texts: What would be a polite way to say "eyeballs"?

texts:
For radio, we have listeners. For TV, we have viewers. For newspapers, we have readers. For the internet, we become uncouth and regularly refer to our target as eyeballs.

My question is:  What is a polite way to refer to those who visit your website?  Once they visit, these people not only read, but also listen and view and click and write, etc.

I would like something more specific than the obvious 'visitors,' which is very generic, and doesn't really reflect the activity of the visitors.  I'd like something more along the lines of gamblers in a casino, or diners in a restaurant.


texts: Word for a deep narrow line on someone's body?

texts:
What's the word for a deep narrow line?

I'm trying to describe the lines you see on a person's body, particularly the abdomen. When someone has very muscular defined six-pack abs, you can clearly see deep narrow lines in between their abs. How do you describe/call these lines?


texts: "Overlaid" or "overlain" as an adjective

texts:
I have a set of three images, which I have put on top of each other in an image editing program and made transparent. I would like the filename to describe what I have done with the component images.

Which is the correct phrase to use for the filename in this situation: "Overlain Images" or "Overlaid Images"?


texts:
I'd like to ask if the following sentence is grammatically correct:
It is a rare luxury yearned for by even those who have it all.

I am especially concerned with the usage of the phrasal verb "yearned for" - should it be "yearned" instead? If neither of these two constructions are correct, can you suggest another verb that will make the sentence more effective? I am thinking of using "sought" instead, although I don't think that it communicates the level of intensity that 'yearning' does.

Thank you!


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  When is “L” doubled?

Most of the spell checkers are correcting it to be single l, from the other side many official technical documents/standards are using double l.


texts: A formal word between 'frequently' and 'rarely'

texts:
Rarely:

  X rarely goes to Y

Frequently:

  X frequently goes to Y

What would be a word in between the two? A formal word for 'sometimes' maybe?

Context:

  Atheists sometimes appeal to Nietzsche's writing and use it to argue that he was against the idea of a God in general.

I need a formal word for sometimes. Frequently wouldn't be a good choice. Rarely wouldn't be either.


texts: and would be a professionally paid engagement

texts:
Which is correct?

"This would be a professionally paid engagement."

or

"This would be a professional paid engagement."

Maybe "professionally" as paid is a verb and "professionally" is an adverb?

Thanks


texts:
I wrote the following sentence, but I think the word "frequently" is not used correctly.

  Turning on and off the machines frequently may damage them.

Can you help me?


texts: I've heard a phrase in London, it sounded like "It's a big zoozi" or something like that. I wonder what this could mean?


texts: I need a topic sentence for a paragraph about difficulties while in school, but dont know how to start it

texts:
This is my topic sentence but not sure if it's grammatically correct or if there's a different word choice.

  Not being familiar with the English language was difficult for me while attending grade school.


texts: What kind of sound is a chirruping noise?

texts:
The sound I’d like to know is that made by a man toward a cat and a horse, not made by animals.

According to a dictionary, when a man chirrups, it means to make clucking or clicking sounds with the lips, as in urging on a horse. However, it doesn’t help me at all when I try to imagine the sound. Also, I have another chirruping noise in a Harry Potter book.

  Filch made a chirruping noise to Mrs. Norris, who stared blankly at Harry for a few more seconds before turning and following her master. (Harry Potter 4 [US Version]: p.474)[Bold font is mine]

N.B.:　Mrs. Norris is a cat.

Would you happen to know any ‘sound dictionary’ on the Net? I’d like to hear the sound to a horse and a cat. (I couldn’t find them on YouTube.)

Edit: (after answers by @Thursagen and @Hydrangea)(Thanks for joining me!)

  The sound I’d like to know is that made by a man toward a cat and a horse, not made by animals.

The reason I asked is my country’s people have a standard way to call a cat. They make a tut-tut-tut like noise, using their tongue. So I wanted to know if the chirruping noise is different from that. From your explanations, English speaking people seems to have no united way to call a cat. (I didn’t know that!). I guess the chirruping noise in this scene might depend on audience’s imagination.

However, I still would like to know a chirruping noise which a man makes toward a horse, because some dictionaries define the meaning by referring to a horse. I’m thinking the definition might make people imagine almost the same sound.

Edit 2:
The second reason to ask this question is my mother tongue has a wide variety of onomatopoeia. If I can get a clear idea of the sound, then I can link the noise to some onomatopoeia in my mind, and I can get a clearer image from that.


texts: What is the difference between "get" and "take"? Both are used to describe receiving something. By intuition I mostly guess which one to use, but would like to know some rule which will stick in my head.


texts: What part of sentence is "against which" in this sentence "The new test provides a yardstick against which to measure children's learning."?

texts: Why not just say "The new test provides a yardstick to measure children's learning" without the "against which"? What's the meaning or function of this combination? Is it an adjective clause?


texts:
Why is PhD read as /piːeɪtʃˈdiː/ (from Oxford Dictionary) and not, for example, like /fˈdiː/ , while diagraph ph is read as /f/ in Latin and Greek words?  Why do we write Ph if not to represent the /f/ sound?

There are questions about writing (like this) but not pronouncing.

EDIT: Thanks for answers. To be clear.  I asked this because of it is not the three letters P.h.D.  Why we read it not as /ɛf diː/?


texts: If xenocide is the word for species homicide, what would be the analogous term for doing this to one's own species? I was reading an essay on anti-natalism and thought there must be an obvious construction along the lines of suicide, homicide, fratricide, patricide, xenocide, etc. Googling has turned up nothing.


texts: Is the choice of a preposition and verb arbitrary?

texts:
Why I should use on after rely, depend, and count.

Is there a reason? Or is it just arbitrary?


texts: In dialogue, when a person is addressing someone and then switches to addressing another person, all within the same paragraph, what happens with the speech marks?  Is it acceptable to have this speech all within the same set of speech marks or do I need to close one set of speech marks and then open up a new set when the orientation of addressee changes?


texts:
I am wanting to convey this sentence:

  This year marks the end of the 4 year long 'Environmental Protection Victoria' project.

I have looked online to no avail, can anyone tell me if '4 year long' in this context is grammatically correct? Or if an alternate such as '4 year-long' or '4 yearlong' is better? The sites I've checked online all refer to yearlong (singular), but I'm wondering if the spelling is different when we're talking about multiple years. Thanks.


texts: Can I use a noun with a posessive determiner as adjunct?

texts: For example: "Your level English" (Your level = adjunct)? Does it have the same meaning as "English of your level"?


texts:
The UTC is a measure for coordinating activities in multiple regions of the earth in timing. It means "Universal Time Coordinated". What does that mean grammatically? Can you unravel this message with more signal words?

I would say "Universally Coordinated Time" which means that the same time is used by many people - the time is universally coordinated.

The other statement means almost the same if not the same, but I don't know how to understand this grammar construction / word construction. Thanks.


texts: Does ‘Hit a new low’ have the meaning other than ‘number’ and ‘record’?

texts:
I saw an article titled “Obama Campaign Says Mitt Romney Is Either a Crook or a Liar” in July 13 Time magazine.
The article reports that Mitt Romney’s campaign manager, Matt Rhoades has demanded President Obama to apologize for his senior campaign adviser, Stephaney Cutter’s calling Romney a potential crook. It read;

  “Matt Rhoades said: President Obama’s campaign hit a new low today when one of its senior advisers made a reckless and unsubstantiated charge to reporters about Mitt Romney that was so over the top that it calls into question the integrity of their entire campaign. President Obama ought to apologize for the out-of-control behavior of his staff, which demeans the office he holds.”

I am interested in the specific usage of “hit a new low” in the above quote. My understanding of the idiom, “hit a new low (high)” is it regards “numerical” record such as the prices of stocks, oil, sales, and poll numbers. But here it seems to be suggesting “the lowest possible debasing demeanors” of Obama campaign that went over the top.

Is it metaphoric expression? Can “hit a new low (high)” be used in the context other than number and numerical records?


texts:
I am not a native speaker and would like to know the difference between these two:

1. Profile was removed

2. Profile has been removed

Yes I know it is Past Simple vs Present Perfetc. For me, the second one is better because there is a consequence but in some cases also first one is used. Why?


texts: Past or present to explain an active state in a past sentence

texts:
So, I have a sentence, more or less like this:

  "Gil, who HAS a psychokinesis ability, studied math yesterday."

or

  "Gil, who CAN move things without touching them, studied math yesterday."

So, with those sentences, I want to explain something that happened in the past, while explain a little about Gil himself. The thing is that I'm confused with the form I have to use for the "HAS" or the "CAN". I don't think I could use "HAD" or "COULD", because his psychokinesis ability is something he always has, till now (present). But I'm not sure present tense is right one. What form should I use?

Sorry for my broken english.


texts: How do I pronounce intervals like " x_1, x_2, x_3" written using subscripts?

texts:
I use eccentric notation. I have equations dealing with many sets of variables. I have 2 x's and 2 y's. x1 is a different base than x2, like when you have two separate functions with two sets of y/x values in ordered pairs.

Is there a way of saying "x_1" other than, "x underscore 1" or, "x sub(script) 1"?

Currently I am saying, "x one, x two, etc." I am not doing logarithms and do not think it appropriate to say, "x base 1" as is the convention for that and other positional notation.


texts:
What does

  I can't not get the song out of my head

mean?  I have looked on this site for clarification but still can't find my answer.


texts:
What nouns can be used to mean someone who is angrily inciting hatred in a public area against innocent people? I'm imagining a person who might stand on a raised platform in a town square addressing a large audience. The kind of bigot who might blame a poor harvest on an innocent for a ridiculous reason. Eg. "She has a hooked nose and must, therefore, be a witch who consorts with the devil." Or "He's a hunchback, so he must have angered the gods in a previous life, and now we're paying the price!"

This is to describe a character in a piece of creative writing. "Benjamin was a (insert word)."


texts: What does "I am parked out back" mean in this paragraph?

texts:
I don't get the meaning of the example expression "I am parked out back." in bold below. Does this mean "I'm in my car and somebody parked just behind me?"

  In linguistics, predicate transfer[1] is the reassignment of a
  property to an object which would not otherwise inherently have that
  property. Thus, the expression "I am parked out back" conveys the
  meaning of "parked" from "car" to the property of "I possess a car".
  This avoids incorrect polysemous interpretations of "parked": that
  "people can be parked", or that "I am pretending to be a car", or that
  "I am something which can be parked". This is supported by the
  morphology: "We are parked out back" does not mean that there are
  multiple cars; rather, that there are multiple passengers (having the
  property of being in possession of a car).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predicate_transfer

EDIT
Sorry, now that I got the meaning of the phrase, I don't get the part "conveys the meaning of 'parked' from 'car' to the property of 'I possess a car'". "Convey" is usually used like "convey [some message] to [somebody], right? It doesn't make sense when I try to understand the phrase this way. Could anyone explain the meaning of this? Or should I post this as another question?

EDIT
I found that "convey" has another meaning that is "transport or carry to a place," but it doesn't still make sense.

Does this

  the expression "I am parked out back" conveys the meaning of "parked" from "car" to the property of "I possess a car"

mean this?:

  the expression "I am parked out back" transfer the meaning of "parked" from "car" to the property that is  "I possess a car"

Property that is  "I possess a car" of what? There's not a phrase "I possess a car" in the original example "I am parked out back"?


texts:
I was doing a CAE (Certificate in Advanced English) sample paper and there you should choose the best fit for a gap:

It is hard to believe that salt is now such a cheap _____, because centuries ago it was a commercial equivalent  of today's oil.
A provision  B utility   C material   D commodity

I know that the correct answer is D, "commodity". It's clear for me, why "provision" and "utility" don't fit, because they both don't have an appropriate meaning.
I do understand, why commodity is right, but I couldn't understand why "material" is wrong or even less suitable. For example, "The poodle we bought was the cheapest dog in the shop". "Dog" is a generic term for "poodle".
So why can't we use "material" in the same way here?
Usually in this test there is a specific reason why the other answers don't fit. Even though people who answered my question below kindly explained that "commodity" is the best option due to economic context, it is still not quite clear to me if "material" is wrong or just less suitable. Some natives say it is just less suitable and some say it is wrong, cause it lacks an appropriate meaning.


texts: sequence of tenses in a compound sentences

texts:
I used to play hockey, but now I play football.
He ate my cake yesterday, so I will eat his cake today.

As these are compound sentences and in both of these sentences the first clause is in past tense and the second clause is in present/future tense. Is it all right to use them so? As we know, when we have complex  (not compound but complex) sentences, the past is generally followed by a past.


texts: Is there a word in English for a man who leaves his pregnant wife and child?

texts:
In Season 1, Episode 2 of the British show Peaky Blinders, Polly tells her pregnant niece Ada:

  The longer you leave it, the worse it gets. Believe me - I know. I was
  16. And I didn't dare tell anyone... In the end, I did it myself. I did it
  to myself. And I almost died. And he didn't come back. They don't. Why
  should they? You know the words. You're a "whore". The baby's a "bastard". But there's no word for the man who doesn't come back.

Is the emboldened sentence in the quote above true?

Is there really no word in English for a man who leaves his pregnant other half and child?


texts:
I see that "centerpoint" has a definition on Wikipedia that has to do with the mathematical entity, but I don't see it in online dictionaries.

So which sentence below spells the term correctly? This one:

  Rays of light will burst out from the centerpoint.

or this one:

  Rays of light will burst out from the center point.


texts: Should the punctuation before an ellipsis be included or removed?

texts:
If parts of a sentence are being omitted from a quotation, should the punctuation before the ellipsis be removed? Take the following example:

  The children went to school, and the teacher lectured.

Say that The children went to school is the only piece that needs to be used. Should the ellipsis be inserted like this:

  The children went to school,…

Or like this:

  The children went to school…

If it's the latter, then why do four-dot ellipses exist?


texts: What does "on point" mean in this context?

texts:
What does this mean?

  To be honest, all your stuff is like 100% on point with the vibe we've had going.

I don't know if it is a compliment or the guy just cursed me :D


texts: A word for someone willing to make sacrifices or drastic decisions

texts: I am looking for a word for someone who is willing to make sacrifices or go to extreme lengths in order to get what they want. This is less about how badly they want something and more about how they are constantly prepared to make a tough decision. I'm looking for something more than just "determined" since its specifically focused on how willing they are to go to extremities if they feel its necessary.


texts: How do you "leave all the beefin' to 50"?

texts:
How does someone "leave all the beefin' to 50"?

Context

From the latest song by Richard Colson Baker "Rap Devil"

  Let's leave all the beefin' to 50 (please)
  Em, you're pushin' 50

You can find a video of the song here.


texts: Doesn't need anything between be-verb and to one's advantage?

texts:
I saw a sentence with idiom "to one's advantage" in my textbook.
After that, It was obviously to my advantage.
When I saw this, I thought "why isn't there any complement after was?"
I thought Obviously and to my advantage were all adverb. But then where is complement of was?
Or is that was used as intransitive verb that means "exist"?
If then so, can I call that "Be + to N Phrase?"


texts:
Is it possible to use the verb "decide" as follows? I've seen some cases recently, for example:

  "I'm decided I'm voting Republican".

I've never seen it used this way before. Is it grammatically correct?


texts: Should the word be written as X-ray or x-ray?


texts:
Is there a better way to say "lossily compressed"?

The adverb lossily can not be found in Merriam-Webster, but the adjective lossy can. It also feels a bit unnatural.


texts:
I was always taught that when I have two independent clauses with the usage of because separating them, I should add a semicolon before because. Is this correct?  Example sentences:

  He dragged me into his office; because, he needed to tell me something important.

Another example:

  The roads are wet this morning; because, it rained last night.


texts: Can a sport team "clinch" a championship in the last regular season game?

texts:
This question gets into the subtle shades of meaning of the word clinch, in the context of sporting teams securing spots in the playoffs.

My past experience hearing this term on television, or reading in the newspaper, carries the connotation of "regardless of the outcome of (this or other teams') remaining games."  The free dictionary seems to agree.

However, recent coverage (question written during the last week of the 2014 NFL season) has described several teams having the opportunity to "clinch" a wild-card spot with a win on Sunday, if some other team also loses, or similar scenarios, always using the word clinch.  At this point, I would say that the team can earn, win, receive, capture, or any of a dozen other terms, but the time to be able to clinch has passed.

So, is my perception of the meaning of clinch flawed?  Or, is there clear evidence that the meaning is changing as a result of popular usage (i.e. by sports tele-casters and writers)?


texts:
So I'm trying to clarify the extent of what abstraction means.

I understand it represents things like emotions or ideas that can't concretely be sensed, just abstractly discussed...but what if those abstract nouns affect the world around them concretely?  Things such as the stock market, or GDP, or academic subjects such as physics (which governs the expertise of the observable physical nature of the universe).

It seems to me something like physics could and should be considered 'more' concrete than something like math or english, despite it discussing the ideas/mechanics of observable phenomena.

Would these still be considered abstract even though they have very real, observably concrete effects on the society we live in?

Thanks in advance,

Just Curious.


texts: Should "portray" be paired with "to be"?

texts:
Is it acceptable to pair "portray" with "to be"? As in

  The novel portrays life to be a...

Would it be better to use as?


texts: What is the correct meaning of "held up" here?

texts:
Is it grammatically correct to use the phrase "held up" in the following sense?

"I got held up with some other work", or
"Let's reschedule the meeting. Looks like you got held up."


texts:
what's the point of this joke:

max: I like your nurse's uniform, guy.

dr.: These are O.R. scrubs.

max: "O.R." they?

from rushmore movie:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMd2gB9L8So

trying translate this to russian but i'm stuck


texts:
I have a question about present perfect tense.
It would be great if you could help me figure that out. Today I was listening to "Everything has changed" and I noticed that when I talk about something that is already started and affected to now or (a period around now), we always use present perfect, but what I do not understand is this part. I will write these sentences to compare.

S+have/has+v.3+Object

  I have changed my car.

I changed my car and now I am using a new car. the old car does not belong to me anymore.

S +have/has+v.3

  Everything has changed

In this case I don't get it clearly. Actually I've heard this so many times, and I understand it. For example, when I talked to my friend about the computer game. The path was updated and there was everything new.  And my friend said "Everything has changed".

I'm confused when I compare it to another sentence like

  I have changed my mind.
  I have changed my phone number.
  I have changed my wallet.

but for "everything has changed" I think it could not be changed itself.

Why don't we say "Everything has been changed" instead because it does not have an object?


texts: "Both the drivers" versus "both drivers"

texts:
Context: there were two drivers in a single vehicle driving along a test track. Then the vehicle overturned and the drivers were injured.

Which sentence is correct: “The vehicle overturned injuring both the drivers” or “The vehicle overturned injuring both drivers”?

Thanks in advance.


texts: The usage of "do" and what it implies in these sentences

texts:
I have a question about this usage:
"Do you do drugs?" Is this asking if the person has ever done drugs before?
"Yes" does this mean the person has done drugs before (regardless) of how long ago and how frequent?
"No" Does this mean the person has never done drugs before, and says that they never will?
"Do you eat at restarurants?" Is this asking if the person has ever aten at a restaurant before?
"Yes" does this mean the person eaten at a restaurant (regardless) of how long ago and how frequent?
"No" Does this mean the person has never eaten at a restaurant before, and says that they never will?


texts: Pronunciation problem with "park" and "walk". Is there a name for this "phenomenon"?

texts:
Now and then, I struggle to say a pair of words such as "park and walk".  It may come out as "park and wark" or "pork and walk".  It occurs generally when the two words are close together in a sentence.

Is there a name for this behaviour or speech idiosyncrasy or is it unrecognised officially?  I know there is rhotacism, which is the recognised mis-pronunciation of the letter, "r".

Is there a name for my "affliction"?

Some other examples:

War and car
Far and talk


texts:
Why do words that begin with the letters "DE" have different ways of pronouncing?

Example: decide(dɪˈsaɪd) and decoy(diː.kɔɪ)

Does the english language has some sort of rule to help with this?


texts: Word for describing the emotion of helping someone

texts: I am looking for a word which describes the emotion that one experiences on helping someone (friend, colleague, family, stranger). This helping out is not in the context of charity, but more of as helping out a social/societal equal. Is there any such word ?


texts:
As a non-native speaker, I hear /ɛ/ as two different sounds depending on the word.
The first sound seems to occur in words such as bet and get and is closer to an /æ/ sound, while the second one sounds like an /e/ in words such as employ and "friend".
Is there a real sound difference for this symbol between these two cases, or is it my non-native ear that is tricking me?


texts:
Do we always mean something positive in such exclamations?
For example:

What a boy!
What a book!

Can they be interpreted in a negative way depending on something like intonation or whatever?
I mean, can it be used in a way that equals "What a bad boy!" but without any negative adjectives?
Please help to understand.
Thanks in advance!


texts: I'm looking for some clarity on the phrase "went in ignorance of."

texts:
The following sentence is taken from The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells.
I can understand the phrase went in ignorance of, but I am wondering if it is an idiomatic expression.

  Yet the next day there was nothing of this in the papers except a
  little note in Daily Telegraph, and the world went in ignorance of
  one of the gravest dangers that ever threatened the human race.


texts: A person who chooses one of two opposing sides of an issue

texts: Is there any single word for a person who chooses one of two opposing sides of an issue?


texts: The computer has 48GB memory (or memories?)

texts: What's the correct form? If both are correct, what's the difference?


texts: Is a comma necessary after an introductory but a main-clause-dependent element?

texts:
Very often, I find commas placed after introductory phrases that actually strongly affect the meaning of the main clause and would not be marked with commas in a complex sentence. For example, commas are very frequently being used in: "In Enlgand, the weather is often bad", "In the summer, we get our GCSE results" or "Every year, we go on a family trip". Sometimes, I even find apparently 'introductory' elements that the main clause's verb is dependent on, such as: "From this, we can see that..." or "In my mock, I got...".

What I have come up with is this:

  A phrase that none of the main clause's parts of speech are dependent on but that the overall main clause is should be considered a separate dependent clause.

However, this still doesn't explain the latter bit, and, having attempted a research on my hypothesis, I found nothing.

Can anyone explain?


texts: what does “memories are like corks left out of bottles…“ mean?

texts:
I saw a quote as following.
memories are like corks left out of bottles. They swell. They no longer fit.
~Harriet Doerr
https://www.azquotes.com/quote/1181685?ref=cork
Does it mean the memories are not the same or exaggerated to the fact?
I do not really understand in this quote.
What does it imply?


texts:
Is it "Even if our trips are of different lengths" or "Even if our trips are different lengths"? Why?

More specifically, the construct would be [verb] [subject] [preposision?] [adjective] [object]. Is there a definitive answer for this specific construct?


texts: Can I use "on this occasion" to start a sentence?

texts:
Can I use on this occasion to start a sentence? For example:

  I worked for three years as administrator of XXXX. On this occasion I managed. .  . .


texts: A term for someone who fails to see the big picture or doesn't see the wood for the trees

texts:
I'm looking for a term to describe someone who loses sight of the big picture because he focuses on the wrong details, for instance:

  a sales manager who fires his highest performing sales rep because the sales rep was a minute late to work but doesn't fire the poorly performing sales reps because they have always been on time.

I wouldn't call this person a perfectionist because the poorly performing sales reps are still on the payroll.

I'm basically looking for a term to label someone who doesn't know how to properly assign weights to relevant information when making a decision.


texts:
"People think that social interactions are vital for them."
Is "think" the lexical verb in this sentence? If so, can it be a transitive verb of incomplete predication? Because I consider that "social interactions" might be the direct object, and "are vital" the objective complement, but I am not sure.
Thank you in advance for your help.


texts:
How did we come to say "yonks" meaning a long period of time?

  "I haven't been to the cinema in yonks."

Etymonline has nothing and Oxford dictionaries has:

  noun:
  British informal:
  a very long time:
  I haven’t seen him for yonks

  1960s: origin unknown; perhaps related to donkey's years (see donkey)

If it has indeed spawned from "donkey's years", when and whereso?


texts:
I read a book in which a character wrote a poem.
She told herself

  I should fix the first part, but that's the idea.

What does this mean, "but that's the idea"?

Does it mean

she should fix the first one, but she is doing well over all.
she should fix the first one, and this idea (to fix the first part) is good.


texts: What's the etymology of "tit" (the insult)?

texts:
I've always felt that tit is not particularly offensive. Not, at least, in a context like:

  Oh, you silly tit!

I was attempting to demonstrate to somebody that the word is not offensive, at least not in BrE, and had assumed that the etymology would back me up. I was guessing it would have more to do with small birds than with teats. However, the Online Etymological Dictionary fails me here:

  tit (n.2)

  1540s, a word used for any small animal or object (as in compound forms such as titmouse, tomtit, etc.); also used of small horses. Similar words in related senses are found in Scandinavian (Icelandic tittr, Norwegian tita "a little bird"), but the connection and origin are obscure; perhaps, as OED suggests, the word is merely suggestive of something small. Used figuratively of persons after 1734, but earlier for "a girl or young woman" (1590s), often in deprecatory sense of "a hussy, minx."

That doesn't really sound like the tit of you silly tit. The OED is better but not very illuminating either:

  tit, sb.7 slang.
  Etymology: Of uncertain origin: perh. f. tit sb.6; cf. tit sb.3, twit sb.1 2 b.

  A foolish or ineffectual person, a nincompoop.

So, in the unlikely event that someone is better informed than the OED, what is the etymology of this sense of the word tit? Is it related to the birds? To teats? To something altogether different?


texts: Should I use a question mark at the end of a question fragment?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
“How to […]?” and “Where to […]?” Questions that are not questions. Is this defensible?

Does it make sense, grammatically, to end the phrase "How to [action]" with a question mark, or is it more correct for the question mark to be omitted?
I've always considered this a sentence fragment at best, but maybe I'm mistaken. Is it a complete sentence? I tried and failed to identify a subject in any of the examples below, and without a subject I think they aren't complete sentences. If it isn't a complete sentence, is there such a thing as an implied subject that makes it grammatically valid to use the phrase as an interrogative sentence?
I'm asking because I see this all the time in question titles on SE sites.
Examples:

How to describe narrated action?
How to use it's vs is?
How to appropriately suggest title changes?
How to not be an IT programmer?
How to measure?


texts:
A rhetorical question is a question asked in order to make a point, without expectation of an answer.

Here is something similair, and I want to know if there exists a name for it, I'll illustrate it using an example (an epic dialogue).

1: You're ugly.

2: You should look in a mirror.

Here advice (not actually advice I guess, but I don't know the correct word) is given in order to make a point, without expectation of someone actually following that advice. Is there a name for this?

p.s - I'm sorry but someone edited the title wrongly which has caused (good but) mostly irrelevant answers.


texts:
Is there a specific word for a genius who can express themselves via original insights?

I want to say that

  there are no ____ in the arts anymore, it's impossible

An idiom would be fine.

Perhaps there is some synonym of 'self expression'

  the expression of one's feelings, thoughts, or ideas, especially in writing, art, music, or dance

which forms an idiom with 'genius'?

The closest I myself can think of is some variant of heurēka, "I have found it".

'Creative genius' almost works, but I don't think that it excludes genius that is not self expression. None of the other synonyms, that I know, exclude everything but creative genius.


texts: Does the word "gentleman" retain the distinction "of leisurely lifestyle" anywhere in British English?

texts:
I've been watching a great deal many British period films lately, and having done so has made me grow acutely aware to the nuance of the word gentleman.  Once upon a time, a gentleman wasn't just some ordinary man off the street, as we might likely apply the word to nowadays, oh no; the gentlemen I watch typically

"go out to the country" to one of their palatial country homes
have an "allowance" from some vast checkbook, and spend precious little time working
have many servants to dote upon them and many sashes about their houses to summon those servants
typically walk about in exquisitely manicured gardens and parks
always have a "club" to relax in, and "society" dinners to attend to

From what I can tell, a gentleman isn't necessarily of aristocracy, or nobility; the primary characteristic of them all is that one needs to keep up the appearance of not having to work, even if one does.   And, what I've also noticed is that in the many films I've watched, up to the Second World War period, this distinction of gentleman is always well observed by all characters present.

So, if you'll excuse my long-winded digressions, I have a simple question:  Is this usage still current anywhere in British English?  Are there certain groups of people who still observe that not everyone is a gentleman, and that it requires a particular lifestyle?


texts: When to use obsolete or redundant when referring to something that is no longer required?

texts:
I was sending a message to one of our developers internally referring to an element on a page querying whether it was needed or would be used but I paused when I realised that I wasn't entirely sure whether to use the word obsolete or redundant.

If we refer to the typical definitions:-

Obsolete: no longer produced or used; out of date.

Redundant: not or no longer needed or useful; superfluous.

I guess the use largely comes down to the context...

  So can you confirm now, is the dropdown now obsolete?

Is there a better use case for one over the other? Perhaps the bottom line, is it matters not which is used.


texts: In a textbook, to refer to a figure below the text you would say "See figure below." What about for figures beside the text?


texts: Word to describe quality being fit to each other

texts:
Is there any good noun to describe the quality being fit to each other? The picture as example, either of the two halves fits to the other. At this point, I want to make a sentence like this: Either of the two has [quality] [proper prep.] the other.

Thanks.


texts: Using "The" article at the beginning of (table) titles and figure captions including "of" phrase

texts:
What's good practice for writing titles for academic papers and their tables, and captions for figures.
The baseline characteristics of the included patients.
OR
Baseline characteristics of the included patients.


texts:
Which is correct and why?

There need to be other reactions.
There needs to be other reactions.

What exactly is the grammatical structure here?  I try looking up need vs needs and get esamples of simple nouns to the left and complications for particles and infinitives and whatnot: “Joe needs to wash.” “Joe doesn’t need to wash.”

What’s the case here? Is “need to be” all together the verb?  Is “there” used in the same gramatical role as “Joe” or is it fundimentally different?


texts:
Maybe he would help me with Deborah's pablum, take turns pushing the wheelchair. It's good to have someone.
That reminded me that I had someone -- or perhaps I was had. In any case, Rita would want to know I would be late, [...]

This is the first time I see a sentence like this. What tense is that I was had ?
EDIT: Wider context added.


texts: What is the name of this symbol that looks like a double crucifix?

texts:
I found this symbol in the movie "The Day of the Jackal (1973)" opening scenes.

What is it called in English?


texts: Meaning of the phrase "it is worth noting that"

texts:
I'm a little bit confused with the following phrase. I was reading an article about concurrency in Java and there was a sentence saying:

It is worth noting that both unlockRead() and unlockWrite() calls notifyAll() rather than notify().

This phrase seemed quite strange to me. What does it mean?


texts: How to use a the possessive "s" after a dot?

texts:
How can I use an apostrophe to show possession after a dot?

Example: Martin Luther King Jr.'s world-view.

Is this correct?


texts: "fix me that account" or "fix that account for me"

texts: Can we say "Did you fix me that account?" Or should it be "Did you fix that account for me?" assuming something is wrong with the account. Account represents a computer based system user id.


texts:
I need to explain the users of my mobile application that if they do a "swipe" movement they will see the other categories of information of their device.

Please, can you tell me if this phrase is correctly written or has some failures?

Thank you

  Swipe horizontally right or left to see the different information
  categories of your device. Press upper left corner menu button to see
  the App sections

This is what swipe means:


texts:
When is it okay to use "or" instead of "and" with "such as"?
Been researching this for a while but haven't found a convincing answer.

Considering "such as" is used to give examples, don't we restrict the examples by saying "or"? And if "or" is more apt, why not directly say A, B, or C instead of using "such as"?

The software sends automated emails triggered by certain actions or events such as birthdays and/or anniversaries.

Which would be the correct choice?

The only resources I could find are:
https://forum.oxforddictionaries.com/en/discussion/27/such-as-or-or-and?fbclid=IwAR1-lLoJh73PHhdC1FlNbSPeK0TNo5xgCZz3FvGmQtmJ_WGo76DDapU8m8M

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/such-as?fbclid=IwAR3IawzuEXTjsjfBnwv-hv1w9EUcJWPlODfupOM2sMdZ8KCX86qa-gBJeqo


texts: Why is the usage of " but" different in these two sentences?

texts:
He did nothing at all but repeatedly brag what he has done for the country.
I had no choice but to give up the offer.

Why is " but" in above examples respectively followed by a bare infinitive and an infinitive with to?


texts:
Today I served a customer dressed obviously for cycling. He came in with his trousers tucked into his socks and a very obvious cycling helmet.
I asked my colleague

  Do you think he came on his bike?

She (is Polish with exceptionally proper English and) asked me how I would refer to a sarcastic question like that. Nearest I can think is rhetorical?


texts: Which verb does the adverbial phrase "for many days" modify in this sentence: "People remember most of what they have studied for many days."

texts:
Context: This is a comprehension check question for a text which basically says that people are quick to forget information unless they study/review it several times. We have to answer whether the sentence below is true or false.
The sentence: People remember most of what they have studied for many days.

People remember (for many days) most of what they have studied.
People remember most of what they have studied (for many days).

My initial answer is FALSE, if the adverbial phrase modifies the verb "remember". But on second thought, can it also modify the verb "have studied"? If so, wouldn't the answer be TRUE?


texts: For computer science, are the files corrupted or corrupt?

texts:
Computer files:

Are they "corrupt" or "corrupted"? I feel they could be both.

What is the standard?


texts: How should I address a professor in the US?

texts:
I am always puzzled about how students address a professor in America. Perhaps "Professor + Last name" is the most formal way to do. Here are my questions:

What if the last name of a professor is very long?
Is it common that students use the nickname or the first name of a professor?
What if the teacher is a lecturer instead of a professor? How should the student call him/her?
Is it formal to write "Prof." instead of "Professor"?


texts:
I'm writing copy for a new web application and I'm having some trouble with it.

On one headline I've written "It's dead simple ...", but while my client was reviewing it he asked if this is not too 'cool', and suggested "It's really simple ...".

The context is: Web 2.0 application, really COOL with a beautiful bright homepage design!

How can I convince him to use "Dead simple...", or am I wrong and "Really simple..." is better?


texts:
Probably a relatively technical term.
Commonly used for the case where, for example, two sets are equal because they are both empty.

"This instance of the problem has reduced down to the _____ case".

Trivial is very close but I have a feeling there's a better term too.


texts: Can I use the possessive to indicate the origin of products?

texts:
Suppose an apple is produced in a place called Gotham. Can I call it Gotham's apple to indicate the place of its orign?  I guess it is natural to call it an apple from Gotham or a Gotham apple by using the proper noun as an adjectve.
I understand that salmon caught in Alaska are usually called Alaskan salmon or Alaska salmon. But I have spotted on the Internet Alaska's salmon.


texts: "Politics stops at water’s edge" -- meaning

texts:
I read the following phrase in the topic of foreign policies of a country,

  "It stops at water's edge."

What does "politics stops at water’s edge" mean?


texts: Difference between 'As compared to' and 'When compared to'

texts: Is there any rule governing when the phrase "As compared to..." should be used, and when "When compared to..." should be used? Or, do they mean the same, in all contexts?


texts: What is the word that describes a word that is used in literature/writing, but not normally in common dialogue?

texts:
The question says it all.

I see a lot of examples on this site of a word that is accepted for a question, but I would never hear that word in my life.  I may see it if I read something, but my friends, coworkers, and family would never use it.

Note:  Bonus if the word would not describe itself!


texts:
Are there any guidelines for when you should capitalize titles/headings or not? Should you always do this in English?

I am referring to

A Capitalized Heading

vs

A capitalized heading


texts: "To each is specialty." I do not understand

texts: -"Write about what you know. To each is specialty*. It is important to stick to the themes defined in the additional charter of your site. Don't scatter on topics outside the scope and be faithful to the editorial line defined at the beginning" - *I read it in an article and I do not understand what does it mean. Can anybody explain ?


texts: Correct Use of "to train somebody in something" in a sentence

texts:
Is

  We would like to train 2 of our employees in Arabic language

correct? Does it mean we want them (2 of the employees) to learn the Arabic language in an Arabic language training?


texts: If somebody says, "If you really want to leave me, then let me know," which reply would be correct in the English language—"Yes I do" or "Yes I really do"?


texts:
I’d like to ask about the sentence I’m not sure about in The Engineer’s Thumbs by Conan Doyle.

  .. that of Mr. Hatherley’s thumb, and that of Colonel Warburton’s
  madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a finer field for an
  acute and original observer,

This part is the beginning of the stories and Watson describes, as he often does, how he chose a particular episode and how he didn’t pick up other ones
.
What I don’t get is whom this “an acute and original observer” refers to. That the indefinite article “an” is used here can’t mean this refers to Holmes, can it? Then this has to mean one of the readers. So I take what being said with this part is like “the latter episode would offer better entertainment to sharp readers but..”  Or is it actually refers to Holms like “an acute and original observer (like Sherlock Homes)”? I don’t know.
Could someone teach me how I should interpret this?  Thanks.


texts:
Is there a simple phrase to describe the object of an agent noun performing an action?

The adviser helped the advisee.
The employer fired the employee.

Is there a phrase similar to "agent noun" that can describe advisee and employee?


texts:
Here's the sentence - We Put These BFF's to the test.

Is this correct or wrong and why?


texts: Does "bankroll" mean "cash" if used as a verb?

texts:
I was watching the TV show "White Collar" (episode: Forging Bonds).
Neal Caffrey is a bond forger.
Neal is planning to steal money from a rich man named Adler.
Neal needs some money to meet Adler, so he cashes bonds that he forged.
This catches the attention of FBI agent Peter Burke.
Below is a conversation between Neal and Peter.

Neal: Cashing those bonds was a calculated risk.  But it was worth it for the con we were about to run on Adler.
Peter: Yeah, but bankrolling them got us our first visual on you.

Does "bankroll" mean "cash" in the above sentence?
According to my dictionary, "bankroll" means "finance" as a verb.
But I am not sure if this applies to the above conversation.
Note: The episode's transcript can be found at:
http://whitecollar.wikia.com/wiki/%22Forging_Bonds.%22_2x11_Transcript


texts: "Seriously speaking" or just "seriously"?

texts:
Is the expression seriously speaking redundant? For example:

  [A asks a question]

  [B replies with a joke]

  [A and B laugh]

  B: No, seriously (speaking), I came to visit my mom.

I think writing "No, seriously..." would imply that A is not believing what B is saying (which isn't the case in my example above).

I'm not very sure, though.

I also thought of the expression talking seriously. But I think I'm translating directly from Spanish (hablando enserio).


texts: In what cases is it appropriate to refer to unknown gender as she?


texts:
The only danger is, lest it should be Too strong a remedy ...Source

Can this "lest" be used in this way?

Like this...

My apprehension is lest my advice should kill her motivation.


texts: What highway exit does "Next Exit" refer to?

texts:
Example: If you have not yet reached exit number 5 is the "next exit" referring to exit 5 or exit 6?  "This exit" is clearly exit 5.

Similar to the "next Tuesday" question Which day does "next Tuesday" refer to?


texts: A term for released software that is still being actively developed

texts:
I'm writing an academic paper that deals with classifying software and I'm trying to think of a term to describe software that is still being actively developed, with new versions being released periodically, like Windows, MS Office, Firefox, etc. An example of software that wouldn't be included in such a group would be any type of legacy software.

Terms that come to mind are "survived" and "endured", but I'm sure there must be a better word. Any suggestions?


texts: "The people with whom you are talking" vs. "The people you are talking with"

texts:
Is it grammatically correct to say

  "One of the disadvantages of chatrooms is that you do not know the people with whom you are talking"?

I think it is better to say "the people you are talking with" but I do not know if the first option would be possible.


texts:
Could anyone tell me if the sentence "There was a rumor that Citibank is in debt." is grammatically correct ?

Please advise me. Some say it is correct while others say it is ungrammatical. I'm lost.


texts: She turned me into a newt, but I got better

texts:
From Monty Python and the holy grail:

  BEDEVERE: What makes you think she is a witch?

  VILLAGER #3: Well, she turned me into a newt.

  BEDEVERE: A newt?

  VILLAGER #3: I got better.

How does this joke work? I think a newt is some kind of water dwelling salamander, surely that isn't meant here?


texts:
So, I have this expression from Portuguese that says that "A dog with two owners dies of hunger"

It has the main objective of expressing that if you assign more than one person to take care of something (usually a problem), they'll all think that the other one will take care of it and end up doing nothing.

Is there anything similar in English? I thought about "Too many cooks spoil the broth" but it doesn't have the same intrinsic message - this one comes across to me that if you have too many people taking care of the same thing, there will be too much done and in the end it will get bad from EXCESS of action, while the Portuguese saying has the underlying meaning of neglect.


texts: Can "pro rata" be used as a verb? And what should the past tense be?

texts:
We are offering prices on some subscriptions which are normally priced for a full year, but allow users to buy only a few months worth.

We're calling these pro rata prices and talking about the prices being pro rataed or pro rated (depending on how we want to pronounce it) — is this good English? What would be a better way?


texts: Is this correct to say "a large group of crowd(s)"

texts:
Crowd means a large number of persons gathered together, however I've found some examples in which this expression is used "a large group of crowd".

  In the future, these flying drones may be seen inspecting pipes or flying over a large group of crowds, streaming images.  A Dragonfly Robot Taking Off

and

  It's very rare to see large group of crowds congregating in one place in Seattle, the Folklife Festival is one exception.

It seems such usages are redundant, such as "large group of groups". My question: is this grammatically correct to use such expression?


texts:
I recently came across an article printed in our school magazine, which read, "I studied that a year ago". But, doesn't "I studied that a year back" sound better?

What's your say?


texts: Is "reverse success" a readily understood phrase to English readers?

texts: I'm translating a Russian text about a writer who only got famous in his home country AFTER hitting the big time abroad. The author of the text calls his success at home a kind of "reverse success" in two separate phrases with two different Russian words that translate roughly as "reverse" (obratny and vozvratny). These two words are all about things being reversed, back to front or reflected. Is "reverse success" fine here, or might you put a different English adjective there, or else abandon literal translation altogether and go for some more roundabout phrase? One of the instances is a headline, so it would have to be something fairly concise.


texts:
Could you help me, please? What is the right option for the following question:

"Why is Google unique?"
"Why Google is unique?"

Thank you very much and wish you a good day!


texts: English term for aggressive street seller?

texts: Is there an English term for the type of street seller who aggressively sells his products? The type who yell after you and may follow you as you walk down the street?


texts: What's the meaning of the expression "Grab a hold"?

texts:
What does it mean to "grab a hold"? There is a song by Cyndi Lauper that says

  If you wanna grab a hold, let it go...


texts:
I'm not sure if this question fits on this site. I've been coming across the term Hustle Economy lately in articles such as this.
I'm not a native speaker of English and I'm having trouble understanding what is the sense in which hustle is used in Hustle Economy.
The definitions of hustle I read vary from something that is forceful, aggressive, unethical or even illegal work to prostitution. It seems to be a derogatory word.
Whereas the activities of Hustle Economy include using creativity to create individual products - like a YouTuber, creating online courses and so on. What is the hustle in these activities?


texts: Is this punctuation correct? And what type of clause is this?

texts:
I have this sentence which I wanted to investigate grammatically for correctness.

He is very uneducated, which is why he cannot find work.

Is the comma correct here? Also, is "which is why he cannot find work." a dependent or independent clause? I thank all helpers.


texts: What is the difference between "mound" and "hill"?

texts: I learned these words have similar meaning. While reading a book. the writer uses these two words for different meaning. I want to know the difference of meaning. Is there any difference?


texts: past simple vs present perfect in following examples

texts:
I am trying to understand differences in using past simple and present perfect.
Let consider following examples.

  I have put onion in the soup.

I am cooking the soup now, onion is floating in water, we use perfect because we can see result now.

  I put onion in the soup and I closed the pan with a lid.

There is story about actions, we use past simple.
The words below are from one song:

  I have climbed the highest mountains
  I have run through the fields
  Only to be with you.

This is report on the actions, and actions do not bound with each other. We use perfect.
Let consider next sentences.

  I have made the soup. I have cleaned up my home.

It looks like report on actions, we use perfect.
But if we want to say that I first made the soup, and then did the house cleaning?

  I made the soup, then I cleaned up my home (???)

How to distinguish fine line between reporting on unrelated actions and actions in the story?

EDITED ##########################################################

Thanks for reply. When I used first example, I wanted to say something in following context:

- What have you done this morning?
- I have made soup. (You can eat it now)

  Present perfect, I want to point to result by now. We can use past simple, but perfect can be used too.

But if I made a sequence of actions, I can say:

  I bought vegetables, washed it, sliced it, cook it. Thus I made soup.

This is story about sequence of actions, I cannot use present perfect.

Let consider another song

Oh, where have you been, my darling young one?
I’ve stumbled on the side of twelve misty mountains
I’ve walked and I’ve crawled on six crooked highways
I’ve stepped in the middle of seven sad forests
I’ve been out in front of a dozen dead oceans

Read more: http://www.bobdylan.com/us/songs/hard-rains-gonna-fall

We have report of performed action by reporting period (sorry for tautology). My book tells me that present perfect is good for this context, because this is not story about sequence of actions, and we can use present perfect.

As I understand now, difference between story (past simple) and report (present perfect) may depends on context and what I want underscore it sentences.
We can say

  "I have lost my key and painted door to red colour this
  morning".

(= you can see red door and that I cannot ride car now.)

But I can rephrase it to

  "I lost my key, tried to find it, but failed. Then I remembered about
  pale door and paited it to red colour."

It looks like story about sequense of actions, and we cannot use present perfect.
Correct me if I'm wrong.


texts:
Can someone tell me the meaning of 'writes circles around' in this sentence?:

'If I say that he writes circles around everyone else in Comics, it's not simply to put him in a rare class with Gilbert Hernandez and Art Spiel ...' (found in the introduction of 'The Sandman Vol.2 - The Dream Country').

I've seen this other question here Meaning of "Circle around with"
but I'm still not clear about this:(


texts: Delayed subject with short subject length

texts:
I read a few pages (here for example) dealing with "anticipatory/dummy it" and "delayed subject" to try and satisfy my curiosity about an observation I'd made about a friend's speech. Often, when my friend is making a simple observation, she will pull the subject of her sentence to the end, and replace it with an "it"—thus, not

  *The movie was good.

or even

  *That/it was a good movie.

but

  It was good the movie.

(I left out a comma after good because my friend doesn't noticeably pause there.)

The uses of "delayed subject" or "anticipatory/dummy it" that I've seen are all connected to a subject which is either an infinitive phrase or a noun clause; I haven't seen an example in which the subject is a simple noun phrase.

My friend grew up in northern New Jersey, USA; and her mother (who occasionally had the same trick of speech) grew up in Queens, New York, USA.

Is this mode of speech part of a recognized dialect there, or somewhere else? I don't recall ever having heard it before. Do other varieties of English have similar constructs?


texts:
The senators are delegating on an issue and they at interval comment on the subject matter. But before they do, they recognize the senate president in greeting with:

  “The senate president in/at the chair, my honorable senate members present...”

before they commence on what they have to say on the subject matter.

The senate president sitting in the chair
Or
The senate president sitting at the chair

I’d like to know which is correct between the expressions, given the  context of congressional proceedings.


texts: Is there a specific term for treating a system as if it had *motives*?

texts:
Imagine some complex system that may have a wide variety of possible actions/outputs, and that to some extent may be responsive to its circumstances.

I'm trying to find a suitable term (hopefully a single word, a particularly apt phrase may do) for treating such a system as if it had motives - as if it was seeking or wanting some outcome or set of outcomes.

I'm not really looking for anthropomorphism (attributing specifically human qualities), since the motives needn't be human ones -- after all, an animal might easily have motives, so the word carries implications I don't wish to convey. I'm also not looking for reification, as the system may itself be concrete (a gyroscope, for example can be responsive, and seem as if it were seeking to maintain its orientation), and that doesn't convey the sense of treating it as if it had motives.

It's something in the ballpark of the pathetic fallacy, but that's not exactly what I'm after. It would almost do, but I'm trying to avoid the suggestion of fallacy -- the context is more a metaphorical usage than a logical argument, so I think something suggesting there's fallacy involved isn't quite what's called for; indeed sometimes such metaphorical usage may be quite vivid, even productive (at least where the analogy helps), even if potentially misleading when taken too far.

Is there another such a word or phrase?

[Some possible examples/near analogies occurred to me as I typed ... sometimes people speak of evolution as if it were seeking to adapt, though it doesn't. Sometimes people attribute similar notions to an economy or market... as if it were trying or acting to achieve some kind of outcome. What might one call it when someone does that?]


texts: idiom/phrase to say that you do not have to feel unworthy compared to someone else

texts:
Is there an idiom/phrase to illustrate that 'you do not have to feel less worthy/less equipped than someone else'?
In my mother tongue we say "You don't have to stand back a single step from that person", but I don't think that translates to English correctly?


texts:
I dimly remember a quote from high school art class that went something like "You must learn to paint the sky blue before you can paint it red." I thought it was from Picasso, but my searches are coming up empty. All of my Google searches are also coming up empty. Does anyone know anything about this quote, or know where I should be looking? I've also tried some of the common quote collection sites with no results. It's a very specific quote that I feel also has meaning in other areas of life.

My apologies if this is not an appropriate forum for the question.


texts:
Often we may see adjectives with nouns that are implied, but not explicitly written. I see this mostly with sports team names and demonyms. For example:

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish

Is "Irish" a noun, or is it strictly an adjective where "people" is implied? In Latin, which has genders, you could write an adjective without a noun, and "man" or "woman" could be implied based on its gender (and generally, I've seen the masculine plural referring to people without gender importance). We can't do that in English as adjectives are not grammatically grouped into genders.

Here's another example:

"The Chinese are very hard-working."

Is "Chinese" officially a noun or is it merely an adjective?


texts: Is 'many' used in positive sentences or not?

texts:
It is uncanny how many books will insist that neither 'many' nor 'much' can be used in positive sentences.

Have you got many pens? / Have you got much money? --> correct
I haven't got many pens. / I haven't got much money. --> correct
I have got many pens. / I have got much money. --> INCORRECT

And yet, those same books will invariably have a text where - lo and behold - 'many' is used in a positive sentence!

I can only guess that proper grammar rules are as dictated, but every day use has drifted considerably from the said rule.

So I ask you: what is the real usage of 'many'. Has it become common in any type of sentence? Or are there situations when 'many' can be used in positive sentences and situations when it can't? Because I really don't know what to say when the students point at a text and say it isn't following the rule they are supposed to follow.


texts:
Should I use definite article before "total"?
Prior context: rehabilitation, describing patients' used physical therapy hours
Sentence in the middle of this work:

In contrast, total received post-acute PT changed only in four
counties.

In contrast, the total received post-acute PT changed only in four
counties.


texts: In my mind, I want to spell it "croud" when I'm talking about a verb and "crowd" as a noun, but I think the only correct form is "crowd." A quick Google search of "croud" showed a Wiktionary page saying that it's an obsolete spelling of "crowd," but I didn't see much else to support this in other sites. Are both correct? Is it only "crowd" that's correct?


texts: How offensive is the expression "I am sick of you"?

texts:
Question 1: What is the meaning of "I am sick of you" exactly?

Question 2: Does the meaning of this expression change depending on the context?

Question 3: How offensive is this expression in comparison with some alternatives having similar meanings?


texts: A word or phrase meaning the opposite action of embedding

texts:
When I want my document to be displayed the same on different devices, I can embed used fonts in the document.

But sometimes I want my documents to take less space so I want to remove previously embedded fonts.

How should I call the action in the second case?


texts:
While addressing backshifting of epistemic 'would' over on English Language Learners, I ended up trying to analyse will/would usage in the context of...

  1: Considering how long it's been out of the fridge, I think the fish will be putrid
   2: ? Considering how long it's been out of the fridge, I think the fish would be putrid

...which I contrasted with...

  3: Considering how long it's been out of the fridge, I think the fish will be unsafe to eat
   4: Considering how long it's been out of the fridge, I think the fish would be unsafe to eat

It's my opinion that #2 above doesn't really work, because the fish either is or isn't putrid (and in most credible contexts, we're definitely about to find out soon, one way or the other).

By the same token, both #3 and #4 work for me, because we may or may not eat it - which uncertainty licenses the hypothetical, irrealis "not present tense" auxiliary verb form would.

But my reasoning came unstuck when I tried replacing think with hope...

  5: Considering how much it cost, I hope it will be good
   6: * Considering how much it cost, I hope it would be good (completely unacceptable)

I want to know if there's any justification for my not liking #2 above - and if so, why exactly?


texts: when was "well" first used to begin a sentence in england

texts: In writing the supposed memoirs of a late eighteenth century widow I'm wondering when "Well" at the beginning of a sentence was first known to have been used.


texts: How can I say "I know him well" in a formal way

texts:
I need help in formal writing.
Can somebody tell me how to say "I know him well after 2 year teaching him" formaly?
Thanks in advance.


texts:
I'm an English teacher in South Korea. I want to ask you whether this sentence is grammatical:

Jacob learned what people started to farm at school.

I think it's grammatical. I asked one native speaker and she said that it is grammatical. But the textbook claims that it's not grammatical. What are your views on this?


texts: Stylistic / rhetorical device used by Obama over and over

texts:
After reading some of his speeches, I see one rhetorical device used over and over by Obama, some examples for it include:

large or small
wealthy or poor
able or disabled
gay or straight
young or old

What is it called? Is it a simple antithesis?


texts: How do you describe a person who loves everything natural when it comes to health and food?

texts:
I am looking for a good adjective to describe a person who prefers natural medicine, who takes natural health products like nutritional supplements, herbal products, organic food whenever possible and stays away from synthetic chemicals or pharmaceutical drugs as much as possible.

Thanks!


texts:
How do you say the following correctly:

  The athlete goes swimming, then cycling, running, taking a shower and relaxing, in that order.

So in a long sentence, if I do not want to state then after each comma, can I use in that order at the end, or does that sound weird?


texts: the start of sports teams moving from the East to the West

texts:
In 1946, Cleveland Rams moved to LA, signifying the start of NFL
teams moving west.

Three questions here:

Is it okay if I use "bespeak" instead of "signify" in this sentence? I've looked them up in the dictionary to see if there's any difference in their meanings, but to no avail.

What I am trying to say here is that NFL teams started to move west after the year 1946 when a team from Ohio decided to move to the West coast. Based on the context provided, is it correct to say something like that?

I would like to know if there's a better way to express the meaning here, but I want to make it sound formal.


texts: What word to choose as the opposite of "self-aware"?

texts:
What word would describe the quality of not being self-aware?

unselfaware
unself-aware
un-selfaware
un-self-aware
non-self-aware

I am aware that it is allowed to have multiple hyphens in a word.  However, the Oxford English Dictionary lists self-aware as a hyphenated word, whilst unaware is not. Therefore, I am unsure which of these options to choose. Or perhaps there is a better word?


texts: What is the grammatical name and function given to “at the moment of impact”?

texts: At the moment of impact, the eye is left exposed


texts: Why does 'pine feather period' signify the period in a woman's life when she blossoms?

texts: A book titled Flappers 2 Rappers lists youth slang from the 1920s, and one of the terms it lists is "pine feather period." "Pine feather period" is defined as a period in a woman's life when she blossoms. I can't comprehend how "pine feather period" and a woman blossoming are related. I've researched the matter and still I haven't the least notion. Can anyone please help me understand better how "pine feather period" could be used to describe a young lady blossoming?


texts: how to avoid repetition in comparing two things in a line graph

texts:
I have a problem with repetition for describing this graph. This graph represents the strong ground motion acceleration (vertical axes) over the period (the horizontal axes) for different return periods with and without incorporating an effect called the directivity effect. Dashed lines are the ones including the directivity effect and solid lines do not contain this effect.
The upper two lines (i.e. the red line with its dashed line) represent the acceleration for the longer return period (2475 years), while the lower lines (the green line with its dashed line) show the acceleration for a shorter return period (475 years).
I want to say this: As the period (horizontal axes) increases, the dashed line of the red line increases more than the dashed line of the green one. It means the effect of directivity is higher on the 2475 years return period and is smaller on the 475 years return period. I wrote this:
"For longer return periods, the effect of directivity on strong ground motion acceleration is more than the effect of directivity on strong ground motion acceleration for shorter return periods."
I tried to avoid repetition using "than that of" but I thought it could not be appropriate. I was wondering if you could let me know how I can avoid the repetition of "the effect of directivity on strong ground motion acceleration".


texts: Word that for nouns that are a continuous quantity (as opposed to discrete)

texts:
I'm looking for the name for the class of nouns that describe things whose quantity is continuous rather than discrete.

For example, "cream", "water", "fire" are all nouns in this set.   In contrast, "sheep", "atoms" and "axes" are not.

The word that I am looking for would differentiate between when you say "so much" and "so many".   You say "so much" for nouns in the class I'm talking about, and "so many" for those that aren't.


texts: Is there a rule for complex words when y (at the end of first) must be changed to i?

texts:
Why do complex words like “citilink” or “citibank” use “i” at the end of “city”?

I bet they mean city in the first part of word. I’m not sure if there is some rule for complex words when “y” must be changed to “i”; is this true?


texts:
What’s the adjective beginning with ‘c’ that describes someone who has a snotty nose and mucus filling their sinuses.

Probably synonymous with “stuffy”.

  I would be feeling much better if I wasn’t so _______

I think it sounds something like congealed.


texts: What is the best abbreviation for supervisor in British English?

texts:
What is the best abbreviation for supervisor, if I were to write a letter to one in Britain?

e.g. a supervisor who works in UK Visas and Immigration.

If there is no such abbreviation, would saying something like "Dear Supervisor Blair" instead of "Dear Ms. Blair" sound awkward? It is unclear if the hypothetical supervisor is married or not, but she is a woman in this example.


texts:
In the sentence below, is the comma placed correctly? Why?

  "Her performance was highly acclaimed, both for her rich and
  beautiful voice and for her powerful stand"


texts: How should I say "I don't have anything useful to say so I am quiet"?

texts:
I am having a discussion/conversation with a very close friend, and this conversation concerns me personally (you might even go as far as saying this is my best friend). At one point in our conversation he starts to "spam" (not literally, the messages have meaning and are well-formulated) me with many messages, but I really have nothing to say back (or anything useful to say back). I should clarify by saying that I completely understand what he is saying, and I somewhat agree with the things he said.

He then proceeds to send me another text saying: "Don't you have anything to comment?.."

How could I respond nicely with a proverb/saying of any kind that means "silence is sometimes better than speaking when one doesn't have anything useful to say"...

I know some sayings like "silence is gold" or "better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and to remove all doubt", but they don't really work for me in this scenario.

I hope I was clear enough. Thanks


texts: Word for the conclusion talk of a conference

texts:
What is the best word for the concluding talk to a scientific conference (usually held by the conference organiser)? They mostly just thank the attendees and praise their contributions before wishing them a good trip home.

The following words come to mind:

Conclusion
Concluding remarks
Summary

But they sound more like the last chapter of a thesis. Is there a word specifically for that kind of talk?


texts: Is there a special word for someone who got transported to another world/time/universe?

texts:
So I've been trying to figure this out recently. There is a word like that in Russian, which is my native language, but I can't seem to find an English counterpart to it. In Russian, the word is "попаданец"(pronounced as something like pop-ah-dun-ets if you're curious) and it's basically a person(usually from present day, though the reverse happens also) who gets somehow transported to another time/universe/world by some means, almost always against their own will.

As an example, Fry from Futurama fits the bill, since he went from the year 2000 to the year 3000 against his will. However, if Doctor Who(or any other time traveler) travels in time he doesn't qualify. Although if his TARDIS malfunctioned and he ended up stranded in a parallel universe, you could argue that he qualifies for that title.

So the question is: is there a colloquial term to call those characters in English?


texts: Does a "two-fold decrease" result in a 'quantity - 200%' or a 'quantity/2'?

texts: If I say that something had a "two-fold decrease", does it mean it was halved or that it was reduced by 200% (which can bring the value to a negative)?


texts:
What is the equivalent word for a person who doesn't want to communicate to share any of his/her secrets, life's stories or personal information?

Need some words related to the above described description...


texts: "This statement holds" vs "This statement holds true"

texts:
Is there any difference in usage or connotation between the statements

  This equation holds.

and

  This equation holds true.

?


texts:
The most important criteria a power beamer is judged by is the overall efficiency. The overall efficiency is determined by the electro-optical efficiency of the source, the opto-electrical efficiency of the photo voltaic cells and the optical setup in between these two components.
Source: "Power Beaming with Diode Lasers"

What is a power beamer?


texts: The four major cities in the Netherlands, i.e. Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht belong to the Randstad. What is the English translation for the Dutch word Randstad? I have found downtown but I wonder whether this is the correct translation.


texts:
Accompanying these are bowls of zesty, colorful rice and platters
  filled with ham and fresh salad served with roast turkey.

What does 'accompanying' do in this sentence?
I don't know its part of speech and structural role in the sentence.
Also I'm not sure if this sentence is grammatical.


texts: The phrase "never even" in spoken English - Bookish ? Old-fashioned ? Sophisticated?

texts: "She never even said good-bye !"  instead of "She didn't even say good-bye !"  in informal conversation.  Would someone using it sound bookish ? Old-fashioned ? Sophisticated ?


texts: From a systemic functional approach, what would a transitivity analysis of 'be that as it may' show?

texts:
I found this beautifully organized text for my students to analyze in terms of thematic progression. I'll also ask them to provide a transitivity analysis of some of its clauses, but there's that expression that caught me off guard.

I suppose it's a relational process 'be' followed by the carrier 'that' (which is already odd).

Then we get to 'as it may'. Would you say it's a conjunctive adjunct followed by a carrier and an elliptical attributive process (may be)?

Is there any other way to interpret it?


texts:
I am trying to describe an assumption as a common and conventional one. No one ever doubts its reasonableness, and everyone simply takes this assumption as granted without thinking about it.

Can I call such an assumption as "a de facto assumption"? If not, what adjective should I use? I feel "conventional assumption" does not catch my intended connotation.


texts: Is using of “each” along with “apiece” redundant in this sentence?

texts:
I was interested in the following sentence which appeared in an article titled “Kooky Politics Make for Entertaining Races" by Albert R. Hunt in The New York Times (June 20, 2010).

  The figure seemed odd until it was disclosed that of Mr. Ensign’s
  parents each gave $12,000 apiece to the four members of the aide’s
  family, the maximum allowed without having to file a gift tax return
  with the Internal Revenue Service.

Can someone clarify if the word "apiece" is unnecessary, as I think it is?

I would drop "apiece", but I'm not sure on this correction because constructions like "each ... $[X] ... apiece" occurs on many occasions on The New York Times and it frequently occurs in others newspapers. So I am wondering if it is in common usage, albeit it isn't the highest register.


texts: Expression describing code written by inexperienced, lazy and untalented developers

texts:
One of my characters is a young graduate student who leaves her adviser. He takes her research code and he gets his other students to use it, not forgetting to say all sorts of mean things about her and the code.
I need a derogatory expression for code that is written by a young and inexperienced developer who contains many typical mistakes: do loops that do nothing, non-descriptive names for variables, monolithic blocks, repeated blocks of code where a function will do, inconsistent naming convention, etc.
I have heard terms like "spaghetti code", "hydra code", "jenga code", but they don't necessary imply ineptitude on the part of the developer. Also I've heard the term "Jimmy" describing the clueless developer. "Jimmy code" would be a choice then, but I'm not a programmer, so I don't know what is used.


texts:
I was wondering when should I use point instead of dot and vice-versa.
Could anyone help me with that?

In the sentence I had to write that made me think about this, I was going to say that the user entered a value with dots (i.e. a monetary value).


texts: How do I describe the booting sound of some electronic devices?

texts:
I'm working on a scientific novel where I need to describe the futuristic drones are initiating and booting. How do I describe that kind of sound? The sound that is similar to the sound when an auto-machinegun turns, or when a robot start moving?

Thank you!


texts: Unconventional capitalisation becoming the norm

texts:
Having now been involved in the writing of quite a few proposals as part of my job, I've noticed what seems to be a de facto convention: what I would consider common nouns or common noun expressions are capitalised.  My inference is that this is for emphasis, or to assign significance to the thing being referred to.

For example:

  ... any variation impacting cost will be raised with the Client via a
  Project Change Request.

Has this now become accepted practice (in a de-facto sense, I presume)?  Is it "correct" English?


texts: At the climax/In the climax. Difference? Which is grammatically correct?

texts:
I am confused if I should use "at" or "in" with "climax".

  What happened at the climax of the movie?

  What happened in the climax of the movie?

Also, if I use "highest point" instead of "climax",
will that change the meaning of the sentence?

  What happened at the highest point of the movie?

  What happened in the highest point of the movie?

Which one would be grammatically more correct in both the pairs, "at" or "in"?

Thanks, in advance.


texts:
Is there a word that describes a discussion that never gets to the core of the issue, but continuously lingers on the periphery?

I was hoping to fit it into a sentence such as :

  "He derided his retainers for their _____."


texts: 'I badly need to _' and 'I want to _ so bad'

texts:
I am trying to explain to my Korean friend in the best way possible, I've got a good idea but am wondering if anyone can give me their perspective on the use of bad and badly here.

I want to go to Korea so bad.
I badly need to go to the toilet.

Note: This is not formal English, but it is heavily used in my opinion and possibly more slang than true language.


texts: "It's better not" vs. "It'd be better not"

texts:
Which of these are correct? If both, which sounds more normal?

1) If it’s not to give my all, it’s better not to have started.

2) If it’s not to give my all, it’d be better not to have started.

Any help is appreciated.


texts: What does "apostrophe s" stand for in "What's it all mean"?

texts:
I heard someone on a TV show say:

  What's it all mean?

As far as I know, 's could be the short form of has and is. But in this case, it seems more like to be the short form of does. Am I correct?


texts: Word that means "to physically enter, as a parasite"

texts:
Some creatures have tendrils, which they will parasitically insert into another living creature. I'm looking for the work that would complete this sentence:

"The parasitic bug ____ its tendrils into the elephant"

(N.B. I am not a biologist; my apologies if this kind of situation does not arise in nature)

Words that I have used instead, but don't quite seem to be right:

Extended
Embedded
Inserted

All of these imply some kind of penetration, but none have the inflection of parasitism.

Is there a word for what I am looking for?

Thanks


texts: We will join you in an hour.We will be joining you in an hour

texts:
We will join you in an hour. We will be joining you in an hour.
What difference in the meanings do you see in these sentences.
Is it correct?
We will join you=we have just decided.
We will be joining you=a previous arrangement.
I shared my views.
Let see.
What do you explain about them?


texts:
This usage of "should have" appears to be a Britishism. I wonder if anyone cares to provide an explanation of the British "should have" usages.

  Several observers have emphasised Dusty Miller's devotion to the Joyita and reported his insistence that the boat was unsinkable. Why, then, would he willingly have abandoned ship under any circumstances? According to Robin Maugham, Charles Marsack said, "I can't imagine why he should have left her. And I don't believe he did." (source: Joyita: Solving the Mystery 2002)

The passage deals with MV Joyita's 1955 disappearance. Miller clearly is believed to have abandoned the boat, so "should have left" here does not indicate a wish contrary to what happened in the past, rather, a confirmation of what happened. Why "should have left"? What sense of should is invoked? Here's another similar sentence:

  What puzzles me is why he should have left without telling me. (source: Cambridge Dictionary)

Edit:
The downvote casually hurled at my question is puzzling. It seems the downvoter just mistook this question to be simply about the third conditional and failed to understand its nature. I think this question merits a detailed answer.


texts:
We wear a shirt, a jacket but a pair of pants.

Why is pants plural?


texts:
What is a single word used to describe the following question in the following scenario:

John comes in from the supermarket having not brought the jam and his brother says to him:

  'Why didn't you get the jam?'

Now, I looked at the definition of a rhetorical question and it is one that doesn't need an answer / an answer is not required; but here, John's brother actually wants an answer even though the answer(s) are obvious - either John forgot, didn't have enough money, or they ran out of jam in the supermarket.


texts: What does ‘Receive’ mean in ‘Bush did not always receive a timely consideration of his option'?

texts:
The Washington Post (Feb 3rd) introduces upcoming Donald Rumsfeld’s memoir in an article titled ‘Rumsfeld remains unapologetic in his memoir.'

I felt the word ‘receive’ was used in the following sentence pretty different from the usage I’m familiar with, such as ‘receive a mail (guest, impression, meaning, benefits, TV broadcast)‘. What does ‘receive’ mean in the following sentence?

  Bush did not receive a timely consideration of his option, nor effective implementation of his own decision.

Why could it happen on the Earth that the former President didn't or couldn't (even not always) 'receive' his own option and decision once he made? Does it mean 'seriously deal with'? Is the usage of 'receive' in this notion very common in English, because I can't find an exact counterpart gloss to fit this case in Japanese English dictionaries at hand?

  Bush 'did not always receive, and may not have insisted on, a timely consideration of his options before he made a decision, nor did he always receive effective implementation of the decisions he made,' Rumsfeld writes.


texts:
My observations helped me see human behavior in an evolutionary light.
  My observations helped me see human behavior in the light of evolution.

Do these two sentences have the same meaning?  Are in an evolutionary light and in the light of evolution interchangeable?


texts: What is the difference in the usage of punctuation with "For instance","For example","Such as" on the SAT?

texts: Especially on the SAT writing section this kind of questions frequently happen, so I was wondering if anyone could give me a clear explanation on the English punctuation usage with this words during different scenarios like "When they come at the beginning of a sentence if they do", "at the end of an independent clause", "In the middle of a sentence" and so on ..


texts:
I wonder how I can place proper comma for this short phrase below. The problem starts when I add the word "thus" to this short phrase which needs comma almost always in written formal style.

  It exploits the knowledge of the problem to create new and thus better solutions from the combination of existing ones.

I would appreciate any help over here.


texts:
In this article, there is a sentence as follows

  A joy to watch, Wenger had come in as the untrusted foreigner, paved the way for others to join, and rewrote the tactical rulebook. Out went the early long ball up to John Hartson and in came Tony Adams collecting off David Seaman.

What does that mean by collecting off here? I have searched on the Internet but I haven't found any definition of it.

Please explain for me.

Thanks


texts:
I have few titles that I'm not sure which one of them to use.
I will try to explain what will be in the chapter.

First:
In the chapter I'm making few simulations that in each one of them I'm displaying a graph with trajectory of a "target" and a trajectory of a "decoy".

Which of the following is describes correctly as a title:

1) Modeling Target And Decoy Trajectory
2) Modeling Target And Decoy Trajectories
3) Target and Decoy Trajectory Modeling

Second:
In the chapter I will make a simulation that will make a graph showing the trajectory of a car hitting a target.

Which of the following is describes correctly as a title:

1) Modeling Intercept
2) Modeling Interception


texts: Can anybody tell me the meaning of "a bloody great mass of iron and we work it- praise be to God for man's endeavour-"?

texts:
It is a part of The Kitchen by Arnold Wesker. The paragraph this sentence is used in is the following:

Michael. Quite right...who'd want to kill me? Young man in his teens, all the world in front of him. Look at it... a lovely sight, isn't it ? Isn't she beautiful ? A bloody great mass of iron and we work it — praise be to God for man's endeavour — what's on the menu today ? I don't know why I bother — it's always the same.

Does he mean kitchen utensils by "great mass of iron"? Does "we work it" mean "we work with these"? Like they figure it out? How about "man's endeavour"? Does he refer to their hardwork in the kitchen?


texts: a written expression test in mba entrance i don't understand

texts:
Following is a test of MBA entrance.

The answer sheet says number 1 has to be changed but why?


texts:
Can I say: "The art is not a common thing" meaning "not for everyone", "not everyone can truly understand it"?
CLARIFICATION: Not everyone can understand what message some painting or installation is carrying. Not everyone understand why something is recognized as a masterpiece. I'm using "The art" in the widest meaning.


texts: A phrase for "repeatedly shaking one's leg up and down when idle"

texts:
My friend likes to repeatedly shake his leg up and down when idle. In Chinese, there is a specific term for this action that, if loosely translated, would be "vibrating leg."

Is there a more general or commonly accepted term in English for this specific habit? This habit is quite common and as a child I would do it, too. But I was reprimanded by my mother for doing so and that is why I know the Chinese term and now I am wondering what the English term is.


texts: In grammar what is the pattern of the sentence "My watch is running slow"

texts: I am not quite sure about the pattern of sentence  "My watch is running slow" ? Is it a SVOC or something ?  Would anyone explain it in detail ?


texts: What does "Just So" mean as in the "Just So Stories"? Sometimes "Just So" might mean "just right", but that makes no sense here.


texts: What are some effective ways a foreign speaker can improve pronunciation in English?

texts:
How can a foreign speaker (where a
"foreign speaker" speaks English as a second language) effectively improve their spoken English by improving their pronunciation and reducing their foreign accent.

To be more specific, let's assume that the foreign speaker wishes to target a particular regional accent in English.  Let's take mid-western United States as an example.

Note: this is a cross-post from the Stack Exchange site "Spanish Language and Usage".  I posted in both places because I expect the methods for improving pronunciation may differ.


texts: Is it possible for a sentence to have a direct object and predicate adjective?

texts:
In school, I was taught that action verbs have direct objects and linking verbs have predicate adjectives or nominatives; however, some verbs seem to use both simultaneously.

For example, in "I made it blue," made seems to have both a direct object it and a predicate adjective blue.

In the early stages of my adverb obsession, I suspected that "All men are created equal" should be "All men are created equally"1 mostly because it was not clear to me how equal as an adjective could be validly placed in that position. Thinking of it as "[unspecified subject] created all men equal", men seems to be the direct object. But then what to do with equal?

Is it possible for a sentence to have a direct object and predicate adjective, or is something else going on here that I'm not seeing?

1I have since realized that they express distinct ideas, the equality of the process of creation and the equality of the created men respectively.


texts:
I am currently developing a software with my team. After reviewing all the texts in the product, I noticed that we use the word "please" a lot.
Some examples:

Please take a look at the documentation to see how to connect a new domain.
Please fill this form...

Is this a bad habit?

Thanks


texts:
I was fascinated by an answer to a comment question I asked under Is the term “would-be” just an Indian usage or universal? about a term for a non-arranged marriage in India. Love marriage was the answer—rife with implications.

Are there other English terms or phrases that convey the same meaning as love marriage? I'm wondering specifically about regional terms that define an engagement or marriage in opposition to those that are arranged.


texts:
I want to know whether there is a hyphen in the word re-offend, or if it is spelt reoffend. I looked in Oxford English dictionary and the word "reoffend" appears, but then I checked Merriam-Webster and the word is not in there.

So is reoffend a word or is it re-offend?

I'm in Australia where we observe UK English if that matters.


texts: In Dutch we use the translated equivalent of not hindered with any knowledge to indicate somebody without any knowledge on the subject. It is not necessarily negative. It can mean that somebody is complete open and new to the subject, which may lead to new ideas, insights etc. But in a different context it may also carry a sarcastic tone indicating somebody with the biggest mouth and slightest knowledge. Is this equivalent comparable and usable or are there better constructs?


texts: Modern family- doesn’t understand the cream puff and headset thing

texts:
[Corrected]
I was watching S1E1 of Modern family and here is a dialogue:
On a plane
A woman: “Look at that baby with cream puffs.”
Mitchell: “Okay, excuse me, excuse me but this baby would have grown up in a crowded orphanage if it wasn’t for us ‘cream puffs’.
Cam: “Mitchell, she’s got the cream puffs.”
Cam: “We would like to pay for everyone’s headsets.“
I wonder that what does Mitchell mean by wasn’t for us ‘cream puffs’ and why does Cam say “would like to pay for everyone’s headsets?” for other passengers?
I only found the “ineffectual person” meaning for “cream puffs”, does it also refer to gays?
Thanks in advance!


texts: These two sentences from a WaPo article don't sound right but are they grammatical?

texts:
"The day Pence’s essay was published, five states were averaging more
than 1,000 cases per day. There still are."

If the first sentence read "... there were five states averaging ..." it would sound fine to me.
For reference, the original article: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/06/22/week-after-pence-bragged-about-improvement-pandemic-is-obviously-getting-worse/


texts: What do we call a person who helps in doing discussions or does discussions?

texts: For example, a person who fights for the country is called a soldier. And what would be the appropriate tag for this question?


texts: Sweat the small stuff - motivational quote - what does it mean?

texts: sweat the small stuff - quote by Robin Sharma.


texts: Comma positioning between title and name and conjunction

texts:
Which is the proper way to write this sentence:

Rmt, LLC will be managed by Sally Red, CEO and Sean Brown, COO.

OR

Rmt, LLC will be managed by Sally Red CEO, and Sean Brown COO.

(Comma between name and title or after the title and remove the comma after Brown?)


texts: Does this sentence have two meanings? If not which one is the true meaning?

texts:
So I had a disagreement with a friend of mine in translating a sentence into my mother language. I wonder if it has 2 meanings. I'll give the following 2 sentences too for you to understand the subject and also because they might effect the meaning of the sentence I want translated. Here it is:

  According to the documents which list his works, he designed, supervised, built or restored as many as 400 buildings. But if we consider the fact that he was in charge of the Imperial Body of Architects and the hugeness of the Ottoman territory, it becomes difficult to believe that all these works were directly produced by Sinan personally. However, with the exception of those built towards the end of his life, the buildings erected in İstanbul can be assumed to be his.

So the sentence I want translated is the last one starting with "However".
My friend says the sentence means: Except for the buildings built towards the end of his life, the buildings erected in İstanbul can be assumed to be his.
And I think it can also mean: The buildings erected in İstanbul can be assumed to be his because of the exceptional (eg.) design and structure etc...
Now, the first translation seems to be true but the reason I think it should be translated like the second one is because the sentence starts with "However". So it has to contradict the following sentence. And the following sentence indicates that it is hard to believe that all the buildings were built personally by him. So the sentence starting with "However" has to contradict that... And if we translate it like my friend did, there would be no contradiction. And also why would the sentence compare time (towards the end of his life) and places (the buildings erected in İstanbul). I am sorry for bad English and long question.


texts:
etymology - How does a word come to have two completely opposite meanings? - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange

  specifically with the case of words taking on their opposite meanings, a possible influence is that speakers appear to be quite bad at processing negatives. For example, speakers are liable to process pairs such as , or "No accident is too severe to ignore" vs "No accident is too trivial to ignore" as effectively meaning the same thing, even though "severe" and "trivial" have pretty much opposite meanings (this is similar to the "much to be desired" example, but specifically having a negative in the sentence appears to enhance the effect)

From this answer,

"No accident is too trivial to ignore"" means
Every accident is serious enough to pay attention to it.

But what means

"No accident is too severe to ignore"?
Every accident is ???WHAT DO I WRITE HERE??? enough to pay attention to it.

This isn't math class, but pls can you show all work and steps?  How 3 turn into 4?