texts:
I am a bit confused regarding the use of " and thereby " in academic English, For example in the following sentence:

Example: The Taylor cone became unstable for a period of time, and thereby spraying and dripping of the solution occurred.

I checked well-known dictionaries such as Longman and Cambridge, when " thereby" is used, it is commonly followed by a "gerund". Thus, I want to know whether the structure I have used in my example above is correct or not since it is " ..., and thereby X occurred."


texts: Dangling or Misplaced Modifiers: the use of adverbs

texts:
When you say:

  I earn fifty dollars a week scarcely.

I know this is not correct. It doesn't sound right and you can't apply an adverb to "a week" because it doesn't make sense and that's not the point you're trying to convey. So this would be a misplaced modifier. However, I do not know how to correct this. The best attempts I have come up with is:

  I scarcely earn fifty dollars a week.

or

  I earn scarcely fifty dollars a week.

I have a feeling the first one is right but also think that the second one makes more grammatical sense. Which one is right?


texts:
I'm not sure how to describe the use of the bolded words in the following cases:

Pete is happy singing a song
Anna talked screaming
Mike entered the room screaming and laughing

Is it acting as an adverb? Or has a preposition been elided?

Pete is happy while singing a song
Anna talked while screaming
Mike entered the room while screaming and laughing


texts: Is there a word that can be used to mean two previous places? I want to reference something two paragraphs ago; former would work if it was only one before, and I cannot use penultimate because it may be confused with the second to last of the entire work.


texts: Meaning of "shed all gentlemanly reticence"

texts:
Please explain the meaning of the text in bold, taken from this Bloomberg article.

  Ah, yes. They have shed all gentlemanly reticence over dragging former allies into court.


texts: How to refer to the piece of furniture that bars use to store their drinks? The one that is behind the bartender.


texts: When to use a comma before 'because', 'too', or 'and'

texts:
My camera is pink, and my mobile phone is black.

Is it right? And why yes or why not?

Or:

  My camera is small. my phone is small, too.

Are these commas correct?

When can I find the answers? Is there any grammar book, which can explain it to me?

Thank you.


texts: Should the game of 'rugby' be given a capital letter?

texts:
Whenever I write 'rugby', I always want to capitalise the R, since the name originates from Rugby School in the town of Rugby, Warwickshire.

Does anyone else still adhere to a policy of capitalising the initial letter of words that derive from proper nouns?


texts: Any difference in meaning/usage between the phrases "from now on" and "as of now"?

texts:
Is there a particular difference in meaning or usage between the phrases "as of now" and "from now on"? Could it be said that the first is more formal or is there more to this?
Also, could these two be replaced with "going forward" in all contexts of use?


texts:
I'm at odds with a colleague of mine over the correct spelling of the above title words.

My stance is that they could BOTH possibly be correct.  My question specifically is....

Could one spelling be the hard fast correct spelling, hence "the rule" and the other simply the "exeption"? Yet, accepted as possibly an alternate?

My goal here is to find if one or the other holds an ounce of legitimacy more than the other, even if a tad.
Thus, the exception/rule thingee.


texts: What does "discover from itself" mean in the following sentence?

texts:
The sentence is

  "The point of interest was to determine how far the natural light of reason, human reason by itself, could progress in the knowledge of truth, with the important proviso that through religion humans could learn higher truths than reason is in a position to discover from itself?"

Could you please help me clarify this sentence as well? Plus, does that sound like well translated from German? I think it is very complicated and the elements of the sentence are all over the place.


texts: In/after hours. What preposition to use?

texts:
In/after 3 hours I will go to work.

I will have to go to work after 3 hours from now.


texts: What’s the difference between “come recommended” and “be recommended”?

texts:
… But their main business is in parts and refurbishing, and the old man, Deforges, doesn’t like to sell a used piano to someone who hasn’t come recommended. He says it’s more trouble than it’s worth and he’s got plenty of customers for the pianos that come his way. (The Piano Shop on the Left Bank by Thad Carhart)

I think the rough meanings would be the same if the sentence used “who hasn’t been recommended” instead of “who hasn’t come recommended,” but what’s the difference between them?


texts:
When someone is suffering from fever, at some point in time when it stops or it starts getting better, we say the fever has broken.

  His fever broke last night. He's going to be alright.

What's the etymology behind "break" used in this manner? I couldn't find any other instances of illness or symptoms which use "break" in this manner (except for actual physical breakages).


texts: What's the difference between the grape, a grape, grapes?

texts:
I'm a non-native English speaker.

If I want to say,

"The green grape is my favorite fruit."

is it okay?
And is the sentence above different from these two?

"A green grape is my favorite fruit."
"green grapes are my favorite fruit."


texts:
I saw this as a mild insult on the Internet, one person tells another: "get a life" or "you have no life".

What does it mean literally and what is its meaning as an insult?


texts:
Is the art term "Pre-Raphaelite" capitalized or is it spelled "pre-Raphaelite"? What is the general policy for the orthography of "pre-"?

For example,

  The Pre‑Raphaelites emphasized attention to nature and drew
  inspiration from Medieval literature.


texts: Person with different sizes, dimensions or what?

texts:
What expression is better to say persons with different sizes ? Persons who have different shapes.

Context: I am doing an info-graphics simulation of a real scene. I am using 3 persons with different shapes. So, I need to comments this in a report.

I need to say: In this simulation, we used 3 persons with different _____


texts: Is this grammatically correct? "You see a dirt block, above which a stone block"

texts:
Is this grammatically correct?

  You see in front of you a dirt block, above which a stone block.

If not how should it be fixed?


texts:
I am writing a paper, and I am stuck into this grammar problem:

  As has been proven

  As was proven

Which one in correct?


texts: Adjective word or any expression used to describe a child's behaviour

texts:
Please could you help me with an adjective word or any expression used by native speakers of English to describe a child who habitually likes to always lean or rub his or her body against the body of another person especially their parents or other adults, like cats do against the body of their carers or owners?
I used to describe them as clingy child, sticky child or adherent child but I felt like none sounded or communicate well to me. And hence, I came to you for help and guidance. Thank you in anticipation of your help.
English language student/learner


texts:
I'm looking for an adverb form or synonym of the word "outlier."  An example of usage:

  This datapoint is _____ positive.

I've thought of disproportionately, but that word carries additional connotations that may not apply to all use cases.  Thanks for any input you may have.


texts: "I felt you when ..." or "I felt it when ..."

texts:
Please have a look at the following poetic line:

"...I felt you when you washed up on an unknown coast..."

Can I say "I felt you..." (to stress exactly my emotional proximity to the other person) or it is not right and only saying "I felt it..." makes sense?

My post is partly inspired by the following article: https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/message-love-liverpool-tracey-emin-3473408

where it is written that an artist has signed with the following phrase:

“I felt you and I knew you loved me”.


texts: Is asking "come again?" to a complete stranger over the phone rude?

texts:
My Irish colleague told me that when talking to a customer over the phone asking:"come again?" is considered rude and even offensive since it is very informal and almost demanding.

Now I did not really believe him, since I think there is more to words than just the words themselves, like the context and the tone of voice. Was it not 90% how you say it and 10% what you say?

Anyway. In Ireland I witnessed several ways to ask a person to repeat themselves.

Starting with "aha?" Or the "he?" Used by the Irish-man I talked to myself quite often. Next I'd put "what?"

Compared to these I'd classify "come again" not as impolite and rude especially when I say it in a polite almost deferential tone of voice.

For comparison. In Germany we have the "Was?" = "what" and the "Wie bitte?" = "How please?" the latter being the official polite way of asking to repeat. Which is quite short and since I find it awkward to say: "Can you repeat that please?" several times in a phone conversation over a bad line, I find "come again" quite similar to "Wie bitte?", just lacking the please, and appropriate.

What do you guys say about this?

PS: Compared to How do you decide which phrase to use when asking people to repeat what they said?
I'm not asking about a ranking.

I'm more asking if "Come again?" is more like "Fuck you" or more like "You are brilliant". The difference being, that one of them you probably have a hard time of making sound polite or appreciating. Though it can be done, but I guess not to a complete stranger.


texts: Are there English equivalents to a Japanese old saying, “Be the mouth of cock rather than remaining as the tail of ox”?

texts:
Every time I hear about the success story of entrepreneurs such as IT business, not to mention Apple, Microsoft, and Soft Bank founders, an old Japanese saying, 鶏口となるとも牛後となる勿れ‐“(Choose to) be the mouth of a cock rather than ending up as the tail of an ox,” comes to my mind.

I understand this maxim was imported from Chinese saying, “寧為鶏口、勿為牛後 – ning wei ji kou wu nju hou” (If I quote wrong, please correct) which has the exactly same meaning.

The mouth of a cock and the tail of an ox are compared to the leader or owner of small company / organization (with a big prospect for growing up as a big company in the end) and just common office workers of big companies.

Are there any equivalent English sayings that encourage someone who is ambitious enough to start up his / her own company or challenging new business by spinning out from their old organization?


texts: Function of "up" in verb phrases functioning as a noun?

texts:
What part of speech is the word "up" playing in these verb phrases that function as nouns?

  Mix-up

  Smash up

  Meet up

  Pop up

  Pin up

  Hold up

  Stick up

These never seem to be used as nouns.

  Show up

  Beat up

  Take up

  Give up

  Ante up

  Put up

These are used as nouns and verbs.

  Beat down

  Take down


texts: Is "to be interested" an active or passive voice?

texts:
I am learning English using a language service (InSpeak.ru). Recently, I encountered the figure of speech

  to be interested

For example:

  I am interested in sports.

Could you please tell me if that's in the Present Simple Passive Voice?

I am asking because the language service incorrectly translates (in my opinion) this figure of speech into my language, Russian. The service says that to be interested is active voice (in my language). I feel like it is not.


texts:
A recent question prompted the answer of "gadabout" - which made me think of "gadfly".

Are the two related? If so, which gave rise to the other; or, did they occur contemporaneously? What's a "gad"?


texts: When would "mom/dad" require capital letter in writing?

texts:
I understand the capitalization rule for nouns, proper nouns require a capital letter. Also, I should begin a new sentence with a capital letter.

When & why "mom/dad" requires a capital letter ?

(Reference- ELL- I am at Vapi where mom is hospitalised)

  mom:

  (n) informal term for a mother/North American term for mum.


texts: What's the verdict on "sooner than later"?

texts:
I have heard a lot of people say at work that we should do something "sooner than later." This grates against my native ear, but it seems fairly commonplace. I have always understood the expression to only make sense as "sooner rather than later."

I found this Word Reference Forum thread on the subject. One poster gave a very reasonable explanation why "sooner than later" is incorrect:

  I think it should be "sooner rather than later".

  There are two choices: one can do it sooner(A) or one can do it later(B). Each one refers to the doing of "it".
  >For this choice:I want this done A rather than B. (correct)
  I want this done A than B. (incorrect)

  The fact that the adjectives are comparatives and the construction uses "than" is what makes it tempting to remove the rather. Sooner than a specific time might work (adding in e.g. by 7pm), but sooner than (another comparative adjective) in my mind doesn't work.

  However, consider:
  I want this done quickly rather than slowly. (correct)
  I want this done quickly than slowly. (incorrect)

I agree with him, but was also able to twist my brain around to give the phrase some kind of meaning and actually found myself suggesting ways it could be semi-correct. Here's what I wrote:

  I came across this thread considering the same question myself. Below are two caveats to the excellent response by Julian Stewart, and the caveat to my caveats is that you will not find me saying "sooner than later."

  It definitely makes sense to say:

  "I'd like to walk faster rather than slower."

  And it could make sense to say:

  "I'd rather walk faster than (walk) slower."
  "I'd rather walk fast than (walk) slow."

  And therefore:

  "I'd rather finish sooner than (finish) later."

  Secondly, I can conceive in some convoluted way that "sooner than later" can be used to communicate exactly what it denotes: a point (or range of points) in time preceding the point (or range of points) described by 'later.' I know it's screwy, but it kind of makes sense.

I'd love to hear what you folks here have to say on the matter and see if anyone can make a compelling and definitive argument. I fear I might have put my brain in some alternate English reality in order to make the defense I did. Talk some sense into me please?


texts:
I had just asked a comma-related question and, having received an answer, now realize I was asking the wrong question. So, please review the following sentence, arbitrarily taken from Bachelard's The Poetics of Space:

  "Memories of the outside world will never have the same tonality as
  home and, by recalling these memories, we add to our store of dreams."

The aforementioned sentence consists of two independent clauses. Why, then, is there not a comma before "and"? And could there be?

Now, from something I'd recently penned:

"... , and moving forward, actionable (i.e., interpretable and usable) data sets will prove to be a key element of successful marketing strategies."

In this instance, I'd placed the comma prior to the conjunction and treated the entire phrase, "moving forward," as part of that conjunction.

Are both of these examples correct? Are neither (i.e., should there technically be a comma before Bachelard's "and" and before my "moving forward")?


texts: Does 'from' in this example mean 'some'?

texts:
I have chosen for you from the best of our personnel.

Can 'from' here also mean 'some'?

  I have chosen for you some of the best of our personnel.


texts:
2-Part Question:

1) What is the grammatical term for "to be" in the following statement? "This needs to be repaired."

2) Is it slang or an accepted trend that more and more the "to be" portion is dropped? Statement phrased as "This needs repaired."


texts: What can I call a person who directs traffic?

texts: I'm referring to people in bright orange or green vests who direct automobiles.  I thought of road workers, but it's not specifically around road work.  Is there a word for "traffic-directors"?


texts: Where [if anywhere] should the apostrophe go in "three days work"?

texts:
Which is correct?

  1 Three day's work

  2 Three days' work

  3 Three days work

I would probably guess (2) is right, since the work belongs to the three days ("three days of work"). But I'm not sure. Would it be different if it was only one day?


texts: Naming 1, 2, 3, ... millennial celebrations

texts:
I know that after 100 years there are centennial celebrations, after 200 years bicentennial, tricentennial, etc.,

Similarly, are there terms for 2000, 3000, etc., years of celebration?


texts:
Are the following sentences gramatically correct:

"None of Tom, Dick nor Harry participated in the contest."
"None of Tom, nor Dick, nor Harry participated in the contest."

If it were a two-person list, the neither-nor construction would clearly be correct ("Neither Tom nor Harry participated"). It seems to me that nor remains the correct conjunction in a three-person list, but I can't find any supporting references.

Thanks!


texts:
In my language, when I write an email to my professor, boss, etc, there is a greeting part in the first part of email right after "Dear prof. ..."(in my language of course), e.g. "How are you", "I hope everything is alright" and so on.

But I don't have any idea how can I write a proper email with such a greeting in English?

Or do I have to ignore it because the email is kinda formal?


texts: Under what kind of conditions is a past time adjunct allowed for in experiential perfects?

texts:
In CGEL p.144 the author says about experiential perfects

  This use of the present perfect allows for the inclusion, under restrictive conditions, of a past time adjunct:

  iia) We've already discussed it yesterday.

  iib) We discussed it yesterday.

  In [iia] the already indicates that I'm concerned with the occurrence of the situation of our discussing it within a time-span up to now and cancels the normally excluding effect of yesterday evident in [iib].

Then, how about the following sentence ?

  1) I have already visited the museum when I was a university student.

I'm concerned with the occurrence of the situation of my visiting the museum within a time-span up to now. Does this cancel the normally excluding effect of when-clause and make 1) grammatical?

If so, why can't the following sentence be interpreted in the same way?

  2) I have visited the museum many times when I was a university student.

I'm concerned with the multiple occurrences of the situation of my visiting the museum within a time-span up to now. I added the when-clause as an afterthought that it happened to be during my university years.


texts:
Like how $x000 can be referred to as "several thousand dollars", and $x00 can be referred to as "several hundred dollars", and $x "several dollars", what about $x0?

I've looked at this similar question: https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/16356/how-to-use-tens-of-and-hundreds-of
but it's not exactly the same, because it doesn't involve "several".

The suggestion from that question, "several dozen dollars", does sound a little bit better than "several ten dollars". Is that the preferred approach?

However, what about bigger numbers? I can say "several hundred thousand dollars", but both "several ten thousand dollars" and "several dozen thousand dollars" sound weird.


texts: I want to understand a prayer entitled 'Good Morning Lord' by Grace E. Easley. In the last stanza the words thy and thine own are used, ' No joy or pain is ever sent, save by Thine own accord, so in the shadow of Thy love, I say ...Good Morning Lord'. But since this a prayer to the Lord and both words are capitalized, does it mean by his doing or by my own doing.


texts: Generic term for the other party to an aggressor's actions

texts:
In a confrontation between two parties, where one is being aggressive towards another (either by attacking them or by simply posturing and frightening the other), one side could be referred to as the "aggressor", but what could the other be called? I'm looking for a one-word description if possible.

"Victim" sounds too strong a word for simply being intimidated and backing away from the confrontation, and the only other term I can come up with, "target" seems too vague.

Example: The aggressor [attacked / intimidated] the ______. Then the _____ ran away.


texts: Capitalisation of hyphenated words in title

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Do you capitalize both parts of a hyphenated word in a title?

I contribute to a journal with a policy of capitalisation of the article titles. My title is Hygro-thermo-mechanical analysis. Should I say

  Hygro-Thermo-Mechanical Analysis

or

  Hygro-thermo-mechanical Analysis?


texts:
This is an excerpt from the article An Honest Man by Peter Lyon in the American Heritage magazine(Feb, 1959).

  Daniel Drew (1797-1879) was a short, chunky man with a face as seamed and wrinkled as a prune; he walked with a stealthy tread, like a cat; his attire was downright dowdy; he affected the bland, who-me? air of a hedgerow parson. Yet for a quarter-century this man was one of the most justly feared in the financial circles of nineteenth-century America.

I am not really sure what this 'hedgerow parson' image is trying to convey? Could it refer to some dull and humorless figure?


texts: In the word “quantum mechanics”, is quantum a noun or an adjective?

texts:
In the phrases containing the word quantum, like quantum mechanics, quantum information, quantum computation, quantum field theory,etc. is quantum a noun or an adjective? I mean, is it really mechanics /field theory/etc. of quantum or a mechanics/field theory/etc that has some property (like the word classical in classical mechanics)?

The word quantum itself is a noun, but sometimes like in the phrase quantum information it seems to be an adjective (like classical information), and sometimes like in quantum mechanics it's ambiguous.

(motivation:I have problem translating it to other languages)


texts:
In the following example, is it appropriate to use a or an as the indefinite article, and why?

  He ate __ green apple.

I know that in the case of just "apple", it would be "an apple," but I've heard conflicting answers for "green apple," where the noun is separated from the article by an adjective.

Also, which is more appropriate in this case:

  He ate  __ enormous Pop-Tart.


texts:
I have a question; is it better to say:

  What parents enjoy doing is playing with their children.

or:

  What parents enjoy is playing with their children.

or:

  What parents enjoy is play with their children.


texts: Term for a particular type of specious argument

texts:
Is there a name for the debating technique of trying to advance a
  specious argument by passing off an fallacious assumption as an
  accepted truth?

The context for this was in a communication that I recently received from a colleague rebutting a theoretical paper he had read regarding biomolecular interactions and networks. You do not need to understand the subject matter to follow this, which I have abbreviated and simplified, and set out in a way to make the structure clear:

Smith and Jones propose that this network of interactions is an
important buffer against mutations…
…but it is well known that anything can interact with anything
else…
…therefore the original proposal is patently incorrect.

i.e.

Argument to be rebutted
Fallacious assumption (It is not true that “anything can interact
with anything else”, at least in this context.)
Erroneous conclusion

I emphasize that it is a name for the debating technique that I am after, not adjectives describing it or its components. I seem to remember there was as series in the Financial Times (London) on different techniques of rhetoric, all of which seemed to have Greek names. However none of those listed on pages such as this  seem to fit the bill.


texts:
Note: sorry for cross-posting from Writers.SE, but I can't seem to get a definite answer.

How do I designate the footnotes that are mine inside a quote?

I tried "our note", "note ours" and "remark is ours". Which one is the correct one and most commonly used? Or is there some other way?

For example:

  He provides an argument for it:
  "Before the Greeks, the ancient Egyptians
  used it[1] in the construction of their great pyramids."

  [1] The Golden Section — note ours. ← this is my note, not the original author's

So you can see there is my note inside a quote.

Or if I have something without a footnote.

  He provides an argument for it:
  "Before the Greeks, the ancient Egyptians used it (Golden Section — note ours) in the construction of their great pyramids."

Note where I use "note ours", to clarify that "it" is a "Golden Section".


texts: Correct?: To come upon such positive resonance

texts:
I am trying to find a good translation for the German

  Auf eine positive Resonanz stoßen

Can one say

  Something comes upon such positive resonance

when I want to express that something is replied with a positive response (and want to somehow emphasize that).


texts:
Consider the simple phrase “This bottle contains a bee”, is there a single word that would fit the formulation of “This bee [someword] a bottle”?

This is for a taxonomy of edges in a graph where a node might mention another node and that mention can be classed as a particular type. For “contains” the mention could occur at either end of the edge (e.g. “France contains Paris”, or “Paris [someword] France”).

This is subtly different from equivalence establishing mentions where the edge classification means the same in both directions. For example: “France is Bacon” implies “Bacon is France” (as well as an ignorance of late 16th C history).

Some examples to work from:

This bottle contains the bee; The bee ____ this bottle.
Europe contains France; France _____ Europe.
France contains Paris; Paris _____ France.
The forest contains the temple; the temple _____ the forest.


texts:
Can anyone give me synonym for "Administration"?

I am using a software that has "Administration" as a keyword, so it doesn't allow any use of this word.

However, My task is to create a folder for each department of some enterprise (and it has an Administration Department).

My question Here is: How can I find a synonym for "Administration" without losing the real meaning of the term?

  P.S.: I found synonyms like "administrative" and "directors"  which don't fit in my context.


texts:
One word to describe someone who is secretive or shy, possibly doesn't like to be around people and old??

I have been asked to describe this lady in one word but this is what I have come up with just was wondering if anyone knew a single word what maybe meant all of these as I've been restricted to one word. If no single words a more simple way to say it please.

Thanks


texts: What is the adjective to describe someone who views or represents someone/something as a stereotype?

texts:
What I want to know is whether there is an adjective within the same word family as "stereotype" for that.

So, if it exists, it would be something like "stereotypist" or "stereotyping".

I know that "stereotypist" exists as a noun and "stereotyping" exists as a present participle but I wonder whether either (or both) of them has/have also been used in literature as an adjective.


texts: "When we X, we can then" vs. "we then can"

texts:
Consider these two sentences:

  When we go home, we can then watch a DVD
  When we go home, then we can watch a DVD

Both mean the exact same thing, but do they differ in linguistic terms?


texts:
People should be treated equally be it rich or be it poor.

Is it a correct sentence. If yes what does it mean???


texts: Word for describing a quote that makes you realize that it's true

texts:
When you read some quotes, it gives a feeling. You realise that it is profoundly true and it brings a smile on your face as you admire the brilliance in it. Is there a word to describe this feeling?
For example I got that feeling when I read this quote:

the depth of your attention determines the depth of your experience. If your attention is profoundly, your experience of life is profoundly.


texts: How exactly to pronounce 'alphabetical' and 'pharmaceutical' in American English

texts:
How does one pronounce 'alphabetical' and 'pharmaceutical' in American English?

Is it  phar•ma•ceu•di•cal or phar•ma•ceu•i•cal? And is it al•pha•bet•di•cal or al•pha•bet•i•cal?

Do you pronounce 'ti' as 'di' or do you pronounce just the 'i' with the 't' silent?


texts:
Training for a TOEIC exam, I got this question.

Answers just and moreover are easily discarded.
The choices yet and although remain.

The correct (expected) answer is the first one.
I'm confused why.

Definitions:

although: in spite of the fact that; even though
yet: 1. up until the present or a specified or implied time; by now or then 2. still; even 3. in spite of that; nevertheless

According to this question about the difference between 'but' and 'yet', yet might be used when you have an element of surprise.
Is this true and the case here? Can you give me a definition showing this?

If the question had been:
_________, SO FAR, very few customers upgraded their accounts., I would have picked yet.

What makes the answer yet more correct than although?
Could the answer although be considered valid english (even if a "less" correct answer)?


texts: When did "by way of" start meaning "originally from"

texts:
Some years ago, after returning to New York from some years living abroad, I began to notice New Yorkers of a certain generation (in their 20s and early 30s) describing themselves or others as "from [neighborhood] by way of [city/state/country]," meaning that they now live in the named neighborhood, but originally come from the named city, state, or country.
This is backwards according to the usual meaning of "by way of."  Normally, if one travels "from A by way of B," then one started at A and passed through B.
In those days, I saw this mainly in journals of perhaps lower editorial standards, such as Time Out New York and Metro New York (see Metro New York - Wikipedia).  More recently, this has appeared in a New York Times article, which quotes a woman with an obviously Hungarian name and describes her as "from Queens by way of Hungary."
Does anyone know when, where, or why this started?
EDIT
A related question about another instance of this usage:
What does "by way of" mean?


texts: Does “Anyone who does this, he will be punished severely” sound right?

texts:
Anyone who does this, he will be punished severely.

This is a sentence structure that is very frequently used. But there are two clauses that are connected only by a comma that does not serve as any type of coordinating conjunction. But it makes perfect sense and is grammatically correct for some reasons. Any explanations please?


texts: What's the correct word for "demandingness"?

texts:
So, if your promotor is kind, you would thank him as:

  "I thank Prof Smith for his kindness."

Now, what if your promotor is demanding, as in tough
 and exigent when it comes to work? How do you express
 this quality?

It seems to me the following is not correct English:

  I thank Prof Smith for his "demandingness".

Which is the right word to replace "demandingness" above?

If it could help the forum
 choose, I need here to convey also the impression of
 "at times excessive but on the whole beneficial".


texts: Meaning of the idiom "here falls the shadow"

texts:
What does the expression "here falls the shadow" mean?

The context is a list describing how to teach your kids to become entrepreneurs:

   6. Teach the mental nexus. Here falls the shadow. Rational people do not become entrepreneurs [...]


texts: Regarding education, does the term "special needs" usually only refer to severe mental disability?

texts:
I thought that when discussing education, the term "special needs" referred to individuals with severe mental disability, such as having a very low IQ.

However, this question on academia.SE talks about a special needs student studying at university, and the Wikipedia article on special needs gives a more broad definition (such as including non-insurmountable physical disabilities), as does oxforddictionaries.com.

By contrast, this answer on English.SE talks about "special", "special education", and (from the question) "special needs" referring to severe mental and learning disabilities.

What does "special needs" mean? Does its meaning differ between when it's used by the general public and when it's used by people in the education sector?


texts:
In a formal context, I am looking to specify with a short generic word or phrase that certain events happened in the recent past. For example:

  A nail was recently hammered in; a saw was recently used; a board was cut recently.

I would like to (at least partially) avoid repetition of the word. A simple internet search yields the following synonyms:

  not long ago,   of late,   lately, the other day

However, none of these or other examples I have found so far are suitable for a reasonably formal setting. "A saw was used the other day" seems very informal. At the same time, I want to phrase this in a generic way; specifying when exactly the events took place may be unfavourable, because I don't know myself, don't wish to reveal it or it may be a topic of contention.

Please note that the example is used for rhetorical purposes only. Rephrasing of the above trivial sentence is not useful, since this would not work for a more realistic situation.


texts: Does finishing a book mean the same as reading the book to the end

texts:
When I say this phrase:

  I finished reading that book.

Do I always mean both of the following?

  I have read that book through from the beginning.
  I have read that book through to the end.

Do the other two variants mean the same?

  I read that book to the end.
  I finished that book.

How do I commonly tell that I stopped reading a book but did NOT get to the end of it i.e. found it boring and gave it up?


texts: ...is/was a posthumously recognised writer

texts:
A colleague of mine wrote this sentence-
Anne Frank is a posthumously recognised young writer.

I say 'is' should be replaced with 'was'.

My reason- the meaning of the sentence should not change after the removal of the adverb.
Her reason- 'posthumously' makes it certain that it happened in the past, and therefore 'was' will be redundant
My reason- 'posthumously' means 'after her death', so the recognition could have been received any time in the past 70 years or so.

Would like to know what the natives think.

Thanks in advance


texts: "Replace John with Andrew" which of this name is to be trashed

texts:
Greeting to all in this room,

Please help with this statement.

"Replace John with Andrew" which one becomes trashed among John and Andrew?


texts: But then, I think, who could possibly come close to matching the dedication and personal commitment that you have brought to this school, your Alma Mater.  You will probably be the last member of the Community to serve as Principal, the last IHM presence since 1906 in an administrative position.  It does make me pause to consider what your leaving really means to us in the Community


texts:
Most studies of science end with the suffixes -logy, -nomy and -metry, as defined in the answer to the question Meaning of '-onomy', '-ology' and '-ography', including examples like 'geology', 'astronomy' and 'photometry' (which I specialise in).

However, there are exceptions, in particular, the science of chemistry.  There is another discussion about the term, chemist, in the question The word “chemist” and its origins?, and further from OED:

  Of English formation: in 17th c. chymistrie, f. chymist (chemist) + -ry, ‘the art or practice of the chemist’; at first probably contemptuous, cf. palmistry, sophistry, casuistry, etc.

This question is about the actual term for the science itself – chemistry – what is its origin?  Additionally, does the fact the word ends in -istry and not one of the more standard suffixes have a connection to terms such as palmistry (as in the quote above)?


texts:
I want to make the following sentence short by removing we. Please help me which one is correct form.

  The error we faced is "Sorry, you have exceeded the maximum allowed databases."

Option 1 : The error faced is "Sorry, you have exceeded the maximum allowed databases"

Option 2 : The faced error is "Sorry, you have exceeded the maximum allowed databases"

Please let me know which one is correct, or if both of them are correct provide some references for further study.

Thank you:)


texts: Can 'in which to' and 'with which to' be replaced by just 'to' in the following sentences?

texts:
All of these factors make them an ideal population in which to test these competing hypotheses about how language is learned.

in which to?

These children began learning English at an older age than Us natives and had more mature brains with which to tackle the test.

with which to?
Can't we just omit "in which" and "with which"?

All of these factors make them an ideal population to test these competing hypotheses about how language is learned.

These children began learning English at an older age than Us natives and had more mature brains to tackle the test.

Can somebody please explain the grammar here?
Just to be sure, can we we bring "to + simple verb" after "in which" and "at which"?


texts:
My teacher was explaining how sometimes a comma isn't enough to make a sentence correct, and that sometimes you have to use a semicolon. I am having trouble figuring out when you should use which.

Can someone please explain?


texts:
After reading an article in which it was stated that Che Guevara became a confidante of Fidel Castro, I am now very confused about the proper usage of the words confidante and confidant.

Every definition I can find of "confidante" says that it is mainly used for a female friend with whom you share personal information. This obviously doesn't work in the case of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara. In addition, I have read or heard this word used many times to refer generally to a friend with whom you disclose personal information - male or female. Actually, I always associated this word with a male friend...

The dictionaries say that "confidant" is the term used for a male friend in this regards, but I rarely even see it used.

So my question is, has the usage of "confidante" become more gender-neutral in recent history or am I just ignorant? Is it appropriate to use "confidante" to refer to a male friend, or should I only use "confidant"?


texts: Does ‘Power Point (something) away’ have currency in the English language, or is its use limited to this one columnist?

texts:
There was the following sentence in Maureen Dowd’s column titled “When cruelty is cute,” in August 14 New York Times:

"Unlike some of the right-wing ayatollahs, Ryan doesn’t threaten with moral and cultural gusts of sulfur. He seems more like a friendly guidance counselor who wants to teach us how to live, get us in shape, PowerPoint away the social safety net to make the less advantaged more self-reliant, as he makes the rich richer. Burning the village it takes to save it, so we can avoid the fiscal cliff, or as he and his fellow conservative Cassandras ominously call it, “the debt bomb.”

I don’t get surprised to find novel words in mainstream English language newspapers. 'Etch A Sketch,' laser-focused,’ ‘pillow-plumping romance,’ ‘slogans vs. haircuts,’ ‘Democratic sharpie’ – examples are abound even in the past few weeks. It’s rather a fun for me to fish for those ‘quirky’ expressions, though I never wish to emulate them.

With that said, I understand ‘PowerPoint away’ simply means 'erase (clear) away something'.

Is this expression becoming current as ‘Xerox a copy,’ ‘google etymology,’ ‘tweet with sb.’ are, or just an ephemeral coinage of Maureen Dowd’s?


texts:
I'm searching for a good translation of:

"auf falsche Gedanken kommen"

or translated:

to get ethically/socially wrong thoughts,
or planning/not rejecting the idea to do something illegal

is there a lean few word representation of that ?

Specifically in the sentence:

"They shouldn't air guys like that on television. Kids will get the wrong ideas."

Is this fitting and would be understood corretly?

Btw: Another way of expressing "morally wrong" ideas doesn't apply here, as it is more asking for "grey areas"


texts:
Kevin dislikes eating tomatoes, does/doesn't he?

Should the correct answer be 'does he' as 'dislikes' makes the first part of the statement negative? Thanks.


texts: What is the meaning of 'probe' in the Linux command 'modprobe'?

texts:
My understanding of modprobe is that it is a command to load kernel modules.

Based on this, I'm wondering what the meaning of word probe is in general English?


texts: Relationship with daughter's husband's cousin?

texts: What is the name for my relationship with my child's spouse's cousin (child-in-law's cousin) (daughter's husband's cousin) (son-in-law's cousin)?


texts: Postpositive adjective in two different sentences?

texts:
In these two sentences:

  He made me angry
  He heard creatures unseen,

both have an adjective at the end.

However, we know that unseen can be shifted before creatures to maintain grammaticality but the same cannot be said for the first sentence *(He made angry me).

What properties of the words cause this phenomenon?


texts: Need help understanding the meaning of "latest push"

texts:
The sentence is:

  A year and a half later and the company is still at it, with the 15 proposed stores being its latest push.

(www.eater.com)

Does this sentence mean that 15 restaurants will be opened soon, or that they are almost built, or what? I could only find the phrase "final push" in the dictionary.


texts:
I saw this sentence in NCIS tv series :

  The night is young. Let's get faded

what does this mean? night is young  and let's get faded

thanks


texts: Do the verb "muse" and the noun "Muse" have a common etymology?

texts: I was wondering about that: the New Oxford American Dictionary says to muse comes from the French muser, which comes from the Latin musum. The Muse comes form the Latin musa, which comes from the Greek mousa. Those sound close, but my Latin is too weak (and my Greek inexistent) to tell if they were related back in the antique days.


texts: Ellipsis or semantically incomplete sentence?

texts:
I've got a resource, say a web-page. The page represents a product that belongs to one of the categories. For instance, Toys(category) -> Robocop (product).
There's a link on the page that takes user to another page with suggestions on places where the toy can be bought. Is it going to be grammatically wrong to entitle this link "Where to buy" or it's fine to appeal to ellipsis in such situations ?
Thank you.


texts: What is the intended connotation of addressing somebody by 'lovely' in a letter or an email?

texts:
If as a man I got emails from a woman with: "Thank you, lovely!" and "Good morning, lovely!" what would the connotation of the addressing word 'lovely' be in English ?

Is this word in English common between good friends, even between straight friends of the same sexes or is it the word reserved only to be used for somebody who may be closer than a friend, e.g. a member of a family, a partner?


texts: Use of comma following prepositional phrase

texts:
Is a comma required after the date (year only or day of week only) that is in a prepositional phrase before the subject of the sentence?  For example:

  In 1966 I began college.


texts: Translation of "He has 8 more quarters than dimes." into symbols?

texts:
The sentence "He has 8 more quarters than dimes." is often mistranslated by students into the equation 8 + q = d. This is an extremely common error in the usage of English to express daily counting and word problems. My question is: how can I explain in grammatical terms where the error in reasoning has occurred? What are the strictly grammatical reasons why this confusion occurs?

Students are taught early on to translate the phrase "8 more than a number" as 8 + n. What is the grammatical difference between the original sentence and that phrase which causes the mistranslation?

Could it be the presence of the word "quarters" between "more" and "than", and if so, what would be the grammatical function of these words in the original sentence, "He has 8 more quarters than [he has] dimes," as compared to the phrase "8 more than a number"?


texts: Mathematicians often have to perform calculations on paper (maybe often is an understatement). To describe this, I have always referred to it as "scratch-work". Is there any alternate way I could refer to this in a more formal or professional way?


texts:
“We’re now into a new metaphor for the web,” Kelly says noting that we started with the desktop on computers, then pages for the web. Now the realtime stream connected to the web is the thing

I know that a metaphor is a writing technique.  But two things should have some common characterstics so that one can be a metaphor of another.  Is "the realtime stream" a metaphor of the web ?


texts: "But winter babies are more likely to die before they turn one."?

texts:
The question is from the post here. I don't understand what does the last sentence mean here.

The Chillinghams can give birth all year, not just spring and summer like most U.K. mammals. And the data show that over the past few decades, there’s been an increase in winter births. Which the researchers correlated to warmer springs the previous year: plants grow earlier, the cattle have more access to nutrition and they conceive earlier.
But winter babies are more likely to die before they turn one.

Here is my question:
What does "turn one" mean? How can the "babies" turn to "one" baby?


texts: A technical term for constrained motion resembling that of a snake

texts:
Imagine a point moving along a curve. This point is simply traversing the curve, I suppose.

But now imagine a little "curve-segment" moving along the same curve, while conforming to the curve at all times. So no part of the curve-segment ever strays from the greater curve.

Now forget about the greater curve and focus on the moving curve-segment. What word describes this motion?

It moves like a snake, or like the wire on a bicycle brake, but I'm hoping for a word in the register of Reciprocate and Articulated, not Slither. The word can refer to either the motion (verb) or the constraint (adverb or adjective), whatever is most suggestive of the constrained nature of the motion.

EDIT: I should add that the curve need not necessarily be curvy. It just may be straight by coincidence. Therefore the emphasis is on the conformity between motion and shape.

EDIT2: Another example: Picture the way a train moves, but forget about the tracks (to avoid words like Ride).


texts:
Why don't we use any articles before the countable noun "chairman" in the following sentence?

  Potts was appointed chairman of the education committee.

or

  Camera was invented by X.

I searched the Internet and came across some rules, but I wasn't able to put these particular ones into any categories.

And I know that we don't use any articles when we use possessive adjectives, e.g.

  This is my book.

But again I didn't see this rule in the websites I surfed. I would appreciate it if you could link me to a good reference.

Thanks


texts: "I didn't know you golf" vs "I didn't know you golfed"

texts:
While reading a popular author I came across:

"I left my clubs at home, so I can't play."
"Oh? I didn't know (that) you golf."

This sounds wrong, but presumably it was passed by at least one editor. To me, the past tense "golfed" would be more appropriate.  But if this way works too, what sort of construct is it?


texts: Is there a more polite idiom for "comparing whose penis is larger"?

texts:
I've heard of the general expression of "let's not compare whose penis is larger" and thought it was a common expression but a quick search on the internet yields no results...

The underlying meaning of this "supposed" idiom points to the wasted time when two parties meet and instead of solving the problem, the two parties continually compare whose whatever is bigger. Eventually, one party might give up and say this idiom pointing to the idea that instead of stroking each others' egos, they could forego their differences and their pride to actually work together to solve a problem.

I recently searched it up wondering if there was a more polite idiom to use, but I could not find an idiom of similar meaning.

My questions are therefore:

Am I imagining this idiom up out of my personal experiences or is there a related idiom similar in meaning that I have unintentionally paraphrased?
If this idiom, God forbid, does actually exist; is there perhaps a more polite version of this idiom?

Many thanks for your time!


texts:
There are probably more descriptive/intelligent ways to title this question.

When you're describing someone by name and title like "Peter, the Dragon", is it valid and tasteful to omit the comma? It seems to me if you're so used to calling him "Peter the Dragon" then "the Dragon" becomes part of his name so having a comma there would create dissonance between the rhythm of the words and the rhythm I want to hear in my mind. But it still feels wrong.


texts: devote herself to caring for poor people vs. devote herself to care for poor people

texts:
I came across the following multiple-choice question:

  She devoted herself to (      ) for poor people.

The choices are:

caring
care
be caring
have cared

As the preposition "to" can be followed by either noun or gerund (...ing),
the most suitable answer is #1, "caring." And I am OK with this.

However, some of my students chose #2 care, as the word can be noun.
Is "She devoted herself to care for poor people" an acceptable sentence?
I feel it a bit odd, and feel like adding something like "the" to make "the care," but I'm not pretty sure.

I'd appreciate it if anyone could give me some advice on this from native
speaker's point of view.


texts:
I'm looking for an antonym of the word spoiled.

The sense of spoiled I have in mind is a positive one: "I've become spoiled by these comfy shoes."

I'm looking for a word or short phrase to say: "I've become antispoiled by these horrible shoes and now any other pair would be comfortable."

The closest phrase that I'm aware of is to have one's standards lowered, which isn't quite the same thing and certainly isn't very pithy.


texts: Is there a single word for "place where I belong" or "eventual destination"

texts: I am writing an email to the admissions of a university and am very passionate about their goals and vision. It is a very rigorous and very selective program, and I understand that it may take some time for me to get there. However, I want them to understand that this is my "eventual destination" and I want to get there regardless of the time it may take.


texts:
I heard this tally ho in a youtube video (British). I also heard it in the movies "Jack the Giant Slayer", and "Spiderman 1". I understand it's some kind of expression or exclamation or idiom to say in certain circumstances.

I've googled for this, I just found that it is used to say a huntsman's cry to the hounds on sighting a fox, and a cry of tally ho. First, I don't get it, and second I can't find a connection between that "tally ho" and the videos I heard it from.


texts:
Maybe it's a little long story.
  Maybe it's a little longer story.


texts:
Let us pretend the 'one who hates his own image' is a 'selfie-loather'.
If so, a sentence incorporating the term could be

  He always said he hated mirrors and I had assumed he was a
  'selfie-loather' so I was shocked when I saw him apparently
  admiring his face in the glass!


texts:
In North America, trick or treating is a Halloween custom, in which children go door-to-door to say "trick or treat" as a way of asking for treats. I'm wondering if there are any common or at least understandable replacements for it.

Additionally, after searching trick or treat on EL&U, I'd like to expand my original question and include a request for its origin. Its phrasing presents "trick" as an alternative to "treat"; but, giving out tricks doesn't seem to be prevalent. Hopefully "trick" wasn't added without reason; so, I'm also looking for the origin of the Halloween phrase, trick or treat.


texts:
"For the dream proves on psychological investigations to be the first of the series of abnormal psychic formation".

Can anyone please help me understand the meaning the above sentence implies?

I think the meaning is "psychological investigations proves dream is the first of the series of abnormal psychic formation".

Am I correct?


texts:
I could find articles in Wikipedia that explain what each typographical symbol means and how it is used in print (e.g. pilcrow, section, dagger) but I couldn't find any information about the Lozenge mark/sign/symbol/character (◊ or Unicode U+25CA).

I know it's being used in modal logic and math, but is it (or has it ever been) used in English text?


texts:
I am trying to think of catchwords or phrases related to a place being too busy. Something catchy.

Examples I've found on the internet:
packed, crammed, jammed, packed-like-sardines, choc-full, etc..

Thanks and hope this question is suitable for this board


texts: Is there a real word to replace "examplary"? (note: not exemplary)

texts:
"Examplary" doesn't appear to be a real English word, and I'm not searching for exemplary because I'm just interested in practical, instructive examples, not necessarily anything especially good nor a particularly desirable model.
What I'm looking for would be used in some form of the following awkward but examplary sentence:

The speaker mentioned several occurrences in an examplary way, showing how each was a helpful example of the class of events. They found that immediately after a definition and explanation this example-providing process was important in order for the students to grasp the underlying concept.

Is there a real English word that would work the way I'm trying to use the fake word examplary?


texts: I am looking for a word that means "forcible exposure or revelation"

texts:
I am looking for an American English word meaning "the forcible exposure or revelation" of something. The context I have in mind is something similar to the leak of documents by a whistleblower or the like. A negative or destructive connotation isn't necessary, but would be appropriate.

Alternative meanings come to mind here (if this doesn't just confuse things):

a word meaning "the exposure of some body of information or other contents"
a word meaning "the revelation of the contents of some entity"

I think it's really #2 that I'm after, so that an example sentence describing the leak of, e.g., tax records, might be something like "the ______ of the IRS."

Despoliation comes to mind, but that isn't right. Grateful for any ideas.


texts:
Please let me know which sentence is proper?

  Summer has always been an imaginative time for Jamie and me.
  Summer has always been an imaginative time for Jamie and I.


texts: I am looking for a word (or two words) that means something similar to "unagi" as it is used in the TV show Friends (i.e., the concept they were trying to go for, not the fish!) - a total sense of awareness of yourself and your surroundings.


texts:
For some reason, the word Jew often carries a pejorative or offensive connotation, which the related adjective Jewish does not carry. This is most obvious when either word is used as an attributive:

The story was all over the Jewish media. [Not offensive; a factual statement about a story that was reported in Jewish-oriented media sources.]
The story was all over the Jew media. [Very offensive; "Jew media" is likely interpreted as a reference to the mainstream media, with the implication that they're controlled nefariously by the Jews.]

When used in a predicate, the same thing applies, though the differentiation is less sharp:

Joel Spolsky is Jewish. [Not offensive]
Joel Spolsky is a Jew. [Potentially offensive]

Note that any of the above could be offensive or derogatory in the right context, but the versions using "Jew" are much more likely to be interpreted that way.

The distinction seems to go away when we use either word for the subject of the sentence.

Six Jewish children are in my classroom. [Not offensive]
Six Jews are in my classroom. [Not offensive]

How did we get into this weird situation? Why is the word Jew much more likely to be taken as a pejorative than the word Jewish?


texts: “Will” and “going to” (Murphy's ‘Grammar in Use’ exercise)

texts:
Here is an example from Murphy's grammar textbook:

You are in a restaurant. You and your friend are looking at the menu. Maybe your friend has decided what to have. You ask her/him.
You: What ...?

The correct answer is "What are you going to have?" My question is: the decision is being made at the moment of speaking, so shouldn't it be "What WILL you have?"


texts: How to express in a diplomatic, but not too subtle, way that an old (and popular) notion should be dismissed in favor of a new (and better) one?

texts:
I'm comparing two (mathematical) notions, say 'functoid' and 'punctoid' (these are fictitious names for the sake of discussion), and I'm arguing that punctoids should be definitely preferred to functoids for a series of reasons.

To convey this idea, I would like to use an expression that is neither too strong nor too subtle. I have been thinking about something like the following:

  In a way, what we have just remarked makes the notion of functoid à la Craig and Daniel overruled by punctoids.

But I'm not sure about my use of the term 'overruled'. I had also thought of replacing it with 'shelved', but this sounds too soft to my ears. Please note that I need to stick to a formal register, as this is intended for a publication.

Any suggestions?


texts: Which is right: "They are who/whom we dislike"?

texts:
Which is right in this instance, subject or object pronoun? Further explanation as to why would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!


texts: Use of "would" to depict uncertain future

texts:
Consider the following scenario:

A clinical trial that was initiated in Jan 2021 is currently recruiting participants.
The estimated enrollment of the trial is 50 participants.
It is not always sure that all the participants will be enrolled in a clinical trial – the study can decide to reduce the number of participants during the study.

In that case, if I have to report the trial information in a report, can I use “the trial would enroll 50 participants” to depict an uncertain future event? Moreover, will the use of “the trial is estimated to enroll 50 participants” depict a higher level of uncertainty than the former?
Given the option, which one would you prefer to depict a situation with all the uncertainties involved in a setting of technical report writing?


texts: English emailing custom: should middle name be included in the beginning of a mail?

texts:
When emailing someone with a middle name, should people include the recipient's middle name at the beginning of the email or not? What are the implications for both?

For example, the two options are Dear Mr. John J. Smith or Dear Mr. John Smith.

Thank you.


texts: What is a phrase that would mean that individuals are each so unique, that their uniqueness becomes ubiquitous?

texts: I am looking for a phrase that would indicate that teens, despite their longing to be seen as sui generis, are indeed unique, but that they are all so unique, that that uniqueness becomes commonplace, and therefore not special anymore.


texts:
A recent query about the meaning of "sink my jig" led me off on a bit of a tangent. After finding a Jiggs dinner (it's a thing), I wanted to make sure they were "sinking" dinners and drinks back then and there. It appears they weren't. Examples online are just plain rare. Ngram doesn't register any hits for "sink a drink", even with wildcards. That didn't seem right. I eventually persuaded Elephind to cough up two examples of "sink a drink" from short stories published in newspapers in Australia. The earlier one was from 1935.

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/47231802?searchTerm=%22sink+a+drink%22 (second column, 2/3 down.)

There doesn't seem to be a way to copy the page image from this archive.

MW grudgingly acknowledges the usage in "sink" definition 11 - "chiefly British : to drink down completely"

When and where did folks first start to "sink" drinks and comestibles?
How did the familiarity of the phrase expand? Was there a single song lyric or similar that popularized it, or did it just slowly gain traction over most of a century?


texts: Correct use of “albeit”, particularly with regard to commas

texts:
I’m not quite sure that the following sentence is gramatically correct. If it is, I wonder where I should put the comma or commas in the sentence using albeit.

  Obesity rates amongst men, whose figures were, albeit, lower than the aforementioned two groups, increased gradually to approximately 15% of the male population.


texts: Is there a historical trend towards shorter sentences?

texts:
From my own reading of older books (eg. 18th, 19th century) in various styles (novels, philosophical treatises, scientific publications), it seems that sentences were longer back then.

Is there good hard data on this? Have sentences in fiction shrunk faster than sentences in, say philosophy journals? (I expect so). What explanations can be given for this trend?


texts: Works as expected vs. is working as expected

texts:
Which one of these is the correct one?

The registers testcase checks that the module's register interface works as expected.
The registers testcase checks that the module's register interface is working as expected.


texts:
My question involves the usage of "that is." I would like to use this construction in such a way that it will provide further qualification to the previous passage or sentence.

An example might be something like this:

"However, it is far less clear whether the fluent processing of a word will have the opposite effect, that is, will the reaction time to a given stimulus show a decreased latency."

What would be correct usage of punctuation, semi-colon, questions marks etc...? Or perhaps does this type of construction not even make much sense?


texts:
Should I say

  Eating is not allowed in the workplace

or

  Eating is not allowed at the workplace

when eating is, in fact, not allowed anywhere near the PC in an office?


texts:
Is it correct if I write something like

  He has knowledge of the programming languages A, B and C

Or does it necessarily have to be like

  He has knowledge of the A, B and C programming languages


texts:
"we do not want to overstate our welcome"

meaning

"we DO VERY MUCH welcome you!"

OR

“we'd better keep our message of welcome at a moderate level”？

as in this context

  each season, more people are watching the show, more awards

  more attention, the reviews continued to be wonderful

  and I think that's part of why Vince was like “hey we do not want to
  overstate our welcome”


texts:
What's the difference between these two -
1) . All it needs is for you to be more discreet .
2) . All it takes is for you to be more discreet .


texts:
I have a character who sees something breathtaking, and I want to say that "his breath was taken by..."

Most results I get for the expression end with "away", which I don't like.

so,

Can I say that his breath was taken by..? is that idiomatic?
Can I say that he was breathtaken? I'm guessing that no, but could be nice...


texts: A word that means that something doesn't matter if not finished

texts:
I'm looking for a word that means something doesn't matter if not finished. Basically, unless you can finish this thing, it is not even worth starting.

Example: John thought about baking a cake, but figured that it was _______ because he didn't have the time to finish.


texts: Is there an idiom or a single word for 'presumed truth'?

texts:
In his comprehensive interview at the annual Market Research Conference this year, Ian Hislop, editor of Private Eye, said of Boris Johnson, the UK Foreign Secretary, that he had given out massively incorrect details of trade figures with Korea during a speech.

Private Eye corrected the statement publicly, whereupon Boris Johnson repeated his error soon after, on radio. Ian Hislop said that this kind of thing was becoming increasingly common in politics - the habit of giving out supposed 'facts' without any sincerity at all, and without any semblance of responsibility.

Is there an idiom, or a single word, that expresses the capacity to make information public without caring whether it is true or not - but only caring about the desired consequence of the statement being made ?

It is not, exactly, 'obfuscation' - the first word that came to my mind. Nor is it, exactly, lying or deceiving if there is an underlying capacity for complete unreality. 'I want it to be true, therefore it is true' as it were. This is my truth, therefore it is truth.

It is a kind of make-believe that - making the assumption we live in a world of 'post-truth' - wishes to perpetuate itself, a desire to make the world what one wishes it to be by telling the world it is something that it is not.

Is this concept already expressed in idiom or in a single word ?


texts: Definite article before words quality, scale, color and other singular properties

texts:
Why to use definite article before many singular properties of objects such us quality, scale, color, etc.
The quality of this product is not very good - products have just one, unique, singular property of quality why should I point it explicitly using the definite article?
The color of my skin is white - my skin has only one property of color. Same as above, why should I emphasize it using the article?


texts:
Suppose that someone proposes "only Jenny can eat this cookie".
Is this proposition saying that Jenny can indeed eat this cookie and no one else can? (1)
Or is this proposition actually saying that "if anyone can eat this cookie, it is necessarily Jenny" but not asserting that Jenny can indeed eat this cookie? (2)
If (1) is true, then that would mean that "one and only one" is the same as "only one".


texts: What is it called when someone lives up to their name. Their name is Smith and they become one for example.


texts: Is "peculiar" completely interchangeable with "strange"?

texts: Is peculiar completely interchangeable with strange? can both be used in exactly the same contexts?


texts: please look at this sentence about usage of would in the past

texts:
Can you take a look at this sentence:

  "it was 4th of June, and the day after that was my grandfather's birthday, and he wouldn't guess that we were going to buy him a present"

My teacher says its correct, but I say we should say:

  "he wouldn't have guessed"

instead of wouldn't guess,  it's not a habitual or regular even so we cant use would as the past form of will, I'll highly appreciate if you clarify me about this sentence and usage of the "would" in these kinds of tenses.


texts: Words for meat differ from the words for the corresponding animal

texts:
In English we have:

"beef" for "cow", "cattle"
"veal" for "calf"
"pork" for "pig"
"mutton" for "sheep"

I'm not aware of this separation for "fish", "goat" or "chicken" (Spanish has "pollo" and "gallina") and other poultry. Are these words used simply to distinguish the meat from the animal (i.e. to avoid saying "cow meat") or is there a psychological separation to avoid the association? I doubt the latter since these words developed when people were likely less squeamish than some are today.

Why are there not meat words for some animals?

What are some others I didn't list?


texts:
What is an idiom for saying that someone/something is as bad as someone/something else?
For example, when someone praises a particular system but condemns the other, we may say that they are both bad and corrupted.


texts: Type of subordinate clause in 'I am happy that you are here'

texts:
In the sentence 'I am happy that you are here', 'that you are here' acts as a subordinate clause.

However, I am unsure what type of subordinate clause it is: i.e. I'm not sure if it's an adverbial, adjectival, or noun clause.

Anyone able to help?


texts: What is the origin, and correct spelling of, "shtook"?

texts:
I quite frequently use a word that sounds like "shtook", to mean, trouble with the law or other authorities, as in, "You'll be in dead shtook if you do that" or "you'll be in real shtook if you don't finish your homework", but I have never seen it written, and don't know how it is spelt.

Can anyone shed some light on the matter. A search like this doesn't get very far; the real dictionaries don't recognise it and the Urban Dictionary here has only a typically obscene interpretation not in the least bit like I remember it.


texts: Concepts figuratively unable to be pulled apart?

texts:
I'm trying to describe the connection between two 'concepts' information literacy and information technology.

I want to use a word that emphasises the strength of the bond between them. I want a word that carries a metaphorical sense that trying to pull or tug the bond will be unsuccessful. This pull/tug aspect is important to my context because [please fill this part in].

I've thought about using inseparable, or in-extractable, but neither of these stress the forceful 'pull' or 'tugging' aspect. I tried searching for synonyms of inseparable and in-extractable, but the results weren't exactly what I was looking for because [some examples of synonyms that don't work here].


texts: other phrases for "little investment, big return"?

texts: Does anything come to mind as a more colloquial / non-business phrase instead of "little investment, big return"? Thanks!


texts: Argumentation - [We provide X] [because of Y] or vice versa?

texts:
When writing academic (technical) texts I often encounter situations where our solution has some cool property X because we did Y.

Is it better to write the reason first or after the argument?

Simple example:

We can buy the house because we saved some money.

vs

Because we saved some money, we can buy the house.

Another question: Which version is more appropriate if I want to emphasize that we can buy the house?


texts: Preposition needed: did not survive a certain timepoint

texts:
I have a sentence as follows. This should say that the patients who died during the observation period were excluded from analyses. Should I use a preposition after "survive"? I did a research but found nothing useful.

Patients, who did not survive at the end of the observation period, were excluded from the analysis.

Patients, who did not survive beyond the end of the observation period, were excluded from the analysis.

Patients, who did not survive the end of the observation period, were excluded from the analysis.


texts: Usage of "the" for possible future objects

texts:
I am writing a software user manual so the topic is about possible situations which its users may come across.

Here is an example sentence below:

  Enter the window ID which contains an image.


texts: "Such as me" or "such as myself" — which one is correct?

texts: Which is correct, "such as myself" or "such as me"?


texts: Usage of adverbs like reasonably, practically, essentially, ridiculously, basically

texts:
I have recently noticed a phenomenon in English that seems quite common.  The phenomenon is regarding the usage of certain adverbs:

Practically should mean in a practical manner.  But it is often used to mean almost or mostly: e.g. "She was practically fainting from lack of air."
Essentially should mean in essence or in an essential manner.  But it is also often used to mean almost or mostly: e.g. "I am essentially done with my courses this semester"; "He was essentially an adult although he was technically a child."
Reasonably should mean in a reasonable manner but it is used to mean quite or somewhat: e.g. "The food was reasonably good", or "She remained reasonably calm despite her fear."
Ridiculously should mean in a ridiculous way but it is often used to mean extremely or overly.
Basically should mean in a basic or fundamental sense but it is often used to mean almost or mostly.

There does seem to be some sense to this.  For instance, when I say "I am essentially done with my courses this semester", what I might mean is that in essence I am done.  But in casual use, I don't think most people think of it this way.  If I say "I'm essentially finished eating" I don't mean to suggest that I am finished in some essential way, or that I have some essential property as if I were finished.  Rather, I mean "I'm almost finished eating."  Similarly, "She remained reasonably calm" suggests that she was quite calm, not necessarily that her calmness was reasonable or rational.  If I wanted to say that her calmness was rational, I would have said "she remained rational and stayed calm".

My questions are:

Does this phenomenon have a name?  There seem to be a lot of adverbs that are used in this way.
Is this usage correct, or should one only use adverbs like practically, reasonably, basically when they can actually be substituted with practically speaking, in a reasonable way, and in a basic manner?


texts: looking for a word that means when somebody is good at one thing you assume that they are good at other things

texts:
A word that means when somebody is good one thing you assume that he is good and other things.
Example:
Because a person is a good basketball player you assume that they will be a good basketball coach


texts:
I'm looking for an idiom which describes a situation when someone is not able to focus on his work.
I want to use in this line:
TV, laptop etc came to my life. The consequence was that I could not keep myself engrossed in the book


texts: Help to phrase a question for the attached scenario

texts: Scenario: Since my feet are different in size, I wanted to ask the teller at a shoe store if I could buy a pair of shoes that have different sizes (i.e. one shoe is slightly bigger than the other). I am a non-native English speaker and was unable to express my point in one simple, unambiguous question. How should I phrase my question in this case? Thank you very much.


texts:
I'm from the northeast US. When describing the phenomenon of going to bed at night, or falling asleep, I always formulate the verb like that, as in "I went to bed at 10" or "I didn't fall asleep until midnight."

However I frequently hear the formulation "Last night, I slept at 10" or "I usually sleep at midnight". I'm interested in whether there's any interesting known dialect or historical distinction between the formulations. I now live on the west coast US and know many people who use these latter forms, and it still sounds wrong to my ear, like it's missing the helper verb (fall, go).

(The one case where I might crossover is in the sentence "I couldn't sleep until midnight", which sounds right to me, although "I didn't sleep until midnight" sounds wrong.)

It feels to me (though I don't have the professional vocabulary for this) that for me, "sleep" is an indefinite-duration, continuous action ("I'm sleeping"). So when I want to mark the time that it starts, I need to help it with "go to sleep". When I hear people say "I slept at 10", it sounds to me like they were asleep for only a moment, at 10 o clock, but not after, if that makes sense.


texts: What does 'A stratospheric success' mean?

texts:
Stratospheric is the adjective of Stratosphere which means the layer of the earth's atmosphere above the troposphere, extending to about 50 km above the earth's surface.

People say A stratospheric success, so what does it mean?


texts: Word for a place or building where martyres are kept or buried?

texts:
Is there a word denoting a place or any architechural building, where martyres are buried or kept?
By researching to get its answer, I found the term “martyrium,” which is specifically used for Christian martyres or saints. See its definition from yourdictionary.com:

NOUN
A church or other edifice built at a site, especially a tomb, associated with a Christian martyr or saint.

In contrast to the term “martyrium”, I am looking for a word that denotes a place or building where martyres are kept or buried; that word shouldn't denote a specific religion or person, but a neutral one (e.g. For Muslims, Christians, etc).


texts: Any word or phrase or idiom that describes a person who takes the pleasure from the misfortunes of others?

texts: Is there any word or phrase or idiom that describes a person who takes the pleasure from the misfortunes of others?


texts: Is there a way to articulate "giving up" or "acknowledging defeat" in 1 word?

texts:
I tried Google and looking around already, but having trouble with the terminology to continue.
Thanks in advance!


texts: Where does "X-factor" meaning: "noteworthy, special talent or quality" come from?

texts:
X-factor refers to:

a noteworthy special talent or quality,  or

a variable in a given situation that could have the most significant impact on the outcome:
(ODO)

The first definition is now probably the more common, given the popularity of the international talent shows that look to  promote artists with the 'X-factor'.
The expression appears to be from the 30's  according to M-W; Ngram shows earlier usages , but  they appear to be unrelated to the current meanings.
X as a letter, does not seem to carry the connotation of something special or particularly significant among its different meanings. (Collins)
Question:
Where does the expression come from (statistics?, science?) and what did its earliest  usages meaning  "noteworthy and special talent" refer to?


texts: Is there a general term for the individual resources in a (modern) library?

texts:
A modern library would have not only books but audio/video tapes, magazines, journals, etc.

Of course I could use a non-library-specific term like resource or even just item (maybe prepending each with the word library), but I'm wondering if there's a library industry piece of terminology for the individual 'things' being cataloged?


texts: What is the right meaning of the sentence: "I should demonstrate restraint"?

texts:
I've watched this clip of The Originals TV show. Starting on 00:09 sec there's a dialog between Klaus and Elijah:

Klaus: Finn and Kol must be turned to us.
Elijah: I should demonstrate restraint.

So what exactly does Elijah mean by saying that: that he doesn't want to do it, or he's saying that he disagree with Klaus, etc.??
Please, help me figure it out in the most accurate way possible.
Thanks, people :)


texts:
I was reading a passage about 'selfie' and came across this sentence which was written on the back of the first selfie taken by Robert Cornelius in 1839.
"The first light picture ever taken."
I can't get the whole meaning. Actually I have a problem with the meaning of 'light' in this sentence.
Any comments would be appreciated.


texts: Searching for the word for a certain type of book

texts: There are (mainly) fantasy stories where you have to jump on and on inside the story by your decisions. What is the appropriate word for these books?


texts: “Battled-hardened,” Is this one of New Yorker's renowned idiosyncrasies?

texts:
There was a really entertaining short story describing customary exchanges of fierce words between a restaurant patron and waitress in New Yorker magazine (June 14.) under the title, “Lunch at Gitlitz’s.
However, I was drawn to the word, “battled-hardened nemesis” in the following sentence;

  “When we walked into the restaurant, we immediately saw her – my
  father’s battled-hardened nemesis; a waitress named Irene. She was
  standing in back by the kitchen, a cigarette dangling from her mouth,
  one hand on her hip..  She and my father locked eyes like two
  gunslingers stepping on to a dusty street. “There she blows” my father
  muttered. “Try not to excite yourself,” my mother said.”
  New Yorker, June 2014

I find “battle-hardened” in dictionaries at hand, but not “battled-hardened,” which sounds somewhat awkward to me. This word (battled-hardened) is repeated in the lead copy of the article in New Yorker Home page.

The article is really humorous and entertaining, and wordings of the battle scene are really snappy. But, is “battled-hardened” one of New Yorker's renowned idiosyncrasies, or just a typo?


texts: What is the best word for being spiteful to your own detriment?

texts:
I'm looking for a word that would fit this description, or something close to it:
To harm or disrupt another person despite the fact that your actions also harm or disrupt yourself.


texts: Why do people in various professions like software engineering and management tend to use the word "finalize" instead of "finish"

texts:
As per title of the question, I see this a lot.

"We will release the product when issue 51 has been finalized."
"We are waiting for it to be finalized."

Is this just a case of people trying to sound professional with corporate jargon
, or is there a real difference between 'finish' and 'finalize'?


texts:
What is the correct punctuation when one wants to include breaks or pauses in dialogue? Sometimes I use stops. For example,

  "It is possible...I...could be wrong."

I have heard this is wrong and dashes are correct. If so, is it an en-dash or an em-dash? I must say stops--to me--look better on the page.


texts: "Tit for tat"—Where does this come from?

texts: I always ask myself where this saying originates. I only know the individual words, tit and tat, but why is this a saying?


texts: Why is physics pluralised? Why do some countries use 's' and others 'z' in some words?

texts:
Possible Duplicates:
  ***zation vs ***sation?
  What is the difference between a “singular noun” and a “plural noun treated as singular”?

My question came from looking at this one Why is "math" always pluralized in British English and singular in American English?. Why are words like Mathematics and Physics pluralised? On a side note i just noticied that i used an 's' instead of a 'z' in pluralised. Why do some countries use 's' and others 'z' in some words?


texts: What's the term for contradictory sentences or phrases?

texts:
"Don't include too much technical detail if it doesn't add value. "
In the sentence above, you could remove the last clause "if it doesn't add value", and the remaining statement "Don't include too much technical detail" would still be true.  Maybe put another way is that this sentence makes it sound like it would be ok to add "too much" technical detail "if it added value".  But then is it really too much?
Does anyone know of a term for this concept? I'm trying to write a rule for it in a company style guide, but I'm struggling to find a term for it. I thought of labeling it as "avoid contradictory/paradoxical statements", but it seems like there should be a better way to describe this?


texts:
What does "but one" mean in the following sentence – the only? One of many?

  Scientists think the African elephant’s brain structure is but one indicator of its intelligence.


texts:
I came across this sentence in a high school grammar book. What should be the correct Indirect form of this sentence ?

  “So help me, Heaven!” he cried, “I will never
  steal again.”

According to me it should be

  He urged the Heaven to help him and swore to never steal again.

OR

  Urging the Heaven to help him, he swore to never steal again.

OR

  He pleaded the Heaven to help him and swore to never steal again.

I am really confused. Please tell what should be the correct answer.

P.S : The book has mentioned this as the correct answer, but I am not at all convinced.

  He called upon Heaven to witness his resolve never to steal again.

And why can I not use the typical indirect exclamatory sentence construct "He exclaimed with sorrow..." here ?


texts: Capitalization of the enterprise IT industry

texts:
I often find myself in the situation of wanting to capitalize the phrase "Enterprise IT" due to its frequency of reference as the title of my industry. It feels appropriate when I write:

"In Enterprise IT ..."
"The Enterprise IT industry..."

I would not be surprised if my capitalization is off here. Could one of you help me with a definitive answer to the argument?


texts: Is there a rule for the (non-)capitalisation of Schadenfreude and sauerkraut?

texts:
The Cambridge Dictionary capitalises Schadenfreude but does not capitalise sauerkraut. What is the BrE rule for this (other than looking it up in a dictionary or style guide), if any?

NB: According to Grammarist.com, of which I do not know whether they are BrE or otherwise focused:

  While schadenfreude is capitalized in German, it is not capitalized in English.


texts: Capitalization of first letter of given names inside paragraph

texts:
I am writing a thesis. I do some calculations about a robot arm of two parts, like a human arm. I call the first part as "link 1" and second part as "link 2".

FIRST QUESTION: Should I use uppercase L while using "link 1" in text as below

...the angular velocity of Link 1...

or should I use lowercase version as follows?

...the angular velocity of link 2...

SECOND QUESTION: I have examples to demonstrate what I am trying to do in the thesis. How should I refere examples in captions or paragraphs?

...as seen in Example 1...

or

...as seen in example 1...


texts:
Can someone tell me what exactly this means?

  "While a transcendent vocabulary is laudable, one must nevertheless keep incessant surveillance against such loquacious, effusive, voluble verbosity that the calculated objective of communication becomes ensconced in obscurity."

by Frank L. Visco from Reader's Digest (1986)


texts: Use "Plumb it down" instead of "Track it down"

texts:
Can we use these two sentences in place of another:

I've tracked the problem down and found something blocking our way.
I've plumbed the problem down and found something blocking our way.

I am using these sentences in the context of programming stuff.


texts: How did the term "Mistress" take on two rather different connotations?

texts:
One meaning of the word is "female master." The Latin equivalent would be Domina.

Another connotation is "lover." Not quite what one associates with "Domina."

Or was there a connection between the two made when men took "dominant" women as lovers?

Could one possible instance of this phenomenon be the medieval "courtly love?"

https://history.stackexchange.com/questions/1125/what-was-courtly-love-amour-courtois


texts: How to frame a question to get answer about the turn that somebody has taken in doing something?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  How should I phrase a question that must be answered with an ordinal number (e.g., the third prime)?
  How to ask a question to get a cardinal number answer

I want to frame a question for which the answer will be :

  Obama is the 46th president

I am not looking for "who is the 46th president?" I trying to ask a question where I want to quiz the other person on Obama's turn (46) as a president.

For instance(incorrectly)

  "Howmanyth" president is Obama ?


texts:
I love using "cacamayme" in conversations when I really want to emphasize the "crazy" I am talking about.

I also love the Urban Dictionary's slang definition:

  100% grade A Bologna.

Does anyone know where this word comes from, or how many different ways it can be spelled?

Edit - It looks as though the spelling I am using is Yiddish — here is a link.


texts: What is the best verb to use for “calculating check-sum hash” action?

texts:
I’m not sure that “hash” as a verb, is clear enough in software development because it can be a noun as well. And even if so, it collides with a built-in system function used for the different purpose.

So I need to pick up a verb for the function name that does “calculating check-sum hash” but it cannot be “hash” itself as it is already occupied.

What would be best (preferably single-worded) verb for such action after hash itself as a verb?


texts: "should" and "been" with no have in between

texts:
My question is in reference to the following headline I came across on a running publication. It is worded as such:

  "The men's 1500m prelim saw a lot of pushing and shoving. So what do
  you think - should Joe Hardy of Wisconsin been disqualified?"

So, is this correct? If I were to read it without the extra information that he was "of Wisconsin" the sentence would be:

  "So what do you think - should Joe Hardy been disqualified?"

This sentence seems even more off-putting, but is it actually grammatically correct to structure it this way?

To me:

  "So what do you think - should Joe Hardy have been disqualified?"

sounds more correct. However, to say:

  "So what do you think - should Joe Hardy of Wisconsin have been
  disqualified?"

sounds especially clunky. What gives? How should this be worded? And does including the "have" suggest that he was actually disqualified? (Because this is not the case, he wasn't disqualified and the question was, well, should he have been?)


texts:
In the following statement:

  Company databases are not immune to crashes or failures, but they do not have the luxury of downtime.

Is "but" used correctly here?

If I were the writer, I would write it as:

  Company databases are neither immune to crashes or failures, nor they have the luxury of downtime.

Is my proposed alternative correct?

Update:

Sorry but I think I need to put the whole context so that its meaning is more strait forward:

  Company databases are not immune to crashes or failures, but they do not have the luxury of downtime. It has to be recovered quickly.


texts: Why is pianist usually stressed on the /pi/?

texts:
"Pianist" is usually pronounced /ˈpiənɪst/, with /piˈænɪst/ as an acceptable variant only in the US and Canada, according to Wiktionary.

I'm not sure why the pronunciation /ˈpiənɪst/ would be more common though. If we were just adding an -ist, a suffix that as far as I know generally doesn't change the stress of a word, we would expect /piˈænoʊ/ → /piˈænɪst/.

Looking at the etymology, "piano" and is derived from Italian "pianoforte" (/pjanoˈfɔrte/). "Pianist" is derived from French "pianiste" (/ˈpja.nist/), which is stressed similarly to the Italian "pianoforte" – the /i~j/ glide is much more marginal than the /a/.

also, it sounds like a certain other word that's pronounced /ˈpi.nɪs/.


texts: Why it is "Okun's Law" and "Philips Curve" rather than "Okun Law" and "Philips' Curve"?

texts:
How exactly do these kinds of compound words work?

  "Okun's Law" and "Philips Curve" rather than "Okun Law" and "Philips' Curve"?

Is there any grammar book I can look for?


texts: is this compound or compound complex, classifying clauses

texts:
Please, i don't know why this sentence perplexes me.

Come quick big brothers and stay with me for my house is big and sturdy.

I couldn't classify the clauses hence I couldn't classify the sentence.

thanks


texts: Do mathematical equations require punctuation?

texts:
Mathematicians rarely heed the advice of grammarians. In mathematical writing, one often places equations in a numbered environment outside of the inline text. Consider the following example.

Define f to be the function,
       f(x) = sin x              (1)
where x is to take values in [0,pi].

Although one rarely finds correct punctuation or consistent grammar in math textbooks or online, I'm inclined to be as anal as physically possible in my Ph.D. thesis and consult the appropriate authorities in the matter.

What is the correct protocol for punctuation in the numbered equation environment?

In particular, should there be a comma after "sin x"?


texts: Can you use a colon to introduce just a single item instead of a list?

texts:
Colons are usually used to introduce a list of some kind after an independent clause; however, would it work for a single item? For example, can you write

  For 3 years, I ate hamburgers: my friend's favorite food.

If you do not use a colon here, what should be used?


texts: What is the origin of "journal" to mean a mechanical shaft? A more common modern use is in "journal bearing" which refers to the sliding surface between a rotating shaft and a hole it passes through and supports it relative to some other component.


texts: Which usage is correct: "program in your university" OR "program at your university"?

texts:
I would like to enroll for a program in your university.
OR
I would like to enroll for a program at your university.


texts:
Which is the correct orthography:

"Four month-time"; or "Four months' time"; or "Four months time"; or "Four months-time"?


texts: "In" + gerund: "Pip joins the procession in carrying the casket"

texts:
Pip joins the funeral procession, planned out by Mr. Trabb, the tailor, in carrying Mrs. Joe’s casket through town.

Is this sentence grammatically correct? One of my teachers proofread my work, and her corrections were unclear.


texts: Understanding smaller parts without understanding what they mean when put together

texts:
I am looking for an which adjective/adverb/phrase which refers to understanding all of the smaller components of something without understanding what they mean when put together.  "We understand every letter, but don't understand the words."

For example, say we understand what it means when P -> Q and we understand what it means when Q -> R, but we don't necessarily understand what it means when P -> Q -> R (i.e. P -> Q  and Q -> R at the same time).

The purpose, for those of you who know mathematics, is that I am writing a graph theory paper.  Each edge corresponds to certain, well-understood behavior in an algebraic structure, but what happens when these behaviors happen at the same time has not been studied (until this paper, of course).


texts: What is the origin of the word "latency"?

texts: In the context of communication systems, the latency of a packet indicates the time to delivery (or the round trip time) or in other words, how late the packet is (e.g. it arrives 5ms later than in an ideal system). So I was wondering if the word latency is related to the word late or where it comes from.


texts: Phrasing a question to me in this way - why is it rude ? Or is it rude?

texts:
I am a junior in sales office. I have not been here long. A senior colleague of mine will often ask me to read correspondence that he has drafted.  On the whole it is an easy task requiring not much skill.

However he has sometimes structured his query asking if I may read his correspondence using this statement -

' you won't want to read that for me, will you ? '

I do read it but it irks me immensely that he poses his query this way but I cannot quite understand why this particular sentence structure irks me so much. I should tell him to go to hell but junior and all that...

I would appreciate some thoughts please.

Thank you.


texts: Use of definite articles and plural in lists with common object

texts:
I want to write the following sentence in a compact way:

"The difference between the old scheme and the new scheme lies in..."

Which one of the following is correct?

The difference between the old and new scheme lies in...
The difference between the old and new schemes lies in...
The difference between the old and the new scheme lies in...
The difference between the old and the new schemes lies in...

Option 1 sounds more natural to me but I cannot explain why. More important, English is not my mother tongue. In other words, I would like to know:

Is it necessary to repeat the definite article for each element of the list?
Does the common object (in this case, the scheme) become plural when it is listed multiple times with different pre-modifiers (in this case, old and new)?


texts: Nouns as verbs, Brits and Yanks: ID cards

texts:
I find it interesting that not only do British and American English speakers both use the noun 'ID card' as a verb in the context of (trying to be in a position of) purchasing age-restricted items, but abbreviate it differently:

British speakers:

  "The bartender ID'd me"

American speakers:

  "The bartender carded me"

Which do we prefer? Any other similar examples?

Personally I think 'to ID' makes more sense, since although in 'ID card' it's an acronym for 'identity', it easily transforms into 'to ID' -> 'to identify', which makes sense.

But then, I'm British!

Edit:

As @DavidM points out, American speakers say "I got ID'd" to mean "I was [literally] identified" - in a police line-up for instance. If a Briton says "I got ID'd", he more than likely means "I was asked to show some form of ID".


texts: More gentle way of expressing "write-off"

texts:
I'm looking for the best English word or phrase to describe the following concept: to recognize the existence of something, come to terms with it, and write it off.

For example, something like "I wanted to be an Olympian. I'm now a happy businessman and father. I recognize this former goal and I let go of it."

Not as harsh as "write-off", but similar in concept.


texts: What's the meaning of 90-plus? More than 90? If so, please tell me more ways to say "more than 90". Thank you!


texts:
Courage is "the ability to do something that frightens one" (New Oxford American Dictionary). Courageousness is also a word in the dictionary.

Do they mean the same thing, and if so, how did "courageousness" become a word?

There are other examples of this: "trust" and "trustworthiness". What is going on with the other examples?


texts: A word for eating and drinking, and a word for taking a substance

texts:
Is there a single word that describes act of drinking and/or eating?

And is there a single word that describes the act of taking a substance?


texts: Is there a difference between "predate" and "antedate"?

texts:
Collins defines predate (third meaning) as

  to be or occur at an earlier date than; precede in time

The same dictionary defines antedate (first meaning) as

  to be or occur at an earlier date than

While there are other meanings for both words, I'd like to know if there is a difference in their usage, when they're used to mean "occur at an earlier date," or if they can always be used interchangeably in this sense.