texts:
Can you wear headphones (plural) in only one ear?  Or would I have to use a singular form?

  She wore headphones in one ear and listened to him with the other.

EDIT: I want to show that even though she has a set of headphones, she's only wearing a singular piece of it in one ear.


texts: Why is "Chop Gate" pronounced so strangely?

texts:
I was passing through the hamlet of Chop Gate (in North Yorkshire) the other day, and heard it referred to as "chop yat" (tʃɒp yæt). This source here concurs with that pronunciation.

Does anyone know why it is pronounced in that way (or, alternatively, why it is spelt that way)?


texts: Which one is correct: await you going in hell or await you to go in hell?

texts:
Please help me to understand this:

I will await you making that folder public.
I will wait for you coming out of your house.

Or,

I will await you to make that folder public.
I will wait for you to come out of your house.

Which one is more right grammatically? Please tell me when should I use something like:

something(I want you) + gerund + object

For me, something like-

I want you doing this work everyday.

Although, alternative of that is "I want you to do this work everyday" which is correct. But I just want to know is this correct "I want you doing this work everyday"? Please elaborate the difference as well.


texts: order of adjectives - deleted recent questions vs recent deleted questions

texts:
From what is introduced here, "recent" is a kind of age and "deleted" seems to be a kind of specific opinion, so this structure seems to be correct: "deleted recent questions".

Actually I was looking at my questions in my Stack Overflow profile and saw this link at the bottom of the page: "deleted recent questions". According to what is mentioned above, this is grammatically correct, but has a misleading meaning to me. It means to me:

  The questions which where posted recently and are deleted.

It means to me in this way because of the adjectives order. In fact I think the word "deleted" is an adjective for the adjective-plus-noun "recent questions".

However, it is indeed aimed to mean:

  The questions which were recently deleted. (regardless of the time the question was posted)

To mean so, I think this structure is preferable: "recent deleted questions".

Now my questions:

Are my statements above correct?
If yes, could we use the structure "recent deleted questions" or we are forced to use something like "recently deleted questions" ?
Does English grammar have specific rules for what I call "adjective for a adjective-plus-noun", or the adjectives order indicated in the provided link should always be considered?


texts: If a question ends in the abbreviation of et cetera, do you still add the period before the question mark?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  When “etc.” is at the end of a phrase, do you place a period after it?

Example:

How do I pay for the bananas, oranges, etc.?

or

How do I pay for the bananas, oranges, etc?


texts:
There are four different forms of verb pluralisation agreement I'm curious about:

neither thing [has/have] an attribute
neither of the things [has/have] an attribute
both of the things [has/have] an attribute
both things [has/have] an attribute

For each of these forms, should "have" be pluralised, or not? My intuitive guesses are singular, singular, plural and plural; but I have no specific justification.


texts: In the sentence "I am glad to hear it" what is "to hear it"?

texts:
In sentences such as

"I am glad to hear it"

"I am ready to write down your address"

what do you call "to hear it" and "to write down your address"?

"I" is the subject, and "am" is the verb, right? Or are "to hear it" and "to write down" parts of the verb, too?

Side question: In a stenence talking to someone else, what do you call the other person in grammar? "I am ready, Mrs. Smith" - is Mrs. Smith an object?


texts: In what situation (if any) you would say "better play positive"? Please, don't add any punctuation between words.


texts: Term for offering something just out of reach?

texts:
Is there a word or phrase that describes a situation where you are intentionally offering something to someone who can't attain it?

Example: I'll give you my seat for a million dollars.


texts: How to write a parenthetical plural when the noun pluralizes irregularly?

texts:
What happens if you have a written phrase like

  We were looking at the same poster(s).

but with a noun that has an irregular plural? E.g. with baby/babies, would this be the correct form?

  We were looking at the same baby(ies).

Or, as a more exotic case:

  We were looking at the same matrix(???). (plural is matrices)

Is there a rule or guideline for this?


texts:
I would like to know where the expression "pitch a loaf" came from, what its origin is, and if people really use it nowadays.

I heard it in a movie, and I believe it means to go to the bathroom, by its context; it's just that I have ever in my life heard someone say that.


texts: Whether to use "is" or "are" in a question

texts:
Which of the following is correct?

  Are any of your kids unwell?
  Is any of your kids unwell?

The online grammar tool shows both as correct, so I am in a dilemma!


texts: What does "Extraordinary" mean in the name of a job?

texts:
It is said that Franz Liszt worked as Grand Ducal Director of Music Extraordinary at Weimar court.

What does Extraordinary mean in the name of a job?

I remember in an episode of The Office, the American TV show, where Michael Scott referred his subordinate as "Accountant Extraordinaire."

Do those two, Extraordinary and Extraordinaire, have the same meaning?


texts: Is it possible to use a noun as an adverb? Would that be stupid?

texts:
I'll create some random examples:

"I'll take the elevator to go to the 12th floor."

"I'll take the lift to get up there."

Now, let us use the same sentences treating the noun as an adverb:

"I'll go elevatorly to the 12th floor."

"I'll get up there liftly."

I'm pretty sure that this would be well understood in a trivial context, but would that be stupid?

Is there a real example of this in the english language?

A last and more stupid example:

"The witch flew broomly through the skies." haha


texts: Why does Britain use "Way Out" rather than "Exit"?

texts:
At public transport interchanges throughout the English-speaking world (and where there are English signs for the benefit of travellers in non-English-speaking countries), the exits are marked, appropriately enough, Exit. The one exception seems to be Britain, where they're marked Way out. I'm just back from Northern Ireland, where Exit is used.

Does anyone know the reason for this?


texts: How did "Italian" and "Italic" develop different meanings?

texts:
Although English is not my mothertongue, I am pretty sure the adjective for the modern country Italy is Italian as in Italian restaurant or Italian cars. I have just used the italic font for the purpose of emphasis. When I look up this word in the dictionary the original meaning of italic does appear to be Italian; capitalized in this case.

When and why did this diversion happen between Italian and Italic? What is the background of the interesting shift of the meaning of the latter to indicating a style of computer fonts?


texts: Why is it "Mission Impossible" not "Impossible Mission" and so in "The Lion King", why not "The King Lion", and so on? I'm not a native English speaker.


texts:
Is this the best way to write this sentence below?

Moving forward, I hope to apply my experience to a cause that I am passionate about:  education.


texts:
This too shall pass.

Would anyone help me to understand why in this common saying the "too" word is placed in the middle of the sentence? Referring to Wikipedia here.

  This shall pass too.

Wouldn't it be more natural to place the "too" in the end of the clause, as it usually done?

Thank you!


texts: Is there any rule for differentiating between the endings "th" and "ht"?

texts:
Some words end in th (length, width), and others end in ht (height, fight, tonight, caught).

I sometimes have difficulties in spelling such words because I don't know which ending to choose.
Is there any rule or pattern (even localized) in choosing one or the other?


texts:
"I am going to milk the cows, shear the sheep, and (get the eggs from) the hens."

Is there a simple verb for gathering eggs from hens?  If not, what's the most elegant way to say this?


texts: What does "government" in this sentence mean exactly in this context?

texts:
DONALD TRUMP won the White House on the promise that government is easy. Unlike his Democratic opponent, whose career had been devoted to politics, Mr Trump stood as a businessman who could Get Things Done. Enough voters decided that boasting, mocking, lying and grabbing women were secondary. Some Trump fans even saw them as the credentials of an authentic, swamp-draining saviour.

The Trump presidency is in a hole, The Economist (1 April 2017)
http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21719794-and-bad-americaand-world-trump-presidency-hole

Does it mean "the job of the US president"?


texts: What do we call a person who is obedient to someone even though he knows that that person is taking advantage of him

texts: Some people are willing to follow someone who is no good to them but they just follow them even when he is using them and they know it very well but still they are committed to obeying him. For example, they know that them being hurt will not move that person and that they are inferior to him but they do everything to not upset him. Is it clingy, sticky or what?


texts: Can you help me correct this sentence? "Whether it's a cup of coffee or tea, our cake goes well with any of THIS or THESE? " this seems a little confusing since ANY is usually used in plural and uncountable nouns.


texts: What's the meaning of sub-competence? I've searched everywhere but I couldn't find a thing


texts: Is a "heist" somehow more remarkable, or different in nature, from a robbery?

texts:
Am I wrong to assume a heist in someway implies the existence of a particular plan?

Is it more of an anglo or american term? Does it mean the same thing across the pond?

(Also: is it pronounced more like heest or hyst?)


texts: Is Missouri called /mi.'zuɹ.ə/ outside of Missouri?

texts:
Here in Missouri, most people born here pronounce the state as /mi.'zuɹ.ə/ (instead of /miz.'uɹ.i/ or something like it). This is a lot more noticeable in the south/central, rural parts of the state. Is this pronunciation used much outside of Missouri? I'm particularly curious about the South, like Arkansas.

Much of the South has a similar dialect as Missouri, but a lot heavier and more pronounced. Is this phenomenon noticeable in other areas?


texts: Word for "Significant enough to make a difference"

texts:
I wish to know what could be a one word or phrase synonym for the term 'Significant enough to make a difference'.

Till now I thought that the term 'statistically significant' meant that it's significant enough that it makes a difference but that doesn't mean that it's actually very significant. A quick Google search suggests that it's not what I thought.

I couldn't think of a better word/s that I can put in the sentence

  "We need to find results that are ______. ( Significant enough to make
  a difference)."

Thanks in advance for your suggestions.


texts:
I would like to  know  the difference between:

  She does love me

and

  She loves me.


texts: Word for dress-like garment with shorts instead of skirt?

texts: A dress is a one-piece garment containing a skirt. What's the word for a one-piece garment that looks like a dress, except it has shorts instead? Are there any qualifiers depending on the length of the shorts?


texts: Is there any short phrase or sentence available to tell that someone was always hiding my mistakes

texts:
I wonder if there is any phrase or sentence available out there to express that someone was always hiding or taking care my mistakes and silly things;
to tell them that I am highly obliged.


texts: Use of preposition “of” after “ask,” “inquire,” and “inquiry”

texts:
I’m mystified about the use of the preposition “of” after the verb “ask” and “inquire” and the noun “inquiry.” Would someone help me, please?
First, do these two sentences mean the same thing?

I asked my teacher a question.
I asked a question of my teacher.

We can say, “That’s all I ask of you,” but #2 sounds incorrect, doesn’t it?
Secondly, please read these two sentences.

The police inquired of his neighbors if they knew where he was.
The police made an inquiry of his neighbors if they knew where he was.

I feel that #4 is wrong. Am I correct? Should this “of” be replaced by “to” or “with”?


texts: Is there any word alternative for "compared to"?

texts:
I'd like to find an alternative for "compared to", in order to avoid repeating the same phrase in my scientific paper.

Is there any alternative for this expression?


texts: How closely synonymous are “forward” and “straightforward”?

texts:
Part 1: Introduction
In the U.S., we have a game show called Jeopardy!, where contestants answer trivia questions in certain categories. This television program, which has aired for a few decades now, has an interesting gimmick, where "answers" are given, and contestants must provide the right question. For example, in once recent episode, in the category "The Story of English", one answer was:

In Chaucer's day, "boot" was pronounced "boat"; the change to modern speech is called the GVS, "great" this "shift"

and the correct response was:

What is vowel?

Also, categories with quotation marks embedded in their name require those letters to be included in each response. For example, in the category "RR" CROSSING, a clue was

To lose assets in large quantities, or to bleed profusely

and the correct response was

What is hemorrhage?

Every once in a while, a contestant's response is initially ruled incorrect, but a panel of judges will override that initial ruling, deeming the answer sufficiently correct. (Perhaps there's another valid word for something that the framers of the question didn't anticipate.) In these cases, scores are adjusted. Since negative scores are given for incorrect answers, these corrections can have a fairly strong impact on the competition. For example, a $1200 question reversed causes a $2400 swing for one contestant.
Part 2: The Debate
The January 10th episode had a category called:

"WARD" OF THE DAY

One clue was:

It's the opposite of leeward

and the correct response was:

What is windward?

Now, the part of the game that prompted a lengthy debate between my wife and I, and my question here.  The clue was, quite simply:

Honest & direct

to which one contestant replied:

What is forward?

But the host responded, "No," and then gave the correct response:

What is straightforward?

As we watched, we were pretty sure that we'd see a scoring change after the commercial break, and we were surprised when we didn't. This prompted us to start looking up both words in the dictionary (actually, more than one dictionary; I'll give a few excerpts here):

from Macmillan:

straightforward (adj.) clear and honest
forward (adj.) very confident and direct about saying what you think, in a way that is not socially suitable

from ODO:

straightforward (adj.) (of a person) honest and frank: a straightforward young man
forward (adj.) (of a person) bold or overfamiliar in manner: I am not usually a forward sort of person

In the end, the debate between my wife and I ended in a split decision: one of us thought the contestant had been given a raw deal, while the other thought the judges had made the correct ruling.
Part 3: My Question
What do you think? Is forward close enough in meaning to straightforward, that the judges should have accepted that response? Or do the two words differ enough that you would stick by the judges in their refusal to deem that response correct?


texts: "Both your work": both and non-transforming plurals

texts:
Situation
 - You are addressing two people
 - You want to address their work collectively
 - They both do work, separately

Considerations

The singular and plural form of your is the same
The plural of work, in this meaning, is work; the plural works means something else and refers to products as opposed to labor/vocation* (or plural work has a more white collar, professional or academic, meaning, whereas plural works has a more artistic sense)

How do you refer to their collective work using both?

My initial construction would be both your work, but this is ambiguous because the multiplicity of possible plurals:

both your (two people) work
both your work (two work)
both your (two people) work (two work)

Or maybe this isn't ambiguous, but just sounds off because we expect obvious plurals to follow both.

This question should apply to other nouns, besides work, that do not change when made plural.


texts: A phrase for something that you enjoy, but is quite bad for you

texts:
I used to use it, but for some reason, and it's annoying me, I can't remember it. A synonym might be "my sweet poison". Usually used when talking about foods that are bad for you.

Thank you guys, it was bugging me and I believe it was Benjamin who answered "guilty pleasure", which was it. Thanks!


texts: Is there another word for "personal" in "personal value"

texts:
A friend offers you money for an a necklace, but you refuse to sell because you obtained the necklace from a friend who died.
You now consider that necklace to have "personal" value (value that you can't put a price tag on).
Question
Is there a better word than "personal" that better describes the value of the object?
"Personal" does not express the exact nature of the situation, as it lacks the true attachment to the item (it came from a special person).


texts: How do I say an opposite of "elevation of an object over the plane" which would mean "the level of the displacement of an object under the plane"? That is, I am looking for a word in "??? of an object under the plane"


texts: Is it permitted to put the subject after a copula instead of before it?

texts: For instance, can one say “Smart is the Eastern system”?


texts: "Arguments in each topic" or "arguments on each topic"?

texts:
Which is the right way to express the following?

You have to present your arguments in each topic.
You have to present your arguments on each topic.

Or maybe there is yet another preposition to use?


texts:
The german term is Absetzmulde (Image search).

They look like this:

Image source: Sirch GmbH
There are varios different styles of bulk goods containers that can be easily loaded on/off a truck, but I'm specifically looking for this shape.


texts: "much of the time" vs "most of the time"

texts:
Are these two phrases different in meaning? When do you use "much" or "most"?

I was reading a book named "The world of words" where I saw this sentence

  Substitution in context will help you much of the time.

This was the first time I saw this expression. So I wonder if there are any differences between two.


texts:
Recently, when writing an email, I used the following phrase:

'I hope this does not cause too big of an issue'

However, in their response, the recipient (an English teacher) said that he was 'not too sure about the grammar of "too big of an issue"' (with no further comment). However, this site seems to suggest otherwise. What could he have possibly picked out as incorrect in my usage of the phrase, and is it really significant enough of an issue to remark on in a response?

This question is not a duplicate because I'm asking about whether the phrase itself is correct, not the etymology of it. Further, it's considering the whole phrase (e.g can an issue be 'big', or should it be 'significant'?), and not just that one part.


texts:
Kindly explain the term " Our symbolic mile zero" and its connotations.

  It is the scientists of the Middle Awash research project who invited us to begin walking at Herto Bouri, our symbolic mile zero in the Ethiopian Rift—one of the richest human boneyards in the world. This is the famous site where some of the world’s oldest human fossils have been found. Homo sapiens idaltu. Gone for 160,000 years. A big-boned ancestor—a dawn version of us. (from https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2013/12/out-of-eden/)


texts: How should I call "summer prepared" for a car?

texts: When a car has been made ready for summer, there is a word for it, at least in Dutch: the car is "zomerklaar". In case of winter it is called "winterklaar". Is there a word for it in English? A word that means "prepared for summer" in the case of cars.


texts:
On the Day of Judgement when nothing but God's justice WILL reign
  supreme.

or

  On the Day of Judgement when nothing but God's justice WOULD reign
  supreme.

Which of the two is correct? Also feel free to point out any other possible mistakes in the sentence.


texts:
It was ridiculous how adorable you are.

A father said so to his daughter. Does this “ridiculous” carry a very strong feeling?


texts:
Which contains more liquid, something that is moist or something that is damp?

Context of question:
This question was asked to a young friend of mine in her high school freshman English class. It was a bonus question on a test she was taking. My thoughts after looking at the definitions in my copy of Merriam Webster's was that both were perfect synonyms and that neither truly quantified the amount of liquid within an item.

As I thought on it a little more, I figured this would be a good question to ask on this site to see what those with more knowledge of the language would come up with.


texts: Exasperated/frustrated at someone’s naïveté

texts:
What word describes the feeling one has, similar to frustration, in the face of naïveté or obliviousness. The feeling might be associated with a sigh or in particularly bad cases a “face-desk” or face-palm.

Interested in descriptive, interesting, or unusual words rather than common words.


texts:
Please consider the following. Supposing the context is such that the frame was never stolen, is it acceptable to use "could have been stolen" instead of "could be stolen"? What would be the difference?

The original frame, which was made of gold, was replaced with a marble one before it could have been stolen


texts: Why is a gerund used after the verb "confess to"

texts:
A simple form of the verb is often used after to, but sometimes the simple form is replaced by a gerund.  For example:

  He confessed to having a secret admiration for his opponent.
  Edwards confessed to being a spy for the KGB.

What is the reason? Could you tell me more examples like confess to?


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

While reading an article from a certain newspaper this morning on grammar pet peeves, I noticed one that I had never heard of before, concerning the usage of "me" vs. "I." The examples were something like: "The pool amazed my friend and me"; and "My friend and I were amazed by the fireworks." I have never, ever heard of using "____ and me," but the writer of this article believes that when using the passive, it should be "____ and me." Is this correct?


texts: NATO and US Finance Spelling alphabets - Which is more commonly used in everyday situations?

texts: This is mostly related to US "normal" day to day usage of the spelling alphabet. I am new to the country and most often emails/names etc needs to be spelled and I find it difficult to determine which set of words to stick to. The Alpha,Bravo..(NATO) alphabet sounds too unnatural to me like in some hollywood film. I 've also heard people using common names (Alice,Bob..) Is that the commonly used set for everyday situations like calling the customer care centers and making reservations?


texts: Where is the root morpheme in the Old English cristalla (crystal) and cymen (cumin)? It seems to be wrong to identify the morphemes in loanwords from etymological point of view.


texts: "It's a good car, that" - "That" and "this" at the end of sentences

texts:
I was watching an episode of Top Gear in which they talked about Chinese cars and one of the hosts (Jeremy) said the following:

  It's a good car, that.

I've also heard this sentence somewhere.

  It's a fu***** scam, this is.

I can sort of guess that, that in the first sentence is referencing the car, but why say it again? Is it for emphasis?

Could anyone explain how this works?


texts: What would you call a naive person who asks you for the information that he himself is supposed to work on it and submit to me

texts:
What would you call a guileless person (employee from another department) who repetitively asks you for the information that he himself is supposed to come up with to the point of annoyance like a illogical fool and inform me for us to process it (we are from two different department in one organization and I have to do his work for him and inform him and then he feeds the information in the system and generates report does the bureaucratic task of forwarding the paper work which really contain my hard work back to me).

The person is not shirking, he is simply blissfully unaware, feels entitled and expects/at times pushes other party to respond back with the information.
PS: Inaction from Bad self serving management - The Reason why nothing gets resolved.

Again, he is not slacking, he is upgraded without proper orientation and is ill informed about the protocols by his boss and thus seeks information outside of his department to generate the information based report and typically asks me to whom in reality he has to submit the report which contains the information. I am report recipient who is the informer too, while i am suppose to be report recipient only. shirking, slacking is when one is evading work or duty. He isn't aware that he is..Does it still make him a typical shirker.


texts: what are other idioms one can use to express getting on well with someone?

texts: I am looking for an idiom describing a close acquaintanceship or getting on well with someone other than "like a house on fire'.


texts:
Is there a difference in meaning between these two?

Services must be paid.
Services must be paid for.


texts:
Is it standard to use "what" as a form of "which," such as in the sentence:

  The tour guide let us know what items were permitted to be taken along on the trip.

In this instance I prefer "what" because it refers to categories of items as opposed to specific items.


texts: What is the context of the word "order" in a title of a group?

texts:
I've been wondering what the context of the word "order" in say, Order of the Phoenix, The Order, Order of the Sightless Eye, etc. is? Is it order as in, command? Or.. as an opposite of chaos?

Thank you!


texts: What does he mean by "You'll never see my shade"?

texts:
The Moon over Bourbon Street is a song by Sting. The lyrics aren't great (they're functional, like some of today's architecture is said to be). The music is interesting (kind of).

  There's a moon over Bourbon Street tonight
  I see faces as they pass beneath the pale lamplight
  I've no choice but to follow that call
  The bright lights, the people, and the moon and all
  I pray everyday to be strong
  For I know what I do must be wrong
  Oh you'll never see my shade or hear the sound of my feet
  While there's a moon over Bourbon Street

Did he use the word "shade" because "shadow" did not fit into the line, or is there another reason?


texts: Indicate title without italics or underline

texts:
How do you indicate the title of a major work  if neither italics nor underline are available?  Would you fall back on quotes or should you use something else?

Text messages are an example of where this may come up.


texts: Is the idiom 'keeping well' recognized only in British English?

texts: I've seen the idiom 'keeping well' being used to mean 'in good health' in some contexts where British English is expected. But Americans seem surprised by it. Is that idiom uncommon in American English?


texts: What is the word for the hole/cup at the top of a knight's helmet from which a plume streams?

texts: What is the word for the hole or cup at the top of a knight's helmet from which a plume streams?


texts: Word for trying to boost your image unnecessarily

texts:
A typical request where I have a word on the tip of my tongue that I just can't place.

UPDATED: A lot of the suggestions are direct synonyms of bragging so I'll try and clear up the context more.

The context that made me think of this word was an argument where one of the participants was spending a lot of time trying to sound intelligent or talk down to the other instead of resolving the issue, so some better examples of similar meanings might be

  "Get off of your high horse"

or

  "Stop going for the moral high-ground"

but in shorter form.

  "Stop singing your praises and get to the point"

Is another good example.

Context could be :

  "Enough of the ____. Get to the point."

or in verb form

  "Stop ____ and get to the point".

EDIT: As in the comments, formal or slang suggestions accepted.

It could also be a more archaic term, something a King might say to a long-winded herald.

UPDATE:

Synonyms that are close to the right example:

ensky
adulate
flatter
commend
glorify
praise
laud

These are good but I feel that something with more negative connotations would be better, or something describing a surplus of one of the above.

Other possible synonyms that don't quite fit:

http://thesaurus.com/browse/brag

horn blowing
showboating
grandstanding
narcissism
ego-boosting
ego-stroking
pissing contest
chest-beating
self-promotion
self-love
double-speak

One strange example that came the closest was "brown-nosing". Is there a similar term that could be used for brown-nosing oneself so to speak?

Can't offer much else other than I think it's a Gerund, so ending in -ing.

Thanks for all the suggestions anyway.


texts: Is “et al. [1]” used as a singular or plural subject?

texts:
I've checked out a similar question, but to the best of my knowledge, it only tells me that "Name et al." is used as a singular subject since it refers to the authors, but what if the “et al..” part is followed by the citation of their article?  I found the following sentence in a journal paper:

  Gomes et al. [7] also outline a greedy method for finding feasible solutions...

So how should I use something like "et al. [1]" in the end? I'm really confused now.


texts: Is there a name for a word or term that is persistently re-coined?

texts:
I came across the term "sex film actress" in the Op-Ed column The Disposable Woman. I could guess what the phrase meant, as "sex worker" is a new term for "prostitute", and therefore "sex film actress" would be the equivalent for "porn star".

I checked if this term had been used before, and there were a smattering of uses, but it looked so infrequent it seemed as if the term was coined each time. Is there a name for such a phenomenon?


texts: Which are the word orders that can be found in English?

texts: Besides SVO, which are the word orders that can be found in English? Are there any that are peculiar to dialects such as Singlish or Indian English? Please provide an example sentence for each order along with pertinent information such as tense, mood, voice, etc.


texts: "Our Today's Meeting" or "Our meeting that is scheduled for today"

texts:
Is it correct to say:

  We shall discuss it in our today's meeting.

Or would it be more correct to say something longer like:

  We shall discuss it in our meeting that is scheduled for today.

ADDED: There is now also a related thread that is attempting to address the grammaticality of the expression "our today's meeting": Why is “our today's meeting” wrong? -- Though, personally (F.E.), I haven't found their arguments for proving that it is ungrammatical to be convincing.


texts: Should I use the word "raise" or "grow" for animals?

texts:
I always use the word "raise" for animals. But all of a sudden, I encountered a passage that says "grow fish." So do these mean the same: "raise fish" and "grow fish"?

Is one of them better than the other in this case? In what circumstances would we use one or the other?


texts: Preposition change like "depend on" -> "independent of"

texts: I'd like to know if, in English, there are more cases when the preposition changes for the negation (or eventually with some other change of gramatical context), the same or similar to "on" -> "of" with "independent"


texts:
It is said that English has stress-timed rhythm.
Is it true? because it sounds that syllables with stress doesn't necessarily get a beat and make isochrony.
If it is true, I would like to hear how you feel the rhythm while using it.


texts: Idiom for being forced to dig your own grave?

texts: Suppose that a team of people is laid off but is asked to temporarily stay to train their replacements.  Is there any idiom that would describe people in such a conflicting situation? "Digging their own grave" comes to mind, but I typically associate that with cases where people work against their own interests by their own accord, not because they're forced to. "Faustian bargain" also isn't quite right but feels like the type of phrase I'm looking for.


texts:
I'm curious about the correct usage of commas in the following sentence:

"Secondary electron emission from metallic and especially dielectric surfaces is a fundamental process of great technological significance."

I heard that one should put a comma before but not after especially. However, in my opinion the sentence looks kind of weird with a comma in front of especially. Can anyone assist me on this?


texts: Is this passage an example of a metaphor, analogy, or both?

texts:
"The movement of humanity, arising as
  it does from innumerable arbitrary
  human wills, is continuous. To
  understand the laws of this continuous
  movement is the aim of history. . . .
  Only by taking inﬁnitesimally small
  units for observation (the diﬀerential
  of history, that is, the individual
  tendencies of men) and attaining to
  the art of integrating them (that is,
  ﬁnding the sum of these inﬁnitesimals)
  can we hope to arrive at the laws of
  history"

-Leo Tolstoy, war and peace


texts: Meaning of the sentence from the song "Powerless"

texts:
As I am not a native English speaker, I am a bit curious to know the meaning of this sentence which I heard in Nelly Furtado's song "Powerless":

  'Cause this life is too short to live it just for you.

What does it mean?

Life is too short to spend it with you, meaning that I don't want to waste time on you.
Life seems too short and I want some more to spend it with you.

I know it is a bit of an awkward question but I thought this was the best place to ask it.


texts: What does it mean when someone says "if (something) then what keeps you from doing (something)?

texts: I was reading the comments on a Youtube video, and one of the comments I didn't understand. The comment was "I'm pretty sure the most deadly martial art is knowing how the body functions in general. If you know how a normal body is supposed to be, what keeps you from destroying it?" What does the last part "what keeps you from destroying it?" mean (as in, what does the general format mean?) I noticed the question mark at the end and the fact that it has an if/then statement (if you know... then what keeps you...). This is probably not the best example of what I am getting at, but it is the most recent (and the one I was able to copy and paste). Can you help? P.S. I am not exactly sure which tags to use, so I just labeled it under "meaning."


texts: "See you in the funny papers": etymology and meaning

texts:
I've heard people saying that "See you in the funny papers" means "I'll see you later," as in "Good Bye," but I always thought that it means "Good bye," as in "I'll never see you again."

I thought that it was used when someone meant to say: "I'll see you on the other side!" or something in that manner.

What does the expression mean and what is its etymology?


texts: Etymology: "bricked" (to render an electronic device inoperable)

texts:
Bricked (informal):
cause (a smartphone or other electronic device) to become completely unable to function, typically on a permanent basis.

The absolute earliest google hit I was able to find on this term is from late 2004/early 2005, in reference to installing custom firmware on routers or game consoles such as the PSP. Given the casualness with which the term is being used at that date, however, this makes me think it's been around for a lot longer in the modding or electronics communities.

Who coined this term, and when? And is there any deeper meaning beyond "cause to become as useful as a literal brick"?


texts:
I recently read The Mill on the Floss by George Elliot. To research and explore more, I need some alternate readings of the text. So far I know of Feminist, Modern or Victorian Romantic readings of the book but couldn't find any suitable text in this regards.
I was hoping to find the best readings for these or any other alternate perspectives of the novel.
Thank you :)


texts: Which one is correct - You better ask James or better you ask James?

texts: "You better ask James" or "better you ask James" which one is correct?


texts:
Why do we say "Hurricane prepares to hit east coast?"  People prepare for a hurricane, but the hurricane isn't doing anything but moving.

When else do we say that an inanimate object prepares to do something?


texts: what to call a person with an obsession with eyes

texts: I don't know guys but in have a HUGE. obsession with eyes and its like I don't know but I have a book with 80 sheets of A3 paper and they ALL have eyes on them my phone I full of pictures with eyes my family and friends call me freaks for my birthday I asked my parents for an eye in a jar, obvs they said no, I study my friends and sisters eyes cause she has hetrochromia which is two different colours in the same eye. Don't know somebody. Just gimme something to call this


texts: "Say! Wassup!" Please, can anybody explain to me what the word "say" means here?

texts: "Say! Wassup!" - Please, can anybody explain to me what the word "say" means here? Is it literally "say" as an action or may it be a kind of "hey+say" in one word? Thanks in advance.


texts:
adverbs like inefficient, inexpensive, unnbelievable..., imbossible

Is there any roule? When to use? What to do


texts: One word to describe this situation: "Losing the interest or feeling in something after being exposed to it so much"

texts: Was asked this after a student wanted to talk about how Mrs Birling lost sympathy for the working class after seeing them so many times. Please just one word to describe this situation. Thanks


texts: Pluralization rule is different when we say, 10 pound note and 10 pounds?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Pluralization rule for “five-year-old children”, “20 pound note”, “10 mile run”

We usually say "10 pounds", but for a single bill we say "10 Pound note" and not "10 pound(s) note". And when we have a lot of notes we say again "10 Pound notes". Why this disparity?


texts:
I am pretty confused with this statement

"documents which are 7 years old and later should only be migrated"

does it means "2007 to 2014" ,or "2007 to old"


texts: Word or phrase for sharing content that was written by you but you don't want it to look as publicity

texts:
Let's say I write a StackOverflow answer with a solution to a code problem. And someone I know runs into this problem, so I want to share the link to my answer.

What is the word or phrase to express that i'm sharing this to genuinely help him/her, not to get upvotes or publicity?

EDIT: i'm looking for something like this: "not trying to brag, but this post of mine might help you".


texts: What do you call a "community - manager"?

texts:
What terms are there to describe people who act as representers, managers and organizers of social communities? In a way that they connect people with each other, but also organize activities etc. for the community - i.e "manage" the group?

It would be great if there were any (also creative!) suggestions for catchy words to describe that role!

The context:
We are developing a web application, more specifically a European-wide social community platform to connect refugees and local supporters and provide them with several tools to overcome (some of their) obstacles.

This platform will be partly divided into local communities that are to a large extent managed by volunteers from each community. That means they would be administrators of the online presence of that community, but also regularly organize offline events and activities, organize hackathons, etc.

The word I am looking for would be their "job title". In the early planning stage, we used to call them "Ambassadors", however recently decided that that is too "businessy".


texts: Can "number" in "number one" possibly be a Dutchism or a Germanism?

texts:
On a Dutch news site, someone claimed that the Dutch use of "nummer" (number) used in the meaning of "you are the number one", is actually an anglicism. It triggered my curiosity and I tried to find out whether that could be true.

Apparently, the word "nummer" in Dutch has been used for a long time and in the 18th century some quotations appear in the meaning of "the person or thing most in the foreground", as in the quote "Gy hebt u te veel ter noemer één gemaakt".

Trying to find proof, I searched some online English language etymology dictionaries, but didn't manage to find a first appearance in the meaning of "winner". This begged the question, maybe that particular use of number is actually a Dutchism or Germanism in the English language? Does anyone know when that meaning first appeared? Or would that meaning predate any current language use and it was already applied in Latin?


texts: What is the practice of pricing goods at numbers such as 3.95, 69.90, 198 called?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  What is the term for pricing items just below a significant value (e.g. $19,995)

It is common on price tags to use $3.95 instead of $4.00 to make items appear cheaper. Is there a name for this practice?  See also this closed post on Skeptics for context.


texts: How to avoid using lot of I's in the personal essay?

texts:
I am writing my statement of purpose for applying to grad school.
When I read my statement of purpose I see a lot of "I"s:

  I did this
  I worked on this
  I want to
  I got to learn this
  I got to work on that
  I got to learn that
  I did that

I just realized I am so bad in writing. How do I avoid using lots of "I"s?


texts:
my first time posting a question.

Recently I found this sentence:
'I was born into the position and skin to do so.'
The writer is talking about how he was fortunate to have been given the opportunity to receive higher education.

I look up 'skin' in a couple of online dictionaries, and so far the closest I have hit is from Merriam Webster, which gave me:

3: the life or physical well-being of a person
saved his own skin

So in this writer's sentence, does he mean it like it was destiny for him, or saying that he was fortunate to be born into a life where he was given the opportunity?  Is it possible to substitute 'skin' with 'life'?
Would appreciate your help, thank you!


texts: How does a "research scientist" differ from a "scientist"?

texts: I have seen the term research scientist in several job descriptions. Does the qualifier research distinguish a special kind of scientific role, or is this actually a redundant phrase? How can you work as a scientist without doing research?


texts: Is there a preferred or more common usage between the phrase "with a ton of xxx" or "with tons of xxx"? Both referring to something having an abundance of something.


texts:
Here is the sample sentence:

  We have carried out works for private individuals and property developers as well as our own building projects."

Should there be a comma before as well as in this case?


texts:
A song called "Same Old Love" by Selena Gomez has these lyrics:

Take away your things and go
You can't take back what you said, I know
I've heard it all before, at least a million times
I'm not one to forget, you know
I don't believe, I don't believe it
You left in peace, left me in pieces
Too hard to breathe, I'm on my knees
Right now, 'ow
I'm so sick of that same old love, that shit, it tears me up
...
I'm not spending any time, wasting tonight on you
I know, I've heard it all
So don't you try and change your mind
Cause I won't be changing too, you know
...

In the last line, is it natural to use too as in the lyrics or is it more natural to use either instead here?


texts: What is the rule for composing two words, when one of them is hyphenized or has spaces?

texts:
Let's imagine we have an organization named EFSMA-EE and another called EFSMA Telecom (EFSMA is an acronym).

If I want to compose these with another word (e.g. "time" - as in "full-time"), what should I do?

Just add the hyphen?

  EFSMA-EE-time and EFSMA Telecom-time?


texts:
Is there a word that would mean "disqualifier" if "disqualifier" were a word?

Alternatively, let's say someone presents a list of qualifiers

x
y
z

and says you do not qualify if any of them apply to you. I would call these "disqualifiers" but apparently that is not actually a word. What is the right name for them?


texts:
What are the accepted guidelines for reading out numbers in English?

For example, should 1351 be read out as "one thousand and three hundred and fifty one", or should the "and"s be removed completely? Note that I'm not talking about years as I asked it in a separate question.


texts: Is there a nice phrase for 'flaw in the process'?

texts: Is there a nice phrase for conveying the meaning that 'flaw in the process'?


texts: What is the word to describe someone who gets up clumsily?

texts: What is the proper verb to describe someone who gets up from his or her chair clumsily?


texts: Did the English call a fruit “openærs” for 700 years?

texts:
There is a small apple-tasting fruit called medlar in English. It looks like a cross between an apple and a rosehip.

It has two main curious features: first the fruit must be bletted before it can be eaten. This means picking it before it is fully ripe and waiting until its flesh turns soft, brown and squishy. This may take at least two weeks. Apparently, its taste is

  ... somewhere between apples, dates, custard, and caramel...

  I remember they tasted of custard. But there's more to them than that – sweet like a date, a hint of lemon and a little apricot.
   Alys Fowler

  Something like very rich applesauce with hints of wine.
  Lee Reich

The ripened fruit does not look appetising, it looks as if it's rotted and become mush. The term “to blet” was coined by the British botanist John Lindley in 1835 and was derived from the French poire blette meaning “overripe pear”. This type of aging reminds me of hanging the process by which meat is tenderised by being hung for about two weeks until it is noticeably drier and its colour becomes darker.

And second,  its somewhat ‘rude’ Etymology

  medlar n. "small fruit-bearing tree," mid-14c. (in reference to the fruit itself), from Old French medler, variant of mesple, from Latin mespila "fruit of the medlar," from Greek mespilion, a foreign word of unknown origin. The Old English name was openærs, literally "open-arse."

Questions

What is the difference between blet and rot? How is bletting any different from rotting?
I cannot believe that medlar was  called only “open arse” in Old English, despite what etymonline suggests. There must have been a more ‘normal’ name, just as “dog's arse” is today British slang for medlar, likewise the bawdily named fruit  openærs must have been a jocular and vulgar expression. What was its ‘other’ name in Old English?

images: A Kentish Kitchen and David Lebovitz.com

N.B Just in case you're wondering, the link to “dog's bottom” is absolutely safe for work.


texts: Is it right using this expression "I am there at home"?

texts:
I realized that I use expressions like this a lot,

  I am there at home.

instead of

  I am at home.

Is it right? And if so then what is the difference between the two? The word "there" in the first expression looks redundant.


texts:
I have used the word inputted in an assignment and am being forced to change it to input. However, both the Oxford English Dictionary (I am in New Zealand so this is most relevant) and MS Word list inputted as acceptable. Do others regard inputted as acceptable?

  The scope of this project will be clearly defined in that it is to strictly provide positive movie recommendations to users who have inputted a sufficient amount of data.


texts: Sentences with coordinating conjunctions between two nouns omitted

texts:
There are sentences like this in many literature books:

  He held a gun, a sword, a bible.

  It is not a sentence, just a phrase.

They do not have word "and" and "but". I think those should be like these:

  He held a gun, a sword, (and) a bible.

  It is not a sentence, (but) just a phrase.

However, since those sentences give clarity and are better-sounding, I never thought they are grammatically incorrect. But I faced some challenging cases as I was trying to write those sentences,  such as a sentence with omission of "and" and only two nouns.

  He held a gun, a sword.

This sentence sounds so off to my ear that it is almost dreadful. But when I wrote a sentence with "but" omitted and only two nouns, it seemed fine to me.

  It is not a sentence, just a phrase.

So, what is the rule that enables me to delete those coordinating conjunctions between two nouns, and how can I use correctly? Also, is it a formal way of writing?


texts: What is the word for 'addition before something'

texts:
I'm trying to come up with a word meaning 'addition (before something)' in the sense:
His title was 'holiness' but now it must be expressed with the ?something? 'supreme' (such that the title is now 'supreme holiness'). I want it to be clear that 'supreme' has to be added before the term 'holiness'.
I thought perhaps 'superaddition', but that's somewhat different.


texts: Bare infinitive after "can see"/ "can hear"

texts:
After can see/hear, can the bare infinitive be used?

e.g.,

  I could see John get on the bus.

We can say "I could see John getting on the bus," but is it possible to say "I could see John get on the bus."

This is in response to Roguemue's comment that this is a replicant of a post. Roguermue's suggested post is about the verb hear + personal pronoun: this post is about the modal + can + see/hear + infinitive without to. To go on further, as posted down below, it was my assumption that the construction is okay, but Swan, Practical English Usage, wrote that it's an invalid construction "After can see/hear only the -ing structure is used. I could see John getting on the bus. (NOT J could see John get ... ) These structures can be used after passive forms of hear and see. In this case, the infinitive has to." (Practical English Usage, 242, pg. 222)

I am looking to either confirm Swan's usage rule or to find opposing evidence.


texts:
I would like to ask what the phrase "You are my weather" mean.
The context is in an acknowledgement section at the end of a book where the author pays tribute to her family. She said that she would like to thank her mother and say "You are my weather".


texts: Is there any difference in meaning if at all between "to write IN pen" and "to write WITH a pen"?

texts: I would like to know whether there is any difference in meaning if at all between "to write IN pen" and "to write WITH a pen"


texts: So, 'ladies who lunch' is a derogatory term for women with both the means and free time to meet socially for lunch in expensive restaurants. Can anyone think of a more respectful word to use? I don't feel comfortable referring to them as 'women who lunch' as I know it can be pretty offensive.


texts: Is there a good word for an idea that someone came up with on their own?  I'm talking about an original idea.  The reason I want such a word is for my notes so that I can annotate, with as few words as possible, whether I reached an idea on my own or whether I used someone else's. I prefer a formal term over informal.


texts: The numbers of something or the number of something

texts:
I am ielts student.
When I  use graphs to show  information over time.
I don't know how to express correctly.
For example,
1.The graph shows the number of books read by men and women at Burnaby Public.
2.The graph shows waste recycling rates in the U.S. from 1960 to 2011.
I wonder what time I need to use numbers instead of number or rate instead of rates.


texts: What do you call an outside area that is in the center of a mansion?

texts: I've seen a few mansions designed so that the house is a sort of square where the center part of the square shaped mansion/house contains an outside area.


texts: "Bash something" vs. "bash on something"

texts:
I was looking into my dictionary that lists many uses of the verb bash but always transitive ones.

According to that, I would expect to say:

  He bashed him.
   He bashed the chair.

But I can see examples on the Internet saying e.g.:

  I'm not gonna bash on people for speeding through.

How come? Why not just "bash people"?


texts: What does “flunked vacation and flunked relaxing" mean?

texts:
Today’s Washington Post (May 10) portrays what the SEAL who shot bin Laden looks like under the headline,. “Who shot bin Laden? Former SEALs fill in the blank.”

In this article, former Navy SEALs Richard Marcinko and Stew Smith guess the shooter must be “a positive thinker” who “gets in trouble when he’s not challenged,” Richard Marcinko suspects, a man who “flunked vacation and flunked relaxing.”

I was interested in the expression, the guy “gets in trouble when he’s not challenged,” because I’m not that kind, but caught up with the word, flunk in “flunked vacation and flunked relaxing.”

My understanding of the meaning of “flunk” was only “fail in exam or work.” So I checked the meaning of “flunk” in Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, which simply defines “flunk” as an intransitive verb meaning “to fail an exam or test or course, and to make sb fail an exam or course by giving a low mark or grade as transitive verb. The definition doesn’t sit well with vacation and relaxing.

Does “flunk” here mean dislike or ignore? Is this popular way of using “flunk” in day- to-day English?


texts: Is there implicit racism in the word guerrilla?

texts:
The pronunciation of the word "guerrilla" is a close homophone to the word "gorilla".

Is there any implicit racism in the origin or later usage of the word "guerrilla", based perhaps on the inferior view of gorillas as black, rude, uncivilized creatures? Could it reflect perhaps an ideological construct to de-legitimize the goals and actions of "guerrilla" groups, just like denoting a group as "terrorist" immediately de-legitimizes its actions?


texts: Word describing the feeling of being there to experience something first hand

texts: There's a word I learned in a philosophy lecture and a YouTube video a long time ago regarding the feeling of being there to experience a thing first-hand. For example, being at the Louvre to see the Mona Lisa with your own eyes in contrast to looking at a really detailed image from a computer screen. While the latter lets you zoom in every nook and cranny of the painting, there's a "feeling" on just being there physically in the presence of the Da Vinci painting.


texts: Is there a rule about double negations that aren't meant as double negations (e.g. "We don't need no education")?

texts:
How can you explain that this double negation is not a double negation? Is there a rule in English about this kind of sentence?

PS / Do I have to mention Pink Floyd Copyright ? :-)

Edit : Since there are a lot of Pink Floyd related explanation, I'll bring a Freddy Mercury one : "I don't have time for no monkey business", which I also understand as "I don't have time for monkey business". Am I right ?


texts: What is the difference between "could they have had" and "would they have"?

texts:
1.How many days of vacation could they have had?

2.How many days would they have on vacation?

if any...
thanks:)


texts: Does the word "youthism" have contradictory meanings?

texts: I am a bit confused about the word "youthism." I was given the meaning "cult of/obsession with youth" by two English-German online dictionaries and Google Books, but wiktionary gives the meaning "discrimination against young people" and lists two quotations. I haven't found the word in the online editions of the renowned monolingual dictionaries. Are both aforementioned meanings still in use or is one of them rather rare?


texts: What is it called when you juxtapose meaning in a familiar phrase?

texts:
What is it called when you juxtapose meaning in a familiar phrase, or twist its meaning?

For example, "America has the best politicians that money can buy." or "A fool and his money are soon elected."


texts:
In the following sentence:

  I thank you for arranging the wedding.

What type of phrase is for arranging the wedding?

For is a preposition, but the fact there is not only a noun following it but also "arranging" is confusing me a little.

Then, if we swap the order of the sentence around to

  For arranging the wedding, I thank you.

What is for functioning as in this case?


texts:
Humans are animals.

The term "animals" is sometimes used to mean all animals (including humans) and is sometimes used to mean every animal except for humans.

Is there a word that means non-human animals?


texts: "to build meaningful relationships in important areas of my life"

texts:
Should I have said "of my life" or "in my life" in this sentence:

  to build meaningful relationships  in
  important areas of my life


texts: Antonym of "Portable" in the context of a computer programme?

texts:
First, some background information...

In terminology regarding computer programmes, the term portable typically means being operational without having to install. In more advanced speak, it's where a programme can be used without it affecting the system registry in any way.

Typically, the portable application (an EXE file), along with all the supporting files necessary for the programme to properly run¹, is stored in a single folder (downloadable as a zip file). In this respect, it's considered portable because it's self-contained, and as such can be used on any computer the folder is located on.

In comparison, most programmes that people use are actually installed on the specific computer itself, so that the system registry is changed, and the EXE—along with all the necessary supporting files—is stored in the "Program Files" director(y)(ies)² in your main hard drive (usually C:/ but can be any other drive you choose). In this way, it's not considered "portable" because it's tied to that specific computer.

Now, the question...

I want to know if there is an antonym in computing jargon for portable. In other words, I'd like to know if there's a word out there that means "non-portable" in the sense described above. (Other than non-portable. Obviously. Also, I'm aware "installed" is an appropriate candidate. I'd like to know if there is another term not so ad hoc-y.)

It can be either common or rare, but must be actually in use (i.e., not made up on the spot here at EL&U). If there is no word, that's fine; just tell me. I don't want a made-up word; I want a word that's actually used, even if only a little bit.

(Note: I said word here, not term, so it'd have to be an adjective that can be used in the format [~~~] application, in clear opposition to the format [portable] application, which is a very common phrase used to refer to portable programmes.)

¹ DLLs, PNG/JPG/BMPs, INIs, etc.

² In Windows, it's usually (if not always) either Program Files or Program Files (x86), depending on whether you install the 64-bit or 32-bit version of said programme, respectively.


texts: Is there a dedicated word to describe a long-term oriented person?

texts: Who, in all his or her dealings, values the long-term value over the short term. The best I have come up with is "long-term oriented". Is there a dedicated adjective to describe this?


texts: Looking for a folk saying or proverb that reflects "the closer, higher the competition"

texts:
I am looking for an American or UK folk saying or proverb that reflects the following idea:

the closer are the players, the higher is the competition or
the more level the playing field, the more intense the competition or
the more homogeneous the group, the greater the rivalries ...

I think the general idea is clear, if there is no folk saying the fits it then perhaps a Biblical proverb or some classical (Greek or Roman) maxim would be equally helpful. Or even perhaps some short citation that encapsulates the idea in 1, or 2 or 3.


texts: One word for "to initiate a snowball process"?

texts:
I am trying to formulate a sentence of the form

  We want to VERB the move to a fossil-fuel free world

That has the same meaning as

  We want to initiate a self-reinforcing process that others will pick up on, which will move us to a fossil-fuel free world.

Is there such a word?


texts: Why do Americans use grade levels to indicate the passage of time instead of actual age? (i.e. “When I was in 12th grade” vs. “When I was 17, 18, etc.)


texts: Is it "5–6 weeks are a lot of time" or "5–6 weeks is a lot of time"?

texts:
I was just copyediting somebody's answer on another SE site and my native English speaker Sprachgefühl told me I had to correct the grammar of one sentence:

  ... 5–6 weeks are a lot of time ...

by changing the are to is. But as I was doing so I started wondering why is it that in this case it seems that I have to make the verb disagree with the plural subject?

So is my feeling for English going bad or if I did the right thing, how could I explain this to somebody who's learning English for instance?


texts: meaning of OUT as in "ACTING OUT IN CLASS"

texts:
I've been working on dividing phrasal verbs into groups (according to the meaning of their particle aka adverb) and can't figure out the exact meaning of "acting out in class"
From my research, this one is likely to fall into one these 2 categories of meaning:

"aimed at many people"

Examples:
"send out resumes",
"give out candies"
"handouts for the lecture"

"beyond what's acceptable or possible" or "outside the usual line of behavior"

Examples:
"Smoking is definitely out among my friends"
"The option of taking on more staff is out for the moment"
"Trousers like that went out (= stopped being fashionable) in the 70s"
"Long hair is out"
Just a couple of thoughts: A more basic meaning of  "acting out" seems to be "To perform a role, often an imaginary one (as in a play)"
But from my point of view, this is a different meaning of "out", maybe "aimed at many people" or just "out of your body" as in "she lashed out at me" or "He freaked out".
My questions:

What do you think "out" means in "acting out in class"? If my son is acting out in class, could it mean he is "going beyond the acceptable line of behavior?"

What about "I am acting out the part of dutiful daughter"? (this question is optional)

NB: If you're going to explain it with a meaning that's not mentioned in this post, please provide examples of other phrasal verbs with the meaning you're using, so that we can be sure we have a category and not just a "unique" case. (I refuse to believe that this is a "unique" use of "out")
And if you're not a native speaker please mention it (your opinion is still equally important to me)
Thank you!


texts:
There is a posted question about prepositions: "To which", "by which", "on which" etc. I could not add a comment because I have not had 50 reputations yet, so I decided to post another question.

  It is the mechanism by which hospitals are reimbursed by Medicare.

I don't understand why there is by before the which, and why this by is added when there is already a by after the reimbursed.


texts:
I've been told that both sentences are correct, so how can I tell next time which form to use, plural or singular?

  Do either of you have any money I can borrow?

  Either of the plans is equally dangerous


texts: Can I use "henceforth" and "from now on" interchangeably?

texts: Where did the word "henceforth" originated? How could I determine the correct usage of it? Is it also the same with "from this time forward?"


texts: Recurring difficulty finding a concise definition of "reasoned compromise"

texts:
Today, in an attempt to clarify my thoughts on a political argument I had with a friend,  I searched for a concise definition of the term "reasoned compromise".

A short Google search turned up several instances of others using the term, but I was unable to find a single clear definition of the term.

I am asking because this is not the first time that I have run into this exact type of problem while searching for the clarification of a term.

This instance especially disturbed me because I have just finished listening to a lecture on the current economic crisis by Bill Moyers in which he explained that, in spite of the fact that it is one of the founding principles of our society, the concept of "reasoned compromise" (along with several other foundational concepts) is no longer a part of the public school curriculum.

My central question is:

Can anyone please recommend a site that may contain an easy to access , concise , clear definition of the term "reasoned compromise" and terms like it or were i may find some useful references to the term in question ?


texts:
What are some uncommon but valid portmanteau words that people use?

Example: Turducken is a portmanteau of turkey, duck, and chicken or hen. People outside US are not familiar with this.


texts:
After checking a few dictionaries like https://www.dictionary.com, I noticed that the only form of this word they recognize is the adjective form: multifunctional. The only noun form listed is "functionality." However in most spellchecking applications, no error is thrown when I type "multifunctionality." I tried investigating further and found that "multifunctionality" can have industry specific interpretations, especially for agriculture.
Intended Use
The way I intend to use the word "multifunctionality" is for things that can be used in more than one way. I.e. swiss army knives, gorilla tape, ect.  Maybe I will have to reconsider if "multifunctionality" doesn't mean what I think it means. The danger is, I think its extremely easy to understand what I mean, however whether or not its actually the correct use of the word is another story. Consider this example:

Items like swiss army knives and gorilla tape have excellent
multifunctionality.

Question: Does "multifunctionality" work for my intended use case? If it does, why is it not listed as a noun in some of the biggest dictionaries? If it doesn't work, is there a close substitute noun?


texts: When should I use a comma before "even if"?

texts:
I'm working on this sentence:  "The new rule should not affect section 2607 claims even if the claim does not allege a serious violation."

Do I need a comma before "even if"?  I think "even if" is a subordinating conjunction here and starts an adverbial phrase.  The phrase beginning with "even if" seems nonrestrictive to me so I'd say it needs a comma.  Is that right?

EDIT: Slight change to phrase beginning with "even if" - the real thing is longer and more complex but I over-simplified it.


texts: Difference between “getting rich” and “becoming rich”

texts:
Is there any difference between becoming rich and getting rich?
If there is, what would it be?


texts: "Minify" vs. "minimize" in this NYT piece

texts:
I would like to ask for clarification to understand the meaning and the usage of the word "minify".

Let us read the following piece:

  The New York Times “But by no means do I ever overlook or
  minify the fact that this is one of the most extraordinary experiences of my life. I have never seen anything like this before. I
  have never seen anything so great and fine and real as this devotion.”

I'm under the impression that "minify" there means "reduce in importance or value", but I cannot find this word on Oxford Dictionary Online.

Also, according to Wiktionary, "minify" means "to reduce in size", not "to reduce in importance or value".

Can anybody explain if "minify" is the right word there? Shouldn't the journalist have used "minimize"?


texts: Do you "buy on" or "buy from" online webshops?

texts:
Some sites use the prase "buy on example.com" when they link to products using some affiliate program. For me "buy from example.com" sounds better since you're going to follow that link to example.com and buy the product from them.

What would be the reason to use on?


texts: How to say that "watch this movie continuously till the end"?

texts:
I am bit confused and lack of words when I am trying to say this. Sometimes when a movie is full of thrill and suspense we should watch it till the end to get the suspense revealed. But due to lack of time or movie length, we don't watch it from the beginning to the end. In this case, how do native speakers express to watch a movie till the end?
For example:

Watch the whole movie in one sitting; or
Watch it till the end; or
something better and quick.


texts:
"We took our friend's car and explored the region in total ease."

Is this sentence correct or shall I replace in with with?

I read online that In is:
-Used for unspecific times during a day, month, season, year

-Used to indicate a location or place

-Used to indicate a shape, color, or size

-Used to express while doing something

-Used to indicate a belief, opinion, interest, or feeling

Does any of the above cases fit the situation? I am not sure. Kindly help!


texts: A word to describe dislike caused by not knowing a person

texts:
Is there a word to describe the negative emotion you can feel for an individual you barely know, and the things you dislike about them have largely/entirely been invented in your head over a long period?
For example:

Jane had never spoken to Bob before, but after 2 years, she had strong
feelings of X towards him. This most likely began when he bumped into her
in the office lift. As with many cases of X, the two have barely exchanged a word in their lives.


texts: "in control of their own destiny": a contradiction?

texts:
It's almost NFL playoff time, which means every two-bit sports reporter and analyst [sic] is talking about teams "in control of their own destiny," by which they normally mean: if they play well, they can get into the postseason.
This is now a maddening (no pun intended) cliche, and I know I'm not alone in wondering: is this not a contradiction? I seem to remember even Steve Young complaining about this a couple of years back right around this time.

destiny (n): the events that will necessarily happen to a particular person or thing in the future

The above definition is from Google dictionary, but I was dismayed to see it followed by this example:

"she was unable to control her own destiny"

Of course she was! Because it was her destiny!
But wait... ESPN did not, apparently, initiate this apparent contradiction. Perhaps they've been taking cues from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, in which Cassius says:

Men at some time are masters of their fates:
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings. (1.2.9)

However, you may say, Cassius's entire point is that fate is a foolish notion, that free will reigns.
Still, I return to my initial question, and although it does seem that an all-powerful hand is guiding the NFL (how else to get such parity, compared to the other major sports?), I believe the teams do have control.... just not of their "destiny."
So: contradiction in terms or no? Can NFL teams, or mere individuals, "control" their own "destiny?"


texts: What is the origin of the expression "to prick one's ears up"? Does this come from an actual physical action seen in animals or from some literature reference?


texts: Is "You're lost" gramatically correct in the context of games?

texts:
Example: At first sight, I can tell you're completely lost in this match.
Thanks in advance.


texts: Obsessed with a statement of Charles M. Schulz

texts:
Sometimes I lie awake at night, and ask, "where have I gone wrong?" then a voice says to me, "This is going to take more than one night."

My friends and I have been discussing on the above statement of Charles M. Schulz and have come to different interpretation of it. Would someone please tell me what the owner of the statement is going to imply by saying that.

Thank you so much in advance!


texts: Does "ran to" have a specific ending point in time?

texts:
Consider the following sentence:

  Sam ran to the university pool.

Does the running action have an ending point in the past?


texts:
What can be the word for "inner protected world"?

I want to use for this title sentence:

  A guy in his inner protected world

It's some sort of mental sanctum.

I want to use it in a positive sense. In my local language we call it cossetto, the same as when a worm converts itself into butterfly. In my local language we say that it comes out from its cossetto.

Like I want to use it for a guy who is happy in his own environment , who doesn't worry about the world situated outside .

Please can someone suggest a better word or phrase?


texts:
I'm curious about that curious object.
I'm suspicious of that suspicious stranger.
I'm dubious about that dubious plan.

I can't think of any other words that allow this: using the same term to describe the observer and the target. You can't say I'm excited about my excited present, for instance.
The point about these words is that I'm curious about that object means the same thing as That is a curious object. That is not the case for something like furious: one can say I'm furious about that man, and That man is furious, but they certainly don't mean the same.
Here's another way of looking at the oddity. If I say

That stranger is suspicious.

then it's ambiguous as to whether the stranger is suspicious as observer (i.e., the stranger is suspicious of something) or as target (i.e., I am suspicious of the stranger). One can construct similar examples for curious and dubious. This doesn't apply to other words.

Is it just fluke that these all end in -ious? There are plenty of such words for which it doesn't work (like furious).
What's going on here? Are these homonyms, so that curious is a different word when applied to observer and target? Or is it hypallage, transferring the epithet properly applied to the observer onto the target?


texts:
Does petite have any connotations?

Is this word commendatory or derogatory?

Can it be used on a little girl? A female adult? A boy? A male adult?

Should it be used only on close friends or anyone you see?


texts: What are the subjects in these sentences?

texts:
Having to walk the dogs drives me crazy.
Walking the dogs drives me crazy.

In the first sentence, what is the subject? What would the correct verb tense (drive or drives) be for this sentence?

In the second sentence, it seems that "walking" is a gerund and also the subject of the sentence. Since "walking" is singular, the verb would be "drives." Is this correct?

I am a native English speaker, but I was never taught what to do in situations like these. I would like some clarification for future writing. Thank you.


texts: Can anyone tell me if there is any research/theories/books that can tell me more about the suffix 'ish'? I am looking for any information regarding the usage of the suffix and how it was formed? Any help :) thank you! much appreciated


texts: Difference in meaning and usage between “macrologia”, “periergia” and “bomphiologia”

texts:
All of these terms are devices that can describe something that is superfluous but how do these terms differ?

The Silva Rhetoricae (Gideon Burton, rhetoric.byu.edu) lists them under "figures of excess and superfluity" and provides the following short definitions:

macrologia:

  ma-cro-lo'-gi-a   from Gk. macro, "long" and logos, "speaking"
  macrology

  Longwindedness. Using more words than are necessary in an attempt to appear eloquent.

periergia:

  pe-ri-er'-gi-a   from Gk. peri, "exceedingly" and ergon, "work"
  sedulitas superflua
  over labour, curious

  Overuse of words or figures of speech. As such, it may simply be considered synonymous with macrologia. However, as Puttenham's term suggests, periergia may differ from simple superfluity in that the language appears over-labored.

bomphiologia:

  bom-phi-o-lo'-gi-a   verborum bombus

  Exaggeration done in a self-aggrandizing manner, as a braggart.

Is all of this correct? Can anyone give a more detailed description of how these three terms differ?


texts: What does "enough" mean in expressions like "Fair enough" or "Funny enough"?

texts:
As a non-native speaker, I already get used to the word enough in expressions like those below, but I sometimes still got confused of it. It makes me wonder what it actually means and where does it come from.

There are two different groups in which it confuses me. Actually, the first group contains only one expression, that is fair enough. This is an idiomatic expression that is 'used to admit that something is reasonable or acceptable' Oxford Dictionaries.
The second group contains hundreds of examples; actually, it's a seemingly endless list:
funny enough, oddly enough, strangely enough, interestingly enough, curiously enough, amazingly enough, appropriately enough, astonishingly enough etc.

Frankly speaking, in my mother-tongue, German, there's something similar, i.e. we add -weise to certain words:

interestingly: interessant -- interestingly enough: interessanterweise
    amazingly: erstaunlich --     amazingly enough: erstaunlicherweise

Though, there are two main difference between enough in English an -weise in German. First, -weise does not have any meaning on its own1 and, second, in those instances you use -weise you cannot drop it whereas in English you don't necessarily need to add enough. Example:

English: Interestingly (enough), you don't need *enough* in this sentence.
German:  Interessanterweise kann man in diesem Satz *-weise* nicht auslassen.
         (Interestingly, you cannot drop *-weise* in this sentence.)

In all these expressions, the general sense of enough (sufficient, to the necessary or required degree) cannot be applied; at least, it wouldn't make any sense in my book.

Funny enough, for example, means that a fact is funny but not that there's a sufficient amount of fun.

So, again my question: what's the role of enough and why that word?

1For the sake of completeness I must mention that this statement is not really true. There's an adjective weise meaning wise (a wise old man) and a noun Weise meaning way as in a certain way or a mysterious way. When talking about the suffix -weise in adverbs, the latter meaning (the noun) can be taken as an indicator what -weise may mean; admittedly, I've never validated this from an etymological point of view.


texts: Origin, meaning, and historical change (if any) of the idiom 'stem the tide'

texts:
Christine Ammer, The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms, second edition (2013) has this entry for the idiom "stem the tide":

  stem the tide Stop the course of a trend or tendency, as in It is not easy to stem the tide of public opinion. The idiom uses stem in the sense of "stop" or "restrain." {Mid-1800s}

But Merriam-Webster's Eleventh Collegiate Dictionary (2003) has as one of its three discrete entries for stem as a verb this entry:

  stem vt stemmed; stemming {ME (Sc) stemmen to keep a course, fr. stem (of a ship)} (1593) 1 : to make headway against (as an adverse tide, current, or wind) 2 : to check or go counter to (something adverse)

A Google Books search turns up fairly early instances of "stem the tide" in both the "make progress against a tide" and the "block the advance of a tide" senses.

From Will Dampier, A Voyage to New-Holland, &c. in the Year 1699 (1703):

  We were driven four Leagues back again, and took particular Notice of a Point of Land that looked like Flamborough-head, when we were either to the East or West of it ; and near the Shore it appeared like an Island. Four or five Leagues to the East of this Point, is another very remarkable bluff Point, which is on the West side of the Bay that my Boat was in. [Table cross reference omitted.] We could not stem the Tide, till about three a Clock in the Afternoon [of September 30]; when the Tide running with us, we soon got abreast of the Bay, and then saw a small Island to the Eastward of us.

And contrastingly, from Francis Drake, Eboracum: or, The History and Antiquities of the City of York, from its Original to the Present Times (1736):

  About this time [1625] the great cut for draining the levels below Doncaster was made. A noble canal, and first undertaken by one Cornelins Vermeydan a Dutchman ; but afterwards compleated by his executors. It is a strait channel of near five miles in length, and near a hundred yards broad at high water ; it empties itself into the Ouse at a village called Gool. This cut was originally designed for a drain to such lands in the levels, whose water could not any other way be so conveniently carried off. But for their own safety, as well as by a remonstrance from the city of York, they built a sluice and flood-gates at the mouth of it to stop the tide from taking that course. In the year 1688, or thereabouts, by a violent land flood, this work blew up, and was never since repaired, as there are still living witnesses can testify. The land owners in those parts have been ever since at great expence to stem the tide which flows impetuously in, and daily undermines their works.

A further complication is that one of the earliest metaphorical appearances of "stem the tide" could easily be read as meaning, not "make progress against the tide" or "stop the advance of the tide," but rather "oppose the tide, whether successfully or not." From "A Speech of MENTOR, imitated from the 22d Book of TELEMACHUS," in The Gentleman's Magazine (October 1737):

  Who, nobly warm'd, shall, in his country's cause,/Rife up to stem the tide of publick mischief?/Alas in vain! the truly great, the wise,/The bravely just, their patriot virtues scorn'd,/Hopeless, retire to peaceful silent shades,/And mourn in private o'er their country's ruin. ... Nay those who see the folly, and condemn,/Yet dare not be the first to stem the tide./Thus the whole Nation sinks and falls to ruin:/All rank is lost, all order is confus'd.

My questions:

What are the earliest known occurrences of "stem the tide," in each of the senses described above, both literally (with regard to an actual tide) and figuratively (with regard to a metaphorical tide)?
What was the more common sense of the idiom historically, and when (if at all) did the preponderant sense change?
Is "stem the tide" still used in multiple senses today?


texts: A word for something that's done only half-consciously

texts:
In writing fiction, I find myself using the word "absentmindedly" a lot, but I don't think it's really the word I'm looking for. I'm not looking so much something done in a distracted manner, but something done sort of half-consciously, without really thinking about it. Not habitual either, but perhaps almost instinctual.

For instance:

  As James watched the other girl climb higher, he shuddered to think of his own sister being in such danger, and put his arm absentmindedly around her.

What I'm trying to relate is that he wasn't making a conscious move to comfort or embrace his sister, he just did it without thinking.


texts:
When prepositional /infinitive phrases are used as sentence connectors i. e they come at the beginning of the sentence, what is their status in the sentence. Are they mere connectors and not a part of the sentence or they also are integral part of the sentence they introduce.

Example:- He is a hardworking man. Apart from this, he is also very diligent. Here "apart from this" is only a connector or also integral part of the sentence "he is also very diligent.

Similarly, "He wants to be rich. To achieve his objective, he is working very hard.Here "To achieve his objective"is only a connector or also an integral part of the sentence "he is woking very hard" acting as adverbial.


texts:
I found several forms of farewell remarks like these:

Goodbye
Good-bye
Good-by
Bye
Bye-Bye

Are these remarks equivalent in both written and spoken English ?


texts: "Confuse A & B" vs. "Confuse between A & B"

texts: The verb confuse Is sometimes (but not always) followed by the word "between", which leaves me a bit... well, confused. Is there a difference in meaning between saying, for example, that an author (or an argument) "confused between A and B"(when A and B stand for different phenomena) and saying that they "confused A and B"? Is one of them stylistically superior to the other?


texts: Sequence of words in the non-question sentences

texts:
I have certain doubts, shall we say, about which of the following is correct:

I don't know where precisely you live;
I don't know where precisely do you live.

For some reason I feel that the first one is correct, but I'm not sure about any actual rules governing the decision in this specific instance.

Would you please be so kind as to educate me what is the general guiding principle for such cases?

Sincerely Yours,
Adrianna W. McCrory


texts: Is it proper to use "that" instead of "at which" to refer to speed?

texts:
On a physics assignment, I believe that these sentences are grammatically incorrect, but some other students disagree (especially on the second one).

  What is the maximum speed that the mass can be whirled without breaking the string?

  What is the maximum speed that this car can round this curve without skidding

  (NOTE: 33 1/3 is the frequency that it turns -- 33 1/3 revolutions per minute)

I think the use of that is incorrect, and "at which" or "that ... at" must be used to be grammatically correct. "that ..." is used above as restrictive clauses.

They accepted that the last one is incorrect.

  the frequency [that it turns __ ]

Something cannot turn the "maximum speed".

For the second part, it doesn't seem like proper use of restrictive clauses.

  the maximum speed [that this car can round _? this curve _?]

  -> this car can round __ this curve

  -> this car can round this curve __

"the maximum speed" is not the object of the clause. The car cannot round "the maximum speed".

Using "at which" or "that ... at" is better:

  the maximum speed [at __ which this car can round this curve]

  the maximum speed [that this car can round this curve at __ ]

Compare this to some valid examples:

  Subject: This is a sentence [that I wrote __ ].

  Object: This is a sentence [that __ was written by me ].

  Preposition: This is a sentence [at __ which you looked ].

  Detached preposition: This is a sentence [that you looked at __ ].

Am I correct?


texts: What is the grammatical nature of "wrote" in the phrase "The Wrote and The Writ"?

texts:
In the song The Wrote and the Writ by British singer and songwriter Johnny Flynn, the title uses that phrase which comes from the the last verse of the song:
If you're born with a love for the wrote and the writ
People of letters your warning stands clear
Pay heed to your heart and not to your wit
Don't say in a letter what you can't in my ear

I fail to parse the wrote: how does it work grammatically? how is it perceived by a native speaker? what does it really mean, especially in contrast with the writ (archaism for the holy Scripture, I assume) ?

if wrote is substantival as the article the suggests, I didn't find it in the couple of online dictionaries I looked up (Cambridge, Collins) - unsurprisingly, both point only to the past tense of write.

if it is verbal, I don't think it could work as a past tense because of the article the. I thought it might be a (slang? dialectal?) past participle of write : the wrote = what is written. But again, I didn't find anything like that. Apparently (excuse the reference), using the past tense instead of past participle exists only as faulty English rather than slang, but a native speaker could confirm this.

While I'm happy to read about the meaning and context of the song, I am mostly curious about the grammar here.
Complete lyrics


texts:
I grew up using "preventive" approaches -- Now I see more often "preventative"

Similarly- market "oriented" no longer but "orientated"

When did this change happen? What is correct usage?


texts: Is there a term describing a fish's mouth action as it breathes?

texts: I would wager there must be a term of art describing what a fish does as it breathes, normally, underwater. Any thoughts?


texts: Is there a word for a person who is not afraid to point out problems even if that means additional work for them?

texts:
I am talking about a developer who doesn't turn a blind eye to bugs found by chance, who doesn't treat them as Somebody Else's Problem, but feels responsible for the product as a whole.

Whistle-blower comes to mind but I don't know if it is used outside government/administration context.

What's the best word to describe this soft skill?


texts: Justice as a title ... where does it come from?

texts:
In the US supreme court judges, among others, are called "justice [name]". Where is this use rooted?

Obviously the term comes from Latin "justitia" originally, but that means justice as in the the principle or system of justice. Where does the use as an honorary (?) title originate?


texts:
Is there a word for "truncate to size zero", preferably one which could be used and understood in the following way:

"...ing the file" := "truncating the file to zero bytes"?

RECAP: The best answers so far seem to be "empty the file", "zero the file size" and "truncate to (size|length) zero". In a suitable context, "truncate" has "truncate to (size|length) zero" as the default meaning (esp. since it's the commonest specific length to which files are truncated) but it's by no means the only one


texts:
I am not native English speaker, and I just saw this sentence written in a sealed box:

"Tamper evident opening"

Is that sentence correct?

I mean, I think it means "If you tamper with this seal, it will be evident that the box has been opened". But, I think also that following the English grammar, it would say "If you open the box, and it is evident you did so, try to tamper it so nobody realized it".

Wouldn't the correct way be "Tampering evidents opening"?


texts: Is there a reference book that lists words by usage or theme?

texts:
Similar to how a thesaurus lists synonyms, is there a book that groups words (or phrases) together by conceptual usage?

For example, this question is looking for words that describe a person's character.  I would be interested in a book that would help me identify words commonly used to describe

an inanimate object
a physical motion
nature

Ideally this would highlight what is considered a cliche description.


texts: Adjective for a person who doesn't want any sympathy

texts: I am looking for an adjective that describes a person who doesn't want any sympathy or empathy for himself/herself.


texts: What do you say when referring to labor for an adverb?

texts:
Analogy:

  Education : academically :: Labor : ?

I'm trying to fit in something to go here:

  ... not only do I have to do well academically, but also _____ (in my labor)

Parentheses not included.

What can fit in that blank?


texts: Is the "will" in "can and will" necessary?

texts:
Anyone who's ever seen much American film or television has heard some variation of the following sentences countless times:

  You have the right to remain silent.  If you choose to give up that right, anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.

And the phrase "can and will" can be seen in other contexts as well.  My issue with this is not the "can" part, but the "will" part.  "Can" implies that anything you say may be used against you in court, but "will" asserts that it is a certainty.  The person being arrested could obviously say any number of things that would not be of any use in a case against them, so it's not true to say that anything they say will be used, only that it can be.

Does Hollywood have it wrong?  I looked around to see what the official text of the Miranda warning is, and it seems there isn't any - it varies from one jurisdiction to the next, but the Hollywood version is always pretty much the same.  (The Miranda rights are universal, but the actual words to be spoken by the arresting officer are not mandated so long as the rights are properly delineated.)

And more to the point, is this phrase just being incorrectly used in these (and other) cases?  Does "can and will" maybe bear more legal weight than simply "can"?  Or could the officer leave out the "and will" part and consider the Miranda warning just as properly given without it?


texts: Is written English becoming more and more simplifed?

texts:
I'm not sure if I have anything to base this on, other than a simple hunch. My general feeling towards written English, especially journalistic English, is that it is becoming simpler and simpler. Perhaps due to the rise in social media, lowered attention spans or just the drop in Aesop Rock listeners.

A look at some random vocab:

might looks like this.

But this is all conjecture, is there any proof that English is becoming simplified?


texts: "away for a weeks" or "away till 1 week"

texts:
I want to tell someone that

Situation:

"I need to give a reasonable reason to schedule meeting trip in this week because my family is not with me for this week."

then which is a correct and right sentence

  My family is away from me for 1 week.

or

  I am away from my family for 1 week.

or

  My family is away till 1 week.

or

  My family is away for a week.


texts: Do I need to use "from" after "graduated"?

texts:
I graduated high school.

  I graduated from high school.

Which sentence is grammatically correct?


texts:
What is grammatically incorrect with the sentence: "Moving to a new town and making new friends is hard for people of all ages."?

Is it the subject/verb agreement?


texts:
I needed to translate into Chinese some material for our magazine.  The sentence is:

  I'd rather eat a hamburger than eat a sandwich.

Apparently, in Chinese the word "rather" is used to make a value judgement about the items in discussion, such that a sandwich is bad, and a hamburger is good.  We had some other sentences which used "rather" and our translator suggested they be changed so that a Chinese speaker could more easily understand the sentences, namely the objects being discussed could be culturally understood.  For example "I'd rather take a taxi than walk home," was good because taking a taxi was understood to be preferable to walking, but "I'd rather listen to music than play video games." was not good because "listening to music" and "playing video games" were equally good.

I made the point that in English, there is no value judgement about the items and that "rather" just indicates a preference, to which one person agreed but another said that if you prefer one thing it means you don't like the other.  I said I would rather have double stuff Oreos than original, but that I didn't have any judgement about people who liked original Oreos.

Does the word "rather" make a value judgement about the things being considered?


texts: Word for "not able to be escaped from by struggling"

texts: What is the word that means "not able to be escaped from by struggling"? I heard it many years ago and have forgotten it due to advancing age and mis-spent youth.


texts: “my email ID has changed” vs “my emil ID is/has been changed”

texts:
I want to ask one thing. Sometimes we hear people say

  my email ID has changed.

As per my understanding present perfect tenses need a subject which is missing above.
I find these sentences little bit weird because I think we should have subject in using present perfect if it is not passive one.

I think we should say

  my email ID is changed
  or
  my email ID has been changed.

Please help me out to use present perfect effectively, the present perfect tense make me confuse.


texts: Can extra quotation marks be added to indicate number of speakers?

texts:
I am trying to find out if there is any punctuational representation of three people saying the same thing at the same time. For example, if someone asked "Understand?" and three people simultaneously responded "Got it!"

Obviously, I could make sense of that by adding "all":

  "Got it!" they all said.

But I was curious if there was a representation of that without any extra wording. I know someone who asserts that one can use """Got it!""" which doesn't seem right, but I can't seem to find any other type of representation.


texts: "Within the past year" vs. "In the past year"

texts:
I'm having an argument with a co-worker about phrasing.  We have a document that makes reference to someone having experience working "in the past year", and later it states "must have experience working within the past year."

I say there is no difference, he says there is.


texts: "next but one/last but one" meaning in a sentence

texts:
I understood that:

"last but one" means: one item before the last one (e.g. "Marta lives in the last house but one" means she lives in one house before the last one)
"next but one" means: one item next to the one (e.g. "Marta lives in the next house but one" means she lives the house after the next one)

but what if I have a graduated scale of values and I want to refer to the next and the next but one bigger values bigger than a specified value X?

E.g.
I have a 10 mm hole in the whole. I wanna drill it to make it bigger. I have two tools with 20 and 30 mm diameter.

"To make the hole 20 I have to use the next tool bigger than the hole"(?)
"To make the whole 30 I have to use the next but one tool bigger then the hole"(?)


texts: Where does "on X's dime" originate from?

texts:
Phrases like "on the company's dime" or "on your parent's dime" are used to indicate a form of payment responsibility on the party in question.

My question is where does "on X's dime" originate from?  Why was the word "dime" specifically used as opposed to say "on the company's quarter/nickel/penny"?