texts: I hope you can help me in this matter // is it correct?

texts:
I am writing a letter to the company with attached CV.
This company can manage accreditation process and provide world leading task management and support for a specific type of job.

In the end of my letter I am planning to use:
......
I hope you can help in this matter.
Looking forward to receiving your reply.
Thank you.
MyName

or better in such way:

......
Kindly advise if you can help and assist in my matter?
Looking forward to receiving your reply.
Thank you.
MyName

Please suggest better business language form, or both of them are acceptable ?
Thanks


texts: Is "(gerund) among the (superlative) (noun)" missing a reference?

texts:
Can I say this?

  Working at Stevens & Son means designing among the most glamorous tablecloths in Eastern Europe.

I'm not entirely sure if among the most glamorous is not missing a reference. I guess, I could alternatively say:

  Working at Stevens & Son means designing tablecloths that are among the most glamorous in Eastern Europe.

But I tend to like the first version better because

is more compact/to the point
it makes most glamorous stand out more


texts: Ending a sentence with "does" after verb

texts:
I found confusing the following type of sentence:

  Both work out quite well but the dwarf tends to have a bit more vitality than the elf does.

Why do we use does at the end of the sentence to refer to something previously described using "to have"? It looks a bit misplaced. As a counter-argument, the following equivalent sentence sounds okay:

  AWS tends to offer more RAM than Microsoft does as the server instances get large

Is there some principle at play here?

Thank you.


texts:
I don't know if "rather than to" is correct or if there is a better turn of phrase:

  Note that our aim is to show [...] rather than to run [...]


texts: What is the subject in a passive infinitive sentence saying "to be considered for a promotion"

texts:
Once the employees have completed the company's largest project
  successfully, they will be offered an opportunity to be
  considered for a promotion.

I found that sentence in my English book and this is a little bit confusing because I am not sure WHO consider the opportunity between the employees and the company.

First, I understand the "consider" means to contemplate giving something (often a particular job or role) to someone(Link). And to see the detail meaning, I divided the sentence into two as follows.

  a-1.The employees will be offered an opportunity + the company
  will consider the employees for a promotion.
  =a-2.The employees will be offered an opportunity + the employees will be considered for a promotion by the company.
  =a-3.The employees will be offered an opportunity+ to be considered for a promotion (by the company).

I tried it like this way :

  b-1.The employees will be offered an opportunity + the company
  will consider an opportunity for a promotion.
  =b-2.The employees will be offered an opportunity + an opportunity will be considered for a promotion by the company.
  =b-3.The employees will be offered an opportunity+ to be considered for a promotion (by the company).

What makes sense to me is the situation that employees will consider the opportunity like the group of sentence A. Would you please tell me which one is the right divided sentences? And if the group sentence B are right, could you explain the precise meaning of that with nuance?


texts: Most of the dictionaries online do not list 'wanting' as the present participle of 'want'. It just means 'lacking' in general it seems. However some dictionaries do and I am wondering if the 'wanting' is ever actually used as the present participle of 'want'.


texts: What is the difference between Admiral and Rear-Admiral?

texts: I know the meaning of admiral. But what does it mean when we use "Rear" before it?


texts: Looking for a word to refer to quality of knowing one is wrong

texts: Looking for a (preferably single) word/simple phrase to refer to "the quality of a person to know that he is probably wrong about something and is also willing to accept he is wrong about it, but just has not got a chance to do it yet"


texts: Word for the animal providing motive power for a vehicle?

texts:
Is there a general word or phrase that denotes an animal providing the motive power for a vehicle?
Something that might conceptually complete the phrase:
"cars have engines; chariots have _______."
(I don't mind if the word semantically refers to horses, but ideally I would rather one that doesn't contain the string "horse".)
Some words or phrases that are similar to what I'm looking for, but don't quite fit:

"Steed" or "Mount" - except that such an animal is being ridden, not moving a vehicle.
"Beast of burden" - except that the emphasis is placed upon carrying a load, not moving a vehicle.
"Workhorse" - except that the meaning is much, much broader than moving a vehicle; and it also contains the string "horse", which I would ideally avoid.


texts: Looking for a word that describes this "3D Viewport"

texts:
I am writing a personal essay in which I model an object in Blender. Several times I reference the view port outlined in red below but I can't seem to find a word that is accessible to non-technical people.

Several people have mentioned this in their feedback.

Can anyone think of a better (less clunky) word that would describe the 3D view port below?


texts: Can one say "SOMETHING what is the X [...]", or must one say "SOMETHING what the X is"

texts:
I have always considered a sentence like "Let's check what is the best solution", or "I can tell you what is the best thing about this place" to be grammatically wrong, and would opt instead to "Let's check what the best solution is" and "I can tell you what the best thing about this place is".

Lately I'm noticing quite a lot of native English speakers use the latter format, and I'm not entirely sure whether they're making a mistake, or rather whether this is simply a preference of mine.


texts: He didn't so much as thank me OR to thank me?

texts:
I have heard both ways 'He didn't so much as thank me' and 'He didn't so much as to thank me'. Which is correct and is the other wrong or can it be used colloquially?
Thank you.


texts:
BACKGROUND
According to this ThoughtCo. article titled "NICE Properties of Auxiliary Verbs":

NICE is an acronym for the four syntactic characteristics that distinguish auxiliary verbs from lexical verbs in English grammar: negation, inversion, code, emphasis.
The NICE properties were identified as such by linguist Rodney Huddleston in the article "Some Theoretical Issues in the Description of the English Verb" (Lingua, 1976).

I won't be explaining in detail what the NICE properties are, because they're fairly straightforward. If you're not familiar with them, please visit the link above for reference.
Here are some NICE property examples shown in The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language (page 93):

QUESTIONS
In the above examples, only finite auxiliary verbs are shown to have the NICE properties. Do non-finite auxiliary verbs too have the NICE properties? If the NICE properties are "the four syntactic characteristics that distinguish auxiliary verbs from lexical verbs in English grammar", I think non-finite auxiliary verbs (as well as finite auxiliary verbs) should have the NICE properties. But they don't seem to.
Here are my failed attempts at producing NICE property examples of non-finite auxiliary verbs:
(1) Not having seen it, he had no clue. [Negation]
(2) N/A [Inversion]
(3) He may have seen it and I may have. [Code]
(4) ??They don't think he has seen it but he must HAVE seen it. [Emphasis]
In (1), not typically comes before having rather than after. It's not clear whether the not coming before having should be considered as negation of having. But let's assume for the moment that it should. Also, some speakers might put not after having, in which case not does negate having. It's possible, therefore, to argue that the non-finite auxiliary having does have the Negation property.
I can't think of any examples for (2) because there's no subject-auxiliary inversion in non-finite clauses.
In (3), although some speakers may choose to omit the second have, at least for those speakers who allow the second have, it can be said that the second have, a non-finite auxiliary, has the Code property.
In (4), it's unlikely that you could pronounce HAVE emphatically.
All in all, however hard I try, non-finite auxiliaries cannot seem to allow the Inversion and Emphasis constructions, which means that non-finite auxiliaries don't seem to have the NICE properties.
If non-finite auxiliary verbs don't have the NICE properties, which they don't seem to, is it really correct to say that the NICE properties are "the four syntactic characteristics that distinguish auxiliary verbs from lexical verbs in English grammar"?


texts: How would you describe poor/bad family relations?

texts:
i.e Sam had a _____________ relationship with his family, with the omitted space being an adjective showing the toxic/bad relations between Sam and his family.

'Strained' comes to mind, but some others would be greatly appreciated.


texts: Using landslide in a sentence and paraphrazing it

texts:
As I see in the dictionary landslide can be :
a.  The downward sliding of  mass of earth
b.  A percentage of votes greatly exceeding the required margin of victory.
Did they mean here to the first meaning? Metaphorically, the triumph of his opponent is deteriorating. Hence the demagogue feel euphoria. Did I understand it well?
By the way, why did they write  triumphs and not triumph?


texts: What does an odometer measure? Another term for "mileage"

texts:
I'm developing a software application in which users must enter odometer values of their cars. I'm looking for the correct term for the variable/database field that stores an odometer reading.

Terms I'm not really satisfied with:

mileage: Too imperial, since I'm actually storing kilometers and not miles. And this term is a bit ambiguous because it's also used for fuel efficiency.
distance: Too generic.
odometerValue: Too literal.

I'm looking for the metric (or unit independent) equivalent of the term mileage, or is this term also used in metric countries?


texts:
(sorry if I get some of the terminology wrong, English is not my native language)

In Dutch we have the convention to place a comma between two verbs if they are not part of the same verb phrase. I was wondering if the same convention is used in English.
Here is an example:

  How well the species adapted, remained unknown

This rule is not specifically mentioned on the websites that I checked, but I am also unsure if in Dutch this is the actual rule, or just some sort of mnemonic aid.


texts: Word indicating that the authority of the speaker changes the meaning

texts:
Is there a phrase or word that indicates that the authority of the speaker changes the literal meaning of what was spoken?  Something like:

Me: I finished cleaning the bathroom Golf buddy: You might want to
double check for soap scum in the shower Me: Nah.  It's fine, lets
go
Me: I finished cleaning the bathroom Wife: You might want to
double check for soap scum in the shower Me: Yes dear


texts: "... need XXX-ing" vs. "... need to be XXX-ed"

texts:
What is the difference between these two expressions?

  Your hair needs brushing.
  Your hair needs to be brushed.


texts: The meaning of "were to" in the remote conditional

texts:
CGEL* (Page 753) says

[46] i a. #If it is to rain, I’ll cancel the show. b. If it were to rain, I’d cancel the show.
There is an idiomatic use of what we call ‘quasi-modal be’ that occurs only in remote conditionals like [ib]. In the open conditional If we are to survive we’ll have to drastically reduce expenditure the protasis suggests purpose (“In order to survive, we’ll have to drastically reduce expenditure”), which is why [ia] is pragmatically anomalous. In the remote conditional, this quasi-modal be serves merely to reinforce the remote meaning: the protasis of [ib] means “if it rained” but with a slightly stronger implicature of unlikelihood. It occurs predominantly in future time protases.

Here, CGEL seems to say that were to in the remote conditional doesn't have the same meaning of "purpose" as does "am/is/are to" in the open conditional. But the open conditional example above has this corresponding remote conditional:

If we were to survive we’d have to drastically reduce expenditure

Now, doesn't this suggest purpose (“In order to survive, we’d have to drastically reduce expenditure”) just like its open conditional counterpart?
If it does, is CGEL's claim "In the remote conditional, this quasi-modal be serves merely to reinforce the remote meaning" still valid?
*The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language


texts: What does this sentence convey to you - "We will reply you after discussion with my manager and/or head of department."

texts:
Does this sentence - "We will reply you after discussion with my manager and/or head of department" conveys that -

1) I am writing from the executive's point of view i.e. I will reply to you after discussing with my manager ; OR

2) I am writing from a superior's point of view i.e. I will reply to you after discussing with MY manager....


texts: Why is “but koalas are lighter” a subordinate clause in this sentence?

texts:
This is exactly how the sentence is presented:

If you ask me, pandas are far cuter than koalas but koalas are lighter.

So I was required to split this into its clauses, and categorise them.
“If you ask me” = Subordinating Clause (the comma is the sub. conjunction.)
“pandas are far cuter than koalas” - Main Clause
“But koalas a lighter”   - I said that this was a Main clause as it is connected to a main clause by the conjunction “but”, which I thought would be a coordinating conjunction, hence suggesting that that clause was a main one.
However, the textbook says that that is actually a subordinate clause.
Why is this the case?


texts: Is the phrase "in addition to the above" correct?

texts:
I used the phrase "in addition to the above" in the following manner:

  We have lorems and ipsums, because the foo needs a bar every now and then. There are also dolers, sits, and amets, which we now and then use.

  In addition to the above, we have...

Someone reviewing this text suggested it should be just:

  In addition, we have...

Now I'm unsure whether the "to the above" part is an artifact of translating the original Dutch phrase too literally, or just fine in English.

Any advice on using "in addition" and "in addition to the above" properly would be appreciated.


texts:
In Newfoundland, the word "crooked" (pronounced crook-ed) is used to mean grumpy either as a temporary or permanent characteristic of an individual.
It is used in the sense of "getting up on the wrong side of the bed" and is socially acceptable in the short term, for example, "Never mind, she's just being crooked".

Where does this usage come from? It doesn't seem to come from Hiberno-English which would the closest form to most of the Newfoundland dialects.


texts:
My wife just said "stays more fresh for longer", which sounded double to me. But I don't know how to actually say it without being double.

When you put something in the fridge it stays...

more fresh.
fresh for longer.
more fresh for longer.

The first sounds like it'll stay fresh forever, just a bit more fresh when kept in the fridge.
The second sounds to me like it's either fresh, or spoiled.
The third sounds double.

Which works best? (I'm probably just over-analyzing stuff.)


texts:
Any single word that means "not to look forward to"? Like "dread" but not as strong, or "dislike" but for something that hasn't happened yet? "She came to _____ the two weeks of a major tournament."

Thanks for all the thought. What a great site. The context, which I should have made clearer, is that she doesn't look forward to a major tournament because she doesn't like tennis and her brother wants to watch every minute of it. The tone should be slightly amusing. "His sister, not yet a tennis player, came to ___ the two weeks of a major tournament." In this context, I think something like @user307254's "despair over" comes the closest.


texts: Phrasal Verb request for cover in a cursory manner

texts: Can someone suggest a phrasal verb which means "not covering something in full detail" or treating the subject in a "cursory manner". Something which implies that the details have been  omitted probably to make the discussion more concise etc.


texts: Meaning of "nine-to-five kind of person"?

texts:
What does "nine-to-five kind of person" mean?

For example:

  The great thing about my job is just music, I get CDs constantly pushed into my hand, and I go to loads of gigs, so if you love music, there are plenty of added bonuses. Although, if you're a nine-to-five kind of person, then this isn't for you; as I say, I never really break out of work mode...


texts: What could "touch the incongruous" mean? (from an old story)

texts:
Reading an old story by A. Blackwood, I stumbled upon the following sentence (for the context, the woman is said to have some kind of second sight):

And the idea of this motherly, sedate, and wholesome woman, absorbed
day and night in prosaic domestic duties, and yet ‘seeing’ things,
touched the incongruous almost to the point of alarm.

I cannot fully understand the last part: touched the incongruous almost to the point of alarm. I thought it was a phrase (if something touches the incongruous) but I was wrong.


texts: How did the spelling "demesne" come about?

texts: The word demesne seems to just be an alternative spelling of the rather more logically-spelt domain.  I'm wondering how this strange spelling came about?  Even taking into account its given etymology from the Old French demein, how did the letter "s" get in there?


texts: The core difference between phonetics and phonology

texts: What are the differences between phonetics and phonology?


texts: Is there a word for an individual item within a cache?

texts:
Is there a particular word that represents an individual item within a cache, particularly from a programming perspective?

Is item the best choice in this particular context? Or do you generally need to know the type of objects within a cache (i.e. [object] cache) to refer to them any other way? For example:

Weapon cache - contains individual weapons.

Entity cache - contains individual entities.


texts:
I understand that myself and related pronouns are reflexive. I do not think the sentence:
"As a result of previous correspondence between you and me," sounds correct.
I would like to say "As a result of previous correspondence between yourself and I," but I do not know how correct that is.

My understanding is that both pronouns are objects, and neither are reflexive, nor subjective. What is the correct way to say this?

Note that I am trying to sound formal and professional. This is a scientific piece of writing, and not a casual piece.

Thank you in advance.


texts: Does the idiom "The chips will fall as they may" really exist?

texts:
I heard this idiom "The chips will fall as they may." in the Elementary drama.
I want to know what it means so I have been trying to search it on the internet.
But what I could only find is "let the chips fall where they may".

I want to know if the idiom "The chips will fall as they may." really exist or it does not?


texts: When someone asks, "How are you?" are you supposed to answer, "Good," or "Fine," and ask back?


texts: "Child"/"kid" implies paternity/maternity relationship?

texts:
Do the words "child" and "kid" imply a paternity (or maternity) relationship, just like "son" or "daughter"?

If true, how can I refer to a child without implying paternity? Example: if Anne is a kindergarten teacher and I want to refer to the "children" in her class without implying maternity, would the expression "Anne's children" be ambiguous? What should I use instead?
If false, how can I refer to someone's son or daugther and imply young age (without using "young son" of course :) ) ?

I'd appreciate answers that cover different English uses, both by geographic area and by social/cultural implications.


texts: Single word for a person who makes things difficult

texts:
I am in search of a word that exactly means 'a difficult person of my description'.

For example, suppose that I am on the lookout for a heart specialist, and I ask my friend if he is familiar with any. Instead of answering this specific question, he begins describing the heart, its function, who can do without it, plausible the danger of being treated by doctors who skipped treatment of the heart in their studies, and so on and so forth. I am lost in a maze, my head goes whirling, and I fail to recollect what I was after.

Search among your acquaintances and you will find many similar examples. What I want is to give them an appropriate name–— preferably a single word.


texts: "Bride price" as an alternative word to "dowry" in Arabic societies

texts:
In Arabic countries, specially among Muslims, the sum of money given as a gift in a marriage is given by the man to the woman and not by the woman to the man.

Using the word "dowry" in Arabic countries when speaking to a native English speaker may be confusing.

Is the word "bride price" common? Do native speakers understand it?

Bride price as defined by Collins Dictionary is

  (in some societies) money, property, or services given by a bridegroom to the kinsmen of his bride in order to establish his rights over the woman


texts: “They shook their heads” or “They shook their head”?

texts: Should one say they shook their heads in disbelief or they shook their head in disbelief? The first kind of conjures up many-headed people? Similarly should one say they referred the question to their husbands/husband?


texts: Usage question: "Relation" vs. "Relationship"

texts:
What is the difference between relation and relationship?

What's the purpose of the suffix?


texts: What is the meaning of the term "herbert" in British slang?

texts:
In the song Get Out of My House by The Business, the chorus is:

  Out, out get out of my house, you'd better take your sheepskin too
  no son of mine's going round as a hippie
  or a scruffy little herbert like you.

What does the term herbert mean?

I found this definition here, but it doesn't make sense to me in the context of the song:

  Noun. An dull objectionable person. E.g. "He's a real herbert, he watches the news and weather on TV all day."


texts:
In a very formal writing style,

Is it fine to use to name but a few in a separate sentence?

  There are a lot of algorithms to do hashing. MD5, SHA1 and CRC are to name but a few.


texts: Typo equivalent for a speech recognition mistake

texts:
A typographical error (a.k.a. typo) is a mistake made in the typing process (typing "hlelo" instead of "hello").

Is there any word to designate a mistake made when writing a text through a speech recognition program?

The error may result from the imperfectness of the speech recognition engine,  from the imperfectness of the speaker's pronunciation, or from a mixture of both.

I am aware of the question “Typo” for speech? but it focuses on the imperfectness of the speaker's pronunciation, and doesn't consider speech recognition.


texts: Weird "genitive of relative pronoun" construction

texts:
In this youtube-video a non native speaker of English said the following sentence

  ... another verb, of which I've already talked about the present tense

At first, I thought it was simply a mistake but then I realized what she was trying to do.
The weird thing is that both, I and she, are native speakers of German. Such a construction is impossible in German. Since she generally has a high level of proficiency I am curious:

Is this construction grammatical?
Is it good style?
Can native speakers of English process that without any problems?

If the answers are "no"

How could this information be phrased as succinctly as possible?


texts:
I'm always uncertain what form the following words should be used. In normal situations, they seem always in plural form but when singular forms can be used (or never be used)?

Corporate earnings
Company financials, financials sectors
savings account versus checking account (why not checkings account?)

Maybe someone can point out a list of these words mostly in their plural form and rules of using them?
Thanks


texts: "I want to apologize personally for..." or "I want to personally apologize for..."

texts: The latter seems to have a more standard structure, but the first one sounds better to me. Which one is grammatically correct?


texts: What does "above and beyond" mean and how is it used in a sentence? Some sources say it means exceeding expectations, some sources say it means 'in addition to'. Which is it? Is it both?


texts:
In the sentence "I was like whatever", what is actually going on under the hood? "I" is presumably a pronoun, but what about the "was", the "like" and the "whatever"? Is the "was" on its own a verb? In which case what is the "like"? Or is "was like" as a whole a verb?

You might not like this, but that is a different matter. There is some discussion about that here. Also, there is a discussion of its history here. And I see from The Boston Globe that this usage is called the "quotative like", but it still doesn't explain what is actually happening grammatically.


texts:
Should there be an article in a phrase "a certain writer's skills"?

In phrases like this, is an article a part of a noun or a noun modifier ("writer's" in this case)?


texts: A word for being efficient in wrongdoing?

texts:
My question mostly stems from the existence of such word as infamous which perfectly solves the problem when you want to talk about someone being famous but in a bad way. When you want to address actions of a criminal or a terrorist saying that they were efficient in their actions sounds wrong, that's why I'm curious is there a word similar to infamous but in regards to efficiency?

Sentence example:
The perpetrator ended up being much more _____ than an average terrorist


texts: person going against the odds and winning

texts: What can be the one word for a person who goes against the odds and finally emerges as a winner.? is "rebel" the correct word?


texts: Is the usage of 'this' correct in this sentence?

texts: Is it okay to say 'There was this mesmerizing, melancholic music everywhere filling the hearts with wonder and awe.'? Is it right to use 'this' in this context or is it considered colloquial usage?


texts:
I know that it is a saying where cowboys can draw their pistol, but this does not refer to them hand-drawing their pistol (on paper, perhaps).

But can we say that shots are drawn (as in, gunshots)? I know that in this case, shots can be fired, but likewise, a pistol can also be fired, so... yeah.

I did some research, and given the definition of draw (to pull or drag, in this case), then I don't think shots can be drawn, but I have heard the saying "pull shots" before. My friend Matt used to play golf, and I think I might have heard it there, but to me, "shots drawn" sounds fine. Perhaps hearing how shots can be "pulled" in golf (i.e. tee shots) had an influence, but I wanna know if shots can actually be drawn, or if we could even say that.

An anagram of the third world war is dwelt horrid wrath (one  that I found), so I decided to try and make an anagram of the second world war, where I got two options:

Now screw old hatred
We're cold, shot drawn

I know the first one makes sense (with some informal use of the word screw) but I am not so sure about the second anagram.

And that's why I asked this question. Can we say that shots could be drawn, or not really? If we can't, would we just stick to shots fired, or is there another word that could replace "fired"?

Thank you in advance :)


texts: How to understand the "of somebody" part

texts:
It is recounted of Thomas Carlyle that when he heard of the illness of his friend, Henry Taylor, he went off immediately to visit him, carrying with him in his pocket what remained of a bottle of medicine formerly prescribed for an indisposition of Mrs. Carlyle's.

I know it in the above clause is the dummy subject, and the real subject is the that-clause. The whole sentence is not hard to understand in its current form. But I have some difficulty explaining the "of Thomas Carlyle" part grammatically in the above sentence. Is it a subject complement or an adverbial complement? What's its modifier?


texts: Would the "Cavendish drawl" be considered a dialect?

texts:
I was reading the biography Georgiana,  by Amanda Foreman, and came across a description of what she calls the Cavendish drawl, an accent of sorts that was spoken by the Cavendish family. One blog refers to it as a patois and wrote that:

  the Foreman biography quotes various examples of the phenomenon called variously ‘Cavendish drawl’ and ‘Devonshire drawl’ both of which terms, even taking into account her mention of “bal-cony, con-tem-plate” and “cow-cumber”, are no doubt less appropriate than the third one ‘Cavendish patois’.

He goes on,

  In the OED Murray remarked in 1885 “Till c1825 the pronunc. was regularly bælˈkəʊnɪ; but ˈbælkənɪ..., ‘which,’ said Samuel Rogers, ‘makes me sick,’ is now established.” ...
  OED dodgily gives the con`template stressing in second place (as an allegedly current usage) even tho retaining Murray’s century-plus-old comment that it “begins to have a flavour of age”.

  On cowcumber it gives his 1893 remark that such a pronunciation was “still that recognized by Walker; but Smart 1836 says ‘no well-taught person, except of the old school, now says cow-cumber ... although any other pronunciation ... would have been pedantic some thirty years ago”. Other items of the patois Foreman quotes are yellow, gold and spoil presumably pronounced as /jӕlə, guːld/ and /spaɪl/ and a “baby-talk” style you pronounced with its yod dropped.... Except for this last item, these were all probably merely old-fashioned. For example Wyld's History of Modern Colloquial English (1920/36 p. 239) sed of goold that “It was a very usual though by no means the only pronunciation in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries among good speakers.”

Whether or not this way of speaking was old-fashioned, it was (according to Foreman) used in the Cavendish household, and was at least partially adopted by people of that social circle. Wikipedia says that a dialect is:

  a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers.[1] The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors, such as social class.

A patois, again per Wikipedia, is:

  any language that is considered nonstandard, although the term is not formally defined in linguistics. It can refer to pidgins, creoles, dialects, and other forms of native or local speech

So how would the "Cavendish drawl" be linguistically categorized? Is it a dialect? A cant? Something else?


texts: Said In Context: A more appropriate alternative to [sic]?

texts:
For a long time, I understood [sic] to mean said in context, but I was told that that said in context is really a backronym. Fair enough.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sic#Improper_abbreviation

However, I'd like occasionally to be able to say something unusual/unexpected/perverse/incorrect but add some sort of note to indicated that is not my usual choice of word(s), but has been said in the context or the spirit of the preceding communication.

Specifically, I'm wanting to say something fairly un-PC, using a deliberately anachronistic and inappropriate term, purely for effect. It will fit within the context of the discussion, but technically, [sic] won't excuse me or shield me from the accusation that the words are my usual choice.

Usually [sic] is used when you are reproducing an error or mistake of someone else, but I'm not quoting anyone - I'm using a term that fits the spirit of the conversation, but nobody has actually uttered the phrase previously.

Is there a better mechanism I can use? Or should I technically mis-use [sic] on the presumption that most people will understand what I meant?

CONTEXT:

I don't really want to repeat the conversation verbatim, but to give you an idea, the exact usage was:

  ...that David Cameron isn't apparently keen on starting wars and sticking-it to some fuzzy wuzzies

It's related to David Cameron's 'multicultural' speech. I'm using fuzzy wuzzies particularly to evoke the image of an old (bigoted) colonial attitude to johnny foreigner. This might be a very UK-centric angle, but for those of you who have seen Blackadder IV, consider Stephen Fry's General Melchet or Geoffrey Palmer's General Haig.

If I was quoting something that was said by a person or a character, [sic] would fit perfectly. But since I'm quoting a stereotype or caricature, the issue is less clear cut.

Clearly, fuzzy wuzzies is not a term I would ordinarily use, but it makes sense when said in the context of the conversation. So I'm looking for a means to quickly indicate this... [sic] definitely isn't appropriate but the said in context backronym perhaps is.

Perhaps I simply say ...sticking-it to some *fuzzy wuzzies* (said in context)?


texts: "If I had been a kid" vs "If I were a kid"

texts:
I watched a film yesterday. For me, it was a stupid and childish film. I  think it would be great for kids, not for adults.

So, I want to say 1. "If I had been a kid, I would've enjoyed the movie a lot more"
2. "If I were a kid, I would've enjoyed the movie a lot more"

Which one is more correct?


texts: We "would have been"/"will be" together for three years in August

texts:
Me and my boyfriend cannot decide if I am using the English language properly. My sentence is

  "We would have been together for three years in August"

but he thinks the use of "would have" is wrong as it seems as we will no longer be together then. He thinks the sentence should be structured,

  "We will be together for three years in August."

However I think that I am saying it such as "we would have been together for this long once we reach this date."

Am I right, or is he?


texts: Does "every time" not mean "all the time"?

texts:
In this article, Singapore Plans To Become The World's First Smart Nation, there is an explanation about the E3A plan by Leonard:

  We're working on something that we've named E3A, which is our way of looking at communications for the future: Everything and everyone, everywhere, all the time.

Why doesn't he use every time instead of all the time? If everything means all things, everyone means every person and everywhere means all places, then why does every time not mean all the time?

Here is the definition of every time in Oxford dictionary:

  Without exception

Logically, without exception equals all, therefore every time is all the time. If so, then why doesn't Leonard use every time to make the repetition in the excerpt?


texts: Is "The worst case scenario is now possible." bad English or bad logic or ...?

texts:
I saw this headline and it struck me as redundant if not nonsensical.

Couldn't you just say "This is the worst case scenario." and communicate effectively?

If a scenario is understood and defined as the worst case scenario then by definition it is possible.  Therefore, it is and was the worst possible scenario.  Nothing has changed.  So, isn't it nonsensical to say that only now it is becoming possible?

Am I missing something here?  Is this an error in English language usage?  An error in logic?  Is this tautological?


texts: Capital letter in abbreviation for "standard deviation"?

texts:
I need to use an abbreviation for "standard deviation". I know I can use "SD", but today i was asked to use "Std. Dev." instead.

Std. can be used as abbreviation for standard.

My question is about the second word in the abbreviation. Is it written with an upper-case "D" (Std. Dev.) or a lower- case "d" (Std. dev.)?

Thank you for your help.


texts:
I am looking for a word like pay off, but with a negative connotation, that would fit in this sentence:

  If we don't solve this problem now, it will _____ in the future.


texts: I've heard both "I'm finna go to the store" and "He finna go to the store."  Do we prefer with "is, am, are", or without?  Is it a regional / dialectic difference, or are they interchangeable?


texts: Why Can't we use an object with "Tell the truth" or "Tell a lie"?

texts:
I am learning "Reported Speech" and a rule says that "tell" has to be followed by an object, except with the expressions "tell the truth, tell a lie..."
Can't we say, "He told me the truth"?


texts:
I recently came across the following quote in a fairly significant leadership book, The Practice of Adaptive Leadership by Ronald Heifetz, Alexander Rashow, and Marty Linsky.

  "The word leader comes from the Indo-European root word leit, the name
  for the person who carried the flag in front of army going into battle
  and usually died in the first enemy attack. His sacrifice would alert
  the rest of the army to the location of the danger ahead." Page 26 of The Practice of Adaptive Leadership

The problem is that I'm having difficulty finding any source that confirms that 'leit' referred to the flag bearer in a battle. I've found that it means "to leave" and "to die", but I'm not finding where the flag bearer concept came from, and they don't cite a source.

So I have two questions: Did 'leit' refer to the person carrying the flag going into battle? If not, what is a fuller meaning of the word as it was originally used?

Thank you so much. Miguel


texts: When should we use proximity rule in "either/or", and "neither/nor"?

texts: According to this link, if at least one of the nouns involved is plural then it should take the plural form of the verb. Otherwise, it should take the singular form of the verb. But in the last part it says not all grammars agree to those rules thus proximity rule applies. However, it doesn't explain when to apply the proximity rule and when not to use the former rules.


texts: For example, is "they gave the same rating to the movie" a proper usage?


texts:
I have a little bit difficulty understanding the meaning of "So thinking" In this sentence from Clive Barker's book of blood:

"But When her courage faltered, she thought of Trevor, and how badly she wanted to silence his condescension. So thinking, she advanced into the place...."

Is this even grammatically correct to use 'so thinking'? If so, what is its meaning, and what words can I replace it with?

thanks!


texts:
When I read period authors, i.e., Dickens, or Verne, or Hugo, etc., I always see things like:

  My dear child/Child, come here/He is but a child!

But I don't see kid. In fact, I didn't see kid even in the contemporary work A Series of Unfortunate Events when I was reading it (unless I missed it). Children was still used there. So, my question is:

When did "kid" become used to mean "child"?
Is it less formal to use "kid" than "child"?


texts: Is the first scentence grammatically inocrrect?

texts:
This box is too heavy for me to lift it alone

This box is too heavy for me to lift alone.


texts:
Mendoza said that's the way it worked.

In this sentence why are we using that's?
Why not that was?  Wouldn't that was be much better?
To clarify my question, Mendoza originally said

"That's the way it works".


texts: What is the difference between “revenue” and “income”?

texts: It seems that revenue and income have the same meaning. However, they seem to be used differently. What is the difference between them? When should we use one and not the other?


texts:
Is there any punctuation--obviously not standard--for when you rearrange a quotation? It would be similar to an ellipsis, but indicate movement rather than elision.

For example, you are given the following line:

  If one yields to it one's character narrows and cheapens.

The structure of your writing, though, favors "It 'narrows and cheapens' 'one's character.'" This, though, hideously places two quotation marks next to each other. Of course, you could change your sentence to fit the original order but this is not always easy. Has anyone ever introduced a punctuation mark that would go between the two segments?

As an example of what I mean, I hypothesize a symbol:

  It "narrows and cheapens <> one's character,"

where <> is my substitute for what I seek.

Please do not tell me how to use quotations. I do not need an education on how to get around this need. I am only curious if there is such a symbol.


texts:
We seem to be stuck at an impasse on this issue.

Is funnest a word or not?

If so, does it mean "most fun"?


texts: is there a word which conveys the idea of criticizing with (or out of) love?

texts:
Is there a word, for criticizing someone out of love. Like a lover would do or a father would do.

It's not just criticising or reproaching, there is that love and care factor involved, for the criticised own good.


texts:
I'm sure there are many words describing this but for some reason I can't think of an.

Like to use in an example like this:

  You feel as though you'd been put softly in the cradle of Mother
  Nature.

Any suggestions?


texts: Can I use the word "must" in subjunctive mood?

texts:
I'm a student in China. Our English exam has a grammar item.

  54．My boss ordered that the legal documents __ to him before lunch．

  A．be sent
  B．were sent
  C．were to be sent
  D．must be sent

The answer is A, but I think D is correct, too. Can I use "must" in subjunctive mood?


texts:
This is very similar to this question but was not satisfactorily answered there.

It's very common for auto-checkers (e.g. Grammarly) to suggest a comma follow 'of course'.

For example, if I write "Of course I do", it underlines the word 'course' and suggests that it be changed to "Of course, I do".

But is that correct? It seems to me that "of course, I do" and "of course I do" could both be correct but mean something slightly different.

In the question linked above, user @HotLicks commented: Basic question: Do you pause anywhere when you say "Of course I don't"?

Possibly that was Socratically leading to the answer but I wanted to try to spell it out.

It seems to me that "Of course, I do" means something like, "on the other hand, this does apply to me." For example, I might say: "If I didn't have a bike, I wouldn't be able to ride to work. Of course, I do so I can."

On the other hand, "Of course I do!" means something like, "I am indignant that you would think that wouldn't apply to me." For example, I might say: "You think I don't have a bike? Of course I do!"

In the above paragraph, 'course' is underlined by Grammarly but the question is:

  Is that really an illegitimate usage?


texts: If one says "Amid much fanfare", what does he mean?

texts:
Just complete an article about Yao Ming, who is a great basketball star in NBA. The only thing I fail to understand is the phrase "Amid much fanfare" in this sentence:

  Amid much fanfare, Yao Ming, 31, announced his retirement on July 20
  from the  National Basketball Association's Houston Rockets, the US
  team who made him a global star, and the Chinese national team five
  days later.

After turning to Google and a dictionary for help, it seems still not so clear to me.


texts:
What does the statement "What if the cost of machines that think is people who don't?" -- George Dyson mean.

Came across the quote over here https://twitter.com/JohnDCook/status/527627283256078336.


texts:
Is there a short form for the word - Citation? I Googled but still can't find one.

EDIT: 'Citation' is not a long word but if my document will mention this word at least 100, it would therefore be great if I can find the short form for it.


texts: What does the "which" of "A and B which..." refer to?

texts:
A and B which...

Does what follow "which" refer to:

strictly B alone?
both A and B?


texts: Is Dick Schiller pronounced "shiller" or "skiller" in "Lolita"?

texts:
In Vladimir Nabokov's "Lolita," the title character's husband's name is Richard ("Dick") Schiller.

Don't hold me to it, but I once heard a radio production (or it may have been a movie, not necessarily based on "Lolita," in which the character is mentioned) in which someone pronounced it as "Skiller," the way the word "schedule" is rendered "skejoole" in American English.

Is there some kind of allusion-rich joke on Nabokov's part that I'm not "getting," a nuance I'm not aware of (the book is full of linguistic tricks of all kinds)? I mean, the author of "The Robbers" and "Mary Stuart" is still "Shiller" from sea to shining sea, so what gives?


texts: His father [had washed] his face [when] he [got]

texts:
Sentence:
The little boy was one of those kids who hate water, but now thanks to his father he was clean. His father had washed his face when he got himself in a big mess with jam and butter.
Question:
Have I used "had washed", "when" and "got" correctly in the above sentence? Thanks in advance.


texts: "Opportunity of purchasing" vs "Opportunity to purchase"

texts:
I am translating a phrase from Spanish and I would appreciate the input from a native English speaker:

I translated a phrase as "to give the opportunity of purchasing", but I am in doubt whether it would be more appropriate "to give the opportunity to purchase". Which one is the correct phrase?


texts: Is there a rhetorical method in this apparent error?

texts:
Although the construction “I could care less,” is derided as a careless rendering of “I couldn’t care less,” and one that undermines the speaker’s intention of expressing lack of interest in something, I’ve often wondered if “I could care less,” actually reinforces the speaker’s attitude (the speaker is so uninterested, she doesn’t even bother to express herself correctly). Is there a name for this rhetorical strategy?

There was much interesting information in the suggested question, answers and comments, but I wanted to know if this were done intentionally is there a name for the device, other than the much too broad "ironic."


texts: What do film cameos and cameo brooches have in common?

texts:
Why are film cameos called cameos? In which sense do they resemble cameo brooches? In both meanings of the word we have a human figure. Are they similar in their brevity of appearance? In their ornamental function? In their silence and hieratic attitude? Or are they comparable in their value (jewels are valuable, famous people are important)?

I have already checked several etymological sources. They differ. I’m looking for your opinion. In what do you think film cameos and cameo brooches are similar? What do you feel is the key element in common?

To try to further clear my question: I’m debating in another (Spanish-language) forum the anglicism “cameo”, which Spaniards use but ignore is related to cameo jewels (“camafeos” in Spanish). To most Spaniards cameo means nothing except cameo films. I’m trying to find out the connotations anglophones bring to their mind when they use the word in the cinematographic sense, connotations that Spaniards are unaware of, to show how in this specific case (not in most others) the adoption of this anglicism is not enriching Spanish language.

But maybe this is not a good question anyway.


texts: What tense is "I could have played tennis."?

texts:
My understanding is that the sentence

  I will have played tennis.

is future perfect.

But, what happens if I substitute the word "will" with a modal such as "could" or "ought to"? Does that change the tense? If so, what tense is it?

For example, what tense is the sentence

  I could have played tennis.


texts: Is the phrase 'being of a number' correct?

texts: "Tribal population is of a considerable number in these two tahsils." Is this correct? I see many phrases like "It is of considerable importance ...", but does "being of a sizeable, considerable, etc. number" considers native English? For example, "The problems of our educational system is of a sizeable number". That said, I want to use it in academic or formal writings.


texts: I have values between 0 and 1, like [0.9, 0.8,...], indicating that a value closer to 1 is more probable than one close to 0, but without all the values adding up to 1. I guess I can't call it probability, but what else can I call those values?


texts:
I use this word in my daily language even without knowing what it actually means.

  Technically speaking, there is no big difference between […] and […].

So what does this word imply, not in the literal sense but when we combine it with a sentence? Is there a specific context to which we are supposed to limit the usage of this word? Because I hear it almost everyday.

Can we substitute the above sentence with "literally speaking, there is no big difference between […] and […]"?

Is the word technically supposed to bring out the meaning as in "literally" does? Are they synonymous? Can we use them interchangeably? If not, then what does the word "technically" actually refer to w.r.t daily English usage?


texts:
I am writing a scientific paper. And I wrote the sentence as follows:
The nominal prepreg tow height is about 0.15~0.20mm, which is much larger than the Resolution Z-axis (0.011mm). Furthermore, the tow gap nominal width is about 0.1mm~1mm, which is much larger than the Resolution X-axis (0.056mm).
However, my tutor supervisor advised me to remove the second marked "which is". I do not know why. Can anyone explain it to me? Thanks so much.


texts: A small grammatical question, I’m confused!

texts:
Which sentence is correct?
“Why did you go and told mom about us?”
“Why did you go and tell mom about us?”

I know that after “did”, the verb has to come as “simple form”, but when the sentence is long and follows with “and”, what happens to the second verb (after and) ?
Does it have to come as “past tense” or “present tense”?


texts: Word for saying something and meaning the other

texts:
I cant recall the word for saying something and meaning the other. For example, if someone says I do not want to fight but really intends to fight, what do you call that?

Thanks.


texts:
Recently I have been told that it's not correct to use "except" in this sentence.

1 I have already had three lessons (today) except this one.

It should be:

2 I have already had three lessons (today) excluding this one.

Do you agree? If yes, what's the reason for that?

They mean basically the same:
Except - with the exclusion of; other than;
Exclude - to shut out from consideration


texts: "Who(m) will it be?" vs. "Will it be he/him?"

texts:
The accepted (and highly upvoted) answer to the question in the question  What’s the rule for using “who” and “whom” correctly? states that the easiest way to find out whether to use who or whom is to try with he/him and see which fits.
But that doesn’t seem to fit very well in this case:

Who will it be?

Whom will it be?

If I replace with he/him there, it becomes:

Will it be he?

Will it be him?

– and I don’t know which of these is right, either. Is it really true that you can always associate who with he and whom with him? Or does that not always work? And which out of 3 and 4 is correct?


texts: Is "in the essence of time" legitimate? Standard? Regional?

texts: I had never heard "in the essence of time" before a recent trip to Virginia. Various local attendees of a meeting I attended used the phrase to justify moving on to a new topic, in a situation where I would expect to hear "in the interest of time."


texts: A word for "characterized by a defined ending"

texts:
I am documenting some code and I need a word (adjective, preferably ending with "y") that means "characterized by a defined ending."

Here is how I will be using it in a sentence: "Unlike active scripts, passive scripts are capable of being started and stopped multiple times due to the simplicity, brevity, and [word I'm looking for] of their tasks."

I asked my friend and he suggested the word precursory, but I find that the meaning of that word is a bit too far from what I'm looking for.


texts: What's a word or phrase to describe a good book that I cannot put down when starting reading?

texts: What's a (big) word or phrase to describe a book that is so good that I cannot put down when I start to read it?


texts:
I came across a line written by Charles W. Chesnutt

  [H]e said to himself that he was a very good-looking man, and could have adorned a much higher sphere in life than that in which the accident of birth had placed him. (1899, Charles W. Chesnutt, "Uncle Wellington's Wives" in The Wife of his Youth and Other Stories)

What does "adorn" mean here? It apparently doesn't mean what it means now, namely "to enhance the appearance of something." It seems to mean something along the lines of attain, but I can't find a dictionary definition to support that.


texts: What's the adjective to the word "sibling"

texts:
I'm looking for the adjective that goes with sibling. My sentence would be something like:

  The [...] relationship.

So the adjective would be used to denote that the relationship is one between siblings. A native speaker told me it was simply sibling, however, I'm not convinced. I have tried googling for the answer, but it hasn't yielded any results as of yet.

Unfortunately, my Oxford dictionary is having a sleepover at one of my fellow students.


texts: Could the possessive pronoun be eligible for the pronoun "the latter"?

texts:
He leaned heavily and wearily upon Mason's arms while the latter sustained him as best he could.

In the above sentence, "the latter" seems to indicate "Mason", but I'm not sure that the possessive "Mason's" could be eligible for the pronoun "the latter". Is it possible?

"The latter" could refer to Mason of Mason's, and then the latter could seem to refer to the possessive such as him/her/them/us, etc.


texts:
I have these 2 sentences:

I wonder what went through their mind when they cried. Were they remembering all the good memories?

I wonder what went through their mind when they cried. Did they remember all the good memories?

Should I be using 'were' or 'did'? which one is grammatically correct?


texts: Difference between present perfect and past perfect?

texts:
Can someone explain what past perfect is?

Consider:

When do I use past perfect? I know past perfect refers to a time in the past or the activity happened before and after the other activity. But sometimes, people use it and is not determined by the time or when the event occurred (before or after).

I can not understand. Please, explain for me.


texts: What is the structure of "a goal remote in the pursuit is so easy to lose sight of"?

texts:
A goal remote in the pursuit is so easy to lose sight of.

What does "a goal remote in the pursuit" mean here? I don't understand it structure-wise.


texts: How to make use of someone's quote or image in my LinkedIn post (and mention him/her)?

texts:
I would like to repost a cartoon via link of a well-known cartoonist in my LinkedIn post and make a short comment based on that. I'd like to say that I really admire his work, because he/she can illustrate so well the reality-and I probably I can't!-and put down my thoughts about this situation in the drawing. I don't like to look offensive though and of course I will mention (@) the name. So here's what I was thinking to be as the opening sentence of the post:
"I wish I could be as good cartoonists as "@xxx" when it comes to illustrating reality, but i am not. So I would like to take the chance and make a worthwhile use of his."


texts:
What is the correct way to indicate multiple "presence"s in the sense of "I have a strong presence in this community"?

For example:

  I have multiple online presence[s?].


texts: Does it make sense to 'lift' an obligation?

texts: I want to say that an obligation that was present previously has been removed in a new approach. Can I say that in the new approach, the obligation has been lifted?


texts: What is the opposite of "preaching to the choir"?

texts:
I have found "Whistling into the wind" online but I do not think it fits because it seems to mean that your words are not heard, whereas the opposite should mean that you're being informed by someone of a 'fact' with which you strongly disagree.

I generally respond, "you're preaching to the choir", when somebody 'vents' to me about something that I too take some issue with, which may be an evolution of the idiom used when you tell someone something they already know, rather than something they agree with.


texts: "A different one" when we have 3 objects - other/another?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Can “another” be used with plural nouns provided periods or measurements don’t count?

Here is the context (found in a forum for learners of English)

  WAITRESS: Do you two students want more pie? We have two flavors.

  STUDENT A: Yes. I already had one slice of apple pie, and now I would like another one.

  STUDENT B: Yes, but I already had a slice of apple, so now I would like to try the other one.

1 "Another one" means "one more of the same."
2 "the other one" means "a different one."

It's pretty much clear with two objects but it's not clear for me if there were three different objects.

  WAITRESS: Do you two students want more pie? We have three flavors.

  STUDENT A: Yes. I already had one slice of apple pie, and now I would like another one.

  STUDENT B: Yes, but I already had a slice of apple, so now I would like to try ....

What does B have to say? If he says:

1) "another" - he gets the same flavor

2) "the other" - is not possible as it implies only one while there are two left.

What shall B say?

PS: There are many questions dealing with other/another but I failed to find one dealing with this very matter, if there is still one out there I am sorry not to have found it.


texts: Should I use simple past or present perfect in the following sentence?

texts:
In the sentence: "I (have) never memorized vocabulary - I (have) simply read many books"

I had looked at grammar websites and the suggested duplicates, but didn't find an answer.

Which verb tense should I use?


texts:
When I got home yesterday, John called and said he will arrive next
  week. (Wikipedia)

Wikipedia says the sentence above is possible. Does it not break the tense agreement when there’s no quotation mark? I suspect 'will' needs to be changed into 'would', when there is no quotation mark in the sentence, like John called and said, 'I will arrive next week.'


texts:
According to this, the antonym would be Malus. But is there a more widely used term?

Consider an exam where you've got a "Bonus question", so solving it correctly gives you an extra point. Would it be called a "Malus question": solving it incorrectly deducts a point (as opposed to giving no points)? Or is there a better way to describe that?


texts: Using "rehabilitation" and "physical therapy" as synonyms?

texts:
Are the two terms below interchangeable when addressing injuries?

Rehabilitation is care that can help you get back, keep, or improve abilities that you need for daily life. These abilities may be physical, mental, and/or cognitive (thinking and learning). You may have lost them because of a disease or injury, or as a side effect from a medical treatment. Rehabilitation can improve your daily life and functioning.

Physical therapy is a non-invasive discipline that helps individuals develop, maintain and restore maximum body movement and physical function. Physical therapy can help clients recover from an injury, relieve pain, prevent future injury or deal with a chronic condition. It can be applied at any age or stage of life. The ultimate goal of physical therapy is to improve health and quality of life.

May I use rehabilitation and physical therapy interchangeably, as synonyms? Repeating "physical therapy" multiple times in a sentence decreases readability. The context is physical rehabilitation after a traumatic injury. Patients rehabilitative care is described by their physical therapy use (this includes relatively similar terms like occupational therapy and exercise therapy).


texts: What is the preposition associated with "admiration"?

texts:
Is it "admiration for" or "admiration of"?

For instance, does the sentence "He had a great admiration of Washington Irving." make sense?


texts:
In this sentence

  He went outside. He looked down the road.

What is meant by down? I don't think he's in higher place.


texts:
Possible Duplicates:
  When do I use "I" instead of "me?"
  Which is correct, "you and I" or "you and me"?

Which of the following sentences is more acceptable?

  "This is just between you and I."

or

  "This is just between you and me."

I have come across both of these sentences in movies and I'm not sure which one is more acceptable. Can someone help me?


texts: The respondents, 'which include' or 'who include'?

texts:
Would I say,'The respondents, which include funders and legislators' or '...who include funders and legislators'?

Thank you.


texts: Past participle used verbially /adjectivally

texts:
How does one distinguish as to when a past participle is used verbially in passive voice or as adjective with verb 'to be' when the doer of the action(agent"by")is not given ?
In many sentences it can be understood to be used either way
Example-The flight was cancelled/delayed ('Cancelled'/delayed) can be interpreted to be used either way based on one's interpretation.


texts:
Here's the script from Inside No. 9 Nana's Party

  You can get them quite cheap now, can't you?

  It's all Marks's, actually.
  Apart from the ham, which I got from the local batchers.

  From the what?

  From the batchers.

  The "batchers"? What's the "batchers"?

  Leave her alone.
  I like her talking posh.

  It's not posh, Mother, it's proper

  Oh, heh! We're not "proper", Mum!

  I wanted BOTH my girls to talk nice! That's why I sent you for electrocution lessons.
  You should say "batcher", Carol.

  That's how you get on! Oh, right.

  So what are we having for afters, "sammer padding"?

  Well, I did make a trifle, but it's got quite a bit of sherry in it, so Kettle's boiled.

There's some talk of the joke:

  I thought that the overdone 'batcher' joke was taking the piss out of northerners who try and sound 'posh' by changing how they pronounce the letter 'u' to match how they assume southerners pronounce it in words like 'butcher' - unfortunately they get it completely wrong because southerners pronounce the word 'butcher' as 'butcher' never 'batcher' lol

what's the deal about the batchers vs. butchers joke?


texts: How should "UNC" in the context of networking be pronounced?

texts:
How should UNC (Universal Naming Convention) be pronounced?

"unk"
"you en see"

In a sentence, should it be "a UNC share" or "an UNC share"?

A Google search for "a unc" -carolina results in about 400,000 results while "an unc" -carolina results in about 100,000 results.


texts:
I find it very difficult to pronounce the words fifths (as in four fifths or parallel fifths). The consonant cluster [fθs] is very difficult for me to utter.

I know that in some cases the pronunciation of the plural is different from that of the singular for the sake of simplification of pronunciation. For example (correct me if I am wrong), the word clothes can be pronounced [kloʊz] instead of [kloʊðz], and mouths can be pronounced [maʊz] instead of [maʊðz].

Is there any possible simplification for the pronunciation of fifths or is pronouncing [fifθs] piece of cake for native speakers?


texts: Removal of a repeated syllable for ease of pronunciation

texts:
What do you call the removal of a repeated syllable in words for ease of pronunciation?

I read about it once. I think it has to do with alliterative sounds. Not sure if it was deliberate or not.


texts: Can "And so?" serve as a request for completion or continuation of the thought?

texts:
Can "Yes. And so?" serve as a request for completion or continuation of the thought?

For example:

  Merry: Jack, you can speak Japanese, French, Korean and Arabic.

  Jack: Yes. And so?


texts: Difference between the words of violent criticisms

texts:
What is the exact difference between:

revile
castigate
inveigh
asperse
culminate
vituperate
vilify

In what context are these words used?


texts: Why "farcical" rather than "farcic" or "farcal"

texts:
It seems to me that "farcical" includes 2 suffixes, each for the purpose of making an adjective of a noun. I presume this would normally be considered redundant and wrong, but has become dictionary-correct because of common usage.

Do I have that right, or is there some other reason for the word "farcical" being constructed the way that it is?


texts: Xenia is from what I understand a directly borrowed word from Greek. It didn't come through french first or anything, so I see no reason to pronounce is 'z'enia. Why not pronounce as it would be pronounce in Greek: 'ks'enia


texts:
How would I say a toddler is 2 years and 7 months old correctly? Is this right:

  It is a two-year-seven-month-old toddler.

Or do I need an “and”  between? I personally think hyphenating here looks ridiculous. In formal English, say a report document about child behaviour or whatever, could I write

  It is a two year, seven month old toddler

instead, too?


texts:
My question title itself is self explanatory. Can any explain what "false positive" means? I got this word usage from one of my clients in bug report.

Can anyone explain with usage in layman's language?


texts: How would you explain these mistakes to an adult language learner?

texts: what is the mistake in "I Have visited washington two years ago"?


texts: Is it correct to say "if you (will not come) by tomorrow ,let me know"

texts:
Which one is correct?:

if you (will not come) by tomorrow ,let me know
if you (do not come) by tomorrow ,let me know

I have read posts here about using "will" in the if clause.in this answer

Is using "by tomorrow" affects the answer?


texts: How did the term "X's finest" come to mean the police force of a city X?

texts:
I have often come across terms like London's finest, New York's finest, etc., intended to mean the police forces of the respective cities. I think in the case of Scotland Yard, the term even has some official currency. How did this usage originate? Was it sarcastic or propaganda?

It's hard to believe that the finest people of a city are its policemen, especially given how often popular tales involve thieves and outlaws as protagonists.


texts: "I read the To Kill a Mockingbird book" vs. "I read the book To Kill a Mockingbird"

texts:
Which one is correct?

I read the To Kill a Mockingbird book.
I read the book To Kill a Mockingbird.

More complicated example:

I think you should read the No Silver Bullet - Essence and Accidents of Software Engineering paper.
I think you should read the paper No Silver Bullet - Essence and Accidents of Software Engineering.


texts: hyphen in compound nouns where there is more than one 'initial' noun

texts:
When forming compound nouns featuring more than one 'initial' noun, I seem to remember that there is a way to use a hyphen with one or both of those initial nouns to avoid having to repeat the second noun in the compound, but I'm not sure exactly how this works. Could someone help me with this, please?

What I want to avoid (repeating 'trees'):

'Drawing up problem trees and solution trees...'

What I believe may be correct but am not sure about:

A. 'Drawing up problem- and solution trees...'

Or is it:

B. 'Drawing up problem- and solution- trees...'


texts: Combination of similar pronouns (indefinite)

texts:
Are there any significant differences in meaning or usage between "everyone" and "everybody", or "anybody" and "anyone"?

As far as I know, there are some grammatical points involving
"everyone" and "everybody", or "anybody" and "anyone", but books/internet/professors cannot identify any differences of meaning or usage between these two pronouns.


texts: How long have people been swearing in English?

texts:
I was looking through my old A-Level English set books from 1989 at the weekend. We had to study the Canterbury Tales and I can still remember our delight when we discovered that 'queynte' was the 13th Century form of a certain four-letter obscenity beginning with 'c', used to describe the female regenerative organs.

Unlike its modern counterpart, 'queynte' was not, it seems, an obscenity back in Chaucer's time. I was wondering if anyone knew when it morphed into 'c*nt' and became a taboo word. And, by extension, the earliest usages of it and 'f*ck' as obscene, taboo and/or abusive words. Off the top of my head, I seem to recall reading somewhere that the earliest example of the eff-word is in Lady Chatterley's Lover, but I may be mistaken.

Also, I know a lot of swearing in our times is based on what are referred to as 'Anglo Saxon' words/usages. Why is this? And were the Angles and Saxons a ruder lot than the Vikings?

UPDATE:

From the Wikipedia article

The word in its modern meaning is attested in Middle English. Proverbs of Hendyng, a manuscript from some time before 1325, includes the advice:[9]

  'Ȝeue þi cunte to cunnig and craue affetir wedding.'
  (Trans:  Give your cunt wisely and make (your) demands after the wedding." )

So it would appear it was acceptable at least around the 13th/14th century.


texts: What's the meaning of the word "pastoral" in this context?

texts:
Iford Manor has been described as one of the most stunning concert venues in the West Country.  Throughout high summer, Iford Arts stages an internationally renowned festival in a breathtakingly beautiful pastoral setting. Operatic performances are staged in-the-round in the intimate surroundings of the Italianate Cloister, which could not be more perfect in terms of scale and style. While the classical backdrop could hardly be more fitting, the real delight for our audiences is that, as the sky turns purple overhead, the first stars appear and the first heady notes resound across the countryside, no-one is seated less than twenty feet from the performers. The opportunity for a relaxing pre-show picnic in our tranquil gardens overlooking the meandering River Frome will complete an already magical experience.

I have found two meanings of this word, but it seems to me that neither of them fits.

1) Of or pertaining to shepherds; hence, relating to rural life and scenes; as, a pastoral life (Source: en.wiktionary.org)

(especially of land or a farm) used for or related to the keeping or grazing of sheep or cattle (Source: Google Translate)

2) Relating to the care of souls, or to the pastor of a church (Source: en.wiktionary.org)

(in the Christian Church) concerning or appropriate to the giving of spiritual guidance (Source: Google Translate)

Edit: if someone is able to answer this question, I would like to get a synonym for "pastoral". Thanks in advance.


texts:
Wikipedia (correctly IMHO) defines hysteresis as

  the dependence of the output of a system not only on its current input, but also on its history of past inputs. The dependence arises because the history affects the value of an internal state. To predict its future outputs, either its internal state or its history must be known.

But then gives the etymology as

  derived from ὑστέρησις, an ancient Greek word meaning "deficiency" or "lagging behind". It was coined around 1890 by Sir James Alfred Ewing to describe the behaviour of magnetic materials.

The Online Etymology Dictionary agrees, giving

  1805, from Greek hysteresis "a coming short, a deficiency."

But this doesn't jibe with the etymology of hysteria, hysterical, or hysterectomy, all of which are based on the Greek root meaning "uterus" or "womb".  (See, for example:

'The words "hysterical" and "hysterectomy" share the same root in the word for "uterus".'
'from the Greek ὑστέρα hystera "uterus".'
'the term hysteria ... stems from the Greek cognate of uterus, ὑστέρα (hystera).'
'from Latin hystericus "of the womb," from Greek hysterikos "of the womb, suffering in the womb," from hystera "womb" (see uterus)

So what gives?  I can conceive of at least two theories: (1) someone was embarrassed about the existence of bodily functions and so made up a bogus definition for ὑστέρησις, or (2) the ancient Greeks were so misogynistic that "having a womb" became idiomatic for "deficient."

What is the real etymology of the word hysteresis?


texts: Why is "zero" followed by a plural noun?

texts:
I could have:

Two books
One book
Zero books

Why is zero followed by a plural form?

I don't expect English to always make sense, but everything has a reason, even if the reason is stupid.
The definitions of "singular" and "plural" per Merriam-Webster:

  Singular (adj): of, relating to, or being a word form denoting one person, thing, or instance

  Plural (adj): of, relating to, or constituting a class of grammatical forms usually used to denote more than one or in some languages more than two

So by this logic, our choices are "one" or "more than one".  Maybe it's a bug :-)


texts: Reach up / reach for / reach at / reach out / reach down

texts:
I’m trying to describe a character reaching his hands out trying to catch a frog:

_He reached his hands out to catch the frog…

I wasn’t sure which preposition to use with the phrasal verb.
I looked for some examples in the internet and what I found confused me:

_I saw his hands reaching up in the air towards nothing.

_His hand was reaching for this woman's bag.

_I was dreaming about hands reaching at me.

_He was reaching his hand out to me.

_You were reaching your hand down and saying, "Trust me."


texts: How to use up-to-date with time indications

texts:
The last time my data were updated in my report was last midnight.
I want to write below the report something like:
"The data in this report are up-to-date to last midnight" but it sounds awful.
How should I write?

Yes, I know I could simply write "Last Update: 18/03/2019 00:00" but I would like to write it in a different way.
Thankx.
W.


texts: What is the parenthetical plural of "baby"?

texts:
A letter home from daycare may be sensitive to the fact that some children have a single parent like this:

  Dear Parent(s),

And if that same letter home wanted to be sensitive to the fact that I may have more than one child enrolled:

  This letter is concerning your child(ren)...

But what if I have twin infants? (twinfants)

  This letter is about your baby(ies)...

I believe the parentheses indicate that the letters within are optional, but do they also indicate that you should remove the y?

EDIT: The suggested duplicate has many suggestions, none of which is backed by a guideline or rule. Is there no rule governing this behavior?


texts: In English, are apostrophes supposed to be a ‹ ’ › or ‹ ‘ › or ‹ ‛› or ‹ ' › — or are those all the same so it doesn’t matter?

texts:
Let us pray for our
  husbands‘ long lives.

The ‘ quote is really weird here. I usually use ' in those situations, was I wrong? How do you even type that?


texts:
Background

Today I bought a box of Pez dispensers with various presidents faces on them ranging from 1825 - 1845. When I flipped the box over, I found the following statement in the description.

  PEZ has been an iconic brand for over 50 years. With great tasting flavors and collectable dispensers...

The first sentence of this description prompted me to think about the following...

Question

How did they decide that they should say "over 50 years"? Let me clarify, when a company is say... 55 years... Is it proper to say "over 50 years" until reaching an age of 60? Or should it be a longer period?

Note: PEZ was invented in 1927 but they are saying "over 50". They could easily say over 75. In fact I have seen "over 75" by some companies.


texts:
He goes to London every month so that he can see his ailing father.

He goes to London every month so that he could see his ailing father.

Which of the above sentences is correct??
My friends are saying second sentence is wrong, as “goes to london” is present tense form and “could” is used for past tense forms. So we can’t use “could” here.
But I learnt could is also used for hypothetical forms also. Why can’t we use “could” here in hypothetical sense or to show possibility? For example: He goes to London every week so that he could see his ailing father (If hospital authorities permitted him or if he wanted to )


texts: "More loudly" vs "louder". Correct usage

texts:
What is the correct usage of the adjective "loud"?

Please sing louder
Please sing more loudly

I came across this in one of the quizzes at office, and as per them, the correct answer was option 2. I really don't get what's wrong with option 1.


texts: What kind of vocabulary can be used when the person doesn't like thing that he/she has to have?  For example, I have crutches and I have to use them, but I really don't want to.


texts: What do you call a person who is regionally biased?

texts: What do you call a person who is regionally biased and has an unreasonable hatred/dislike for people from other regions of the country/world? Something like a racist, but the point of discrimination here is the geographical region and not race.


texts: Alternative to "impactful" when referring to work with meaningful effect on peoples' lives

texts:
I had a little bit of space left on my CV and so decided to add a very brief overview of my background and what I'm looking for.

One of the sentences mentions something like, "... interesting, impactful part-time work."

Now, I don't like the word "impactful" as it's too vague. I'm looking for 1 or 2 words to describe work that has a meaningful, almost measurable positive effect on the organization.

Any tips or advice?


texts:
Does this sentence make sense? If not, how would you fix it?

  The parents of families where the children are all grown up, their own parents are in their retirement years are faced with an ever increasing problem.


texts:
I am an easygoing, determined and (a?) fun loving person.
I am an easygoing and (a?) determined person.

What if we omit the a in the first sentence? Does it become incorrect?
And what if we use it in the second? Is it still alright?


texts:
The Daily Mirror recently used the phrase "Pentagon experts on Friday said it was impossible to imagine that the missile could not have been fired without Russian help". This exact phrase has appeared in other news stories as well, likely spread from the original Pentagon press release via newswire.

Is the "not" a mistake or idiomatic English? Without the "not" the phrase makes sense to me and the meaning is consistent with the context. With the "not" I don't even know what it means.


texts:
How is the comma being used in this sentence:

  "But we are not principally concerned here with sentence construction,
  rather with finding out what makes a proper sentence so that we know
  where to put a full stop."

Can a writer attach any old fragment onto a main clause, separating it with a comma, of course, and call it a 'nonessential element'?
How does one decide when to bracket words, phrases, or clauses from the rest of the sentence with commas?


texts: Can "extremely professional" have a negative connotation?

texts:
If someone is described as extremely professional, might there be a negative side to it?

This is how I would take it in many contexts, and I'm wondering whether it's justified. If some chap at work were described as extremely professional, I would think to myself:

  I can certainly rely on him to do what he's asked in an efficient manner, and if he's processing my paperwork, I can be confident he's not going to lose it or file it in the wrong drawer. But he's unlikely to be asking me if I want to come round for Christmas dinner.

In other words, one consequence of his being extremely professional is that he is only professional and disinclined to have fun with his colleagues.

Is this a fair understanding of the term?

And what if we drop the word extremely? I think I would sometimes still take this line even then.


texts:
Why isn't ecliptic a proper noun? There is only one, and it has a name.

Example (context):

  ... the true Sun is not always exactly on the ecliptic for a hypothetical observer at Earth's center, but may be some arcseconds north or south of it.


texts: "if you have any questions, please call myself" and other bizarre new reflexive pronoun usages

texts:
This is not a question about when to use reflexive pronouns. I am perfectly clear on that, and I understand that there are questions on the site already about when and when not to use them.
This is a question about what seems to be very sudden general confusion about reflexive pronouns.
This is something I see and hear (but especially hear) more and more in North America (I won't pretend I know what goes on linguistically in the street or on the tube (either meaning) in other parts of the world): the use of reflexive pronouns in place of subject or object pronouns, particularly for first and second person.
Examples:

If you have any questions or concerns, please call myself.
You can give it to either Dave or myself.
Okay, I'll give it to either Dave or yourself.

Hearing this drives my inner snoot batty.
So, why? Why have North Americans (and others, if this phenomenon is global) started doing this? I'd love to read any reasonable explanation that doesn't discuss why these examples are incorrect but somehow addresses the question of why this has suddenly become more common...


texts: Is "which" a preposition? Because because

texts:
Backstory: Back in 2013 the American Dialect Society appointed because Word of the Year. People had begun using a new syntax: noun-phrases and adjectives could now follow because. In response Geoffrey Pullum on the Language Log corrected all dictionaries everywhere and argued that because is not a conjunction but a preposition. With this new usage because has not changed or added to its part-of-speech. It is simply acting ever more like the preposition that it is.

That's all old news. Recently I saw a similar use of which:

  The earth was formless and empty, and darkness was hovering over the surface of the deep, which, ugh. (Source.)

Simply by rules of analogy, would this usage make which a preposition as well?

*6/29/17 Edit:

I've found another sighting:

  That was it. I walked out (no one clapped, which, fair), and for the next half hour I sat in the quiet dark, as three more people took their turns. I peeked through the curtain a few times. One person was lying down. Another was just sitting there.


texts: Idiomatic equivalent to Arabic "don't enlarge your stomach"

texts:
There is a phrase we commonly say in arabic, لا تكبر بطنك which literally translates to "don't enlarge your stomach", which doesn't make much sense in English.

It has a widespread usage and means not to be greedy and also to like for others what you like for yourself.

For instance, if a father said it to one of his children at the dinner table, it can mean that one of them is eating too greedily and not sparing anything for his siblings, or has said something like 'this food is all mine,' or has shown some intent in doing so.

It can be said in numerous other instances, like a discussion of the distribution of wealth.

Many would think it means simply "don't be greedy," and although it has that meaning, there's more to it than that.

Is there any such expression in English?


texts:
I think the  idiomatic expresssion “dance around” a subject, an issue meaning, avoid addressing a subject or an issue, is a common metaphor as in:

  When it comes to money, however, we find lots of ways to dance around the subject, engage euphemisms to shield reality, or avoid the topic altogether. From  Women, Money & Cheesecake:
  By Brona Pinnolis, Linda A. Tripp, Paulette Williamson

  But she, too, found it easier to dance around the subject rather than actually just say out loud what they were both thinking. From Just the Sexiest Man Alive
  By Julie James

Curiously I couldn’t  find its meaning in any online dictionary (can’t tell about the OED) and the only reference available appears to be the following page from thesaurus.com.

Is it because it is a very recent expression or because it is not as common as I guessed it was?

Whatever the case, is it a valid expression that can be safely  used, at least, colloquially?


texts: Is it grammatically correct to add "anyway" at the end of this sentence?

texts:
This is a sentence from a short story I'm writing:

  "It's all the same to me, because when it comes to our deepest fears
  and insecurities, we are all alone."

I'm not very sure if this is more grammatically correct:

  "It's all the same to me, because when it comes to our deepest fears
  and insecurities, we are all alone anyway."

EDIT:

I'm not sure if this is necessary, but here I include the two lines preceding the sentence.

  "Do you think there is something on the other side of the fog?"

  "I'm not
  sure. Do you wish there were something else?"


texts: What is it called when you use the same first consonant in different words - Example follows

texts:
I'm going blank here, so forgive me for what should be simple. The search engines weren't helpful. I tried to search.

Example:

The finicky felines finished their food.

I'm drawing a serious blank here, so go easy on me.


texts: What's the FUNCTIONAL difference between a supplement and an adjunct/modifier?

texts:
I'm trying to understand the difference between supplements and adjuncts/modifiers. In my search for enlightenment, I've come across a number of entries and posts, of which I think this one summarises the issue most clearly.

However, nowhere have I found a clear explanation as to what the actual functional difference is. In fact, it seems to me that the actual function is often the same – namely providing additional, grammatically optional information about something. Consider the following examples:

(1)  There was a box with a silvery lid on the table

(2)  There was a box, which had a silvery lid, on the table

As far as I understand, the PP in bold in (1) is a modifier, whereas the relative clause in bold in (2) is a supplement. Still, they both seem to have the same function: to provide additional, grammatically optional information about the box. What sets them apart then is not actually the nature of their function, but rather only the degree to which they are integrated into phrase or clause structure (which, in turn, makes us look upon them as having different functions). Am I right about this, or have I completely misunderstood things?


texts: Can one answer "Have you got...?" with "Yes, I've got."?

texts:
As an American in Europe I often get questions about the British "have got" which is hard for me to answer since I have little feeling for what is correct. E.g. someone today asked me:

  If someone asks me, "Have you got a pencil" and I say, "Yes, I've got." Is this incorrect?

I told him, "Yes, that is incorrect, you should either say, 'Yes, I have' or 'Yes, I've got a pencil."

I know, as an American speaker, I would answer, "Yes, I do" but in a British context, is my answer above correct?


texts: Word for pulling and releasing in kite flying

texts: When flying a kite, there are moments when you need to quickly pull on the string and let it go so that the kite can catch the wind and go up. Is there a word for this action?


texts:
I am in the process of writing my CV/Resume and want to list my skills with a brief explanation of how I learnt them. So far I have been using:

Marketing Experience - Gained from owning a small online business.
Flexible Worker - A basic requirement of my previous role as a
general assistant.
IT Skills - Gained from 2 years of software development as a hobby.
etc...

Is this correct? I thought about using a colon instead of the dash but would that be grammatically incorrect?


texts:
The final vowel-sound in 'formulae' can be pronounced as in 'cry' or as in
'sea', the former corresponding to the scholarly and presumably original
pronunciation of the Latin diphthong, the latter to the mediæval.  Is one of
them virtually universally embraced in Oxford and Cambridge?

There is nothing on the pronunciation of this plural in the OED.


texts: Where does "reach-me-down" (as a variant of hand-me-down) come from

texts:
A houseful of native British English speakers has never come across this variant, but it appears in the dictionary (Collins). Dictionary.com has noun, adjective British. hand-me-down.

So where does this version come from? It's not new (1860s according to dictionary.com).  There's speculation at wordreference.com that it's a regional variation, but nothing conclusive.


texts:
It seems like there are only so many ways to describe a person's career in the military. We can say "military glory", "military prestige", "military reputation", but are there ways of describing this without using the word "military" over and over again?

I'm currently writing about the Roman world, where the military plays a huge role in a person's status. What are some other ways to refer to this idea of "military glory"?

Thanks!


texts: Comma for, e.g., "To the best of our knowledge, ..." and "To achieve this, ..."

texts:
When we start sentences with something like "To the best of our knowledge, ..." or"To achieve this, ...", do we need the commas? For example, which one is correct between "To the best of our knowledge, he is not coming." and  "To the best of our knowledge he is not coming."?

I tried to look at the rule book for using comma and did not find a rule that applies; thus perhaps commas are not needed. However, I saw commas quite often. It is even there in the example in the merriam-webster dictionary: "To the best of his knowledge, no one had called all morning."


texts: Terminology for "New Yorker" vs "lives in New York"

texts:
What are the terms that can be used to differentiate between these two nouns?

  New Yorker versus one who lives in New York

A "New Yorker" would be someone who self-identifies as a practitioner of "New York" culture and values, as opposed to someone who only lives there geographically.

In other words, how would you say something along the lines of "It was telling that someone was described using the XYZ 'New Yorker,' rather than the ABC 'someone who lives in New York'?


texts: Using a comma after a question mark inside quotation marks?

texts:
Can I use a comma following a question mark (as part of a title), inside quotation marks?

It sounds like quite a complicated question, but all I want to do is correctly write the sentence:

  "Leo Strauss, in his essay “What is Political Philosophy?,” takes a
  radically anti-historical view, contradicting Nietzsche and relegating
  Nietzsche's critique to the edges of meaningful discourse."


texts: The meaning of "blue canoe" in the lyrics of "Where to Now, St. Peter" sung by Elton John

texts:
In his song Where to Now, St. Peter, Sir Elton John sings:

  I took myself a blue canoe,
  And I floated like a leaf
  Dazzling, dancing half enchanted
  In my Merlin sleep.

  Crazy was the feeling
  Restless were my eyes
  Insane they took the paddles
  My arms they paralysed.

(Lyric written by Bernie Taupin. Available on the album Tubleweed Connection. See the whole lyric.)

I found myself translating Elton's songs into Czech and I am curious about the meaning of "blue canoe". Here is what I have:

According to my friend, "blue canoe" had been used by the soldiers of Confederation during the civil war in the USA meaning a "bullet". Now this would make some sense:

  I took myself a blue canoe [I shot myself to death],
  And I floated like a leaf [towards the afterlife]
  Dazzling, dancing half enchanted [I shot myself badly / the wrong way, dying hours in horrible pain]
  In my Merlin sleep [in a sleep there is no waking from].

  Crazy was the feeling
  Restles were my eyes [this follows the scheme above]
  Insane they took the paddles [my hands took the "paddles of the canoe" = gun],
  My arms they paralysed ["my paralysed hands", my hands fell down after the gunshot].

I am a little skeptic about this interpretation. First of all, I find it improbable that Taupin would describe "dying hours in horrible pain" this way; it is neither touching nor fun. There are hands falling down after the gunshot, as well as "dancing in pain". The music Elton John composed to this lyric is far beyond psychedelic, further deepening my doubts. And, one more thing that does not match at all:

  It took a sweet young foreign gun
  This lazy life is short
  Something for nothing always ending
  With a bad report.

Why would a gun be "sweet" or "young"? Now this could be allegorical expression of a "young soldier", but at the very beginning of the song, he claims himself to be the executor of whatever causes him to die.

I have come with a different idea: "blue canoe" could be some elusive drug / poisonous substance, contained (for example) in the seeds or blossoms of a (tropical) flower that is blue in color. This would make sense to me:

  I took myself a blue canoe [I have eaten a poisonous flower blue in color],
  And I floated like a leaf [I have been disoriented]
  Dazzling, dancing half enchanted [I could not control my body]
  In my Merlin sleep [in a sleep there is no waking from]

  Crazy was the feeling
  Restless were my eyes [kaleidoscopic vision or other vision distortion]
  Insane they took the paddles [my insane hands took the drug]
  My arms they paralysed [my hands, now paralysed].

This goes with the verse "It took a sweet young foreign gun" meaning fruits, seeds or blossoms of a flower that are blue in color and sweet in taste, that come from a foreign land he finds himself (fighting) and that are "young" meaning unripe, thus poisonous as it is typical for some flowers.

Also, it goes well together with the Merlin; the association between Merlin and shooting myself to death is in my opinion much weaker than the association between Merlin and a poisonous substance, a "spell" that causes "my Merlin sleep".

I have been looking "blue canoe" up in the Merriam-Webster On-line Dictionary without success, I failed to find it in my books, too.

If anyone knows the meaning of "blue canoe", please do let me know. If you see any imperfection in the way I come to understand this, please do the same. I will be grateful for everyone's opinion on these two interpretations of the song.


texts: A word that means "nostalgia for an experience that I did not have."

texts:
I've occasionally had "nostalgia" for events and times I did not experience, e.g. WWII or The Summer of Love.

Is there a word (or phrase) for that?


texts:
I found the phrase ‘make a buck off’ in the following lead copy of the article of Time magazine (July 15) titled ‘Carmaggedon: It May Be a Bust, but It's Already a Bonanza,’ reporting the chaos caused by July 16–17 closure of the 405 freeway in Los Angeles:

  “Hysteria is everywhere, but that may just mean that people will stay off the roads. In any case, lots of folks are out to make a buck off fearmongering about the 405.”

I did not find the definition of ‘make a buck off’ in dictionaries at hand, but was able to find the examples of usage such as ‘Eight ways to make a buck off vacationers,’ ‘make a buck off sluggish dollars,” and ‘make a buck off winter’s weird weather’ in Google. From these examples I guessed the phrase means ‘to take advantage of,’ or ‘make a profit from.’  Am I right?


texts: How can I combine two imperative sentences into one sentence to avoid comma splice?

texts:
Do I need to put a comma between two imperative sentences ? How does the comma rules apply in the following case? Can you provide me complete detail about combining two imperative sentences?

Procrastinate now, don’t put it off.


texts: Difference between “purpose”, “aim”, “target”, “goal”, “objective”, and “ambition”

texts:
What is the difference between “purpose”, “aim”, “target”, “goal”, “objective”, and “ambition”?

I found these questions:

Difference between “aim” and “purpose”
Difference between “purpose” and “goal”
What's the difference in meaning and usage between “target” and “goal”?

But I still do not understand: which word should I choose in what circumstances? I would like to see a generalized rule to select one of the six options.


texts: Confusion about the implied repetition (or not) of an adjective in a parallel construction

texts: "I hate hard candy and olives." When someone says that, does it mean they hate candy and olives that are both hard, or hard candy and non-hard olives? If the latter, then wouldn't "I hate olives and hard candy." be more concise?


texts: "compared with" vs "in comparison with" vs "assessed in comparison with"

texts:
what would you consider more appropriate?

-"She is writing her thesis under my guidance on a topic related to the Australian tax system compared with the European one",
-"She is writing her thesis under my guidance on a topic related to the Australian tax system in comparison with the European one"
-"She is writing her thesis under my guidance on a topic related to the Australian tax system assessed in comparison with the European one"

Thanks in advance


texts: Adjective for someone that tries to gloss over past insults?

texts:
This person would say things that wound you and then after an hour she comes to you all smiley and tries to make up for the things she said. Not in a serious manner but really lightheartedly, saying things like

  'You know I didn't mean it :D'

  'Hey are you mad? XD'

I don't know. It's not mushy - mushy is different.


texts: What are the differences among “terrible,” “horrific,” and “awful” in terms of nuance and the degree of horribleness? Are they all the same?

texts:
I was interested in the phrase, “We had a terrible breakup, like horrific,” appearing in New York Times’ (September 26) theater review, titled “Old Friends Whose Past Is Always Present,” which comments on the Debate Society’s shows. It goes:

  “I won’t tell that story,” he responded.  Their director, Oliver
  Butler, 34 — sitting across from Ms. Bos at a table on the roof of the
  Bushwick Starr, where their new “Blood Play” begins previews on
  Wednesday — looked curious, adding quietly that he didn’t know the
  story.

  Then came a dramatic pause.

  “We had a terrible breakup, like horrific,” Ms. Bos blurted out.

  “Awful,” Mr. Thureen added with alacrity, as if finishing her
  sentence.

  The exchange was like a scene from one of their plays.”

Why does Hannah Bos complement “terrible” breakup with “like horrific”?

What are the differences of nuance and level of “horribleness” among “terrible” “horrific,” and “awful,” which was deliberately added to by Paul Thureen? Are they all the same, and simple or redundant rewording?

Additional but important question, what does “Old friends whose past is always present” mean? Is this phrase the Debate Society’s coinage?