by any means. They need not to be in bad or good light. In short, they don't have any particular ethics to follow.

I want the word which is quite neutral. It should fit greedy politicians, greedy businessmen, greedy youngster, greedy person etc., but their greed to earn should be of money. One more thing, they are not thieves, or robbers but people who will earn money without thinking something is morally right or morally wrong.

Such ____ people don't have any ethics to earn money.

I will also like to use this word as a title of my essay: "_____ human society". So, little outstanding or catchy word will be helpful.


texts: I don't want to be the one that "have" or "has"?

texts:
Which one of these sentences is correct?

I don't want to be the one that have to explain to your parents why you are not going to graduate.
I don't want to be the one that has to explain to your parents why you are not going to graduate.


texts: Punctuation using e.g. (or i.e.) and lists of examples

texts:
Example: "...folders you want to export e.g., Inbox, Sent, etc. and choose..."

I'm wondering if the above sentence fragment is appropriately punctuated. I've recently started using e.g. and am myself a tiny bit of a language snob but haven't seen this used frequently enough to have come across the "correct" way to punctuate.

The second half of my question would be if this is even the best use of e.g. or should only one example follow. I want to clarify but not run on and on.


texts: What is the meaning of, "Women thinking themselves as double-cherry"?

texts:
My question is about a sentence that I read in one of criticism of William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, it reads as follows:

The relationship between Helena and Hermia is characterised by sisterhood, to the
extent that they see themselves as a "double-cherry." A similar relationship existed between Titania and the mother of the Indian boy,...

What is the meaning of double-cherry here.

I have tried looking online and the closest meaning I could find is from urban dictionary which states, double-cherry can mean a lesbian in online-chat terminology. This meaning fits nowhere in a Shakespearean commentary.


texts:
Watching the English: The International Bestseller Revised and Updated (2014) by Kate Fox, BA in Anthropology and Philosophy from Cambridge U. p. 79

  HUMOUR RULES

  THE IMPORTANCE OF NOT BEING EARNEST RULE

        At the most basic level, an underlying rule in all English conversation is the proscription of ‘earnestness’. Although we may not have a monopoly on humour, or even on irony, the English are probably more acutely sensitive than any other nation to the distinction between ‘serious’ and ‘solemn’ [emboldening mine], between ‘sincerity’ and ‘earnestness’.
         This distinction is crucial to any kind of understanding of Englishness. I cannot emphasise this strongly enough: if you are not able to grasp these subtle but vital differences, you will never understand the English – and even if you speak the language fluently, you will never feel or appear entirely at home in conversation with the English. Your English may be impeccable, but your behavioural ‘grammar’ will be full of glaring errors.
         Once you have become sufficiently sensitised to these distinctions, the Importance of Not Being Earnest rule is really quite simple. Seriousness is acceptable; solemnity is prohibited. Sincerity is allowed; earnestness is strictly forbidden. Pomposity and self-importance are outlawed. Serious matters can be spoken of seriously, but one must never take oneself too seriously. The ability to laugh at ourselves, although it may be rooted in a form of arrogance, or at least complacency, is one of the more endearing characteristics of the English. (At least, I hope I am right about this: if I have overestimated our ability to laugh at ourselves, this book will be rather unpopular.[29])

I don't know much about England or British English. Can  a British English speaker distinguish this pair, which feels synonymous to me? I know their ordinary English definitions, but not their connotations in this context. Thanks!