texts: Which word would be most suitable? Shipping cost, shipping price, or shipping fee?

texts:
Please help me decide.
I have an Online Store and provide worldwide shipping.
Which word should I use in the part that we charge customers for the shipping?
Shipping cost? Shipping price? or Shipping fee?

I kind of would like to make customers feel the most comfortable?
Or do you suggest any other words?

Thank you very much.


texts: What is the 1896 source for the origin of "dyke"?

texts:
I've been doing research on LGBTQ+ terminology recently and I've come across pretty much the same sentence about the origin of the English derogatory/reclaimed term "dyke":

  a source from 1896 lists dyke as slang for "the vulva."

This same sentence is found on the Online Etymology Dictionary, Queer Cafe, Dictionary.com, etc. (most of which cite the Online Etymology Dictionary).

However, the OED's first record referring to lesbian women isn't until 1931. I thought that perhaps the 1896 date on the Online Etymology Dictionary originated from the same source as this passage:

  [T]he word appears first in the long forms, bulldiker and bulldyking, both
      used in the 1920s by American blacks. No African antecedents have been found
      for the term, however, which leads to the possibility that this is basically
      just another backcountry, barnyard word, perhaps a combination of BULL and
      DICK. [Rawson]

Which I was able to find in Rawson's 1989 Wicked Words... But not the mysterious 1896 source...

Was this 1896 source made up? Does it actually exist? Any clues to its whereabouts would be much appreciated!

Thanks so much!

EDIT: I'd like to sincerely apologize for the above language, specifically "Was this 1896 source made up?" After conversing with Mr. Harper via email, as Laurel suggested in the comments, he has been extremely helpful and I do not want anything to reflect negatively on his credibility or the credibility of his site, which is a fantastic resource for etymology. I was under the impression that sources had cited other sources in a sort of phone-tag manner, where none were actually the 1896 source. Mr. Harper has clarified that this is not the case.

EDIT 2: Turns out my university library has access to the non-condensed version of Green's Slang Dictionary, which puts a specific reference as "c. 1930 (ref. to late 19C) N. Kimball Amer. Madam (1981) 19: I had a housekeeper - usually an old dyke." The term 'bull-dyke' is noted even earlier: "1892 Decatur (IL) Daily Rev. 29 July 7(?)/2: ... She went to Blanche Alexander's place, at 101 Custom House place, in search of Belle Watkins, who, she said, had won the affections of Harvey Neal, alias 'Bulldyke.' Bell [sic] heard of her coming and escaped, but as soon as the woman got inside of the house she began firing right and left." However, it still seems like the 1896 source isn't in Green's... (unless the late 19C reference is to the 1896 source).


texts: What do you call a murderer who burns their victims alive?

texts:
I promise this isn't as weird as it sounds. I've tried a bit of Googling but I can't find anything that works well.

I'm looking for a single word for a pyromaniac that burns people alive. The question, What is the Single Word for Burning Alive? it told me about the word "immolation" which is the verb for burning people alive (usually in ritual sacrifices). But I can't find a noun for the person who does it. I would also be fine with some kind of religious term for the priest who performs a burning sacrifice. If all else fails, it can be the person who sacrifices animals if there isn't a word for people.


texts:
I'm reading a book where it is curiously written that someone was opportune to do something, implying that they had the opportunity to do it, but I can't find that usage anywhere else:

The man was opportune to meet the lady.

Is this correct?


texts: Is there a word for the opposite side of 'tip'?

texts: I would like to write something like 'A marker is mounted on the tail of the surgical instrument'. Is 'tail' a formal word to describe the other side of 'tip'? It sounds kind of informal to me and I'm looking for a formal word. Thanks for any help.


texts: What is the North American variant of a tower block?

texts:
What is the American variant for a "tower block". A "tower block" may contain both residential apartments and offices in the same building. I have heard the terms like "apartment buildings", residential buildings", "apartment towers", "residential towers", "apartment blocks". But I think they all refer to buildings that contain only residential apartments and provide no space for commercial activities, correct me if I am wrong.

Let me tell you in Pakistan "commercial plaza" is a more common term for buildings that are used exclusively for business or commercial activities and not for residential purpose. Okay, let's just get back to the main topic I am looking for the exact term used in North America for a such a building that provide space for both residential and commercial purposes just as "tower block" a term used in British English.

Some people suggest "Skyscraper" is more common in the US but Skyscraper is a building with more than 50 floors and there could be buildings with less than 50 floors that offer space for both residential and commercial purposes at the same time in the same building. I am looking for what these buildings are called in the USA and Canada.


texts: How to describe the situation that reverse the reason and result?

texts:
For example:

A: My wage is low so I do my work slowly

B: No! Your wage is low just because you do your work slowly, you xxxxxx(some words or sentences to describe reverse the reason and result)

How to describe the situation in xxxxxx properly?


texts:
A couple days ago I stumbled upon a sentence that I couldn't get my head around.

In the sentence:

  I have read all of his books, Gregor gave me the first book.

I know it sounds wrong if you say:

  I have read all of his books, Gregor has given me the first book.

but could someone please explain to me why the present perfect tense can't be used in the second sentence?


texts:
Can someone tell me the meaning of the word "split" in a part of a sentence that I read on a certain book which I don't remember anymore. Part of the sentence that I recall is:

  his death came at a time when the movement was split


texts:
A given sentence may be analyzed in many ways. For example, grammatical analysis, in principle, would analyze from grammatical point of view.

Suppose I am analyzing a word (a concept) and I start by its dictionary definition and analyze only in that regard. What would the word "grammatical" in the above sentence be replaced with in this case? I thought of "lexical analysis", but I think that is wrong.

EDIT

Example: Suppose the word in focus is to reason in some philosophical context. But before delving into philosophical points I want to discuss the dictionary definition (perhaps to point out that the dictionary definition is too confusing, or self-serving, or whatever). And suppose before the discussion I making a relevant sub-heading. ***** Analysis (What analysis?)

I think literal analysis is also wrong for the following reason: Suppose I am discussing the word devil:

  Literally the word devil means “distant” as in “distant from the
  mercy of God ...”

Thus, when I say "literally" it suggests that the literal meaning is different from its general usage. But that's not the case in the above example.


texts: How to correctly apply "in which", "of which", "at which", "to which", etc?

texts:
How does one correctly apply “in which”, “of which”, “at which”, “to which”, etc.?

I'm confused with which one to apply when constructing sentences around these.


texts: "You turned the page, I burned the book" meaning?

texts:
"You turned the page, I burned the book"

What is the meaning of this quote?
According to the dictionary, "turn the page" means

to begin to behave in a more positive way after a period of
difficulties

This can also mean moving on to a new chapter in life. However, I am unable to figure out the meaning behind "I burned the book". Does the book signify life? What does "burned the book" represent if "turning the page" means moving on?


texts: Meaning of "having moved the application" in a court context

texts:
Here is the text with the preceding paragraph:

Without much hesitation, the then Attorney General of Kaduna State, Mr. Rabo Barde stood up and informed the court that of the state’s decision to discontinue with the case. The press and indeed the policemen present were highly surprised with his statement: “I, Mr. Rabo Barde, the Attorney General of the State, by the powers conferred unto me by ... , move for the discontinuance of the case of a three- count charge filed against Sheikh Ibraheem Yaqub Zakzaky, Alhaji Hamidu Danlami, Abubakar Abduallahi and Shittu Muhammad”.
Having moved the application, Justice Adamu Abdul Kafarati shrugged off his shoulders in total resignation and turned to Sheikh Zakzaky for his response. (source)

What does the phrase in bold mean?
Thanks in advance!


texts:
Often—in fiction—a character might say, "it's been seven moons since the death of my aunt Wilma." What exactly is a "moon"? How many moons are in an hour, in a day, in a week?

I'm scientifically interested in "moons" as a unit of time. Obviously, this varies based on what planet you are on, and of course, which moon you are referring to, but Earth has only one moon, so for the purpose of this question, Earth is the context.


texts:
Long story short: A player can choose from different items, and wishes to have the best one. Would the player say:

  I want to have the overall best item.

or

  I want to have the best item overall.

?


texts:
Does it mean having been drunken?

https://hermeneutics.stackexchange.com/questions/8887/how-to-interpret-john-210

says that methiosin in the bible means alcoholic intoxication

Words similar to it are all drunk related
http://biblehub.com/greek/strongs_3184.htm

It seems the word drunk in english can mean two things. It can mean alcoholic intoxication. It can also be the past participle form of drink.

Yet the word methiosin is translated as

http://biblehub.com/greek/methustho_sin_3184.htm

have drunk freely
men have well drunk
they might have drunk freely

I wonder if the english translation means have been drunken (alcoholy intoxicated) or does it mean something else (like being not thirsty anymore). Does it mean that the men have simply drunk a lot of liquid (not necessarily intoxicating)

What does have drunk freely means? Does it mean being drunk?


texts:
Consider the following example sentence:
"If in addition he is happy, we are done."
What is the correct place for the comma(s) for the phrase "If in addition"? I see two possiblities:

If, in addition, he...
If in addition, he....

Are both acceptable or just the first one?


texts: What's the origin of the term microbe? According to related definitions and topics, I think it may be micro + be. If it is, what does "be" stand for?


texts: "I remember the day where" vs. "I remember the day when"

texts:
What is the difference between "I remember the day where..." and "I remember the day when..."?

I think both are used in both written and spoken English. Can we say that "when" makes more sense when we are talking about a specific point in time?


texts: high-energy electrons vs. high-energetic electrons

texts:
I am writing some text about a population of electrons with very high energies. Which of the following statement is correct (or "better" as compared to the others):

[...] a population of high-energy electrons.
[...] a population of high-energetic electrons.
[...] a population of highly-energetic electrons.


texts: What do you call faking to speak a foreign language?

texts:
You can watch examples of this in the following Danny Kaye video that compiles scenes from several of his movies:

Fan Tribute - Danny Kaye: Master of Many Many Tongues...Indeed

Or in Chaplin's "The Great Dictator" too:

The Great Dictator - Fake German Speech Scene (No "Translations")

In short, it's all about mimicking intonation, sounds, even gestures of the foreign speakers, as perceived to the speakers of your own language, just to give the impression that you're actually speaking the foreign one.

I think it's mainly used in humor:

Italian interpreter?

Is there a term (verb or noun) for this gibberish just to fake you speak a foreign language? Is this a rhetorical figure with a name?

This scene is an example of an improvised [rh.fig.] by Charles Chaplin.

Or may be there exists a verb:

Danny Kaye usually [verb]s in his movies.


texts:
I was given the following question for comprehension pasted below:

  What does John mean when he says that he would only win his own money?

And I answered that John meant that Marry won't be betting any money, so he will be winning only his own money. Professor marked it incorrect. Can you please what exactly is the problem?

I have marked the relevant information in bold letters in the comprehension passage.

  "Hullo," said John, "it's raining again. What a nuisance I Now we
  shan't be able to play tennis this afternoon."

  "No," said Mary, "I suppose we shan't. Let's stay at home and stick
  some photographs in our book, shall we?"

  "Do you really want to?" said John rather doubt. fully. "I thought you
  said you didn't like doing it because it was so messy."

  "Oh,' replied Mary, "I'll just watch you sticking them in."

  "Oh, no, you won't," said John. "You've done that to me before. You'll
  have to do your share, my girl I " "All right. Then what about playing
  cards? You're keen enough on doing that with your friends at the
  club."

  "But you don't know how to play," protested John. "That's all right.
  You can teach me, can't you? You taught me to drive a car."

  "Well, it's not much fun teaching someone to play cards. The whole
  point of playing cards is the chance of winning."

  "You'd be sure to win if you played with me, because I don't know how
  to play. Surely that would be better than playing with your friends,
  because you sometimes lose there."

  "But if I did win when I was playing against you, I would only win my
  own money."

  Mary laughed. Then she said. "All right, I think we'll just have to go
  to the cinema. There's a good film on at the Grand, isn't there?"

  "Not the Grand," said John. "The Splendid."

  "Oh, yes," said Mary. "I keep on getting them mixed up. The Grand's
  the one down by the river, isn't it?"

  "Yes," answered John. "After we've been here a few more weeks we'll
  know everything there is to know about this town: it's small enough.
  Well, we'd better go, or we'll be too late for the matinee. Have you
  got your umbrella back from Jane yet, or will you have to go on
  sharing mine?"

  "No, I got mine back. I came across Jane in a shop this morning. She
  was carrying my umbrella, but she put it down for a moment while she
  looked in her handbag for some money. So I picked the umbrella up and
  started to walk out. The shopkeeper was horrified. He said, 'Madam,
  that umbrella belongs to this lady!' 'No, it doesn't,' I answered, 'it
  belongs to me.' 'That's right,' said Jane. 'It does.' You should have
  seen the shopkeeper's face! He didn't know whether to believe his eyes
  or his ears-especially as Jane pretended never to have seen me before:
  you know how she loves a joke!"


texts: "There is/are more than one". What's the difference?

texts:
While adding to an Answer to this question, I needed to use the above phrase, and I suddenly realised I was unsure whether to write "is" or "are".

There is more than one way to skin a cat.
If there are more than one species of cat, we will flay each species differently.

I don't think that second example above sounds quite right to me (disregarding the meaning - sorry!), but in my original Answer I felt "is" would have been even worse.

Is "are" always wrong here? If so, what exactly is the rationale? If not, is there a case where it's unquestionably preferred – and why is that?

Note that in both the problematic Answer and my example attempting to mimic the same context more briefly, the writer doesn't know how many there are. There may be one, more, or even none.

Getting even more specific, the writer might have an opinion on how many there might be, and wish to convey his leanings by choice of verb form if language allows this to be done succinctly.


texts:
How come the following two clauses connected with a comma (the third comma) instead of conjunction or period?

  The firm, Revolution, plans to raise up to $100 million for that fund's investment, it disclosed in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. (The New York Times, Nov 19, 2017)

If there is any specific rule. Please let me know.


texts:
On the other side of the room, Miles hit the button that automatically unlocked the front door. Then cracked the one leading into the building, the sound of heavy footfalls climbing the steps.

What i got is that means the sound of how he lead into the building?


texts: "strange-noise-making machine" is a correct phrase?

texts:
I wonder if these phrase following is correct? Can you help me

"strange-noise-making machine"

"Make-strange-noise machine"

If they are not correct, how can we fix it?

Examples:

My motorbike is obsolete, it is really a strange-noise-making machine.
My motorbike is obsolete, it is really a make-strange-noise machine.


texts:
What's the difference between "in order that" and "in order to"?

For example, is there any difference in nuance between the two sentences below?

  We are all servants of the laws in order to be free.
  We are all servants of the laws in order that we be free.


texts: Would you write "an error was fixed" in scientific work?

texts:
I am not sure if

Error ABC was fixed by preprocessing algorithm XYZ.

is "slang". Can it be written in scientific work? Is there a better way to say it?

The context is in machine learning, where a preprocessing algorithm detects errors that are caused by hardware faults which occur only once in a while.


texts: What is a proper word for "manner of speech"?

texts: In the same way as the word "gait" exists to describe someone's way of walking, what is a word that means someone's manner of speech? I have looked up the question myself before, but google does not even seem to understand the way I worded the question, and I came up with nothing.


texts: Am I obligated to refer to darkness as "it" in this sentence?

texts:
So I was writing a little something and I thought of this sentence:
"In darkness, I found a friend, and she held my hand."
At first, I referred to darkness as "it", but it felt like it didn't deliver the meaning quite well. But then again, English isn't my first language and I could be wrong.
Which do you think sounds better? And is my sentence grammatically correct?


texts: Synonym with positive connotation for "peeping through the door"

texts:
She peeped through the door asking for permission to enter.

Does peeped through have a negative connotation? If so, is there a better word or phrase to be used in such context?


texts:
Is the description for a video grammatically correct:

  Deep insights into our daily labour as chemists: Have fun!

I didn't find the expression daily labour in the Corpus of Contemporary American English.

Is it better to write:

  Deep insights into our daily work as chemists ;-7 Have fun!"

;-7 declares the irony.


texts:
Which is correct - same day last year or same date last year? Can we use same day/date instead?

e.g.: We went to the place the same day last year


texts:
Is there a single word for the text within quotation marks in the citation below?

  All such statements [entity doesn’t exist] are casual short-hand for a more elaborate and technical statement: “this alleged entity has no place in any scientific equations, plays no role in any scientific explanations, cannot be used to predict any events, does not describe any thing or force that has yet been detected, and there are no models of the universe in which its presence is either required, productive, or useful.”


texts: Is the term "disillusion" being used correctly here?

texts:
It's easy to disillusion ourselves by thinking just because the output of our function looks very random, that it is very random.

I asked a friend about this passage.  I argue that it should read:

  It's easy to trick ourselves into thinking that just because the output of our function looks very random, that it is very random."

Miriam Webster defines disillusion thus: "to cause (someone) to stop believing that something is good, valuable, true, etc."

Please help us settle the dispute: is "disillusion" being used properly here?


texts: Alternate word for [ASAP] "as soon as possible"

texts:
I have requested for some access request from my colleague and I haven't got any reply from his side. To remind him about my request, instead of

  ASAP give access to me.

Please suggest a perfect word, with polite sound.


texts: What is the logic behind finding out the primary stress on syllable in the given word?

texts:
For example, the word co·a·li·tion has its primary stress on the third syllable.

Therefore, on which syllable does the word el·e·phant have its primary stress?


texts: Is it correct to say "in their excursion.."?

texts: When describing an event that affects the participant in the middle of an excursion, would it be right to say "in their excursion" or "during their excursion"? Is there a better way to phrase this. (I have to use the word 'excursion'.)


texts:
In the Life of Flavius Josephus, as translated by Whiston in the 18th century, Josephus says:

Moreover, when I was a child, and about fourteen years of age, I was
commended by all for the love I had to learning; on which account the
high priests and principal men of the city came then frequently to me
together, in order to know my opinion about the accurate understanding
of points of the law. And when I was about sixteen years old, I had a
mind to make trim of the several sects that were among us.

What does "make trim of" mean? Try on for size? Evaluate?


texts: Is ”If I leave, it’s because Bob has arrived” ambiguous?

texts:
If I leave, it’s because Bob has arrived.

Does this mean:

Bob has not arrived yet. When Bob does arrive (shortly), I may
leave.
Bob is here now and requesting my attention. Therefore, I may
leave shortly.

Or is the sentence inherently ambiguous?

Is there a name for this subjunctive–future-tense ambiguity?

MAJOR EDIT: Apparently, this sentence was even more ambigious than I thought!

The situation: I'm chatting online with someone. I say:

"If I leave, it’s because Bob has arrived."

My meaning: when Bob arrives, I will stop chatting with you, and attend to Bob.

My chat partner's interpretation: Bob has already arrived, and, any
moment now, you will attend to Bob and stop talking to me.


texts: Does absence of articles in computer-related sentences look natural?

texts: I'm a non-native speaker (actually from Russia) and for us the articles (a, an, the) came as a thing that we just have to adopt. We do not have not similar constructions in Russian. Menus I see in programs, and other short phrases related to computer user interfaces usually lack articles (for example Open Location and something like this). I'm wondering, does it look natural for a native English speaker or is it something one is getting used to?


texts: Where does the phrase "doctored" originate?

texts:
This is a phrase I’m particularly confused about, because it’s used often when something is manipulated or changed.

For example, sometimes images surface online that are clearly Photoshopped, but people refer to them as “doctored” images. Why use the word “doctored” here?


texts: What is a single word for something that takes on shape slowly?

texts:
I am looking for a single word describing something that takes on shape slowly (such as a silhouette in the night that gets more defined the closer you get to it).

It would be great if the word could be used for the process of getting to know someone better (their character would be taking on shape slowly the more you get to know them).


texts: Is saying "bucolic countryside" redundant?

texts:
Good morning/afternoon/evening, linguistic aficionados,

My title is fairly self-explanatory. I would like to give a review for a local park. I would like my review to say something to the effect of, "A quiet, small rural park in the bucolic countryside of Michigan's Thumb region".

Is "bucolic countryside" redundant? Should I use the following review instead? "A quiet, small rural park in a bucolic setting in Michigan's Thumb region.".


texts: Referring to a picture, the question is "Who is he?" The answer I got back was "he is me". Is that correct? Shouldn't it be "It is me"?


texts: Is there a word for this kind of figure of speech

texts:
Is there any specific name for this type of question or statement?

If I ask someone a yes/no type question

"Have you lost your mind?"

then either answer(yes or no) is degrading to the person replying.

No - ok you never had it.

Yes - could mean he has gone crazy.

There could also be a statement made to a person, which if that person refutes he is shown in bad light or even if he agrees, it is bad for him. Is there any name for such device?

Any examples of such devices(questions or statements) where I could read more of this type.


texts:
I am trying to find a term/word for the phrase "If you do not go, I will not go" in the context of trying to put pressures on others to attend events.  I have begun to hear this heavily as we approach Christmas and am curious, is this technically a related form of Extortion?  I am not sure what is a good place to ask this, so apologies in advance if this doesn't belong here, but I am looking for a dictionary term/word that describes this.

Wikipedia's definition of Extortion is "...a criminal offense of obtaining money, property, or services from an individual or institution, through coercion."  Technically attendance could be seen as a service, and it could be coercion if you feel pressured to do something for fear of social rejection, but I don't think this is a criminal offense and seems too negative a term to explain it.

Am I stretching here?  FYI not looking for legal advice or anything, just curious from a language stand point for sake of arguments with friends, etc.  I imagine there is probably a far better, less negative/illegal term for this.


texts: A general word for weapons which are not considered firearms

texts:
Is there a general word for an assault weapon which cannot be considered firearm? For example knives, knuckles, a piece of metal, etc.

Could 'Stabbing' be the right word for it?


texts: Is the pronoun THAT used as anaphora or cataphora?

texts:
"When we analyzed all the news stories and removed just ONE STORY,
  here's how the world looked. What was THAT story? THE DEATH OF ANNA
  NICOLE SMITH. This story eclipsed every country except Iraq, and
  received 10 times the coverage of the IPCC report."

As I understand it, the pronoun THAT refers to the "one story" so it's used as an anaphora, and when I read the sentence I didn't actually expect that the author would explain about which story she is talking: it is just an example.
But she goes on to say that THAT story is "the death of Anna Nicole Smith", so the pronoun THAT is also used as a cataphora as the author refers to the further information.

In the following examples I have the same problem:

  One reason is that news networks have reduced the number of their
  foreign bureaus by half.

THAT is an anaphora - referring to the "one reason" or cataphora referring to the  "news networks have reduced the number of their foreign bureaus by half"

and

  Aside from one-person ABC mini-bureaus in Nairobi, New Delhi and
  Mumbai, there are no network news bureaus in all of Africa, India or
  South America -- places that are home to more than two billion people.

Here 'that' refers to the "Africa, India or South America -- places "  - anaphora or "are home to more than two billion people"  - cataphora.


texts: OED Appeals: Antedatings of football "header"

texts:
The OED has made a public appeal for help in tracing the history of some English words, including:

  header

  noun earlier than 1891

  OED researchers have traced the history of header in the football (soccer) sense of ‘a shot, pass, or clearance made by heading the ball’ back to 1891. It appears in the caption to an illustration of a player heading the ball in an annual publication of the Scottish Football League:

    1891 ‘Gush’ Heads & Tales 32 (caption), Header.

  However, we know from our research that the verbal use of head to describe the action (‘heading the ball’) goes back to at least 1871; with your help, we would like to see if an example of header in the football sense from before 1891 can be found.

If you find anything earlier, please also consider posting on the OED site.


texts: Do we “book a seat” or “buy a seat” on a train?

texts:
I'm actually confused about “book a seat” or “buy a seat” on the second class train.

Can we _______ a seat on the second class train?


texts: Is There a Name for the Lines of an Arrowhead?

texts:
Given an arrow head symbol, formed by two lines, is there a name for each of  these lines, individually?
If not, perhaps a term that could be used to clearly convey that idea?
For example: "arrowhead edge"?

If I had to choose among flavors,
I would prefer a term that would be understood in American English.

Note:
I'm getting answers and comments describing an arrow head.
I don't want that.
I want to know the name of a line that makes up half of an arrow head.


texts: Name for equivocal similes such as found in hip-hop lyrics?

texts:
I've observed a figure of speech used heavily by rappers which uses the basic construction of a simile—a "this like that" comparison—when the similarity in the comparison is purely linguistic. That is, rather than comparing two actually similar entities, a purely equivocal connection is drawn between two entities.

An example that comes quickly to mind a phrase from Canon's song "Let 'Em Have It" on his new EP, Loose Canon:

  Trust me, quote me like I'm State Farm

State Farm gives insurance quotes—which is an entirely different kind of quote than intended by "quote me".

Normally, this might be considered to be a defective simile. However, I have heard it entirely too many times by too many different talented lyricists to believe that—I think it is a valid figure of speech within this art form. By the deliberate use of "like" in a dissimilar construction, Canon lends a playful feel to his lyrics and makes them more memorable.

For lack of a better name, I would be tempted to call it an equivocal simile. But is there an established name for this figure of speech? Is it known to exist outside of hip-hop in English usage?


texts: "Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar" -- meaning?

texts:
I know this quote was supposed to be uttered by Sigmund Freud (may not be definitely). What I'm concerned here is not 'who said it?' but the idea behind this quote/phrase and it's actual meaning.

I also googled extensively about it, finding only very confusing posts.
For example, here and here.

I would be really glad to hear all kinds of interpretations that you've got for this quirky statement.


texts: Is a date written “Jan. 3” pronounced January third, or is it pronounced January three?


texts:
The preface of the book, Physics and Music (Dover Publications), states:

Almost everyone enjoys music, whether as a performer or as a listener.

I was wondering if such a repetition of as is necessary (and correct) to convey the intended meaning. Is the following construction grammatical (and preferred instead)?

Almost everyone enjoys music, whether as a performer or a listener.

And I believe that the determiner a is required before both 'performer' and 'listener'. In other words,... whether as a performer or listener is not grammatical. Correct?


texts: Confused about why some formations with "neither/either" are incorrect

texts:
Canada does not require that U.S. citizens obtain passports to enter the country, and Mexico doesn't either.

My question is why would these be incorrect if we use them after "and" as it is:

Mexico does neither.
Neither Mexico does.


texts: Is "will just need to [verb]" grammatical?

texts:
Consider this sentence on an official form:

  To change the arrangement, you will just need to fill up a new
  application form.

For some reason, the phrase "you will just need to" sounds awkward.

Is it correct/grammatical?


texts:
The following is an excerpt from the blog posted by "a third culture kid" in the Japan Times.
What does "Individual things that make us, us." mean?
This sentence looks incomplete and how can you make it complete?

“Everyone is different, and that’s what makes life interesting,” Osaka tweeted last year. “We all have our own backgrounds and stories. Individual things that make us, us.” I couldn’t agree more with her statement.


texts:
Which of the following sentences is correct?

The people on the verge of society or The people on the edge of society?

i thought either on the verge of and on the edge of had the same meaning but my english professor told me there are some cases in which they differ from one another.


texts: Suitable saying for "different people like/dislike different things"?

texts:
Suppose I have some problem when someone takes an action 'X' on me which I find highly offensive and which makes me feel bad but it may/may not effect other individuals if used on them. A friend of mine has a bad habit of claiming that 'X' is not something to get mad at and he says that action 'X' does not have any effect on him and also he considers individuals who find 'X' offensive to be stupid.

The idea which I want to convey to him is:

  Different people like/dislike different things.

But I need a colloquial saying (metaphorical maybe) or natural expression to use while having a conversation with him.

Do any popular saying exist that would get this idea across? If you have any self-made expression, I would deeply appreciate it if you could share it.


texts: What is the difference between "sign" and "symbol"?

texts:
For example:

A piece of meat with hair on it was a symbol of important events such as declaring war, a victorious army's return, or sad news.

A piece of meat with hair on it was a sign of important events such as declaring war, a victorious army's return, or sad news.

For example:

In some places, the bridegroom plants some banana trees and sugar canes in front of his house, the banana trees a wish for the prosperity of later generations, and the sugar canes a sweet sign of a happy life.

In some places, the bridegroom plants some banana trees and sugar canes in front of his house, the banana trees a wish for the prosperity of later generations, and the sugar canes a sweet symbol of a happy life.

example 1 and 3 are what I read in an article (a Chinese-English translation).
I looked up in a dictionary and found that sometimes "sign" means "indication" but I am still confused.
Are example 2 and 4 correct?


texts: What does "sex sells" mean? (and its origin)

texts:
The meaning might look obvious but I'm asking in a broader sense.

Is it only pertaining to sex in advertising and is it only related to selling products?

What is the origin of this phrase? When did it go beyond advertisement industry?

Did it gain a broader definition and widespread usage with the increasing popularity of internet?


texts: What is a word that encompasses drugs, supplements, and foods?

texts:
I want a word to use to describe a drug, vitamin, mineral, supplement, herb, food, or spice that you can take to treat a disease or that would affect the body.

I want to put a label on these things. I want to be able to write something like:

_____s that have been shown to be effective in treating heart disease: garlic, resveratrol, aspirin, and statins.

The word "treatment" might be good above, but I'd like to be able to use the same word for things that are not treatments. It may not be a disease either. It may just be a mechanism. For example:

_____s that may increase blood pressure: sodium, caffeine, and some antidepressants.

It would be nice if the word could encompass activities, like exercises, or diets, like a paleo diet or Mediterranean diet. Those would be nice to have.

I suppose I could use the word "drugs" or "supplements" even though it would not always be accurate. I'm considering using the word "agents". The word "biologics" sounds general, but the definitions I have read are too specific.


texts: "We should fixate a day every week to meet each other." Does this sentence sound natural?

texts: If I want to meet a friend on a weekly basis, how can I express that we need to schedule a day every week to meet on? For instance, every Tuesday. Can I say "let's fixate a day every week to meet on"?


texts: How is “account” different with “theory”, “model” or “approach”?

texts:
For example, this article about Personal Autonomy is talking about "Four More or Less Overlapping Accounts of Personal Autonomy". I understand that "account" here can be substituted with:

approach
explanation
model
theory
consideration
perspective

However, I don't know when to use "account" instead of the others. Plus that the closest meaning of account in this context would be: "a written or spoken description of an event". Still, I find it's still quite far from "approach".
I reask this question on Philosophy SE.
A comment from the meta Why are questions about the usage of synonyms off-topic? regarding the closure of this post, which I agree: "Yes, the OP could have produced a lengthy question, cluttered with vague definitions from general-purpose dictionaries, just to prove that they have been 'looked up', but that would have only confirmed what both the OP and most of the rest of us can be assumed to already know: the meanings of these words are close and overlapping. The question made it obvious that the OP was seeking an explanation of the nuances that go beyond that, from those who have greater experience with the actual use of these words."


texts:
Could you please explain to me this sentence?

  Sophie had to play Tiger Woods in golf in just one month"

The sentence should be correct as it is taken from English classes. Why don't the say

  Sophie had to play with Tiger woods"

Would it be incorrect if I would use a word "with"?


texts: A person who twists facts to appear infallible?

texts:
What is the correct term for a person who twists facts and provides misinterpretations in an effort to appear infallible?

The kind of person who is given a simple logic puzzle, fails to solve it correctly and tries to persuade others that he was in fact correct e.g. by denying obvious implications that were necessary to be deduced in order to find the correct solution.


texts: What does the meaning of the phrase "couldn't be more"?

texts:
I have a question about the word "optimistic" from the Peter Klein's resignation letter. He wrote:

  One noteworthy characteristic of Finance is the regularity of its
  rhythm – month end, quarter end, year end. Every one of those
  milestones marks the passage of time. And as time passes, and
  milestones are marked, we all periodically reflect on our lives, our
  goals, and our priorities. As we approach the end of the fiscal year,
  I have been reflecting in that way. And I have decided that now is a
  good time for me to step away from Microsoft and take some time to
  spend with my family in a way that I haven't had the opportunity to do
  in the 30 years I have been working.

  This has not been an easy decision. I love Microsoft. I love my job.
  When I joined Microsoft 11 years ago I had this loosely held belief
  that people were one of the most important elements of any job or any
  company. I had no idea how profoundly true that is, but I do now.
  People are everything. Microsoft is the most amazing collection of
  talented, passionate and caring people I could ever imagine being
  associated with. It's been an honor and my good fortune to have been
  part of that.

  I am proud of the work that Finance has done and the impact we have
  had on the Company. One reason that now is a good time to leave is
  that the organization is very strong, and I am delighted we will be
  naming an internal candidate. I couldn't be more optimistic about both
  the Company's and Finance's future.

  Looking ahead, I have no specific plans. In the short term I will work
  to ensure a smooth transition. After that I intend to spend time with
  my extended family which is dispersed throughout the country and
  hopefully get to some long deferred travel. For the last 11 years
  Microsoft has been my family and now I am going to focus on my other
  family.

  Thanks for being such a great team – I will follow your success with
  great interest and pride.

  Peter

From my understanding, the word "optimistic" mean to expect that a good thing will happen in the future. But from the bold sentence, it sounds like he doesn't hope that good things will happen at Microsoft.


texts:
I am wondering what is the difference between these two words? I often hear:

the fear dissipates
the pain subsides

But what's the real difference?

Also, where can I look for the subtle, or not so subtle, differences of words? Are there any good resources?


texts:
is there a single word to describe an indeterminate less-than-yearly frequency?

Consider the following >

A plan costs $100 annually. The user can choose to pay

semi-annually, amounting to 2 payments of $52 [$104]
quarterly, amounting to 4 payments of $27 [$108]
monthly, amounting to 12 payments of $10 [$120]

Now, I'm looking for a word to say that, should they choose <%less-than-yearly> frequency, the service will be more expensive.


texts: These are two words that have baffled me for long. Dependency is given as 'excessive dependence' in Chambers, but I would love to know how the spoken usage is. My guess is dependency has a political touch to it. In addition, there is an independency as well in the dictionaries, though it does not sound popular.


texts: Tone of voice expressing anger, frustration, and impatience

texts:
Is there a specific word for this? I've looked for a bit, and have returned with the word sharp
I'm wondering if there is another word of this.
An example sentence would be
"Jane yelled back in a _____ voice."
I'm repeating both in the same paragraph, so I would like to reduce redundancy.
(edit: I forgot to add, loud. Loud voice expressing anger, frustration and impatience)


texts:
In painting (as well as in photography, I suspect) there's full face, profile, half-profile, and three quarters. Here's an example demonstrating three of the four (Portrait of Charles I, the one that got his head chopped off in Twenty Years After, by Van Dyck):

But what do you call this (typical Whistler, by the way):


texts: Why do we say "Present Arms" instead of "Present Your Arms"?

texts:
There is a military command to Present Arms.

And, depending upon the military and the situation, the typical response is to either salute or hold one's weapon in front of them in the prescribed manner.

I've always wondered why this became the standard construction for this command in place of Present Your Arms or Present The Arms?

It just strikes me as a strange construct even for an imperative.  It feels like it's missing an article or a possessive which would normally be present.

You wouldn't say:  Wash plates!, or Open door!

Rather, you'd say: Wash your plates!, Open the Door!

Is this just a nod to brevity?  Is there a historical reason for the deletion of articles from military jargon?


texts:
The following sentence is quoted from the preface of this book.

  Insisting on the subtle aspects and developments of no-arbitrage
  theory more than is necessary would take space from the other theory
  we need to address in the book and that is more important for our
  purposes.

I have difficulty to understand the sentence precisely. Is there an inversion in the sentence? How can I rewrite it into simple sentences?


texts:
I wonder if the second sentence is correct.

  Let "a" be the number of apples, "b" be the number of bananas, and "c" be the number of oranges.

and

  Let "a" be the number of apples, "b" the number of bananas, and "c" the number of oranges.


texts: "(1) stop, (2) drop, (3) and roll" or "(1) stop, (2) drop, and (3) roll"

texts: Which is correct, formally speaking, or is either acceptable based on style and consistency?


texts: How does negation affect the use and understanding of "or" and "and"

texts:
I'm trying to make more sense of how negation effects how a sentence is parsed and understood if and's and or's are used within them.

Pop quiz: You are trapped on a bus with a bomb going 50 MPH. You have a radio... (okay enough Keanu Reeves references) :-)

Let's say the bomb expert says "Don't cut the red or green wires." I think that means "Do not cut the wires colored red. Do not cut the wires colored green."

Now, let's say the bomb expert said on the radio "Do not cut the red and green wires", instead. Do I take that to mean:

  "Do not cut the wires colored red. Do not cut the wires colored green."

OR

  "Do not cut the wires whose insulation has red and green stripes." ?

OR

  "It's okay to cut the wires colored red or the wires colored green, as long I don't cut one of each color."

Which meaning should I take if the radio breaks and I can't ask follow up questions?


texts: Deuce and trey - do any other kinds of pip cards have special names?

texts: I was playing cards this evening and found myself referring to the deuce and the trey. I was wondering, do any of the other pip card ranks have special names?


texts:
So next time you pop a blueberry, don’t forget to thank Fred.

How to understand "pop" in this sentence? Does it mean "eat" or "have"? I look up into the dictionary, I cannot even find a reasonable explanation for it.

Edit: According to the answers, I should have added the context of the sentence. Actually it is from the transcript of a podcast.


texts: "beginner to intermediate chefs" or "beginning to intermediate chefs"?

texts:
Which is correct?

This book is for beginner to intermediate chefs.
This book is for beginning to intermediate chefs.

Beginner refers to a person, so it would make sense to use it with chefs. But including intermediate seems to refer to the skill level of a chef, which seems like it should be matched with beginning as it also describes a skill level.

Or do I need a term for intermediate person? Is it time to introduce the word intermediater to the dictionary?


texts:
I'm currently writing cover letters for my next position, and I want to refer to the institution I will graduate from. Can I use the term alma mater despite not graduating yet?

Thanks!


texts:
What other word would be suitable to describe one's relative/proprietary beliefs?

i.e. Something that an individual decided should be morally good. e.g., if one had the belief that every car should be painted green. Something not rooted in a moral framework.

The word I've heard but cannot recall starts with either an ar- or an re-. Thank you!


texts:
Are the bold properties in the text recounting the instinctive behaviors of animals or  the human properties that through the evolution became evident in human behaviors, making them different from animals?  my problem is with the verb "compelled by". It has made the text confusing.

Context:

We do not know when feelings such as love and grief became more complex than the simple intuitions of animals compelled by an overriding drive to survive and breed, opportunistically fondling their mates, nurturing their young or nuzzling their superiors, briefly grieving when they go.

Art and Science  (Sian Ede)


texts: A Word/Phrase for the Process of Classifying Something as a Sin

texts:
If we turn something (including a concept or tactic) into a weapon, we have weaponized it.  If we legally classify something as a crime, we have criminalized it.

What is an equivalent single-word, verb term for turning something into or classifying something as a sin?

Best possible answers will capture the religious overtones adjacent to the word 'sin,' although are not restricted to western religions.  Good but not best answers will at least capture a sense of newly classifying something as immoral without the direct overtones.  Merely capturing a sense of modern illegality (i.e., criminalize, above) is not enough.

Its use in a sentence might be, "It was not enough for the preacher to criminalize loud music; he felt the need to ____ it, to turn it into a mortal sin."


texts: "Begs the question" or "Raises the question"?

texts:
From Super User:

  I just installed Win7 on my non-PC
  (ahem) and was struck by how many
  times the Windows installer reboots
  during installation. It even tells you
  on the screen during installation that
  the computer will reboot multiple
  times.

  I know MS must have a good reason for
  this, but I'm completely baffled why
  this is necessary? Installation simply
  writes to the disk, and because the
  system has booted off the DVD, it
  already has full write access to the
  target hard drive partition. Is
  Windows in fact installing a
  preliminary disk image and then
  booting off of that instead of the DVD
  in order to speed up installation?
  (Though that then begs the question,
  why 2 reboots?)

  Edit: Changed "3+ reboots" to "2
  reboots". It probably seemed like more
  than that because I had to do an extra
  reboot initially (back to my host OS)
  to fix the format of my partition, and
  then there were the subsequent reboots
  for windows updates.

(Emphasis added by me)

It seems to me like "raises the question" would fit better than "begs the question" in this case.  What is correct?


texts:
I was of the mistaken view that the life of the word textile only began with artificial fibres.

However I discovered from the OED that it was being used in the 17th century and that its etymology is from the Latin

  < Latin textilis woven, textile (sc. opus) woven fabric, <

    text-, participial stem of texĕre to weave. So French textile.

But what is now puzzling me is why it was not used in English before the 17th century? The following are the earliest OED examples:

  Noun. 1626   Bacon Sylua Syluarum §846   In the warp and woof of
  textiles.

  Adjective: 1656   T. Blount Glossographia   Textile,..that is weaved
  or wounden, embroidered.

There are no other seventeenth-century examples and the word does not appear to come into its own until the mid-nineteenth century.

My MA history dissertation which I am finally getting ready for publication concerned the eighteenth-century woollen industry in Norwich. There are plenty of references to cloth, but nowhere did I come across the term textile.


texts: Do I need a "to" for a second infinitive in a sentence?

texts:
It was common practice to first test and execute a program's source code by hand before using a computer.
It was common practice to first test and to execute a program's source code by hand before using a computer.

The first version of the sentence is without a second to, the second version includes a second to. Which one is correct?


texts: How to describe someone who mixes two dialects?

texts:
While writing a comment today, I realized that I had used the British spelling of "analogue" while talking about my Californian accent. This caused me to wonder - is there a word or phrase for someone who unconsciously mixes elements of two or more established dialects in their speech, such as might happen to someone who's moved between different English-speaking regions?

By "dialect", I mean things such as grammar, word choice, and spelling - my pronunciation seems to still be mostly (but not wholly) American, so accent/pronunciation isn't as relevant to the situation I wish to convey.

I also specifically mean varieties of the same language. I'm familiar with the term "codeswitching", but as that's often used for what bilingual speakers do, it's not what I'm looking for.

Some examples of what I'd consider mixed dialect speech:

Going to uni is hella important these days (California "hella" + non-US "uni")
You've coloured the center wrong (US spelling of "center", UK spelling of "colour")
Dude, that's a sweet as lunch, I wouldn't mind tasting it. Can? ("sweet as" and "can?", from different dialects, are both missing a few words compared to standard UK/US English. "dude" might also be a regionalism)

If there's a simple word or phrase that laypeople might understand, that would be ideal. But, if the best option is an unusual linguistics term or a complicated phrase, that would still work.


texts: Can someone explain the ambiguity in the following sentence? " We decided on the boat."

texts:
In one interpretation, on the boat is a prepositional phrase telling the location of the decision.

Under the other, decided on is a two-part verb with the meaning "chose".

But there is no interpretation in which on is a particle. Can you demonstrate that it isn't a particle?


texts: could you please tell me what the difference between baby shower and welcome baby party is? And is there a party that American families throw after the baby get born?


texts:
When you want to say that someone doesn't know anything about a particular thing, do you say they don't know jack about it, or that they know jack about it?

I've seen it used both ways. Which is correct?


texts: Is the second part of dialogue capitalized or not?

texts: i.e. "It is important," his mother replied, "(a/A)nd we will all have a great time."


texts:
Non-native speaker here.

I've heard the term Pet Peeve used in the past, and always felt it has a positive, self-humoring connotation.

Today I wanted to use it myself for the first time, in an email to a co-worker. I was writing to correct a typo she made in a specification document, which in fact changes the meaning, but can be easily understood to be a typo. Something like "Hi Jenn, a small pet peeve... ".

As I understood the connotation, what I meant is "I know I'm being Anal here but for the sake of accuracy...". To be sure, I've googled Pet Peeve, but the wiki entry didn't sound so positive:

  a minor annoyance that an individual identifies as particularly annoying to himself

And it goes on with an example of a supervisor that gets mad at his workers for leaving their desk messy etc.

So, what term can better convey what I meant?


texts: The title says it all! What is newbie as an adverb?


texts:
Our party will be held in the cafeteria which, for those of you who are unaware, is located inside the Students' Union.

Should the first comma go before which or after?


texts: Is there any difference between the two sentences?

texts:
When I was listening to a podcast there was a sentence:

  Download the podcast if you are going to improve your English.

I assume it means the same thing as

  Download the podcast if you want to improve your English.

Is there any difference and which structure one is better ?


texts: A two weeks’ notice is - should the indefinite article truly be there?

texts:
As far as I know, when the possesive is used, I really should not use articles because it would bind to the same noun.
E.g.:

  A two-day trip
  Two day's trip

However, I have just found a site which reads:

  A two weeks’ notice is a formal declaration of your intention to
  resign two weeks from the day you submit it.

Is that truly correct?

F


texts:
I am reading the diary of a Colonel in the British Army in the 1940s. He describes some of the recruits as "old stiffs".

This seems to be largely a compliment, and seems to refer to older folk who have fought in earlier conflicts.

I would appreciate a more subtle description of an "old stiff", though.

(I am a native speaker, so know a fair few meanings of the word, and have looked through a couple of dictionaries for additional meanings, and none seem quite to fit, or else it is hard to see which is being applied).


texts: What's the origin of the expression "Lombardi dad"?

texts:
"Grant says Tiger Mothers and Lombardi Dads often focus on achievements because they're easy to measure."

http://www.wnyc.org/story/raising-caring-children/


texts:
Maybe someone is able to paraphrase and/or make sense of the following, from the 1796 Narrative of W. Spavens, Chatham Pensioner, Written by Himself:

  As to the matter of serving, it is this — they give a man liberty to choose a piece [of meat] for his mess, and then hoodwink him, and when the Steward calls a mess, he touches a piece, and the Cook give it to the man it is for, and he touches again.

None of the definitions of hoodwink I found seems to fit here. And what about and he touches again?


texts: Is the Title of a Chapter of a Book a Proper Noun?

texts:
If a proper noun is a name that identifies a particular person, place, or thing (Oxford Living Dictionary), then is the title of a chapter such as 'The Hen and the Hare', or 'Chapter Three: The Hen and the Hare,' or just 'Chapter Three' a proper noun?

I'm trying to figure out whether to capitalize it when referring to it within the text

  Example: In Chapter Three, we saw how the hen outsmarted the hare.


texts:
The complete sentence runs as follows:

  The judges unanimously disagreed that he was fit to compete.

What does it mean?


texts: what is the meaning of "sufficiently comparable"?

texts:
firms will not disclose sufficient, or sufficiently comparable,
  information unless they are required to do so

Could you kindly let me know what "sufficiently comparable" means in the sentence I quoted above?

I can't imagine what "sufficiently comparable" can mean in any way.


texts: "One who calls others to worship" - A specific term?

texts:
This would be referring to a position likely held in the ancient world. I thought it was 'hierophant', but that turned out to be wrong. I do have the impression that the two words are related, and vague as it may be I think it starts with an 'S'.

An example would be "The doors of the temple were opened, and the ______ stepped out to announce the start of the rites."


texts: Can this sentence be switched around like this?

texts:
I kept studying to the point that I
  became dizzy.

Can that be switched around to become this and still be grammatically correct?

  To the point that I became dizzy I
  kept studying.

Is there anything wrong with that sentence?


texts: Is using the word person in "person's wife" a recent phenomenon?

texts:
I came across a language textbook talking about the wife of a "person", rather than of a "man":

  okusan: (another person's) wife

On a following page, it defined "goshuujin" as "(another person's) husband", rather than "(another woman's) husband".

Is using the gender neutral word "person" followed by a gender specific spouse a recent phenomenon, or does it date back more than a couple of decades?

I tried using Google NGrams, but most of the hits found seem to be from legal documents, even when I tried searching only the fiction corpus.


texts: How to describe the feeling of resonance with everyone? For example, when you watch an eclipse with other spectators

texts:
How do I describe the feeling of having a resonance with everyone? Like the way you feel when you watch an eclipse with everyone together. And it kind of give you the feeling of bravery, make you have the courage to do things you don't dare normally.

"A sense of _____ fills my heart when watching a solar eclipse, I feel like I can be better or braver."

I am asking this because I want to know is there an English word that can be used to describe this feeling. I am not an English speaker, so I don't have this type of word concept.

If you want to know what is my use for this word: I just want to know more words that can describe a feeling I have but cannot seems to find any word to describe it. Won't you want to know? When you truly think of it, can you speak of a word that can truly describe this feeling?


texts:
"Modal + have + PP" refers to the past

But it is quite ambiguous!!

What does "the past" mean?

Simple Past, Present perfect, Past perfect all refers to the past.

So the question is:

Does Modal + have + PP" refer to Simple Past, Present perfect, or Past perfect?

Similarly,

Does Modal + have + been + Verb-ing" refer to Past Continuous, Present perfect continuous, or Past perfect continuous?

Ok, let say, now is 3 pm. At 2 pm (1 hour earlier) you walked by a baby room & you didn't hear any noise.

Now, you say this to your friend:
The baby might have been sleeping.

Does that sentence mean:

"It is possible that the baby was sleeping"

OR

"It is possible that the baby has been sleeping (ie unfinished action & the baby is still sleeping now)"

OR

"It is possible that the baby had been sleeping (ie the baby had been sleeping possibly for 30 minutes, but now she is awake)"

But, if you says "The baby might have been sleeping by the time I was home yesterday", we can be sure that means "It is possible that the baby was sleeping by the time I was home yesterday"

if you says "The baby might have been sleeping for 1 hour" (Now is 3pm, & you walked by the baby room at 2pm), we can be sure that means "It is possible that the baby has been sleeping for 1 hour (he is still sleeping now, unfinished action)"

if you says "The baby might have been sleeping for 30 minutes" (Now is 3pm, & you walked by the baby room at 2pm), we can be sure that means "It is possible that the baby had been sleeping for 30 minutes (an action happened in the past and had progressed continuously to another point in the past)"

So, "might have been sleeping" (Modal perfect continuous) corresponds to past continuous, present perfect continuous or past perfect continuous?

Note: could you include a referenced source in your answers because I need some evidence while teaching students?


texts:
(Remark: after thinking a bit more about it, I arrived at „flooding with information“.)
I‘m looking for a word (maybe an expression or phrase), where one party „B“ hands in so much information/„evidence“ to the other party „A“ that it becomes unfeasible for „A“ to work through the information to verify or falsify a specific claim at hand, and A has to surrender and walk out as ‚loser‘ of the discussion.
Examples:
Law: A requests some files, because he knows that something is wrong. B hands in so many files with irrelevant/redundant information, etc., etc. that for A it becomes practically impossible to find the problem.
Conspiracy: B argues for some kind of strange conspiracy theory and hands in so much sources and hops from one conclusion to the next, that it becomes infeasible for A to pinpoint the mistake(s) within reasonable time. For instance B says: here is the source for some numbers, I‘ve run this script on those numbers, I used the results as request-parameters to some service, which then returned that information, which I run through this other script and here I give you a screenshot of the results. But for A already having to verify the trustworthiness of the first source of the numbers is already difficult and then he would have to run and read all the scripts, etc.. thereby not finding a solid argument for ‚where‘ the mistake is.


texts:
The fact that I communicated to Mona is irrelevant.
  The fact that I communicated with Mona is irrelevant.

The only difference might seem to be the different prepositions, with and to.

Now, try replacing the that in each sentence by which. Do you agree that you can do it with 1) but not 2)? If so, what exactly is wrong with "The fact which I communicated with Mona is irrelevant"?


texts:
Can "presently" and "currently" be used interchangeably?

For example which is better:

I am presently teaching Grade 12 or I am currently teaching Grade 12 ?


texts:
Someone told me that the word nature should not be plural in my sentence. I would argue, however, that it is obvious that it requires an "s". The problematic sentence is as follow:

  We must exploit constraints of different natures (temporal, logical, etc.) [...]

If I replace the word nature by type, type would be plural. However, if I am correct, the word nature is a case similar to the word information. In French, I would put an s to the word information in this sentence:

  There is a lot of information to process

Can someone help me clarify this? Is there a simple and general rule for the words like information and nature? When must they be plural?


texts:
Across the street.

Across the street from ...

Across from the street.

Across from the street from the church.

I know what the first phrase means but I have problem with the rest.
What they mean?
Edit:
Examples:

He argued that it was across from street and I had given wrong address then.

Entrance to the Front Beach across from street from our house.

The two-story, 232,000-square foot facility sprawls on 50 acres along Route 108, across from street from stately mansions erected on...

Hayward stayed at a hotel in South Jersey across from street from the Garden State Racetrack


texts: Word To Describe A Virtue/Attribute For Someone Who Is Connected (perhaps business-wise)

texts: I can't quite find a good word to describe someone who is networked, or has connections. Particularly business wise. Only thing I can think of is "associations", but doesn't quite fit the mold because it needs to be a skill.


texts: What is swag? And where does it come from?

texts:
I'd just like to know where it comes from. This is a word that I've heard all my life but it has always been a special kind of curtain. I was baffled when kids started calling each other curtains so I googled it and I just found these bullshit answers like secretly we are gay or sex with a ginger, which are obviously not what swag means.

What is swag and where does the word come from?


texts: An expression to wish all evil away from someone

texts: I am looking for an expression in English to wish all evil away from someone.


texts: How may you call an object that is used for something other than its intended purpose?

texts:
If I was to use or misuse an object that is intended to fulfil a certain purpose for another purpose. For example the purpose of a chair is to sit on. But I can stand on it too. Of course it remains to be chair. According to the answer to this question, the act of using it for another is called exaptation.

I expect there to be a word for any object that is used for another purpose. Any ideas? I'm thinking in the direction of a placeholder.

I feel that the word off-label that has been given as an answer to this question is not suitable to use for that chair while I stand on it.


texts:
In the old proverb:

  Time and tide wait for no man.

Our first record of the proverb is from St Marher in 1225:

  And te tide and te time þat tu iboren were, schal beon iblescet.

When it was already considered ancient. As near as I can make out, the Middle English proverb quoted above means:

  “And the tide and the time that you were born shall be blessed.”

Thanks to this answer for pointing out the correct translation, and also for pointing out that this is just the oldest tide and time reference, not an actual translation of the whole proverb.

Even though that does not have the “wait for no man” aspect to it, nonetheless the modern proverb is always traced back to the St Marher quote in any source I consulted.

But what is the difference between tide and time?  To me, time and tide seem to mean the same thing: see yule-tide and Christmas-tide.  (Then again, “good tidings” and “good times” now mean different things.)

But why are they repeated in the proverb then if they are not different?  What aspect or nuance does one of time and tide possess that the other does not?  Or was this somehow done for poetic effect?

Apparently, Barrie’s idea of this originally being a rhetorical duplication of the same thing that counts as the same thing has some currency.  It turns out that there are plenty of mentions of the proverb with singular concordance, as in:

Time and tide waits for no man.

That shows that the speaker thinks of them as one lexical unit, as in:

Our new President and CEO is John Smith.
Peanut butter and jelly makes the tastiest snackwich.
Early to bed and early to rise, / makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.

However, in modern times, there are more instances of the proverb with plural concordance than with singular, which I suspect helped the reänalysis of the two words meaning essentially one and the same thing into two words meaning separate things.


texts: Does using the word "earthly" describing a person make sense? As in "he is earthly", "are you earthly" etc.? Does it make/doesn't make sense 100% or is it somewhere in between? (Try to think about the phrase in a poetic context and not in an academic/daily situation. That is my intention)


texts: What is the word for 'while eating' or 'during a meal'?

texts:
Is there a word for, as mentioned above, 'while eating' or 'during a meal'? If the word was say, rtrt then we could go like: rtrt burping is a common phenomenon.

I remember reading such a word (and it started with 'p' probably), but can't recall it.

Thanks!


texts:
Some customers and I started to talk turkey over a programming requirement the other day, meaning that all parties involved were starting serious negotiations or discussions.

Naturally I wondered why talk turkey came to have this meaning. Does anyone know?

Checking the webs turned up Michael Quinion's findings over at World Wide Words here but he remarks that none of them are wholly convincing.


texts: Is there another way of saying, "broken in?"

texts: I'm looking for a word that could replace the expression, broken-in as in "broken-in baseball gloves or a new pair of leather boots," meaning they are ready for comfortable use. Is there a simpler, shorter word that would convey the same message?


texts:
My doctor wanted me to inquire which generic medication would be the smallest burden on my wallet before issuing a prescription. When I asked the pharmacist which of the generic options was "least expensive," his response irked me.

  The generic for Flonase is the most inexpensive.

It seems clumsy, and I feel that the "most" adds an incorrect perception of weight.

Am I alone on this?


texts: Does the verb after 'set of' agree with 'set' or the plural noun that follows?

texts:
Does the verb after 'a set of + plural noun' agree with 'set' or 'noun'? For example:

  'Law is a set of rules that govern/governs society.'


texts:
Which one of the following statements is correct:

  I deployed something to the test server.
  I deployed something on the test server.


texts: How can I use apostrophes for this possession phrase

texts:
For example, the phrase "The birds bodys color" as if to refer to the color of the bird's body, so do I write "The bird's body's color", "The birds body's color", or "The bird's bodys color"? Please do not say to write "The bird's body color"- even though thats the most sensical answer this is a theoretical phrase for me and Im just trying to find out if I can put 2 apostrophe words next to each other.

To clear it up, the sentence I'm actually talking about is this:

  "How Father bird’s body’s sound breaking between teeth".

Is this grammatically correct? (I know it sounds weird but this is for poetry and this is the only way for the rhyme scheme to work.


texts:
What is the right way to say it: "Do it more precise!" or "Do it more precisely!"? Are both correct?

Google Ngram Viewer has both "more precise" and "more precisely" at equal frequencies, with "precisely" being more popular in the last 20 years.


texts:
I remember hearing this line in an old American comedy TV program
A guy starts kissing his boss's hand because he gave him a promotion, and the boss says "be careful (or was it, Stop it, I think, but not so sure) I chap easily"
This was supposed to be a funny line but I don't understand what it means
I think to chap means for the skin to become rough and cracked as in a cold winter, but what does it mean in this context and why is it supposed to be funny?


texts: list separated by commas with no "and" at the end

texts:
Is it possible to have a list of items separated by commas where the last item in the list is not preceded by 'and'?

For example, "the river runs through dense bush, towns, cities, farms, dams, until it exits into the sea."

Or does it need to be "runs through dense bush, towns, cities, farms and dams, until it exits into the sea."


texts:
Is the difference between could and might in a) much more significant than in b)?

a) You need to discuss with them how they could vs might help you.

b) You could vs might try calling the help desk.

Can we put might=would perhaps in a)?


texts:
I am not a legal expert and English is not my first language. I have to make some changes in a draft of a legal document. I am not sure which sentence is correct. The situation is like

"Mr. ABC visiting DEF institute for three months, but during this
 period of time his living cost and salary should come from main
 employer XYZ, and DEF is not responsible."

  During this visit, Mr. ABC remains employed by XYZ, and he shall be paid full salary in accordance with the job contract with employer XYZ.

Vs

  During this visit, Mr. ABC remains employed by XYZ, and he shall be paid full salary as per the job contract with employer XYZ.


texts: Origins and meaning of "Put your money where your mouth is"

texts:
I heard this phrase uttered by a Canadian (from Vancouver) once; it left me in awe and elicited my curiosity. Wikipedia was not helpful.

What is its origin? Is this expression used more in certain areas of the world? Is it used in a casual conversation?


texts: Is there a suffix like "phile" or "phobe" for don't care?

texts: Thinking that every thing that you can like and dislike, you can also not care about and there may be a suffix for it.


texts: Why can I not use "beg the question" to mean "raise the question" grammatically?

texts:
The formal definition of "beg the question" is a logical fallacy in which the initial assumption of a statement is treated as fact without offering any logic as to why the statement is true in the first place.  It does not mean "raise the question".

This is a two part question

1) If I take the definition of beg as being to ask earnestly, then a statement which immediately raises or demands a followup question would be begging.  Is there a grammatical reason why this is an incorrect use?

2) The usual answer to question 1 is to cite the definition and its use as a logical fallacy and then state that it does not mean to "raise the question".  Is this itself not a logical fallacy, and thus does such an answer not beg the question?


texts: Is it correct when you say, "I and my wife had our second baby last month" ?.


texts: "Don't try and Lance Armstrong your way outta this one!"

texts:
I don't know in the sentence I will refer to, what does "Lance Armstrong your way"  mean, is there any irony or not? The situation is between a man and a woman, and the man wants to deny a mistake he had made. Her friend had heard a sentence which the man had said, and then the woman says:

  She was in the other room, you bastard! In the next room, ok, so don't try and Lance Armstrong your way outta this one!


texts: In answering a telephone call, why do you say "Who is this?" instead of "Who is that?"

texts:
On the telephone, the person answering it may say "Who is calling?" or "Who is this?"
Why do you say "this" to the caller on the other end of the phone? Is is wrong to say "Who is that?"


texts: What is the word for selling something back to the seller?

texts: Is there any English word for the action of selling something back to the one you bought it from? For example when you buy a second hand car from a car dealer and a year later you sell it back to them. From your perspective it can be (not exactly) "resell", but what can it be from the dealer's perspective (I don't think "rebuy" is a word).


texts: How to remember how to spell "unnecessary"

texts: Every time I spell "unnecessary", I struggle to remember whether there are 1 or 2 n's, 1 or 2 c's, and 1 or 2 s's. Anybody have any strategies for remembering how to spell this word?


texts:
Can you explain differences:

1a) Hadn't we better wait up for the slower ones?
                     vs.
1b) Hadn't we better wait for the slower ones?

2a) The apple fell from the tree.
                     vs.
2a) The apple fell down from the tree.


texts:
We have a debate on whether it should be "classes" or "classes'" in the sentence below. Your wisdom is appreciated.

Sentence:
This rebalancing of customer classes’ impacts on the system means there will be uneven impacts to rates the first year.

For reference, there are five customer classes (e.g. residential, non-residential, etc.) being referenced in the sentence.
Thanks for your feedback!
Aaron


texts:
I have a numbered list that is comprised of phrases which utilize a colon followed by semi-colons. My client used periods at the end of each phrase. I deleted them. Who is correct? (See client's original text example below.)

  Creative Campaign Themes: “A Beach with an Accent” and “Come Make Memories.”
  Brand Position (what we want to be known for:) Unique combination of the sophistication of the traditional South with the serenity of a beach vacation; One of America’s top 10 island destinations.


texts:
I don't know if the title is completely appropriate/applicable, but I guess it'll have to do until there's an edit.

So a if one dies of starvation, one dies from "suffering or death caused by hunger (New Oxford American Dictionary)". Is there a given term for "suffering or death caused by lack of water/thirst"? When one says "He starved to death", the meaning is "He died from hunger", but there's no term (at least to the best of my knowledge) for something like "He (word for died from thirst) to death)".


texts: Is "What I'm doing is" followed by an infinitive or gerund form?

texts: Title says everything. American English please (but if it's different in British English, please point that out as well)


texts:
Which one of these two statements is correct?

  Our staff do ...

  Our staff does ...

And is staffs ever correct?


texts: What is the word for offering feedback in an earnest tone that is actually meant to derail?

texts:
There is a word for "earnestly" offering questions and giving suggestions with a hidden agenda to derail and distract from the main argument being made.

I've seen it used on twitter before.

I think it might be "_____ trolling".


texts: A question about the singular or plural?

texts: Two cups of tea _______ (is or are) enough for me.


texts: Looking for a specific food taste description

texts:
I went through several lists trying to find a word describing a specific food taste to it.

Like this one.

Or that one.

I am trying to find an appropriate word for the following taste description:

  With some 'oomph!' to it but delicious / strong but delicious.

In that context, 'oomph' would be like "leaves a strong initial impression on your taste buds, but tastes delicious overall"

What would be the best word fitting that description?

I couldn't find it in lists above.


texts:
I would like to know whether this is correct:

He uses a car instead of a bus.
What does he use a car instead of?


texts:
If someone has the right to something, how could I say in this situation.

My client would like an organiser to cover flight ticket fare for business class due to physical health problem. According to the organiser, the reason is acceptable for the fee coverage for business class seat.
I would like to use another word instead of "the reason is acceptable".
Do following phrases make sense for "the reason is acceptable"?

  Your reason is a target to be covered fees by the organiser.
  Your reason is subject to be covered fees by the organiser.
  Your reason deserves to be covered fees by the organiser.
  Your reason was regarded as subject of fee coverage by the organiser.

Reasons for physical health matters are considerable point.

I guess that all of the phrases do not fit in the situation.
Please teach me how do native speakers say in this situation?


texts:
In the 1990s the preferred umbrella term used by and about people who weren't in alignment with their birth gender was "transgendered."  Despite the fact this was grammatically correct and didn't have any negative connotations, it was decided by somebody somewhere along the line to drop the "-ed" and tell people the old word was "wrong."

The arguments put forth to support this claim fall apart rather quickly as soon as one points out transgendered is a compound word adjective, similar to identifiers such as red-haired, darkskinned, brown-eyed, lighthearted, ten-fingered, righthanded, quick-witted, etc. as well as other adjectives like talented and gifted.  None of those words would make sense as adjectives if you dropped the "-ed."

I'm curious to know exactly where this change came from and what the cause of it was.  It seemed to have been cemented and gained momentum after GLAAD added it to its Media Reference Guide, but did it start before that?

Google NGrams suggests the use of "transgender" took off in 1998 while the rate of increase for "transgendered" slowed down until it started to slowly decline in 2003.


texts:
I know we say one point or two points, how about zero?
Do you say zero point or zero points?
Or both are ok depending on the context?


texts: English translation of the Nepali word, "chakari"

texts:
I have been trying to find the exact English word for a Nepali word "chakari" which means to serve a person hoping to get favour/benefit from him if he is satisfied/happy with with the service provided.

The service provided is not related with slavery. The service provider provides the service of his own free will.


texts: Is "whether was not " equal to "whether"?

texts:
Here comes a GRE question,

The reclusive clergyman may have lived and died in melancholy, but this doesn’t seem to have hampered his genius in any way. On the contrary, we find ourselves wondering whether his genius wasn’t (ii)_____ in some mysterious way by his mood.

Why is the ii "served"?
I mean that if the ii blank is "served", the sentence must look like bellow to be logically reasonable.

On the contrary, we find ourselves wondering whether his genius was served in some mysterious way by his mood.

*it's supposed to be "was" instead of "wasn't" here.*

Thank you for your help~


texts: What is the best way to say "A is 4 times as large as B"?

texts: In my paper I will use the phrase "A is 4 times as large as B" very often. I find this tedious. Is there some more elegant way to express the idea?


texts: Somebody who pretends to understand, but doesn't

texts: What is a word or idiom for a fellow who pretends to understand something, but doesn't. This person is fundamentally confused, and often goes to great lengths to convince others of their expertise and knowledge, but intellectually, really hasn't a clue.


texts: Can "among which" be used to introduce a verbless list of nouns?

texts:
I am having a disagreement about the validity of the following usage of "among which":

  The movie won several awards, among which the best documentary and the
  best short film.

Is this sentence grammatical or must "among which" introduce a clause?


texts: Is usage of "leverage" as a verb in "Leverage competencies to the value chains of other existing businesses" correct?

texts:
"Leverage competencies to the value chains of other existing businesses"

In the above statement, is the word "leverage" used as a verb? If not, then which form is it? Are there any grammatical errors in the statement?

Is it grammatically correct/better to state, "Leverage competencies for the value chains of other existing businesses"? If not, then how best to convey the intended message using "leverage"?

leverage (verb) : use (something) to maximum advantage
(Oxford dictionary)


texts: What is the difference between "disbursement" and "expense"

texts: My little pedantic friend introduced me a word, disbursement, saying it is his way of expressing a word, expense. I asked him the difference between them, but he could not answer it... What is the difference between them? Is it just a fancier expression?


texts: Which is right idiom “ I don’t care a pin for it OR I care a pin for it “

texts: Which is right “ I don’t care a pin for it OR I care a pin for it


texts: "With the purpose of" vs. "With the intention of"

texts:
A private student of mine had to complete a gap fill text, which contained the following excerpt:

  Pronunciation isn't my strongest point, therefore I've decided to improve it.
  I've borrowed some Spanish DVDs from the library, with the purpose
  of listening to native speakers and trying to copy them.

The correct answers, according to Cambridge English Complete CAE, were so and  intention. Although I would have written so because a comma preceded the gap, and explained this to the Italian student (who rightly huffed) I could not explain why the noun, intention, was preferred. To me with the purpose of and with the intention of are synonymous.

If the phrase had been written as follows:

  I've borrowed some Spanish DVDs from the library for the purpose
  of listening to native speakers and trying to copy them.

Would purpose have been more appropriate here? Should there be a comma after library? I ask because in the text above there is a comma preceding with (I loathe having to explain punctuation, but seeing as it's towards exam preparation I'd like to be as thorough as possible).

P.S. The exercise was not a multiple choice one, the learner has to supply the one word answer that best fits.

EDIT There is indeed an "and" in the last sentence, which I missed when writing the excerpt. Many thanks to Edwin Ashworth and @DavidSchwartz for pointing out the (mea culpa) transcription error.


texts: Reasons why is English the best language for scientific papers

texts:
Can you help me with some good arguments to prove that English is the best language for scientific writings? (some hard-core scientific articles would be nice).

I'm from Slovakia. Few weeks ago I receive a response from my University which states that I am not allowed to write my "pre-dissertation" thesis in English. I have a plan to write an "open letter" to the University.

note:
I am fully aware that my English is not as perfect as of native speaker. But writing thesis in international language is a way how to easily train to write articles to scientific journals.


texts: Comma in "Is milk without coffee, considered latte?"

texts: Is the presence of the comma in, "Is milk without coffee, considered latte?", acceptable usage?


texts: Can I omit "had" if it is repeated too many times in a paragraph?

texts:
Example:

  I’d heard about this mystery before. However, I'd only thought it
  as a ghost story; something you'd tell around a campfire.

Maybe I'm mistaken but the paragraph sounds better without the 'd:

  I’d heard about this mystery before. However, I only thought it
  as a ghost story; something you'd tell around a campfire.

Is this a common practice? When do I know when I can omit had and when I cannot?


texts: Why “off ” in jerk off, jack off, get off?

texts: I wonder why the particle off  is used in these verbs. I know their meanings, but I don’t understand why off  is used. Does anyone know why?


texts: Can supper and dinner be used interchangeably?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  “Lunch” vs. “dinner” vs. “supper” — times and meanings?

Wikipedia states that the words supper and dinner can be used interchangeably. But I am not thoroughly convinced as, well, they are two different words.

According to Merriam-Webster dictionary:

Supper is a light meal served late in the evening.

Dinner is the principal meal of the day.

I am confused as to if at all using these words interchangeably would be deemed correct and if so, under what circumstances?

NOTE: The question Lunch vs. dinner vs. supper — times and meanings? attracted some attention but the last sentence in the accepted answer put me off!

  So whether you use Lunch/Dinner or Dinner/Supper is heavily determined by when your culture traditionally has its largest meal.

Maybe, I eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper. That doesn't make my breakfast my dinner right? ;)


texts: Is it acceptable to use "notably" at the beginning of a sentence to mean something along the lines of "interestingly" or "importantly"?

texts:
I've been using "Notably" at in my own writing for quite a while now, as an alternative way to start sentences. But I'm not sure if it's actually grammatically acceptable. I haven't found any answers through Google or the site.

Here's an example:

  Notably, the new study finds that [...]

When using the transition, my intended meaning/interpretation is something of a cross between "Interestingly" and "Importantly". The second is too formal, in my opinion, but the first is limited to specific contexts where something is in fact interesting, as opposed to say "of notable quality." To me, it seems "Notably" strikes a good balance between the two.

Question: Is it grammatically acceptable to start a sentence with "Notably" as a transition?


texts: Item queue vs items queue? Files list vs File list?

texts:
My question is connected with programming.
I'm not sure how to name my class.

Should it be ItemQueue or ItemsQueue? We are talking about queue, which stores many items.  We can add new ones or remove existing. Similary, what about file list/files list? I have always wondered which form should I choose.


texts: Was "dream team" an Olympic Games expression?

texts:
A dream team is:

  a number of persons of the highest ability associated in some joint action:

  a dream team that should easily win the Olympics; a dream team of lawyers.

According to Dictionary.com  the origin of the expression "dream team" is from 1935-40 and Ngram appears to confirm that.

An early usage from the "Encyclopaedia Britannica: A New Survey of Universal Knowledge" of 1929 appears to refer to sports:

  This caused many army-trainee colleges to drop football temporarily but the others carried on and produced some fabulous elevens in the war years, notably Army, the so-called "dream-team" at West Point.

But I could not find other significant examples from the early years.

Questions:

Was  "dream team" originally an AmE expression and was it coined on occasion of some Olympic Games held during the late '20s or the early '30s?
What is the reason for the considerable spike in usage from the early '90s as shown in  Ngram?


texts: What does "wanted nothing so much as to ride hellbent for the safety of the wall" mean?

texts:
"All day, Will had felt as though something were watching him, something cold and implacable that loved him not. Gared had felt it too.Will wanted nothing so much as to ride hellbent for the safety of the Wall, but that was not a feeling to share with your commander." —  The prologue to A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin.

I am not sure about the meaning of the bold sentence. Does Will want to ride for the safety of the Wall?


texts: How to quote a paragraph with a missing sentence?

texts:
How do I indicate that I've removed an entire sentence from a quoted paragraph? Consider the example paragraph below - if I want to quote this paragraph without the emboldened sentence, how might I do this?

  This is an interesting sentence. Sadly, this one is irrelevant to me. The third sentence is amazing and should be included.

All of the advice I've found so far relates to removing words within a sentence. Based on that advice, I might consider something like the following as a solution:

  "This is an interesting sentence. . . . . The third sentence is amazing and should be included."

Where I've included five periods - one to close the first sentence, three to indicate the removal of text and a final period to close the missing sentence. But this doesn't strike me as a solution that would scale well if I need to remove more than one sentences.

A closely related question is Quotations that skip paragraphs. Following the advice there, I might also solve this with the example below, although I'm not sure it applies well to mid-paragraph sentence removal.

  "This is an interesting sentence." although later it is stated "The third sentence is amazing and should be included."


texts:
How else can I express a feeling similar to "can't be bothered!"

Words or phrases would be appreciated as well as variations from across the English speaking world.


texts: What’s the difference between "in" and "at" when used before a Location/Site/Country/County etc

texts: We always were told that you could use the word in before a place which is a large space e.g. country/city etc. Whereas, before a smaller site or place you should use at. But actually I don’t know what the precise scope limitation between those two words is. Large? How large is large? Small? How small?


texts: Is there a term for a proposition emphasizing the impossibility of an event?

texts:
Propositions such as When Hell freezes over, When pigs fly, and When chickens get teeth are used to emphasize the impossibility of an event happening.

Is there a term for these expressions in the way that a terse statement of a general truth, such as “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely," is an aphorism?


texts:
I'm using an English financial application to keep track of my spending. When trying to categorize a transaction as a student loan payout, the closest built-in category I could find was "Loan Principal Received". What does that mean? The definition (according to Google) is

  The total sum of money borrowed

If I receive monthly student loans throughout a year, would it be correct to categorize those "income" transactions as "loan principal received"? Would it be more correct to create my own category and call it "loan payout"?


texts: What is my highest level of qualification if I have graduated with a bachelors degree?

texts:
An undergraduate is quite clearly:

  a student at a college or university who has not yet earned a bachelor's or equivalent degree.

But now that I have received a bachelor's degree what am I? I ask becuase a on a prominent job search site the relevant options for "Highest Qualification" are "Undergraduate" and "Post-graduate degree", with nothing in-between. (I asked and they said "Undergraduate" is the best fit - but I disagree - how would an employee distinguish me from a student then?)


texts: How to politely tell my personal tutor that I'm going to give her the tutoring fee?

texts:
What I'm looking for is the most polite way to tell my personal tutor that I'm going to give her money without her feeling that she's selling something and I'm buying it. To put it another way, I'm looking for more polite versions of these:

"Here's the money for this month", "I'll pay you tomorrow"

(I exaggerated the two examples a bit to demonstrate which phrases I'm looking for more clearly)


texts: What's the difference between, apposition, metonymy, and synecdoche? May apposition include metonymy or synecdoche?


texts:
He was quick to adapt himself to the new system.

= He was quick to adapt himself (into) the new system.

Can I use "into" instead of "to"?


texts: Simple Syntax Query: categories for parenthetical asides

texts:
What are the different categories for parenthetical asides that are set aside by commas, dashes or parentheses? You have nonrestrictive descriptors which function syntactically as modifiers, interjections (such as 'yeah', 'oh', etc.) that have no syntax function, and...

And what else? Are there other categories I'm missing?

Take this sentence, for instance: "Becoming a great writer—or even a good writer—requires practise and patience."

The phrase bracketed in dashes is a coordinate completer of the gerund 'Becoming', which itself is the sentence's subject... Correct? So how is the phrase in dashes functioning in terms of the syntax? I'm not looking for an answer along the lines, "It's just a nonessential element..." How does that enclosed phrase relate to the remainder of the sentence?

If there's any source that teaches the logic of nonessential elements in the meticulous detail I'm looking for, I'd appreciate a link/reference. I have struggled with understanding them for months now! I don't know why I can't get my head around them. I have studied syntax in detail, learning the logic of the language, the roles of each word category, etc., etc., but this single issue has driven me crazy! Anyway, apologies for this mini-rant.

Thanks for any responses!


texts: A one-word synonym of "to give meaning to"?

texts:
As the title suggests, I'm looking for a verb whose definition is "to give/assign meaning to", "to define a function of", "to invent a use/meaning for" or something close. This might be a little vague, but I hope I can at least get some guesses or stabs at it.

On a similar note, are there web searches that allow for finding words given their meanings?


texts: Can adverbs also modify/specify the speaker's state of mind, emotion, character, etc. in English?

texts:
I don't think there are such adverbs in English that officially indicate the speaker's emotional/mental state, personality, etc.

"Could you please let me join your group?" doesn't convey the intensity of desperation in writing. We would have to hear people request, beg, etc. to know exactly what they mean by please in such a request. I heard that some foreign languages have adverbs that specifically nitpick a desperately pleading speaker.

(Judgmental warning) With many women, I notice the frequent use of the word completely, especially for adjectives not subject to completion, or for verbs that already denote completion.

I was completely pissed that he was 2 minutes late.
That movie was completely stupid.
I'm avoiding that class because I hear it's completely difficult.
That pig completely finished all the leftover food.

From experience and as I've been told, this over-usage of "completely" denotes someone who has very high, unrealistic, and unfair expectations. I believe the usage is acceptable, though not the best choice of adverb in many cases; but the choice and frequency just ought to say something about the speaker.

I think English adverbs modify only verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs, but not the speaker. I just have that yearning for adverbs to also be able to depict the speaker's psyche.