texts:
My question is aimed at the constructions of this structure "to go + doing something" which are: to go fishing, to go dancing, to go jogging and so on. I need some explanation about the verb "go" in them. As far as I understand "go" doesn't imply some "moving" on the part of the speaker in such phrases. If I say "I go jogging" it means that "I jog", right? However, I have noticed that native speakers say such things as "I am going jogging now", which basically means " I am leaving right now in order to go jogging." or "I am going to jog." As a result of this I find a few discrepancies.

1) If "I go jogging" = "I jog" then "I am going jogging" should mean "I am jogging (now)." but it means "I am going to go jogging." Is my observation correct?

2) If I say it in the past "I was going jogging yesterday" will it mean that "I was jogging yesterday" or "I was going to go jogging yesterday" or both?


texts: Is there any connection between “machination” and Machiavelli?

texts:
Is there any connection between the term machination and the writer Niccolò Machiavelli or is it just a coincidence that they are so similar?

It seems logical because aside from having similar spellings, the terms Machiavellian and machination both mean cleverly sneaky and shrewdly planning. However, my research has been inconclusive and I cannot find a reference that machination derives from the writer (or any first-usage dates for that matter). Here are the points for and against it:

For an etymology:

Identical meanings
Similar spellings
First known usage of machination is 15th century which coincides nicely with Machiavelli’s lifetime (1469-1527) and spread of work
The term Machiavellian became popular in the 16th century, so it was not long after his death that people were know to start coining words in reference to him and his style

For just a coincidence:

Cannot find any references to Machiavelli being the etymology
Some sources refer to a Latin root: machinatio

So is there any connection, are they cognates, or is it just a big amusing coincidence?


texts: Adjective for acknowleging a problem with no intent to solve it, and posing that mere acknowlegement/self awareness is good enough?

texts:
An example of what I'm referring to would be a scene in Deadpool 2, where, to be "meta," Deadpool says "that's just lazy writing." I didn't find it funny, because the plot point he was referring to was genuinely lazily written. The writer thought acknowledging their laziness without making effort to be genuinely clever, was clever. It's a very smug way people attempt to avoid criticism, I suppose. Everyone does it, consciously or not, out of insecurity or for humorous intent. The mentality of "I know the issue exists, but because I don't want to/know how to fix it, I'll just pretend acknowledging it is good enough."

Example sentence: "The insecure writer desperately attempted to avoid criticism for the flaws he was aware of by _______, rather than putting effort into fixing them."


texts: Why is a semicolon used here instead of a full stop?

texts:
I came across this sentence in the book I'm reading (Enchanter's End Game by David Eddings) and I was wondering why the semicolon is used instead of a full stop.

  Unlike the western Grolims Garion had seen in Cthol Murgos, they rarely wore the polished steel mask, but rather assumed a set, grim expression, thin-lipped and narrow-eyed; as they went about the streets in their hooded black robes, everyone, Mallorean and Nadrak alike, gave way to them.


texts: When did "Pensylvania" become "Pennsylvania"?

texts:
On the Liberty Bell, it's spelled Pensylvania.  Likewise on plenty of maps from the colonial days.

When did it become Pennsylvania (with three n's)?


texts: what is the difference between supply and allocate?

texts:
what is the difference between supplying X with Y and allocating X to Y?

Can anyone give explain with examples?


texts: Which preposition with pleasure, on or in?

texts: Which one is better: pleasure "on" listening to music or pleasure "in" listening?


texts: What does "O'Doul" refer to in this context?

texts:
In the latest episode of the sitcom The Big Bang Theory, there was this joke:

  I’ve got a lab full of alcoholic monkeys and tomorrow is the day we switch ‘em to O’Doul’s.

I can't really understand the joke, because I don't know what or who O'Doul is. I tried googling, but all I got was a baseball player named Lefty O'Doul, which doesn't help me in understanding the joke.


texts: Can 'issue' be used as replacement for 'lend' in following context?

texts:
I am wondering if issue is a right word to describe the act of giving a book by librarian to the customer of library. The book that the person ordered previously and now is standing in front of the counter in library and the librarian is giving the book to the person after introducing all necessary data about this person and rental details into system.

So, can we say that librarian issued the book to customer?

In Oxford Dictionary I found that one of the meanings of issue is Supply someone with (something) and following example is given everyone was issued with a gas mask. According to that I think the sentenced I made is correct although one person who knowns English better then I claims that issue cannot be used in this particular context.


texts: Word for spending lots of effort to be lazy

texts:
I am looking for a word to describe a situation where someone would go out of their way to create a way to save a few seconds.
Example:

Ben: Merry Christmas
Matt: Merry Christmas bud
Ryan:: Merry Christmas
Walter: ^
Ben: Walter don't be so lazy
Walter: Should I instead write a script to check for people saying "Merry Christmas" and reply the same if 2 or more different people do it?

The point here is that it would take Walter a lot longer to write the script checking to see if two people had said Marry Christmas and insert an automatic reply than it would to just reply with Merry Christmas. That's a lot of effort to go to to avoid manually typing two little words.
What's a good term for this type of behaviour?


texts: Comma after quotation mark in middle of sentence

texts:
Do I need a comma after "Go!" in the following sentence?

  When I said, "Go!" all the children ran up to a card and picked it up.

Does the sentence look right (with a lowercase a) or should I reword it and use the following sentence instead?

  All the children ran up to a card and picked it up when I said, "Go!"


texts: What does "It's not me, it's you?" mean in the phrase, “So why are more of us telling our banks, "It's not me, it's you?"

texts:
The article of Time magazine (September 13) titled, “America to Banks: We’re just not that into you” begins with the following lines:

  “The number of Americans who have cut the cord with mainstream banking
  has risen by 821,000 households in just two years. One in 12
  households or 8.3% are unbanked, while another roughly 20% are what
  researchers call "underbanked." We're ostensibly well into economic
  recovery, so why are more of us telling our banks, "It's not me, it's
  you?"

I guess the ending phrase, "It's not me, it’s you”” means “It’s not me (underbanked / unbanked Americans), but it’s you (banks) who are benefitted by recent economic recovery," but I’m not sure. What does “it” represent for?

Why does it end up in interrogative form? Is question mark necessary at the end of this phrase (It's not me, it's you?) ? If it is, isn’t it better to say “Why are more of us asking our banks, "It's not me, it's you?," instead of “Why are more of us telling our banks, “It’s not me, it's you?"?


texts:
I get confused about how to use "a" and "an" correctly. The question of "a" vs "an" should be decided by the pronunciation of the word that follows the article, right?
But I've seen the following sentences on the internet.

{Alternatives to the TOEFL (ACT, SAT, IELTS)—Minimum Score Requirements
An ACT English subscore of 21
An SAT Critical Reading score of 540
An IELTS (International English Language Testing System) total score of 6.5, with no subscore lower than 6.0}

I wonder why "an" is used in the sentence "An SAT Critical Reading score of 540". Shouldn't we say "A SAT Critical Reading score"?

Another example, in the following sentence:
{The minimum English language requirement of this position is an TOEFL ibt score of 90.}

Shouldn't we say "a TOEFL ibt score" rather than "an TOEFL ibt score"?


texts:
Is "potential" a countable noun? Consider these sentences:

  The teachings are dispensed according to the audience's potentials?

  The teachings are dispensed according to the audience's levels of potential?

  The teachings are dispensed according to the audience's potentials?


texts: which verb can correctly replace "[got] a merit in maths olympiad at school level"

texts:
Which of the following sentences are correct (if any)?

Awarded a merit in maths olympiad at school level
Received a merit in maths olympiad at school level
Endowed with a merit in maths olympiad at school level


texts: What is name for saying "I feel X" as differentiating it for simply stating "X"

texts:
I am looking for the term describing the difference between:

"The hotel is perfect."
"I feel the hotel is perfect."

I am making a case that sentences with only this difference can be considered paraphrases (or at least semantically very close), as without further context it is always assumed that someone's statement is an expression of their thoughts/beliefs.

Some reading has made me think this maybe related to modality.
The "I feel" is a hedge, it is there so that if anyone disagrees, the author has already stated it is just his own personal feeling.

Perhaps Hedge is the right word. Would I say that: "If we ignore hedging, statements 1 and 2 have the same meaning" ?

On the other hand, I would also like to capture other sentences:

"As everyone says: the hotel is perfect"
"I must say, the hotel is perfect."
"Let it be known to all: the hotel is perfect."

I feel like all 2-5 are all exhibition a common class of transformation to statement 1. Is there a name for this change?
The all refer to the speaker or listener and his actions about making statement 1.


texts:
I have queries about past tense and present perfect tense.

I have made a appointment to see the university careers advisors immediately after the seminar,So I will need to leave on time.

I have done lots of presentations before and I feel OK about this one.

I got this two line from a grammar book. Now my doubt is Why we use present perfect tense instead of past tense in this two statements? I mean, both describe past activity.
After consulting various documents I got
Present Perfect vs. Simple Past
We must always use the Present perfect when the time of an action is not important or not specified.
We must always use the Simple past when details about the time or place that an action occured are given or requested.
One more thing
Can we use  I have to leave on time instead of I will need to leave on time.


texts: "slick" vs. "slippery" for a road, sidewalk, etc. in NAmEng vernacular

texts:
What's the difference between these terms?
slippery

: tending or liable to cause slipping or sliding, as ice, oil, or a wet surface: a slippery road. Random House Kennerman Webster's College Dictionary

slick

: smooth, glossy, and slippery: sidewalks slick with ice. AHD
: (US and Canadian) smooth and glossy; slippery. CED

Ngram
Ngram slick w/ ice vs. slippery w/ ice


texts: Does "No screenshots any more from your phone" sound rude?

texts: Could native speakers tell the first expression of meaning "No screenshots any more from your phone" Does it sound rude?


texts:
During the interview he promoted a new book, his brutally honest and  funny memoir.

So this is a noun phrase in apposition, but is that what defines it as a noun phrase in this example (being in apposition)?

I would have thought 'a brutally honest and funny memoir' would be a noun phrase, as there is no subject.

  He just stood there, his face clearly revealing his disappointment.

This is an absolute phrase, but has a subject like the first example but contains a non-finite structure.

So other than that and their difference in usage here, they are similar: his memoir/his face.


texts: How often are tonic syllables incorrectly chosen in English?

texts:
Understanding its accenting rules (though they've changed to worse very recently), it's quite rare to not know how is a given written word is stressed in Spanish.

In French or Italian, the tonic syllable is always the last one, so issues should be infrequent as well (can't assure it though).

English has no one of either assets so as a non-native speaker, it seems very likely to me that there are differences between social or regional groups in this regard.

Is this true or not really?


texts: Is there an expression for the positive influence an elitist society can have on individuals?

texts:
Is there a sentence (or expression) in English that describes the positive effect (or influence) an elitist community can have on an individual?

To be more specific, let's take as an example an average student who just went to a top-school and end up pushing himself/herself to the limit to catch up with the rest of the class. Eventually, his/her grades go up as a result of the competition inside that class.


texts: Difference between "must" and "should" when being respectful

texts:
Is there any difference between these sentences:

You must try it.
You should try it.

With some respect, I mean when talking to elders.


texts: What is the number written at the end of some names?

texts:
As far as I can tell there is [Title/Suffix] [First Name] [Last Name/Surname] [Number].

I am confused on two things really:

What do you call the last part of someone's name like "III" for 'the third'?
Why do they call Mr./Mrs./etc the suffix of a name when it is actually the first part of the name?


texts: What is the regularity of appearance of /uː/ and /u/ (or /ʊ/ in RP)? How can I be most sure deducing from spelling alone, that, say, "ooze" is pronounced /uːz/ and "wool" as /wul/? I know that English vowels are peculiar, but I don't want to look up the pronunciation of words in the dictionary that often.


texts: What is a verb for the action that an astronaut performs by moving in space?

texts:
What is the verb form of "astronaut"?

I mean what is the action that an astronaut performs, by moving in space?

A dictionary gave me the word "astronavigation" which is absolutely wrong. This is a task done on Earth and not in space.


texts: How to refer to the original object from which a model is created

texts:
If I have, for example, a model ship, model railroad, model car, etc. what is the best word to refer to the original from what this model is created?

I'm also looking for a context-free version, to use it in a heading and the table of contents, this is why I'm looking for an alternative for "model" or "prototype".


texts: What are the characteristics of slang, dialect and colloquial speech?

texts: **What are the different aspects  of slang, dialect and colloquial speech?


texts: Indefinite article confusion preceding "one-to-one"

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  When should I use “a” vs “an”?

While I was reading a book, I faced the following sentence:

  There is a one-to-one correspondence between the two sets of quantities.

So, my question is: why the indefinite article "a" is not "an" in this phrase? The following word starts with a vowel, so shouldn't it be "an"?


texts:
Dear users of StackExchange
I came across this sentence which can be seen below:
"Finding quiet places have become very difficult in today’s noisy society."
I found the sentence on a website that helps students with English.
Upon further investigation, I learned that numerous people on the website stated the fact that the subject "Finding quiet places" is singular and therefore "have" must be corrected to "has".
At first glance, this sounds odd to me. Isn't the subject "Finding quiet places" plural? Furthermore, I couldn't get a well-explained answer to why "have" should be "has" instead. This is so confusing!
Can anyone help me with my question? Please do know that your help is greatly appreciated!


texts: Should I alter a quote, if in today's world it might be considered racist?

texts:
I will start by saying that I read a question similar to mine but I still didn't find the answer I need.

I am translating a graduation thesis from Italian to English, and in a quote, there is the word "negroes". I was wondering if I need to change it or if considering that is a quote, I will need to leave it as it is.

If it helps, the phrase in which this word appears is "84% of the interviewed person saw negroes  as “lazy”".

This thesis will be published on a website, and I don't want to make a bad impression!


texts:
I recently got confused with the following choices while talking to a friend after class:

I sent her an email that I wouldn't come to the class.
I sent her an email that I wouldn't be coming to the class.
I sent her an email that I won't be coming to the class.
I sent her an email that I won't come to the class.

Can we use the third and fourth sentence by any chance or is it completely ungrammatical? Some websites including the NYTimes have instances where both the past and future are mixed in their reports.


texts: Deciding pronunciation of new words that don't obey natural rules of a language

texts:
This question was sparked by considering the "word": pwn.

"Pawn" and "-pone" are both existing written form and vocalizations, but "pown" pronounced like "pone" is not a valid written form. It exists nowhere in English except for the modern term. In fact, I feel that it should be pronounced like "down" or "clown" with that written form.

Of course, it has it's origin as a mis-typing of "own" thus it may be natural to pronounce in "pone." However, pronunciation of words sort of evolves organically, and words generally have their origin in the vocal form.

How are we to decide on the pronunciation of a "word" that has its origin in written form (and not verbal communication), and more than that a written form that doesn't obey any of the natural rules of the vocal language?

This question could extend to any lol-speak "word" whose origin is in typed communication, e.g. saying "LOL" like "lull." I don't think it applies to constructed words that obey the rules of language, e.g. complicated technical jargon of academic fields. Such words are often derived from natural words, even if from a foreign language.


texts: What does it mean "I'm old. I've seen a lot of bubbles burst. :)"?

texts:
I met a women who was in Silicon Valley asked,

  "You must have seen the bubble burst then?"

She replied back saying,

  "I'm old. I've seen a lot of bubbles burst. :)"

What does it mean? Is that a wordplay?


texts:
I am a non-native speaker wondering which of the following sentences would read more naturally to a native speaker:

The market looked like it had been the scene of a mass murder.
The market looked like it had been scene to a mass murder

I'm also unsure about the article before 'scene'. Is it absolutely necessary or could I omit it as seen in the second example (given that I'm okay with an informal tone to my text)?


texts:
I came across this sentence in an article, "As she speaks of her family, friends and life, it's difficult to not get that 'feel good' mood."

I'm wondering if the following sentence could also mean the same:
"As she speaks of her family, friends and life its difficult not to get that 'feel good' mood."

So my question is, does "not to get" and "to not get" mean the same?


texts:
I know there are a lot of commonly accepted contractions (verb + not): aren't, haven't, isn't, don't, won't, shan't etc.

But do the contractions for art not, hast not, dost not, wilt not, shalt not etc exist?


texts: Informal way of saying "on the contrary"?

texts:
Example:

  The casual encounters didn't work for me, though. On the contrary,
  each of them left me emptier than before, made me feel guiltier than
  before.

The only option I can think of is no. Other suggestions?


texts:
Which sentence is correct?

  The directory is not exist

OR

  The directory does not exist

This message informs a user about a folder he or she is trying to access.


texts:
From Wikipedia:

  In the expression a ÷ b = c, a is called the dividend or numerator, b the divisor or denominator and the result c is called the quotient.

What's most common (in the context of programming)?

dividend/divisor
numerator/denominator


texts: Ban vs Suspend (e.g. I banned a user from my site)

texts:
Is it correct to say

  We will suspend you from our website

Or

  We will ban you from our website

Both seem acceptable, but which is the best?


texts: Can you use "nor" if the sentence does not have a "neither" but instead some other negative word?

texts:
Would it be correct to say "you will not have statistical data nor anecdotal evidence to analyze"?
Should the "nor" be an "or"? Does the "not have" function somewhat like a "neither"?


texts: Can I place a comma before and after a possessive noun?

texts:
Should I put a comma before and after "Luke's"?

  Thank you for considering us for your cat Luke’s grooming needs.


texts: Time Zone is a Region: what is the Word for 'currently using Daylight Savings' or not?

texts:
The current Wikipedia entry for 'Time zone' starts with:

  A time zone is a region that observes a uniform standard time for legal, commercial, and social purposes.

Informally though people (and computers) tend to say things like:

"My current time zone is British Summer Time".

But actually the 'Time zone' is (in the short-term, barring politcal changes etc) actually a fixed region that doesn't change with the change of seasons.

Assuming my understanding and reasoning here is good: is there a more accurate word/phrase to replace 'time zone' in the sentence "My current timezone is ..."

Windows 7 does this by saying (to the effect of)

"My time zone is UTC, and daylight savings are currently in play".

What should people say ?


texts: What French phrase is the origin of "gardyloo?"

texts:
The word gardyloo is a warning cry uttered before throwing wastewater (literally and euphemistically) out of a window. Every source I've found has traced this word back to some French phrase translating as "watch out for the water." However, the specific French phrase seems to vary. I've seen the following:

Wiktionary: "Garde à l'eau"
The Free Dictionary: "Gare à l'eau"
oxforddictionaries.com: "Regardez l'eau"
unusuedwords.com: "Garde de l'eau" or "Gardez l'eau"

I'm not a French speaker, but from what I remember, I would expect that the imperative "look out" or "watch for" would be given using the "-ez" ending (second person plural / formal) versus the "e" ending (second person singular / informal), so I suspect that it's probably "Gardez" or "Regardez." However, I don't know enough French to know whether "Gardez l'eau" or "Garde à l'eau" would be grammatically or semantically correct.

What French phrase actually gives rise to "gardyloo?" If it's not entirely clear, could someone at least enlighten me as to which of the above phrases would be grammatically and semantically correct?

Thanks!


texts: Word for the sun appearing after rain at dusk?

texts:
It has been raining for the whole day. At dusk, the rain stops and the sun comes out of the cloud. The sky is painted with a soft color of a mixture of red and orange which looks very beautiful. With the sweet and fresh air, you feel extremely comfortable both physically and mentally.
There is a Chinese word '晚晴' for this scene, and I used it to name my daughter. So if an English name should be given to her, is there a word with the same meaning or some relation with the Chinese word in some aspect, which is also suitable for a name or doesn't sound very strange at least?
Update
It seems that there is no such word in English. Then it will also be appreciated if there is a word whose end pronunciation is the same as ring or sing - that's how the second character of the Chinese name sound like, and has some good meaning and could be used as a nickname!
Update Again: Reply to @Meghan
Thanks for your reply! I realized from this thread that it not so easy to choose an English name with the ideas I used choosing her Chinese name. So we just use 'Ella' as her English name selected by my wife. But after checking the exact meaning of it when I trying to write this reply to you, I found it's the very right one as I expected before, especially of this sentence "the Good, is all she vows to become and to do." :)


texts: What is the difference between “ renewal ” and “ resumption ”?

texts:
Cambridge English Dictionary explains these as

renewal : a situation in which something begins again after having stopped for a period of time e.g. Pharmaceutical shares also benefited from the renewal of interest in growth stocks.
resumption : the start of something again after it has stopped

I dont really see the difference.


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  How to distinguish can & can't from pronunciation?

How do native American English speakers pronounce "can" and "can't" so that these two very similarly sounding words would be distinguishable? Or do native speakers also frequently recheck: "[You said] can or can not?"


texts:
In English alphabet, there are five (5) Vowels- a, e, i, o and u. And there are two (2) more letters- y and w, which are called Semi-Vowels. In the word "cry", y is considered as Semi-vowel.
So, what is the use of "w" as Semi-vowel?


texts:
A stairway made of flights where each flight leads to a small landing from which the next flight travels in the opposite direction to the first flight.

So, for example, I take a flight down by going north, arrive at the landing, take a few steps to the left - say - turn about, and take the next flight down by going south.

What kind of stairway is that?


texts:
The country name Djibouti has no etymology listed on both Etymonline and Wiktionary. I do know that's it named after the city for sure, but where did that come from?

I tried to research it, but all I could find was an unreliable forum listing it as named after a French general (Somalinet.com) and an unhelpful Quora answer ambiguously and without detail explaining it as either Egyptian or Afar.

I don't have the OED; what does that say? Is there any reliable research on this? Thanks.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Djibouti

https://www.somalinet.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=233866

https://www.quora.com/How-do-you-pronounce-Djibouti-What-is-the-etymology-of-this-word

https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20091209152826AA7vbd0

http://etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=djibouti


texts: What color is "puce", and why do different people give radically different answers (purplish vs greenish)?

texts:
It seems like "puce" means two different colors depending on where you live. I always thought puce was green, then saw on Wikipedia that it is purplish-brown. Further research tells me that it's generally regarded as purplish-brown in the United States, whereas Europeans think of intense shades of green when they hear the word. (The etymology relates to fleas, and the color of their blood-stained droppings.)
So, why do people think of it it so radically differently, and wherever did the concept of green come into the word puce?

Wikipedia: Puce
On the difference in interpretation:

Yahoo: What does the color puce look like? I never heard of it until just now.

Peggy Oberlin Interiors: Puce , Puse , Peuse , Peuce – Let’s Boycott This Color!!!!


texts: Suppose one has an unusual or foreign name, or a name which traditionally belongs to the other gender. Is it inappropriate to add one's title (i.e. Mr/Ms/Mrs) to the signature of a letter/email so as to identify the author's gender?


texts: What is the Tacoma Narrows bridge doing in this picture?

texts: When the plate of the bridge assumes the unnatural shape showed in the following picture, what is this phenomenon called? Contortion (example: the bridge was contorting ...). I'm not so sure, as I think contortion normally refers to the (unnatural) shape of human/animal body. Is there a better word?


texts: The connotation of "increasing dramatically"

texts:
I had a conversation with my co-worker, who said if I do X the quality of my work will improve dramatically. I took it as an implication that my initial work is low quality. Am I taking it the wrong way, or does "dramatically improving" have the connotation of a relatively low starting base?
Neither is a native English speaker.


texts: "At the beginning of the century" or "in the beginning of the century"?

texts:
At the beginning of the century.
  In the beginning of the century.

How to clearly distinguish when to use at, or in?


texts:
How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
A woodchuck would chuck all the wood he could if a woodchuck could chuck wood!

What is the origin of this tongue-twister and what exactly is meant by woodchuck here?

Details:
Woodchuck is used as an alternative name for groundhogs.
The etymology of woodchuck suggests that the word is not related with "wood" and "chucking" and I think the tongue twister touches on this in a humorous way because woodchucks cannot chuck wood actually. (Can they?)
From Etymonline:

woodchuck (n.) 1670s, alteration (influenced by wood (n.)) of Cree (Algonquian) otchek or Ojibwa otchig, "marten," the name subsequently transferred to the groundhog.

How did this word emerge (alteration because of similar-sounding?) and how did it end up in this tongue twister?
How is the name transferred to the groundhog?
Bonus:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Q6Ti9xCX_M#t=14


texts: Is there a noun for a small but very useful thing?

texts:
I'm looking for a word to describe a thing that is small but very useful.

It is not important about the nature of the word, also it may be an animal name.

I found the word 'peppy' and 'streamline' but I would like better words for the purpose.

For example:

  I love my swiss army knife, it's so {small but very useful}


texts: What is a more professional way of saying, I want to make it up to you?

texts: A dissatisfied customer is leaving negative reviews. I want to write back and let him know we want to make it up to him, however that doesn't sound very professional.


texts: What do infinitives mean in news headlines?

texts:
I can't wrap my head around some English news titles with infinitives (I have tried to Google this, hopelessly).
Some examples:

Russia's Head Athletics Coach to Step Down After Doping Revelations¹
Russia to Create Government Job to Fight Doping in Sport²
Russian Olympic Champion Kaniskina to Quit Executive Role Over Doping Scandal³

What is this use of infinitives called, and what does it mean?


texts: What does "I would know" mean in the following passage?

texts:
The following is an excerpt from the Op-ed in the New York Times of Sept. 5.
What does the author mean by "I would know." towards the end of the quote?

"President Trump is facing a test to his presidency unlike any faced by a modern American leader.

It’s not just that the special counsel looms large. Or that the country is bitterly divided over Mr. Trump’s leadership. Or even that his party might well lose the House to an opposition hellbent on his downfall.

The dilemma — which he does not fully grasp — is that many of the senior officials in his own administration are working diligently from within to frustrate parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations.

I 〈would know〉. I am one of them."


texts:
I'm a non-native speaker. I'm having a problem with "take care" and "be careful". This problem comes from a text:

  Jack: "I've got to go, Sarah. So long."
  Sarah: "So long. Jack. And..."

  A. be careful
  B. don't hurry
  C. take care
  D. don't take it seriously.

I choose "be careful" but my teacher choose "take care" as the answer.
Can someone explain this to me, please?


texts: How to describe the reverse order which in some contexts is the natural order on things?

texts:
In writing a paper my team and I need to explain that in a sublist L of, say, [1,2,3,...,100] (for instance L = [3,5,43,70]) the item with the lowest number has highest priority.

How would one best say this?

Examples where a larger number will denote a lesser priority or importance exist elsewhere:

DEFCON1 is the top DEFCON level for instance
"priority number 1" describes the highest level of priority


texts: What is a poetic word for "long run impact"? to decribe some event in the past which still leave something until tens of years later?


texts: Meaning of "well-capitalized litigation"

texts:
In the following sentence:

  Smart contracts will automatically execute the terms of any deal, without getting bogged down by human fickleness or well-capitalized litigation.

I understand the fickle nature of human beings may bog down the execution of the terms of a deal.

But what about the expression "well-capitalized litigation"?

I know that the term litigation refers to the source of disagreement between the parts in a deal.

Would a well-capitalized litigation mean a high amount of money is under dispute? And that situation would make things complex enough to bog down the execution of the deal?

Thanks!


texts: Is the phrase "horizon road" grammatically correct?

texts: Is the phrase "horizon road" grammatically correct, and if so, is it equal to "road to horizon"?


texts: In grammar, what type of word would this made-up word "Tshi" be?

texts:
From Red Letter Media's insightful review of Revenge of the Sith:

"Tshi [meaning] disappointed in the cooking of the duck meat."

Presumably the context is that it is a feeling one might have. As in "The guests were Tshi after dinner".

If it were a real word for this, what kind of word would it be (noun/adjective/verb etc)? I would guess adjective like "disappointed", but could it be an adverb since it affects the verb of cooking?

What I am asking is, if this was an actual translation definition in an English - Gibberish dictionary, what would the word type be, e.g. noun, adjective, verb, etc.


texts: Plural or singular after uncountable noun connected with "and"?

texts:
What is the correct use?

His stool and urine ARE normal.
His stool and urine IS normal.


texts:
Pith and gist show as up synonyms on many of the dictionaries. But the gist word is used more often and pith is very rarely used in examples. Can somebody clear me the right usage of both these words.

He watched the trailer but he still did not get the gist of the movie.
Can we replace the gist in the above sentece with pith ?


texts: Is "deliberation" or "deliberations" correct when done over multiple topics?

texts:
Are these sentences correct?

Contemporary deliberation on American culture, economy, politics in the 20th and 21st century?
Contemporary deliberation*s* on American culture, economy, and politics in the 20th and 21st century.


texts: What is the definition of the expression "you are churning it", other than its literal sense? I heard it in the context of someone playing music.


texts: Trolling: billy goats gruff or fishing reference?

texts:
Where does the internet jargon "Troll" come from?

The way I see it. If it's a fishing reference, then you can't accuse someone of "Being a troll" and if it's a mythology reference then someone isn't really "Trolling" they're just "Being a troll".

It seems like it has roots in both, because

it's like they're waiting under a bridge to pop out and get you
it's like dropping a line in and waiting for someone to take the bait while moving around a lot.


texts: Is it OK to describe "sensors" as "sensing devices" in the same sentence?

texts:
Would it be OK in a technical manual to describe "sensors" as "sensing devices" in the same sentence? If not, how could the act of sensing be described. I've thought of verbs like "to pick up", "to perceive", or "to detect" but they didn't sound good to me.

I'm trying to build up a sentence which starts like this:

"Alarms occur when various sensors sense conditions which/like etc..."


texts: Difference between ''moreover'' and ''furthermore''

texts:
What is the difference between the words ‘‘moreover’’ and ‘‘furthermore’’?

The exemplary sentences on Merriam-Webster are

‘‘Swimming alone is against the rules and, moreover, it's dangerous.’’

and

‘‘She always arrives on time; furthermore, her work is always excellent.’’

The difference between these two sentences is that in the first one, we add information that is used to emphasize the argument of the first part of the sentence. Whereas in the second sentence, we only add information, which is not necessarily directly connected to the information given in the first part of the sentence.

Is this the difference between ‘‘moreover’’ and ‘‘furthermore’’? Or can I use them interchangeably?


texts: Meaning of the quote "Is she not complicit with this state of affairs?"

texts:
What does

  is Steiner not complicit with this state of affairs?

mean here?

I think it means "does not Steiner have any role in the conflicts between the feminists and the Marxists? yes she has, and worse that...."

Context:

  Steiner may be recognising a hitherto suppressed feminine aesthetic but
  even to dare to speak of beauty seriously is to lay herself open to accusations of naivety, self-deception and a lack of humour. And, also, of course, of gross political incorrectness. For was not the experience of Beauty largely reconstructed in the eighteenth century as an affirmation of bourgeois capitalist identity, as the Marxist critic Herbert Marcuse has proposed? Rich and powerful men desire to possess it as a sign of their wealth and power – their lovely architectures and landscaped vistas, their art and clothes, their beautiful women and children, indicative of their superior position, health and happiness. In the grumbling skirmishes between the feminists and the Marxists, is Steiner not complicit with this state of affairs? Worse, the evolutionary psychologists have reconstructed much the same thing and, as we shall see in Chapter 4, some theorists and social scientists believe they may even have a political agenda.

from: Art and Science by Siân Ede


texts: Word to describe an action you do to relax/de-stress

texts:
I'm trying to remember an adjective that describes something you do to help yourself relax/de-stress, but I can't think of it. It's similar to therapeutic, but when I checked the synonyms I couldn't find it. I wouldn't say it's a common word either.

Ex: After a long day at work, I enjoy cooking because it's _______ to me.
To many, exercise is ______.


texts:
Pope, according to Etymonline is from:

Old English papa (9c.), from Church Latin papa "bishop, pope" (in classical Latin, "tutor"), from Greek papas "patriarch, bishop," originally "father."

Papal, papacy, later acquisitions in English, preserve the original vowel.

From Wikipedia:

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the earliest recorded use of the title "pope" in English is in an Old English translation (c. 950) of Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People:

Þa wæs in þa tid Uitalius papa þæs apostolican seðles aldorbiscop.

In Modern English:

At that time, Pope Vitalian was chief bishop of the apostolic see.

Given the Greek/Latin original term which was adopted also by Old English, how and when did the vowel change come about?


texts: What is the origin of the place name "Unthank"?

texts: I was reading this question What is the reciprocal verb of "to thank"?, and naturally the (non existent, but surely quite useful) word unthank came to mind. I then recalled there are several places in England and Scotland called Unthank. Does anyone know why they are called this rather strange name? Presumably it isn't due to the ingratitude of the inhabitants.


texts:
Recently when talking to a friend about the lack of elevators in Asia he told me.

  You should be relishing stairs

As a native English speaker the use of the word 'relishing' here sounded strange to me, although I can't quite figure out why, it seemed like a very odd thing to say in spoken English.

Why does it sound strange?
Is there anything wrong with this construction?


texts:
"Oh  well" is an interjection used to express acquiescence or resignation towards an undesirable event which has occurred (maybe this isn't the most precise definition, but I think most native English speakers know what it means.).

What is the history of this phrase?

A remark: it would sound more logical for it to be "all well" rather than "oh well", because the former would reaffirm that all is still well in spite of whatever bad has occurred.


texts: "There was some [fine skiing there / shooting in the streets]"

texts:
I would like to ask if the following sentences are grammatically correct and whether the constructions are similar:

  There was some fine skiing there.

  There was some shooting in the streets.


texts: need a word between flexible and inflexible

texts: I am writing a research paper with three scenarios. The first is called "the inflexible", the second is "the flexible", and the third is between them. I have difficulty to find a term for it. I thought about words "standard", "normal", and "ordinary", but they also imply that the other two cases are not standard or normal, which is not the case. The words "median", "intermediate" or "mean" also do not sound very well. Can anyone help me with this?


texts:
Yesterday I was teaching my student about the verb shop.  I told him that we use "go" with "shop"  to mean to go and buy things.
e. g.

  1) You are going shopping.

  2) You were going shopping.

  3) You go shopping.

  4) You went shopping yesterday.

Every thing was going well until I formed a question in this manner:

  "Are you going to New York (insert any place here) to go
  shopping?"

I felt this sentence to be wrong.  Not grammatically but this is not how people ask.  As far I know,  this is how such question should be formed

  " Are you going to New York for shopping"

But again, I could be wrong.

Please tell me which one is correct and is used by the natives.


texts: Is my use of "knee-jerk reaction" correct?

texts: Does it sound correct if I say "After the big earthquake, whenever I feel a slightly big quake, I immediately put myself under a table. It's like my knee-jerk reaction." Or should I use some other phrases rather than "knee-jerk reaction" in this case?


texts: Expression for when you ask a question for the sole reason of correcting someone's wrong answer

texts:
This question has been bothering me for quite some time, what do you call it when you ask a question knowing full well that the other person is going to say the wrong thing just so you can correct him, e.g.:

  Hey, what’s the capital of Brazil?
  Other: Rio!
  Me: Incorrect, it’s Brazillia!


texts:
I work at a community college where we have help centers to accommodate our students in various disciplines (math, writing, etc.).  One of the requirements
for us faculty is that we must verify that students who seek help are indeed "allowed/eligible" to receive said help (a ridiculous administrative process IMHO).  Anyhow, the powers that be have called it the "Learn Lab Referral."

It seems to me it should be called the "Learning Lab Referral."  However, each time I have made my suggestion, I was told that "Learn" is correct and
and "Learning" is not.

Who is correct?  If it is me, and it should be "Learning," then I would greatly appreciate an explanation so convincing that even an administrator could not deny!  :-)

Thank you in advance for sharing your knowledge in this area (my area of expertise is mathematics, not English).

Abe Mantell


texts:
New York Times article about restuarant employees blocking patrons from leaving the building:

  One of the arresting officers, Anthony Sengco, wrote in his criminal
  complaint that he observed Dr. Pemberton, Mr. Baptiste and Mr. Debnam
  blocking the exit to the restaurant and that the men had stated to him
  that they were trying to prevent the women from leaving. The men deny
  that they made any such statements to Mr. Sengco or that they were
  trying to prevent the women from leaving.

Shouldn't this be the exit from the restaurant?


texts: Where did the phrase "hairy eyeball" come from?

texts:
Used by some in my place of work as a colloquialism for a disapproving or skeptical attitude toward something.

Jane was giving Jack the "hairy eyeball".


texts: Is there any other category besides prose and verse, for classification of literature according to format?

texts:
Prose and verse are two ways of classifying types of literature, is there a third category for the classification of literature according to format?

For example, in which category a graphic novel/comic book would fall?


texts:
What is the difference between these two examples?

  I go on a ride.
  I go for a ride.


texts: What is a word or expression to define that you have reached the limit of your capabilities?

texts: I am referring to the stage where someone  reaches his/her capabilities limits, especially  professional limits. I am thinking about career advancements as well as the growth in professional life. We all reach our limit in that progress and going further would be unnatural or might put us in a difficult position because we are not able to cope with a higher level of abilities or responsibilities. Is there a word or expression to define this limit in personal progress?


texts:
Which preposition would follow the verb 'feature'? For instance, which would be correct?

  "A, B and C feature in the top 5 positions"

or

  "A, B and C feature at the top 5 positions"

I'm leaning towards in but just want to confirm.


texts:
My colleagues are in the design department of a given product, and when asked to add that information to the e-mail signature, they have written:

  ProductName's Design

I'm objecting that the usage of the Saxon genitive there is incorrect, because the product is neither a person or animal owning anything, and Design in this context is not even a property of the product (Maybe I would admit the Saxon genitive in a context like "I think ProductName's design is not fail-safe"), but an activity.

Am I right? ^_^

update:

After reading the answers and the comments, I think the issue has been clarified a little bit. In this case ProductName is acting as an adjective qualifying Design [Department], so that's the actual reason for not using the genitive case (rather than the product being a "weak entity" unable to possess things, that is merely an stylistic rule of thumb).


texts: Difference between "under a consent" and "under consent"

texts:
From what I understand, "consent" is an uncountable noun when it refers to the agreement of all of the members regarding specific matters, and it is countable when it refers to a documentation of approval.

I just want to make sure that I am understanding the nuance of the word correctly. So, if there is a sentence like this:

  The entire procedure should be under a legally binding consent.

It means the procedure should be abided and supervised by the legal documentation which provides consent/approval. On the other hand, the following sentence,

  The entire procedure should be under legally binding consent.

has a connotation that the procedure will require legal consent or approval of all of related people.

Am I correctly understanding the nuance of the word "consent"?
you are welcome to revise my question/thread if you find my writing to be unclear or grammatically wrong.

Thank you!


texts: What is it called when one expresses their entire opinion? Especially when it is not that necessary? (In a casual conversation/party, haughtily)


texts: Do you capitalize "My Queen" in dialogue?

texts: I've seen some questions discussing the capitalization of "queen" in general, but I'm wondering if you would ever capitalize the "my" in "my queen," particularly in a line of dialogue such as "Very well, my queen" or "It will be done, my queen." The queen being referenced is a fictional one of a fictional country.


texts: "If were" and "if was" in the same sentense. What's the deal with that?

texts:
A quote from Fahrenheit 451:

If there were no war, if there was peace in the world, I'd say fine, have fun!


texts: Why is the 'cy' in cycle and cynic pronounced differently

texts:
Consider the following example:

Cynic → /ˈsɪn.ɪk/
Cylinder → /ˈsɪl.ɪn.də(r)/
Cycle → /ˈsʌɪk(ə)l/

Cynic and cylinider are stressed on first syllables yet the cy is pronounced /sɪ/ and not /saɪ/ (as in cycle).

Question:
Why is the cy in cynic and cycle pronounced differently?

Can anyone offer some insight?

(There's a similar question here but that does not answer my question)


texts: Does this sentence call for an additional "for"?

texts:
I'm confronted with two compelling options:

  I want to be at least partially responsible for getting them to think differently, or inspiring them to earnestly investigate new topics.

  I want to be at least partially responsible for getting them to think differently, or for inspiring them to earnestly investigate new topics.

Which one should I choose, and why? The first sentence uses fewer words, usually my yardstick for choice in situations like this. But the second sounds better when spoken, so I'm torn.


texts: Does anyone know the Meaning of " A man is a man for all that.?"

texts: What does it mean? As Robert Burns stated  in poem "A man is a man for all that?"


texts: What is 'I'm still my best with you' mean?

texts:
In the lyrics of the song 'The Best Days', what do the following lines mean?

When the world gets the worst of me
I'm still my best with you"

Does it mean that though the world sees the person's the worst parts, she is in the best state with the other person (you)?


texts:
Is there a better term than "wide handrail" for stone (or similar material) balustrades wide enough that a person can lie on? I'm looking for a word that when put into Google Image search, would produce something like this:

I've tried "railing", "rail", "balustrade", "parapet", but they all produce narrow railings.


texts: Word or Phrase for the many minor things adding up to something major and not noticing until it's too late?

texts: I need a word, phrase, expression, metaphor etc for when lots of "insignificant" incidents or mistakes etc add up to make something major but by the time you realize it's major it's too late.


texts: Word which encompasses both "logs" and "notes"

texts:
I'm building a software component which will allow users to view both automatically-generated log entries and human-created notes in the same list. Both are time-stamped and will be displayed in the same list in chronological order.

I'm hoping to find a word or short phrase which will describe both of these things. I'm currently using "message", but that doesn't sit well with me; it implies a more active form of communication. I considered "records" and "entries", but they both feel overly generic.

I would like to be able to say something along the lines of

  This is the _____ component. It combines the data in the notes and log components.


texts: Passive clauses of reason replaced by " being + past participle" structure

texts:
"Because the door was jammed, I couldn't get in"=
"The door being jammed, I couldn't get in".

I would like to ask, what kind of structure "The door being jammed" is and what is the grammar rule that indicates that the latter structure can replace the clause of reason.
Thank you.


texts: What are the rules in composing a Haiku? (aside from the syllable count)

texts:
Aside from the syllable count what else do I need consider when writing a Haiku?
I'm referring to the English imitation of a Haiku.

I have been told that the first two lines should be descriptions and the third line should be the conclusion. But I've noticed that this is not always true.

Does a Haiku need to be about nature?


texts: What are the adverb and adjective for "content"?

texts: Well, as it is said in the title of my question, I'm wondering what the adjective and adverb of content are. Similarly, we have context whose adjective and adverb are contextual and contextually respectively, but what about content?


texts: How can an adjective follow and modify an adverb in “somewhere new”? Is this ellipsis?

texts:
I would like to go somewhere new tonight.
I met someone nice at the party

Are the preceding two sentences the same as the following, but with ellipsis applied?

I would like to go somewhere [that is] new tonight.
I met someone  [who is] nice at the party.

If not, how can this apparent ᴀᴅᴠᴇʀʙ + ᴀᴅᴊᴇᴄᴛɪᴠᴇ construct be otherwise explained?


texts: What is the word for an animal species which only eats one type of food?

texts: Is there a word for an animal that eats only one type of food? The giant panda, for example, only eats bamboo; koalas only eat eucalyptus leaves. "Monovore" would be ideal, but I don't believe that word exists (at least, it's not in the OED). So an obvious sample sentence would be: "The giant panda is a/an ***** as it only eats bamboo".


texts: Word/phrase for something that is irreplaceable due to its capabilities

texts: The title is illustrative, but it can be added that there are no comparable alternatives for it, at least at the time. Moreover, it is predicted that finally some alternative will be presented, however, there is no info about its quality or details.


texts: What part of speech is the word "how" in this sentence?

texts:
In the sentence:

  My philosophy professor demonstrated not only how to reason persuasively but also how to avoid logical fallacies.

What part of speech is the word how?


texts: A word that comes close to "something that needs to improve/would benefit the end result if you'd do it differently/more efficiently"

texts:
Is there a better word to describe what the supervisor says in this examle?

Someone has just finished a, by materials built, project and is presenting it to his supervisor. This person is very proud of his end result which he believes to be faultless and can't wait for the supervisor to give him the highest grade for it (however, his project is actually not so great.)

The guy who has built the project goes: "Here it is, this is the "name of project"." The supervisor goes: "I can see that (as in "yeah...but it's not as great as you try to present it"), but still, it needs to improve/would benefit the end result if you'd do it differently/more efficiently." (I.e. there is something about this project which wasn't done cleverly, hence it would have been better if a different/more efficient approach was used in building it.)

Is there a word that comes close to or describes what the supervisor has said, something which "needs to improve/would benefit the end result if you'd do it differently/more efficiently"?


texts: Can abbreviations be used as stand-alone adjectives when the abbreviated term couldn't?

texts:
I see by your name that you are probably ESL...

ESL stands for "English as a second language". In the above sentence, it is being used as a stand-alone adjective, but I'm not sure if that makes sense. The term would not work as an adjective if it wasn't abbreviated, as in:

I see by your name that you are probably English as a second language...

You can be English as a second language, that's absurd. However, ESL is used like an adjective (or a modifier, I'm not quite sure on the terminology), in cases like ESL writer or ESL speaker. If it modifying the noun, and modifiers are usually adjectives or adverbs. Because of that, it seems that perhaps it would be correct to use this abbreviation as a stand-alone adjective in the example sentence. Or is this ungrammatical?


texts: "ruled off into squares" -- What does that mean?

texts:
I don't know what the phrase means in the following context:

  A procedure that is guaranteed to lead to the desired output in a
  finite sequence of steps is called an "algorithm" or "effective
  procedure." Turing envisioned a machine consisting of a read/write
  head operating on an indefinitely extendable tape ruled off into
  squares.


texts: How to write word "hashtagged" using "#" symbol? #ed, #'ed, #-ed?

texts: It looks like #ed would be correct way to write word "hashtagged", but this can be confused with hashtag – #ed. What would be another acceptable way to write word "hashtagged" using # symbol?


texts: What do you call things made out of natural waste materials?

texts: How do you categorize things (say, a toy, doll or idol) made out of natural wastes like leaves, trunks, etc., from nature?


texts: What is the word for when someone gets enjoyment out of someone else's misfortune or expense?


texts: A neutral something as "working" (not imply correctness or not)

texts:
I occasionally need to describe that something works but that it does not necessarily does so correctly. To give some background, it's mostly to do with software - If I'm given the task to investigate some odd behaviour, I sometimes find that a piece of code "works", because the instructions given to the computer are logically consistent (in other words, there is no bug), however, it may not produce the desired result because the instructions are wrong (e.g., initial design was flawed, or it the system is wrongly configured) or because the circumstances were abnormal (e.g., could be an edge case or a failure outside of this piece of software). At any rate, it usually means that the code investigation part is complete and more research is needed but code-wise it's the functionality is consistent with how it is supposed to work. Whether or not it is supposed to work is a different question.

I've used "operational" before but it does not seem to represent the idea well enough.


texts: What is a word for someone whose emotions are not hurt easily? I'm looking for something more specific than 'robust' and 'stable'.


texts: "A wants B to guess that..." or just "A wants B to guess who/what/where/how..."?

texts:
I am testing whether "A wants B to guess..." can be followed by both declarative and interrogative clauses. I am not a native speaker but "A wants B to guess that.." does not sound acceptable to me.

Do you think they are natural sentences in English?

  [1a] Mary wants Sue to guess who John talked to.

(This should be perfectly natural, right?)

  [1b] Mary wants Sue to guess that John talked to Prof. Smith.

(If this sounds natural, how do you interpret this sentence?)

As a contrast, compared with 1b, what do you think about

  [1c] Mary wants to guess that John talked to Prof. Smith.

(Is 1b better than 1c?)

Thank you!


texts: Alternative term to 'Uncle Tom' for a black or colored person who is subservient to whites?

texts:
In Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel, the eponymous character was meant to be a sort of model of resistance against slavery, a man who whose "devotion to his fellow slaves is so unshakable that he sacrifices a chance for freedom and, ultimately, his life to help them".[1] Some argue that the term Uncle Tom, as it has been used for the last century, was misappropriated.

So that got me wondering if there were alternative words or phrases used to describe a black or colored person who is subservient to whites.

Some thoughts on alternative names I found with a quick search... The term house negro—on top of being far more incendiary and problematic than Uncle Tom—is only specific to Black people (although I could envision people appropriating the house _____ prefix for other races). For Black women in particular, the term Aunt Jemima is probably more affiliated with the brand of breakfast foods, while Aunt Jane/Mary/Sally are not recognizable terms at all in modern culture.

[1]http://www.theroot.com/articles/politics/2010/05/uncle_tom_from_compliment_to_insult/


texts: What does the phrase 'beard to the washing' mean?

texts:
Whilst reading a book about the mayors of Exeter, England, I found this sentence:

  [this mayor] never did any ill to any man, nor did he put his beard to the washing
  —The Chronicle of Exeter 1205–1722 (Gray, Mint Press, 2005)

I have no idea what this refers to, Google hasn't come up with anything useful, so any ideas what this phrase means?


texts: What does the expression "pissing on ice" mean?

texts: In the film "Chinatown" Jake Gittes uses the expression "We'll be pissing on ice". What does it mean?


texts: Is there an English word for a wifeless man who has a concubine?

texts:
Not a husband - as he does not have a wife before the concubine.

Is there a single word for this or is there a lexical gap in the English language?

Sample sentence:

  The concubines fell at the feet of [their men]

"Their men" obviously referring to the specific word I'm looking for, but may not exist in the English language.


texts: What happened to the adjectival forms of Belize and Singapore in their currencies?

texts:
It's been researched that every country has their adjectival form (exception is a demonym, which denotes nouns), such as the adjectival form of Mexico is Mexican, the adjectival form of Russia is Russian, and their currencies are "Mexican peso" and "Russian ruble", respectively.

In currencies, mostly I have found adjectival forms of the countries e.g. Mexican peso and Russian ruble. But what happened to the adjectival forms of Belize, Singapore, Lesotho and Turkmenistan, as their currencies are:

Belize dollar (rather than Belizean dollar)
Singapore dollar (rather than Singaporean dollar)
Lesotho loti (rather than Basotho loti)

  It's been noted that the word "Basotho" is both demonym as well as the adjectival form of Lesotho. And "Basotho" as a demonym is plural per se; its singular form is "Mosotho".

Turkmenistan manat (rather than Turkmenistani manat)

Out of 190+ countries, these countries are the exceptions which have no any adjectival forms in their currencies.

The Google Search Engine supports what I thought of those adjectival forms. See that when you type "Singaporean dollar" on Google, then it pops up that exact option, but when you search it, it doesn't show any exact result, rather it says Singapore Dollar. I wish I could know its reason.


texts: Additional meaning of the word "fletcher"

texts:
I am translating English wiki for Habitica game into Russian, and I am not sure what the word "fletchers" means in the following context (the article about contributor titles):

  "Title: Fletchers; Description: Labor to make a transportable Habitica app, like Blacksmiths, working programming wizardry in unseen layers of Habitica."

It is quite difficult to connect this "fletchers" with 1) someone making arrows (mobile app and arrows?); 2) any famous people with this surname (no programmers among them).

The only more or less close meaning have been found in Urban Dictionary with meaning "a guy that is doing smth good". However, I am still not satisfied, and I'd like to know what native speakers think of it.


texts: Hyphenating “process” in the meaning “series of actions” in AmE

texts:
Where to break the word "process" at the end of a line in the meaning "a series of actions" in US English?
Dictionaries disagree on this (or I am misinterpreting what they say):

Merriam-Webster online: pro-cess
Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary: Eleventh Edition, printed
2003: pro-cess
Oxford: proc-ess

I've asked on the sites of the two dictionaries; no answer so far.

Some people told me that printed edition of Merriam-Webster of 1981 also says "pro-cess".

Some people say that they read "proc-" with "k", implying that one should break as "pro-".

Some people say that when they read "pro-", they think of it as a usual prefix, and "cess" is also a legal (though, infrequent) noun.

I really don't know how good these explanations are.


texts: I want to know the grammar of the following sentence

texts:
"You'll never guess who they got to replace you at work."

The sentence above is one of dialogue in the series "Big bang theory".
I can guess the meaning is that you will never guess who will work instead of you.
But I want to know what's the meaning of 'got to'.
And what does 'they' indicate?

I think the following sentence is correct grammatically.
You'll never guess who will replace you at work.


texts:
Lately, I've been pondering about this question.

First of all, we already know that dialogue tags consist of a noun or a pronoun followed by a verb like "said," and "ask."

  "Like this one," I said.

Also, when using an action tag, the dialogue must have a full stop.

  "Like this?" I looked at the text above.

Would "is my only answer" be considered a dialogue tag with that structure? I can't really consider it one since it doesn't have the same structure.

  "I don't know," is my only answer.


texts: "If a man write a better book, preach a better sermon..."

texts:
There is an old quotation attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson:

  If a man write a better book, preach a better sermon, or make a better mouse-trap than his neighbour, tho' he build his house in the woods, the world will make a beaten path to his door.

Why are the verbs in the conditional clause in the infinitive, instead of third person singular? Old usage? Subjunctive? Neither?


texts: Does "narrowly avoiding" something always imply an action was taken?

texts:
In this BBC report, it says:

  Four-time defending overall World Cup champion Marcel Hirscher narrowly avoided being hit by a drone during an Alpine slalom race in Italy on Tuesday.

A similar phrase is used on a page containing a video of the incident.  It seems to me that the skier could have been completely oblivious to the fact.

Is the choice of words here ("narrowly avoided") a bad one, given the fact that it seems it was more by luck than any avoiding maneauveres, even involuntary ones?


texts: Where does the following usage of worry come from?

texts:
One of the connotations of worry  appears to be quite different from its more common usage : to be or cause to be anxious or uneasy, bother.

Worry:

  (transitive)
  to touch or poke repeatedly and idly, touch or rub constantly as in

  "The old man worried his beads"

[Vocabulary.com/dictionary]

The above sense  appears to suggest a sense of relaxation rather than uneasiness.

I could not  find any reference to the above usage in Etymonline.


texts: Why does moving the adverb to the front remove ambiguity?

texts:
Take the sentence

  Students who study physics rigorously learn math.

As it stands, 'rigorously' can modify either 'study' or 'learn'. But if we move the adverb to the front to get

  Rigorously, students who study physics learn math.

'rigorously' unambiguously modifies 'learn' and not 'study.' This should be clear to any native speaker of English. However, when I think about it this phenomena, it's not clear at all why this must be the case. After all, might it not be more logical for the adverb to modify the closest verb? What are the (scientific) explanations of this sort of syntactic behavior?


texts: Italic or quote marks for ideas and concepts

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  What is the best way to mention a word: italics, quotes, or single-quotes (apostrophes)?

What is the better way to typeset terms referring to ideas and concepts, italics or quote marks?

Examples (with quote marks):

  Peter termed this principle the "first law of success".
  The idea refers to the notion of "open source".


texts: How many people are there in this sentence, 3 or 4?

texts:
In the following sentence how many persons are mentioned, 3 or 4?
The Sentence is:

"They invited me to dinner, and when I arrived at their house, there stood my girlfriend's father, and her mother, Katherine the school principal, and Tommy."

First interpretation (4 persons):
The two and makes that this sentence talks about 2 pairs of persons (4 persons in total).
1- my girlfriend's father
and
2- her mother
3- Katherine the school principal
and
4- Tommy
This is, separating first couple in father and mother and the other couple Katherine and Tommy.
Second interpretation (3 persons):
If I follow the rules of how/when to use commas, I find 3 persons here.
1- my girlfriend's father
and
2- her mother, Katherine the school principal
and
3- Tommy
In this case Katherine the school principal that appears after the comma is an additional information about the second person that is her mother

UPDATE:
The main rules of commas used in this sentence suggests to be these 3 persons.

Use a comma before any coordinating conjunction (and, but, for, or, nor, so, yet) that links two independent clauses

Use a comma after a dependent clause that starts a sentence

Use commas to offset appositives from the rest of the sentence

Appositives act as synonyms for a juxtaposed word or phrase. For example, "While running, I saw a mallard, a kind of duck." "A kind of duck" is the appositive, which gives more information about "a mallard."
If the appositive occurs in the middle of the sentence, both sides of the phrase need a comma, as in:

A mallard, a kind of duck, attacked me.

References:

A guide to proper comma use.

Ten uses of comma.


texts:
Often I find people in the chat using emoticons.  Most are simple to decipher, but I can't figure out what these two mean.

  :3

and

  :S

What do they mean?


texts:
What's the difference between pronunciation and enunciation? I learned this a long time ago in English class but forgot what it was.

Clarification

For example, Wikipedia says:

  Good enunciation is the act of speaking clearly and concisely. The opposite of good enunciation is mumbling or slurring. See also pronunciation which is a component of enunciation. Pronunciation is to pronounce sounds of words correctly

I can't tell from this what the specific difference is. When is it correct to say someone's pronunciation is off versus when their enunciation is off?

Merriam Webster's definition defines enunciate as :

  articulate, pronounce

That would seem to say it's the same as to pronounce.

Is there a specific example of incorrect pronunciation verses enunciation?


texts:
If I do not depend on anybody, I can say:

  I am independent

And if nobody depends on me. Is there a monoword to describe that?


texts: Correct use of endash in range of minutes

texts:
I am currently working as a web developer, and will occasionally be asked to update a website. A "client" just send me an update containing this text:

  A 15-30-minute waiting-period is required after each injection is given.

Notice the use of 2 hyphens, which I am sure is not the correct style to use. I have been taught to use en dashes to separate ranges of values, such as 15–30, and also to add word spaces if I feel the en dash runs into the words on either side. However, I also vaguely think I was taught to put a hyphen between a phrase like this: "… going on a 30-minute walk."

If I follow both of these "rules", I will end up with a sentence that looks like this:

  A 15–30-minute waiting-period is required after each injection is given.

As you can see, this only differs from the original because of the en dash between 15 and 30. However, I still think that looks weird. I think that it ideally would look like this:

  A 15–30 minute waiting period is required after each injection is given.

Note: I also removed the hyphen between waiting and period, as I don't think that should be there either.

Questions

Question 1:
What is the proper way of rendering the first part of the sentence? Is it an en dash between the numbers and then no hyphen between the last number and the word minute?

Question 2:
Should the words waiting and period have a hyphen between them?

The reason that this question doesn't answer my question specifically is that while I know the differences between hyphens and dashes, the way the sentence is composed lends itself to confusion. Having an en dash in the word before a hyphen seems rather strange.

What is the difference between hyphens, en dashes, and em dashes?

Thanks!


texts: Is “Compete to get scraps from a shrinking pot” a set phrase, or President Obama’s ad hoc turn of phrase?

texts:
In the New York Times’ interview to President Obama in Galesburg, Ill. on July 28 (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/28/us/politics/obama-says-income-gap-is-fraying-us-social-fabric.html?hp), Mr. Obama said;

  “Racial tensions won’t get better; they may get worse, because people
  will feel as if they’ve got to compete with some other group to get
  scraps from a shrinking pot,” Mr. Obama said. “If the economy is
  growing, everybody feels invested. Everybody feels as if we’re rolling
  in the same direction.”

Is “Compete to get scraps from a shrinking pot” a set phrase, or just President Obama’s ad hoc turn of phrase?

We have Japanese expression- 蟻がたかるように- to compete to get scraps like the swarm of ants for everybody swarming about marginal merits.
Is there any alternative English idiom or phrasal expression corresponding to “Compete to get scraps from a shrinking pot”?


texts: What about adjective "especial" for a person?

texts:
I read about the use of especial and special. But I'm not sure if applies the same when describing a person.

For instance, do you say:

  I am an especial person.

or

  I am a special person.


texts: The Team Thanks The Following Sponsors or The Team Thank The Following Sponsors

texts:
As we are printing the words behind our t-shirt, my friend insisted that the correct word is thanks instead of thank.
Please advise


texts:
Victuals is famously pronounced "vittles".  But how is victualling, as in victualling yard, pronounced?

I presume the "c" remains silent, but various unsourced and presumably autogenerated pronunciation videos suggest both "vittling" and "vittualing".


texts: How to resolve mixing singular and plural on the same noun

texts:
Let's look at this sentence.

  China has as much claim to North Korea as they have over Tibet. That is, if they do decide to invade and occupy North Korea.

Question

You do agree this passage is grammatically problematic, don't you?
If using they as pronoun for China is somehow an imperative in this passage, how would you resolve this grammatical conflict?


texts: Similarities and differences: 'in + VERBing' vs 'VERBing' alone

texts:
Source: p 145, Frederick Schauer’s Thinking Like a Lawyer

  In being an empirical response to
  an empirical claim, this explanation engages Realism on its own terms,
  and so little can be said here other than that if Realism is empirically correct
  for much of law, then the fact that Realism may now be substantially
  disregarded is surprising and disturbing.

Is there a name for the structure in + gerund? I tried Google which revealed nothing.
What are the similarities and differences between the version with the preposition (eg in being) and the version without it (eg being)?


texts:
"Which topic did you write your article about?"
"About which topic did you write your article?"
"Which topic you wrote your article about?"
Which of these variants would be correct for writing? My take is that the first question is right in every situation, and the second and third are acceptable only in informal speech. I know that the rule says that there is the single correct construction of wh- questions, but I am wondering if there are any other ways of asking a question.


texts:
I was watching a video on Youtube and came across the line: " the claps of an audiance will matter to you more than would ever be wise."

I don't really understand the part "would ever be wise", especially "wise". Could someone please rewrite the sentence with the same meaning. Would appreciate a lot, thank you.


texts: I want to pronounce damning 'dam- ning' but dictionaries including the unabridged OED show the only correct pronunciation should be 'damn-ing'?


texts:
Could someone please disambiguate / deconstruct all the nuanced meanings of the following types of expressions originating in internet meme culture. At some point it becomes obvious there's more than the literal meaning.

"Greedy gambler is greedy"

"Stupid brother is stupid"


texts: Origin of the expression "skin of a rhinoceros"?

texts:
The Apple CEO, Tim Cook, has recently published an open letter where he says:

  ... It’s also given me the skin of a rhinoceros.

I am wondering where this expression "skin of a rhinoceros" is originated from.  Allegedly, Eleanor Roosevelt said:

  Every woman in public life needs to develop skin as tough as rhinoceros hide.

Is this the origin?


texts: Is 'University doctorate' a correct way to describe someone who has done a PhD. at a particular university?

texts:
The term 'University graduate'(For e.g. Stanford graduate) is ambiguous in the sense that it does not indicate if the concerned individual has an undergraduate, post-graduate or a PhD. degree from the university.

So, I wanted to know whether the above ambiguity can be eliminated by describing the individual as University undergraduate, University graduate and University doctorate to indicate completion of undergraduate, graduate and doctorate degrees at the university.

For e.g:

If A has done a PhD. from Stanford University, Can we call A as a Stanford doctorate?


texts: "Isn't that the place WHICH kids under 12 can't enter?" - Is it correct to use 'that/which' when it refers to a place?

texts:
I was teaching an ESL class and came accross this sentence which confused me a lot:

  The Queen Alice is the place that I go to the most"
  "Isn't that the place which kids under 12 can't enter?"

Are these 2 sentences correct? Shouldn't "where" be used for both sentences when it's referring to the place and replacing the object?


texts: Question regarding sentence structure in a NY Times article about Michelle Obama

texts:
In a NY Times article titled "Michelle Obama and the Evolution of a First Lady", there is this sentence:

  Rahm Emanuel, then chief of staff, repeated the first lady’s criticisms to colleagues with indignation, according to three of them.

Is this correct usage? For me, it reads as if Rahm repeated it to angry colleagues (i.e. colleagues with indignation). But clearly the intent is that Rahm was angry and the three colleagues noticed that he was angry when he talked to them.

Or, is a comma required after "criticisms to colleagues"?

Or should it have been rephrased like this? "Three of Rahm's colleagues said that an incensed Rahm, then chief of staff, repeated the first lady’s criticisms to them." But Rahm is mentioned twice here.


texts:
What does low-growing mean in the following sentence?

  She planted some "low-growing" stuff.


texts: Noun for a person, out of a group of many, who did not give their approval for something

texts:
I have information that serves as evidence of my company's illegal activities.  I share that information with 10 others in my department.  One of them goes to the press. That person is the whistleblower.

I have a form that I've filled out that needs approval before being submitted from 4 different bureaucrats.  3 give the form their rubber stamps of approval, but one does not.  That person is the blank.?

Bonus: Is there a generic term for "a person who [...]"?


texts: Best synonyms for "expanding / enlarging the Knowledge / Science / Wisdom"

texts:
I'm trying to invent the inscription to joke "certificates" which I'm going to send to some users of my site. Currently I come to:

By this we, brethren of CodeAbbey,
solemnly and unanimously inaugurate
(some name here)
the rank of Bishop, in recognition of devotedness and talent
proved by solving 125 programming problems
thus consecrating efforts to expand
Knowledge and Wisdom

However I'm not quite satisfied by "expanding Knowledge and Wisdom" - could you please suggest more "solemn" (and probably archaic) synonyms?

BTW if you see there are some horrible mistakes, please let me know?

And also - is there any way to replace brethren with something gender-neutral (members looks bit too dull, though perhaps I should use it).


texts: Do you use a question mark or period in this sentence?

texts:
"What happened, if you don't mind me asking."

If you split this sentence into two different sentences—"What happened?" and "If you don't mind me asking."—you can tell where the question mark and the period go. However, when you combine them and add a comma in between, I can't tell whether a period or question mark should be used at the end.


texts: Word for person attracted to shiny things

texts:
In Russian we have the word сорока (magpie) for a person that (among other negative traits) likes and is attracted to shiny things (e.g. gold), usually cheap ones like fake jewelry, or just kind of hoards cheap things in general.
What is the closest equivalent to this in English (preferably American English), if there is one of course?


texts: Translating a surname to English - a tough one

texts:
Hello Ladies and Gents!

This has been bothering me for the last couple of years. When I was 16-17y old I had a problem with explaining my US/UK friends how to pronounce my surname  - "Wieczorek". After few failed attempts I decided I should look it up in dictionary and find the translation.

The word "Wieczorek" im my language (polish) means the diminutivation of word "Evening". It's not said if it's "Soiree" kind of evening or not - it's the word just by itself. And it doesn't sound like diminutive, actually it sounds pretty hard.

So my question is: is it ok to use the word "Soiree"? I mean, does it sounds ok? Have You ever heard this surname in english spoken countries?

(Ofc I'm not talking about using it officially ;) )

Regards,
Paul


texts: Is "National Socialism" always capitalized?

texts:
So, I'm writing a paper on the rise of communism in China. At one point I write the following:

  "Today, it is well known that communism is responsible for more deaths than even national socialism."

Then, Word corrects it by capitalizing "National Socialism."

Is it always meant to be capitalized? I am simply referencing the ideology, not necessarily the Third Reich. Word didn't bother to correct "communism." I suppose since there was only one instance of Nazism (on a national scale at least) it could be considered a proper noun.


texts: Is there a word for Words that describe themselves or a word for words that do the opposite

texts:
Self Describing Example: sesquipedalian is a sesquipedalian word
Opposite Example: quotidian is not a quotidian word (obviously just my opinion)


texts:
We could solve a problem, obviously.
Is it possible to use "break", "beat", "hit", "crack" with the meaning of "solve"? I'm trying to find some more emotional equivalent.


texts: Which is grammatically correct in this sentence for a character's "declaration" so to say?

texts:
Examples:

  Through selfless duty, devoted communication, and new experiences will
  I strive to grow my connections and understand those around me.

  Through selfless duty, devoted communication, and new experiences I
  will strive to grow my connections and understand those around me.

Should it state "will I" or "I will"? My guess is the former, but what are your thoughts?


texts: This article has the title "How to Transform Your Food Photos from Good to Bloody Beautiful". What does "Bloody Beautiful" mean?


texts: I'm reading the novel Requiem for a Dream by Selby Jr. It has some strange grammar for common contractions. For example instead of "we're" it is "we/re", "I'll" it is "Ill" and "we'd" it is "we/d" and in some places the author commits where the apostrophe completely. Was this normal or some alternative use? Or is this some sort of mistake? Is it supposed to represent the accent in New York?


texts: "Yes, I thought it was very good." Why "thought"?

texts:
Here is a sentence from "Essential Grammar in Use" book by Raymond Murphy:

  Did you enjoy the film ? Yes, I thought
  it was very good.

The correct answer in key section is "thought", but why not to use "think" instead:

  Did you enjoy the film ? Yes, I think
  it was very good.

It looks like you thought in the past and have another thought now.


texts:
I was wondering if there is a better way of saying the following sentence:

  I received the ABC scholarship at the PQR center at the University of Education.

I have seen this in many places, but I was hoping to have a better way if possible.


texts:
Is it correct to invert the subordinate sentence in English? For instance:

  When the time comes, so shall we reign
  the land!

If it is correct, what is the rule? Or is it only in old English?


texts: Word to describe "a person who is only wishful to help others and cares little about themself"?

texts: Specifically, I am looking to describe a person whose only purpose is to help others, not caring about what happens to  himself or herself (physically or otherwise), though without actively seeking pain.


texts: What would be the onomatopoeia for "spit"?

texts:
Just wanted to know how to write in a chat room the sound for "spit".

As in "meow" for the sound that a cat makes, what would you write for the sound of the verb "spit"?

(Google wasn't very helpful, so turning to some native speakers for some help)


texts: What's an elegent way to describe a phrase that flows nicely because its vowels and consonants alternate?

texts:
What know ye of an elegant way to describe a word or phrase that either perfectly or close-to-perfectly alternates vowels and consonants, either in sound or spelling?

Usage of such a word might include:

Honorificabilitudinatatibus is the longest ____________ic word in the English language.
People tend to call my parents "Jake and Alex" more often than "Alex and Jake." I think that's either because the former is a di-trochee or because it's a _________.
In non-_________ phrases, some consonants can become totally elided into their neighbors if the speaker's not careful. "Alex and Jake," said /'alɪksɛn'dʒɛɪk/ in my area, becomes vocally indistinguishable from both "Alex an Jake" and "Alex and Zhake."

I don't even know where to start with a dictionary or thesaurus search.

I'm hoping we can use formal or technical language for this. A compound word or phrase would be totally acceptable.


texts:
Can someone tell me how to make a sentence with "none but"?

None but they/them is/are responsible for it.


texts:
As far as I know, adverbs can't be placed between an object and a verb. But I have seen some sentences not following this rule. Could you please explain why adverbs are placed between objects and verbs?
Examples:

You can find below the list of accessories.

I saw yesterday that there was a crime.


texts: Colon advice for introducing horizontal list in scientific abstract

texts:
I'm writing a scientific article abstract. My first sentence reads:

  Knowing the detachment energy of single particles from liquid-liquid
  interfaces is  important in the design of soft materials: emulsions
  stabilised by colloidal particles,  colloidosomes designed for
  targeted drug delivery, or bio-sensors composed of magnetic  particles
  at liquid-liquid interfaces.

I'm not sure it sounds quite right, should I do something like this instead?

  Knowing the detachment energy of single particles from liquid-liquid
  interfaces is   important in the design of soft materials: e.g.
  emulsions stabilised by colloidal particles, colloidosomes designed
  for targeted drug delivery, or bio-sensors composed  of magnetic
  particles at liquid-liquid interfaces.

or

  Knowing the detachment energy of single particles from liquid-liquid
  interfaces is important in the design of soft materials, such as:
  emulsions stabilised by colloidal particles, colloidosomes designed
  for targeted drug delivery, or bio-sensors composed of magnetic
  particles at liquid-liquid interfaces.


texts: “I'm at a party?” (when you are a guest in someone's home)

texts:
Suppose that you are at your aunt's or uncle's house for dinner with your family. Not really for fun. It's just a common gathering talking together with relatives. In fact you are a guest. Suddenly your girlfriend or boyfriend calls you. You answer the phone and say this sentence to him/her:

  Hi, Sarah/Alex. May I call you back later? I'm at a party and can't talk to you very well.

My question is whether I can use the word party in this context, or is it (party) mostly used when you have a lot of fun?


texts: Word to describe someone who does whatever they please?

texts: I’m looking for a word that could be used to describe someone that does whatever he wants and doesn't listen to anyone else. Someone like Julius Caesar maybe?


texts: Does "abstruse" carry a positive or negative connotation?

texts:
Generally, does the word "abstruse" give positive or negative (or neutral) connotations?

For example, "daedal" and "profound" would generally be considered a word with positive connotations, whereas "confusing" would have negative connotations, and "abstract" would be neutral.

I am aware that the entire sentence needs to be taken into context before we can determine the connotation, but with just the word, what connotation does "abstruse" give generally?


texts: What would you call a person that nags a lot?

texts: If say one party has agreed to paint a shed and is now getting nagged by the nagger to do it. Is there a term better than "nagger"?


texts: Proper English translation for the Dutch word 'welstandsgebied' (roughly translates to 'wealth zone')

texts:
I'm trying to find the English translation for the Dutch word 'welstandsgebied', which roughly translates to something like 'wealth zone' in the context of land use control by municipalities.

A 'wealth zone' is an area that is controlled by a municipality (which issues building permits) to ensure that architectural cohesion is maintained on a predefined level. To my knowledge, nearly all built-up areas in the Netherlands are part of such a zone.

What is the proper English word or expression for this?


texts: Term for the review of available technologies

texts:
I'm looking for a phrase analogous to "literature review", but referring to the review of technologies available to solve a particular problem.

That is, what would I call the process of comparing the features and functionality of available software or hardware with the intention of selecting one to be implemented in a project?


texts: Need an alternative word for drop-off point

texts:
Can someone give me an alternative word for drop-off point? The way we use this word is to drop and pick up materials in an area.

What we do is we transport materials from one area to another area by material movement request. We don't store anything. We have a term "staging area" for the receiving end. A term we are looking for is for the final delivery area. Because of naming convention we can't use the term "drop point or drop off point". In some case we will pick up a material from final delivery area to staging area by MMR as well.


texts: Is there a proper term for an ex-friend?

texts: Like a term for someone you had a falling out with and no longer associate with? I'm looking for something that doesn't still have the term 'friend' in it.


texts: Meaning of 'He can't be bleat' in Witcher TV series song 'Toss a coin to your witcher'

texts:
I've been wondering about this particular lyric in the song 'Toss a coin to your Witcher' from the new Netflix series 'The Witcher'

The verse goes like this:

  They came after me
  with masterful deceit
  Broke down my lute
  and they kicked in my teeth
  While the devils horns
  minced our tender meat
  and so cried the witcher
  He can't be bleat

But I don't really understand the meaning here.

I've always understood bleat to be the sound sheep or lambs make
, or to talkabout something incessantly.

The only thing I could think of was that it the witcher saying he wouldn't make a sound no matter the torture, or something similar, but I'm not sure that makes sense.

While the meaning might be a bit subjective (it is a song lyric after all), are there any other meanings of bleat that I might not be aware of?


texts: Why does English have an indefinite article?

texts:
I've seen many non-native speakers of English not making use of indefinite articles, presumably since their first language did not contain them.  Thinking about this, and about the fact that even in English we get along fine without a plural indefinite article (only singular), I wonder why the indefinite article in theory is helpful.  It seems to be an arbitrary particle, without the use of which we lose no meaning:

  A tall man saw a black dog. --> Tall man saw black dog.

This sounds stilted; but if we switch gears to plural nouns, it sounds better without articles because English has no plural indefinite articles, only singular:

  Tall men saw black dogs.

The presumption here is that we could understand the nouns in the above sentences as if they had invisible indefinite articles.  Therefore, no article = indefinite article, as in many other languages, and as with English plural nouns. My basic question is this: What does the indefinite article accomplish?  I'm not asking if we should stop using it - obviously it's here to stay for the time being, but is there something I'm missing that supports its existence?  Was there a logical reason it came into being, or did it have a subconscious debut?  (OK, I'm a language cynic, but deep down, so are you. ;)

Apparently the article an (a being a variant) derives from the OE ān meaning "one,  in a weakened sense".  Is there any further etymology of the indefinite article, or did its usage arise around 950 A.D.?  Did English always have an indefinite article?  I'm asking because I want to see intermediate usages if possible: usages of a while a was still being born.


texts:
For the following example:

  I had seen many beautiful shops in UK, when I was walking down the street years ago.

I'm not sure if the phrase "years ago" at the end of this sentence is correct. Should I put it before the start of the sentence?


texts: Why exactly is this sentence the way it is?

texts:
I couldn't explain it in the title, my apologies. Now the sentence, in indirect-speech:

  Anne asked me who my favourite actor was

I know this sentence is correct, but WHY isn't it the following?

  Anne asked me who was my favourite actor

What is the grammatical explanation to the change in the verb's position?
I imagined it would be easy to find an answer online, but after quite some time spent searching it, I couldn't find an answer. I hope you can help me here.


texts: Where does the expression "A little birdie told me" come from?

texts: I see and hear this over and over again, and I have not the slightest idea where it comes from.


texts: Word describing a pre-ordered order status?

texts:
I'm looking for the most concise order status descriptor for an order where the customer is still selecting items (for example, they've put stuff in the bag, but they haven't checked out).

Other elements in the status list include:

ordered
pending action
cancelled
ready to pack
ready to ship
shipped

So what goes before ordered? pre-ordered of course means something else. Alternatives I've thought of all seem too long or don't fit well somehow: placed order, initiated, order in progress, preparing order, assembling, and selecting.

Is there a juicy word that nails the concept?


texts: The fleet of vehicles is controlled by GPRS. Is or are?

texts: "The fleet of vehicles is controlled by GPRS." is or are ? Which is correct?


texts: So I was talking to someone and I said the next :" that would be a lot more appropriate"  , the other person corrected me and said that I should say "much more appropriate"  . So I was wondering if I'm wrong ,  both of them are correct  or is there a rule that I should be following here ?


texts: Word/Phase Request for Betting On Low Odds

texts:
I'm looking for a term/phrase that means: a bet on low odds, someone who bets on low odds, or someone who bets against the odds and wins. Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Thanks!


texts: Sarcastic or rhetorical use of 'and who can blame him?'

texts:
Is the phrase "...and who can blame him?" ever used in a sarcastic or rhetorical manner when referring to someone who is in reality very blameworthy?

What is the meaning that is conveyed when this term is used generally?


texts: Looking for an *adverb* along the lines of limp/inanimate/dead

texts:
I think I've got a word in mind but it's not coming to me. The sentence in question revolves around an unconscious character's head "lolling from side to side" as he's carried across a room. I was going to say his head was "lolling limply from side to side," but I'm trying to think of a...more descriptive adverb. I'm looking for something that captures the essence of his unresponsiveness. The scene's POV character is extremely concerned about this character, and the way his head is moving makes her afraid he's going to die.

"Limply" works, but I'd just hoped to find something more specific, and I'm drawing a blank. Does anyone have any ideas based on the above description?


texts:
OK, here are a couple of recent examples:

  "How I taught my kids to get themselves ready for school"

  "Why the Australian Fintech market is taking off"

They aren't questions (no question mark), so what are they?


texts: What is the grammatical role of *your* in "... by your being ..." phrases?

texts:
While writing a sentence the other day, it struck me that the following phrase has an odd feel to it that I cannot explain:

Everyone will benefit by your being well cared for.

I kept wanting to use you're but I knew that wasn't right yet somehow the word your in this context feels sort-of possessive (as it should) and at the same time sort of verb-like. I can't explain it any better than that and maybe someone with better grammar chops than I have can help me understand how it fits grammatically in this context.

Another way looking at this might be:
"Why does this usage of your seem to create a grammatical dissonance?"


texts: Difference in application of "in" and "at"

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  “In school” vs “at school”

I've been writing some rules for an NLP recently, and I've come across a small problem... What is the difference in the use of "in" and "at". For example, you could say "I am in Hawaii right now", however you would (most likely) not say "I am at Hawaii right now".

You might say "I am in school right now" (implying that you are physically within the boundaries of "school"), but you might also say "I am at school right now" (meaning that you could be within school, next to school, or at the concept of school).

Any ideas for what the differences between the two are?


texts: I have to make flashcards for my AP Lang class, but I can't find what a "mock euphemism" is anywhere. Can anyone help?


texts:
–verb (used without object) Digital Technology.
  15.
  to send a text message: Texting while driving is an accident asking to happen.

Can I use:

  I text to her but she didn't text me back.
  I will text on your facebook later.

What about the simple past and past participle forms? Is it text, text, text?