texts: Word which describes the feeling of an event or concept?

texts:
I’m looking for the word that can fill this blank:

  I went on this trip, not knowing that she was coming, and when I found out that she was, the ____ of the trip changed for me.

It should be the word which describes the set of feelings or overall perception of this trip. It’s like the set of characteristics that define the event or situation. I’ve already disposed of words like spirit, feeling, outlook, atmosphere/aura, and notion.

Something is nagging me that the word might be a plural … which word is this, exactly?


texts: An Example of Lexical Semantic Ambiguity?

texts:
As a joke, is

  A seal walks into a club...

an example of semantic ambiguity, lexical ambiguity, or the expression I just recently discovered, lexical semantic ambiguity? Or put another way, is lexical ambiguity a sub-category of semantic ambiguity?


texts: Is it okay to omit "to be" when using adverbs and infinitives?

texts:
Which of the following is correct?

  The room needs cleaned.
  The room needs cleaning.
  The room needs to be cleaned.


texts: What is the etymology and the context of calling an unrelated woman "sister"?

texts:
For specific context, the question arose out of discussing Han Solo calling Princess Leia "sister" in "Star Wars" Episode IV.

What is the etymology and context of using the term "sister" in this way? (unrelated woman that you're projecting a sense of familiarity onto).

Is it from the US Southern culture? From earlier decades of 20th century? Else?


texts: Is the sentence, "It's on tonight," grammatically correct? What about "It's on for tonight?" Are they both correct? Is there any difference at all?


texts: Meaning of the word "register" in the following context

texts: Dating to about 3000 BCE, the Warka Vase was a narrow, three-foot high alabaster cylinder decorated with three bands of carved figures— each band represents a different level of the world. The bottom is water—the wavy lines perhaps depicting the banks of the Euphrates on which Uruk was situated. Above the water is a band depicting domes- ticated plants, apparently the irrigated fields that once surrounded the ancient city. Above this is a parade of alternating rams and ewes. The world of mankind occupies the central register on the vase. Naked men walk in file—husbandmen—each carrying a basket or an amphora, evi- dently the commodities collected and processed from the domesticated world below. Their lack of individuality suggests that they themselves are commodities—perhaps symbolizing human labor as opposed to humanity. Finally, at the top of the vase strong textis the world of the temple—a magnificent procession of animals and people with a priest at their head who is presenting gifts to a temple priestess or to the goddess Inanna. In this register is an image of narrow vessels just like the vase itself.


texts:
I read vox news and I'm confused if found being used here is correct ?

Just nine years ago, disaffected Webex engineer Eric Yuan left Cisco to found Zoom.

I've tried on Grammarly and it stills show nothing wrong


texts: What does *countenance* mean, and why do I have hard time remembering it?

texts:
I keep seeing this word every couple of months in NYT or Wall Street Journal (and once again, I stumbled upon the word in the article America's True History of Religious Tolerance). Every time I see this word, I always look it up. But shortly after — typically a few days later — I gleefully forget the meaning.

What's the best way to remember what this word means?


texts:
I want to understand structure of sentence.

Cash on delivery is accepted here.
Cash on delivery is acceptable here.

Q. What is form of statement 1 (is + accepted) ?
Q. Are both statement true ?


texts:
In a work setting, as in "They had to present their project to his directs."

Does it mean people who work directly under him, above him, or someone else?


texts:
I'm not a native English speaker. I was recently chided for wrongly using studying as follows:

  acquiring information by studying books

Is this really wrong?


texts: What is a word for doing something that you don't want to do?

texts:
I am reading Of Mice and Men, and I am trying to come up with a word that describes how George manages to shoot Lennie at the end of the book.

I have come up with Self Discipline, and Overcoming Weakness, but none of those really seem to suffice.

Any suggestions would be great!


texts: Is there a single word which means "a person, and all of his ancestors", or "a person, and all of his descendants"?

texts:
There are a lot of words describing ancestral relationships between people, such as:

parent
grandparent
great-grandparent
any of the above can be described as an "ancestor".

child
grandchild
great-grandchild
any of the above can be described as a "descendant".

I am wondering if there are single words (nouns) which describe any of the following concepts:

A person and all of his/her ancestors
A person or any of his/her ancestors
A person and all of his/her descendants
A person or any of his/her descendants

Any ideas?


texts:
Maya is sister of dhara who is doctor.
Maya is sister of dhara, who is doctor.

In both statements who is used for which person???


texts: Etymology of using "ya" instead of "you"

texts:
I have noticed that some people in parts of Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio often say "ya" instead of "you"?   As in "Didya do your homework?" instead of "Did you do your homework?".

Does anyone know the etymology behind this pronunciation?  I am wondering if this could be evidence of the influence of a large population of people that still speak German.  Is this pronunciation also found in areas without a Germanic influence?


texts: What is the difference between those two sentences (grammatically and in meaning)?

texts:
An inappropriate TV show for children should be banned on any type of channels.
  A TV show inappropriate for children should be banned on any type of channels.

It seems to me that there is a very subtle difference between these two sentences, but I do not completely understand it. What is the difference?

Also, as the structure of the noun phrase different, it makes me wonder if they use different grammar structure. Are those different in grammar structure, or are they just the same?


texts:
Mosquito > Moschito > Mosquito

/məˈskito/ —  [mɒˈskiːtəʊ], [məˈskiːtəʊ], [mɒˈskitoʊ], [məˈskitoʊ]

The name of this insect is spelled with the letters ‹qu› in several languages, including Catalan mosquit, Spanish mosquito, French moustique, Galician mosquito, and Portuguese mosquito (also borrowed Hmong and Lao mosquito).

Its original name in Latin was culex but in Italian, it is called a zanzara, derived from zinzala the more recent Latin name. Evidently, the English borrowed the Spanish term, mosquito, but a number of English authors, for some unexplained reason, preferred spelling the /ki/ sound using the letters ‹chi›. For example,

  The tortures we received on the river, from the moschitos, were beyond imagination. We had provided ourselves with guetres, and moschito clothes; but to very little purpose. The whole day we were in continual motion to keep them off;

The London Magazine, Or, Gentleman's Monthly Intelligencer, 1759

  The moschito does not, it is true, commence its annoying operations till after the very warmest weather of the summer; but, having once taken wing, nothing will stop its flight but a real frost; so that it is almost fairly winter before this malignant ...

Journal of a Tour in Italy, and also in part of France and Switzerland, 1830

  Entomology, confined within limits such as these, is a dull, worthless, and contemptible study.

  This branch of natural history, however, has a wider range and nobler field of usefulness; and though some pseudo philosophers have sneered at the diminutive creatures thus contemplated, they show but the feebleness of their own understanding. Insulated, they may occasionally appear of little note, but with a commission from above become  “as the armies of the living God.” The contemptible moschito may drive man to madness and the zimb of Chaldea make even the rhinoceros tremble and flee before it.

Researches in Natural History, 1830

  ...the circle of his flight [the bald eagle] grows less; now he appears a small speck, and now no bigger than the tip end of the hair of a moscheto's eyebrow; now he is out of sight in the
  deep blue heaven.

The New-England Magazine, 1831, and further still…

  Of the Fly-catcher tribe, […] These birds, as their appellation signifies, live solely on flies, moschetoes, bugs, etc.

Etymonline says

  mosquito (n)

  1580s, from Spanish mosquito "little gnat," diminutive of mosca "fly," from Latin musca "fly," from PIE root *mu- "gnat, fly," imitative of insect buzzing (compare Sanskrit maksa-, Greek myia, Old English mycg, Modern English midge, Old Church Slavonic mucha), perhaps imitative of the sound of humming insects.

Chestions

Why did these writers choose to spell mosquito with ‹ch› instead of the easier ‹qu›? The letter ‹k› could have been used to imitate the /ki/ sound. After all, in German it is spelled Moskito, which works perfectly fine.
Does anyone know the history of this word's spelling?

The following questions on EL&U are related but do not explain why mosquito was also spelled moschito in English.

Why is "q" followed by a "u"?
"Quyer" When and why did the spelling change so drastically? (this last one is mine)

Yes. Yes yes yes all right. The ‹qu› in "questions is pronounced /kw/ not /ki/. There's no need to quick up a fuss, I'm just having a bit of fun :)


texts:
If it's machine learning using some platform or technology, it makes sense to use "on" ("ML on AWS"), but if we are talking about applying ML to some data, should "on" or "of" be used? Below two examples of real world usage:

...machine learning of collective variables...
...machine learning on binary data...

My specific question is about the phrase "Using machine learning of demographics and personal history to predict XYZ." Should that be "Using machine learning on demographics and personal history to predict XYZ" instead?
There might be a better Stack Exchange site to post this on, but I wasn't sure. Feel free to move or let me know if this is the case.


texts:
In baseball, an inning is a team's (or both teams', depending on context) turn to bat.  A game consists of 9 innings.  In cricket, an innings is a team's turn to bat, a game consists of 2 or 4 innings.  How did this difference in singular usage arise?

"inning" could conceivably be derived like "outing":  An outing is a time when one is out, an inning is a time when one is in (to bat/to play).  Where did the singular "innings" come from?


texts: Is "But" allowed at the beginning of a sentence as a synonym to "Though" or "However"?

texts:
Is it correct to use "But" at the start of a sentence like this?

  You can afford it. But think twice before buying it.

Won't using "But" instead of "However" mark me as a non-native speaker?


texts: Using comma in fronting with inversion (for “there”)

texts:
Be the following sentence:

Opposite to the window (there) was the last fleeting flower, which the shy lass hastily took.

I would like to know if, in case I use “there”, I should place a comma after “window”.
Grateful for your help.


texts: Does anyone know when and how fail became a noun?  I'd love to see one of those charts that shows the date of origin and subsequent growth of this usage.


texts: Why "him" in "For neuer resting time leads Summer on / To hidious winter and confounds him there, ..." instead of it or her?

texts:
There is a passage in William's V sonnet  that confounds me :

For neuer resting time leads Summer on,

To hidious winter and confounds him there,

Sap checkt with frost and lustie leau's quite gon.

Him is also present in the version of sonnet V with modernized spellings. Why? I was looking for an answer in the Web, but the research I found focuses on "scandalous" aspect of pronouns in William's sonnets.


texts:
My understanding is that I should only use a comma before "but" if it precedes an independent clause.

What if I want a "pause comma" before "but" and it does not precede an independent clause?

Example:

One day, Ted thought he saw another boy dancing, but it was just the reflection of himself.


texts: "Research and development of something" or "Research and development on something"

texts: "we perform research on technology", and "we perform development of technology". But when we perform "research and development", should "of" or "on" be used?


texts: Usage singular vs plural for "in their hands" and "on their face"

texts:
Considering that Sam and his brother are waiting together for a movie to start, and each of them has a sugar candy in their hand, and each of them smiles… what will be the most grammatically correct way to say:

Sam and his brother used to wait with a sugar candy in their hand and a smile on their face.
Sam and his brother used to wait with sugar candies in their hands and a smile on their face.
Sam and his brother used to wait with sugar candies in their hands and smiles on their face.
Sam and his brother used to wait with sugar candies in their hands and smiles on their faces.

Tnx!


texts: This word just came naturally to me while writing some prose. Will it be understood by English speakers/readers?


texts: A word for someone who pretends to be interested in a home for sale

texts: I need a word for a third person who goes into a home for sale to increase the price by pretending to be interested in a home for sale.


texts:
I feel like /tər/ (/ˈdɑːktər/ doctor or /ˈsɪstər/ sister) in American Accent sound like /trə/.

I couldn't find this info on the internet.

It seems that when we curl up the blade of the tongue too soon & that is why they sound like /ˈdɑːktrə/ doctor or /ˈsɪstrə/ sister.

Why does /tər/ (/ˈdɑːktər/ doctor or /ˈsɪstər/ sister) in American Accent sound like /trə/?


texts: Difference between "chance" and "opportunity"

texts: What would be the difference between chance and opportunity?


texts:
My company provides more value to my clients by offering them services that could enhance their business/process. The process involves:

I point a void (improvement scope) to the client.
I look out for personnel in my company, if we could cater it.
I pitch to the client, if we could fill that void.

And we term this whole process as UPSELL.

Note: This personnel would mean more cost to the client. Its not necessarily free.

For reasons, it doesn't sound like adding value. It sounds like benefiting my company alone, not the client.

Is there any better word for the same, which means adding value to the client as well?


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  When is it grammatically correct to create a contraction of words followed by “is”?
  Using contracted forms (“don't”, “let's”) in a formal text
  Should contractions be avoided in formal emails?

My family was having the discussion after finding this (or something similar) in a book:

  The store's too far away.

Since this is being spoken, we're unsure whether it's proper English or slang.


texts: Is a "choice" the result of choosing or something to choose from?

texts:
If I have to choose between three things, do I have three choices? I have always thought of a "choice" as being either the act of choosing or the result of said choosing, but not one of the options from which to choose.

If someone tells me I have two choices, I tell them "No, I have one choice. I have two options." Am I right?


texts:
Is "could" interchangeable with "can"?

for example, there are coversations like these:

example. 1

  A: I could run faster than you.
  B: No way.

In this case, the "could" is referring to the less certain possibility of a skill in the present time.

example. 2

  A: Even that small stadium could have ten thousand people.
  B: Isn't that too small for ten thousand people?

In this case, the "could" is referring to the less certain possibility of a capability as a fact.

I think these "could"s in the two examples express the same things as "can", and the difference from" can" is just that "could" is less certain about possibilities.

However, I'm not sure if it's allowed to use "could" like those, because "could" is used when expressing hypothetical or conditional things like "would".
Are the "could"s acceptable?

Thank you.


texts: "Nice thing to say"—why not "thing nice to say"?

texts:
People often say, "that is a nice thing to do!" But when I thought this question over, this thought occurred to me: Why don't we say " That is a thing nice to do"?

My reason is as follows. We often say  "boys reading under trees," not "reading boys under trees." Not that the second one is flawed or anything, but it is just the way it is. Then my question is, why don't we say "thing nice to do"?


texts: Hyphen/dash 'and'-separated words in the same phrase: is this usage correct?

texts:
I have a phrase like this:

  John enjoys translating economics- and IT- related articles

Is this a correct usage of the words economics- and IT- related? I think I saw such method of joining separate words that refer to the same common idea - related in this case, but can't help but wonder if it sounds clumsy to a native speaker.


texts: What's the difference betwen a jacket and a coat?

texts:
The words "jacket" and "coat" are generally used interchangeably, to mean a garment that's heavier than a sweatshirt or a sweater and goes over them and other "tops," principally to keep the wearer warm and dry.

But clearly there's some sort of distinction, as you never hear about a "leather coat" or "fur jacket".  So what's the difference?


texts:
I am wondering if there is a symbol or glyph to represent the preposition "from". I doubt there is a formal, de jure symbol (i.e., found in any manual of style or dictionary), but I cannot even find any references to de facto usages, nor even invented symbols for it.

Is there any shorthand, or informal way of representing the word "from". If there is no way to represent this word as a glyph, are there any symbols I could make up for a shorthand method of writing "from"? Something that everyone would understand, a universal symbol, easily comprehensible.

I'm trying to look for a way to represent the word "from" in the context of verb to place for e.g, "Fall from the sky" or "Jump from the top of a mountain" or "Descend from above".


texts: "give me an offer" vs "make me an offer"

texts:
Which is correct: "give me an offer" vs. "make me an offer"?

Is there some difference in meaning?


texts: Words confuse- prefecture, county and shire.

texts:
How could I distinguish the usage between the prefecture and county?
In my opinion, I think "shire" is smaller than a county or prefecture.
Is there any problem with my concept?


texts: If annual means one year, is there any word for two,three, four.. year

texts:
From WordWeb:

Annual: Occurring or payable every year

What is the corresponding single word for occurring every two year, three year, four year etc.

I understand that it's surely not exhaustively defined for all possible year gap, but how far is it define?


texts:
I have the following piece of text for a technical/scientific paper:

"This is a significant roadblock in achieving the vision of ...

To solve this roadblock, we present ..."

However, this sounds off. Do you 'solve' a roadblock? Resolve it? Meet it? Googling gave no good suggestions, but a lot of advice for driving!


texts:
I, as an Indian, am often surprised when the Americans use the word Hindu, when they actually mean

The country of India
The Indian subcontinent
The Hindi language (possibly)

whereas it should only refer to the Hindu religion, or Hinduism.

For example, there is the Hindu-German conspiracy of 1915. While most of the Indian conspirators may have been Hindu, it does not appear to have been religiously motivated.

An American cousin of mine wanted a 'Hindu Barbie' in a sari. It sounded inaccurate, at least to my years. Occasionally, I have heard an Indian accent being referred to as a 'Hindu accent'. To my ear, this sounds as ridiculous as an accent being referred to as, say, a Catholic accent, a Baptist accent, or a Jewish accent.

The British do not usually do this, but I did see an old (1930s) film where the actor claimed that a nonsense word was 'Hindu' for welcome.

What is the reason for this usage? I did hear one possible explanation. A friend of mine visiting South America took exception to this usage. Upon enquiring, he was told that the word 'Hindu' refers to 'Indian Indians', while 'Indian' refers to native South Americans.

Was this the case in the USA as well?

How common is this usage? Is it universal, or only among the poorly educated? Why don't people say South Asian, or Indian, or the subcontinent, depending on the context?

To be fair to the Americans, the words and phrases Hindu, Hinduism, India, Indus, Sindh, Sindhu, Hindi, Hindostan, Hindu Kush, etc all have the same origin.

However, non-Hindu South Asians, including Indians, and even some secular Hindus may be offended by such usage.


texts: Can the term "G-Man" be used to describe a Government official who is not an FBI agent?

texts:
Earlier today I was doing Merl Reagle's crossword and one of the clues was "Fraud fighting Fed." The answer turned out to be "T-Man," being short for "Treasury Man." So, this got me thinking...

Though the slang term "G-Man" is short for "Government-Man," it seems exclusively used to describe FBI agents. I think I understand why this is the case (given the origin of the term and its subsequent dramatization in popular culture).

However, many departments within the U.S. Government fight organized crime and conduct criminal investigations. With that in mind, can, for example, a CIA operative be considered a G-Man? Or a Secret Service agent?


texts: "In the next two weeks" vs. "next two weeks"

texts:
Which one of the following is correct if the writer intends to say a week after next week?

  My friend and I decided to go to the beach in the next two weeks.
  My friend and I decided to go to the beach next two weeks.
  My friend and I decided to go to the beach in the coming next two weeks.


texts: Idiom or proverb to point out half-measures

texts:
What is an idiom or proverb to point out half-measures? Something like, "You locked the door, but left the window open." Or, "You wrote the check, but forgot to mail it." Those expressions seem easy to understand, but I've heard them rarely or never. Is there a more common expression?

The question was inspired by ineffective quarantines, such as isolating somebody to their room, but letting the family dog go back and forth.

Update: To clarify, I am looking for an idiom or proverb resembling "You did A, but left out B".


texts:
A stranger is someone you don't know. By this definition, a taxi driver is a stranger. But is a taxi driver considered a stranger in the context of stranger danger?

I'd appreciate your help.


texts: "formerly active member" vs "former active member"

texts:
Which of the following is correct?

"formerly active member"
"former active member"


texts:
I've noticed that today lots of publications, such as textbook, newspapers, magazines, etc, often don't use the indefinite articles "a", "an" with indefinite singular and countable nouns especially in adverbial phrases and clauses. I don't see any consistency in the use along with a strict following of a grammar rule - every countable singular noun should be preceded by an article (with exceptions).

Examples from media:

  The CDC came under scrutiny last year

  ...delaying life events like marriage, having a child, buying a home,
  or starting a business...

  ...prospective students put cost at the top of their priority list.

  The University of Oslo says Friday July 17, 2015, convicted mass
  killer Anders Behring Breivik has been admitted to...

  ...as O'Malley, a former Maryland governor, was interviewed on stage.

  ... and she was taken to county jail.

  Buckingham Palace voiced disappointment after...

All the aforementioned nouns in bold can be used as plurals, which means they need an article when singular.

Please help understand.


texts: Adjective 'small' vs 'short' while describing length i.e. 'small length' or 'short length'?

texts: I am confused about the adjectives 'small' and 'short' when they are used to describe length and length scales. I think that 'The line is short.' and 'The line is of small length.' are correct, and 'The line is of short length.' is incorrect, as 'short' already implies length, and since a line is a one-dimensional object that has only a length attribute (i.e. width and height are zero), so 'short length' is redundant. Is this correct? I would appreciate a reference to some authoritative source that talks about this difference.


texts: Is “ O’Leary’s’s ” orthographically correct?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Possessive of a word that's already possessive?

There’s a bar near me named O’Leary’s Irish Pub—or just O’Leary’s for short. One day, they changed their menu. I wrote to a friend:

  “O’Leary’s has changed their menu. O’Leary’s’s menu no longer has beer-battered onion rings.”

Is this usage correct?

I always use “ ’s ” to denote singular possessive—Charles’s office, Russ’s phone, Lars’s car, Baggins’s sword—so O’Leary’s’s seems completely natural to me. But several of my friends say it is wrong. Why?

The way I see it, it’s like this:
Finnegan O’Leary works hard at O’Leary’s Irish Pub.
The O’Learys are a friendly family. The O’Learys’ house is on Beacon Street. O’Leary’s’s menu is new. Many O’Leary’s’ doors have closed (meaning: the doors of many places named O’Leary’s over the years have closed).

p.s.—What about “My Night at Maud’s’s plot”?


texts: In the poem "If—", why does Kipling say "If you can... don't deal in lies"?

texts:
Just another question about the immortal poem :)

The first verse reads as follows:

  If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
  Or, being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
  Or, being hated, don’t give way to hating,
  And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise...

My question is: why "don't", not "not" like in the first string or in the second verse (If you can dream—and not make dreams your master; // If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim...).

Thank you.


texts: What is a more professional term for the 'back-of-the-envelope' calculation?

texts: What is a more professional term for the phrase 'back-of-the-envelope' calculation, used by scientists and such as a word for a very basic, general first calculation?


texts: A word to describe an incident or event that may or may not have taken place

texts:
Is there any word that can be used to describe an incident or event that may have taken place but people are not sure if that event actually took place because there is a lack of comprehensive evidence.

For example many people believe that the Roswell Incident is actually true, however others believe that such an incident did not take place.

Another example is an event from an Eastern religion called Mahabharat that is considered to be true by many people, however others differ suggesting that there is no conclusive evidence to suggest that this event actually took place.


texts:
I always believed that uses of the phrase "provide for" in such sentences as the following three are considered wrong and they should be replaced by "provide." I have been seeing and hearing them so often, however, that I am not so sure anymore.

Would you say they are used properly below?

  (a) The facilities in Boulder provides for sweeping views of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains.

  (b) The earthquake forecasts produced using the Gutenberg-Richter law provide for a good general guide to the hazard in an area.

  (c) Statistical methods like these can provide for crude but usable forecasts.

Thank you.


texts: A word for someone plays on your insecurities?

texts: Someone knows that you are insecure, and they say/do things knowing it will trouble your insecurities. They appear to enjoy the awkward reactions


texts: Origins of "turn over in his grave"?; "turn over in her grave"? etc., etc

texts:
The best result of my google-search for the origins of the idiomatic phrase, “turn over in the grave” was this, from wikipedia:

  One of the earliest uses is found in William Thackeray's 1849 work The
  History of Pendennis, where Mrs. Wapshot, upset by a man's advances on
  the widow of Mr. Pendennis whom the widow had "never liked," says it's
  "enough to make poor Mr. Pendennis turn in his grave."

Can anyone out there trace the phrase back further than 1849?


texts: Medical term for the parameters that can be measured in human body

texts:
How can someone express in a medical term the biological and medical parameters that someone can measure in a human body?

For example I mention just a few like the blood pressure, the glucose level, the heart rate, the cortisol level etc

OP's comment on the suggestion vital signs:  Vital signs don't include chemical measurements. Usually the vital signs consist of a standard procedure. I would like to know if there is a word or a way to express every measurement such as chemical analysis of blood or analysis for infections.


texts: "Times ahead of us" vs. "times ahead for us"

texts:
What is the difference between these two phrases?

good times ahead of us
good times ahead for us


texts: The appendix is what is appended to something. What do we call something that is prepended to something else?


texts: Does the word 'late' comes in a bad sense?

texts:
In Chinese culture, early is better than late. When we say something late it's almost always for a unpleasant or unwanted sense. Is it the same in English?

Is the word 'late' bad or neutral in connotation? And what about 'later'?


texts:
Have -> /hæv/
Behave -> /bɪˈheɪv/

Why 'have' is pronounced as /hæv/ and 'behave' as /bɪˈheɪv/?
Origin of 'behave': late Middle English: from be- ‘thoroughly’ + have in the sense ‘have or bear (oneself) in a particular way’.
'Behave' = be + have (and yet 'have' alone is pronounced differently while 'have' in 'behave' is pronounced differently).
Thank you.


texts: How to use phrasal verbs with prepositions without thinking which i have to use

texts: I am frustrated about unawareness how to use up/down/with etc. with phrasal verbs properly.Being from Ukraine can't really understand if it means something or it is just a combination of words. So, my question is: **does exist the literature, which explains how to use the phrasal verbs with prep. and imagine what is means without learning by heart? **


texts:
I need to convey that the specific software has been installed on all PCs, so which one is right here ?

All PCs are installed with adobe now
All PCs are with adobe now

Here, Adobe is software name.


texts: How to use Commas When an Introductory Clause Precedes a Dependent/Subordinate Clause

texts:
I think we all agree that most introductory clauses are set off by commas. E.g.:

In 1982, John Smith went to battle in Spain.
Moreover, the monkeys all ate bread.

I think we also agree that conditional sentences require commas between the dependent clause and the main clause:

If James goes to the store, then I want him to bring me some cheese.
To avoid hitting the man, Debra aimed the other way.

But what happens when we combine an introductory clause with a conditional sentence? My instinct would be to include all the commas like this:

Accordingly, if James goes to the store, then I want him to bring me some cheese.

But my editor looked at the sentence above and thought it looked weird. Indeed, now that "if James goes to the store" is separated by a comma on both sides it looks like its a parenthetical (which it isn't). I fixed the sentence by just changing the "Accordingly" to "So," which doesn't require a commma even though its an introductory clause (e.g.: "So if James goes to the store, then I want him to bring me some cheese."), but I'd like to know if my original formulation is correct or not.

Any thoughts?


texts: "grey scale" or "greyscale"; one word or two?

texts: Is the correct spelling "grey scale" or "greyscale"? I'm not sure whether or not to write it as a compound; it's in the context of a black-and-white video stream.


texts: Which of these is correct? -- question involving helping verbs (I think)

texts:
I have no idea how to explain why I generally think well, without having my explanation seem contrived

I have no idea how to explain why I generally think well, without my explanation seeming contrived


texts: Beginning a paragraph with Also or Furthermore

texts: I am writing a cover letter and I would like to know if I can begin a paragraph with either Also or furthermore . Why I am asking is because someone told me starting a sentence with "Also" is frowned upon but I want to get a second opinion on this .


texts: Meaning of the sentence "He has come for five days."?

texts:
I encounter the sentence in a dictionary, but it makes me confused a lot!
"come" is a punctual verb and "for five days" is a period of time.

fr：《葛传椝英语惯用法词典》


texts: ON an American street, but IN a British one. Do the twain ever meet?

texts:
In the United States, we say that someone lives on a street, whereas I've noticed that British people say in. For instance:

  Bubba lives on Washington Street.
  Colin lives in Cavendish Avenue.

I believe we both would use at when a number is given. For instance:

  Bubba lives at 16 Washington Street.
  Colin lives at 7 Cavendish Avenue.

I don't think it matters if it's a road, avenue, street, circle, or lane — as far as I know, in America, we always live on a street. Does it vary in British English, or is it always in? If it varies, what are the rules?


texts: What is a word for an inconsequential place or small errand?

texts:
Suppose there are several small souvenirs I would like to buy while travelling.  I might call them trinkets or knick-knacks; generally, they are things that I want but are of little overall importance.

If instead I want to describe unimportant places I would like to stop while travelling, what would I call them?  As examples, perhaps I want to stop at a local bookstore, a grocery store, and a certain pier.  Like my souvenirs, these places aren't important (they certainly aren't landmarks), but I still would like to see them.

As an example sentence:

  I have several _____ to visit before I finish my vacation here.


texts: English equivalent for this German term "Salzamt"?

texts:
In Austria, we sometimes jokingly say:

Beschwerden ans Salzamt!
Complaints to the Bureau of Salt

meaning that it is not possible to appeal a decision, or that it is simply useless to complain about something.
Is there an English equivalent to this?
//EDIT: Some examples, because they were requested.

Meaning which I am searching for: Someone complains about something you don't want to fix, or makes an unreasonable or impossible demand. You send them to the Bureau of Salt.
You have released something to the public but know that it is imperfect, or you have made a decision you know that is unpopular. Yet, it is the way it is and you cannot or don't want to change it. You disclaim: Complain to the Bureau of a Salt!, or alternatively, This can be appealed at the Bureau of Salt.
There is this entity (usually a government department) which made the decision your friend does not agree to. They keep complaining to everyone (including you). Both of you know that it is of no use. At some point, you're fed up and tell them to complain to the Bureau of Salt instead.


texts: The call produced a high-shouldered young fellow, with a round red face, a short crop of sandy hair, a very broad humorous mouth, a turned-up nose, and a great sleeved waistcoat of purple bars, with mother-of-pearl buttons, that seemed to be growing upon him, and to be in a fair way — if it were not pruned — of covering his head and overrunning his boots.


texts:
I've just been putting protective oil on a wooden door using a cloth and was getting the oil onto the cloth using the technique of blocking the tin with the cloth and upending the tin so that a small amount of oil is left on the cloth.

I've used this technique all my life for various things but have never known a word or phrase to describe the action. I also use it when cleaning things with white-spirit or similar. When I had a toothache as a child, my mother used to apply Oil of Cloves to the tooth from her finger-tip using a similar action.

I'm fairly certain we don't have a word in British English, so I'd be really interested if there's a word in use elsewhere in the English-speaking world - or if any other language has a word that we can purloin.

If no-one has anything - let's make one up!


texts: Is Addenbrooke's site/Site a proper noun?

texts:
Is Addenbrooke's site/ Addenbrooke's Site a proper noun or not?

I think the answer depends on the context. The title of the article is Addenbrooke's Hospital, supposedly a proper noun. For instance, would Addenbrooke's Site be a synonym for Addenbrooke's Hospital and would a synonym also be a proper noun?


texts:
Grammatically, is structure "not + preposition + but + preposition + object" possible?
For example, can I say 'someone is lying not on but off the couch'? I mean 'someone is lying not on the couch but off the couch on the floor.'
In my native language, not only 'someone is lying not on but off the couch' but also 'someone is lying not on the couch but off the couch' is wrong, so I wonder if it's possible in English.


texts: Future Simple vs. Future Perfect in difficult sentence

texts:
I would like to ask three questions:

1.) If the sentence mentioned below is gramatically correct.

  Everything will be spotless by the time they get here.

2.) Is it correct to use Future Simple tense here? Or should it be Future Perfect as in sentence:

  By the time we get there, everyone will have left. Nobody will even see you hair.

Also I would like to point one thing. First sentence describes a state ("be spotless"). The second describes an action ("left").

3.) Does this fact have an impact on using Future Simple (and not Future Perfect) tense in the first sentence?

Thank you very much in advance.


texts:
Do these words have a different meaning?

Should we say artificial sugar or sweetener? Should we say artificial fur or faux fur?

Is there a rule that defines the border for artificial/faux/fake?


texts: Is there an English word for the receiver of a confession?

texts:
When I confess to someone (like a priest, or police), is there a word in English for this this person?

For example:

"The suspect just made a confession" said Anna.

"Oh", said Bob, "who was [the person who received the confession]?"

In response to a user's request, I will briefly outline my research before asking this question.

I googled "confession receiver" and "definition confession receiver", and was directed to religious and crossword puzzle answers (priest, father, etc.) I also googled "confessee" (and variants) but that did not have even a Scrabble definition. In hindsight, I should have searched for "confessor", but I was not aware that the word had two meanings. Hence this question.


texts: I rember my friend looks at the picture of her and boyfriend kissing in time square in New York, she stares  at the picture and said 'this is the most iconic thing that ever happen  in time square'.  I though iconic refers to a symbol . Can anybody  explain it  to me, as wide as possible.


texts: which - identifying the correct noun when dealing with a possessive

texts:
I can't figure out the noun which is referring to in the sentence below, percentage or users, and thus don't know if the verb "amount to" should be plural or singular.

  50 percent of internet users (which amount to 60 percent of the world population) say that...

To my ear, it should be amounts to as the verb is referring to the percentage, which is uncountable. However, in the original text, it was singular, and could easily be referring to internet users, could it not? In which case, the above sentence would be correct as a singular.

Thoughts?


texts: Software to change American punctuation to British

texts:
My apologies if this is off topic.

American and British writing have different punctuation styles. Is there any software that can change American style punctuation to British? I am referring to punctuation, not spelling. A simple example would be changing the American styled

  "Hello," he said.

to what (I think is) the British styled

  'Hello', he said.

I am not entirely certain about the particulars which is why I need this tool in the first place.


texts: When apologising to somebody, using "believe it or not" phrase is rude?

texts:
For example,
...It's so true that my apology is too late but, believe it or not, I've been so burdened with the way to say sorry to you. I just felt uneasy to say that to you because it'd been too long to say even hello to you. My bad. I'm terribly sorry.."

In this case, does 'believe it or not' sound rude?


texts: written in, written on, written to the file

texts:
Which one is grammatically correct?

The statement is written on the file.
The statement is written in the file.
The statement is/was written to the file.

I should mention that I am talking about a computer file, just in case you need more context.

Thank you.


texts: How to choose between "spatial" or "spatially"?

texts:
I'm writing my thesis and I need help with the title, here it is:
Improved seam merging for temporally and spatially video resizing with structure and motion preservation
I am not sure about the adverbs: it is correct to say spatially video resizing or spatial video resizing (or both of the alternatives are wrong)?

Thanks!


texts:
I'm a software developer. My situation is, I'm working with my customer (onshore project manager) via chatting using Skype.
He helps me to make his side's server available and give me a link to the test page so that I can test the page.
After he send me the link. I reply:

OK.
I will test it now.

But my boss (solution architect) immediate talk to me (via Skype too)

You should say "Ok noted"

Could anybody please explain when to use "Ok noted"?
What are differences between "Ok" and "Ok noted"?

Sorry for my English. Thank a lot!


texts: Is there a word like segue for tying together two topics post hoc?

texts:
A segue is the transition from one topic to another, but I am thinking of a word for tying together two things that have previously been talked about. For example, we're discussing whether cats or dogs are better pets, and then that conversation drifts off topic into something apparently unrelated, like visual impairments or something, and then someone says "Aha! Well, dogs are colorblind, so cats are the better pet after all!".

I remember reading an article in which someone mentioned a pithy name for such tie-ins, and I think it might have been a Latin word vaguely related to segue, but I could be totally wrong on that and it was boring ol' English after all. Does anyone know what word or phrase I'm thinking of, or have a reasonable substitute I can use when telling my friend that his attempt to connect these two unrelated topics is not very impressive?


texts:
When is it okay to use 'weasel words', like may, might, could, perhaps, possibly, potentially etc.?

Is it at all acceptable to use them in an essay, e.g. a History essay?


texts: Words ending in ch usually take es in the plural form. However, the word  stomach is an exception to this paradigm. Its plural form is stomachs. My question is, why does it take only s in the plural form?


texts: Meaning of suffix '-sex' in 'Sussex, Middlesex'

texts:
I know that Sussex and Middlesex are in England. It looks to me as if there is a pattern in names.

What does the suffix -sex mean? Where does it come from?


texts: I'm confused on the notation. Is the following justified or inconsistent?

texts:
I'm writing a bibliography with the following two entries (written so far as shown):

I. Early modern authors and editors of late antique texts:

  a. 16th-18th century editions of late antique writers b. Primary
  sources (16th – 19th centuries)

I'm aware that in general different style guides will have different notation concerning the dash and the hyphen. The question here is whether the different notation here is justified within the same bibliography.

I have done some google searches and found entries that correspond to both, e.g.
a. 16th-18th century music
b. books of the 15th – 18th centuries

As I see it, in the first case (the block text above) 16th-18th century is an adjective modifying 'editions' while the second one refers to primary sources spanning the 16th to 19th centuries -- thus the different notation. In any case I'm slightly confused and would welcome explanation/comment.


texts: Can a word be contracted twice (e.g. "I'ven't")?

texts:
I've seen a contraction of two words.  I can't see why it wouldn't've been possible to have been contracted twice.  Is it possible and how should it be punctuated?

Update:  Ok, to sum up the answers so far

This appears in spoken British and American English
It is from one of the lower registers of English
Even if spoken this way sometimes, it isn't really written as a double contraction, except as written speech in fiction.
And from my own googling in Wiktionary, it appears most written forms are old British words, often nautical like fo'c'sle.


texts:
I refer to Doing Grammar by Max Morenberg as my default grammar reference.
Morenberg makes a distinction between infinitive phrases, which function as Noun Subjects & Objects (SC, NDO, etc), and infinitives that are part of a verb phrase:
I want to see the evidence (1 verb phrase, want is a modal)
I agreed to watch the boy. (noun phrase, functioning as Direct Object)
I asked to see the evidence. (noun phrase, functioning as Direct Object)
How do you distinguish between verb phrase constituent and a separate noun phrase?


texts:
What does expression "naked to the world" mean? I've heard it in a series Suits, season 2, episode 4, at the 20th minute.

Full sentence:
"Give me the address and tell Donna to hurry up. I'm naked to the world down here".


texts: How do I say "to record" meaning "to audio and video record" (in contrast to "to audio record")?

texts: The context here is "You should record your speech". I mean you should record both your audio (the speaking) as well as the visual (gesticulation, etc.), but the context of this sentence strongly suggests that only audio is intended. This sentence appears in sales copy and so word count is limited. "You should video record your speech" sounds clumsy. How can I phrase this smoothly and succinctly?


texts: How to punctuate the following sentence?

texts:
The sentence:

  Set in Italy and England, the story is both a romance and a critique
  of English society at the beginning of the 20th century.

It is from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Room_with_a_View.

I am not sure a romance should be interpreted alone or with of English society

If interpreted alone, 'romance' means 'a story that deals with
sexual love'
Or 'a romance of English society' means the "a mysterious or
fascinating quality of the English society"

I prefer the second interpretation.


texts: Is there a non-medical name for the curve where index finger and thumb meet?

texts:
I'm trying to write a short post about hand spinners, and one of the problems I have with a hand spinner is that it hits the curve between the index finger and thumb. I can't seem to find any good diagrams with terms for parts of the hand which aren't entirely populated by medical terms, so currently my options are "curve where index finger and thumb meet" and "adductor pollicis" to describe this part of the hand.

Is there a layman's term for that part of the hand?


texts:
I'm preparing for the FCE exam.

  They won't let you speak during the exam.

I have to rewrite the sentence using "allowed" so that is has a similar meaning. I wrote:

  You will not be allowed to speak during the exam.

But the correct solution is, according to the book

  You aren't allowed to speak during the exam.

Could you tell me whether my answer is wrong or there are two possible answers?

Thanks a lot


texts: Why is there not a secondary definition for "bolt hole" that includes holes for bolts?

texts:
When I look up the definition for "bolt hole" on Google or in most dictionaries, I am surprised to find that the definition does not include something similar to "a hole for bolts".

The current given definition is fine (it makes sense that the hole which an animal hides in when it "bolts" from danger would be called a "bolthole"), but I don't understand why there is no mention of mechanical bolts in the definition at all. Clearly, there are at least two definitions for the word "bolt". When I Google the definition for that, the first one is "a threaded pin that screws into a nut and is used to fasten things together." The secondary definition is "move or run away suddenly." The definition of "bolthole" seems to use the secondary definition of "bolt" and eliminate all other uses as options.

Am I missing something here? How would one go about referring to holes for bolts if not by saying "bolt holes"?

I should note that as a mechanical engineer, I use "bolt" to refer to the mechanical part far more often than the action of running away suddenly. Therefore, the use of the "bolthole" described above was quite surprising to me.


texts: Does 'whose workmanship they are' violate parallelism? (1690 UK)

texts:
Source: Sec 6, The Second Treatise of Civil Government, 1690, by John Locke
...for men being all the workmanship of one omnipotent, and infinitely wise maker; all the servants of one sovereign master, sent into the world by his order, and about his business; they are his property, whose workmanship they are, made to last during his, not one another's pleasure: ...

The bolded confuses me because it seems to violate parallelism. Am I right that:
1. whose is a relative pronoun and means 'of whom'. Then 'whom' is an objective pronoun referring to 'one sovereign master' (ie some God)?
2. they = men ?
3. If I'm right about 1 and 2, then why did Locke not simply write:
they are his workmanship?
Is there any  purpose or significance to this syntax for philosophy?
Footnote: I encountered this excerpt at the 5 mins 4 s juncture  of Justice: What's The Right Thing To Do?, Episode 04: "THIS LAND IS MY LAND"


texts: expression "that would have been a monumental moment!", correct?

texts:
A famous person in the field said to me "I met this popular guy xx in a conference" I wanted to respond by saying "you two gurus met? that would have been a monumental moment"

does this grammatically make sense?

Please advise. Thanks!


texts: How to tell the difference between the two meanings of "dream" in a sentence?

texts:
Whenever I want to speak about a dream I had, people always think it's a dream in the sense of something you want to achieve and not of something you see in your sleep.
For example,

The girl I saw in my dream today was very beautiful

I think it's pretty clear what type of dream that is, but people still get confused and ask something like "Is having a girlfriend your dream?". I get very confused. Am I missing something?


texts: What is the meaning of the sentence, "we should not roam about in the hot sun"?

texts: I would like to know the meaning of "we should not roam about in the hot sun".


texts:
Without self-control and discipline, it's a good bet your initial capital melts like snow in the sun.

That idiom is French in origin; what's an English equivalent of money melting away, or dwindling away?


texts: Was there ever a real distinction between the two? I always have the urge to use maybe for discussing state and perhaps for actions. I know this is only because perhaps (by hap) and happen (befall by hap) share a root, but at least it's logical. Am I totally misguided here?


texts: Which is the correct phonetic transcription of the word play, [ple] or [plei]?

texts: In some books, the long "a" found in words like say, play, etc. are transcribed as /sei/, /plei/ respectively but in some others the same words are transcribed /se/ and /ple/. Which one is correct? Can we consider both? What is the standard IPA transcription of the long "a"?


texts: What does "were this away" mean in this context?

texts:
I'm reading a description of the pyramids written by George Sandys (1577 - 1644). The paragraph reads:

  The top at length we ascended with many pauses and much difficulty;
  from whence with delighted eyes we beheld that sovereign of streams,
  and most excellent of countries. Southward and near hand the
  Mummies; afar off diverse huge pyramids, each of which, were this
  away, might supply the repute of a wonder.

I don't understand the meaning of "were this away". Could you please help me with its meaning?

Thank you very much!


texts: "The total number of votes given to each candidate in alphabetical order were as follows:..." or should that be 'was'?

texts:
When the spokeswoman declared the results of the second ballot in the UK Tory leadership race, she said:" ...The total number of votes given to each candidate in alphabetical order were as follows:xxx,41;xxx, 46; ...".

Should the were be was?


texts: "...as you and I am" versus "...as you and I are"

texts:
Which is the correct usage to end the following sentence?

  [person] is not as [adjective] as you and I [am/are].

I'd also like to see some good fill-in-the-blanks.


texts: Which expression is older: "London Royal Parks" or "London's Royal Parks" ? And why is it Hyde Park and not Hyde's Park?

texts:
London Royal Parks

and

  London's Royal Parks

Both phrases are used, and I understand that "London" in the first example is acting as an adjective. Whereas in the second, "London", is used as a proper noun and therefore has an apostrophe.

However, which form is the older? I suspect that it is the second and if that is the case, why do only two Royal Parks: St. James's and The Regent's Park, have an apostrophe while four Royal Parks do not? In other words: Why not Hyde's Park, Richmond's Park, Greenwich's Park and Kensington's Gardens?

Please, no answers with:

  "The Royal Parks in London"

or

  "The Royal Parks of London."

and claiming the above are "correct" because inanimate nouns and geographic names do not take the apostrophe. That's false. On dates I found this on Wikipedia:

  Place names in the United States do not use the possessive apostrophe
  on federal maps and signs. The United States Board on Geographic
  Names, which has responsibility for formal naming of municipalities
  and geographic features, has deprecated the use of possessive
  apostrophes since 1890 so as not to show ownership of the
  place. Only five names of natural features in the U.S. are
  officially spelled with a genitive apostrophe (one example being
  Martha's Vineyard).

I'd also be interested to know which form is considered "preferable" by linguists, grammarians etc... London Royal Parks or London's Royal Parks and which is more common in everyday speech.


texts: Why do American English speakers typically say something is "on the hard drive" when referring to data stored with a hard drive (or other permanent storage device) but when referring to something stored in memory say that it is stored "in memory"? Is there a historical, technical reason for the choice of preposition?


texts: Difference between “improvisation” and “dramatization”?

texts:
I am having a really heated arguments on the pertucal topic, it is as followed.

So I said to my friend that changing the story line of an act is improvization and dramatizing the act is just the improvisation of the acting and not the story line. But he disagrees with me on this.

Can anyone clarify me the use of those terms in context of acting?


texts: Is the expression "the location of a previous bench" correct?

texts:
So I've been correcting an architectural piece translated into English, wherein a sentence befuddles me:

  ...A wooden table... marked the location of a previous bench.

What the author tried to say is that a wooden table is now located where once stood a bench. This usage of previous simply doesn't feel right to me. Any advice?

PS, what about location in that sentence? For me, if a noun has to be used,  locality seems to work better in the sense of "the fact or condition of having a location or position in space" of the word. Or am I over-scrutinizing things here?


texts: Difference between "try to do" and "try and do"

texts:
What is the difference between try to do and try and do?

To me (non-native speaker), asking someone try and do this seems a bit rude. It's like saying you can try all you want but this must be done: try and fail is not an option. However, asking someone try to do this means I am asking you to try: success is bonus, failure is OK.


texts:
It seems to me “take efforts”, “take a great effort” “take the effort to do something”, all three are ok. But I wonder whether you say “take effort” as a set phrase to mean something abstractly, for example:

People always take effort to be a better person, though they may be ignorant of what it means to become a better person.


texts:
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes — The Red-Headed League:

  “‘I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.’

  “‘Why that?’ I asks.

Why has the writer written "I asks" and not "I ask"? It is definitely not a mistake, for I've encountered this a handful of times afore in an array of different books.

Here's a theory from a source:

  That is non-standard English, which is only spoken in a specific part of Britain.

  Correspondingly, perhaps the author was attempting to cause the reader to understand this about the character.

Is this true and is this indeed the reason?


texts: When using the word "department" after the name of a department, does one capitalize it?  For example, "Advertising Department?"


texts: Should I use plural or singular fore 'more than one' and why?

texts:
I was writing the sentence and understood I do not know whether to use plural or singular:

If more than one attribute was / were found ...


texts: Already vs. before in the present perfect

texts:
What's the difference?
Example:

  I've already seen Terminator.

vs.

  I've seen Terminator before.


texts: How to increase my vocabulary the right way?

texts:
I have bought many books about vocabulary. Most of them by Cambridge Press. However, I don't know if it is the right way to learn vocabulary from a book like those or is it better to pick new words while reading!

Any studies around this?


texts: Did the word "literate" originally have religious connotations?

texts:
In an excerpt from a forthcoming popular science book I found this claim:

  As Villarreal points out, the word literate originally meant “one who can read holy scripts.”

Really? I went and looked in the OED, and that was no real help, as it just said that it's from "classical Latin litterātus". The American Heritage Dictionary entry online has a usage note, which tells me something interesting in a usage note:

  For most of its long history in English, literate has meant only "familiar with literature," or more generally, "well-educated, learned." Only since the late 19th century has it also come to refer to the basic ability to read and write. [...]

but not only does this not mention "holy scripts", it pretty much seems to be a contradiction.

Is the quoted claim completely off-base, or is there an argument to be made for it?

(Note that the article excerpt doesn't explain who "Villareal" is, but I think it's this guy.)


texts: Can the word “go” be used as a helping verb?

texts:
For instance:

  “Go eat your dinner.”

It appears that the word “go” is being used as a helping verb. Is it being used a helping verb? If so, can “go” only be used as a helping verb in imperative sentences?


texts:
My teachers said that the following sentences are awkward. Can anyone point out the problems with them? Thanks.

  I did not like her to put makeup on her face, let alone to waste time on it. In my eyes, she looked pretty. There was no reason for her to paint chemicals on her face.


texts: What gets inspected and adapted? "against which X can inspect and adapt"

texts:
The Professional Scrum Developer Glossary contains this definition:

  Engineering Standards: a shared set of development and technology standards that a Development Team applies to create releasable Increments of software, and against which a Development Team can inspect and adapt.

In this sentence are the "Engineering Standards" getting inspected and adapted?
Or do they form an immutable frame setting the boundaries for inspecting and adapting everything but the "Engineering Standards"?


texts: How can I express the time between late 80s and beginning of 90s (somewhere around 1988-1992)?

texts:
I am trying to translate the title of my thesis:

"Establishment of Political Parties in Georgia (at the conjunction of 80s and 90s of the 20th century)"

I am no sure about the part in bold. There, I want to express the time period spanning the last two years of 1980s (1988, 1989) and the first three years of 1990s (1990, 1991, 1992).

Is what I wrote correct, or is there any better expression for that?


texts: What ten-letter word means "having lots of time"?

texts:
I came upon this Yahoo! Answers question, which asks:

  What 10 letter word means have lots of time?

The "best answer" (five stars!) was plentiful, a nine-letter word that doesn't really have anything to do with time.

So now I'm curious... anything?


texts: The equivalent adjective for the noun "dive"

texts:
As you know a restaurant, hotel, bar, or place for entertainment or social activities that is unpleasant because of the condition of the building or the type of people that go there is called "dive" in informal English!

Example: The place is a real dive, but the drinks are cheap and the food's great.

I need to know whether there is an adjectival equivalent for the noun "dive" in this sense in English.
I would call it a "low-class place" or "not classy place", but I have no idea if they sound idiomatic to you too.
I.e. I wonder what word can be used in the following sentence?

That was a/an ............... place, but the drinks are cheap and the food's great.

{Edit}
I think the safest way to convey my exact intention to the listener would be using "dive" in a noun form and just say:

"this place / restaurant etc. is a (real) dive".


texts:
I'm looking for alternative beginnings for fan in fanclub.
Examples:

Member -club = memberclub

What is some word that communicates the idea of being a member, or fan, or in some way associated with a club? It should be short.


texts:
In my daily work, I've noticed a concept that keeps coming up.

Suppose we're making an app, and we have to make a decision whether to add X or not.  X is difficult to add.  BUT, we might eventually discover that we need it.  A critical part of the decision becomes how much harder it will become to add X later, rather than now.  It'd be nice to have a word for this value.  Let's call the word "fooble".  (Hopefully that's not already a word.)  So, for example:

"Well, we could add Doohickeys now, but it'd be hard, and it's pretty low fooble, anyway.  We might as well wait."  Meaning, the cost later minus the cost now is small.  It isn't going to be harder later.  (So we might as well wait and see.)
"Yeah, it's hard to add Dinglehoppers now, but its fooble is huge.  We'd basically have to start all over."  Meaning, the cost later minus the cost now is large.  It'll get harder and harder to add as time goes on.  (So if we think we're going to have to add it eventually anyway, we should add it now and save ourselves the trouble.)

What word could replace "fooble", in the above sentences?  AKA, a word for "the cost of delaying a choice or action" or "the cost of an action taken later minus the cost of the same action instead taken now."  A single word would be preferable, but a short phrase would probably be acceptable.  (Probably better than walking around the office saying "fooble".)  Currently my best candidate is "delay cost", but that could be a bit ambiguous, and I'd like to know if there's a commonly accepted word or phrase.

A noun makes the most sense to me, but an adjective ("it's very fooble") could work, if it's a very good fit.


texts: What is the meaning of "Like a Lobster" in the following chapter of "The invisible man"

texts:
http://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/120/the-invisible-man/2071/chapter-2/

  "Good-afternoon," said the stranger, regarding him, as Mr. Henfrey
  says, with a vivid sense of the dark spectacles, "like a lobster."


texts: Can listening be countable? Can I say We will do a listening during today's lesson?


texts:
I am trying to find the best way to state the following.

You may need to request this information with your optometrist.
You may need to request this information at your optometrist.
Something else entirely.

Can anyone help me out?


texts: How did it happen that there are two different words "insulation" and "isolation" for virtually the same concept?

texts:
This question is not about the meaning of and the difference between the words insulation and isolation, it has been already answered here: What's the difference between "insulated" and "isolated"? and here Difference between "isolated" and "insulated".

In other languages these two concepts are usually expressed by one single word.

http://www.spanishdict.com/translate/aislamiento
http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/german-english/isolieren
http://slovnik.seznam.cz/en/?q=izolace
http://en.bab.la/dictionary/polish-english/izolacja
http://www.fincd.com/finnish/erist%E4minen.html

They have practically the same etymology:

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=isolate

  "standing detached from others of its kind," 1740, a rendering into English of French isolé "isolated" (17c.), from Italian isolato, from Latin insulatus "made into an island", from insula "island" (see island (n.)). English at first used the French word (isole, also isole'd, c. 1750), then after isolate (v.) became an English word, isolated became its past participle.

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=insulate

  1530s, "make into an island," from Late Latin insulatus "made like an island", from insula "island" (see isle). Sense of "place in an isolated situation, cause (someone or something) to be detached from surroundings" is from 1785. Electrical/chemical sense of "block from electricity or heat" (by interposition of a non-conductor) is from 1742. Related: Insulated; insulating.

Do I understand properly that the word was imported into English twice, once directly from Latin (1530), and then again via French (1740)? Then it is funny that the notion which sounds more modern is carried by the older word. Or was it one word which somehow "split" into two?


texts:
The pinkest classroom in Faye's high school. The most ruffled and doilied. The cleanest, brightest. The most elaborate, with ovens and sewing stations ,refrigerators, banks of saucepan and stockpot.

Source: The Nix

I'm trying to understand the above description of Faye's high school. It is described as the cleanest and brightest, and yet also "ruffled and doilied". Does ruffled hear means disordered per its literal meaning? And the closest word to doilied I could find is doily, which refers to a small ornamental mat. Does it mean the same in this context? So the high school is clean, yet disordered with misplaced ornamental mats?


texts: The estimated length of a future event is / will be ... (tense)?

texts:
Say, I am travelling in Thailand next month, and I estimate that it will take me 1 week for the travel.

What tense should I use to describe the estimated length of the travel : "The estimated length of the travel is (present tense) / will be (future tense) 1 week." ?

Why I am asking this question is that I think the proper tense to be the future tense because the travel (including its length) is a future event. An example from the Internet: "... the estimated population will be 1.5-1.8 billion in 2050 ...", however, I have found on the Internet that the present tense may also be possible, for example, "What is (present tense) the estimated length of the hearing, for which the hearing dates will be fixed)？"

Thank you for your help in advance.


texts: English equivalent of the Greek “When Muhammad does not go to the mountain…”?

texts:
In Greek, there is an expression which translates literally to

When Muhammad does not go to the mountain, the mountain goes to Muhammad.

The expression is used when the speaker believes that they can approach something which cannot approach them. Essentially, the speaker wants to say that if something does not happen one way, it will happen the other.
For example, someone who goes to see their friend who could not accept an invitation to come over might say on arriving, “When Muhammad does not go to the mountain, the mountain goes to Muhammad.” The intended meaning is “Since you couldn’t come over, I came instead.”
Usually, this idiom is translated to a similar-sounding one in English, but as I explain below, the meaning is different.
My Research
There are expressions involving Muhammad and a mountain in several language. In most of them, it seems that the meaning is the same as the one in English.
The English expression is

If the mountain won’t come to Muhammad, then Muhammad must go to the mountain.

The meaning, according to The Free Dictionary, is

If one can’t have one’s way, one must give in.

While the meaning seems close, it is quite different. The English idiom implies that the second alterative is worse than the first, in the sense that, if the mountain wouldn’t go to Muhammad, he would have to go there himself.
However, the Greek idiom switches up the subject and object in the sentence (“When Muhammad does not go to the mountain…”). There is no implication that the second alternative is worse than the first. The focus, as I said before, is on the fact that if something is to happen, it can happen in whatever way it has to.


texts: I am reading the book "Metaphors We Live By" by Lakoff and Johnson and in there, there ins an example sentence: Harry is in the Elks. Is the Elks a place?


texts: "How do you solve a problem like Maria?"

texts:
The nuns in the 1965 movie "The Sound of Music" are singing about Maria, who is difficult to deal with:

  How do you solve a problem like Maria?

Being non-native (and only seeing a still frame of the scene) I thought it meant "How does Maria solve problems?". Somewhat similar to "What would Jesus do?".

Can "solve a problem like [someone]" also be understood in this way?

Edits:

I am aware of the context. It would be silly to think the singing nuns hold up Maria (Julie Andrews) as a role model.
I checked my Quirk/Greenbaum grammar but have trouble finding anything conclusive concerning this usage of [like] and its validity. I do have to admit, that I didn't look very thoroughly. I am a bit like Maria, in this way.


texts:
I have just asked a question on a forum. It has the words "how to clone an existing target?" and I have realized that probably I should not have an included there.

What is the right way of saying: an existing target or just existing target?

Thanks.


texts: Do Americans find a date such as 11 Apr 2012 more readable than the ISO format 2012-04-11? The reason I ask is that there are many situations where we do not have access to the locale, and even if we do there are often no locale-sensitive formatting functions that we can use.


texts: Want a phrase/word to express the time follow and close now

texts:
I want a phrase or word to express the time follow and close now, it would have the meaning that keeps the time continuous. for me, word "later" seems be too generic, "later on" seems to have certain period time after now: "follow on" looks also not a good idea.

For example: after reading this book (?) I start go to work.(after reading book I Immediately start go to work, there would have no interval between two things )


texts: "Sometimes a * is just a *" meaning and history

texts:
What kind of expression is it when someone says "Sometimes a horse is just a horse" or "Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar" (Which apparently Freud never actually said)?

What is the history of this expression, and are there any alternative phrases that convey the same or similar meaning?


texts: "They survived the journey" is journey a direct object?

texts:
In the sentence:

  "There was no guarantee that the travelers would survive the journey."

Would "the journey" be considered a direct object, or what would it be?

In this sentence nothing seems to be being done to the journey by the travelers. The journey is not the recipient of some kind of "surviving" action.

Here is the top definition of direct object if you Google it:

  A direct object is a noun or pronoun that receives the action of a verb or shows the result of the action. It answers the question "What?" or "Whom?" after an action verb. An action verb with a direct object is called a transitive verb.

This seems to be the general description of direct objects. Here's the next definition from the grammar site Daily Grammar:

  A direct object receives the action performed by the subject. The verb used with a direct object is always an action verb. Another way of saying it is that the subject does the verb to the direct object. Example: The car hit the tree. To find the direct object, say the subject and verb followed by whom or what. The car hit whom or what? Tree answers the question so tree is the direct object.


texts: How could I express the idea that one person is learning the habits of other person?

texts:
I want to express the idea that one person is becoming like another person. I was thinking to use color, as in "Mr. X is getting colored in Mr. Y."

Is this a common usage?


texts: 10 members of the sales staff have [ already/early] exceeded their quotas

texts:
I thought that (already ) is right but i just want to know why the word is not right?
Would you please tell me the reason?


texts: meaning of "out of the season" in this sentence

texts: It's something said by a production manager: "I'm responsible for the refining process, and I organise the shift system...Out of the season, I supervise the overhaul of the plant." Does "out of the season" mean "holiday season"? (But I wonder why she has to work if it's holiday season. Does it mean holiday season for people in general?)


texts:
Is there a name for this mark?  It sits below a letter as a means of showing an abbreviation.  (In this case, Established abbreviated to Estd.)

I've seen it used in the form below in place of an apostrophe for a contraction.  Frequently, it's used to abbreviate William to Wm.

I know there's a diacritic mark called an underdot, but I'm not sure this qualifies as a diacritic since it's not meant to influence sound value of the words.

It's some sort of stylized period (full stop for my British friends).  But, I'm wondering if there's a term for using it to raise the letter above it in this usage.


texts: What does this sentence mean: "You said, levelling your voice"?

texts:
What does it mean to level one's voice at someone?
The full sentence is:

You said, levelling your voice at him as if it was a sword.


texts:
I want that my teammates run faster. Did I write the underlined part of sentence below right?

"I screamed for my teammates to they run quicker"


texts: Economy/diseconomy of scale. Is economy a positive word?

texts:
Economy of scale means that as a company's production increases, the marginal cost of production goes down and therefore profit per product goes up.

When profit per product goes down with scale, this is called diseconomy of scale.

Why is diseconomy used here, and why is that word almost never used anywhere else? You say Greece is (or has) a bad economy, not is a diseconomy.
Why is economy a positive word here, when it is a neutral in other contexts?


texts:
I came across this article http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/scientists-discovers-light-emiting-mysterious-alien-planet-338945.  The web link uses "emitting" in an attributive manner which we have all seen many times.  For example "light emitting diode."  The title, though uses emitting in this way "Scientists discover light emitting from mysterious alien planet."  The first sentence of the article uses "emanate": "Scientists have detected light emanating from..."  It's almost like the writer couldn't make up their mind which word to use or wanted to add "variety."

I have seen "emanate" used more often, and to me seems correct.  I'm not sure why (which is why I'm asking) but it seems to me that grammatically, "emitting" can't be used the way the writer wants to use it.  "Emit" is a transitive verb and I have seen it many times used in "X emits Y" constructions.  I feel the sentence should be "Scientists discover light being emitted from mysterious alien planet." (A side question is whether the preposition "by" should be used and not "from.")

The question is, "Is the verb "emit" being used correctly?  Why or why not?"


texts: Formal expression for "talking about something unrelated"

texts: What are some words or phrases that can be used when a person is discussing a particular subject with a group of people and unintentionally she/he talks about something unrelated? I need a formal expression.


texts: Difference in meaning: "would have had to be" vs "would have had to have been"

texts:
Being a non native speaker, I cannot spot the difference here:

He would have had to have been there.
He would have had to be there.

The only thing that comes to my mind is that in the first case, there is the past infinitive which would imply that it requires him to have been there (before something), while in the second case it requires him to be there at that moment.


texts: How to say succinctly: "An opinion which is ‘shareable’ and agreed upon by many"?

texts:
How would you express the notion: ‘overall many would share that opinion’, more succinctly? For example:

  It is generally agreed upon that "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day".
  Breakfast is the most important meal of the day is something which many agree (including myself) with

or

  Many would agree (myself included) with X's assertion
  X's opinion is generally agreed upon
  The decision to X is agreed and shared by most

I ask because recently I had to stop myself from saying:

  "I didn't take that action, although condivisible".

I stopped short in my tracks and realized I was anglicizing the Italian expression condivisibile which means shareable or any of the expressions which I placed in bold type. If I had to rephrase that last sentence to reflect accurately the meaning of condivisibile  I would have to say:

  I didn't personally take that action, although it is one which I [and many] would agree with.

Agreeable would have been perfect but it doesn't fit because its primary meaning is enjoyable and pleasurable; pleasant. It is especially inappropriate if the action or decision taken by another is a form of punishment. For example, someone being fined heavily for parking on a pavement/sidewalk despite there being no more parking spaces available (In principle, everyone agrees that parking on sidewalks should be illegal.)

Perhaps the best example is this last one:

  He got fined heavily for parking on the sidewalk, although ___________ [I agree/we are all in agreement with the decision to fine him], perhaps the council ought to think about providing more parking spaces.

So, is there a single-word, an adjective or shorter phrase to express this concept?


texts:
Question:

  A man like you should not do this, _______?

Which question tag should I use in the blank space?

should he?
should you?

Which would be grammatically correct? I think 1 is true.


texts: Term for wordplay where a new spelling is made up for an existing word

texts:
I am familiar with homographs and homophones (and homonyms), but there is a different type of "word play" or "spelling play" I've seen come up as of recently that I'm trying to find out if there is a name for. Or if one for it simply just doesn't exist.
There's a few examples I could list, but the best one I could think of is "kaiyote". This is obviously a play on the real word, "coyote". However, it's not considered a homograph or homophone because the word "kaiyote" in itself doesn't have any meaning — it's just a word spelled to make it sound like the actual real word "coyote".
Could anyone tell me if there is any term for this type of practice?


texts:
I heard the expression in the title once around 10 years ago, when my English teacher defined it to mean "people who worship wealth, success, and the like". I haven't heard anyone else use it anywhere else. And  I can't find this anywhere on the Web today.

I wonder if my memory of the expression is wrong or I was taught wrongly. Can you throw more light on this expression and its usage, if any?


texts: Comma usage when but is used between two adjective or adverbs

texts:
What is the rule regarding comma usage when but is used between two contrasting adjectives or adverbs?  It is a vey interesting, but stupid question, and one that I have had a hard time finding a definitive answer to.  Or should that have been "very interesting but stupid question" or "very interesting, but stupid, question".

Since a comma is sometimes used to introduce contrast, my instinct would be the way I phrased it the first time, but I can't seem to find a definitive rule on the subject. My own opinion on the subject seems to change with either my mood or slight nuances in the particular sentence, e.g., if the adjectives/adverbs are before or after the noun/[verb/adjective] or if the but seems particularly parenthetical.

A few more examples taken from the web, illustrating inconsistent comma usage for similar constructs:

1A) In case of a fire alarm, please exit the building quickly but calmly.
1B) It was time to quickly, but calmly get out of the water.

2A) Water is an overlooked but essential nutrient.
2B) Carnitine is a hard-to-classify, but essential, nutrient.

3A) This is one challenging, but invigorating climb.
3B) This is a painful, but invigorating, process.

4A) Maidan remains occupied, but eerily quiet.
4B) “Star Trek Into Darkness” is a fun but eerily familiar Star Trek adventure.


texts:
Let's say I have a series of things...

XXX

...and I'm putting something else between each one:

XYXYX

Is there a verb for this? For example, between every workweek (X) there is a weekend (Y). Possible sentence: "Workweeks are _____ed with/by weekends."

The closest word I came up with is intersperse, but this seems to have a connotation of haphazardness or randomness (Oxford definition: to "scatter among or between other things; place here and there"). "Workweeks are interspersed with weekends" suggests a certain randomness to the occurrence of weekends, whereas I want to convey that a Y has been consistently placed between every X. Is there a word for this?


texts: Is it grammatical to say "what good is a doctor if he can't even save his patient"

texts:
Is this sentence grammatically correct?

  What good is a doctor if he can't even save his patient?

The meaning I am trying to express here is that the doctor is not a good one if he cannot save his patient.


texts: Word for more than several, but less than many

texts:
What word or sequence of words can I use if I have more than several, but less than many? E.g. if I have 10–15 of something, it may not be many (depending on context), but it's too many to be several. What word or phrase can I use?

There are many studies which show... (not true, in my context I don't consider 10–15 is many)
There are 10 studies which show... (not correct, it's not exactly 10 and I don't know the exact number, nor is it relevant)
There are several studies which show... (not correct, 10 is too many to be several)
There is a number of studies which show... (means nothing? 0 is a number, as is 1000?)

What is the correct word or sequence of words here?


texts: "without needing to  + ..." vs "without the need of  + ..."

texts:
I don't see which one is fits best:

  it is awesome because you can do it without needing to send e-mails

or

  it is awesome because you can do it without the need of sending e-mails

Also, are both correct or just one (or none...)?


texts:
"The Titanic was a quintessential example of the class system being discriminatory."

Is this the correct use of the word "quintessential"? I wasn't sure if using the phrase "quintessential example" was gramatically correct.

Thank you!


texts: I have seen this question answered before with the word "antagonize", but that is not what I want as I feel like that is provoking someone in an attempt to get them to lash back out at you. The word I am looking for would be like the opposite of "victimize", such as a government might want to portray certain countries as enemies so they might spread propaganda to "enemize" individuals. Not necessarily interacting with the enemy, but merely spreading information making them appear as an enemy.


texts: Should the abbreviation 'i.e.' be used in speech?

texts:
I often hear people use the abbreviation 'i.e.' while speaking. It does not seem right to me. Similarly with 'e.g.' — I would always say 'for example' rather than 'e.g.'.

So is it appropriate to use 'i.e.' (or more generally, abbreviations) in speech?


texts: What is "the hottest seat/seed in town"? I am not sure if it's a seed or seat or something else. I heard it a few times on "CNN" when a new upcoming "Larry King Live" program was being advertised. Also what does it mean "in town" here? It seems that it has nothing to do with a physical human settlement on some territory, but rather with some sphere or even some time period, I am not sure.


texts:
Maybe I'm just not very good with Google, but I'm looking for good terms to use when describing manipulation of strings of characters, specifically words to describe:

Removing a prefix
Removing a suffix
Removing an infix, i.e. taking out some middle part and concatenating the remaining parts

A more or less comprehensive list of string manipulation terminology would be nice, but just providing the above definitions would suffice.


texts: A word that describes a job or position that requires more than is reasonable from the person occupying it

texts:
What word aptly describes a job or position that requires more than is reasonable from  the person occupying it?

An example of usage might be:

"Today, John finally resigned his ___________ job."

To clarify, John is fully qualified to perform his duties and genuinely enjoys his work. Unfortunately, John's job at Evil Corp is unreasonably demanding. John's superiors have been frequently forced to increase his workload while lowering his pay. Long term employees are leaving the company in alarming numbers. John has a very loyal personality that has urged him to stick it through, but alas, John has reached his limit and must resign.


texts: Name for logical fallacy of "implied guilt"?

texts:
For example; "No puppies were harmed in the making of this soda", implying that puppies are generally harmed in the production of soda, and thus casting the competition in a bad light.

Is there a name for this?

Is it maybe just a sneaky version of a straw man?


texts: What is the word for oddly matched meal items

texts: For example if I have a burger and soup, or spaghetti and milk. Almost like a potluck or a pitch-in, but less on purpose.


texts: Is it ok to end sentences with a possessive apostrophe?

texts:
I heard it's not appropriate to end a sentence with possessive apostrophe. For example:

  Jon has a great dog. I want one just like Jon's.

Or

  If you want your own, similar to Jon's, then trade me your raven.

Are these correct?


texts:
When 'rest' means what is left after everything or everyone has gone, been used, dealt with, or mentioned, is it singular or plural?

My guess is, this depends. When 'rest' refers to countable things and the number is more than one, it is plural; otherwise it is singular.

For example,
suppose there are five boxes. You carry two; then there are three left. We can say 'the rest ARE three.'
suppose there is one bottle of salt. You sprinkle some; then there is less salt. We can say 'the rest IS less than one bottle.'
Is my description correct?


texts: Word for someone who plays witness or an unbiased perspective

texts:
I need a better way to describe a witness to an event. Here is the sentence that has stumped me:

  Terrance had been witness to the whole event, but since he did not feel like taking over as storyteller, he simply sat back and corrected any falsehoods in Smith's tale.

The last part of the sentence, from "he sat back" to the end, seems clunky to me. Is there a word I can use to explain his position? He speaks up only to make sure Smith does not fabricate any part of the story. I thought of describing him as a "testament", "corrector", "truth speaker", or "objective eye", but I don't know if any of these are correct.


texts: Conjunctive adverbs preceded by conjunctions

texts:
I've been under the impression that conjunctive adverbs needn't be preceded by a full-ish stop (e.g., a period or semicolon). I don't know where I got that idea, and consequently, as a lover of grammar, I'm aggravated. That sentence I just wrote, for example, is what I'm talking about.

So, have I always been wrong to link two independent clauses—the latter of which begins with a conjunctive adverb—with a comma and a conjunction? I seem to recall having always written this way, yet as a graduate of the English department, I have not once been corrected.

If so, where does the comma go—before and after the adverb? only after? only before? With regard to the conjunction itself—before or not at all? And while we're at it, in the last sentence of that last paragraph, should there have been a comma after "yet"?


texts: On the Making of Decisions—Compound, Hyphen, or Space?

texts:
I'm responsible for most of the copy editing at my job.  While it goes pretty smoothly most of the time, there is one area that keeps creating a bit of cognitive dissonance for me:

decisionmaking
decision-making
decision making

I almost want to go German on it and make it into a compound word as in the first choice, but then I start thinking that a space would be more readable.  Then the hyphen appears out of nowhere as a less-than-satisfying compromise between the two.

No matter how I decide to go, I really haven't been able to find any peace on the matter.  Are there any official declarations from any of the major style guides on this matter?  For what it's worth contextually, the final customer for a lot of my writing is the US Federal Government.


texts:
Which would be a correct and natural usage of the word, out of the following three choices?

I was trying to save some efforts on / of / at hosting two code bases, for a single website.


texts: Word to describe a container for intangible assets

texts:
If you had a box that held individual experiences what would you call it?

These experiences do not necessarily have to be your own.
Others can put their own experiences in the box.
The experiences are all related by physical location.
You can only view the experiences when you are physically near the
box.

What would you call this box? A container? A vault? A vessel?


texts:
have, having
love, loving
make, making
take, taking
give, giving
hate, hating
strive, striving

Etc. When a verb in its lemmatic form ends with "-e" then its present participle omits that letter.

Except that the British make an exception of the word "age" and write "ageing".

Are there other such exceptions? Are there any such exceptions in American usage?


texts: I've been through that stage "ages ago" or "ages before"

texts: Like in the title, I wanted to say something like "I'm no longer that way, it was long long ago", so should it be "ages ago" or "ages before"? For some reason, the first instinct was "ages ago", then it is an "I have been......" pattern, somehow, I felt "ago" just doesn't fit here? Plzzzzz help


texts: What is the etymology and reasoning behind the US Military term,"D-Day"?

texts:
Today is the 70th anniversary of D-Day, the day Allied forces in WWII invaded Normandy.

It just occurred to me that I have nothing better than guesses for what the "D" actually stands for, and my initial searches turned up a number of reasonable guesses. ("Deployment," "Designated," etc.")

EDIT: It seems that the "D" is generally thought to refer to "day," so the obvious question is "Why call something D-Day if the the D simply makes it mean 'Day Day'"?


texts: Is it correct to say "the said meeting"?

texts: Is it correct to use "the said meeting" as a way of referring to what people were told at the meaning?


texts: "In all events" as opposite of "in no event"

texts:
I was recently trying to explain to a non-native English speaking colleague the meaning of the phrase "in no event" which often appears in legal documents. This produced the question: "Can you say 'in all events' to mean the opposite?"
My curiosity piqued, I did a search in Google. First, as I expected, I noticed many hits for the word combination "in all events" in commonplace sentences such as "I am participating in all events." However, to my surprise, I also saw examples of "In all events" at the beginning of sentences, used in the manner that my colleague had imagined.

For example, I found this sentence at the end of Section 3 of a text on the Classified Information  Procedures Act by Jim McAdams, Senior Legal Instructor at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center:

"In all events, you, the Criminal Investigator, should consult with the CSO concerning the transporting of classified documents through unclassified areas."

So, then, is "In all events" an acceptable phrase and can it be used in legal documents as a counterpart to the expression "In no event."?

To give a specific example, if we are given the sentence: "In no event shall we be liable for XYZ," could we write the sentence: "In all events, we shall not be liable for XYZ" to convey the same meaning?


texts: “A mutual friend”, "A common friend" or “A friend in common”?

texts: When I was a student of EFL, I was taught the word "mutual" implies a reciprocal relationship where X does to Y what Y does to X.  If John admires Peter as much as Peter admires John, we can say their admiration is mutual.  That said, can I say that Charles and I have a mutual friend ?


texts:
I have a question about any kind of.

Results can be applied to any kinds of drawing or texturing applications

In the sentence above, should I use any kind of applications or any kinds of applications?

I checked the Internet and everyone on the web goes for any kind of; however, all the examples include uncountable words. But, in my case, because of referring a computer software, application is countable and because of using any, it should be plural, I guess.

So, basically, is it always any kind of or if the word is countable and plural, can I use any kinds of?

Thank you in advance!


texts:
Just curious but are there any two words (possibly three in a tri-relationship) in the English language that define themselves with the other, therefore being subjected to a definition paradox? (They have to have no other meanings besides the other word.)

e.g.  (Not really a legit example, but what I am looking for) Compassion: The act of having pity. Pity: The act of having compassion.


texts: Meaning of the verb 'snort' in a sharp dialog

texts:
I could not figure out the meaning of the verb 'snort' implied in Sir Elton John's reply to Lily Allen during some award ceremony, after her disrespectful comment on his age. He said:

  I could still snort you under the table

The context for this reply, in their public conversation was:

  ...and now the most important part of the night (Lily)
  What? Are you going to have another drink? (Elton)
  F*** off Elton. I am 40 years younger than you and have my whole life ahead of me! (Lily)
  I could still snort you under the table. (Elton)
  F*** off. I don't know what you are talking about. (Lily)

(There's a link to the video with this dialog: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1051912/I-snort-table-Eltons-shocking-reply-worse-wear-Lily-verbally-assaults-onstage.html)

I could just find 'snort' related to sniffing cocaine, thus being not able to grasp the meaning he wanted with his reply. Any help is appreciated. Thanks!


texts: I'm a software developer and currently I'm creating an inventory application. I need to name things with expiry dates, like medicines or food, in general. In Java (the programming language I'm using) is common to name -for instance- objects you can copy as "copyable". So I wish to do the same. The questions is How are things with expiry dates generally called?


texts: Word/name for someone who uses/mistreats his subordinates but is loved by his superiors

texts:
What's the word/name for someone who uses/mistreats his subordinates but is loved by his superiors?

I've heard there may be a military-specific name for it.


texts: How to say something like "surround me/it in circle" in just one word?

texts:
For example imagine if you standing in the middle of stonehenge and you want to say "The stones are surrounded me in circle." in "The stones _ me." format.
What should I filled in the blank?


texts: What is the proper word for "man boobs?"

texts:
Example usages:

My boyfriend got so fat he now has man boobs.

Over-exposure to xenoestrogen may give you man boobs.