texts: How to call an email address for email-based submission to a blogging site?

texts:
Many online sites generate a customized address for you like CAeporFsks2373454-submission@myblogging.com. You may write an email to that address and what you write in the body of that email gets published or entered in a database.

Some sites like Trello refer to it as "your email" but it is not 'your' email account (e.g. From: amanda23@hotmail.com) but a dummy electronic mail address you are supposed to write to (To: CAeporFsks2373454-submission@myblogging.com).

How to call an email address for submission?


texts: How to understand the use of the semicolon in the sentence?

texts:
Men, particularly, spend hours of their leisure time installing their own fireplaces, laying out their own gardens; building garages and making furniture.

I do not understand the use of the semicolon (";") after "gardens" in the sentence above, could someone help?

Thanks


texts:
What is the name of the "envelope" that pills come in?

Example: "I recently bought some ___________ of pills that will help me with my headaches".

A photo of the "envelope" is included for reference:


texts: How to talk about a dilemma in the past tense?

texts:
I have this sentence fragment -

prompting my morally dilemmed conscience to become...

Obviously this doesn't sound grammatically correct and I can't find any information about it online. Can anyone help me with a suggestion?


texts: Why isn't the letter 'W' used to describe co-ordinates?

texts:
From my understanding, UV is used to describe the co-ordinates for 2 dimension and XYZ is used to describe the co-ordinates for 3 dimension.

why was the letter 'W' skipped which is between these 2? Is there any reasons pertaining to the English language or there is no real reason for the choice?


texts: What is a "hens party" and where is this phrase commonly used?

texts:
Where does the term come from, where in the world is the term used?

I came across the usage in this article, with this paragraph as quoted:

  Keara O'Neil was on a shopping trip to find bridesmaid dresses for her wedding and a frock for her hens night at the GASP Chapel St store on September 24 when she had a dispute with a sales assistant named "Chris".

So now that I've been sufficiently reminded to use Wiktionary and the like, I see that the reference is rather old to meaning "a women's party" and pretty much to mean the sort of thing where gossiping is expected to be a large part of the event. What I'm curious about now is:

Since I don't hear this a lot in the US in the South, where is this phrase used? How popular is it? Is it considered antiquated? Hyperbole?


texts:
let's face it. More and more people are not saying the silent "g" at the end of swimming, speaking, cooking etc.

When will the "ing" become just "in"?

It's already used in almost every song, because "g" is hard and almost impossible to sing.

Any revolutionary movement to eradicate "ing" and bring "in" into English out there?


texts:
In the following text, is "chance" a verb or a noun?

  Very few did better than chance in spotting which was which.

Could I replace it with "guess"?


texts: Should it be "clotted cream scones" or "clotted-cream scones"?

texts:
I'm eating clotted cream-covered scones.

or

  I'm eating clotted-cream-covered scones.

or

  I'm eating clotted cream covered scones.

Formally, I thought they'd have to be clotted-cream scones, but Grammarly insists they're merely clotted cream scones.

I thought a compound adjective should be hyphenated when it appears before the noun it modifies, but it looks like I'm wrong.

Can anyone tell me what the rule is here, please?


texts: Is there a word in English that refers to the closest relatives (usually the ones who lived with the dead person under one roof) of a recently (approximately no more than 1 month) dead person? Other friends and relatives usually come to such a group of people to comfort them of their loss of someone very precious to them.


texts: What do you call a person who takes a stand on an ideology but has no real practical experience or knowledge of it?


texts: What is the difference between "fine" and "good"?

texts: What is the difference between fine and good? Please suggest the proper usage.


texts:
I'm quite confused right now. I'm not sure if this sentence makes any sense, so please help me out.
Is it correct to say:

  "Before I started looking for suggestions on reddit, I browsed the
  "explore" and "recommendations" section on goodreads."

Or:

  "Before I started looking for suggestions on reddit, I was browsing
  the "explore" and "recommendations" section on goodreads."

I would also love to know which tense I'm using, since figuring that out is one of my weaknesses.


texts: What word means something close to "related by happenstance"

texts:
A program runs on a specific computer. The program and the computer are individually important. However, it is not important that the program run on this particular computer. We have several computers; it could run on any of them. It just ended up on this one because that's where it was installed.

What word describes the relationship between the program and the computer?

Casual and arbitrary are close, but I feel there's a better word that I cannot remember.

Arbitrary and coincidental feel like luck was involved, or it is some manner of accident.


texts: Two left thumbs / Two left hands / two left feet

texts:
I know there is an idiom 'all thumbs' and 'to have two left feet', but is there an idiom with the same meaning as 'all thumbs'? As in 'to have two left thumbs'?

There is a similar idiom in Polish, German, Czech, and Dutch, but it deals with having two left hands. I do get Google hits for 'two left thumbs' with the same meaning as 'all thumbs', but I cannot find it in any dictionary (Urban Dictionary included).

I also get Google hits for "to have two left hands", but I am not sure whether it is appropriate to use it. Since English is a global language, I do not think anyone would have any trouble understanding the idiom. Perhaps English has been influenced by the above languages? As I see it, both native and non-native speakers seem to be using it nowadays, or am I wrong?

My questions are:

Is the idiom "to have two left thumbs" widespread in the English speaking world? What about "to have two left hands"? Is it also legit and widespread there? I can't find any of those in English dictionaries.


texts:
1) How can I use the phrase, "do right by"?

2) And what does it mean exactly when we say that?

3) Can I say, I hope they do right by me? Or I hope he/she does right by me?


texts: Word for 'Understanding future consequences'

texts:
I'm trying to find a word that describes the 'skill' of understanding the future consequences of an action or event, to accurately predict events based on a mental model. Prescience or Foreknowledge don't really work, as they suggest knowing through some magical ability. Many other synonyms don't work either - such as precognition, presage, or foreboding - all for the same reason.

Thank you in advance for help.


texts:
I'm looking for a better way to describe a keyboard and mouse that go together, as part of a set. They might just match aesthetically, or they could share the same USB dongle. Right now I just call it a "keyboard/mouse combo," but that is unwieldy. I checked on a few manufacturers' website, and they just called it a "keyboard + mouse combo" or "k + m combo". I don't like either of those terms because of the symbols (slash and plus sign).

Examples of similar types of words: a collection of forks, spoons, and knives is collectively called "silverware" or "tableware."

A set of special papers, envelopes, or even pens is collectively called "stationery".

I feel like "hardware" isn't specific enough. "Peripheral" is a bit better, but still not specific enough as it could include joysticks, ten-keys, printers, and even monitors.

Something related to the hand might work, since these are the devices that interact with your hand. "Manual input devices" or "hand input devices" are all right except I would still like something shorter, and I don't think people would understand these phrases. Something a lay person could understand is better than jargon.

Words or phrases in actual use are preferred.


texts: Word for setting something to the side and expecting to lose it

texts: I believe I have a word on the tip of my tongue. The closest word I can think of is sacrifice, but does not fit into the context. A situation I am trying to describe is when I allocate five minutes at the start of a one hour meeting purely as waiting for people to show up, take coats off, and the usual mess about that happens at the start. The five minutes is important, but its purpose is to be lost for the greater good of having full attention at the start of the meeting. What would I call this time period?


texts: Sentences ending with something that already contains a period/full-stop

texts:
What's the rule about sentences that end in something that already has a period in it?

Like a sentence that ends in:
Washington D.C. -or- etc.

Personally, and I realise this is wrong, I would love to have two periods - the first being, of course, the mark for the abbreviation and the second being the period/full-stop of the sentence.

I'm guessing that it is just treated as a stone that kills two birds, but I've never heard a definite answer as to how to deal with these.


texts: Is the expression "topping it the ______" really used anywhere?

texts:
I've often read books where English men made statements about others "topping it the knob" or "topping it the gentleman," which I took to mean over playing a role or attitude.

Is this a legitimately used idiom, or is it archaic, or even possibly fabricated?


texts: I'm having a question OR I'm having one question - Which sounds better?

texts:
Can anyone please tell me, what would be a nicer way to ask a single question to a project manager or a team leader?

I'm having a question OR I'm having one question.

Which one is preferable?


texts: A geographical area, inhabited by people but never having had any government

texts:
The question is not, about an area which had had government and has fallen into (or achieved!) anarchy, nor about areas which are considered by the inhabitants to be a settlement in continuation or expansion of some dominant group's former country.

Edit To clarify, the society would be characterized as not having anything beyond family units.

Edit 2 Wilderness, or March, are words which cover some aspects of the idea; and, the word I seek (if such exists) is that which would refer to the area itself, not so much, refer to the characterization of the people living within it.

I appreciate the inputs though!
The closest I can think of is frontier, but that is too broad, imprecise.

~3 July~
From all the thoughtful comments and answers, it would seem that any number of
descriptive phrases could be concocted to serve, perhaps only an archaic word, or a loaner word, might still be thought of.  I am not experienced enough with this site and community to know how far afield the question can wander, since it
is after all a site about the English language.  Cheers!


texts: "Deliberate recluse" or "deliberately reclusive"

texts:
I was touching up my profile when I came upon this:

  Aspiring autodidact, deliberate recluse.

Is the phrase deliberate recluse syntactically correct, or should I use deliberately reclusive instead?


texts: Origin and meaning of "money isn't money isn't money"

texts:
I have recently encountered the expression "money isn't money isn't money" twice. Though I can guess at what it implies, it still seems to me a bit convoluted.

One recent instance was by Chris Sacca at the New York Times/Dealbook Conference:

  The last thing I'd say is money isn't money isn't money. I'll take Bill Gurley's investment at a fifty percent discount to somebody else's investment because I know the impact he's going to have in one of our companies. And I think there will be this kind of quality factor writing stuff out where the best investors add—they materially impact the outcomes for these companies, and it's not going to happen from dentists and lawyers dropping a few coins into all these different pockets. It's going to happen from professionals continuing to help.

I can't remember the context of the other instance. And intensive googling returned just one other occurrence, on a forum.

What is the meaning, origin, relevance, and appropriateness of this expression?


texts: What does the saying, "I don't like to eat what I can't swallow" mean?

texts: My friend said this to me in regards to his girlfriend being older than he is.  I don't understand what the saying means.


texts:
Please consider this sentence "I will not engage in or undertake any other employment, occupation, consulting relationship, or commitment that is directly related to the business in which the Company is now involved."
Does the that ... clause modify the commitment? Or does it modify the employment, occupation, consulting relationship, or commitment?
i.e. Should the English grammar parse the sentence as:
I will not engage in or undertake ((any other employment, occupation, consulting relationship, or commitment) that is directly related to the business in which the Company is now involved).
or
I will not engage in or undertake (any other employment, occupation, consulting relationship, or (commitment that is directly related to the business in which the Company is now involved).


texts: Looking for the most common abbreviation to indicate the end of a working day

texts:
I'm looking for an abbreviation to indicate that I finished work for the day.
Example usage: "I'm going home, its ... for me".

I found some examples on the internet, but I'm wondering what's most common to use.

EOB (end of business)
EOD (end of day)
COB (close of business)
...

Wikipedia (End of Day) uses COB, but Googling didn't give much info about its usage.

EDIT: Context on where I would use it is writing (e-mail). I communicate with different teams in different time zones and it would be a handy way to let people know they don't need to expect a quick response from somebody because that person has already left the office (gone home).


texts:
I have a question regarding word usage when using "trio" in a sentence.

Here's an example sentence:

  The trio tries to find the way but appear to be lost.

Should "tries" be in the third person, or should it remain "try"? The example will apply to other cases in which another word instead of "try" was used, but an answer to this will help clarify this for me in the future.


texts:
Can anyone please provide a simple explanation of the phrase "in before" with some common-usage examples.

Is it appropriate to use this phrase in a context such as "This happened and then this happened in before I realised that I have to do this."?


texts: What is a word that indicates the layout of video feeds/sources on a video wall/screen - planogram?

texts:
Much like a planogram indicates where the placements of retail products should be:

    plan·o·gram
    ˈplanəˌɡram/
    noun
    a diagram or model that indicates the placement of retail
products on shelves in order to maximize sales.

The link above shows a diagram of clothing arrangements on a wall.  Instead of products, think video feed sources.

Could the same word be used to indicate the placement of video feeds on a video wall?

For example, security desk video screens are divided up into however many video feeds exist, and can be resized, or placed in a customized arrangement.

Planogram as well?


texts:
In the Collins, the word "color" itself is countable. In one article which talks about countable and uncountable, the author says "colors" is uncountable. I think the "colors" in the article means specific color such as red, yellow. These words are uncountable.
Here comes my question. If I want to ask what's the color of two dogs, Which one is right, color or colors?
Please help.


texts:
I know that evaluation can refer to both the process and the result, but when you say something is an evaluation of another thing, like fact is evaluation of claim (forgive the choppiness, the sentence is being used for something that requires not necessarily proper English), would you assume:

a)  A fact is used to evaluate a claim

or

b) A fact is the result of evaluating a claim?

I am particularly interested in non-American English answers. Thanks.


texts:
Is the hyphen necessary in cases such as:
lexical-functional grammar
(lexical functional grammar)??


texts: Can I use "US-American" to disambiguate "American"? If not, what can I use?

texts:
Based on this question, I wonder: as an alternative to USAian (which is very nonstandard) is it OK to use US-American to more clearly indicate "inhabitant of the USA"?

According to Google Ngram, this phrase has grown in usage since the 1960's.

The problem I'm trying to solve is that American can relate to either an inhabitant of the American continent(s), or an inhabitant of the United States of America. (In fact, the one Brazilian person I know does refer to himself as American, or at least would like to be able to do so.)

I'm looking for a word that specifically means "inhabitant of the United States of America".

I can see that in German, 'US-Amerikaner' is certainly not uncommon (see e.g. Wikipedia). Also, see also the Wikipedia article Names for United States citizens.

Alternatively, if it turns out that "American" always means an inhabitant of the USA, what word can be used for inhabitants of the continent?


texts:
While writing an essay the other day, I was curious about how to correctly phrase a sentence such as the one below:
"From dogs, to cats and fish, owning a pet can allow for a multitude of mental, physical, and emotional benefits."

Is the grammar in this sentence correct? I am most interested in finding the correct comma placement in a phrase such as "from x to y and z," in which x, y, and z are not necessarily nouns. I recognize that I could change the phrase to "from x to y to z."

Any help would be appreciated.


texts: Is "presumably" in this sentence an interruption or just an adverb?

texts:
... bringing me to Britain to, presumably, be interrogated and executed.

Or

... bringing me to Britain to presumably be interrogated and executed.

The way I see it, presumably can either be interpreted as an interruption or just an adverb in this sentence. If the former, then it should have commas on both sides, as in the first example. If the latter, then no commas. However, both of these examples seem a bit off to me. Which example is correct? And if both are correct, which is most natural?


texts: Is "the better" a noun phrase in this sentence? How to parse this sentence?

texts:
A sentence from this site reads ungrammatical.

  On the sweet side, don’t pass up the walnut coffee cake, which is served warm, the better to soak up the bourbon-caramel glaze.

Is the better a noun phrase in this sentence? Why is it not better to soak up the bourbon-caramel glaze as an adverbial? Is the sentence grammatical? What grammar function does the phrase the better to soak up the bourbon-caramel glaze serve? Is it a modifier to the main clause?


texts:
Need is utilised as a normal and also a modal verb (similar to ‘can’, ‘shall’...).

e.g. I don’t need; I need not.

Is it correct to say need I not or needn’t I for the interrogative form?


texts: Programming concision: "To replace the use of deprecated methods, for more up-do-date methods"

texts:
I was refactoring some old code and a lot of it used deprecated methods which had to be re-written to use more appropriate non-deprecated methods. When writing a changelog, it felt awkward writing such a long sentence.

Is there a word or a less verbose phrase for this?


texts:
How to describe a person that is slow to know people, in chinese we call it 慢
热。
Example when you meet new people , you tent to shy away and not talk much but when you get more familiar with the person you can be chatty.


texts: Bracketed words inserted directly after ellipsis in quotes?

texts:
When omitting text from a quotation and adding text for syntax, is it acceptable to do so in the following way?

“This intellectual rule [natural right] relative to man is accessible to reason only, and it is this law […] [that is] instituted by the supreme Wisdom."


texts:
The goal of ABC is to enable the doctors all around the world to share
  and benefit from the knowledge of (the) others.
  (meaning of other doctors all around the world)

I know that THE OTHERS is used when there is a limited count. But there is always a limited, finite count (people on the world..).
Should there be others or THE others?


texts:
I often hear that in the English language one of the ways to avoid repetition is to use possessive pronouns when possible. I'd like to know if the usage in the sentence below ("ours" as a pronoun for "our world") is correct and clear:

  Many people believe that worlds depicted in fiction should look like
  ours.


texts: Α word describing the guiding of someone by questions

texts:
I am looking for a word that describe the kind of behavior someone exhibits when trying to guide another person to an answer without giving the answer away directly, as in the following, a conversation between a speaker and some other person as the speaker inquires why water droplets form on a glass above a candle flame.

  "Why are there water droplets forming on the glass?" I asked.
  "What are the products of combustion?" She asked ____.
  "Water and carbon dioxide? I see, the droplets are from the water produced by the candle flame."

An adverb is needed for the blank.


texts:
When I saw the word "plurality" being used in a grammar context, I thought they were getting mixed up with election related terminology - winning more votes than anyone else, but not getting a majority - and thought the correct word was "pluralisation".

However, I can see "plurality" used on language-related websites, and in dictionaries.

Is "plurality" a valid word, and if so, what's the difference between it and "pluralisation"?


texts:
Is there a nice way or fancy word to describe the new growing of leaves on a tree?

The word I'm looking for is something like "Leafing" or "Foliaging". I've also come across this, which to me sounds even more ridiculous: Leaf-out or Bud-out.

Any other cool words or creative options to express this?


texts:
What is the difference between the meaning and usage of for ever and forever in British English? From what I could gather from my online research,

  forever means :

  (also for ever) for all future time; for always
  continually

and

  for ever - Oxford has only Eng-Ger, Eng-It and Eng-Sp entries for it(apart from being redirected to forever's definition), Collins says it is an adverb meaning forever.


texts: How do I correctly hyphenate "thousands of years long"?

texts:
I want to refer to a few events that all last thousands of years.

My understanding is that if I use "thousands of year-long events", that means there are thousands of events; and each one of them are 1 year long. That isn't what I'm looking for.

Then I need to actually use "thousands of years long events". But I'm not sure how to hyphenate this. Is it

"thousands of years long events"
"thousands-of-years-long events"
"thousands-of-years-long-events"

or some other hyphenation perhaps?


texts:
I would like learn more about the phrasal verb "act on" in English. I found this while looking for examples:

(act on/upon something) to do something because you have been given information, advice, or orders

Some examples I thought of:

I was acting on crazy because you don't give me my cash and I let you

I don't know what is it going but my mom is acting on my bff

Does this sound like what an American would say, or how should I use "act on"?


texts: Single word request - describe a research is important

texts:
For example, we can say "important research ", "foundational research", "meaningful", "influential", "impactive", or "imperative". But those words are either far too common or too weak. What is a better choice?

I remember something like "se***m***ntic".


texts: "keep in touch" VS " keep the lines of communication open"

texts: Is there any difference between  "keep in touch" and " keep the lines of communication open"?


texts: Is there a noun that describes members of the genus Allium?

texts:
I have a mild allergy to Onions, Garlic, Shallots, etc. - all members of the genus Allium. Is there a noun I can use to readily describe all these? Eg: "I have a(n) _____ allergy."

Been thinking about it for a while, and it seems kind of tricky. I can't say "I have an Allium allergy" because that implies Allium is an entity, a thing to be allergic to. Onions don't contain Allium any more than John contains Smiths.

Based on a related question, I could say "I have an allergy to Alliaceous plants", but that seems like a bit of a mouthful. I'd love to find something a little more elegant/fluid if possible!


texts: What is the conceptual distinction between coordinating conjunctions and subordinating conjunctions?

texts:
While it is easy enough to identify coordinating and subordinating conjunctions by memorizing lists of them, the actual distinction seems arbitrary.  Coordinating conjunctions are said to join (among other sentence elements) two independent clauses, while subordinating conjunctions are said to join a subordinate clause to an independent clause.

The problem is that it appears to be the very presence of a subordinating conjunction which makes an otherwise-independent clause subordinate.  For example, in the sentence...

  Stock prices would have plummeted, unless the company issued a public
  apology.

...the second clause is only subordinate by virtue of including the word "unless."  "The company issued a public apology" expresses a complete thought, but "unless the company issued a public apology" does not.  So the presence of the word "unless" explains why the second clause is subordinate, which explains why "unless" is a subordinating conjunction.

However, in the sentence...

  Stock prices would have plummeted, but the company issued a public
  apology.

...the same analysis is not applied.  Rather, the word "but" is considered to stand between the two clauses, belonging to neither.  This grants independent status to the second clause, "the company issued a public apology," whereas if the word "but" were to be included, it would be a subordinate clause, and therefore "but" would be a subordinating conjunction.

A sort of explanatory circularity is apparent, and it's not at all clear to me why "unless" and "but" should be treated differently in these examples.  What is so special about the FANBOYS conjunctions that they are said to stand outside of independent clauses, while the rest are said to be part of otherwise-independent clauses, making them subordinate?


texts: Is the placement of "again" in the following sentence incorrect?

texts: Were the money to be again offered this year, I would accept it.


texts: Is the following sentence an adjective clause or an adjective phrase or a noun clause?

texts:
Yesterday, I attended a yoga class, the majority of whom were men.

Is the boldfaced part an adjective phrase or adjective clause?
I'm sure it's giving information about the yoga class.

Yesterday, I attended a yoga class, the majority of whom were men.

I have doubts that the part after the second comma is a phrase.
I think the boldfaced part is a noun clause that is acting as the object of preposition. Is that correct?


texts: What does "all the more" mean and how is it used?

texts:
Here is a sample context:

  As you might expect, the framework also provides some convenience
  classes to make the task of writing custom validators all the more agreeable.

(Emphasis added.)


texts: In old books, why is the first word of the next page printed at the bottom of this page?

texts:
In old books from the 16th to 18th centuries, the first word from the next page is often printed right justified on its own, at the end of the current page. It's not in every book of this period, but those that have them tend to show them on every page. This practice seems to have ended in the late 18th century.

A 1588 example shows a repeated that:

A hanging but from 1678:

And a dangling fairs, from 1726:

What was the purpose of repeating this word? My initial guess is it was to help the book binder assemble the book in the correct order, but it happens even with books with page numbers.

When did this practice begin and end, and why did it end?


texts: Make use of & be appreciated for (using a skill)?

texts:
In French, one can use the verb valoriser while applying for a job, writing a motivation letter etc. when one wants to make use of some particular skills and be appreciated for using them. I have tried to google out its translation - http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=16845 and http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/french-english/valoriser - but it seems that the consensus has not been reached.

My current winner is add value by using my ... skills. What would your suggestions be?


texts:
I recently found out about a new term. It's "gum the spoon". What does it mean?

By the various contexts I found, I conjecture that it means to add saliva onto the spoon or to hold the spoon in one's mouth for prolong time.

Google is no help, and it only provides examples, not explanations, of this phrase.

Source: http://www.amazon.com/Boon-Squirt-Dispensing-Spoon-Orange/product-reviews/B000WEHO76?pageNumber=11

  My daughter is one of those feeders who is easily distracted and loves
  to gum the spoon, "feed" herself, or play with her food.

Source: http://community.babycenter.com/post/a31922513/baby_wont_eat_from_spoon_only_wants_bottle?cpg=2

  Mine is something awful and he wants to gum anything and everything to
  death and he just wants to gum the spoon and the nipple of his bottle
  and finds the sucking from his bottle soothing when his gums are
  hurting especially bad.

More uses: https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1CHNU_enUS337US337&es_sm=122&q=%22gum+the+spoon%22&oq=%22gum+the+spoon%22&gs_l=serp.3...3219.5431.0.6368.2.2.0.0.0.0.107.193.1j1.2.0.starcytweb...0...1.1.61.serp..2.0.0.gxLdShoH-QE


texts: What is a name for statistical indicators such as GDP annual rate, unemployment rate?

texts:
I have a question regarding the common general name of statistical indicators such as GDP annual rate, inflation rate, unemployment rate, etc.

For example, in the following sentence, what would fill in the blank best:

  Below there are statistical indicators for a country in three ____.

I don't know how to end the sentence. They are not fields nor groups, nothing comes to my mind as to how the statistical pointers are split, what is a GDP annual rate in this context, for example?


texts: Is there an idiom for the phrase 'that's not what I meant'?

texts:
I'm looking for an idiom for the phrase

  'that's not what I meant'

and Google seems to be of no help whatsoever.


texts:
What is correct?

  "I would love if you could do that"

versus

  "I would love it if you could do that"

Is there a general rule I can follow in cases like this?


texts: A single word for a building located in the centre of fork (intersection)?

texts:
So there is this kind of building located in the centre of a fork in the road (maybe in streets too).

I don't know how to put it into words, but it looks like this:

Or this:

Is there a single English word for that kind of building? If it is a house, is there another name for that?

In my native language (Indonesian), it's called Rumah Tusuk Sate. Which if translated bluntly into English, it's Skewer House, which sounds a bit weird to me.


texts: How is "proper" used in "the building proper"?

texts:
"The building proper is a tall, four-storey, masonry oval – a great bowl slung from outer rings of stacked barrel vaults."

What does the word "proper" mean in this sentence? Is it an adjective, or adverb?


texts: Is there a verb meaning "to make similar"?

texts:
I'm attempting to document a change that will make two things more congruent.  I'd like to use a word in this way:

  This change [makes similar] the two items.

The best I've been able to find by searching is "assimilate"; however, I feel that this word has unpleasant connotations in some cases and could be misconstrued.  Is there a better word?

For a little more context on this specific situation: I'm making the interfaces of two different software libraries more similar.  They're remaining separate libraries, but they do nearly the same thing and are now more similar in their behavior.


texts: What part of speech is 'point' in the phrase 'nought point five'?

texts: What grammatical evidence is there for allocating the word point to a particular part of speech in phrases like nought point five or nine point nine nine, where these phrases would represent the numbers 0.5 and 9.99 respectively (as opposed to being a description of how those numbers are 'spelled' or written). I assume that the word originates from the noun point representing the punctuation mark, but wonder what they are in their current usage in modern English - but more importantly what evidence there is for any particular categorisation?


texts: "Why are there more of them" vs. "why is there more of them"

texts:
I was writing this sentence:

  Why are there more of them on some nights than on others?

Is is or are correct here? I was told that is is correct, but to me, are sounds better.


texts: Erratic doesn't have a meaning related to error.  It means eccentric, or unsteady instead. Error has its adjective form as erroneous and errant. So what is the noun of erratic?


texts: Is there a clear spelling rule about el, il, le and al word endings for the "uhl" sound? Please explain the etymological reason for these various endings.Thanks in advance.


texts: Use of the en dash instead of the hyphen in compound adjectives

texts:
I have the following taken from a paper that I am editing:

  … proposed a water-filling factor aided search method to solve …

My question is related to whether I should use an en dash to connect the adjectives here, as in:

  … water-filling factor–aided search method …

Can anyone please help me out? Is this understandable? Is this the correct way to do it?

Is “water-filling-factor-aided search method”, all with hyphens, a little weird?


texts:
Can a dash work after a question mark? Meaning is this sentence correct and if not how would you rewrite it?

  I am wondering if you know any publications, blogs or websites who are seeking new writers right now? — particularly those interested in tech or the cloud, big data, mobile applications, info graphics, etc.?


texts: What does the phrase that 'I've all but..' mean in this sentence?

texts:
I found the sentence below in a book I'm reading:

  I've all but given up dating because I'm so tired of the pain and humiliation.

What does I've all but mean in this context?


texts: Can you use three quotes in a sentence by including a quote within a quote. Eg "' xxx ' xxx"

texts: Can you use three quotes in a sentence by including a quote within a quote? Eg "' xxx ' xxx"


texts: Nutrition Information vs Nutritional Information: Why is the first more common than the second?

texts:
We've probably all seen at some point a panel on food packaging that lists quantities of sugars, fats, vitamins, minerals etc. found in the food.
Some packages I come across label this table as "Nutritional Information" while others (the vast majority it seems) label it as "Nutrition Information", i.e. the first is adjective-noun and the second is noun-noun.
The adjective-noun version is much more pleasing to me - the information is of or relating to nutrition - so it's always puzzled me why the noun-noun version is much more common.
Are there any special rules for titles/labels that make one preferable over the over? And, is there any reason why the noun-noun version is far more common?


texts:
When talking about deliveries or any other standard arrival or departure terminology I often hear the following, which have an obvious meaning.

ETA: Estimated Time of Arrival

ETD: Estimated Time of Departure

But what does leg time mean? If it helps, the word was used in a courier company.


texts: What is/is there a word for singing through your nose?

texts: I recall there being a word for nasal singing, I might be imagining things, but haven't had any luck finding that word on Google. Does any one have any suggestions?


texts: Is there a word to convey something that is barely in your sight lines?

texts:
So you have a piece of dead skin on your nose.  Every once in a while something bothers you but you don't know what it is.  Then you realize you keep seeing the dead skin flake.  Is there a term to describe this?

Note:  I should have mentioned this from the beginning, but my bad, peripheral is not what I am looking for.  I would tend to use this for field of vision on the outside corner of my eyes.  Looking for a word that convey something - either above or below - that may be on your face.

I am looking for that "hazy" area that you see the tip of your nose or eyebrows or the occasional cheek.


texts:
"Correctly rounded result is representation in the result format that is nearst in value, subject to the current rounding mode, to what the result would be given unlimited range and precision."
What does the last clause mean?
Unlimited range and precision are given to what?


texts: Are double negatives proper English (e.g. "I don't know nothing")?

texts:
I have heard many (rather most) people, especially in the USA, saying:

  I don't know nothing about it.

Is that correct? I always get a weird feeling hearing this and feel the correct one would be saying:

  I don't know anything about it.


texts: Does 'could' in this context always refer to the past?

texts:
"I couldn't understand this."

Is that more polite than saying "I can't understand?"


texts: should i say the attached has 6 files or the attached have 6 files?

texts:
I have two question for the following sentence:

"the attached document has 6 files  ,if none of them suited what you are looking for let me know. "

Q1: should i say the attached has 6 files or the attached have 6 files ?
Q2: is it right to say "if none of them suited what you are looking for"?


texts: What is a word for an object which fills a slot?

texts:
For example, if I have a series of slots, and any number of those slots are filled, is there a generic word for that which fills a slot?

In a sentence: "I have distributed each _____ among the available slots".

The word "object" might work but I was wondering if there is a word for something that is more inherently tied to the idea of "a thing that fills a slot".


texts: Does 'in possession of' imply ownership?

texts:
Wiktionary has one the definitions of possession as ownership, which I agree that as a simple verb, I posses is tantamount to I own, have. However, the phrase "in one's possession" doesn't effectively or necessarily hold the same meaning for me. It simply implies that something is with you, but not necessarily yours, which is why it often lends itself to accounts of having illicit or stolen property or materials on one's person or in one's home, etc. Wiktionary further cites the following examples under the definition of ownership:

  The car is in my possession.

  I'm in possession of the car.

This has led to some confusion on a language site I frequent, where one of the users, a Russian, has attempted to use "being in possession of a [type of car - let's say...] Maserati" to translate what amounts to "owning a Maserati" in Russian. Are owning and being in possession of interchangeable?


texts: How to succinctly apply an adjective to both nouns when joined with 'and'?

texts:
My question is very similar to Does an adjective apply to both nouns when joined with 'and'?, where the answer is "it depends, make it clear."

How do I write it clearly, while still being succinct?  The answers in that question add a lot of words compared to the simple (but ambiguous) sentence. Since SE doesn't like links in questions, my specific wording is

  Outside of the federal government and states, typically only large cities and counties use the “legislature-executive” model.

Yes, I could write "... only large cities and large counties ..." but I don't want to say "large" twice, and using a synonym seems a bit contrived and maybe even a touch stilted.


texts: MM experience - what does the MM stand for?

texts:
In a job description today I find the question:

Do you have Public Sector/MM experience?

So, before I answer that I have to know what the "MM experience" stands for. I looked over Google but I found no satisfying answer. Could anyone help, please?

Best regards
Michael


texts: How would you use rationale in a sentence?

texts: How is rationale used in a sentence? Can it be used in place of logic?


texts: 'Whosever': Why is this word going out of usage?

texts:
Whosever foot fits into the slipper, that woman will be my wife.

Though English is not my native language, due to years of reading, 'whosever' as a possessive came naturally to me in the above example.

Online search shows that the word is very rare and many dictionaries are getting rid of it (Oxford and Collins hasn't, yet). The common alternative given is 'whoever's'. But many users say that it's better to use 'whoever's' as a contraction of 'whoever is/has'.

Whoever's given that job, they better be good at it.

Is there an accepted usage of 'whoevers' (without the apostrophe)? Or, better yet, why not use 'whosever' more often in the right manner?


texts: What is the word for the person who only plans for something? Or the person only starts something and then forgets it or does not complete it.


texts: Has English adopted any common morphemes from languages that are not Greek, Latin, or French?

texts: Has English adopted any common morphemes from any "exotic"-type languages?  By that, I'm trying to exclude our most frequent borrowings; i.e. French, Latin, and Greek, from which nearly all our suffixes and prefixes are borrowed — endings like -ance, -ette,  -ience, -ium, -ology, and innumerable more.  (Prefixes would be for example, anti-, circ-, princ-)  However, once you escape those big 3, I find it gets a lot harder; I personally can't think of any off the top of my head.  Can anyone else?


texts: How do you say Doll Stories or Doll's Stories?

texts:
I am trying to make a logo and already made it saying

The Doll Stories

And I am not sure if this is incorrect?

Please help

Thankyou


texts: Which is the correct way to compare two values or quantities? Apart from 'greater than', or 'lower than', could you say something like '1 is close to 2, but far from 9'?


texts: Why is "look" transitive in "look you in the eye"?

texts:
Why is look used as a transitive verb in the phrase look you in the eye?

I checked look in Cambridge Dictionaries and found only an intransitive look, not a transitive one.


texts: Term for dirt / grime from frequent touching

texts: I'm looking for a concise way to describe the grime that accumulates on frequently-touched objects and surfaces such as doorknobs and handrails. I doubt there's a single word for it, but I'd welcome one. Phrases like "finger dirt" or "touch grime" are descriptive but somewhat equivocal -- I'm hoping for something that most people would relate to quickly. Even slang terms might work.


texts: Categorizing sentences with lots of "the"

texts:
Consider the following sentence: "The higher the price the better the quality." I've certainly heard people say similar sentences before (in terms of sentence structure). How would one categorize a sentence like this?

A similar question was posted here: Sentences with no verb. It gives the example of "System shutdown in 60 seconds." but that seems qualitatively different from the example I have. Would one still classify "The higher [..]" as a nominal sentence, which is the suggestion in the most upvoted answer there?


texts: What to call the large containers of bottled water?

texts: The water drawn from those 2.5 gallon containers having a spigot (and air hole) is called ‘bottled water’, but what should we call those large containers of water? It seems like “tank” or “tankard” are the best 2 choices. I am partial to ‘tankard’, as ‘tank’ seems to imply something much larger, on the order of at least tens of gallons. However, according to the dictionary, a tankard is merely a large drinking vessel. Is it possible / plausible to extend the meaning of ‘tankard’ to mean ‘large container of bottled water having a spigot and air hole’?


texts: What does 'IN' mean: 'IN your own person or IN the person of any other'?

texts:
Source: Prof Michael Sandel, Justice: ..., Episode 06: "MIND YOUR MOTIVE"

  47:30 and here Kant distinguishes between persons on the one hand, and things on the other.
  47:38: Rational beings are persons that don't just have a relative value for us, but if anything has they have an absolute value, an intrinsic value.
  47:50 That is, rational beings have dignity that are worthy of reverence and respect.
  47:56: This line of reasoning leads Kant to the second formulation of the Categorical Imperative which is this:

    Act in such a way that you always treated humanity,
    ♦ whether in your own person
    or in the person of any other, ♦
    never simply as a means, but always at    the same time,
    as an end.

  48:21: So that's the Formula of Humanity as an End.

Why did Kant (or the German to English translator) use in? I know that the 1st ed. of Critique of Pure Reason was published in German in 1781, but I still want to rationalise or understand this use (even if it's archaic), which would've never occurred to me.
 I would've written the clause surrounded by ♦, as follows instead:

  1. ♦ whether yourself or any other person , ♦

Footnote: I don't know which English translation Prof Sandel quoted, but please edit this if anyone does. If anyone wants to see the quote in print, see here for example.


texts: "Having been" vs. "having had" vs. "having being"

texts:
I need help in distinguishing the difference in meanings among these three usage and which seems to be the most grammatically accurate? The "Having +..." seem to all have very similar context, so I'm confused.

Having being burdened by the idol-actress title
Having had burdened by the idol-actress title
Having been burdened by the idol-actress title

Thanks so much!


texts: What's a word used for someone who criticizes his country but doesn't let any foreigner criticize his country?

texts: I noticed some people attack foreigners who say anything negative about their country, yet they themselves criticize their same country and are being negative. What's a word that describes them? Looking for a word that doesn't have a political connotation. Other than hypocrite.


texts: "The angriest Obama became with Clinton concerned"

texts:
I read the following sentence from the NYT, and am not sure how this structure works, grammatically or idiomatically:

  The angriest Obama became with Clinton, Landler says, concerned the Arab Spring and the uprising in Egypt’s Tahrir Square.

I guess it supposed to be "The angriest Obama became with Clinton when the issue was concerned with the Arab Spring and the uprising in Egypt's Tahrir."

With the original sentence, I am confused exactly what is being modified by "concerned." And I am not sure if "concerned" is a proper way to say instead of "concerned with (the subject)."

I already asked the same question on wordreference.com, but I would like to get more help if possible.(http://forum.wordreference.com/threads/the-angriest-someone-became-with-someone-concerned.3178342/#post-16083750)

Thank you in advance:)


texts: Is there a more proper way to say letter case?

texts:
I am writing a technical documentation where I have to explain that you can name variables like "Name", "email", and "AGE". However, they cannot define another variable called "name" if "Name" is already defined.

My error message, in that case, reads like the following:

"Name" must be used in the same letter case.

The alternative could be something like the following:

"Name" must be used in the same capitalization.

What I am effectively trying do is to force case-insensitivity in a system that allows case-sensitivity. And I am not happy with either style of the error messages. case, for instance, might confuse some people. capitalization might sound weird if the original variable was itself called "name".

Is there a better/recommended way to write my error messages?

Thank you very much for your help!


texts: A word for a group of people who believe the same scientific idea

texts:
If a group of people believe in the same political idea like liberalism you can say they belong to the same ideology.

What is the equivalent word to ideology for scientific ideas. Can you say: "Everyone who believes in string theory belongs to the same ______"?


texts: Eyeglasses, spectacles, goggles and glasses. But in which order?

texts:
You would think that finding out if the word eyeglasses preceded the word glasses would be a simple matter.  Not so. Did eyeglasses and spectacles as I suspect, precede the word glasses? Goggles I presumed came much later but surprisingly the word already existed in middle English.

I found the following information on this optometrist article. Emphasis mine:

  The word glasses probably developed firstly from the word spyglass,
  often used for a telescope, and then adapted to “a pair of eyeglasses”
  that needed to be held up to the eyes for full effect.

And on Etymology Online under spectacles I found:

  spectacles (n.) "glass lenses to help a person's sight," early 15c., from plural of
  spectacle.

While goggles has:

  goggles; "spectacles, protective eyeglasses," 1715;

Whereas "glasses" has:

  glasses; "spectacles," 1660s, from plural of glass

But I found nothing concrete on eyeglasses strangely enough. Can someone trace the history of the word glasses, or provide a chronological order of the words listed in my question?


texts: A word for "bringing something to its required amount"

texts:
Stewart paid a security deposit for his apartment rental. The deposit needs to be for three months of rent.
In the first year, he paid $1000 a month, so his deposit was $3000.

In his third year, the rent had been raised to $1,200 a month, and the landlord realized that the deposit was not sufficient, as there is a gap of $600 between 3 months of rent and the deposit he currently has.

Now he needs to collect another $600 from Stewart.

What is the correct word for this action of closing the gap betweent he two amounts? I need a term as technical as possible.

Example sentence, but you can be flexible.

  The landlord decided to ____________ the deposit.


texts:
If I'm discussing two segments of a contiguous coastline, should I use the singular or the plural?

For example,

  The Washington and Oregon1 coast ...

or

  The Washington and Oregon coasts ...

For those not familiar with the Pacific Northwest, this is what the coastline(s) in question look like:

1 It has come to my attention people from the Midwest and East Coast sometimes pronounce the state "or-e-GONE" (/ɔɹɛˈgɑn/). Please don't do this, the correct pronunciation is "OR-e-gen" (/ˈɔɹegən/).


texts:
A pangram is a sentence that uses each letter of the alphabet at least once.

Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs.
How vexingly quick daft zebras jump.

A perfect pangram uses each letter of the alphabet exactly once.

TV quiz jock, Mr. PhD, bags few lynx.
Hjelmqvist-Gryb-Zock-Pfund-Wax

An isogram (or heterogram) is a single word that uses each letter at most once.

uncopyrightable
subdermatoglyphic

But what word/phrase describes a sentence that uses each letter at most once?

Bide my frog’s quack.
Jaws flunked copyright.
Put back my English word!

Surprisingly, I can’t find any reference to sentences of this type either in a quick scan of Word Ways or in Ross Eckler’s Making the Alphabet Dance.


texts:
According to some grammars[1][2] and CMS...

"Interjections and vocative should be separated from the rest of the sentence by commas".

The vocative case [1] is used to indicate direct address (i.e., to show when you are talking to somebody or something directly). Nouns in the vocative case are set off using commas. CMS 6.38

As direct address (i.e. vocative case), the parenthetical element should be set off using commas (CMS 6.30). An absolute phrase is always treated as a parenthetical element, as is an interjection.

So,

  Hello, world!

That is a very classical way to hello the world.

But, languages change. I am not sure, but today, I feel that it is very uncommon helloing someone with an interjection, providing a small pause and clarifying who is helloed. I have an impression that usually people use hello as a ("kind of") verb, not an interjection.

Question:
Is that just a personal (bad) impression or some linguistic has already studied that phenomenon?

[1] - Nelson, Gerald C., Director Survey of English Usage Sidney Greenbaum, and Sidney Greenbaum. An Introduction to English Grammar. Routledge, 2013.
[2] - Advanced Grammar in Use with Answers: A Self-Study Reference and Practice Book for Advanced Learners of English. 3 edition. Cambridge University Press, 2013.
CMS - Chicago Manual of Style


texts:
I have a sentence:

  In order to quickly search for relevant information among them, it is necessary to structure and to categorize them.

Would you use the infinitives twice (to structure and to categorize)?


texts:
What is an antonym of "supple" in "supple skin"?

From Merriam-Webster online dictionary, I saw the antonyms of "supple" are "    inflexible, rigid, stiff, stiffened". I don't think these antonyms are proper to describe skin.

So what is the antonym of "supple" in "supple skin"?


texts: They have found, or they have been finding?

texts:
In Beijing, China, researchers at the Wuhan University have been taking a closer look at the thick bone that cushions the woodpecker's brain. They have been comparing the skull structure of great spotted woodpeckers to other birds.
They have been finding that small adaptations in the structure of the bones, a micro-structure, acts as a protective armor to the brain. "The wood pecker's brain is surrounded by thick, plate-like spongy bone. At a microscopic level, woodpeckers have a mesh-like structure in the bone that makes up a spongy bone plate.  This mesh is closer together in the woodpecker than in the skylark." For this reason, the researchers are suggesting that this micro-structure gives the woodpecker a better "helmet".

It is said that they have been finding because it is "ongoing activity relates to past research". But why is it ongoing activity, they have found and all, haven't they?


texts: Left and right equivalent of "upward" and "downward"?

texts: Is there any single-word equivalent for "upward" or "downward" but for to the left and to the right? For example: "Please move that piece to the left".


texts: Hypernym for "addition" and "subtraction"

texts: For explaining operator precedence in an algorithm, I'd like a hypernym for addition and subtraction.


texts: When should we write the word "church" with a capital C?

texts: When should we write the word "church" with a capital C, Church, and when should we only write it as church?


texts: Word or phrase to describe anything that seems trivial but can be indicative of something important

texts:
When I say “anything” I could be referring to a comment, an interaction, a symbol, or an action. I’m not sure how to explain this without using examples. In hospitals, doctors often identify patients by their disease. This alone is a minor issue but it can be considered indicative of dehumanization.

Same thing with prisons. Being called by a number, being forced to wear the prison uniform, unofficial social hierarchies, solitary confinement, etc. Each one of these things alone is not that bad but they can be considered indicative of dehumanization as well.


texts: Single word for receiving donation and/or loan

texts:
I am looking for a word (if one exists) that can be used to describe an action of receiving a donation or loan.

I thought about (something like) monetary but I am not sure that is correct as monetary may be to vague in my case. It needs to be able to be used to describe receiving of either a donation or a loan.


texts: Looking for a short(ish) word approximating "collaborate." The word might also be a clever metaphor or symbol for the idea of collaborating / working as one.


texts: "To quell the notion" probably means something like "to stop something being an issue", but what is its meaning in terms of emotions - is it offensive, neutral etc.?


texts: I was wondering how one would abbreviate initials in a surname with multiple parts, e.g. Van Heule or Le Var? They're technically separated by the space unlike names like McDonald or O'Leary etc. Would the initials of a Grace Van Heule be GVH or simply GH? Is there a naming convention for these cases?


texts: A word to express 'to temper expectations' or 'to buffer something'

texts:
I'm trying to figure out a word that expresses the idea of "tempering expectations" or "buffering" something. I've heard the word in the past, but I really can't figure out what it is, so I'm hoping the hivemind would know. I think it starts with a b, but I can't be sure.

A sample usage is:

  I would [verb] that by saying that the results are still inconclusive, but they're interesting nonetheless.

I searched the thesaurus for temper and moderate — here's the entry for temper:

  their idealism is tempered with realism: moderate, modify, modulate, mitigate, alleviate, reduce, weaken, lighten, soften.

None of these exactly speak to it, but the first few close (especially moderate). The rest aren't on target.


texts: What do you call a person that holds sensitive information?

texts:
All I have so far, is a pseudo-antonym of what I actually want: Obscurantist.
The word I need should be a person who was unwillingly plagued with sensitive information. It is more of a - I don't how to describe it - pitiful connotation. (To me, "infobearer" should work, allowing for the fact that such a word does not exist...)
For example, take Bob, who accidentally got himself exposed to top secret information of some organization. And now people are after him. He is a _____?
I need a single-word noun, not an adjective.
Edit: would secret-keeper or secret-holder do the trick?


texts:
I am looking for a word to describe someone who approves or denies something. However, the word must start with a "C". Here is how it is so far:

# CueCreator   <-- The person who creates the Cue
# CueCompleter <-- The person who completes the Cue
# Cue?         <-- The person who determines whether the Completed Cue is valid or invalid

"CueDECIDER" might be OK in meaning, but the word needs to start with a C. Any ideas?


texts:
He decided that I could have the apartment before he looked at my credit report.

I found that sentence in an exercise, and I wonder why it isn't:

  He had decided that I could have the apartment before he looked at my credit report.

because the past perfect simple is used to describe one action that happened before another action in the past.


texts: "you all" correct at the end of a sentence?

texts:
If I say "I do not know about you all." Is it correct?
This is referring to an action I will do and I do not know what their intentions are, if they will do the same or not.
Is the use of "you all" at the end here incorrect? I know it might not be preferred but is it technically correct?
I am trying to write in British English.


texts:
I'm wondering which one of these expressions is correct?

This stuff or these stuff?


texts: The movie "Seven Pounds": what does "pounds" mean here?

texts: In our language (Ukraine) - it translated as 7 lives, pound as I know is a unit of weight or monetary unit, how is it related? Does it have anything similar to life? Or it is just a translation of our country?


texts: What is a word for supplies sent by a country to aid another impoverished country?

texts:
I forgot the word that describes items sent by a country to help people in suffering countries.

Example: Despite the risk of aiding another country, the US sent ____ to Syrian refugee camps.

Thanks,


texts:
I am reading translated version of Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie and I am not sure about the meaning of funny fish. It was translated to my mother language as a tricky thing.

I know that if something is fishy it means that it is not so good. It might be then that the translation of funny fish is following the same roots. Is that so?

Could someone explain the meaning and more importantly the etymology background of "funny fish"?

The text from the book goes like that

  Mr Butt managed to make the Mail Coach go even faster. ' "Need to
  stop?" ' he bellowed over his shoulder. ' "Need to go so quickly?"
  Well, my sirs, I'll tell you this: Need's a slippery snake, that's
  what it is. The boy here says that you,sir, Need A View Before Sunset,
  and maybe it's so and maybe no. And some might say that the boy here
  Needs A Mother, and maybe it's so and maybe no. And it's been said of
  me that Butt Needs Speed, but but but it may be that my heart truly
  needs a Different Sort Of Thrill. O, Need's a funny fish: it makes
  people untruthful. They all suffer from it, but they will not always
  admit.


texts: How to use his/her about a general group of people

texts:
Is it customary to use his instead of her even if you refer only to women like in my example below. It is a comment to a woman from a woman, likely referring to only women. Shouldn't you say "her own way"?

  Everybody is naughty in his own way dear.

It's not if it should be his/her or their. It is if it is about women, should you not use her instead of him? Basically does it mean that the person saying it is a man not a woman?


texts: usage of present perfect and past tense when it comes to people who passed away

texts:
If the persons I am referring to are no more, in that case which of these is right?
a) He has met them (they are no more) many times, or
b) He met them many times.
( Here I get confused whether the subject himself is no more or the people he met are no more).


texts:
Word for "taking action without diplomacy or discussion"

I am looking for something along the lines of "assert" or "overrule," without a negative connotation - perhaps something along the lines of "taking action into one's own hands" but in a catchy, one-word verb.

The context is the title of a card in a cooperative card game that essentially enables the player to skip deliberation. This can be used to make decisions that are good or bad, but does not imply dissent from the group.


texts: Can both past and present tense be used in one sentence?

texts:
I'm trying to make sure this sentence is correct

"I needed to decide what I want for my life"

The context this sentence is in is me talking about something I currently want in life and I'm talking about making the decision to do it. Am I able to do this or would it be best for me to use "wanted"?


texts:
The sentence below is from the short story Death of the Island Doctor by Gene Wolfe. The two students ("they" in the sentence) are discussing what they will tell the professor ("Dr. Insula") when they come to his seminar again next week:

And when they had cooled the beer in the leaf-brown river, and eaten
the sandwiches they had brought, they paddled back to the spot where
they had parked the Toyota, debating how they could tell Dr. Insula he
had been mistaken about the island when they came next week—how they
could tell him there was no magic there.

The clause "when they came next week" is in the future from their perspective, which is the past. So shouldn't the normative way of writing it be "when they would come next week"? Is the sentence correct/idiomatic/strange as written?


texts: Why is it "Do a Barrel Roll" and not "Does a Barrel Roll"?

texts:
Google search throws you a nice effect when you try searching "Do a Barrel Roll."

Should not it be "Does a Barrel Roll," assuming it's one Barrel (or barrel), or at least "Do a Barrels Roll"? (I assume it should be a question: "Does a barrel roll?" or "Do a barrels roll?")

EDIT: The problem is that I didn't know that "Do a barrel roll" wasn't a question. (Yes, it hadn't a question mark, but I felt that there was an historic reason not to add it.)


texts: On the figurative meaning of "down the road"

texts:
The ODO defines the expression  "down the road" as North American and
informal, meaning:

  In the future; they couldn't predict the disastrous war looming a few years down the road

According to The Dictionary of American Slang, its usage  is from the '60s.

Looking for its possible origin, I found that "down the road" is also used in the idiomatic expression "kick the can down the road", but its  usage appears to be later, from the '80s, according to The Grammarphobia which unluckily doesn't give details about the second part of the expression.

Questions:

how did "down the road" come to mean "in the future"? Has the expression something to do with beat generation books like Kerouac "On the road" for instance?
can anyone trace its earliest idiomatic usages?

P.S. Just for clarity, my question is on the figurative usage of "down the road", not its literal one. It is obvious that it is a metaphor used to refer to future times, and its literal usage is just an ordinary expression with no specific origin. Hope this clarify possible doubts about the question. (2nd attempt).


texts: Word for the fear that something might not live up to your expectations

texts: "As my big day approached, I was filled with ______ "


texts: What is the term for an item that facilitates the tying of things together?

texts:
Is there some piece of equipment or item that allows you to tie two or more

strands of rope
threads of fabric

together? I imagine that (1) and (2) will be different items. If such things do exist, what are they called?


texts: What is the proper adjective for the UK?

texts: I've heard Ukonian used, and I must say I rather like it, but I don't think it's a fully accepted word yet. British leaves out Northern Ireland.


texts: "I need" vs. "one needs", should "need" be plural and why?

texts:
Given the sentence:

  These are the basic security features I need in order to operate safely.

And the sentence

  These are the basic security features one needs in order to operate safely.

I am 99% sure that need should be plural in one needs. If so why would it be plural (we are using the word one)?

It would not make sense to say

  These are the basic security features one need in order to operate safely.

I have heard it used in singular:

  One need not worry.

Why does it work in singular there but not elsewhere?


texts: My friend was facing some hardships due to this pandemic and I texted her that she can reach out to me anytime if she wants someone to talk and she replied with "Thanks for providing me this room". I was confused at first because there is no "room" per se. But on further clarification she meant that she's grateful for me being emotionally present for her. Now, my question is whether this is correct or incorrect usage of the word room?


texts: Does this statement make sense, as someone who cannot read my mind?

texts:
"The change into new social contexts and phases of life is a complex process involving a negotiated equilibrium between sacrifices and opportunity. "

This is in response to an essay question

"The experience of change demands compromise between sacrifice and opportunity"


texts: is there an active verb for what a "thing being consumed" does?

texts:
if we consider the sentence birds consume spiders, and spiders consume flies

the "opposite" of that sentence is something like is flies <> spiders and spiders <> birds but, more active. As if the spider jumps down the birds throat.

I'm looking for that word. Something similar to "feeds into", but just one word ideally.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/consume was not much help, I'm considering it in the second or third context, but from the point of view of the thing being consumed


texts:
I have no house.
  I don't have a house.

What's the difference between the phrases like the ones above?


texts:
I'm having five different algorithms about which I have to write a report. First, I analyze each algorithm on its own and then I compare the algorithms.

My problem now is that I need two section names for both things, i.e. for analyzing each algorithm on its own and for comparing the algorithms.

I'm thinking of something like "Within Algorithm Comparison" and "Between Algorithm Comparison" but this does not sound very correct.

Does somebody have other suggestions?


texts: Which voice is better here, passive or active?

texts:
Between

  If the moral principle of “love your neighbour” is adhered to, then the world will be free of war.

and

  If we adhere to the moral principle of “love your neighbour”, then the world will be free of war.

Which fits better for formal writing? For me, the structure of the first sentence is worse, because its use of the passive voice is unnecessary.


texts: Divide to two parts, not necessarily equal

texts:
I am writing a paper about a geometric algorithm where one of the main operations is dividing a rectangles to two smaller rectangles. It is important that there are two pieces, and that the pieces don't have to be equal. I am looking for a single verb  that I can use in this context.

There are many English words that are specific to the number 2, for example "couple" (a group of 2), "half" (one of 2 equal parts), "both", etc. So, I thought there may be a word specific for dividing to two parts

I thought of bisecting, but according to Meriam-Webster it means "two equal parts".

Bipartite seems like a good candidate, but according to Meriam-Webster it is an adjective, and I need a verb.

I asked in ell and got many answers (splitting, cleaving, dividing, separating, breaking), but none of these imply that there are exactly 2 pieces.

EDIT: In the future I may change the algorithm to cut into 3 parts, so, it could be good to have a verb that can be naturally modified to indicate 3 parts.


texts:
I saw a photo this morning and there were two sisters in the photo. One of them says   "I am dressed just like my sister"...and I wonder,
if it was "I am dressed like my sister" instead, would there be any problem?

What is the difference between "just like" and "like"?


texts: I have many friends,who all or all of whom are students

texts: which is correct "I have many friends,who all are University students" or "I have many friends,all of whom are University students"?


texts: What are the poetic devices used in this sentence?

texts:
In the following sentence, I'm hesitant toward which of these devices: Assonance, consonance, alliteration, repetition and rhyme is/are being used with the bold words.

"Then I bethought me of a crutch, the shape being much the same, and I borrowed one in the village."


texts: Does “little did he know” mean he "knew nothing at all"?

texts:
Does the phrase “little does/did (s)he know” mean the person knew nothing at all?

Or does it literally mean that there was some (little) knowledge?

I started pondering the specific meaning when I read the opening titles of Star Wars Episode VI:

  Little does Luke know that the GALACTIC EMPIRE has secretly begun construction …

In this instance, I believe he did know nothing at all about those sinister schemes.

So, is it just a figure of speech to express that some poor soul should have known?


texts: Derogatory term for people from places like San Francisco

texts:
I'm looking for a derogatory term for people from liberal metropolitain areas who think they are better educated and more enlightened than those from rural, conservative areas.

Carthage, TX is to redneck as San Francisco, CA is to ______________.

EDIT:

In response to comments below, I feel I must add that I do not believe the people of SF "think they are better educated and more enlightened than those from rural, conservative areas."

If I did believe that, I wouldn't be asking this question now would I? BECAUSE I WOULD KNOW ALL THE DERAGATORY TERMS.


texts: What is the Specific Type of Word that Includes Stellar, Sylvan, etc

texts:
I have recently become fixated on the idea of words which are defined as "of, or relating to, [noun]"- stellar means "of stars", sylvan means "of trees". These are the only two samples that I have been able to find in the wild. Futility Closet fairly recently ran a post that listed roughly 20 of them, and identified them as 'modifiers' [1], but searching for modifiers on google only results in words like nearly or barely, which don't really fit my target.

Is there a name for these words or some way I could find samples in a dictionary?

[1]http://www.futilitycloset.com/2013/08/22/in-a-word-433/


texts: English word for "Zeitgeschehen" (present happenings)

texts:
The German word Zeitgeschehen is a noun that describes present happenings in general.

Zeitgeschehen is most commonly used as the name of a section in media. Society, culture, news, and so on are put together and summed up in that section.

I think current events or similar words don't work because that would exclude the society and culture part of the term and would be more comparable to current news.

Is there an English word for this?


texts: Word or phrase for a woman who shows up at events in gaudy outfits, garish make-up, and excessive jewelry?

texts:
Such person is usually - but not necessarily - upper-middle class.

I'm looking for a noun or a noun-phrase but the words I've found so far (unpolished, inelegant, gauche, etc.) are adjectives and/or don't fit what I'm looking for.

EDIT

This noun or noun-phrase...

is more likely to be used by women when gossiping. ("Did you see that .... at the meeting yesterday?  Yeah, I did. Some people just don't know how ridiculous they can get.)
isn't related to promiscuity or prostitution.

If the woman is a socialite, her picture will be displayed in newspapers and magazines and she will be a laughingstock..


texts: is there any word for simulation with effect in the real world?

texts:
I am looking for a word that would describe human to computer interaction with effect in the real world.

Like flight simulation describes unreal mirror of a real flight. But in case person sitting behind the computer would actually have an effect on the real flight but will never have a chance to sit behind the cockpit.

He/She must use some sort of human surrogate that will execute all the commands sent via computer network.


texts: Difference between a 'figure' and 'figurine'?

texts: I am writing a product description for an Easter bunny decorative figure/figurine and I am stuck at which term to use for my copy as both these terms have been used interchangeably on different sites.


texts:
I am aware that the word deluged means two things:

Flooded with water
Overwhelmed

The question I want to ask is its usage in a sentence. Would I say 'deluged with' or 'deluged by' something? In other words, should I use 'by' or 'with' when using the word 'deluged'? Thank you.

Princeton Review "Word Smart" provides an example that says 'was deluged by phone calls'.

According to numerous dictionaries such as Oxford, Cambridge, and Merriam Webster, the common usage is 'deluged with'.

On the other hand, Oxford Dictionary of Difficult Words shows both, with different objects.

Does the preposition change, depending on the object?


texts: Is there a name for the final section of a letter?

texts:
When writing a letter it typically starts out "Dear..." and then has the content, then before you sign it you might have a formal or informal (depending on who you're writing to) sign off, for example:

blah blah blah letter content blah blah.
Kind regards/Many thanks/Best wishes/Cheers!/etc

Does this final closing portion of your letter have a name?
For comparison, the middle portion of the letter is the body and the opener could be described as a greeting or, more accurately, the salutation. but I don't think this last bit could be called a farewell as such.
So what should it be called?


texts: What is a role of 'how' in 'How so many people' : [how][so many people] or [how so many people]?

texts:
I realize how so many people don't have those simple things that we so much take for granted.

"how so many people don't have those simple things that we so much take for granted" is an object of 'realize' and a wh-clause.
Q1
What's the role of 'how'? When we parse this clause, what is a subject of the wh-clause?

[how so many people]? If this is right, 'how' may be a modifier of 'many'. As a result, [how so many people] is a subject of the clause and at the same time, a conjunction of the wh-clause.
[so many people]? If this is right, 'how' does not belong to the NP, [so many people] and just takes a role of conjunction alone.

Q2
Which meaning does 'how' in the clause come under when referring to macmillandictionary?

#2 used for asking or saying what quantity, distance, age etc something is, or to what degree something is true
#5 used for referring to a particular fact that you want to mention
In this meaning, 'how' is used like 'that'.


texts: What does this sentence mean "I may be wrong, but I highly doubt it. I'm Jackson"

texts:
I don't have enough context to understand this sentence.
Is it a slang of US people ?

I may be wrong, but I highly doubt it. I'm Jackson


texts: What is a noun for a person who is underrated despite being really good at something?

texts: I'm looking for a word (a noun) to describe a person who is really good at something but somehow underrated.


texts: When and where did the word Remainiac come from?

texts: When did the word Remainiac first appear? I have researched extensively but not found a satisfactory answer.


texts:
Under SI, the kilo prefix refers to 1,000 and mega refers to 1,000,000. In strict computer terms, kilo refers to 1,024 (210), mega refers to 1,048,576 (220) and giga is 1,073,741,824 (230).

The original question was how widely known outside this domain is this distinction?

Going by the answers provided, I should be using binary prefixes in order to remove the ambiguity in my documentation.


texts: Noun phrases with prepositions and appositions

texts:
In this sentence :

Later on, experience the otherworldly feel of one of the “Most
Beautiful Villages in France”, Riquewihr.

Is there a relation between the 2 noun phrases the “Most Beautiful Villages in France” and Riquewihr because of the comma creating an apposition ?
In this one :

Later on, join a wine tasting and drink a variety of Alsatian wines
such as pinot noir and pinot gris at a family-owned winery.

Does the preposition "such as" refer to the earlier noun "Alsatian wines" ?


texts: I had a test today an I was asked to complete “.... criminal” with a word formation for “hard”, I did it with the word “harsh”, is it correct?


texts: Is "executive assistant" still much rarer than "secretary"?

texts:
According to Google NGrams, the term "executive assistant" is much less common than "secretary". Even if I try prefixing both with "his", to avoid meanings such as Secretary-General of the UN, the difference is still very large.

Is the term "executive assistant" still much less common than "secretary", when talking about someone who does administrative tasks?


texts: Is there a reason for the prefix change of in-/un- in about the 60s period for these words?

texts:
I was looking up words beginning with prefix in-, the prefix meaning "opposite" or "negative". There is a pattern I've noticed, namely the one mentioned on Online Etymology Dictionary:

  The rule of thumb in English has been to use in- with obviously Latin
  elements, un- with native or nativized ones.
  Online Etymology Dictionary

The list of words below (except the final list) are examples of words which according to Google NGram Viewer have been the more popular versions continuously from about 1800 to 2000. I feel I've looked up most of these words, but a few particular words at the end show a pronounced change during a particular period where one form overtook the other in popularity.

VERSIONS THAT HAVE ALWAYS BEEN MORE POPULAR SINCE 1800:
inaccurate
inactivity
inapplicable
inappropriate
inattentive
incapable
inconclusive
incompatible
inconstant
incomplete
inconvenient
incorrect
incredible
incredulous
indecent
indefinite
undecided
indecision
indirect
indistinct
undistinguished
indivisible
inedible
ineffective
inefficient
unequal
inequality
inequity
inexpressive
infinite
inflexible
informal
unimportant
unemployed
inhuman
unjust
injustice
unofficial
unoriginal
inoperative
insane
insensitive
intolerant
invariable
unvarying
invisible

(Note, even though the less frequent version appears to hug X axis at zero, you can see if you hover your mouse over those parts that they still get like about 0.0000 something per cent result.

EXAMPLES WHERE ONE VERSION OVERTOOK THE OTHER IN POPULARITY SINCE 1800:
"intractable" overtook "untractable" about 1820.
"indistinguishable" overtook "undistinguishable" in about the 1870s.
"inadvisable" overtook "unadvisable" in about the 1890s.
"unedited" became more frequent than "inedited" about 1900.

"inauthentic" overtook "unauthentic" about the early 60s.
"inessential" overtook "unessential". (noticeable in about the late 50s in BrE and 1970 in AmE)
"infeasible" overtook unfeasible in about 1970 in both BrE and AmE.
"unviable" overtook "inviable" in about the 60s, noticeable earlier in AmE than in BrE, but roughly the same time.
"insubstantial" overtook "unsubstantial" in about the 50s.
"imbalance" overtook "unbalance" in about the mid 50s, and smack bang on 1960 in BrE. To distinguish the verb and noun "unbalance" I searched "unbalance/imbalance of the".

Is there a reason I'm seeing this change in this particular period of history or is it likely dumb luck? Also, as words are in use over long time periods I would have expected them to be progressively considered "native", and so I would have expected a change to un- from in- if anything.


texts: Word for someone who only tells the truth when it benefits them

texts: What do you call people who speak the truth, but only for their own benefit?


texts:
I have just written a sentence on an e-mail which looks like weird to me:

  provide the following details in order
  to enable us to provide you a proper
  service.

Is the structure of the sentence correct? if not, what would be the alternative to express the message?


texts:
If I were to ask:

  Which children did you bring?

and you respond:

  I brought both Adam and Billy.

The "both" implies not only that you brought two children, but that you brought your only two children (that the whole set was brought).

If, however, you had more than two children, neither:

  I brought Adam, Billy, and Charlotte.

nor:

  I brought all of Adam, Billy, and Charlotte.

would have the same connotation that you brought all your children.  The first gives no idea how many children there are total, and the second sounds more like you brought "all of" each individual item.  Is there a word that has extends the meaning of "both" to more than two?


texts: Is there a "correct" definition of woke as an adjective?

texts:
Merriam Webster and (Lexico) effectively define woke as social awareness. Bussel.com claims The Urban Dictionary has a similar definition, but over on The Urban Dictionary itself there are multiple definitions, the most popular being "pretentious". Other UD definitions range from similar derogatory meanings to agreeing with M-W / Lexico. On the BBC's Have Your Say pages it is being used by right wing posters to deride other posters and topics.

So the major dictionaries are mostly in agreement that it is a reasonably complimentary adjective, whilst there appears to be a popular swell to use it as a derogatory slur.

It's a bit like Humpty Dumpty in Through the looking glass “it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.” Can anyone shed any further light on the definition or are we doomed to live with this dichotomy?


texts:
I was going through an answer in a post where they define how rough can people be to new users in some cases. There I read:

  I have known many good developers that would not use it because of this particular welcoming behavior.

As you see, in this specific case welcome is not following its etymological form of well + come. Instead, is something like not well come.

So, is there an opposite for "welcome"? Could "unwelcome" or "unwelcoming" serve for this purpose? I don't know if such words even exist, since searching for them redirects me to the welcome entry in Dictionary.com.


texts: Using a comma — or other punctuation — at the start of a line

texts:
I was always told that, when writing on a page, you should always make sure never to start a new line with a comma.

E.g.

  The man was tired
  , so he went to bed.

Is this an actual rule, or just a trend for the sake of tidiness?

Does it apply to other punctuation?


texts: When do we use "suppose" and when "let"?

texts: As a matter of fact, these two words are used a lot in mathematical contexts. Often, we use them interchangeably; but I do realize that that might not be correct. What should I do about this matter? To be honest, a student of mine has asked me about these two words and when to use each. Any help?


texts: I've seen the expression "neck tingle" used in the context of enjoying a good song. Is this a similar expression to "goose bumps"? If not, what would be the difference in use?


texts: How to interpret this text from year 1847?

texts:
If context is needed, I'm happy to supply it.. The sentence I want to rephrase:

  Some selection of this kind has for some time been imperatively called for, by the wants of the gardener, farmer, and amateur, the multiplicity of sorts in the larger works and catalogues rendering them nearly useless to those who merely wish to know those kind adapted for family or market supply.

I'm at a loss of words for interpreting the sentence into concise rephrasing for elementary comprehension.

It's from a book by Robert Buist titled "The Family Kitchen Gardener" (Full book). The sentence is under PREFACE a few paragraphs down.


texts:
When I tried to read an article, I got a below sentence:

  One problem many developers encounter while defining and analysing
  data requirements is the situation where a number of different
  attributes can be used to describe an object, but only few attributes
  actually apply to each one.

I don't know what does "each one" phrase mean here, and how is it used?

Here is original link of it


texts: Can you please suggest an idiom meaning the same as ' to take advantage of ' in the context that a group of people attacked another one that was already in civil war.


texts:
I am hearing and reading this construction more often:

You can have your meal how you want it.

AND

Design your own color combination how you like.

Whatever happened to "as"?


texts: Difference in meaning of 'sorry for your loss' & 'sorry about your loss'?

texts:
Does the two preposition 'about' & 'for' impart different meaning to the phrases
'sorry for your loss' & 'sorry about your loss' ?
Considering the cases of both personal loss(death) & loss of material possession(e.g. car in accident).


texts:
Example sentence: Alice is a good, if not great, dancer.
I notice people interpret this sentence in two ways:

Alice is a good dancer, but she's not great.
Alice is a good dance. Actually, that's an understatement, she's a great dancer.

The first interpretation is my first reaction, but the second one is plausible as well. Is context the only way to distinguish between these two interpretations? For my purposes quite often there is no context available however. I am looking for help with how to interpret this expression in these situations.


texts: Adding "dot com" to the end of a sentence?

texts:
Overheard this one while I was getting my hair cut. The two ladies were arguing about whether or not a given shampoo was appropriate for a customer that had just left. Something about the customer's existing skin condition and a previous perm and/or coloring. The lady doing my hair was worried that the suggested shampoo might be too strong (chemically) and irritate the customer's scalp.

What caught my attention though was that she'd say things like "It'll dry their hair out dot com." There were two or three other sentences she ended in a similar manner, but that's the only one I remember.

And I haven't the faintest idea what she meant by this. I'm aware of the idea that some websites have URLs that are phrases or sentences (ending in a .com, for example, example.com), what I don't understand is why she spoke like that. She wasn't trying to advertise a website, they were just pain, English statements of her opinion and there was always a slight pause before she added it.


texts:
Question is as title says. Is there any difference between refurbish and furbish or for all intents and purposes are they synonyms?

These are the 2 levels I would like to discuss:

Differences on definitions based purely on pedantry (i.e. which would you use based exactly on the definition)?

Which one is more used and in which contexts (ex. electronics are generally "refurbished")

Thanks!


texts: Looking for a word that fits for a young grown woodland

texts: I'm looking for a word for a young wood of forest. In German you would say "junger Bestand". What ist the english expression - young stand, young stock?


texts: Why is there a singular verb, when the list of objects are plural?

texts:
Can you please help me understand this?

  DANIELLE: Mom, what's going on?
  BREE: Oh, I'm throwing you out. I've separated all your things into two sides. One of them is yours, Danielle, and the other one is Andrew's.
  ANDREW: Okay, you've lost it.
  DANIELLE: Where are we supposed to live?
  BREE: Darned if I know. Danielle, everything in the north quadrant of your side is clothes and books and such, and the south side are miscellaneous items.

What I don't get is, why does the mother say "your side IS clotheS and bookS..." and then adds "the south side ARE miscellaneous itemS"

Source: Desperate Housewives, season 1, episode 7
Thanks for your help :)


texts: Is "false concedence" a thing? If not, is there an established term?

texts:
concedence /kənˈsiːd(ə)ns/

noun
    1) The action of conceding; concession, agreement.

Here's what I describe as false concedence:

  Expressing that you concede a less consequential point, but only in an effort to show that you are willing to concede points. Your unspoken belief is that you do not concede that point. However if pressured, you are willing to forfeit that belief in order to maintain the perception had always conceded the point.

Is there a name for this sort of action? Technically a lie if unchallenged. But when challenged, the speaker may decide it's inconsequential and change their actions to make it the truth.


texts: English word for days/weeks/months where there is a skip between each days/weeks/month?

texts:
I'm looking for an English word (phrase) to be used when someone wants to mentioned days/weeks/months/year ... where there is a space or skipped days/weeks... between each two.
** For example:** let say we have 10 days and I want to say only Day#1, Day#3, ..., Day#9 or (#2, #4, ..., #10).


texts:
There is a "Generation Uphill" article about the millenials from The Economist. I've looked up in some dictionaries for uphill word, however I am not sure is it used here as an adverb or an adjective.

So what is the exact meaning of "Generation Uphill" in this context?


texts: What is the difference between "I learned to drive in 6 months" & "I learned to drive for 6 months"?

texts:
I would say  "I learned to drive in 6 months" emphasize how long it took to learn to drive & "I learned to drive for 6 months" emphasize how long it lasted and the continuity of the action.

Here are some of my studies:

In some dictionaries, they say

  You use in to say how long something takes.

  He learned to drive in six months.

  The food was all eaten in a few minutes.

  Be Careful!

  Don't say that something lasts or continues 'in' a period of time. Say that it lasts or continues for that time.

  I have known you for a long time.

  I worked for the same company for ten years.

But in other dictionaries, they see "in" as "after a particular length of time" not "how long it takes"

  in: after a particular length of time

  to return in a few minutes/hours/days/months.

  It will be ready in a week's time (= one week from now).

  She learnt to drive in three weeks (= after three weeks she could
  drive).

But other dictionaries distinguish "in" when to say when something will happen & when to say how long someone takes to do something

  We use in to say how long it takes someone to do something:

  He was such a clever musician. He could learn a song in about five minutes.

  We use an apostrophe -s construction (in a year’s time, in two months’
  time) to say when something will happen. We don’t use it to say how
  long someone takes to do something:

  I won’t say goodbye because we’ll be seeing each other again in three
  days’ time. We can also say in three days, without time, in this
  example.

  He ran the marathon in six hours and 20 minutes.


texts:
I have no trouble reading the following, even though they say not to use "and" twice in a sentence without a comma:

  The bulk of the expense came from all the lost opportunities and all the rabbits and other fluffy tailed creatures needed during the implementation phase.

Why is this allowed?  Does it have to do with grouping?


texts: Is there a hypernym for person or system?

texts: Say for example I would like to say that my system supports granting access credentials to both people and systems; can I express that in a single term?


texts:
Sometimes I get confused whether to use figure or figure out.

Example:

  Cynthia didn't blame his dad for being so quiet. She just figured (out) some fathers
  found it more difficult to communicate with their daughters than
  others.

I'm not sure which one I should use. Is there a way of knowing when to use the first and when the latter?


texts: How should I describe the data usage of websites like Netflix or YouTube?

texts:
I'm writing a paper on net neutrality and weighing a couple different options, but I can't make up my mind. My goal is to describe websites which, by their nature, consume a large amount of data or bandwidth. Which would fit better in an academic setting?

Throttling speeds would make high-bandwidth websites such as video streaming services impossible to use.
Throttling speeds would make high-data websites such as video streaming services impossible to use.
Throttling speeds would make bandwidth-heavy websites such as video streaming services impossible to use.
Throttling speeds would make data-heavy websites such as video streaming services impossible to use.


texts: How did the phenomenon of doubling words come about?

texts: I am referring to phrases such as: "Do you like her, or do you like like her." Can someone provide an explanation of this? There are many more examples but none come to mind at the moment.


texts:
Is there a real word that is a synonym of the fake 'bakebook'. I know that bakebook is not a real word, so I want the real word that means the same thing. I am trying to find the word that means a cookbook exclusively for baking.

Does a word that means this exist?

Thanks a lot in advance! All responses are greatly appreciated!


texts: What’s going on with “food > feed”? Is it like “foot > feet”?

texts:
I am looking for a particular linguistic term for this process of turning nouns like food into verbs like feed. For all I know, it may be older than English, perhaps even going back all the way to OE.
English has a bunch of noun-verb pairs like these:
food, feed
blood, bleed
brood, breed
doom, deem?
What is going on there? What does it mean?


texts: Hypernym for "business", "company", "organization", "institution"

texts:
Is there a hypernym for the following terms?

Local business
Company
Organization or institution

Edit

I am building a website where one can create a profile that will either be a Local Business, a company, an organization or an institution.
At the moment I am using the general term Profiles but it does not sound very professional. I would like to stand away from the term Profiles if possible. I was also thinking about the term Entity but it's not very nice either..
Facebook is using the general term Pages (see here) but for them, a page can also be a brand, a cause, a community, etc...which is a bit different.


texts: what's the meaning of "entwining" in this sentence?

texts: The entwining of advocacy for services combined with the high levels of emotional support required for women to embark on the difficult pathway to recovery is changing – and not always for the best.


texts: What do we call an 'attempt' at a rebuttal?

texts:
What is the most effective word that describes an 'attempt' at rebutting a given argument? Emphasis on 'Attempt.' I hope find to a word which implies that:

the attempt is not a successful one (that's why I don't use just 'rebuttal') and could easily been repudiated depute its seeming irrefutable.

As in

This _______ [?] may be addressed by calling the audience's attention to the fact that . . .

Something like that.

Thank you


texts: Using apostrophe + s and "the" - is it incorrect and why?

texts:
I saw a colleague writing:

Can you add the new option in the Salesforce’s panel?

English is my second language, but my intuition tells me that using the with 's in this situation is incorrect and you should use either:

Can you add the new option in Salesforce’s panel?

...or:

Can you add the new option in the Salesforce panel?

Am I right and if yes, why am I right? What are the grammatical rules that apply here?


texts:
Is there a word that means "more well", in the same way that "better" means "more good"? In common parlance most people just use "better" for this purpose, but this sounds wrong and is a nagging irritation for me.  "Better" is an adjective while "well" is an adverb, and so they're strictly incompatible in how they can be used.

I realise there isn't a commonly used word for this but I'm interested to know if there's something archaic that and has fallen into disuse.