texts: Is it correct to use "and" consecutively without a comma?

texts:
Your last day of service will be mutually agreed between you and your
  manager and details sent in writing by Human Resources.

I think it doesn't make sense to interpret this sentence as "the last day is agreed between you, your manager, and details from Human Resources". So, I think "are" is missing for the part "details sent in writing by Human Resources", which means that it should have been written in "details are sent in writing by Human Resources". But in this case, shouldn't there be a comma right before the second "and" since the following sentence is a separate one not sharing the subject?


texts: Equivalent of "both" when referring to three or more items?

texts:
What would be the correct word to use when referring to three or more items, in the same manner as the word both?

For example, using two words, with the word both:

  "There are several recommendations I
  have to further improve the sites —
  both to improve their profit, and
  decrease their cost."

Using three words, with a blank space in place of the correct word:

  "There are several recommendations I
  have to further improve the sites —
  _ to improve their profit, decrease their cost and improve their
  usability."

So, what would be the correct word to use in place of the __?


texts: What fantastical/fairy tale creatures are associated with 'doing the work behind the scenes'?

texts:
In some fairy tales little dwarfs/elfs/pixies/??? perform some work on behalf of the protagonist. Santa Claus has his elf helpers who, at least in some cultures, manufacture the toys. Is there a joke/humorous phrase in everyday english about a task being done by those creatures, used when wishing to either abstract away or keep the person(s) responsible secret? If so, is the mental association strong enough that even their name only brings this particular context to mind?
Not my case, but, for example, hanging out a sign/note 'pixies(?)' on the doors in an office as an allusion to doing the real work without receiving recognition?
This is certainly a cultural thing, but considering that fairy tales are pretty much shared between all but all european countries without much variation, I suspect that such an idiom/association exists.


texts: Does "To do something you will need something" require a comma?

texts:
I'm writing up some technical documents which describe steps to complete an operation. One of the opening paragraph sentences is similar to:

  To wash your car you will first need a sponge.

It was suggested that this sentence should be broken up with a comma. For example:

  To wash your car, you will first need a sponge.

Is the latter example a correct use of a comma?


texts:
I am not confident about my judgement as to whether or not "the" is required if a relative clause is used in a sentence.
For example,

  The data can be collected on all the computers on which the software is installed.

I think it must be "all the computers " and not be "all computers" because "computers" is specified  by  "on which the software is installed".

Please help me confirm that I am right.


texts:
Is coupled pairs an appropriate phrase, please?

The data are coupled pairs of wavelength and intensity

I mean points (\lambda, I).


texts:
Which of inspect or control is more appropriate when referring to action checking the operational state of something?

Context: Workers are checking the operational state of a billboard with regards to its cleanliness, lighting, etc. Their sole job is to report their findings, they are not required to act on their findings.

Is the difference just cosmetic for my context, or is there some subtle difference in meaning between using inspect and control?


texts: "Share the unique values" or "Share unique values" - which one is grammatically correct?

texts:
My friend's company is making its slogan.
My friend suggested "Share the unique values" but I feel like we should drop the word "the" (i.e. "Share unique values" instead)

Am I wrong ?

Many Thanks


texts: How to refer to a 'second' last name or family name?

texts:
I know in most english speaking countries, there's no such a thing like a "second" last name. But for example in spanish it's quite common (we are fond of long a complicated names lol), our full names consist on usually two names (even more!) and almost [always][1] two "last names". For instance:

Pedro Arturo Rodríguez Loyola
^ first name ^ last name
      ^ middle name    ^ ????

"first last name" it's the father last name and the "second last name", it's the mother's maiden name (women doesn't lose their last name when they get married). This is giving me some headaches when trying to model data for patients name, since I want to pick something that will make sense to developers of countries different from mine.

[1]: rarely some people have only one.


texts:
The following joke is well-known for its ambiguity, with some variation in the animals used:

  Would you rather a bear ate you or a snake?

When the answerer responds something along the lines of, "Uh, I guess I'd rather be eaten by the bear…" the asker finishes with the sentence,

  I'd rather he ate the snake.

My question is, is this joke an example of a zeugma?


texts: What did they use in Old English or Middle English before 'of course'?

texts:
I'm writing a story that heavily uses archaic or unusual English words, with a focus of non-Latin, non-French and non-Anglo-Norman derived words and how English might work without them.
I found very little that makes sense to use in place of that phrase, 'of course' as we use it now. According to Wiktionary "course" has been around since Middle English. The entry for 'of course' makes note of a meaning going back to the 16th century.
So I'm guessing maybe they would have used something utterly different before then. Any clues as to what?
The part of speech I'm looking for, is as an adverb or interjection, such as:
"Did you get the jam?", he asked. "Of course", I answered.
"Of course I know the answer!", she growled.


texts:
Does one fill out a form or does one fill in a form? I've gotten different answers from the people I've asked.

Google search results:

  fill in a form — 14,200,000
  fill out a form — 7,000,000


texts:
When I say "programs to install on a new PC" it sounds alright to me, but I'm not sure if it's the correct usage. Which one of the following should I use?

Programs to install on a new PC
Programs to install in a new PC
Programs to install to a new PC


texts: Can ellipsis at the end of a sentence be used this way?

texts:
This is something I find myself doing quite frequently, but I don't know if it's correct. Whenever I want to end a sentence in a "sad" or "depressing" tone, I usually add ellipsis at the end of the sentence. Here's one:

  "Someone stole my bag today..."

As I already know, an ellipsis can be used to indicate phrases being left out, and that's not what I'm trying to do in my example. With that said, is there any rule that says what I'm trying to do is correct? Or is it just wrong?


texts:
The verb to fall strongly implies the direction down, but in some circumstances it is obligatory (in StdAmEng) to include the word “down.”  The example I have in mind right now is

  I fall down the stairs
  * I fall the stairs

Formally speaking, what’s going on here?  Note that this is not the same as

  I fall [down] [to/on/...] the ground
  * I fall [down] the ground

Here down is optional (it sounds a bit redundant to my ear, but neither option is wrong), and [preposition] the ground is a normal prepositional phrase.  In other words, I don’t think down is acting as a preposition in “I fall down the stairs.”


texts:
Frequently in my workplace, when some bad news comes in, the advice take this with a grain of salt is used in such a context to mean choose for yourselves how to interpret this but don't consider it very important.

I've asked several people around the office what they understand this to mean - and each person got to this answer via a different means:

A grain of salt doesn't weigh very much. So if you balance the current issue on one side of some scales, and a grain of salt on the either, you get a feeling for how important this issue is in the big picture
Some people add a grain of salt to coffee to reduce the perception of bitterness.
In Latin the word for salt is the same as the word for wisdom, meaning that the current issue to be viewed through a lens of your life experience.
Pliny the Elder recommended that a grain of salt was to be used as an antidote for poison.

My question is: Can the phrase "take it with a grain of salt" have four different ways to get to the same meaning?


texts: What do you call someone who is emotionally strong?

texts:
A noun describing a person who is emotionally strong.

For example:

  My Aunt Sally was the [emotionally strong person] in our family.


texts: Does passive voice always involve a form of "to be" and a past participle?

texts:
Typically, passive voice is defined as using some form of the verb "to be" followed by a past participle form of a verb. For example, "I was saved, "he will be attacked," or "they have not been found."

However,I have been told in the past that some sentences that do not follow this structure are still in the passive voice. For example, "he seemed dismayed," or "that is nothing to be afraid of." Are these sentences or other similar sentences passive?

Can a sentence use a passive voice without following the "to be" + past participle structure? Or is that the only form of passive of voice?


texts: Word that means "free from expectation"?

texts:
As in, an expectation-free hug with your partner. Doing something without expecting anything in return, but not necessarily selfless. I hoped "nonexpecting" was a word, but it seems reserved for pregnancy

EDIT: Thanks for the suggestions! My example may not have been the best. I don't mean necessarily platonic or friendly, because the attitude can apply to anything. I've heard the words "wishless" and "hopeless" in some Buddhist contexts, interestingly, but those seem wonky as well.


texts: Just curious as to where "for the win" (commonly abbreviated FTW) originated?


texts: How should I avoid this reflexive pronoun, or is it okay?

texts:
I typed a sentence in Microsoft Word as:

  Each mobile operating system implements encryption in their own way.

It was part of a list of bullet points. I got dinged for their own being grammatically incorrect, and the error was

  Reflexive Pronoun Use (consider revising)

My question: What is a reflexive pronoun? Also, is there a better way to word this, or is it fine as is? I know software won't have all the nuances of the English language correct, but as I don't know who will be viewing this document in the future, I'd like to have all my Pronouns in a row.


texts:
Bilingualism is an additional skill that can give an added advantage in career or
the cognitive development. Some opine that it must be developed easily in life, while others suggest to learn it once a child is grown enough. I believe that the language skills must be imbibed from the start of school.
The issue in below:
the cognitive development
the language skills


texts: In a photography context, what is the opposite of a keeper?

texts: If I take a sequence of photos and decide that one of them is the best of the bunch, I might call it a keeper. What would the others be called? I'm looking for something slightly less harsh and judgemental than "reject".


texts:
Let’s say that someone owe $100 to someone but he paid $90. I mean he paid $10 less than his debt. In this case can we say

  “he paid 10 dollar missing“?

If that's correct, I wonder how the adjective “missing“ was used as an adverb. If it is not correct what is the way to say this sentences?


texts: A puzzling example of sentence stress on the preposition "to"

texts:
This is a question about sentence stress.

The example is taken from a unit of Michael Vaughan's "Test your Pronunciation". The Unit is entitled "Predicting highlighting shift in dialogue".

Here is the example dialogue in question. It starts as follows (in CAPS, the stressed words as you can hear it):

  A: WHERE did you put the potatoes?

  B: Where do you THINK I put the potatoes? There's only one place TO put them."

The key section of the book and the audio show that the word "to" is stressed.

So I am wondering:
- Why is "to" stressed?
- What meaning and emotion or rhetorical function does the stressing of "to" convey precisely?
- Why is not the word "one (place)" stressed instead? (the key section does not highlight neither)

I had expected to hear speaker B stress "one (place)", as if he said: "there's only one place and you know which one it is".

The audio example is in standard British English:
Is this a British peculiarity?

I hope you can help me find the right answer. I haven't been able to find an answer to this on the internet, nor does the book provide an explanation.


texts: Usage of therefore in a sentence - should I insert commas?

texts:
Which one of the following sentences displays proper usage of commas?

  I am fascinated by your work and progress over the past year, and therefore would like to ask if we can set an interview in the near future.

OR

  I am fascinated by your work and progress over the past year and, therefore, would like to ask if we can set an interview in the near future.


texts:
A man was dying; a doctor stood near him, and the doctor's wife was also there.  Both of them (husband and wife) were hesitating to do something for the dying man. Then the doctor said

  "The Question is whether he will not die anyway."

I wish to know the meaning of it.

Collins Cobuild lists the following meanings for anyway:

  1 adverb

  You use anyway or anyhow to indicate that a statement explains or
  supports a previous point.

  I'm certain David's told you his business troubles. Anyway, it's no secret that he owes money.

  Mother certainly won't let him stay with her and anyhow he wouldn't.

  Synonyms: anyhow, regardless, in any case, for all that

  adverb

  You use anyway or anyhow to suggest that a statement is true or
  relevant in spite of other things that have been said.

  I don't know why I settled on Aberdeen, but anyway I did.

  I wasn't qualified to apply for the job really but I got it anyhow.

  adverb

  You use anyway or anyhow to correct or modify a statement, for example
  to limit it to what you definitely know to be true.

  Mary Ann doesn't want to have children. Not right now, anyway.

  adverb

  You use anyway or anyhow to indicate that you are asking what the real
  situation is or what the real reason for something is.

  What do you want from me, anyway?

  Where the hell was Bud, anyhow?

  adverb

  You use anyway or anyhow to indicate that you are missing out some
  details in a story and are passing on to the next main point or event.

  I was told to go to Reading for this interview.

  It was a very amusing affair. Anyhow, I got the job.

  adverb

  You use anyway or anyhow to change the topic or return to a previous
  topic.

  'I've got a terrible cold.'—'Have you? Oh dear. Anyway, so you're not going to go away this weekend?'

  adverb

  You use anyway or anyhow to indicate that you want to end the
  conversation.

  'Anyway, I'd better let you have your dinner. Give our love to Francis. Bye.'

  'Anyhow, thanks a lot. Bye bye.'


texts:
What is the meaning of "con a con" and how could you use it in writing?
I would find examples useful.
Note: I encountered this phase from CSI TV show, when a crime scene investigator(CSI) took pity on a suspect. CSI said to a suspect that she really feel sorry for suspect's loss and she can help her(suspect) in all ways to recover from her loss. For that suspect told "you cannot con a con sweetie" to CSI.


texts:
In Katy Perry’s song “Roar”,
she says this at the end of the chorus:

You’re gonna hear me roar

Why did she use the bare infinitive form of the verb roar here instead
of that verb’s ‑ing form?

You’re gonna hear me roaring

In case the context helps, the entire chorus runs like this:

  I got the eye of the tiger, a fighter
    Dancing through the fire.

  Cause I am a champion, and you’re gonna hear me roar
    Louder, louder than a lion.

  Cause I am a champion, and you’re gonna hear me roar.


texts: how do we refer to a work of an author written in English?

texts:
Which of the following is correct?

English work of an author?

English speaking work of an author?

author's work in English language?

Is there a specific term instead of work, if I only mean one book?


texts: What's the word for an act of making people do what you want thinking its what they want

texts:
What is the English word for this; making someone or some people do something you want while thinking its what they want...

For example I want to get my stuff at home so I told my brother that he forgot his textbook in my wardrobe back at home and so he goes back home to pick his text and in the process gets my stuff for me.


texts: According to my dictionary, the word February originates directly from Middle English "Feverer" from Old French "Feverier" yet the Modern English word more closely resembles the original Latin spelling "februarius." So where did the "v" in the Middle English and Old French come from, and why was it discarded in our current pronunciation? Also, when and why was the "r" after "b" rendered silent?


texts: Difference between "per" and "per given"

texts:
Is there a difference between the two sentences?

One apple per box of orange.
One apple per given box of orange.

Moreover, what I wish to say in one sentence is that there is an apple for a box of orange but not necessarily for all boxes of orange. Does the second alternative above imply what I intend to say?


texts: What do you call someone skilled in researching quickly?

texts:
Having looked through the synonymous for researcher and come across the following definition of an investigator as a:

  person who checks thoroughly

is there a word, or phrase that describes

  a person who checks rapidly

without implying sloppiness or inaccuracy.


texts: Word for a person who speaks bad about person 1 in front of person 2 and vice versa

texts: What do you call Person A who speaks bad about Person B to Person C and speaks bad about Person C to Person B?


texts: Is there a way to ask someone if they've gained knowledge from something new they experienced?

texts:
I am what you'd call a neophiliac and have many friends who enjoy doing/seeing/experiencing new things, be it through travel or interpersonal encounters.
We always seem to struggle for a better way to just ask "Did something new happen to you, did you learn something new about another culture, did you discover new types of behavior or customs?", etc.
Does anyone know a phrase for it or a word we could at least make up a question from?


texts: Why do americans put "my" in front of everything?

texts:
I watch a lot of youtube, but I've also noticed this in movies.
North americans tend to put the word "my" in front of stuff they tell you about e.g. "So I've got my grill fired up, I've got my oil heated" etc.

In Sweden we would just say "I've got the grill fired up and I've also heated the oil"

Another example is in the movie War of the worlds from 2005 when Rachel says something like "You should get TiVo, we've got TiVo at home, I can watch all MY shows after I've done my homework"

Note: I don't count "my" before homework, because that seems legit.


texts: Is saying "he's too thin to carry it (some very heavy stuff)" a euphemism?

texts:
Thin has a meaning of "not well fleshed," but does it also carry a meaning of "being weak or feeble"? In the Merriam-Webster, it does carry a meaning of "lacking substance of strength," but it uses "thin plot/broth" to make the example.
Is it okay to say someone is to thin to do anything which needs a lot of strength? I just find it misleading to say, because thin doesn't always means weak. If you google, there is a title such as "Michael Jackson is too thin to play live." Is it OK to say so? Somebody argued that it's a euphemism to say so.


texts: Term describing a tolerable error in context of software

texts:
I am working on some software where the notion of a "less severe" error has now come up as a case to handle, and for logging purposes I want a term to use to represent these. The first to come to mind was "Soft Failure", as I am using "Failure" for the regular more-serious issues. If I do that, though, then it seems like I should rename the original to "Hard Error" by contrast. I'd really rather stick with single-word names, or at least have it be unrelated to the existing Success/Failure dichotomy.

I know this question might be a bit pedantic, but please forgive that as I'm a nut for properly naming things in a concise and descriptive way in my software (which any of you who program know is a good thing for anyone else who works with it).

Currently I'm leaning toward using "Fault", as it almost fits, but a better suggestion would be welcomed.

Edit: Since others seem to have a bit of the wrong idea of what I mean, let me clarify. The term would not be used to refer to a completely unexpected failure - that's what "Failure" is for in the system. This is for expected but rare events that aren't good but aren't a problem in the software. For example, you connect to a database and try to grab a value, but the connection times out due to latency. Another example could be that upon trying to get a value it is missing from the database entirely. Again, this isn't "broken", it's just a missing piece of data, but everything is operating properly. That makes things like "glitch" and "bug" feel ill-suited.


texts: Is there a collective word for the different "alphabets" used by different languages?

texts:
As I believe "alphabet" refers specifically to the latin a-z, is there a term that collectively refers to all collections of writing characters. ie, if I had a list that contained the entries "Latin, Kanji, Cyrillic" etc, what would that list be called? A single word is preferable, as I need the term to describe such a list in software I'm writing.

Note the answer is not "language" - eg English, French, German etc are all languages, but all use the Latin alphabet. On the other hand, Japanese is a language that can be written using Kanji, Hiragana, Katakana and Latin 'systems'. It's a hypernym for these 'systems' I'm after, not the languages.


texts: Is Japanese furigana a form of transliteration?

texts:
This is a question about the usage of the word "transliteration".

The sort of transliteration I've come in contact with the most is the romaji, Japanese to latin alphabet transliteration. For example, 漢字 to "kanji".

However, I've noticed that we transliterate a word so people who can read one alphabet but not the other can still read that word, and that this practice happens within the Japanese language.

The furigana (ruby text) is placed alongside the most difficult Japanese characters, the kanji, when the reading of a word is either ambiguous or not commonly known. It's written with the easier Japanese hiragana or katakana.

So I was thinking that, if "kanji" is a transliteration of the Japanese 漢字, then the Japanese hiragana かんじ could be called a transliteration of 漢字, even though both are from the same language.

Is this the right way to use that word?

Edit - Further Thoughts

The word "transliteration" seems to do with letters, but if you look at it that way, then could you transliterate from "lower-case" to "UPPER-CASE"?

Maybe transliteration only applies when the letters have different sounds? But in that case, "apple" could be transliterated to "eipou" in Portuguese even though it's the same latin alphabet?


texts: What is the etymology of the phrase: on my own / on your own / on our own etc

texts:
If you are doing something without assistance you can be said to be doing that thing on your own.

Cambridge defines the phrase as follows:

On your own

  If you do something on your own, you do it without help from anyone
  else: Bridget learned to tie her shoes on her own when she was three.

The phrase is also used to simply indicate that you are alone.

e.g.:

  I am on my own

I am interested to know how this phrase came about.

The following entries are listed for 'on' as a preposition in Oxford Living Dictionaries:

Physically in contact with and supported by (a surface).
Forming a distinctive or marked part of the surface of.
Having (the thing mentioned) as a topic; about.
As a member of (a committee, jury, or other body).
Having (the thing mentioned) as a target, aim, or focus.
(often followed by a noun without a determiner) having (the thing mentioned) as a medium for transmitting or storing information.
In the course of (a journey).
Indicating the day or part of a day during which an event takes place.
Engaged in.
Regularly taking (a drug or medicine).
Paid for by.
Added to.

The possible options as far as I can tell for how 'on' is acting in this phrase from the above list are: 3 or 5. But none seem a perfect fit.

3. Having (the thing mentioned) as a topic; about.

The example given in the dictionary is:

  ‘a book on careers’

In the phrase on your own, perhaps the point is you are your own subject matter? It hardly seems a perfect fit for usage however and would be some kind of metaphorical use of yourself as your own subject matter.

5. Having (the thing mentioned) as a target, aim, or focus.

The example given is:

  'five air raids on Schweinfurt’

  ‘thousands marching on Washington’

  ‘her eyes were fixed on his dark profile’

Perhaps 'on' is indicating that you are the aim, focus, or target of your own attention? Again it hardly seems like the same kind of usage.

My question is, what is the etymology of the phrase "On my/your/own own"?

In your answer you might address some or all of these points:

How is on acting in the phrase?
Cambridge states the use is idiomatic, when was it first used?
How did it come to take on its present meaning?


texts: What is the counterpart of a consultant?

texts:
Someone who is consulted is a consultant, but what is his counterpart called?  In other words, what do you call the person who consults them?

Asker sounds informal, consulter doesn't pass my spell check, help-seeker sounds too pathological.

Is there a sensible opposite?


texts: Why "ing" is use in the folowing sentence?

texts:
" meaning basically can they prevent the other team from scoring "
Yet I'm sure this is not progressive present. So why do we put "ing" after "scor" ?


texts: What is the plural of “remittance advice”?

texts:
The most common plural of “remittance advice” — a note sent by a customer paying a supplier, indicating that payment is on its way — seems to be “remittance advices”. However, I find that to be inelegant and I often suspect it is just plain made up! Unfortunately, the only alternatives I’ve come up with — “remittance advice notes”, “remittance advisements” and “remittance advisories” — are no more elegant, are not strict plurals of the original, and are absolutely made up.

Could anyone offer an argument as to why “remittance advices” is actually correct? Failing that, is there a better alternative than the ones I’ve listed?


texts: "largest of any mammal" vs. "largest of all mammals"

texts:
A: This animal is the largest of any mammal.

vs.

  B: This animal is the largest of all mammals.

What are the subtle differences between A and B?


texts: Why is "handsome" usually used for men, not women?

texts: While using "handsome" for women isn't totally unheard of, it's a lot less common than using it for men. Why is this the case?


texts: What do you call someone who is always wrong?

texts: So I'm doing readworks questions in class I have have to give a character trait but I don't know what you call someone that is always wrong.....


texts: What a word for "navigate" that's more commonly associated with land?

texts:
According to Thesaurus it means guide along route, often over water. Are there other similar words but that are more commonly associated with land/terrain? Example:

  I found it difficult to [...] in that mountain. There were too many trees.


texts: How to say "it gives an opportunity" in a word?

texts:
The phrase is often used in a written speech. E.g.:

Everybody needs an education. It gives you an opportunity to have a good job and to succeed in life.

How to rephrase that:

It enables you...
It lets you...
It allows you...

None seems good enough. How can you say it better?


texts: What is the difference between a "ghetto" and a "slum"?

texts: What is the difference between a ghetto and a slum?


texts:
Consider the following sentence:

  The government wants to encourage understanding of science.

Now, "to encourage understanding of science" is a non-finite subordinate clause functioning as an object. What about "understanding of science"? Is that also a non-finite clause? Or is "understanding" considered to be a noun?

  Learning is an easy process for some.

Here, is "learning" a noun or a non-finite subordinate clause functioning as the subject of the whole clause?

I'm inclined to say that "understanding" is a noun, whereas "learning" is a non-finite clause. However, I don't know what this intuition is based on.


texts: Word for someone who focuses on the smaller details of a bigger problem

texts:
I'm not sure if the title correctly describes what I'm looking for.

For example, there is a debate about the existence of something, and one party focuses on the small unexplained details in their opponents' argument and do not address the gaping holes in theirs.


texts:
What is the difference between "has to be" and "is to be"?

This is the example sentence:
In case a diarization is desired, a proper XYZ algorithm is/has to be used.

I would like to point out, that my personal opinion is using the XYZ algorithm.


texts: Why we use preposition while a verb has own meaning?

texts:
I want to know about usage of preposition in sentence where a verb has own meaning but we put preposition why?
Pleas answer me briefly


texts: Which one would fit better in this context between present continuous and present perfect continuous?

texts:
It is from official standard English test. The question is like below.

Fitness enthusiasts may feel that their workouts are no longer as effective as they were. When an individual ______________ for a while, the body experiences a "plateau effect," which can be overcome through changes in the workout.

(a) is exercising
(b) will have been exercising
(c) has been exercising
(d) exercises

According to a book, the answer is (c). However, the original test-offering institution has never revealed their answers but they only sold the copyright to use their test questions for making books. So the answer offered by the book may not be correct.

Of course (b) doesn't make sense. I personally think (d) could be also good, but the test's criterion makes it clear that they, at this level, check only the degree of understanding with regard to continuous tenses. The book rules out (d) because simple present tense is not the area that this test evaluates. Anyway, the reason for the book's choice of (c) over (a) is because the phrase of period following for often goes with perfect continuous tenses. But I think I heard somewhere that present perfect doesn't go with the conjunction, when. You know, when refers to a certain point in timeline, whereas present perfect has more to do with duration. So, I thought present perfect continuous would also not go well with the conjunction, when. So, I thought (a) might be also possible. I want to know what should be the only one correct or the most desirable answer among (a), (c), and (d), and why. Thank you for your help :)


texts: Word for giving animal characteristics (esp. physical ones) to humans

texts:
I am writing a paper about Art Spiegelman's Maus, specifically the metaphor that Spiegelman creates by depicting his obviously quite human characters with the heads of various animals, or a couple times animal masks. The metaphor is used at times to bestialize/animalize the acts of the Nazis and, in some cases, to show the arbitrary nature of the classes/groups/divisions they and others applied to human beings.

I considered "chremamorphism," but this describes the attribution of the characteristics of an object to, or the objectification of, a human. I also considered "animalize" and "bestialize," but those describe some of the effects that can be produced by Spiegelman's metaphor, not the metaphor itself - in many scenes in the book, the characters are extremely human, and I think that the negative or degrading connotations of these words makes them inappropriate for this use. Nor do "anthropomorphism" or "personification" fit, because Spiegelman is not applying human characteristics to animals but the other way around. None of the words that I can think of quite fit.

What is a word that accurately describes Art Spiegelman's depiction of obviously human characters as having animal body parts or wearing animal masks in the comic book Maus?


texts: "India’s prime minister has promised a "jaw-breaking response" to the killing of 40 Indian paramilitary police." What does “jaw-breaking response” mean?


texts:
Recently, as it is shown in previous questions, we learn how to use asininely and how to use bovinely. Now, along this line, I would like to learn how to use dogly properly.
In particular, I would like to know whether phrases like

Our friends looked at us dogly.
Our friends worked dogly.

are good English. Are they?
I know that there are better or more idiomatic words to replace 'dogly' there, but, thinking to the audience I have to talk to, I would prefer, if acceptable, to use 'dogly'.


texts: Someone who just thinks they know what they're talking about

texts:
What is a word or phrase that means a speaker (or writer) is talking about something they know very little about, but they think they know more than they do?

An example: If you read diet message boards, you get dozens of people saying ‘Eat 6 small meals a day,’ or ‘Eat 3 big meals, but don’t snack,’  or ‘Eat more/less protein/carbs/fat.’ Each person is sure they are knowlegable enough to give good advice, but real experts(dieticians or researchers, for example) are rare.  I want a word to describe this attitude.

Bullshit is close, but someone bullshitting usually knows they aren’t an expert, they just want to convince the listener they are.  Also, I’d prefer something politer than bullshit.


texts:
In "The Dagger with Wings" by G. K. Chesterton, Father Brown was talking to Mr Aylmer.

“You mean,” observed Father Brown, “that the tragedies in your unfortunate family were not normal deaths?”
“I mean they were not even normal murders,” answered the other. “The man who is hounding us all to death is a hell-hound, and his power is from hell.”
“All evil has one origin,” said the priest gravely. “But how do you know they were not normal murders?”

Does "All evil has one origin" mean "each evil has an origin" or "all the evils have the same origin"?


texts: Difference between living with peace and living in peace

texts: Do 'living with peace' and 'living in peace' mean the same? I find it used interchangeably by many; however, I think there is a subtle difference in the meaning. Let's take 'living with peace' Here, 'Peace' can be a person's name; it can also be the feeling of peace. If it is a feeling, doesn't it have to end with more words like, 'living with peace in our hearts' or 'living with peace of mind?'


texts: What is the correct word for 'worrylessly'?

texts:
What would be the appropriate word for worrylessly in this following context
"I shall prefer him for this task. And [worrylessly] expect an amazing result.


texts: When to use 'Upon' instead of 'on'? Is there any thumb rule for it?


texts: What's the difference between "distributors" and "resellers"?

texts:
I saw this in VMware's annual report:

  We sell and market our products largely through a network of channel partners, which includes distributors, resellers, system vendors, and systems integrators. . . .

What’s the difference between distributors and resellers?


texts:
I am writing speech such as:

  "There is just one problem" said she "I don't think my friend will
  like it."

What is the correct way of punctuating this?  I could put up to three full stops in the text but I am not confident.


texts: Grammar: Did Jim ask you whether you are a virgin? VS Did Jim ask you whether you were a virgin?

texts:
How do I form a question based on the following details:

At 1pm on Sunday
Jim: Are you a virgin?
Jane: Yes

nothing happened from 1pm to 9pm

At 9pm on Sunday: Did Jim ask you whether you were a virgin?

or

At 9pm on Sunday: Did Jim ask you whether you are a virgin?


texts:
Here's the scene.
Two teens are sitting at a bank of a river and cutting some cretaceous fruits for moonshine.

  The guy: What is this? (meaning the thing he's cutting the fruits with)
  The girl: It's the barb from slasher tail.

slasher is a nickname for a kind of dinosaur.

Why does she say the barb not a barb?Clearly from the conversation, it's never been mentioned before, no shared knowledge, no implication, nothing. She uses the. Why?


texts:
The text: "The court determined that Student B exhibited adverse educational impact because notwithstanding her passing grades, during her final year at School #1, her symptoms were sufficiently severe that she was unable to attend public high school at all and required homebound instruction."
My analysis: The distortion is in the word "passing." Student B was actually earning all A's and B's. But the author of "the text" finds it expedient to call the grades "passing" because elsewhere in her document she argues that Student A did not experience a significant academic decline when he went from a 3.8 gpa to a 2.2. So she harps on the fact that although Student A's grades have been declining, he is still passing his courses... and therefore should be found ineligible for special education.

A helpful ELU participant proposed the following description of what's going on:

When a fact is presented as representative of the truth, even though it clearly omits key details.

What is this rhetorical device called?
Bonus question: I also need an effective idiom or simile which describes this form of bias or slant.


texts: If ‘pronunciation’ pairs with ‘sound’, which word should ‘spelling’ pair with?

texts: If pronunciation pairs with sound, which word should spelling pair with?


texts:
They don't know what they don't know and never *occur that there's more to know.

What is a better fit for "occur," here used actively, here? Passively, it is:

  They don't know what they don't know and it never occurs to them that there's more to know.


texts:
Is the male version of a mistress, a mastress? It's a term I would use, but I don't know if it is just slang or if it is formal...

P.S.  I mean a male that sleeps with a married woman (love, not business)


texts: A word or phrase for 'Holy grail' (a goal impossible to achieve)

texts:
I am looking for a word or phrase that means "a long sought out goal that seems impossible to achieve" but without any religious connotations. Any suggestions?

My intended usage is as follows:

  The holy grail in ABC is to identify XYZ

where ABC is an academic field of study and XYZ is a solution approach with desired features.


texts:
I'm writing up some maths notes, and I'm unsure about the wording of a sentence. Which should I write?

  In the degree system of measure, angles are measured proportionate to 360 degrees ...

Or

  In the degree system of measure, angles are measured proportional to 360 degrees ...

My gut says, "proportionate."

Could someone explain which is more apt and why?


texts: What is meant by "communities of colour"?

texts: When referring to the race and ethnicity does the word "coloured" mean anyone who is not white? For example "a distinct form of racism simply associates communities of colour with pollution." Also, is the term offensive? I found this in an academic paper.


texts: Is it greenlighted or greenlit? Is there a correct one or are both acceptable?


texts: How do you format a sentence to avoid or use "to to" correctly?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Rules about prepositions and duplicating 'to'

  Where did you travel to to get that?

Using to, to has always looked/seemed awkward to me. What is the proper way to express this?


texts: Is the sentence “As though Bill Donohue didn’t have enough to be cranky about” self-complete?

texts:
I’m a regular reader of New York Times columnist, Maureen Dowd’s column, which provides me with lot of input of contemporary English expressions that I cannot learn from ordinary English text books and readings.
Today’s (February 14) New York Times carries her article titled “That Old Black Magic” starting with the following statement:

As though Bill Donohue didn’t have enough to be cranky about.
The perpetually apoplectic Catholic League president is on the rampage about President Obama trying to make sure women working at Catholic institutions get insurance coverage for birth control.
What’s wrong with the rhythm method anyway? That’s how I got here.

I wonder if the first line and the second copy block is a single sentence connected with the conjunction, “As though.”
Why did she put a period after “be cranky about” and separated it from the following line, “The perpetually apoplectic Catholic League president is on the rampage ...” with a space.
Are they separate sentences? If so, what is the function of “As though”? Is this Dowd’s special writing style?


texts: Expanding a contraction, where the expansion is not as it would seem

texts:
Consider these two sentences, one with a contraction, one without:

  I didn't check my voicemail.

  I did not check my voicemail.

didn't is expanded to did not.

Now consider:

  Why didn't you check your voicemail?

If you want to write this without a contraction, you must write it as:

  Why did you not check your voicemail?

The word you comes in between did and not when didn't is expanded. This:

  Why did not you check your voicemail?

is probably not correct at all. I've never heard anyone speak like that, and never seen that written, even though didn't is expanded directly into did not.

This came up during discussion the other day, and I was wondering if there was a term for this situation where a contraction cannot be expanded into what might seem the most obvious form.


texts:
I had always heard people saying like (never seen written anywhere but just heard it):

  How come you come to office on Sunday?
     How come is this possible?

It doesn't seem right to me when people say this but is this valid in English or valid just for speaking?

Can anybody shed some light on this?


texts: I want a synonym for all-hands meeting. Can anyone please help?


texts: Adverb for indicating the coming statement being more important than the previous one

texts:
I am working on an academic text, specifically in the conclusions section, where I am stuck trying to formulate something like this:

  "we have demonstrated a new model for X using Y and Z. Additionally and [>>missing word/idiom<<] , we show different ways to utilize such a model and evaluate the predictive performance of the model by ..."

So the idea I am trying to convey here is: yes, we show a new model, that's cool, but what's more important here is that we show an alternative way of using this model, which would give more utility since it avoids certain shortcomings.

I thought about synonyms of important, but I am having a difficult time finding a balance between stressing the importance of the second sentence and completely disregarding the first sentence.

I hope it's clear enough, otherwise I'll try to elaborate more


texts: The Copyeditor's Handbook says this is not a suspended compound

texts:
The Copyeditor's Handbook says:

In a phrase like

"ten-to-fifteen-minute traffic delays," the "ten to fifteen" constitutes a unit — an approximation of length of the backup — and it is therefore not a suspended compound.

I was always taught to write it as:

ten- to fifteen-minute traffic delays
(with a space after the hyphen in
"ten-").

Do you agree with The Copyeditor's Handbook with its version:
ten-to-fifteen-minute traffic delays?

Thank you.


texts: When did the term "flip flop" displace the term "thong" in North America for a type of sandal?

texts:
To Australians like me "thong" means a kind of sandal such as recently repopularized by the Havaianas brand but we know it means a kind of G-string in other English-speaking parts of the world.

To most English-speaking people in the 21st century it seems "flip flop" (or "flip-flop") is the term for the sandal-like footwear.

But several times I've come across suggestions that "thong" used to be used for this kind of sandal in North America.

I'm pretty sure I came across it in the novel A Confederacy of Dunces, written in 1960s New Orleans. But perhaps it was in another American novel from that era.
There's this comment on the talk page of the Wiktionary "thong" entry:

  Note: Usage in U.S., particulary Southern California. (Prior to 1980's, perhaps later). Thong is exclusively footware (sandal), not related to undergarments or bathing suits. The usage of thong as G-string (bathing suit or underwear) is post 1980's?

Etymonline states that flip-flop meant "thong sandal," by 1972; but for thong states:

  As a kind of sandal, first attested 1965; as a kind of bikini briefs, 1990.

As an amateur etymologist and lexicographer I'm very interested to know:

During which years and which parts of North America were flip flops called thongs?
Does anybody still call them thongs anywhere in North America?
Did flip flops only replace thongs due to the latter term picking up the new sense of G string around the 1980s / 1990s?

Or to put it in a single question, What is the history of the term thong as a kind of sandal in North American English?


texts:
When you lose the both sides.
(Consider this literally translated Idiom:  "I'm now a two-heads-burned wood.")

I don't mean lose-lose situation.
It's the antithesis of "hitting two targets with one bullet" (I know I'm wrong in saying this one too).

E.g. (for the original question) one of your friends asks you a favor, parallel another friend asks you another favor. If you choose to help only one of them, any, you will do it for sure. Now you choose to help both, then you become unsuccessful on both, and now they're chagrined of you.

Now, after this failure on both sides, you call yourself "I'm a two-heads-burned wood."

No, it's not the duplicate of what Tymek said.


texts: To make this sentence clearer shall I use a colon?

texts:
In the following sentence as an example, the speaker meets two strangers that happen to be a fox and a cat.
As he turned a corner, he came face to face with two strangers, a fox and a cat.
Should the comma be changed to a colon in order to indicate that the only strangers are the fox and the cat? Otherwise, it sounds like he is meeting 4 'people'.


texts:
It is irritating me.
It is irritating to me.
Which one is correct?
Does the word "irritating" work as an  adjective in my second one sentence?


texts:
I looked up both lambast and lambaste in several dictionaries, but came up with no conclusions about which one is AE and which BE (if this distinction can ever be made). Moreover, the different spelling entails different pronunciations: lambast [læmˈbæst] vs lambaste [læmˈbeɪst].

The Macmillan Dictionary s.v. states that this verb is mainly used in journalism, so I suppose that it's a relatively recently-formed word.

Are there any diatopic variations between the two forms? That is, is one  mainly British and the other mainly American?

If there are no such variations, which one is more correct or widespread in terms of pronunciation and spelling?


texts:
I know there's a thread on this already but I can't find the answer there, I'd appreciate any insight!

It's a tricky one. "I prefer to travel by train to by car" Is it right? The "...to by..." feels wrong. Is there maybe an implied infinitive or something else before the second choice, implied in by the use of "by", so that "I prefer to travel by train than by car" is actually right because one is sensing "I prefer to travel by train than (to travel) by car" or "I prefer to travel by train (rather/more) than by car"?

The "prefer....than..." form feels best to me, but is the real answer that we have to dump the "by" altogether and say "I prefer to travel by train to car?" so that we can use the "prefer....to...." form for nouns, as the rule tells us to? But that doesn't sound quite right? Is the whole sentence just barking up the wrong tree or trees!

Which is it? What does anyone think? Thanks for your help, because I need to decide whether the first version - "I prefer to travel by train to by car" - is right or wrong. It seems wrong to me, but I can't say exactly why!


texts: What does the phrase "in a cautionary tale of...gravitational pull" mean?

texts:
Today’s New York Times (April 12), in an article titled, “A Condo, High-Profile Residents and a $40,000 Bill,” reports that celebrity photographer, Ken Nahoum, and his partner with whom he owns penthouses in Soho, are being sued by the condominium for arrears of common charges and late fees.

Reading this article, I was struck by the expression,

  In a cautionary tale of the gravitational pull that one owner can have on a building...

which seemed to be simply saying “dishonorably.”

This expression sounds pretty euphemistic to me, and I feel like I'm just “scratching itch by all fingers through the sole of a shoe," as a popular Japanese saying goes, in trying to understand the phrase. What is this phrase saying, exactly? Is it a "cool" expression? Can someone rephrase it in simpler English?

The complete sentence in question reads (italics mine):

  But Mr. Nahoum has not been so roundly admired inside the confines of 95 Greene. In a cautionary tale of the gravitational pull that one owner can have on a building, Mr. Nahoum and his companion, Basia Milewicz, are being sued in State Supreme Court in Manhattan by the condominium, which says they owe $40,000 in common charges and late fees. Mr. Nahoum and Ms. Milewicz own roughly one-fifth of the building’s interest, so the arrears have forced the condo board to raise charges for everyone else, according to Jesse Newhouse, the board president.


texts:
If the full stop doesn't belong to the quotation, which punctuation option is preferred in British English?

He said, 'I've finished.'
He said, 'I've finished'.


texts: How do you write the opposite of a statement?

texts:
For instance:

"I am joyful."

Is the opposite "I am miserable," or "I'm not miserable"?

The opposite of "I am" is "I'm not" or even "you aren't", and the opposite of "joyful" is "miserable". When writing opposites, do I write the opposite of each part of the sentence? Or only some parts? Obviously the two choices here have totally different meanings.

A longer example:

"I found myself asleep at the desk."

Is the opposite simply "I found myself awake at the desk"?

Or is it something convoluted like "You lost someone else awake apart from the standing station"?

Is it all interpretation? Or is there a rule for opposites?


texts:
I know that Merlin's beard! is an exclamation from Harry Potter which is similar to "Oh Lord!". and it is a common wizarding expression used to show surprise. Can we use it this expression in the muggle world?

I just wanted to know whether it is a proper exclamation which has its own origin and what is the literal meaning of this?

Are there any other exclamations like this?


texts: What is this method of joking about a morbid situation called?

texts:
What word or phrase could be used to describe a joke about something serious or bad? It isn't meant as humor in the typical sense, but as sort of a brave, different flavor of humor between two friends. Something that isnt actually funny, and could be really bad, but I choose to joke about it to dismiss fear. Between two people that accept life's events, and understand being morbid isn't going to change the matter at hand. For example:

"So we found out more about that chest problem my sister got checked for."

"So how long does she have?"


texts: Why is a vehicle's empty weight called its "curb weight"?

texts:
Merriam Webster defines curb weight as:

  the weight of an automobile with standard equipment and fuel, oil, and coolant

Why is this weight called a vehicle's curb weight?


texts: Coordinating conjunction and subordinating conjunction

texts:
The joining-comma rule mentions that two complete clauses may be joined with a comma if the clauses are short or the comma is followed by a coordinating conjunction. So, I suppose that I should write

When I arrived home I fell asleep, for I was exhausted.
When I arrived home I fell asleep because I was exhausted.

However, what puzzles me is that "for" does have a causal (subordinate) role. Here, the logic of the language escapes me. Please, can someone clarify this point?


texts: What is the origin of the idiom "let something rip"?

texts:
I would like to know the origin of the idiom "let something rip".

Does anyone know where this usage came from?


texts: Is it correct to use "All season product" to indicate a product can be used in every season of the year?

texts:
Assuming an hypothetical product, would it be correct to use an description such as "Thermo-adaptable 500 thread all season linen" to describe it?

A small sentence indicating that the product was specially conceived for use all year long (be it during winter or summer) is needed, but I am not sure if the phrase above sounds right for native English speakers, or if there is a better way of conveying the wanted semantics.

Is this use of wording correct?
Thanks


texts:
Here is the sentence:

And you find that you've been training off very nice high-quality images downloaded off the Internet.

What does "is training off" really mean?
Could you please rephrase the sentence?

Can I interpret this sentence as "you've been working on very nice high-quality images downloaded off the Internet" ?


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  When should I use the subjunctive mood?

  The city council has asked a comprehensive survey be performed in order to determine the measures to lessen the serious traffic congestion during rush hours almost everyday.

Could you please explain why "be performed" is used here?


texts: What type of phrase is "Of Unsaid Goodbyes"? Is it grammatically valid for a title of a book?

texts:
Specifically, in what way has "of" been used here?
Is this a common use of the word?


texts: Dreams come true or they are fulfilled. What about 'hopes'?

texts: Let's say things went the way we had hoped they would. Would it be appropriate, then, to say, 'our hopes were fulfilled' or is there a more acceptable or better expression? Apparently, 'things went the way we had hoped...' sounds good enough but I am wondering if there are other patterns or collocations for 'hopes'.


texts: Does one apply "to university" or "to a university"?

texts:
Is one of these more correct?

I will apply to university next year.
I will apply to a university next year.

Also:

I go to university.
I go to a university.


texts: Must or should you use a hyphen in *Turing-complete* and *Turing-completeness?*

texts:
Here's quite a good general answer of when and how to hyphenate. This makes me believe, that Turing-complete is correct, even though most people are not writing it this way.

However, Turing-completeness seems to me to be an extension of Turing-complete—Turing-complete + ness. It's not the completeness of Mr. Turing.

Do I need to get my understanding supplemented here? How?

EDIT:

The answers to To hyphenate or not? don't answer this question.

Is the hyphen in Turing-completeness considered wrong, or not exactly wrong but totally unnecessary? It's hard to put into words, but this compound word has a flair that distinguishes it from a mere compound word that combines two nouns, and I feel urged to express this with a hyphen, just like in the compound word Turing-complete.


texts:
As a non-English speaker, it's sometimes hard to determine what style of a verb is meant in sentences written/said by native speakers of English.

For example, there are ergative verbs in English.
My question is how to determine a given verb in a sentence is an ergative verb or not? Should I match it with a list of those ergative verbs? Is there such a list?

As an instance, is evaluate an ergative verb?


texts: My friend and I were both arguing over this. I always thought a buffet referred to style of a restaurant in which food was mass produced and served in large containers, not necessarily having to be "all you can eat". My friend thought that the word buffet itself means all you can eat. So which one of us right?


texts: Meaning of 'Where free speech is less an idea than an experience'

texts: Recently, I was looking for articles about freedom of speech and came across one article. Its title was 'Where free speech is less an idea than an experience'. The expression 'something is less a something than a something' was difficult to understand. Can the title of the article equated with 'where free speech is an experience rather than an idea'?


texts: Expression for straight male who prefers the company of gay men

texts:
We used to call women who preferred the company of gay men as

  "fag hags"

What are straight men who prefer the company of gay men called? I found nothing on the internet, unless you count Urban.


texts:
I've been doing a translation for an article and it occured to me that I don't know a one-word antonym for the word 'cheapest'.
I tried googling it, and the best suggestion I got was 'expensive', but that's not right since 'the most expensive' is the proper antonym. And it's not a one-word antonym!
I understand that it's how the degrees of comparison work with different words, but is there really no direct one-word antonym?

The context is:

  After an aesthetic surgery, Lette becomes a success model that is unanimously accepted by the consumerist society in which everything is for sale, and the prettiest package sells _______ (antonym of 'cheapest')

It's from a commentary describing a play by Marius von Mayenburg (Der Hässliche (The Ugly One) in case anyone is interested).


texts: In England and other 24-hour-clock places, is it valid/common to say "sixteen o'clock" etc.?

texts:
I just heard Winnie-the-Pooh claim that his clock (which doesn't seem to function at all) is "sixteen o'clock".

I assume that this was meant as a joke by the silly old bear.

However, they do have a 24-hour-format in England, where the series is set, so it made me wonder if they do say things like that there.

What I'm asking is if they continue after "12 o'clock" and go "13 o'clock" and so on or if they say "1 PM" or whatever 13:00 is in the perpetually confusing 12-hour clock format?


texts:
For the sentence mentioned below, which verb form (singular or plural) of "cost" fits correctly into the blank space and what is your reason for it:

"Every pale tomato slice, wilted pickle, and brown lettuce leaf [cost/costs] an extra 25 cents at Bernie's Burger Emporium."

I'm aware that "every" would take a singular verb in every case. However, does this still hold true when multiple entities are connected by the coordinating conjunction "and"?

Would your answer change if I write something like this:

"Every item 1, every item 2, and every item 3 [cost/costs] an extra . . ."


texts:
What is the correct way to say I will learn the subject XYZ which is a part of the program ABC?

Is it "I will learn marketing strategies in the MBA program" or "I will learn marketing strategies during the MBA program"?


texts: Is there a linguistic term for pronouncing card as "kerd" or hard as "herd"?

texts:
I notice this in some people from Northern Illinois and Iowa and am wondering if this is a well documented phenomenon.

What most Americans would pronounce as "ar" is instead pronounced as something like "err" or "ærr". This applies to words like are, car, card, hard, barn, yard, etc.

Edit: I do not mean to imply that this phenomenon is exclusive to Illinois and Iowa.


texts: Referring to figures other than with "as depicted in"

texts:
I’m currently writing my first English scientific paper and am repeatedly using as depicted in when referring to a figure or table in the text.

Can you tell me some alternatives to that phrase?


texts: Another term for divine beings that predates the Gods

texts:
I'm writing a small mythology in which I have two separate types of divine entities combine to give birth to the first gods.  I strongly suspect one of these divine entities will be named Titans.  However, I need a separate and distinct term for the second type of divine being, ideally pulling from mythologies of the past.

Ideally the term would be associated more with creativity and/or the ability to generate something new, as that's the defining trait of the 'mother' of the gods.  A term for a divine being associated with mothering would also work, though theoretically I'd rather emphasis creativity then specific mothering.  Still, I'd settle for any good term for a divine being that predates, and in some ways is greater then, the gods.


texts: Is the phrase 'have something down' the same as 'have something down pat'?

texts:
Once we have the functional mechanics down, we’ll customize the display of fields using properties and then using richer data templates for the edit, add, and display modes.

This sentence is extracted from a tech book titled 'Silverlight 4 in action'.


texts: What is another way of saying "unprofessional"?

texts:
I am marking undergraduate papers and I've been asked by Dep. Head to avoid using the term "unprofessional" to refer to students' reports.

What is another nicer (but accurate) way of saying a report, due to the wrong choice of words or simply syntactical errors, is unprofessional?


texts: In my standard college dictionary "uniformalize" is listed as rare, while "uniformize" is not listed at all, yet wikipedia is the opposite.


texts: Why do we use "at" in the phrase "good at [doing]"

texts:
In English, why do we use "at" in phrases such as "good at [doing something]", "terrible at [doing something]", etc.?
I'm trying to think of an example of how "at" is similarly used in other contexts, to shed light on this, but I'm coming up blank.


texts: When YOU say 'you', instead of 'I' - what is that?

texts:
What is the name of the mechanism when YOU say 'you', instead of 'I' when YOU'RE talking about yourself, but with someone else?

The capitalised instances above serve as an example of what I'm talking about :)


texts: English equivalent of Polish "An ox forgot [how it was] when it was a calf"

texts:
"An ox forgot [how it was] when it was a calf" is used to describe a person that has no mercy/is harsh on someone younger when he makes a mistake. Generally speaking, the older one pretends to be Mr. Know-it-all despite the fact that he also made the same mistake, or generally made mistakes, when he was younger. How can we say the same thing in English?

EDIT
Because there is no direct translation: if I said this idiom to you (that has never heard it before) would you get the meaning?


texts: Meaning of the verb to change when it is used in a properly intransitive way and not simply omitting the reflexive pronoun

texts:
What does the verb to change mean when there is no object (not even implicit) as opposed to simply omitting the reflexive pronoun?
For example:
Do you want to change? vs Do you want to change yourself?
It was said that

He is not asking if you want to change an object, but if you want to
change. (This distinction applies whether you say you want to change
your wife, your habits, your mind or yourself — they are all
'objects' in terms of this question - objects, as opposed to
subjects).

and that

‘Do you want to change?’ is by no means the same as ‘Do you want to
change yourself?’ - which is very like to ‘Do you want to change your
wife?’.
A wish to change is an holistic qualitative state of mind, and the
reply ‘how much?’ and ‘in what respect?’ are quantitative, and
analytic respectively, answering quite different inquiries, whatever
the linguistics we can summon to dispute it.

I am not actually understanding the difference in meaning. I was always presuming that the reflexive pronoun was left implicit and was ommited.


texts: Do I have to precede a quotation with a comma if the quotation is preceded with "to"?

texts:
I'm writing a blog post and wanted to figure out if the following sentence was grammatically sound.

  Our Sketch above takes a parameter k which roughly translates to "How many users do you want to keep in the Sketch?"

Am I missing a comma? Is the correct form actually

  Our Sketch above takes a parameter k which roughly translates to, "How many users do you want to keep in the Sketch?"


texts: What is the word for "a series of two related works"?

texts: Here dilogy is defined as "a series of two related works". I can't shake off the feeling that there is a more commonly used word for this. Is there? If yes, what is it?


texts:
I'm writing an academic text in American English. I'm not sure about the compound words:

  DB-9 connector
      end-of-packet
      16-bit registers
      Avalon-MM slave interface
      RS-232 interface
      Bidirectional full-duplex communication
      MSB (bit 7)
      transmitted LSB (bit-0) first
      endofpacket or end-of-packet?
      32-bit system
      provability-checking algorithm
      the model checker (or "the model-checker")?
      I / O, i/o or I/O ?
      base-case or basecase or base case?

I feel it's difficult to know where to place the hyphen, if anywhere.


texts:
This has always confused me. I've always spelled it "moustache", but my browser's spell checker claims the correct spelling is "mustache". From what I've seen around the Internet, people seem to use both.

What is the proper spelling? Are both acceptable?


texts: one of the definitions of the word "correspondent" is a person with whom one converses through writing: is there a corresponding ;-) word for a person with whom one converses vocally (either in person or via telecommunications)?


texts: Something as an "antechamber" for something else

texts:
In Italian there is the expression "something as an antechamber for something else", meaning something can precede and somehow cause something else.

For example:

  Data show prisons are far from being places to rehabilitate criminals into society. For many young offenders, in fact, jail only represents an antechamber for more serious crimes.

or

  Steam, the famous video game seller, now allows its customers to try a new game for a limited amount of time, hoping the rent would work as an antechamber for a purchase.

Now, while an English reader would probably understand what I am saying, I couldn't find this idiom anywhere. Is there any other idiom or metaphor that would allow one to express this same idea?


texts:
Consider the following sentence:

  Anna delayed, but did not prevent the rise of the Borg.

vs.

  Anna delayed, but did not prevent, the rise of the Borg.

Which is more correct and why? Both sound somewhat off to me, and I'm not too sure how the clause mechanics work in this case.


texts: What is a good word for "unable to be usefully applied"?

texts:
What is a good word for when something is theoretically correct but not useful in a real world context?

E.g, it's often said that "drinking water burns calories" but it actually turns out that after drinking cold water, your body warming that water up burns something like a dozen calories...not exactly "much."

So that advice is said to be?


texts: Does "Here's an example" end a paragraph, or continue it?

texts:
After explaining something you wish to give an example.  You write "Here is an example."

Is "Here is an example." the last line of the paragraph explaining the idea or is it the first line in the next paragraph?

I can't imagine that the example would itself be included with the explanation.  It would be too long and is seems like such a natural place to break.


texts: Future Continuous and Perfect Continuous tenses in Passive Voice

texts:
I've read a lot of books/articles which says that Future Continuous in Passive Voice and  Perfect Continuous in Passive Voice are not possible, but there are some examples of such combinations at this page. Also there are some samples of Future in the Past in Passive Voice.

So my question is it valid to put following tenses in passive voice?

Perfect Continuous
Future Continuous
Future in the Past Tenses (all of them)


texts: Americans can eat Chinese, but Chinese can't eat Americans?

texts:
No offence!! Please take it just for knowledge. I heard one of my friends saying Americans can eat Chinese but Chinese can't eat Americans. He said so for fun, and everybody was just laughing. But I want to know how the English language comes into the picture.

One thing, I guess, is that there is a game of plurals. Where Chinese in singular and plural has same letters, but not American?

P.S Of course, it was about Chinese food.


texts: Word to describe things that run after each other

texts: Is there a word to describe tasks that need to "run one after the other"? My current choice is sequentially, but feel there is a better word.


texts: Synonymous idiom for "A stopped clock is right twice a day"

texts:
"A stopped clock is right twice a day" is an idiom that means that no person is ever wrong about everything 100% of the time. A stopped clock is pretty useless in most cases, but despite that, it will be right twice a day: the time it stopped, in 12 hour increments.

It's been applied to people, news media sources, government officials, and everything in between.

Are there similar idioms with the same meaning?


texts:
Is this phrasing correct and acceptable?

  Here are Joe’s and my bicycles

I am describing two bicycles, one owned by Joe and one owned by myself.


texts:
Which one of these questions is correct or both?

A

  With whom do you watch movies?

B

  Whom do you watch movies with?


texts:
I want to convey an concept that the world cannot possibly care one way or the other.

  Karma does not exist. Society is neutral it doesn't care either way about what happens with your life. You are the only person who controls it.

I once hears such a word but I forgot it.


texts: Does "within an hour" mean before, after, or both?

texts:
Does within mean before or after? Or does it mean both? For example,

  Do not drink or eat within an hour of these pills.


texts: What is correct in English - "I am sorry it took so long" vs "I am sorry that it took so long"

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Are there rules about using “that” to join two clauses?

"I am sorry it took so long"
"I am sorry that it took so long"

Are both of these sentences correct? If so, what is the difference between them?


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  “Instant” vs. “instantaneous”

I know there is a similar question already answered, but I still have doubts. I was doing a word formation FCE exercise where I had to form an adverb from the word instant in the following sentence.

  The artists created their own style and use of colours, which is
  instantly/instantaneously recognisable.

Is instantly the adverb I should use?


texts: Is "thankyou" acceptable as a single word?

texts:
I was doing a small piece of language translation in Google Translate, and it detected the use of "thankyou" in the text and asked "do you mean - thank you".

Is the single word version - thankyou - an aberration?


texts: What is the word for either reading or listening to books?

texts:
When I ask someone whether they have read a certain book, they often reply with something along the lines of: "Yes. Well, actually I listened to the audio book". Or vice versa.

What is the verb that I could use that would

cover the meaning of either reading or listening to the book and
make sense to the vast majority of people?

The word would fit in to the following blank:

  Have you ____ Mastery by Robert Greene?


texts: In which context does "anticipated" mean "came or took place before"?

texts:
In the New Oxford American Dictionary I read that one of the meaning of anticipate is come or take place before (an event or process expected or scheduled for a later). In which context is anticipate (or anticipated) understood to have that meaning?

  (?) The meeting has been anticipated to this morning.


texts: In what conditions should the negative of a " that-clause" move to the main clause?

texts:
I don't think they can win.
I know they can't win.

In the " that-clause",
why does the first example use the affirmative, yet the second one use the negative?
I guess the verb "can" or "can't" is bound by the subject and the main verb in the main clause, but I'm not sure.


texts: Expression for "making a big incident/problem as a minor one"

texts:
Can someone help me finding an expression for "making a big incident/problem as a minor one" by ignoring it or taking it casually?

I want to insist someone to concentrate on the main incident when they deliberately try to ignore the core point and hang on to trivial things.


texts:
I know it's weird, but I am just curious.  Tomorrow is Christmas Eve.  And today is the eve of tomorrow.
Is it proper grammar to say that today (December 23) is Christmas Eve Eve?


texts: Is there a word or phrase to describe someone sitting with their legs tucked?

texts:
Is there a word or phrase (would prefer word) to describe someone sitting with their legs tucked. I'm not sure if this makes sense, but what I'm attempting to convey is that they are not outstretched but rather, sort of in an X position. (your legs are not under you.)

I'll give you an example to make it easier to comprehend.
Envisage you had to eat with a handful of people from one large plate(a basin), you would all have to encircle this basin in order to eat, so you would all have to readjust the way you sit.. and that is what I'm alluding to.. 'the X position'.. more or less crossed.

The reason I ask is, I was watching sport news the other day, and they said 'Chelsea are sitting comfortably at the top'. In my language, we would say they sat (in that X position) which would imply to comfort and control.

I hope I made sense..
Thank you
(ah, It just came to mind, the way you sit if you would mediate maybe?)


texts: I have read the rules for using im- versus un- and agree with the general ideas put forth.  A word that I used recently, seems to fall into a category all its own.  The word is (im)provable, meaning not provable.  I Provable is an adjective, so is the opposite of provable (un)provable or (im)provable?  If it is (im)provable, that violates another meaning of the word, ie:  something that can be improved.  Or should it be nonprovable?


texts:
is this phrase incorrect : has been fascinating me  ?
because when I had looked on google I came across this example only : has fascinated me !
is fascinate then a stative verb ?


texts: Should there be a comma in the quote "At the end everything will be alright"?

texts:
Needless to state, the comma wouldn't be necessary if you were to say

  Everything will be alright at the end

But what if you were to state

  At the end everything will be alright

Surely there is a pause between the word 'end' and 'everything', so would it be better to insert a comma between them?


texts:
I'm looking for the origin of this phrase: "Baby needs a new pair of shoes!"  (Or "Mama needs a new pair of shoes" or "Daddy needs a new pair of shoes").

You see it in movies and television as a phrase gamblers use before a dice throw, begging for a good result.  Does someone know where this phrase originated?  Googling shows it in reference to craps players as early as 1914.  Does anyone have anything earlier or more definitive?  Is it strictly craps slang?


texts: Use of "still" in a reply in informal conversation

texts: In informal conversation, in answer to the question, "What happened?" would it be correct to reply, "Nothing still important"? (Meaning nothing that is still important to discuss now; the topic lost its importance).


texts: What are the differences between "allegories", "fables" and "parables"?

texts:
My concept of the three is:

Allegory: A story in which ideas are symbolized as people.
Parable: A short story designed to teach a moral or religious lesson.
Fable: A short story in which animals or objects speaks a story, to teach a moral or religious lesson.

If these concepts of mine are correct then can we say that every fable is a parable but the vice-versa may not be true? Can we relate the idea of the allegory likewise? Or am I wrong completely?


texts:
The water will gradually evaporate leaving the sugar juice to solidify in the pan

The ambiguous part to me is at the phrase: leaving the sugar... Is that a compound sentence of a clause (The water... evaporate) and a gerund phrase (leaving the sugar...) which elided the conjunction AND between them? Or it is a simple sentence, the gerund phrase play some kind of grammatical role after the verb evaporate. Which grammar rule do you think about that sentence? Please explain.


texts:
Which sentence is more grammatically correct?

  He is being tried on what look like trumped-up charges.
  He is being tried on what looks like trumped-up charges.


texts: Word or Phrase for Smart and Difficult to work with

texts:
A coworker and I are having a discussion about a very smart person we work with who is also very difficult to deal with.

We both feel like there is a word or phrase out there to describe this type of individual. Someone you both respect for their intellect and dread having to work with because of their attitude.

The famous character Doctor House would personify this word we're looking for.

Edit:
To be clear my coworker and I are hoping to use this word or phase as an inside joke at work. The word or phrase can be rude but must also be Safe For Work (SFW).

I'm looking for something that merges the meanings of brilliant and infuriating.

Example: "I always hear about Jeff being really smart but a real pain to deal with or a ___________ for short."


texts: Is there a word for somebody who's fond of hard alcohol as opposed to beer or wine?

texts:
I'm currently writing a birthday invitation in which I want to state that I'll also provide hard alcohol for those who prefer it over beer.  Is there a word to describe people with this preference?

As it will be in an invitation, I'd prefer a word that comes across as witty and sophisticated without a pejorative tone.


texts: Should I write "repartee" with an accent?

texts:
Does repartee need an accent with it in writing? Also, what does it mean?

Edit: Can you please provide an example sentence or two? I'd really appreciate it!


texts:
The following passage is quoted from Virginia Woolf's suicide note to her husband.  What exactly does the phrase "all that anyone could be" mean?

  You have given me the greatest possible happiness. You have been in every way  all that anyone could be. I don't think two people could have been happier till this disease came.

Does that sentence mean "You have been everything to me in every way possible"?


texts: If unity is the state of being one and trinity the state of being three, what is the word for the state of being two ?


texts: Etymology of 'just' as an adverb and its French connection

texts:
Just (adj.):

  late 14c., "righteous in the eyes of God; upright, equitable, impartial; justifiable, reasonable," from O.Fr. juste "just, righteous; sincere" (12c.), from L. iustus "upright, equitable,"

Just (adv.):

  "merely, barely," 1660s, from M.E. sense of "exactly, precisely, punctually" (c.1400), from just (adj.), and paralleling the adverbial use of Fr. juste.

What does paralleling the adverbial use of Fr. juste mean? Were the different senses of just concocted in French and then carried over to English every now and then (after its use as an adjective had already been integrated into the latter)?

I am also interested in how the adverb evolved from meaning exactly to merely, two words which seem slightly at odds with each other.


texts:
The Presidential candidate seems to have resurrected the adverb bigly, the most recent example of which that the OED is able to quote being from 1927.

I am, though just wondering in which sense he was using it. The OED has two senses:

1)With great force; firmly, violently; (also) stoutly, strongly, the most recent example from 1913.

2)Loudly, boastfully; proudly, haughtily, pompously., the most recent example from 1927.

The Seattle Times quotes Susan Lin,  an assistant professor in linguistics at the University of California-Berkeley [as saying]that people who study sounds used in speech have determined Trump is actually saying “big league”: note the velar pinch and the stop closure/burst.

What does Mr Trump mean by bigly or big league? I think we should be told.


texts: Is there an English term for the concept of making grumpy noises like; "bah"?

texts:
In Swedish there's a word "fnysningar" which means "disaproved sniffs". I'm trying to think of a similar concept in English and I'm reminded of Christmas Carrol and Scrooge McDuck disapprovingly saying:

  Bah, humbug!

Is there a word for the concept of sounding out disapproval in this manner?


texts:
Consider this sentence: "I wish you a merry Christmas and a happy New Year 2019."

Is this correct gramatically? The "2019" feels a bit tacked on to me, but I need to mention it in some way in this particular scenario.


texts: Short i stressed and unstressed in English accents without weak merger

texts:
According to all English vowel chart, there is only one short i sound, so, it is the same sound in posItion and in rosEs, in the accents without the weak merger ?
Thanks


texts: Is there a word or concise phrase for this type of question?

texts:
Some questions appear clear, but are deceptively difficult to define, and their answer is very sensitive to the exact technical definition of the question, in such a way that it renders the original question almost meaningless.

What would you call such a question?

Examples

How many islands are there in Denmark?

According to wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denmark#Geography_of_Denmark), there are 72 inhabited islands, 443 named islands, and 1419 islands above 100 square meters.  However, it does not list how many islands there are in total, since it is so hard to define what constitutes an island. Some islands would be extremely small, and others tidal. Islands are created and destroyed by geothermal activity so you would have to specify a time or take it as the time of asking.  Also, sometimes a peninsula (e.g. Jutland) may be considered an island if it is separated from the mainland by rivers.

How many words are there in English?

It depends on which dictionary you look at

What proportion of the laws of the United Kingdom are made in the European Union?

This was a subject of an article on the BBC's Radio 4 programme 'More or less'.  It is difficult to define what is a law, since there are statutory instruments and various regulations that may or may not be counted.  Also, some laws implement European Union law, others just refer to it.  I believe the program said the total could be between 7-50%, depending on your definition.


texts: Can a prepositional phrase be the direct object?

texts:
We're covering grammar in English I, and we just got to gerunds. In one of the exercises, I had the sentence "Pilgrims learned about planting crops from the Wampanoags." I'm supposed to find the gerund, and identify its subject in the sentence.

I thought that the gerund would be "planting crops". When I was trying to find its function in the sentence, I used a method my teacher gave me; asking "verb what?" to identify the direct object. This gives "learned about planting crops".

I was wondering, would the function of "planting crops" in the sentence be the object of a preposition, or would the whole prepositional phrase be the direct object (since the gerund acts as a noun).

Or, do I have the whole thing horribly wrong in the first place? =)

Thanks!

evamvid


texts: What is the difference between "there + be" and "there exist/s"?

texts:
Consider the sentence "There exists no language or dialect in the world that cannot convey complex ideas."

"There exists" is beyond my comprehension because I only know of many forms of "there + be" structures such as "there has been..., there have been..., there was/were...., there is/are..., there will be....

My question is: what is the difference between "there + be" and "there exist/s"? The word "exist" is an intransitive verb, so may an intransitive verb be used with "there". Can you give me more examples where an intransitive verb other than 'exist' is used after "there"?


texts: "Benefit" is to "pro" as what is to "con"?


texts: I came across this work in my work,  I am not sure which one to use for a screen menu in our application, "pre-booking" or "booking". This menu will allow users to book their work schedule in advance. Is there any difference between the two ?


texts: What is the meaning of the expression "it will do you in"? I came across this sentence: if you are not careful, it will do you in.


texts: Ending a sentence with "has it" or "did it" in a sarcastic statement, what's this called?

texts:
E.g. 1:

"Oh, that joke about a pandemic has aged like fine wine, hasn't it?"

E.g. 2:

"Yes, I suppose we did, didn't we?"

I've noticed alot of people from the UK tend to speak in a manner like this, so I'm supposing there's a name for it, and rules for its usage along with many other interesting examples of said usage ... and so on, and so on. You know, like Brits tend to do.

I would say it's just a rhetorical statement/question/device (thing), but I haven't seen any other examples of sentences like this poking around the web.

Please enlighten me, I'm bored and stuck sheltering in place.


texts: Is it correct to say "Let's go to see your grandma"?

texts:
My 7-year-old daughter's English textbook has the following conversation:

  Son: What day is today?
  Mother: It's Saturday. Let's go to see your grandma.

Is "go to see" here correct? Should it be "go see"?


texts: "Ecosystem" or "eco-system" to describe something non-biological?

texts: If "ecosystem" (no hyphen) is defined as "a system formed by the interaction of a community of organisms within their environment," should "eco-system" (hyphenated) be used to describe a system formed by the interaction of a community of non-biological (say, electronic) elements within their environment? or does it matter?


texts: What do you call a response which does not address the question?

texts:
When some one is asked a question, sometimes if they are trying to avoid answering the question, they respond with something unrelated. What is the word for that response?

Eg. A: Why were you late?
    B: This bagel tastes good.

What I am looking for is the name of that response, not the action.


texts:
I am not sure which one is the correct one:

  A: I am hungry of knowledge.
  B: I hunger of knowledge.
  C: I am hungry for knowledge.
  D: I hunger for knowledge.

But my feeling says that A and B are the correct ones.


texts: Newspaper headlines + is it possible to use present perfect?

texts:
I've found these two sentences in newspaper headlines and there are two things I am not sure about:

  Haas beats  Wawrinka
  Tommy Haas claimed the biggest win of the season against Wawrinka. He beats #3 in the World 5-7/ 6-2/ 6-3 and reach the quarterfinal in Rome. On the Foto is Tommy with a icepack after the match. Now he has 1.45 hours rest before the doubles start.
  Source

Do I understand it right that there could be has claimed but because of newspaper style—it is perfect to use shorter past simple? Is it the same like: Three people killed in a car accident? Present perfect would be possible as well but it would be too long for this purpose.

  Federer forgets he's won the match.
  source

This surprised me a lot. I thought it wasn't possible to use the present perfect in headlines.

Why do you think the writer decided to use that tense? Was it for emphasis?

For me it is an unusual combination  to use the present simple (forgets) and then the present perfect in newspaper headlines. The first is used to keep headlines short; however, in this case it doesn't make sense as it is followed by the longer present perfect construction.

The last thing is that I am not sure whether it is possible to switch tenses whenever I want. I´ll give you an example:

  Headline:

  Federer beats Djokovic in the 2nd round

  The article

  Federer has been beaten by Djokovic for the third consecutive time and will not defend his Wimbledon crown. Djokovic beats him easily and didn't allow him any break.

The thing I am not sure about is whether journalists can switch from one tense to another, see the following example:  "Djokovic beats.."  or whether it is acceptable to do so only  in the headlines?


texts: Word to describe sending an out of date email after spending a long time composing it

texts:
I sometimes spend a chunk of time (lets say 30 minutes) composing an email which, when I've checked it, I send. My next step is almost always to re-check the inbox. Occasionally I discover that whilst I was composing the email, the situation to which the email relates has moved on and the email I sent is now inaccurate.

The same word might also apply to a scientist who spends perhaps years doing research and then publishes, without checking that the assumptions his work is based on are still correct.

The upshot of the situation would be the need to issue a rapid update to the email/work to correct it.

UPDATE: Thanks for the answers so far. I think that 'obsolete' describes the situation that the work (or email) finds itself it. Could also be 'superceded'. Also liked E-moot.

However, I think that 'scooped' comes closest to what I was after. I'm really looking for a word which describes the experience of the person having done the work that is now obsolete (superceded or E-moot). As in "Jack was left feeling ?????? on realising his carefully constructed email was rendered obsolete by Tim's reply sent 5 minutes earlier".

Something that combines 'scooped' with 'deflated' might fit the bill.

It's probably adding to much to say that the feeling of deflatedness is caused in no small part by the knowledge that if less time had been spent on spelling, grammar and formatting, the work could have been sent/published whilst still relevant.

UPDATE 4/4/14: Got to say that "Ninja'd" comes closest to what I'm after. It combines the notion that I was beaten by someone with superior speed with the feeling of being phyiscally assaulted. If this does have a basis in internet culture then all the better. Nuts to the scientists. "Ninja'd" also addresses the 'too much time spent on formatting etc.' requirement since it suggests whoever Ninja'd me was possible more efficient or focussed.

Really enjoying this SE site - thanks everyone.


texts: Can "to revolve around" mean "to deal with/pertain to"?

texts:
... around which the book revolves.

Can I use this expression to say that the book is dealing with a subject, addressing an issue, or talking about something?

I'm open to suggestions if there is a better way to put it.


texts:
Let us say I frame a sentence as follows:

  Is there any way around this problem?

I want to convey the feeling that bypass, or trick without actually using the problem, without actually dealing with it.

P.S.: It may so happen that my actual sentence does not convey this feeling either. I am learning English and am new to it.


texts: How could I explain this situation in email?

texts:
My PM given me project and told me develop new project using existing code, but existing project is not good written. I mean they written very difficult code for very simple things.

I am quiet confuse, how could i write in mail that the existing project is not worth using.

Please help me..


texts: Unusual adjective position and evolution of Present perfect

texts:
In English, an adjective is usually placed on the left side of the noun it describes. But there are some exceptional phrasings here and there.

  I had so great a time.

The English present perfect tense probably evolved from being a statement about ownership.

  I have a written book.

could be rearranged to

  I have a book written.

and this slowly shifted focus away from "having" toward "writing" until it was eventually perceived to be a form of the verb "to write". As such the "written" would take the standard place in the verb cluster.

  I have written a book.

This looks very much like the (admittedly a little constructed) first example.

  I had written a book.
  I had so great a time.

My questions are:

Is the structure where an adjective come before the article of the noun a leftover from a time when English sentence structure was more flexible? If not, where does it come from?
Is there any connection between the two sentence structures or is it just pure coincidence?


texts:
What do you call someone who builds fences other than maybe "fence builder"?

Is there a specialized name for that - maybe even archaic?

Example:
A smithy smith works with metal (Correction  @Chris H)
A cooper builds barrels
A wheelwright makes wagon wheels


texts: I think there is a word meaning exactly "first two", but I just cant remember the word.


texts: Words or phrases to state that taking factors into consideration at first place.

texts:
Are there any words or phrases to state that taking factors into consideration at first place?

For example, maybe before I start to write a patent, I take potential rivals, expected costs and profits, target clients into consideration.
How do I express this idea?

Thank you very much!


texts:
As you maybe know, Pokémon Go was released could of days ago. I have been asking couple of question on gaming.se and my last one required me to use the plural of "Pidgey" which is the name of a Pokémon.

Assuming that it is not an irregular noun, what could be his plural? I want to know because of what rule, as English is not my first language and I want to be able to handle my question by myself for the next time.


texts: When and how should I use multiple exclamation marks?

texts:
Now, I never do this, but in some few cases I have seen people use multiple exclamation (or question) marks like this:

Hey!!!

Is that orthographically correct? (Or just okay). In case it is, how many marks are grammatically allowed/accepted?


texts:
I'm not sure if I should leave out quotation marks in names of events. Should it be:

Choir competitions “Legnica Cantat”, “Canti Veris Praga”, “IFAS Pardubice”, “Advent and Christmas Music Festival Praga”, “Folk Festival” in Bratislava, “Tonen 2000 International Choir Festival” and the International Choir Festival "Per Musicam ad Astra" in Toruń, among others.

or

Choir competitions  Canti Veris Praga, IFAS Pardubice, Advent and Christmas Music Festival Praga, Folk Festival in Bratislava, Tonen 2000 International Choir Festival and the International Choir Festival Per Musicam ad Astra in Toruń, among others.

One more example:  International Festival of University Choirs "Universitas Cantat" or International Festival of University Choirs Universitas Cantat? I'm confused, because it seems like leaving it without some quotation marks blurs the difference between a title of an event (Universitas Cantat) and the features of the festival  (International Festival of University Choirs). What do you think about?

I found one source which openly forbids inverted commas in such circumstances (here is the link https://www.wmich.edu/writing/punctuation/quotationmarks), other style guides focus on book titles, names of academic papers etc. I hope you can help me resolve this problem.

Thanks in advance,

Mariusz.


texts: Is it necessary to capitalize the surname if it is used in isolation from the rest of the name (if it is not capitalized within the name itself)?

texts:
On the Wikipedia page for Guillermo del Toro, whenever he is referred to as solely "del Toro" (and the name's not at the beginning of a sentence), the "d" in the name is not capitalized:

On May 30, 2010, del Toro left the project due to extend delays brought on by MGM's financial troubles.

However, on the Wikipedia page for Charles-Gaspard de la Rive, his last name is capitalized when used in a sentence by itself:

In addition, De la Rive was politically active.

Is one of these articles incorrect by capitalizing or not capitalizing the "d" in each of their names, or are there separate reasons as to why one is capitalized and the other is not?


texts: What English word has the most consecutive consonants?

texts: I was driving past the village of Hampsthwaite the other day, and happened to spot the six consecutive consonants in the middle. It set me wondering whether this was the most possible, and if not, which word contains the maximum number?


texts: Is there a word for the class of words used to describe relationships between people?

texts:
I am looking for a way of describing the class of words such as brother, friend, enemy, predecessor, tenant, colleague which describe one person in relation to another, and might be preceded by my, your , his etc.

This would not include word such as idiot, farmer, composer, birdwatcher, author.

It would include words such as teacher in the context "she took an apple for her teacher" but not in the context "Mr Brain is an excellent teacher".

Is there a word or phrase for this?

I want to use it in the phrase:

  The Hebrew word "ebed", meaning "servant" is a  _________ word. It does not mean servant in the sense of a person doing a particular type of job, it means a servant in relation to his master.


texts: Idioms/expression that means something can bring great benefit if used correctly?

texts: I was writing a conclusion and I'm in need of using an idiom with this meaning. I remember there is one (but might be confused with other language's idioms, if so pls correct me) but it seems to have zero results online. If there it none, pls suggest any other phrases/sentences on how to express this meaning.