texts:
What is the etymology of the 'here' in the expression 'these here'?

I am unable to find a dictionary definition, although I believe the expression could also be simply these, or even those.  So why did the 'these here' construct come about? It sounds like dialect, which isn't always explainable, but I'd appreciate any actual references to why and where it came about.
An example is:

  Probably she was one of these here New Women. (The Wheels of Chance, H.G. Wells)

It also can be formed with other demonstrative determiners, while using either adverb 'here' or 'there', for example:

  This here
  Those here
  That there


texts: A word for an incident from history which becomes the basis of a law, rule or custom practiced today?

texts:
Many rulings and even laws in today's societies have a basis/root in the past.

For example, let's say that there is a community which holds a king from the 18th century, let's call them A, in a very high regard. Say, in 1850's, during the rule of A, a person who had a second marriage while their first spouse was alive, was prosecuted and punished. This particular incident in history serves as an evidence that A was against polygamy. The community might still have laws against polygamy, simply because the practice of polygamy has never been acceptable in the society, and this has more to do with A having been against polygamy, than the issue of human rights.

Now, I want to ask a question about a similar thing being practiced in a community.

I want to ask if there are any incidents in the history in which this particular thing was practiced (which became the root of the practice which still continues today)?

Is there a word which describes an incident from history which becomes a basis for some law, rule, custom being practiced today?


texts: Can I say that sentence makes you special?

texts:
When someone comes from other country and they pronounce "good morning" in my local language (when that pronunciation is unique)... Then can I say:

"that sentence makes you special"  Or "that pronunciation makes you special"? (Just I want to appreciate his or her dedication).


texts: Which is the right word to describe the meal tickets for an event?

texts:
In an international conference, we provide meals to the participants. I don't know what should be put on the tickets:

  Meal Ticket
  Meal Coupon
  Meal Voucher

Would you please tell me which one to use, or any better alternatives?


texts: What is the etymology of the term "cheap shot"?

texts:
As the title suggests, I am curious where the term came from. A twenty-minute Google search did not yield any useful results.

More specifically, I am wondering why the word "cheap" was used.

Etymonline says about cheap and cheap shot that

  Sense of "lightly esteemed, common" is from 1590s....
  Cheap shot originally was U.S. football jargon for a head-on tackle; extended sense "unfair hit" in politics, etc. is by 1970.

But in Esquire, 1966, the etymology at Etymonline is contradicted by a letter-writer:

  Professional football players do not now, and probably never did, refer to a head-on tackle as a "cheap shot." A head-on tackle is not won cheaply.

So the sense given by Etymonline for both cheap and cheap shot doesn't seem to be correct.


texts: What is the infinitive form of a possessive adjective?

texts:
I want to create flashcards (French <-> English) about idioms like "to put all your eggs in one basket". Those idioms have to be written in the infinitive form but I don't know what do to with possessives adjectives like "your" in my example.

If I literally translate the French expression, I should use "his eggs", but is it the same rule in English?

What should I write to replace "your"? Or should I delete it?


texts:
I've used the form "XX00s" to mean a century, as in How poverty affected Britain in the late 1800s or In the 1600s the tensions between the crown and parliament came to a head
And I use "XXX0s" to mean a decade, as in The 1990s saw two wars
This is fine until I need to refer to the first decade of a century. In the 1800s could mean 1800-1809 or 1800-1899 according to my usage.
What is the correct meaning of "In the 1600s"? I checked the Chicago Style Guide but it doesn't clarify this case. And Wikipedia disambiguates both meanings: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1800s


texts:
I have read many books say that

  they ran fast.

But that sounds wrong compared to

  they ran quickly.

Which should it be?


texts: How does backwardation semantically relate to backwardness?

texts:
What semantic notions underlie 'backward' and 'backwardness', with the meaning of 'backwardation' below? Etymonline overlooked this term. OED is too brusque and doesn't expound the etymology.

John Hull. Options, Futures, and Other Derivatives (2017 10 edn). p 129.

  Normal Backwardation and Contango

  When the futures price is below the expected future spot price, the situation is known as
  normal backwardation; and when the futures price is above the expected future spot
  price, the situation is known as contango. However, it should be noted that sometimes
  these terms are used to refer to whether the futures price is below or above the current
  spot price, rather than the expected future spot price.


texts:
Within a group, there is one leader and a number of non-leader workers. There is a list of published and understood tasks. Non-leaders take on tasks and are accountable to complete them, but the leader does not assign the tasks; the leader is responsible for making sure all tasks are assumed and may assign tasks if no one assumes a particular task.

What words can be used in place of the bold assumed? I came up with "assume responsibility"


texts: Word that describes a situation in which irony or antithesis is used to convey a truth or impart wisdom

texts:
I know there's a word for this, but despite my attempts on Google, I was unable to find the term I'm looking for. I know it's not a paradox, which is a statement or concept that appears to make sense but in fact contradicts itself.

What I'm looking for is a term to describe something like the following:

  Relaxation, then, is not an end...it is for the sake of activity.

This is from a text we're reading for class. The author talks about the Sabbath in the Jewish religion. I'm looking for a term to succinctly describe the fact that the irony of the sentence or the antithesis of "relaxation" and "activity" conveys a truth: that by engaging in periods of idleness, one is able to collect one's strength and engage in activity anew.

Note that antithesis by itself just refers to the use of two contradictory ideas in close proximity. The term I'm thinking of suggests that this antithesis is employed to impart wisdom in a poetic manner.


texts: What is the correct phrase to ask to determine which group a first nations person considers themselves to be part of?

texts:
I met a women who I gathered was First Nations. I struggled to ask the question to elicit the response to find more about her heritage and culture. What is the word that distinguishes between different North American aboriginal people? I've heard them called "nations" but it would be ambiguous to ask "what Nation are you from?" because the "official" one would be Canada.
For example would it be politically correct to ask "What type of First Nations are you?" or "Are you part of a certain band?". I was looking for an answer like "Cree" or "Salish".


texts: Are both "from the offset" and "from the outset" correct?

texts:
I had always seen that phrase as "from the outset", but recently I saw somebody writing "from the offset" (meaning "from the beginning").

Dictionary.com claims that "offset" can be a synonym for "outset":

  2) the start, beginning, or outset.

Would this mean that both of these phrases are correct? Do certain dialects prefer one over the other? US vs UK usage?


texts:
Sebastian (arrive) ... at Susan's house a little before 9:00 PM, but she (be, not) ... there. She (study, at the library) ... for her final examination in French.

Could you explain, please, what and why verb tenses should be used in the above sentences?
If it possible tell me please what 'use' from the following site determines verb tense:

http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/simplepast.html
http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/pastcontinuous.html


texts: More compelling way to describe something as "The Next Big Thing"

texts:
What is a more compelling way to say "The next big thing in X".?

It will be describing a technology company that is "disrupting" (also too much of a cliche) the industry.


texts: Why are the same words translated differently into English depending on their meaning?

texts:
I've seen it several times before, but only have one example at hand right now. This Forbes article mentions Russia as country's name, but Rossiya as the bank's name, despite that these words are exactly the same in Russian, where they are translated from.

Is there some kind of rule for this?


texts:
When to use the former and when to use the latter? Example:

  I followed the girl's scent until it was masked by the
  chrysanthemums'.

  I followed the girl's scent until it was masked by that of the
  chrysanthemums.


texts: Term or phrase for a traumatic or life-changing event

texts:
What is the word or phrase that describes a traumatic event that stops or changes a person’s mode of living?

Something like an illness or something like happened to Tom Hanks in the movie Cast Away.   Or even Tom Hanks’s girlfriend, who was going to school to get her doctorate but “put everything on hold” when Chuck (Tom Hanks’s character) disappears in a plane crash.

I’m almost looking for a psychological term here, and I want to study more about the topic, but I don’t have a term or phrase for it that I can use to research it.


texts: Which tense should a time traveller use?

texts:
In the book The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, Douglas Adams attempts to lay out the basics of which tense to use when describing time travel:

  In it guests take (willan on-take) their places at the table and eat (willan on-eat) sumptuous meals whilst watching (willing watchen) the whole of creation explode around them. (source)

I don't really understand his rules, and I doubt that Adams did too, but how do you correctly describe time travel?

For example, what is the correct grammar for this:

  Winston, from the year 1984, went to the year 3001 and bought a hoverboard.

Where Winston, in 1984 travelled forward in time to the year 3001, bought the hoverboard and then travelled back in time to 1984.


texts:
I have two questions here, and they are both from an article at Economist.com. Here is the link: http://www.economist.com/blogs/schumpeter/2012/10/citi-loses-its-boss

First question: What does as mean in the 2nd sentence in the last paragraph but one:

  An effort to provide a higher dividend payment to shareholders was rejected by Citi’s regulators as imprudent.

I understand it to be an adverb, but then I can't figure out what the whole sentence means.

Second question: What's the structure of the first sentence in paragraph 4, and how should I comprehend it:

  Reaction to the appointment has been mixed, and that, in addition to Mr Pandit’s virtues, may have suppressed any bounce.

This is how I understand its structure: "the reaction has suppressed any bounce, including Mr Pandit's virtues." And that doesn't make sense to me.

Does that refer to reaction? Does bounce mean rejection of a check, or something else? And what's with Mr Pandit's virtues?


texts: What is the implication of "eye of the storm"?

texts:
I was confused by the following sentence found in this post:

  French bank shares, which have been in the eye of the storm, recovered sharply (BNP Paribas was up 13% on the day while Société Générale rose by 5%).

My impression is, and Wikipedia says that: "The eye is a region of mostly calm weather found at the center of strong tropical cyclones."

If French bank shares were in the calm region, wouldn't that imply that they were largely unscathed (in comparison to their neighbors perhaps) and that they wouldn't really have anything to "recover" from?

Is there some distinction that I am missing between eyes of storms, cyclones, hurricanes, etc?

Am I missing something else, or does the sentence not really make sense?


texts: Prof. John Dalton, "daltonism" and "color blindness"

texts:
Daltonism is a term coined after  the English chemist John Dalton (1766–1844), who had the condition and did early research into:

  the inability or defective ability to perceive or distinguish certain colors, especially red-green.

The term was replaced by color-blindness about 50 years later in 1844:

Color blindness:

  1844, replacing Daltonism  (after English chemist John Dalton, 1766-1844, who published a description of it in 1794);
  in figurative use, with reference to race or ethnicity, attested from 1866, American English.
  (Etymonline)

Now daltonic and daltonism are used only in medical contexts. Ngram: color blindness vs daltonism.

Curiously  the English term has survived in common usage in French daltonien, in Italian daltonico  and in Spanish daltónico, while in German the term is faberblind (literally, color-blind) as in English.

Questions:

Where does  "color blindness" come from? Was it imported from Germany as a more colloquial  alternative to "daltonism"?
Has the figurative usage of "color-blind" actually become more common than its "medical" connotation in AmE?


texts:
It means to be in good health, good spirits. The origin seems  to be from the OE word fetel,  meaning "belt".

Can anyone help in understanding how it got to the current  meaning please.


texts:
I have read the previous questions and comments about "forget and forgot" but none has enlightened me with what's on my mind.

We were once corrected by our Communication Trainer when we used "forgot." He said we only use "forgot" if you are referring to a tangible thing that you have forgotten. On the other hand, we use "forget" for abstract or non-tangible things, like "I forget your name." Is there any rule or principle behind this from native speakers' point of view?  Alternately, did our Communication Trainer simplify his instructions for our benefit, or was he mistaken, or did we misunderstand?


texts:
What does it mean to have a 'saucy facial expression'?

I came upon a comment saying that and I have no idea what it means.


texts:
In a YouTube comment commenting on Jamala's song 1944, someone says

  You guys enjoy your summer-funeral hit! I have nothing else to add.

after saying

  Ukraine should't have won! What a stupid, political contest. Economically and politically insignificant countries will never have the chance to win, even when they send a powerhouse such as Iveta Mukuchyan.  They should've banned that funeral song. It's ridiculous. What's next, a holocaust song?

In case context matters, the user seems to be British, based on their user profile, though they could be of Russian descent based on their name.

What's a summer-funeral hit? Doing a search for "summer funeral" didn't get any results in onelook.


texts:
In Belgium, "visioneren" is the Dutch word for the process of "approving video material before usage in broadcast". This is done by the director, or someone else working for television/the movies, to quickly weed out those filmed clips that do not meet a certain standard.

This process happens after filming (=at this point there is lots and lots of material) and before editing (=at this point everything that is truly unusable for the final movie/episode/... is taken out).
Meaning that when the actual movie is put together, the editor is not distracted by "the really bad stuff". It's possibly that "visioneren" is in fact the first thing done by the editor: throwing away everything that can not possibly have a good impact on the final product.

Possible things that the "visioneren"-process could take out:
- Poor lighting: The clip is so dark or so overlighted that it cannot be used
- Something inscreen: A mic got in screen in this clip. Throw it away so this does not end up in the final product.
- Poor content: Something that might have seemed a good idea during filming but now it appears that the clip does not contribute to the story, is not funny etc, so it's thrown away
- Anything really that makes the one doing the "visioneren" think: If this is put in, it will make for a worse show/movie.

In Dutch:
"Standaardtaal in België voor: keuren voor vertoning of uitzending."
http://www.vrt.be/taal/visioneren

Is there an English equivalent?


texts: "walking for five o'clock every morning." "for"? Why not "at five o'clock"?

texts:
I'm reading a book on philosophical puzzles and problems. At a certain point it reads (as an aside comment, not as part of a puzzle):

  "Before moving to Sweden, Descartes had a lifetime habit of staying in bed till 11.00 a.m.  After only a few months in the cold northern climate, walking to the palace for 5 o'clock every morning, he died."

Any special reason for using "for" instead of "at five o'clock"?  Can it be a pun? Am I missing something?

From Wikipedia - "Queen Christina of Sweden invited Descartes to her court in 1649 to organize a new scientific academy and tutor her in his ideas about love." The strange thing is that she wanted classes at 5.00 a.m. (!!!)

Some may label this question as "proofreading".  I understand it is specifically about prepositions, though.

EDIT

  context - From Wikipedia: "Queen Christina of Sweden invited Descartes to her court in 1649 to organize a new scientific academy and tutor her in his ideas about love. She was interested in and stimulated Descartes to publish the "Passions of the Soul", a work based on his correspondence with Princess Elisabeth. He was a guest at the house of Pierre Chanut, less than 500 meters from Tre Kronor in Stockholm. Soon it became clear they did not like each other; she did not like his mechanical philosophy, he did not appreciate her interest in Ancient Greek. By 15 January 1650, Descartes had seen Christina only four or five times. On 1 February he caught a cold which quickly turned into a serious respiratory infection, and he died on 11 February."

Some authors believe that walking to the castle at 5.00 a.m. in Stockholm, in January and February, contributed to his catching pneumonia and dying.


texts: What is the correct way to refer to a web page that is part of the same website?

texts:
When referring to specific web pages that are part of the same website, should the name of the page be capitalized, put in quotation marks, or both?

In other words, which of the following sentences is correct:

  If you would like to contact me, please complete the form on the contact page.
  If you would like to contact me, please complete the form on the Contact page.
  If you would like to contact me, please complete the form on the "contact" page.
  If you would like to contact me, please complete the form on the "Contact" page.

Please explain your reasoning and/or list your reference (source).


texts: What's a common way of referring to the "tool" a person used to commit suicide?

texts:
For instance, a gun, a rope, or the like. What's the common way of referring to them? Assuming the suicide attempt of the person who used them was successful?

Example sentence:

  We kept grandpa's shotgun in the garage. We never imagined that it'd
  become Tommy's [...] one day.


texts:
Today, I came across WP's entry for the word esquivalience:

"Esquivalience" is a fictitious entry in the New Oxford American Dictionary (NOAD), which was designed and included to protect copyright of the publication.
The word was invented by Christine Lindberg, one of the editors of the NOAD and discovered by Henry Alford.
It was leaked that the dictionary had put in a fake word in the letter "e" and Alford set out to find the word. It was discovered after review of a short list by several experts. When the editor, Erin McKean, was contacted she admitted that it was indeed a fake word and had been in since the first edition, in order to protect the copyright of the CD-ROM edition.
The word is defined as "the willful avoidance of one's official responsibilities."

The first edition of the NOAD was published back in 2001 and two more have since seen print. Eleven years later, the word continues to be defined as a legitimate entry on ODO, Google, and going by the WP article, in the print editions. Is it now considered  an authentic word? Or are OUP esquivaliently demonstrating the use of their esquivalience?


texts: In reference to a specific event, does "since" exclude the event occuring in the meantime?

texts:
It's been 43 days since I've closed this door.

Above statement clearly implies that the person in question hasn't closed the door for over a month. However, I feel like technically you would have to say "It's been 43 days since I've last closed this door" to truly say that you haven't closed the dear at all in the meantime.

The reason I think you might need to specify, is because it seems to me like the example sentence might refer to an arbitrary occurrence of the door being closed, as opposed to the door closing in general.

Am I wrong?


texts: Adjective that means "found in groups" but without implying a social behavior?

texts:
For example, jellyfish are usually found in groups. However, they are not "social animals", they just end up together because of the current of the sea (or other physical phenomena).

What's an adjective to describe this "group" behavior without implying that they are social?

Example:

  On one hand, you have the solitary hermit crabs; on the other, the
  [...] jellyfish.

(Is communal an appropiate word?)


texts: Is there any consensus on the capitalization of theories?

texts:
Should the name of theories be capitalized? Does this depend on convention, the particular theory itself, or whether or not it contains a proper name?

I appreciate any input, thank you!


texts: Why do I have to use "what" in this sentence? What role does "what" play here?

texts:
I know this sentence is correct:

  In the 1980's the rate of increase of the minority population of the United States was nearly twice what it was in the 1970's.

So the part of the sentence I'm concerned with is the twice part.
Correct sentence: The rate was twice what it was in the 1970s.

Why do I have to use the "what" here?

Can't I just say: The rate was twice it was in the 1970s.

That sounds incorrect to me, but I don't know why. Thank you for the help!


texts: English my language--question about sentence/grammar

texts: "He said" is a simple statement.  What kind of statement is:  He said Mark didn't like Susan.  "He said" can be called a sentence.  So can "Mark didn't like Susan."  Yet this is neither a compound or complex sentence.  What is it called when two different subject/verbs are co-joined without a semi-colon or the usual and, or , but, yet, etc.


texts: Why say "Tennyson has looked to..." instead of "Tennyson looked to..."?

texts:
Tennyson has looked to Shakespeare for inspiration. (Tennyson, his masters by Grant Smith)

This was written way after Tennyson died, but has is used. Why? Is it grammatical?
I would use looked to ... but why?


texts: Why are Leicester & co pronounced as they are?

texts:
What is the origin of the pronunciation of words like Leicester, Gloucester, Worcestershire? Presumably, the spelling predates the pronunciation but what is the history here? What language do the words originate from?

Is this just simple elision or is there a more specific, shared origin of these words and the process that changed them?


texts: A word describing the core point of a newspaper opinion column

texts:
Is there a word that denotes or describes the most important point in the newspaper opinion section?

For instance, have a look at the screenshot of the piece of opinion from DAWN:

In the picture above, I have enclosed the bold and enlarged point of the opinion written by A.G Noorani; while the word which I am requesting here, can have something to do with graphic design, because it's all about the design of the opinion column. So how do you describe such points in terms of graphic design?

I, by researching and asking question, could get a single word describing such point: core point. Can I describe it as a core point? Or are there other better alternatives to it?


texts: What is the passive voice of a sentence that is structured as 'past perfect' before 'simple past'

texts:
For example, how would the sentence below be expressed in the passive voice?

I had completed all tasks before they arrived.


texts: Is "beguile" supposed to always be used in a bad way?

texts:
The definitions of it, pretty much all, involve words like "trickery" and "deception".

But one legitimate definition can also be: to captivate with irresistible charm.

Nothing too bad sounding.


texts:
Is it
1. The renewal dates of the books
2. The renewal dates for the books


texts: "Change their positions" vs. "change their position"

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  “Those who qualify will be awarded a certificate” or “those who qualify will be awarded certificates”?
  “On their back” or “on their backs”?

Should the singular or plural of position should be used in the following sentences?

  Why Political Parties Change Their Positions: Environmental...
  Do the stars change their position through the course of the night?
  Why do stars appear to change their positions through the year?
  Why do shadows change their position during the day?

The sentences are from the first page of the Google search for should not change their position.


texts: What's the difference between "neural" and "neuronal"?

texts:
Is it that something that is neuronal has to do with neurons, while something that is neural has to do with nerves or the nervous system?  Is something that is neuronal necessarily neural? Or does it depend on the context? E.g., if we have that,

  A neural stem cell can go on to become a glial cell or neuron.

and

  A neuronal stem cell is committed to become a neuron.

Is the latter no longer a neural stem cell because it has lost its ability to become a glial cell?


texts:
I have some doubts about the usages of that and who. Sometimes I read sentences such as

  You are someone I love.
  You are someone who I love.
  People were asked to describe the qualities they look for in a friend.
  People were asked to describe the qualities that they look for in a friend.

Why are who or that omitted in some of these sentences but not in others?


texts: What's the meaning of "innate of arrogance"?

texts:
What's the correct meaning of "innate of arrogance" in this example? I know "innate" more or less means "existing since birth", so I feel it may be "rising/coming from a place of arrogance" or more literally "being born out of arrogance".

  Are you really arrogant/conceited/self-important/self-righteous, or do you often display a “haughty” behaviour innate of something else than arrogance, that on first glance appears to be innate of arrogance? source


texts: Should a parenthetical verb agree with the main subject?

texts:
The question is how to write the following sentence in a parenthetical form:

Loops — A loop is an arc that pairs a vertex to itself. — are not allowed here.

Are the following sentences correct, or  should they be plural?

Loops, an arc that pairs a vertex to itself, are not allowed here.
Loops (an arc that pairs a vertex to itself) are not allowed here.


texts: "erupted in violence" vs. "erupted into violence"

texts:
I have come across both in major newspapers. Are both correct? What kind of phrase is this?

Erupted in violence
Erupted into violence

This is the example sentence.
"This led to riots in 2005, when the country's impoverished banlieues(suburbs) erupted into violence."
As mentioned in my comment I think it may have something to do with the word following in/into. (e.g) The crowd erupted in unison. Not into.


texts: "If you are a bird I am a bird" VS "If you were a bird I ...." which is right?

texts:
Why "If you are a bird I am a bird" is right?
In my case "If you were a bird, I would be a bird" or "If you were a bird I will kill you" are right. Please tell more detailed about it.


texts: "Where is the cat?" - What part of speech is the word "where"?

texts: In the sentence, "Where is the cat?", what part of speech is the word "where"?


texts:
Is “reach out and touch” an idiomatic expression?

  The manual for the console versions describe him as “half unfeeling machine, half raging horned devil. This walking nightmare has a rocket launcher for an arm and will definitely reach out and touch you.”

from Wikipedia quoting NOW Gamer. It can also be found in the Depeche Mode song “Tainted Love”.


texts: "What do you think" + Indirect question?

texts:
I ran into this sentence
-What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages of city life?
which appeared as rubric in Cambridge Vocabulary For Advanced (Unit 1, p12), written by Haines Simon.
I was wondering if someone can clarify why in this particular phrase "What do you think" is followed by a direct question rather than an indirect question such as "What do you think the advantages and disadvantages of city life are?" .
Allegedly, the grammatical structure should be "Wh- direct question + indirect question ?" as in the case of "What do you think these objects are?" or "What do you think their jobs are?".
Thanks in advance for your help.


texts: Difference between "retro" and "vintage"

texts: What's the difference between retro and vintage? (or antique for that matter)


texts: How can we say that the government declared that a particular day is off due to, for example, air pollution?

texts: As a result of air pollution, sometimes the government shuts the schools and universities. What if they declare the entire day (and not just for schools) is off? I don't think we can say "They declared Saturday a holiday" since "holiday" has a positive connotation implying that people were given the chance to take a vacation. Is there a general term for that?


texts: Looking for a word for a coward who claims credit for the heroic acts of others

texts:
Someone who doesn't do anything required or expected but takes credit for having performed heroic deeds.

I have considered 'cowardly', but it doesn't convey the complete meaning.

An example sentence:

  A _____ man found a doctor to write him an excuse to keep him out of the draft thus not meeting his duty but says he spent days digging people out of the ruins of the World Trade Center even though he was never there.


texts: What semantic notions underlie 'offset' and 'counterbalance'?

texts:
offset (n.) =
      1550s, "act of setting off" (on a journey, etc.), from off + set (adj.).
   Meaning "something 'set OFF' against something else, a counterbalance" is from 1769; the verb in this sense is from 1792.

The prefix 'off' etymologically  signifies 'away'. So
how did 'offset' semantically generalize to signify 'counterbalance'? If X is 'offset' would be set away from Y, then how can X counterbalance Y?


texts: Changing the passive infinitive into the active voice

texts:
This problem has been bothering me for almost a week. I was hoping for that lightbulb moment but it's still dark in the attic, so here I am.

In the English coursebook, MyGrammarLab Advanced C1/C2, the passive form and its usage is handled in chapter 62, pages 270-273.  Section 3 deals with the Passive infinitives and offers these examples.

  to be + past participle (to refer to the present or future)

  (a) Children like to be praised when they do well at school.
  (b) James was hoping to be accepted on the engineering course.

  to have been + past participle (to refer to the past)

  (a) Stonehenge is the greatest monument to have been built by the ancient Britons
  (b) This ascent is the first to have been achieved without the aid of oxygen

As a personal challenge to myself, and something which I normally do in my head, I wanted to convert the infinitive passive into the active voice without losing their original meaning but I've hit on some problems.

Are the following correct or have their meanings been changed?

1.(a)

      Children like to be praised when they do well at school.   (Passive)
      Children like to hear praise when they do well at school. (Active)

I changed the original infinitive verb praise with hear, and I kept children as the subject of the clause. Is there another way?

If I add the agent, “adults”, I get the following: “Adults who praise children when they do well at school are liked.” which is wrong because it means children like adults who praise them. And “Adults need to praise children when they do well at school” but that omits the verb like from the original sentence and changes its entire meaning.

1.(b)

   James was hoping to be accepted on the engineering course. (Passive)
   James was hoping that they would accept him on the engineering course (Active)

I'm quite happy with this attempt, should I be?

2.(a)

    Stonehenge is the greatest monument to have been built by the ancient Britons (Passive)
    Ancient Britons built Stonehenge, the greatest monument in New Stone Age Britain.  (Active)

I feel it is acceptable but the Present Perfect tense is missing – have built, and I can't figure out how else to do it

Ancient Britons have built Stonehenge which is the greatest monument in Neolithic Britain. (??)

This suggests that ancient Britons, the population that inhabited the British Isles circa 4,500  years ago, still exist today, which is not true.

However, I can make the Present Perfect fit for the following sentence.

2.(b)

    This ascent is the first to have been achieved without the aid of oxygen (Passive)
    This is the first time anyone has achieved this ascent without the aid of oxygen. (Active)

To sum up, I am having problems with converting 1(a) and 2(a) into the active voice. Can someone please explain where I am going wrong, if I am, it would be much appreciated. Especially seeing as I have to teach this stuff to a private Italian student.


texts: Can "not complete" and "incomplete" be used interchangeably?

texts:
Can not complete and incomplete be used interchangeably?

I don't know what else to elaborate more.
Thank you.

EDIT:

  All tasks are incomplete.
  All tasks are not complete.


texts: Is there a word or phrase to say that someone's opinion carries more weight because they aren't biased to say it anyway?

texts:
For instance, it's easy to dismiss Larry Summers' worrying about inflation because he is always worried about inflation. On the other hand, Jerome Powell expressing concern about inflation would be considered more alarming because he's more balanced about things.
Is there a word or phrase to express this in English?


texts: What is the generic term for “sender” and “receiver”?

texts:
Fruits is the generic term for apples and pears.

What is the generic term for sender and receiver in an abstract context?

In my special case I have users and servers who both can send and receive messages. I want to create a class to handle general logic for both of them.


texts: Difference in usage of "regular", "usual", "ordinary", "normal", "common"

texts:
Sometimes it is obvious which of the following words to use, sometimes not:

regular
usual
ordinary
normal
common

For example: "regular coffee" (not usual, normal or ordinary) , "ordinary people" (not regular), "usual way to do something" (sometimes "common way").

Please help me understand the difference between these words.


texts: Whether to use gerund or infinitive with word 'hesitate'?

texts:
Firstly, i am giving some sentences from some books and links:

She hesitates singing in the company of her friends.
(from my local book)
In order to oblige others or amuse herself, she never hesitated sacrificing her own interests to the idea of doing what pleased her.
(from https://www.google.co.in/search?tbm=bks&hl=en&q=she+never+hesitated+sacrificing) - look for 'The New York Mirror'
I hesitate to try the experiment again.
(from http://www.writing.utoronto.ca/advice/english-as-a-second-language/gerunds) - search for 'hesitate'
She never hesitates to sacrifice her time and energy for the people of her house.
(from SAME LINK IN SENTENCE 2) -  look for 'Shadows of My Memories - Page 184'

In my local book, it is written that if there is a sense of dislike, hesitation, risk etc. in a sentence, use gerund. e.g., sentence 1.

Then, after reading further, it is written that verbs such as remember,.........., hesitate,......., etc. are followed by infinitive.

Searching on internet, i get contradicting sentence w.r.t. grammar as i mentioned above examples. So, please clarify whether to use gerund or infinitive with 'hesitate'.


texts:
I am writing a style guide at my company, and for the life of me, I can't explain why U.S. broadcasters "ABC" and "NBC" seem to need no article as a noun, while the U.K. broadcaster "BBC" always gets one. And when I think about the Australian network "ABC," my instinct tells me that an article is needed.

One difference is that the BBC is a corporation, while ABC (U.S.) and NBC are companies, but that's not part of the thought process. And by themselves, "American" and "British" are opposites again: "He is an American, but she is British." Simply considering the first word in NBC — National — would confuse the issue even more.

Of course "British" and "Australian" are more specific in location than "National" and "American" — three Americas as in north, central. and south — but I naturally associate "American" as being the U.S.

Can someone please tell me what I am missing?


texts: What is the office establishment of a Commissioner called?

texts:
I have seen people using the word "Commissionerate" for the office establishment of a Commissioner.

I have made search on the Free Dictionary and on Oxford Dictionaries. But, I did not find the word there.

Is the word correct? Is so, will it be spelled as "Commissionerate" (i.e. with "e" at the end) or "Commissionerat" (i.e. without "e" at the end)?


texts: "How did it use/d to work?"; 'use' or 'used'?

texts:
In the above sentence I'm having trouble deciding between use & used.
If I go to verbalise it the d is definitely dropped, but that could just be a locale thing and written it would still contain the d.

The issue [for me] comes from the use of did to already set a past tense, so used sounds odd (whereas elsewhere it seems fine; "itusedto work by...").
Every dictionary entry I found of this verb-form of use used used for their example sentences, like above;

He used to go every day.
this road used to be a dirt track

But none of these were posed as questions nor was the tense specified with did or had, so I don't know if they can be used as 'it is always "used", no matter what'.

Some people recognise this in other structures where you drop the tense on the verb;

Did you kept-? Did you keep-?
Did you wanted-? Did you want-?
Did you found-? Did you find-?

(Interestingly I feel Had you found- to be perfectly acceptable, so maybe it's more that it's a question than double past tense?)

So, are they both acceptable? One over the other? Spoken one way, but written as the other?


texts:
Does anybody know the difference between these two statements?

My hands got stuck in the drain.
I got my hands stuck in the drain.


texts:
I hear people use it a lot, but I'm not really clear on its meaning. This site says

  Wee: Small. Used by every single Northern Irish person.  “Have a wee bun”, “Would you like a wee bag?”

And from here:

  Have a wee [look] out there an see if ma da's coming

And here's a couple (wee?) examples I remember hearing:

  Have a wee seat.
  Here's your wee panini.

Substituting small in the examples doesn't really work that well, to my ear.


texts: What's a neutral and popular patriotic term for one's country?

texts:
A bit of background here is important - my country historically had an unfriendly relationship with Germans, then got occupied by the Soviet Union, which really liked to justify everything by saying it's fighting the Nazis (and Russia still does); the occupation ended with an independence movement during which there was a significant, nationally broadcasted concert, which among other things, had plenty of old patriotic songs. I cut a recording of the said concert into individual songs and uploaded it to Youtube. I also have been trying to add lyrics to the songs and translate them to English.

Although I do want the meaning to be as close to the original as possible, my aim is for people to understand the general idea of the lyrics, not to be too literal and use terms that don't really exist in English. I obviously also don't want anyone to be able to misinterpret it as showing support to any foreign regimes and such, especially given that many older people probably have warm and fuzzy memories about the concert.

Now here's the problem - the original lyrics have a word that literally means the land one (or a group of people) was born in and can mean just that, but also has patriotic connotations. I translated it as motherland and somebody in the comments complained that it should be fatherland, along with a snark, that they quickly edited out, that I picked a Russian term. There are terms in our language that literally mean fatherland (and no motherland terms). It wasn't used here, but would be good to know if it is appropriate for future reference in any case.

Now I did some quick research:

Motherland - I thought it was the correct English word and that terms associated only with Russia are just mother Russia or mother motherland. I am now seeing plenty of websites suggest it indeed is associated only with Russia.

Fatherland - I had the impression that in English it is strongly associated with Nazi Germany. My research seemed to agree. Besides feeding any Russian trolls, if the association is very strong it might end up being weird, if used in a song that actually is about fighting a German enemy.

For both of these it was suggested that the one corresponding with the original should be used. So now I am thinking it could be used if the original term actually is fatherland or related, but not sure it's the right choice in cases when the original is birth, not father, related.

Homeland - I found several suggestions that it is the most appropriate neutral translation, quickly followed by a note that it is associated with US Homeland security.

Native land - seems like it would be close to original, but I don't think I've ever seen it used "in the wild". I did see it used in some dictonary definitions while doing my research. Wouldn't it be associated with something aboriginal?

The sentence in the particular case is:

  The fields of [word] are shrouded in mist.


texts: Is there a difference in meaning between "I'll be there for 7pm" and "I'll be there at 7pm"?

texts:
I feel like "for 7pm" is possibly colloquial and perhaps not quite Standard English, but I have heard it a lot. I can't think if there's any difference in meaning between "I'll be there for 7" and "I'll be there at 7". Is there?

Also, where did this form come from? Is it dialectal or colloquial?

I couldn't find a related question on SE or Google, this question is about the difference between "at" and "by".


texts: Why can't subordinate clause contain present perfect tense?

texts:
For example: ...until/before I have been working here...

WRONG, why?

A complete sentence would be:

  Before I have been working for McDonald's, I had been working for Chipotle.

The subordinate clause here logically means that I am presently working for McDonalds's. (The action is continuous, started from some point in the past.)

Were it not present perfect, the action would be non continuous and would sound vague.


texts: Can this be said without a negative connotation: "my goal is to be more efficient and to close more sales deals per month"?

texts:
Consider that the outcome of Alice's efforts are understood to be satisfactory or even excellent, by her peers and the upper hierarchy. Given that Alice recognises she can deliver even better than she did, how should Alice formally state that she aims to do better than she has achieved without risking being misunderstood to imply she has been underachieving?

Assuming Alice had expressed the following in a written statement "my goal is to be more efficient and to close more deals per month", if Bob  when reading that may be unaware of Alice's performance history, how could Alice have phrased her statement better to guarantee that someone like Bob would never perceive it negatively?


texts: Are there any differences between "I believe" vs "I think" vs "I reckon"?

texts:
These are the three most common ways to say "I think." (At least, I believe so. I mean, I think so. Um...)

Are there any subtle differences between them?
Are there situations where one of the three is more suitable than the others?
Can you say you hear a particular form all the time in the streets, while the other two are much less common?


texts:
I cannot tell the fine differences between the synonyms brusque and blunt.

Blunt suggests lack of polish and of regard for the feelings of others.
Brusque connotes sharpness and abruptness of speech or manner.

However, the definition of blunt also includes "abrupt in address or manner". Does this mean that brusque is simply a more precise adjective that carries a subset of the meaning of blunt?


texts: When should "only" come before a verb phrase?

texts:
I’m really struggling to understand when and how to use “only” as an adverb — and how its use is impacted by verb phrases. The following post on English StackExchange doesn’t really clarify it for me: Correct position of "only". I understand that placing “only” in different places modifies the meaning of the sentence, but when should you use the word to modify a verb phrase?

In a Quick and Dirty Tips post, the writer states that the stress can be a deciding factor but that “…it’s still better to put ‘only’ as close to the word or phrase that it modifies…” My confusion arises from the phrase part. For instance:

Gary realized that he was wrong only after he had left.
Gary only realized that he was wrong after he had left. (“Only” before verb phrase)

In other words, Gary thought he was right about something, but realized at a later stage that he was actually wrong.

Which of the two sentences conveys the correct meaning? Can both be correct? English isn’t my first language, and this type of construction is really difficult for me to understand.


texts: English equivalent proverb/idiom for this saying

texts:
In Tamil language, there is a proverb for a particular sequence of actions performed. The proverb is, "Pillaiya killi vittu, thottila aatradhu", meaning, "Pinching a child and then oscillating the child's hammock". (Rough translation)

This is usually said when politicians instigate something controversial and then they themselves try to pacify the situation. People who are innocent, wouldn't even know that they are being manipulated by the politicians.

Is there any equivalent saying in English? The closest I could find is "Tiger in a sheep's clothing". But I am not really convinced with it since I think it doesn't exactly capture this behaviour.


texts: Is there an adjective in English that describes something that didn't exist before but now it does and it makes you happy?

texts:
Okay I know it's not going to be easy but I'll do my best to explain what I mean. There's a word in my language which literally translates to English like this: "lack-completing". I know it might sound odd to natives and I'm sure there has to be a word in English that carries the same meaning, I just haven't been able to find it.

I have found 'novel, innovative, revolutionary, unprecedented' but these are not the ones I'm looking for. Basically this word means that there was a lack of something (either of an idea or of an item) until now but finally it has been 'invented' or 'made' and thus it 'fulfills/completes/closes' that lack/void...it makes that 'lack'(of the given thing) cease.

Upon suggestion, here's a list of example sentences where this word would probably fit.

This channel on Youtube is simply _______. I'm sure a lot of people felt its absence but it's great to see that somebody is finally creating content about this now.
It used to be problematic to handle these situations, but with this new, _______ app people can manage their issues musch faster.


texts: What verb to use with the noun “groundbreaking”?

texts:
I need some help with the noun groundbreaking. According to the American Heritage Dictionary, 4th Edition, it is

  The act or ceremony of breaking ground to begin a construction project.

My question is, how do we use it? Do we say,

We performed the groundbreaking for the new hospital?
We did the groundbreaking for the new hospital?
We broke ground for the new hospital?

Or is there some other verb that we use for it?


texts: "No more sound" or "no sounder"? Or are both valid?

texts:
I'm writing an essay for an English subject about the film The Shawshank Redemption.

I've used the sentence

  But though the Warden presides over many prisoners, he is morally no sounder and stands less chance of reform.

My teacher has corrected no sounder to no more sound, but Microsoft Word identifies the latter phrase as grammatically faulty. No more sound does sound odd when isolated, but I can't put my finger on why specifically.

There are mixed opinions online, to the point that citing them here would do little good.

What are your thoughts?


texts: What do you call those roofs you usually find at the entrance of buildings?

texts:
Here are some pictures (see the red arrow):

In the second picture is the platform with the little trees growing on top.

What are they called?


texts: How do you describe the feeling you get when you've almost dropped something but caught it in time?

texts:
Question says it all.

I've had suggestions of using "relieved" or "elated", but none of them really sound like what I'm thinking of.  Think about it this way.  The other day, I nearly dropped my laptop while walking to class.  My laptop is really, really, pricey, and dropping it would render it into a nice little paperweight.

Luckily though, I caught it just as it was fumbling around in my hands.

I don't know what to describe it as.


texts:
I have a question. I am aware of using not only at the beginning of a sentence. However, I was wondering what happens if I have a negative sentence after both of them For example,

Not only, are not we able to do more than a certain number of tasks in a defined period of time, but also, our body is not capable of dealing with many tasks.

Is this ok?
Should I change the structure when I have a negative sentence?
Thank you in advance for your time friends.


texts: "What are Tom's chances of..." or "What are the chances of Tom..."?

texts:
This is from a CPE exam. In this exercise you have to fill the gap in the second sentence so that it is similar in meaning to the lead-in sentence. The key word must be used.

How likely is it that Tom will get a place in the team?
key word: chances
What .......................... getting a place in the team?
Answer A: are Tom’s chances of (this is the correct answer according to the book)
Answer B: are the chances of Tom

Now the book gives answer A as the only possible correct answer.
My question is why would it be wrong to choose answer B.
Thank you in advance.


texts:
In the following statements all the individuals of a group are addressed for gratitude:

Gratitude is owed to each member of the group.
Gratitude is owed to every member of the group.
Gratitude is owed to each and every member of the group.

Hence to ask which are the distinctive qualities of each, every and every and any ?


texts: 'Nonetheless' at the beginning of a sentence?

texts:
In some nonetheless sentence examples, there is no sentence that begins with the word of nonetheless.

Can one use "Nonetheless" at the beginning of a sentence as follows?

It has been raining for a week. Nonetheless, we're going to try to go camping.

Is this grammatical?


texts: When you have powers of 10, e.g.  102,  the base is 10, so when the exponent is 2 you should not say power of 2. I believe "power of" refer to the base not to the exponent.


texts: The meaning of leaving someone back [ in American English ]

texts:
I just watched a great video (a kind of short documentary) about two educators who strive to afford better education for their students in a college in Red Hook (a neighborhood in Brooklyn).
The video makers made an interview with one of the students' mothers :

  The mother (crying next to her son): I've never cried like this ... I've cried like this one time ... when I had to leave him back, and I cried, I cried, I cried, that was the hardest thing in my life, to tell his teacher to leave him back ... in third grade [...] I told his teacher to leave him back, because he was struggling.

I've looked up the meaning of leaving someone back on the web but, I didn't find a relevant meaning.
Here is what I think it means :

The expression, leaving someone back (in the context of the interview): is to make someone stay in their current grade even if they succeed.

What do you guys think the meaning is? And is it common to use this "phrasal verb "?

You can find the video I saw the phrase used in here.


texts: How does the word "enjoin" come to have two opposite meanings?

texts:
By the Cambridge Dictionary

To legally forbid or stop something by order of a court

Enjoin also means to order or strongly encourage someone to do something

By the Oxford Dictionary

Instruct or urge (someone) to do something
Law Prohibit someone from performing by issuing an injunction

So basically, "He is enjoined to stop" can mean either way.


texts:
One can see both variants used. Are both correct? And what the difference, if so?

I suppose, when word "feeling" is used in this this context, the phrase must be extended with the mention of concrete feeling the speaker refers to.


texts: Which one is correct - " There is only us here" or "There are only us here"

texts:
Temporary reopen note:
The linked-to question is about the verb agreeing with the grammatical number of the first item in a list in a there is/are sentence. However there is no list in this question here. Even if there were, us would seem to be plural here, so there is no good explanation of why is may be preferable to are.
You can see the linked-to question here:

"There Is"/"There are" depends on plurality of the first list element or not?

The Original Question
I am dubious between these two ways of referring to two people in a place or in an area.
Example:

John: Ok folks, I am going to let you here waiting for the manager to come. It is going to take some minutes until he makes it here.
Josh: Ok, thank you.
Mathew: Alright.
Josh: Hum... Now, there is/are only us here.

Is there any reason why is or are is preferable here?


texts: Gender neutral noun for brotherhood / sisterhood?

texts:
Example 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_White_Brotherhood
Example 2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brotherhood_of_Eternal_Love

http://www.thesaurus.com/browse/brotherhood?s=t
Any other ideas?

association
fraternity
guild
kinship
affiliation
alliance
clan
clique
community
comradeship
confederacy
coterie
fellowship
league
society
union


texts:
Can someone provide 3-5 example sentences that use the phrase "which when"? I cannot find the exact usage by searching the Internet. Google n-gram viewer shows a slight increase in the use of this phrase (between 2000-2015). Nevertheless, I could not find any good examples.

This is an example sentence:

I am thinking of strategies to make money. An example of a good strategy is to adopt a dog which when patted leads to hidden treasure.


texts: Is the use of the positive "anymore" considered correct?

texts:
While the word anymore is usually a negative context, the positive anymore is a well-documented phenomenon. I found this surprising, because I had never come across the positive anymore in a conversational or written context before. I consulted Bryan M. Garner's Dictionary of Modern American Usage, which seemed to suggest that the positive use of anymore can be considered correct.

My question to you: is the positive use of anymore considered correct spoken/standard written English?


texts:
The phrase Pied Piper is often used to suggest one who leads others down a questionable path.

I cannot, however, think of the best term to use to describe a "child" following said Pied Piper, in a analogous usage of the story.

What are some ideas for this? Ideally one could use it in a way that someone would rapidly understand the analogy, without requiring a detailed explanation from yourself.


texts: Short form for the phrase "organizational matters"

texts:
Does a short form of the phrase "organizational matters" exist in English?

At the beginning of my classes, I tend to write today's agenda on the board. Mostly, I start with the item "organizational matters." It's a loooooong phrase ;) In German, we tend to abbreviate it to "orga". Does a similar abbreviation exist in English?

Any comments are welcome!


texts:
What is the difference between "Inhibition" and "Suppression"? Especially, in molecular biology, when we talk about "gene inhibition" and "gene suppression", is there any difference?
Thank you.


texts:
According to Wiktionary the english word comfort should derive by the french word confort.

So why did english adopted the term replacing the french "n" with the "m"?


texts: What is the name for someone who gives his subordinates a morale boost?

texts:
What do you call someone who, merely by their presence, gives a morale boost to the people he is responsible for? What about someone who gains power from being supported by their troop?

If possible I would like to have word with military connotation, but a more "civilian" approach is also interesting.

EDIT: Jez gave a lot of interesting examples, but I am also interested in nouns, and all of Jez's example can't be "translated" into nouns that easily.


texts: What is the difference between "incidence" and "occurrence"?

texts:
This was a question in a test:
Do you have any figures showing the _______ of left-handedness in the general population?

Two of the answers were "occurrence" and "incidence".
"incidence" was the answer, but I don't see why occurrence is not acceptable here.

EDIT:
This was a language test, and only one answer was acceptable.


texts:
I am writing my CV, and part of my work experience has been being a teaching assistant. One of my responsibilities was to tutor students before the tests and helping them with their assignments. I tried to put this in a more formal and concise way by writing:

  Tutored students with homework and before exams.

But I don't know if this is grammatically correct.

Thank you.


texts: Is it ungrammatical to start a description of the functionality of a mechanism with a bare infinitive?

texts:
In technical documentation (I am mainly referring to the documentation for the source code of a computer program), this pattern seems quite common:

function MakeNFrobbers(int n):
    Construct a list of 10 Frobbers.

However, someone recently claimed that this was not proper English and changed "Construct a list..." to "Creates a list...". The reasoning they gave was as follows:

"This guy construct" -> no predicate
"This guy creates" -> better

With "this guy" being unwritten in the typical clipped style of technical documentation.

To be clear, I'm not suggesting that the former is correct while the latter is not; both sound correct to my ear. However, I can't explain why using "construct" is grammatically correct in this context. The only counterpoint I could offer was:

"This guy allows you to construct" -> also correct

Is the former version using the bare infinitive ungrammatical and the second option the correct way, or are both correct? If both are correct, what is the rule that covers this particular case in regards to using a bare infinitive?


texts: Word to describe someone who is behaving the way they are accusing others of behaving

texts:
What word an/or description is used to describe someone who tell someone they're mad when they now reality as they're the ones that are being mad

I just got into an argument with my brother when he kicked the trash can and threatened violence and said I was mad – would his actions be considered as angry and/or mad, and is there a term or definition of someone who is acting or being what they themselves are doing?


texts: So, we don't change /t/ to /d/ if /t/ is between 2 vowel sounds and /t/ is the beginning of the stressed sound in a word in American English, right?

texts:
Ok, see this word entertainment has IPA of /en.təˈteɪn.mənt/. Ok, now in American English if /t/ is between 2 vowel sounds  then it will become /d/ cos it is flap T.

But /t/ will become flap T only if the sound in the word is not stressed. Is that correct?

For example, for the above example, we can pronounce /en.dəˈteɪn.mənt/ but not /en.dəˈdeɪn.mənt/, right?


texts: "unpack" as "analyze" rather than "remove from container"

texts:
The older dictionaries I have include "remove from a container" as the only meaning of unpack. More recent dictionaries list "to analyze the nature of by examining in detail : " or "analyze (something) into its component elements. " as a tertiary meaning.

When did unpack start to be used to mean analyze?


texts: Say the 24th is a Monday and you say that you’ll be doing something the weekend of the 24th, meaning the 22nd and 23rd. Isn’t that incorrect? I would say the weekend of the 24th means the 29th and 30th.


texts: What does “go rogue” mean in “Donald Trump goes rogue left and right”? Is “go rogue” a common idiom?

texts:
There was the following passage in the  New York Times' article that came under the headline, “Sarah Palin endorses Donald Trump, which could bolster him in Iowa”:

  “As Mrs. Palin announced her backing, Mr. Trump stood wearing a
  satisfied smile as she scolded mainstream Republicans as sellouts and
  praised how Mr. Trump had shaken up the party. “He’s been going rogue
  left and right,” Mrs. Palin said of Mr. Trump, using one of her
  signature phrases. “That’s why he’s doing so well. He’s been able to
  tear the veil off this idea of the system.”

As I checked the meaning of “go rogue” with both Oxford and Cambridge online dictionaries, neither of them carries “go rogue” as an idiom. Whilst Urban dictionary carries the definition of “go rogue” as “to cease to follow orders; to act on one's own, usually against expectation or instruction. To pursue one's own interests.”

If I follow Urban Dictionary’s definition, does “Trump has been going left and right” mean he has kept going against expectations of the left and the right?

What does “He’s been going rogue left and right,” mean, and why “go rogue” is Mrs. Palin’s signature phrase? Is it so creative, impressive, and effective phrase as being called as a signature phrase?


texts: Looking for a more general term for "humanize" or "make (an enemy) seem human"

texts:
When I want to describe two human characters who start out as enemies, but overcome their differences after e.g. talking or working together, I might describe this as, for example:

  When I saw him struggle and suffer, it made me realize he was human, too. It humanized him.

However, what if the two characters are not only not human, but of different species? How could I describe this effect?

Example sentence for a verb:

  Talking to him had ________ him to/for me.

Example sentence for an adjective:

  Talking to him made him seem (more) _______.


texts:
If I ask

  Are you available tonight for a drink?

does tonight refer to this evening and/or this night?

If not, what would be considered the beginning of the night and the end of the evening? Do they overlap?


texts: Which is correct, In which or In what...?

texts:
I refer, for example, to, "In which foods does one find carageenan?" vs. "In what foods...?"
Thank you!


texts:
Mathematical writing tend to be very repetitive. To be clear, I do not consider this as something necessarily evil: Mathematics is a language in its own right, and a very technical one, where most of the effort is to be put on the value of the mathematical content.

On the other hand, I do often find myself trying hard (but not necessarily with success!) to make my write-ups in English look smoother from the point of the exposition. In particular, I like avoiding to repeat the very same stylistic elements in consecutive sentences whenever this is possible (that is, I happen to know how to do): For instance, by alternating sentences of the form "[...] there exists an object X such that [...]" to sentences of the form "[...] there is determined an object Y for which [...]". However, someone in my circles made me notice that my use of "there is determined" may not be correct, and this is the reason why I'm back to you again:

  Is it legitimate to use "there is determined" in the way I'm doing in the above, as an alternative to "there exists"?

I know I could just use "there is", but my question is about "there is determined", which, in some situations, sounds better to my ears (except that it might be incorrect!).


texts: (v)file vs. (v)apply - differences are vague, but I feel like there is a definite way to describe the differences

texts:
feels like the two have extremely similar nuances when used, but curious as to how we would explain the differences between the two.
My thoughts were:
apply for something - submit documents / info etc. so that you would gain a new status / receive something in return.
file for something - submit documents / info etc. so that your submission can receive recognition.
but once I compare the two, it feels like 'gaining or receiving something in return' is also a way for my submission to be recognised, which, in my opinion, makes my definitions a little redundant. Your thoughts?


texts: “Take advantage of people” vs. “using people”

texts:
Take advantage of someone
Using someone

Which is more commonly used in the US?
Thank you.


texts:
Is this correct use of a semicolon? The clauses do seem to stand on their own but are related, so I would say "yes", but something about the sentence seems off about it to me. Does something about "in this way" invalidate the semicolon?

  In such cases, it is possible to use "groups" so that the engine can
  be shared with other copies of the application; in this way, the engine
  can be in use at all times.


texts: "PRETTY good" and "pretty GOOD", which one is better?

texts:
Speaking-wise, the difference between [ PRETTY good ] and [ pretty GOOD ] is the stress.

I wonder would it convey a different feeling when people say [It's PRETTY good] and [It's pretty GOOD]


texts: What word fits the sentence: 'it was proven with great _______'?

texts:
The word I'm looking for would suggest that the thing in question was shown to be true even to the point of excess, and its veracity tested on multiple occasions or very publicly, so that there can be no residual doubt.

e.g.

  'it was proven with great _______ that her methods were ineffective'

I've tried looking up synonyms for 'thoroughly' and 'excessively' which didn't turn it up. The word is right on the tip of my tongue and it's been bugging me for ages.


texts:
The Statement

Combined rail-and-bus season tickets are available from some rail stations. This means if you can make your main journey by rail, you can then complete it by bus. Two separate season tickets may be required for some destinations.

The Question

When using a combined rail-and-bus season ticket, the major part of your journey must be by train.

The official answer is True.
I'm very confused, since the original statement only suggests that both travel types can be combined. Nowhere it says the major part must be by train, i.e. this ticket also permits me to travel by train 1 stop (minor part) and the rest of my journey by the bus (major part).


texts: Does "Quixotic" really have this meaning: capricious, unpredictable, impulsive?

texts:
I came across a definition of quixotic as capricious, impulsive, and unpredictable. The weird thing is, some of the online dictionaries I consult frequently do not list this meaning.

Merriam Webster includes it.
Also here.
But there are a lot more that do not include this definition.

Also those that include this meaning under quixotic do not have sentence examples for this definition. All the sentences listed in Merriam Webster seem to correspond with the more common meaning idealistic, unrealistic.

I have never heard anyone use quixotic as capricious.
Do people really say: "That person is so quixotic. He gets new ideas all the time."

Is this meaning real? Can people give me some real-life examples, from books, news articles, etc.?

On a different note, I have read through another question about this word. Not really pertinent, but the best answer is very illuminating.
connotations of "quixotic"


texts: How to describe a time range that starts one day and ends the next day?

texts:
For example, your work shift starts every day at 8:00pm and ends at 5:00am in the morning the next day. If you wanted to explain this to someone, but you do not need to be specific about the start and end times, how would you say this?

My shift crosses a/the date/dates.
My shift spreads over two days.
My shift goes across a/the date/dates.
My shift crosses/passes the midnight.
My shift spreads across two days.

I am not sure how to describe this, and I only came up with the ones listed above. I don't even know they make sense.
Can someone please tell me what is the most natural way to say this?

I don't want it to be too long like:

My shift starts and ends on different days.
My shift starts on a day and ends the next day.

Edit 1: Thanks everyone for the comments and answers.
I have actually heard people say "I work the night shift", and "I have an overnight shift." This seems to be the most natural way to say this.

Now, as I mentioned in one of my comments, I am creating a manual for my clients. The manual is for a computer system I created that allows the user to enter their shift time details (such as start time, break time, and end time).
In some cases in the manual, there will be a case where I would like to start the sentence with "If your shift ... ". In this case, how would you say what I want to say?

Can you just say "If your shift is overnight"?

Edit 2
Thanks again everyone. I am also thinking both

If your shift crosses over to the next day  and
If your shift goes into the next day

might work too. Do these sound natural to you guys?


texts: When do we pronounce "the" as "the" and when as "thi"

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  What is the pronunciation of “the?”

I am not from the UK or the US, English is not my mother tongue.

I pronounce "the" as "the" (with e sounding like the letter sound) in the following example sentences:

  Where is the apple?
  That is the most extraordinary thing ever happened to my life.

My past English teacher has been correcting me saying that that pronunciation is incorrect before certain words. So when should I pronounce "the" as "the" and when as "thi"?


texts: At one time operating vs At one time it operated

texts:
Since "at one time" is a time indicator, shouldn't the gerund "operating" be equivalent, while giving a better flow joining sentences? Or is it more confusing/improper?

Preceding text of the same paragraph:

  While ***** currently serves western Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio and
  northern West Virginia, the chain also served the Harrisburg,
  Lancaster, and York, Pennsylvania markets from the mid-1990s to 2010.

Text in question:

  At one time operating five restaurants in the Harrisburg market alone,
  by 2010 only one remained in Harrisburg, and one each in New
  Cumberland, Lancaster, and York.

or

  At one time it operated five restaurants in the Harrisburg market
  alone. By 2010 only one remained in Harrisburg, and one each in New
  Cumberland, Lancaster, and York.


texts: Overuse of "however" in my scientific writing?

texts:
In scientific writing, I always feel the need to logically connect all my sentences to have a clear logical path between beginning and end of a paragraph, else it is just feels like a list of random phrases to me and not a complete argument. However, more often than not, the only fitting connector is "however", as "but" is informal.
Is it acceptable to use "however" very often or is that bad style and in the latter case, how can I improve it?

An example

Blue data is better than red data.
Standard algorithms, however, are all written with red data in mind and don't work on blue data.
Violet algorithms handle blue data as well as red data, however they are very slow.
Blue-only algorithms can process blue data really fast, however most blue data is mixed with a small percentage of red data.


texts: Is “get sb / sth off the way” an accepted idiom or ‘theatrical nerd’s line’?

texts:
There was the following sentence in New York Times (December 12) article, titled “Govern in poetry”:

  This guy can write and he can speak, but he’s put those talents in a
  drawer for much of his presidency. In just the last few weeks, though,
  Obama has shown that his lyrical gifts could still get him off a road
  leading to yet another mediocre presidency.

Strangely enough neither Cambridge nor Oxford English Dictionary carries “get sb. sth off a road” as an idiom, while GoogleNGram shows that the usage of “get off the road” emerged around 1900, tailed off during 1930 through early 1980, picked up again around 1986 (still low at 0.000000019% emergence level in 2009).

Urban Dictionary defines “get off the road” as:

  this phrase is widely used among many of the "nerd" factions, mostly
  used in conjunction with the popular theatrical line from the movie:
  Fellowship of the Ring.  Getting off the road implies removing oneself
  from harms (I think this should be “harmful”) way.

Now my question: Is “get sb, sth off the road” accepted as an idiom, or is it just a ‘theatrical term’ meaning removing oneself as Urban Dictionary defines?


texts: Which is grammatical, "the softness and sweetness [was/were] perfect"?

texts:
which is grammatically fine to use?

  The softness and sweetness of rice [was/were] perfect.


texts:
In an effort to clarify my quandary, is it appropriate to use this statement to give condolence:

  I know you were only trying to help.

Or, does only imply that you did more harm than good? It feels like it does.

My confusion is that the statement,

  I was only trying to help.

does not imply that I was only trying to help, but I admit that I caused harm.


texts: Is there a word ( noun ) that refers to the condition/ place at the base of a waterfall where the water that has fallen over upsurges upon hitting the bottom and rolls back on itself before continuing downstream ? I watched a child's ball caught in this, rolling on itself unable to float further with the flow.


texts: What's a single-word verb that means "[to] stand out"?

texts:
I'm trying to find a word that means something akin to "differentiate" but in a positive manner (i.e. superior to something else). The phrase "to stand out" is about the closest I can think of, but it doesn't work in the context of the sentence. Here is the sentence I am working with:

"First, we must identify the aspects of cognition that _______ humans."

I know I could use something similar to "separate/differentiate humans from other species", but I use both "humans" and "other species" in the next sentence, so I would really like to add some variety to my word choice.


texts: Zero in on: Have I used it correctly in this context?

texts:
They are all of them competent architects. But I have ZEROED IN ON (= chosen) John to design my house.

Have I used “zero in on” correctly here?


texts:
This may sound like a strange question, but I couldn't find an answer online anywhere, so I thought I should ask it here on English Language & Usage.
I recently went through a couple of questions on the meta.dba.se site and added the faq-proposed (click to see the meta questions) tag. I was proposing that some questions become common FAQ questions for the benefit of the community.
Today I greeted my fellow colleagues on our DBA chat The Heap™ with the message:

Musing of a Mumbler If a meta post is to become an FAQ tagged post, has the post then been faqified or faqificated?

Searching Google for "faqified or faqificated" produces three results, all not related to my initial question.
Questions
Verbs
I am genuinely interested whether the process of changing the state of a meta question to be an FAQ is to be qualified with has been faqificated or has been faqified or not?
Adjectives
Would one then say: This is a faqificated question or rather This is a faqified quesiton?
Summary
Reading the sentence and just feeling what has been written, I would lean towards: faqified, but I couldn't explain why.
Another question which arises is whether an additional u  would be required after the q to produce faquified?
An explanation from the community would be greatly appreciated.


texts: word meaning "an object that is benefit from some action"

texts:
I have already known:
I know "beneficiary" means "a person that receives help or an advantage from something". And its synonyms are "heir", "inheritor", which are related to heritage.
But I want a word that can describe an object/thing with more general meaning (i.e., not related to heritage)
A sample sentence demonstrating how the word would be used:
"By resolving bugs of this software, its reliability is enhanced" = "The [word I want] of resolving bugs of the software is reliability"


texts: should intentionally misspelled words be in quotations?

texts: When we use intentionally misspelled words for effect, should the misspelled word be in quotations?


texts: Is the phrase "I love playing guitar, been doing it since a very young age" grammatically correct?

texts:
My quarrel with the phrase in the question title is the use of "been doing it". Is it valid to use it this way (without the word "having" in front of it)?

If it's not grammatically correct, is it at least informally acceptable?


texts: Is there a word for "automatic" with negative connotations?

texts:
Often anything that is automatic is perceived to be good. But what if I want to make it sound bad? Can I use a different word or phrase?
As context and an example, we're in a dispute with a company that has a policy of automatically renewing subscriptions without any warning or notification that the subscription is up for renewal.


texts: Is "from the freezer to the foil" an idiom?

texts:
In the song "Steam" by Peter Gabriel, there is a line of lyrics:

Stir-crazy from the freezer to the foil

Is this an idiom I have never heard before, or just a bit of nonsense he strung together?
It's not even used as a rhyme, it's just a free lyric near the end.
EDIT:
In a comment, @BoldBen questions whether its actually even "foil" in the first place.  Now I'm not sure!  Maybe this is just a mondegreen!
When you do a Google search or Bing search on "Peter Gabriel Steam lyrics" you get a ready-to-read list of lyrics, credited to MusixMatch.com, and those show "from the freezer to the foil".  Here's a link to the lyrics on the site: https://www.musixmatch.com/lyrics/Peter-Gabriel/Steam
Likewise MetroLyrics.com says "foil":
https://www.metrolyrics.com/steam-lyrics-peter-gabriel.html
On one web site the lyric is given as "from the freezer to the boil":
https://songmeanings.com/songs/view/13042/
On another web site, the lyric is given both as "from the freezer to the foil" and as "from the freezer to the boil", for two edits of the song.  It's highly unlikely that the lyric was changed, it seems certain that one of them is incorrect.
Radio edit, "freezer to the foil":
https://genius.com/Peter-gabriel-steam-radio-edit-lyrics
Main song entry, "freezer to the boil":
https://genius.com/Peter-gabriel-steam-lyrics
Okay, let's go to the source.  Here's the YouTube video for the song, cued up to the part (at about time mark 4:55) where Peter Gabriel sings that line:
https://youtu.be/Qt87bLX7m_o?t=294
I'm still not sure which one it is!  I have literally thought for decades that it was "foil", but listening to it now it sounds closer to "bowl" than anything.
There's a following line (at about time mark 5:06) where he sings "coming to a boil" and the word "boil" is clearly enunciated, which argues against this word also being "boil"... why would he pronounce the same word two ways?  But the second time he sang the word "bubble" over and over and maybe that changed how much emphasis he put on the 'b'?
Arguing for "boil": The technology used for this song to equalize the levels on singing tends to over-emphasize white noise, causing an 'S' sound to be amplified into a bit of a hiss.  You can clearly hear this on the often-repeated "steam" in the song.  An 'f', as in "foil", can get amplified as well, to a lesser degree.  On the mystery word I don't hear anything boosted at the start of the word.
Also, arguing against "boil", it's not a hard word to rhyme and it's surprising if Peter Gabriel used "boil" as a rhyme for itself.  But there's this "freezer to the ???" lyric and then "coming to a boil".
But doing web searches for "freezer to the foil" finds nothing but references to this song, so I'm now convinced it's definitely not an obscure idiom, but either nonsense Peter Gabriel made up or a mondegreen for "freezer to the boil".
If it is "boil" that  means that the song follows "freezer to the boil" with "coming to a boil", which is kind of repetitive, but it's kind of free verse at the end rather than the neat rhymes of the main song.


texts:
In "US Sign and Safety" I came across the road sign shown in the image below.

Can someone explain what part of speech the word "before" is?

I'm asking because it seems that these two graphs are both valid, so "before" can be a sub- conjunction (temporal connotation) or a preposition (spatial connotation).


texts:
Is it correct to use "as much as" at the start of the sentence?
For example:

  As much as I like cricket, I like football.

Is it correct?

I didn't find any reference which suggest to use it that way, but only as a conjunction as in this sentence:

  I like football as much as I like cricket


texts: "Several suggestions have been offered for adoption by the panel", who will adopt the suggestions?

texts:
I have a sentence

  Several suggestions have been offered for adoption by the panel.

My question is, is the panel supposed to adopt the suggestions, or the panel offered those suggestions?


texts: Is "To send a message over the communication bus" correct?

texts:
I was wondering if I could use the preposition over in this technical context. That is, to send a message over the communication bus.
In German one can say: Eine Botschaft über den Kommunikationsbus zu senden.
One can go/cross over the bridge from a point A into a point B.
I used the same logic in the above english example. Because the message goes from point A into point B over communication bus (bridge).
Is my english sentence grammatically correct?
Thanks in advance.


texts: In what contexts would I capitalize "city" and "county"?

texts:
In the following context, it is obvious that County is a proper noun and deserves capitalization.

Currently, Albemarle County has four main reservoirs.

However, in these other contexts below, I am not sure whether county and city would be considered proper nouns. Is a reference to a specific geographic area considered a proper noun?

The James River lies south of the county and has a tremendous flow rate.
The Ragged Mountain reservoir is located closest to the city of Charlottesville.

According to the Illinois Identity Standards, I should "not capitalize common nouns and various shortened forms of official names". In the first example, county is referring to a generic county, so I suspect it is a common noun (and can remain uncapitalized). In the second example, I am not sure whether city is proper (and consequently, whether to capitalize). On official documentation, this city is referred to as the "City of Charlottesville", but I have never heard anyone say it quite like that.
I would appreciate any clarification!


texts: Single word for a "like brothers" relationship

texts:
I'm looking for a single word that describes the younger man in this relationship:

A cop in his thirties befriends a seventeen-year-old kid he picked up on the street. He sees a younger version of himself in the boy, and the boy doesn't have a father figure in his life (he's being raised by a single mother), so the cop takes him under his wing. They develop a very tight friendship and have a relationship somewhere between father-son and siblings, though probably closer to the older-younger brother relationship.

I need something stronger than "friends," but since they're not actually brothers, I can't use that either. Similar to "protege," but with a less official connotation (and he's not training the younger one to become a cop).


texts:
The sentence

I marveled that you chuckled that I said "juxtaposition".

suffers from "that" overload. We'd all agree.

It's easy to slim either 'that'. Hence either

I marveled you chuckled that I said "juxtaposition".
I marveled that you chuckled I said "juxtaposition".

sounds fine.

Does any rule prevent us from going all the way and discarding both?

I marveled you chuckled I said "juxtaposition".


texts: Antonym of "highlight" (as in highlight of the movie)

texts:
What's the opposite of highlight?

I don't mean the verb to highlight or to emphasize something, so downplay isn't an option.

Instead I'm looking for the opposite of "the highlight of the movie, concert, show".


texts: Is there a word for 'groups' that implies mutual exclusivity?

texts:
I have a series of items that I need to categorize. However, I would like to convey in a word that each item should really only belong to one specific category or group. Because of this intended mutual exclusivity, using the word "category" or the word "group" seems insufficient.

For example, imagine I had these items:

Blue
Orange
Soda
Basketball
Green
Football
Coffee

Possible values for acceptable 'group' names would be:

Color
Beverage
Sports

If I were to say, "To which group does 'Basketball' belong?", it's possible someone would respond by using both Sports and Color, since a basketball is orange. Words such as "bucket" or "bin" have been suggested as the implicit physical limitations of those items would help someone infer that an item can only belong to one. These seem like a good alternative.

Are there any words that are more explicit about the one-to-one nature of the grouping?


texts: Is it ok to use "to stream" for downloading/consuming?

texts:
In Germany there is a habit to use the verb stream for consuming a video stream from the Internet.

I don’t like this very much and I am wondering what you think about it as a native English speaker. From a technical point of view I use the verb to stream to provide a digital data stream into the Internet. But not for the opposite.

So is it common to use this also for consumers who watch a video? If it is not common, what alternative saying would be possible?

Some more background:

In the Wiktionary definition of stream there is no mention of the meaning of the reception of a data stream: "To push continuous data (e.g. music) from a server to a client computer while it is being used (played) on the client."
However in the definition for streaming it is found: "The transmission of digital audio or video, or the reception or playback of such data without first storing it."

I know my question is very subtle and probably opinion based but I really have the feeling that the verb as such is misused for the consumer side. Also the meaning is not mentioned in the verb definition as cited above. But I also understand language is flexible and when it is becoming normal to be used in the context why not.
But to add even some more irritation: there are judges in Germany which are questioning if a "streaming" to a hard disk (temp) cache is still a stream or not. From my point of view it is ridiculous and the word really should not be used for the consumer side.


texts: Is the "too" in the idiom "too clever by half" redundant?

texts:
I read a sentence in "The Hindu" which was:

  Instead, the attempt to be clever by half in his affidavit by having the word "regret" in brackets has only landed him in a soup.

Acoording to thefreedictionary.com,   "by half" means - An intensifier used to indicate that some quality is excessive or more than is necessary. So it got me into thinking that since "too" has already been used in the idiom, there is no need to use another intensifier (by half). So, I wanted to ask if the "too" in the idiom is redundant?


texts:
I want to describe this picture:

The man is crying on the woman's chest.

The man is crying in the woman's cuddle.

Which one is correct?

Thank you.


texts: What do "core wages" mean in this context?

texts:
Does it mean "wages for core employees, such as full-time employees?
Does The Economist think that a rise in wages of peripheral workers would push up the wages of core workers  in Japan? or Does it mean "basic wages for all employees" in Japan?

Market forces do not affect large swathes of Japan’s workforce. The pay of full-time workers in big firms is not responsive to labour-market tightness, according to a study published by the BoJ. These beneficiaries of life-time employment do not fear layoffs in hard times and cannot expect pay rises in good. But these workers do demand higher pay to offset past inflation. So, if peripheral workers’ pay rises by enough to lift consumer prices a little, that will eventually result in stronger core wages, adding to inflationary momentum.

Wanted: stroppier employees, The Economist, April 8 issue
http://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21720282-high-employment-combined-undemanding-workers-japans-labour-market


texts: How do I say that one thing is another using active voice?

texts:
I've tried typing this question or variations of this question into Google to no avail, so I apologize if it has already been answered elsewhere. I'm trying to edit a paper for a class in which the instructor has written the following:

  I know that [to be verbs] CAN have the proper place, so don't think me a tyrant. But since one of the major goals of this class is to get your [sic] to write at this high level, I want you to strive to write without any use of the TO BE verb in your independent clauses.

In this particular case, the entire sentence is "The American man is a proud man."  Perhaps not the greatest sentence, but it is setting up a point later in the paragraph.  The only verb in the entire sentence is "is," and I feel like, even though it is technically a to-be verb, it is not being used as an auxiliary or helping verb and, thus, must be active?  The man is actively being proud.

The sentence could be somewhat rewritten as "The American man exists in a perpetual state of proudness," etc., but, aside from somewhat altering the meaning that the author is trying to get across, it feels a lot like wordiness for wordiness's sake.

Is it best to simply eliminate the sentence altogether in this context, or can anyone think of a way to reword this and make it "active voice" (which, to the professor, apparently just means no to-be verbs) without completely losing the meaning/clarity?


texts: How to describe someone with an adjective?

texts:
I want to say that 'If I should give you an adjective that would be '.
Although I am not sure if this is correct or if there is any better way to say that?


texts: What word/phrase to describe tough times that test a person's will?

texts:
We all know the phrase that says something like "Tough times test a man's spirit/will." I am looking for a word that fills in the following blank and captures the essence of this phrase.

  It is through ______ times like these that a man's spirit is truly defined.


texts:
What does "run down a ball" mean?

Here's a past tense example, in this comment heard after a tennis match:

  I can't believe you ran down the last ball.


texts: 'let him vent out his malevolence/rancor'? matching idiom?

texts:
I believe an example will serve best to explain it,
so if someone has been extremely tolerant with smb or a group of people over a long period of time, until no more can be beared and emotions flood atop. So consequently he can no longer constrain himself and lets out all accumulated bitter humiliations, belittlement, abuse and maltreatment.

We say something like, 'vent out his malice/malevolence/rancor'.
It is beyond expressing yourself, rather taking out all the pain that person has suffered.

Or as a question 'have you vent out your rancor now'? I.e. do you feel better?


texts:
Actually, you have several variants using adverbs in sentences. Take for example "unlikely" adverb to express scenario that is not likely to happen. We can put it to the subordinate close at the beginning of the sentence or place it with the verb, like this:

It is unlikely you'll need to use them at the moment.
You'll unlikely need to use them at the moment.

The question is what the difference between 2 options? Are there other ways how we can express that idea?


texts:
I'm not an English native, and as it often happens, I've lost something in translation. I asked a travel agent to 'send me a quote' for a travel we've worked on, and in response I got his logo and company's mission statement. uh ?

Needless to say, this sent me a while back in time, trying to figure out when I started to use 'quote'... There's probably quite a few people (I worked in sales back then) who wrongly thought I was asking for an extra-pinch of wit during our email correspondence.

So my question to you is the following: should I say 'Cloud you please send me a quote' or 'Could you please send me a quotation' ?

More generally, should I say 'get a quote' or 'get a quotation' ? Does that depends on the country ?

thank you !

PS: And when you type 'quote' in the stack exchange keyword box, it says 'questions related to semi-famous quotations' (!)


texts:
I came across this sentence:

  We thought that Joe didn’t go to the museum with the rest of the class.

The Manhattan Sentence Correction Guide says it’s an incorrect construction and it should be:

  We thought that Joe hadn’t gone to the museum with the rest of the class.

What is wrong with the first one?


texts: Three-word phrase stress ("little straw house" vs. "small wooden house")

texts:
I'm interested to learn why the following three-word phrases have stress on different words.

"little straw house" (stress is on little and house)
"small wooden house" (stress is on wooden)

Here are the sentences:

  The first little pig built a little straw house.
  The second little pig built a small wooden house.

How come the stress for the second phrase is not on small and house?

Can you please help?


texts: What word can be used to describe a construct (such as childhood) that changes over time and space


texts: The class will be _____ in English. How can I say this from the situation below

texts:
I am Korean. I want to open a cooking class, but everyone in the class should speak English. I want to make this simple one sentence, in the form

  The class will be _____ in English.

What is the customary way of saying this?


texts: " Can you explain and give some examples of it's usage "

texts: Can you help me with learning this phrase


texts:
What single word can I use to denote positive contribution or positive impact? E.g.:

He was let go because his burden outweighed his [positive impact]

I thought of using benefit but that word doesn't really clarify to whom it is directed (to the let go employee or the company, in the above example)


texts:
Sometimes, when someone asks you for a "definition," he/she bugs you because you either "defined" when you should have "described" the subject in question or vice versa.

What does this mean?


texts: Capitals in research areas and names of theories etc in mathematics?

texts: Consider areas in Mathematics such as Percolation Theory, Reliability Engineering, Reliability Theory, Theoretical Physics, Theoretical Computer Science, Algebraic Geometry — do I write the names with a capital letter or with small letters?


texts: Is "I am more than happy to help you" grammatically correct?

texts:
Ok, I often hear my American teacher says "I am more than happy to help you".

I am not sure it is grammatically correct.

Ok, there is no problem to say "I am happy to help you" or "I am very happy to help you"

But "I am more than happy to help you" sounds quite naturally but does not adhere to the comparative structure.

Why not "I am more happy than many others to help you" which can be explained as:

-I am happy to help you

-Many others are happy to help you

-I am more happy than many others to help you


texts: Is there a shorter/better term for disagreement in number than singular-plural mismatch?

texts:
Consider someone mentioning "a bacteria", where the number of the pronoun article doesn't match that of the noun.

I suppose one could say there's disagreement in number, or the pronoun article doesn't match the noun but I have always described it as a singular/plural mismatch (or sometimes as a singular-plural mismatch) - which generally gets the idea across.

But it seems to be a slightly clumsy phrase -- and I am often helping people fix their writing (in several contexts), many of whom don't have English as a first language.

It would be handy to have a term that is both shorter and clearer than that three word phrase. Failing that either a shorter or a clearer/simpler term might be useful in some situations.

For example, I'd like to have some other choices for ways to say "Your first sentence has a singular-plural mismatch", either by replacing the last three words or by replacing that term and rephrasing the sentence as a whole.

Is there a more standard term for this?
Is there a shorter term? (I don't necessarily seek a single word here)
Is there a term that while not necessarily shorter might be simpler/plainer (e.g. that might be more readily understood by people who may not have a solid command of English)?


texts: What does “had been a rusty sea shanty” and "urban" mean in the following content?

texts:
The Beatles sang “held her hand in mine” they harmonized like Top Cat
  and his gang, cartoon-like and feline in their ease and mobility. Love
  Me Do had been a rusty sea shanty – album one, track one was young and
  entirely urban.