texts:
In the last ten years I've noticed that many, many people write then instead of than (with a smaller amount occasionally using than instead of then).

This seems a bigger problem than simply hitting the wrong keys, though most people will claim that's all it is when called on it.

Could it be that a sizeable chunk of the population aren't aware that the words aren't interchangeable?

I see that there have been other questions on this, but I want to ignore discussion over whether they can be used interchangeably (they can't), and focus on the reason the misuse of the term seems so prevalent.

EDIT: To further give focus to my question, I know a few employers who are clear that the way people write their applications will immediately affect the applicants' chances of even being considered. Among other issues (normal spelling, grammar), they have identified that this mistake will cause them as prospective employers to make a judgement on the level of education (or even intelligence!) of the applicant (rightly or wrongly).


texts: If I said, “I get happier when I am with her.” Is it clear that “when I am with her” means when I am physically with her? “With someone” can mean a lot of things in English such as being in a romantic relationship or being in agreement with someone. Which meaning is correct in this context or are all correct?


texts: Is this an idiom? When you say a study is "sparse on details" could you not just as well say "sparse with details" or "sparse for details"—they all make just as much sense to me. I'm trying to understand the role of the proposition on, if any. I understand that sometimes combination of words will become one, common grammatical unit and then be called idiomatic. This may be one of them.


texts: Word for things separated by one, i.e. next to consecutive

texts:
I'm looking for a word that describes things which are not consecutive, but are separated by one item.

For example, 1,2,3,4 are consecutive numbers. 2,4,6,8 are ______ numbers.

This is actually for a math question. I see questions asking about "consecutive even numbers" or "consecutive odd numbers", but how would one, in a similar manner, describe the general case of integers with a difference of two.

I'm hoping for a general word, which could also be applied as, for example:

Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday is a series of _______ days.


texts: Is there a new word that means "philistine"?

texts:
The standard dictionary definition is as follows:

philistine
(sometimes initial capital letter) a person who is lacking in or hostile or smugly indifferent to cultural values, intellectual pursuits, aesthetic refinement, etc., or is contentedly commonplace in ideas and tastes.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/philistine?s=t

My own definition, which might be helpful in this case, goes like this:

A person whose buying power exceeds his or her cultural and spiritual needs.

Today, the word seems to have acquired an archaic ring. Folks are vaguely aware of its meaning, but it's no longer in everyday use even among Bohemians. Certainly not for lack of philistines: there are a lot more of them around today than a century ago. Is there a new word, or a number of words, that have replaced it?


texts: Is it acceptable to say "I commute to San Francisco every morning" or is there  the "to" a problem there?


texts:
I was doing some SAT English problems and came across this one:

Find the error in the sentence, or state that there is no error. Each possible error is in parentheses.

  Chess players find that playing against a computer is helpful (to
  improve) (their) skills, (even though) no chess-playing computer has
  yet (won) a championship.

I picked up the idiomatic error: "is helpful to improve" should be "is helpful in improving". However, I also saw a problem with the last choice, because I remember hearing the words "has yet to win".

According to the solution, I'm wrong. "Has yet won" is correct. The website says this:

  There is no error at (D). The word "won," the past participle of the
  verb "to win," combines with the word "has" to produce the appropriate
  verb tense.

However, this means that "has yet to win" is incorrect due to the conflicting tenses.

Is "has yet to win" gramatically incorrect? Or are both okay?


texts: "If I were to", "If I was to", & "If I was going to" Which is correct?

texts:
Examples:

I didn't know if I was going to work next week.
I didn't know if I was to work next week.
I didn't know If I were to work next week.

I think number 1 is correct, but I would like to know whether is any difference between them. Regarding number 3, I don't think is correct. Can you provide more examples?

Thank you!


texts: Origin of the phrase "Looks like Tarzan, plays like Jane"?

texts:
Scouts, coaches, and fans use the phrase “Looks like Tarzan, plays like Jane” to describe a player that appears physically imposing, but plays at a level not consistent with their apparent physical gifts.

Tarzan and Jane obviously come from the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs, but who coined the term in relation to sports?

My thought is that the NFL draft scouting process may have been the origin, as it is listed in a list of common NFL scouting lingo, so an old NFL scout may be the source, but I don't have any data to back up the claim.  Any documentation that can attribute this phrase to a particular person and date of origin would be appreciated.


texts: Convincing oneself that something is good

texts:
Sometimes we want to believe something so badly that we convince ourselves that it is true.

Is there a term for this?

Best


texts: Is "hanbok" considered a countable noun?

texts:
Is "hanbok" considered a countable noun, or an uncountable noun?

I assumed that "hanbok" meant a specific clothing item, and is therefore countable, and therefore "she wore a hanbok" would be proper English. However, the English language Wikipedia article on hanbok talks about it being

  ... clothing of the Joseon period and is worn as semi-formal or formal wear during traditional festivals and celebrations ...

as if it's a class of clothing, and later on has

  Hanbok is classified according to its purposes

rather than "Hanboks are".

I also notice that the article doesn't use "Hanboks" anywhere, but that's not surprising as sometimes people don't pluralise words from certain languages.

If the word is used differently by different people, that's an acceptable answer.


texts: Is there a word to describe someone who does nice things for others, only to make themselves look or feel good?

texts: I'm looking for a word that can describe a person who does nice things for other people (e.g holding the door open, carrying someone's things) but only for self gain; this person only does nice things to make themselves look good in the eyes of others, but doesn't actually care about the well-being of the people they're helping.


texts: What is the cultural origin of "Thrice Honored"

texts:
"Thrice-Honored Father", "Thrice-Honored Rulers" or the like.

The term  appears in the mid-nineteenth century books.

For example:
 here  and here and here and here.

It has a classical feel to it -- Latin or Chinese. But I can't find much about it. What is the background of this phrase?


texts: What is the verb for the action of ensuring things occur in the correct order?

texts:
In context it would be:

  The marshall is responsible for verb the atheletes into the stadium in lane order.
  The MC is responsible for verb the guess speakers to present in the scheduled order.
  The receptionist verb the clients into the lawyers consulting room in the order of first in first served.

My original guess was marshall(ing/s) but that doesn't seem quite right to me but it seemed slightly better than arrange or order so I would appreciate your thought(s).


texts: Pronunciation of endings "-tin" and "-tine"

texts:
I am trying to figure out if there is a (kind of) 'correct' rule regarding the pronunciation of endings -tin and -tine.

I always thought that endings with -tin are pronounced as /tɪn/, like for example in Martin, bulletin or carotin.

On the other hand, I considered endings with -tine to be basically pronounced as /taɪn/, like for instance in Valentine.

But what about words like quarantine, serpentine, clandestine, libertine or philistine? Also, how would you pronounce St. Augustine or Constantine, rather as /tɪn/ or /taɪn/?

Do you know if there is a general rule for those endings or is it optional like in the pronunciation of either? Thanks for helping me in advance.


texts:
Question : have you done the Homework?
Answer   : Yes I have done it before today..

Is it Correct if I did my homework yesterday itself and I use present perfect answer the question? Since I can't say yesterday in present perfect, can I say before today?


texts: Is there a word for the phenomenon of knowing a compromise will happen and intentionally overbending the truth so the conclusion is more truthful?

texts:
Is there a word that describes the phenomenon of compromise where side A is telling the truth, side B is outright lying, but because both sides don't want the arbiter to pick dead in the middle, rather closer to their side, they exaggerate their case so that the concluded middle ground is actually favorable to them?
It comes up in politics, arguments, design, budget, etc. Would be great if there were a word to describe it.
It's a gaming of the arbiter's strategy "the truth is in the middle"
I wasn't successful in looking it up through any reverse dictionaries since it requires a situation and perspective of a situation to understand, and I don't have the English skill to explain it without an example. But I hope there's a word for it! (I would think there's definitely a word for it in Chinese. Chinese seems to always have very terse words for complex situational phenomenons. But I don't know the word in Chinese either.)


texts: Would you use the term cucumber-time and why?

texts:
During International Law studies I talked to English natives about politics, using a literal translation of the Dutch "komkommertijd", cucumber time, meaning to refer to the news-silent period of high summer. I thought they understood me.

Later it occurred to me that they might simply have nodded out of courtesy and may have missed the actual meaning. Looking it up, I found that cucumber time seems a dated term, out of use since more than a century.

Would you consider cucumber time and silly season to be equivalent? Would you use either phrase or prefer one over the other?

Update: this German text implies the English term is still in use, while this Dutch text explicitly states the term is out of fashion and largely forgotten.


texts:
A friend of mine has written:

"Iraq! You gave us a war! vs., we'll give you Haftsin."

Isn't this sentence wrong? AFAIK we can say: "Iraq, you gave us a war; but we['ll] give you Haftsin".

I have never seen vs. like that in a sentence and I feel it is incorrect, but since I am a foreigner learning English I thought it's better to ask.

ps. Haftsin (meaning 7 Ses) is a tradition in Iran in which we decorate somewhere (at Nowrooz, which like Christmas is the beginning of the year) using seven things which begin with Sin -which is the equivalent letter to S in Persian.


texts: How to phrase 'people have become acutely/increasingly aware of X'

texts:
I'm trying to convey the idea that people's behavior on the Internet is a reflection of our increasing social self-awareness, almost like a communal entity.

For context, here is the paragraph I'm writing:

  Google is a black box that magically has all the answers to your
  questions. Type in 'why are people stupid' and 'why are people so
  !@#$ stupid' is the first result. Hey, Google is pretty smart, it
  immediately gave me what I wanted. But Google is just a information
  aggregator, how can it be "smart"? I believe the answer to that lies
  in the nature of how information is disseminated on the Internet. "phrase goes here"


texts: Is "it was the birth of a revolution" a metaphor?

texts: Here is the full sentence for the first one: Using the money they had received from the PayPal buyout, Chen and Hurley decided to create YouTube, to make uploading and sharing videos online as easy as anyone could want. It was the birth of a revolution.


texts: What is the difference between "real" and "present"?

texts:
There is this sentence in the book called The Uninhabitable Earth.

  [W]e are likely to get about 3.2 degrees of warming, or about three times as much warming as the planet has seen since the beginning of industrialization—bringing the unthinkable collapse of the planet’s ice sheets not just into the realm of the real but into the present.

In this context, what is the difference between "the realm of the real" and "[the realm of] the present"?


texts: Is there any specific meaning of 'export' in this context?

texts:
When I saw Shape of Water, the movie, I heard the following dialogue:

  Now, that's one thing.
  That's real decent of him.
  But the other kind of decency...
  it doesn't really matter.
  We sell it, but it's an export.
  We sell it because
  we don't use it.

I didn't get the meaning of 'export'. Why was the general talking about export all of a sudden? Is there any hidden meaning of 'export'?


texts: What is the origin of the phrase "needle in a hay stack"? Initially I thought it was a game once played but I haven't found any mention of it outside of it's idiomatic use.


texts: Is there a nicer/politer/more positive alternative for "negates"?

texts:
I have somewhere the following sentence:

  our platform negates the need for a middleman ...

but I do not want to offend or upset the middlemen whomever it is ... there are many middlemen in the context I'm reffering to there.

The question is how can I replace "negate" that is too abrupt, radical and may upset people with something more reasonable?

Would "diminishes" be a good alternative? other suggestions?


texts: Correct vs. incorrect usage of "there were + [number] noun + verb" patterns

texts:
I am having a problem figuring out what exactly makes the following sentences incorrect, and what is different in comparison with the correct sentences below. (I am not a native English speaker, but I believe these are incorrect. Correct me if I'm wrong.)

Incorrect:

There were two data prepared
There was a big group of people stayed
for chatting
There were four types of behavior prepared as follows
There were XX% of visitors who did not comment

Correct:

There were 10 sensors attached on ceiling
There were typically multiple shops associated with the keyword

I live in Asia and I am often checking scientific papers for my colleagues, and I find them making this type of mistake very often. The above are all examples taken from papers I checked. I would like to explain the correct usage to my colleagues but I could not find an easy way to do it (besides simply saying something like "avoid using there were whenever you have a verb after the noun").

Can someone provide an explanation or point me to some page which explains the rules concerning this?

[An edit, proposed by the OP, but which was rejected in the review queue.]

  EDIT: I am late to reply but many thanks to everyone who answered or commented! @FumbleFingers: Yes, I know there are other errors in the sentences, which are seemingly not relevant to my question. I had copied the examples exactly as they appeared in the papers before correcting them. But it is exactly some of these errors that could give an idea on how people misunderstand the usage of "there is/was" and what makes it hard to explain what is the correct usage. For example, sentence 3 can be changed to: 1. There were four types of behavior, which were prepared as follows, or 2. Four types of behavior were prepared as follows. But I couldn't come up with an easy to understand explanation why this is so. I think Jim's answer gives a simple way to explain the usage to my colleagues. So @Jim, thank you! (I would vote you up but don't have enough privileges...).


texts:
For me, the title of Alfred Hitchcock's film Dial M for Murder is ambiguous, it may mean

either Dial M to order a murder (instead of a pizza) / for a murder to occur (similar to the previous, but without the delivery service connotation);
or Dial M if a murder occurred (it is like a police station number).

What does it really mean for native speakers, or is it deliberately obscure?


texts: Which one is correct? "I have work experience in " or "I had work experience in"?

texts:
Which one is correct?

  I have previous work experience in IBM in PHP domain during the period 2009-2010.

OR

  I had previous work experience in IBM in PHP domain during the period 2009-2010.


texts: Etymology of a strange sense of "kick", as in, "I'm on a Sailor Moon kick right now"

texts:
[I'm not really on a Sailor Moon kick. ^_^]  Still, the use of the word kick to denote the feeling of a "current or temporary pleasure" is pretty strange, isn't it?  How did it evolve from its original root, which I presume is the sense of striking something with the foot, to that meaning?  My question is: Can anyone draw a plausible pathway from the most original meaning to this colloquial meaning of kick?

EDIT: Er, my example sentence didn't say, I get a kick out of Sailor Moon.  It said, I'm on a Sailor Moon kick.  I think these senses are very distinguishable, and thus the answers I've received thus far strike me as wrong.


texts:
I've encountered phrase like "he bowed them inside" several times in different stories. What does it actually mean?

Does it mean, that he very politely accompanied them inside or does that literally mean, that he walked inside with them bowing to them every now and again?


texts: "has" versus "have" after the preposition "of"

texts:
In the sentences

A copy of your documents has been emailed to you@gmail.com.
A copy of your documents have been emailed to you@gmail.com.

I believe the subject is "copy", and since "has" refers to the third person singular ("it" being "copy") I believe the first sentence to be correct. Does the preposition change the focus of the subject to "documents" or does it remain singular ("copy")? I don't think the subject has become "documents" at any point in the sentence.
Even if there were multiple items after the "of", such as

A copy of your documents and files (has/have) been emailed to you@gmail.com.

would the subject still be "copy" or is it now the items?


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Are there any simple rules for article usage (“a” vs “the” vs none)

Is there a good rule for articles usage? I just don't get it and everytime in doubts.


texts:
Cryptography is about writing something that is hard/impossible to read without the correct key, basically, it is about hiding.

Now, what do you call:

Writing in a way that is easy to understand, even without a cultural background/context information?

For example, I could Write "Apple" but for someone who does not speak English, "Apple" has no meaning instead, if we draw an apple, almost everyone will understand.

Sample sentences:

  When teaching reading to children we need some book that is _____.
  Contrary to cryptography, ________ is about showing information in the most understandable way.
  Thanks to ________, we can teach rudimentary of maths even to someone that is not able to read/write.


texts:
I've seen variants of this question, but nothing explicitly like the one below:

  Three feet equals/equal a yard.

Which is correct? Is there a definitive explanation?

Please indicate BrE vs AmE if you have a view.


texts: What do you call a person who gets mad if you don't agree with them?

texts: What do you call a person that gets mad if you don't agree with them?


texts:
I came across the sentence below in a book on Linguistics:

This makes possible to consider language as a regulator not only of its perception, but also of its representation and action.

I cannot tell if the sentence is correct. Should not it read "makes it possible to...?" Thanks.


texts: What is the difference between "failing" and "failure"?

texts:
The teacher asks a student, "How are you feeling about tomorrow?" The teacher has been preparing the student for tomorrow's exam for the whole year.

The student replies, "I'm scared of failing."

The student has a Yorkshire (North English) accent and it isn't, for some people, 100% clear that she says 'failing' but from the context it is much more likely that she says 'failing' and not 'failure'.

It seems to me that if the student had said "failure" it would have represented something more global, while "failing" refers just to tomorrow's test. Is this impression correct?

Side question: Is this an example of ellipsis? "I'm scared of failing [the test]"


texts:
Is the following sentence correct?

  Just like a girl who has crushes on good looking people, I have crushes on good looking people.

If I omit the "who has a crush on good looking people," in the first clause, then I will just be compared to any girl. So does my sentence make any sense?


texts:
Hello this might be a weird question but I've been arguing about this with a native English speaker (I am Dutch) and I would like to know who is right.

I will give the example now:

Person 1: "You never do anything in the house."
Person 2: "Actually, I do"

Person 1 (native) stated that when I say "actually" it's a comparison.
Person 2 (me, non native) I'm saying that when there's no "In contrary to what you said" or something similar in the sentence it is not a comparison.

Who is correct?


texts: What does Affair means in "The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair"

texts: My question is about meaning of word "affair". Does it has a meaning of "case,deal" or "relations, love affair"


texts: Are there diagnostic tests to distinguish between proper and common nouns?

texts: Are there some fill-in-the-blank type questions that, if one were to fill in the blank and it sounded right to a fluent speaker then it would have to be a proper noun (or it would have to be a common noun)?


texts: Article (the, a) beauty: which is correct?

texts:
Should one say "Dentistry is related to beauty" or "Dentistry is related to the beauty"?
Is the definite article needed or not?


texts: What does "Led by your scent to fairer climes at last" mean?


texts: Can the word "unsolicited" be used as a verb?

texts:
Consider the following:

  He replied to us even when not solicited/asked.

Can not solicited be replaced with unsolicited?


texts: I am using em dashes and writing in British English. I would like to know if I should put spaces both before and after the em dash.


texts: What do you call the interconnecting bits of a puzzle piece in English?

texts:
This is hard to describe, but I'm curious about what the proper word is for these thingies in English.

So I searched for a picture on Google and circled what I'm referring to with red:


texts: Annual is to yearly as _____ is to monthly

texts:
A more formal word for yearly would be annual.

I pay my school loans annually
I pay my rent check monthly or _____.

What is the “annual” version for “monthly’?


texts:
Is it correct to use the modal verb ‘used to’ in subordinate clauses? For example, could I say, ‘When we used to go to New Delhi, my father and I would shop for music CDs’?
Or must I reserve it only for the main clause and change my sentence to something like, ‘When(ever) we went to New Delhi, my father and I would shop for music CDs’?


texts:
How is "e.g." pluralized?
Responses to the above article and other critiques of "ee.g." (insisting on "e.g.") roundly dismiss it as an aberration and even vilify it. Yet it's not by accident that multiple people have raised this question over the years. It's surely not a typo, and it almost certainly refers back to the same scriptorial Latin doubling technique that has given us "pp." for paginae ("pp." doesn't mean "page page" any more than "ee." means "example example," to answer a previous commenter; same goes for "et sqq." as plural of "et seq." and "LL.D." meaning "legum doctor" or doctor of laws plural).
Therefore, "ee.g." may be taken to mean "exemplōrum gratiā" (for the sake of examples) as some have suggested, and be used as a plural. (Probably not "exemplōrum gratiāe" adjectivalizing, as "ee.g." likely means "for the sake of examples" and not "welcome examples." This line of reasoning, however, could invalidate "ee.g." as well, since "for the sake of example" could be argued to obviate the need for number. New Latin and New Greek are like that.)
Now, I have seen "ee.gg." in some texts, which may not be justifiable with the same argument; it is likely that earlier writers mistook the "g" not as an adverb but as a plural, which as I mentioned above doesn't make sense.
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gratia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Latin_phrases_(full)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Reference_desk/Archives/Language/2016_September_1
So, Mommy and Daddy, may I use "ee.g." or will I get spankedd and sentt to bedd without suppper?


texts: What does "X have subsequently recovered, and so might Y" mean in this sentence?

texts:
I have question about bold, italicize sentence below.

Many fairly common amphibian species declared all but extinct after severe declines in the 1950s and 1960s have subsequently recovered, and so might the apparently declining populations that have generated the current appearance of an amphibian crisis.

My teacher told me
so might works following example.
example to show how 'so might' works. "So might" means something like 'might do the same thing.'

My grandfather gave me a book for my birthday, and so might my grandmother.
My grandfather gave me a book for my birthday, and my grandmother might do the same thing / might give me a book [for my birthday].

However,
and the apparently declining populations that have generated the current appearance of amphibian crisis might have subsequently recovered.
does not make sense...

Is there any one who can help me understood this?


texts: Is "Both I and you fight for ourselves" correct?

texts:
Suppose two persons from different countries are talking with each other.

How can I combine the following two sentences

  "I fight for myself. You fight for yourself."

... and make a single sentence without changing the meaning?

(?) Both I and you fight for ourselves.
(?) Both I and you fight for themselves.
(?) Both I and you fight for oneself.

Logically the first sentence seems to work, but on second thought I feel it looks like "you" are betraying his/her country and fighting for "my" country... Is this the case?

Modifying a little bit using "each", "respectively" or something like that will help?

If I give up using this structure, what is the best way to simply describe this idea?


texts:
Guy has pretty much the same meaning as the German counterpart Kerl.

There is the progression of age in the sequence child, teenager, adolescent, (young) fellow, guy, old man/guy (?), senior.

But Germans do not call a very old person a guy. You can call an anonymous group of people independently of their age and sex guys. However, calling someone a Kerl often implies he is male with a minimum and maximum age I am not sure about (18-50). Does this match the English meaning and usage of guy?


texts:
We hope you enjoyed your visit and we hope to see you again soon.

How do I ask this question without using "HOPE" twice?  I would like to keep it short and simple, as this will be used for text messaging.

Would something like this be better?

We hope you enjoyed your visit and we are looking forward to seeing you again soon.


texts: Hyphens when using "something + style" to describe something?

texts:
He lit the fire Cherokee style.

or:

  He lit the fire Cherokee-style.

I have seen both. Which is correct?

And, if it's the second option, then what about "multiple words + style"? E.g.:

  She organized the view spiral staircase style.

versus:

  She organized the view spiral-staircase-style.

(which looks very wrong)


texts:
I'm wondering if sentence structures such as the following are a valid use of the colon:

  I don't understand your second point: Is it not said that the sky is blue?

As you can see, I'm using the colon to elaborate upon the previous clause "I don't understand your second point".

If this isn't a valid use of the colon, then what would be considered a valid punctuation mark in this type of situation? Or is it the case that it is a valid use of the colon, but that there are better punctuation marks for this type of situation?

I would greatly appreciate it if people would please take the time to clarify this.


texts: Is a plural pronoun OK when it refers back to a singular institution or entity?

texts:
Is a plural personal pronoun OK when it refers back to a (singular) institution or entity?  E.g.,

  The bank is uncooperative; they just don't answer.

Or:

  Facebook doesn't care about fake news; they just pretend to police it.


texts: Can I use "linkography" instead of "bibliography" when referring to web links?

texts:
I’m writing a piece of documentation and I want to add the links I'm referring to at the bottom of my document.

Since they are links and not books, I think the section title should not use the word bibliography.

The most appropriate term that comes to mind is linkography. However, I don't know if this word even exists. I did not find it in the dictionary. I think the word is ugly, and my computer’s spell-checker does not know it.

Is linkography the best term to use when referring to web links? Does this word really exist?


texts:
I saw that there were already examples on this, but I didn't find any specific enough. My problem is this sentence:

  If there were anything that he didn't want, it was to hurt me.

I previously had the sentence written as:

  If there was anything that he didn't want, it was to hurt me.

But both seem a little awkward to me.


texts: Idiom request for speaking about punishing or scolding somebody before they are proved guilty, just out of prejudgement

texts:
I'm looking for an idiom, expression or a (set) phrase that implies "to punish somebody just out of prejudgment".
We Iranians have a saying that literally means "one shouldn't punish people before they having committed a crime."
Example scenario:
Suppose that a mom finds something like tobacco in her teenage son's room while she is cleaning there.
She becomes very angry and as soon as the son returns home after school, the mom starts scolding him for smoking!
The son desperately insists that he has never smoked, so the mom shows him the tobacco-like stuff. The son says:

But these are just some dried leaves from my Science class, you can even ask my teacher too! Come on, mom! Why are you punishing me before I have been proven guilty?! (= why are you scolding me just because of your wrong prejudgment about me?)

Is there any idiom or expression that can be used with this connotation?
I have found "Jump to conclusions", can I say "Come on, mom! Don't jump to conclusions before knowing the truth, I'm innocent"
(Please stop scolding me just out of prejudgment).
I have also found this title, but I'm not sure if it would have the same connotation with the Persian saying.


texts: Sentence order of "The World forgetting ..."

texts:
From the Eloisa to Abelard by Alexander Pope is the line "The world forgetting, by the world forgot"
I know the intended meaning of the line, so I didn't post on Literature StackExchange. I just want clarification  on whether the line is gramatically valid. Is the sentence order Object-Verb-Subject?
Could the line be reworked as: "The world forgetting, forgot by the world" where [the world forgetting] are, within the context of the poem, nuns within a convent forgetting the world, and [forgot] is the verb done [by the world]?


texts: Is it "Olympic-size pool" or "Olympic-sized pool"?

texts: Is it "Olympic-size pool" or "Olympic-sized pool" (with a 'd')? Is one correct and the other wrong and if so, why? Or are both correct?


texts: Which is correct here: "*sometime* next month" vs. "*sometimes* next month"?

texts:
Are those expressions equivalent, or which one should be preferred?

For instance:

  I should finish this work sometimes next week

versus

  I should finish this work sometime next week


texts: How should "midnight on..." be interpreted?

texts:
From what I understand, the word "midnight" is usually interpreted incorrectly.

Midnight is written as "12am" which would imply that it's in the morning.  Therefore, it should be at the start of the day.  On the other hand, both Dictionary.com and the Oxford Dictionary define it as "twelve o'clock at night".

Some examples:

"Midnight on the 10th of December"
"Midnight Thursday"
"Midnight tonight"

are usually interpreted as:

Straddling the 10th and the 11th of December
Straddling Thursday and Friday
Straddling today and tomorrow

but should they technically mean:

straddling the 9th and the 10th of December?
straddling Wednesday and Thursday?
This is much less clear. Technically is there a midnight "tonight", or is midnight "tomorrow morning"?

What do you think? How should "midnight" be interpreted?


texts:
No student/students knew the answer.

Which noun should I use?


texts:
Do you have any questions? I have so many.

Dictionaries indicate that many here is a pronoun; it is certainly standing in for the noun questions.

If this is so, how could the adverb so modify a pronoun?

If it is not a pronoun (because adverbs can't modify pronouns), what part of speech is many?


texts:
I've always used would as the past tense of will:

Present: Tomorrow, I will go to the beach.
Past: The following day, I would go to the beach.

However, in response to my question on Writers.SE, Robusto pointed out that my use of would creates an "an imperfect parallelism of tenses." What does this mean, and how do I correctly treat a statement about the future that is made in the past?
(I think it means that would could also be interpreted as a conditional, as in "I would go to the beach if the weather was nice," but isn't the intent clear from the context in which the sentence appears?)
EDIT (in response to Robusto):
Does the ambiguity introduced by would disappear if I put my sentence in its context?

It took me nearly a decade to write this script, and now I would pitch it to the top producer in Hollywood. But the following day, I got hit by a bus, and my dreams came to an abrupt end.


texts: is "the gift of" an equivalence for "by the permission of"?

texts:
Needless to say that in the context of copy right issues, the phrase "the courtesy of somebody" means "by the permission of somebody" (in image captions). My question is that does "the gift of somebody" also has the same meaning and regularity?
For example, the "image credits" section at the bottom of a museum page like the Frye Art Museum shows that most of the images are "a gift of somebody" (my emphases):

Collection American Folk Art Museum, New York, gift of Nathan and Kiyoko Lerner, 1995.23.1b. ©Kiyoko Lerner. Photo by Gavin Ashworth

Collection American Folk Art Museum, New York, gift of Nathan and Kiyoko Lerner, 1995.23.1a. ©Kiyoko Lerner. Photo by Gavin Ashworth

Collection American Folk Art Museum, New York, gift of Robert and Luise Kleinberg in celebration of granddaughter Cecelia Cooley, with Kiyoko Lerner, 2004.15.1. ©Kiyoko Lerner. Photo by James Prinz

Collection American Folk Art Museum, New York, museum purchase and gift, 2002.22.1a. ©Kiyoko Lerner. Photo by James Prinz


texts:
Which is the best matching?

  I made an analysis on the software which I bought.
  I made an analysis of the software which I bought.


texts:
Which of the following sentences is more correct?

  I dreamed I got punished by my English teacher cos I could not recite the article he offers.

or

  I dreamed I got punished by my English teacher cos I could not recite the article offered by him.


texts: Word for: Sleep until some bad situation/feeling subsides or ends

texts: When one waits until some difficulty has passed, we say "wait something out". Is there a word/expression in English for sleeping until your hunger, pain, or negative emotions subside?


texts:
I am developing a system for patients that allows them to see their medication history.

There is a function that lists history of all drugs the patients have ever tried. I am trying to figure out what would be the correct tense:

  History of all drugs you have been taking

Does this include the ones in the past (not
being taken anymore)?

  History of all drugs you used to take

Does this include the ones currently being taken?


texts:
I need to know which one of these idioms fits this description - you unwittingly adopt the views, habits of a person with whom you socialize or are on friendly terms/close intercourse with people makes you behave and think like they do.

Live with the lame and you will limp (Am.)

Associate with cripples and you learn to limp (Am.)

Не that lives with wolves will learn to howl (Br.)

He who lies down with dogs gets up with fleas.


texts: Name of "license / permit" to operate equipment

texts:
I'm a non native English speaking software developer developing a tool to be used in Europe to keep track of individuals that have received an authorization to operate heavy equipment (lift trucks etc) within a specific workplace area.
So, I'm looking for a word to succinctly describe the "authorization document" that should be stored in our database and possible to display or print on demand.
A customer of ours calls the document "authorization to operate", but to me it feels awkward to call my program the "AuthorizationToOperateDatabase" or "AuthorizationToOperateTool".
I'm looking for something shorter and, if possible, a bit catchy :)


texts: Grammatical explanation of "what the blank"

texts:
In emphatic questions, it's common to see or hear an interjection such as the heck — or something more vulgar — between the interrogative and the verb.

  What was that?

becomes

  What the heck was that?

Is there any way to interpret this grammatically, other than taking the heck as an interjection in its entirety? I guess it doesn't even qualify as an interjection, does it? I can’t think of a way you would parse the sentence properly. The problem is that it comes before the verb and not after. “What was the heck?”, although nonsensical, is grammatically simple. Bonus points if you can explain how this language feature evolved.


texts: Is there a special word for a death anniversary? For example a birth anniversary would be a "birthday", but what would a death anniversary be?


texts: What is the plural for the abbreviation of the word "captain"?

texts:
I thought it would be Cpts., as in: "Captains Johansson and Riley were present" -> "Cpts. Johansson and Riley were present", but I cannot find anything definitive online.

Additionally, I would have just used Cpts., except I'm finding lots of results saying CPT should be capitalised, and/or should use Capt (or possibly Capt.) instead. So then I'm wondering if CPTs or CPTS would be the proper usage?

(This is in a purely military usage. And I suspect another issue is based on the country and branch being discussed. I have no specific branch intended. I am American but tend to use British English quite often.)


texts: Use of full stop after closing inverted comma, when the sentence enclosed with inverted commas has a full stop at the end

texts:
Suppose I am writing a sentence. The sentence has a sentence in inverted commas. After the closing inverted comma appears, the main sentence also ends. As the main sentence ends, there will a full stop at the end. In this case, there will be three punctuation marks in a row: first, there will be a full stop marking end of quoted sentence; second, there will be a closing inverted comma marking close of the quotation; lastly, there will be a full stop marking end of the main sentence. Take an example: The judgment says "John is guilty.".

To me, this use of full stops is logical; we cannot do away with any of the full stops in the above example.

Am I correct?


texts: If I have to use 'a flight of ' as quantifier to desribe stairs, how do I use the same phrase to desribe double staircases? Can I use 'two flights of'? I saw someone use 'a twin flight of', but I just think it is wrong without any proves.


texts: What does this sentence mean: "You watched his face crack open and your world shifted, ..."?

texts:
quoted from:

  To Forget: The look on your son’s face when you accused him of taking fifty dollars out of your purse. You were so certain; nothing he said could sway you. You watched his face crack open and your world shifted, but you convinced yourself that in this one case, principle was more important than love. You were wrong."


texts:
I have come up with this sentence "I crossed the border 3 kilometers ago". I feel like ago is not the correct adverb since it's used in time contexts. Can you help me find the correct adverb?
Thank you.


texts: we take safety measures, do we also 'take' control measures?

texts:
Someone provided me with a PowerPoint presentation and instructed me to convert it into a word document with sentences rather than point form notes. Here is what the PowerPoint slide said:

"Control Measures

-Provide an easy exit

-Wear protective equipment"

The slide talks about what to do when you are working in a tight, enclosed and confied space. Basically, the slide says that when you are working in an enclosed and confined space then 'take' the following control measures: provide an easy exit (that is, make sure it is easy to get out of the enclosed area) and wear protective equipment while working in a confied space.

My question is, does it make sense if I say "When working in a confied and enclosed area, 'take' the following control measures: ensure that there is an easy exit provided to the individual who is working in the confined space, and ensure that the individual working is wearing protective equipment."

Do we 'take' control measures, just as how we take safety measures? If no, what is the correct way of saying what I said in the paragraph above?

Note: I do know that the 'control' measures stated above are really just safety measures, but I'm just wondering if we 'take' control measures like how we take safety measures.


texts: How logical is the conjunction word "and"?

texts:
Tom: "Follow the rules!"

Jane: "Thank you, I will follow your advice and keep my mind open for new ideas?"

What if Jane wanted to say:

Jane: Yes, I will follow the rules" but nevertheless "if I get a better idea I would use this and skip the rules!"

If I didn't know Tom's previous statement, I would think Jane is quoting Tom's "keep your mind open for new ideas!"

Can Jane use "AND" in this context or is there a better word to connect the two sentences of "Thank you, I will follow your advice" and "keep my mind open for new ideas?"


texts: What is the origin of the phrase "gathering wool"?

texts: From context, it would appear to mean "no day-dreaming" or "no dilly-dallying", as in "Let's go, no time for wool gathering!" or "Pay attention, no wool gathering here!"


texts:
Can you explain to me when it is more appropriate to use it or one in the following sentence?

  One/it should warn about the conflicts.

I don't think there's a big deal using one or another because the meaning will be exactly the same.


texts: Why can't we say that "Horses are a useful animal." treats horses as a class or set of objects?

texts:
（1）Computers are important research tools.

  （2）Computers are an important research tool.

We can say that the first sentence treats computers as discrete objects.

The second  sentence treats computers as a class or set of objects.

  （3）Horses are useful animals.

  （4）Horses are a useful animal.

We can say that the third sentence treats horses as discrete objects.

Why can't we say the fourth sentence treats horses as a class or set of objects?


texts: Is a comma needed to offset an expansion clause?

texts:
Which of the following is most grammatically correct?

In Boston, and other cities above a certain size, public transit is paid for with an RFID card.
In Boston and other cities above a certain size, public transit is paid for with an RFID card.
In Boston, and in other cities above a certain size, public transit is paid for with an RFID card.
In Boston and in other cities above a certain size, public transit is paid for with an RFID card.

The odd-numbered ones have a first comma the others don't, and the higher-numbered ones have an extra "in" that the first two don't.

I think the first comma is needed to offset the phrase, indicating that the sentence can be read without that part of it.

I'm not sure if the "in" is really necessary and am partial to removing unnecessary words for more concise writing, but would like to leave in anything grammatically needed.

I don't think the phrase "and other cities above a certain size" is an appositive, because it's not another word or phrase for Boston that would be a nonrestrictive descriptor (e.g. "In Boston, the capital of Massachusetts, ..."), nor does it qualify as a clause.   The phrase expands the set which becomes the setting of the sentence and thus broadens its meaning or application.


texts: Do "that" and "it" refer to different things in this sentence?

texts:
He likes going to the library
  to study. That always makes her happy.

What if the last sentence were to be changed to

  It always makes her happy.

Do these two sentences mean something different? It seems to me that "that" is referring to his attitude, and "it" refers to the act of studying.

What about this:

  Her boyfriend likes playing with her dogs.
  That always makes her happy.

and

  It always makes her happy.

Would "that" be reffering to her boyfriend's attitude towards her dogs, while "it" refers to the actual act of playing with them?


texts:
I came across a sentence and had bugged me ever since. I cannot identify whether the word "Enough" is an adjective, a pronoun, a determiner or an adverb although I highly suspect that is an adjective since it comes after a linking verb and describes the noun; so here it is:

  Even the small amount she had taken was enough to warm her throat as it slid down.


texts:
A friendly dog will wag its tail, especially when it's happy to see his owner. Cats can communicate their approval and appreciation too, but I don't remember ever hearing a cat  wagging its  tail for joy.

So, what does a cat's tail do when it's happy?


texts: Etymology of 'vanity unit' / 'vanity table'

texts: A "vanity unit" is basically a table that can either be below a sink or just in a bedroom that contains drawers.  It appears to have no obvious link with the standard definitions of the word "vanity".  Why is such a table referred to as a "vanity unit"?


texts: Trying to figure out proper form of "that" in sentence

texts: I currently have the sentence "Seahorses are the only fish that practice steadfast monogamy." to tree diagram for class, and cannot freakin' figure out what the word "that" would be used as in this sentence. Please help! Thanks. If you could also throw out a diagram of the sentence that'd be great.


texts: What is the term for having dyslexic sorts of issues with spoken words?

texts:
Dyslexia is defined as

  ... a specific learning disability that is neurobiological in origin. It is characterized by difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition and by poor spelling and decoding abilities. These difficulties typically result from a deficit in the phonological component of language that is often unexpected in relation to other cognitive abilities and the provision of effective classroom instruction.

It's frequently popularized as just scrambling the letters of words, but the dyslexiaida.org site is very clear that it is not limited to that.

But my question is about speaking difficulties. Dyslexiaida.org states

  People with dyslexia can also have problems with spoken language,

however, reading further on the site, it is at least strongly implied that this mostly pertains to difficulties reading aloud and difficulties with pronunciation that were acquired due to errors in reading.

Example sentence:

  Many years ago, I accidentally referred to myself as the wife of my then-wife, rather than her husband, due to _________.

Generally, when I experience this, I will think the right word, but say the wrong word. The word spoken will often be related in some way to the word desired.

Note that this is not always what's going on in my head when I get left and right mixed up. As a left-handed person, having been taught the mnemonic "Your right hand is the hand you write with." even 40 years later I'll sometimes genuinely get them mixed up. I don't care if the word covers this class of mistake, too, or not.

Possibly related would be the tendency to sometimes accidentally rearrange syllables. While I'd be interested to know this, I'm not nearly as interested, as it's a very rare occurrence in the people with whom I interact. (Example: one time I said "lexdysia" when I meant to say "dyslexia". The first time I attempted to share about that issue, I accidentally said "dyslexia" when I intended to deliberately say it wrong again.)

While I am American, I have a preference for being able to communicate with people from all over the world as much as is feasible for a hopelessly monolinguistic person such as myself, so I'm not using country-specific tags.

Notes: dysarthria is difficulty speaking due to brain damage or changes later in life. It's also a muscular thing, rather than using the wrong word. The difficulties that I'm asking about in this post have been things that the people who struggle with them have had to deal with their whole lives.

Dystonia is difficulty speaking due to muscle control issues.

Dysprosody is a false accent.

Aphasia is, among other things, the inability to find the right word to use. In the case I'm talking about, the right word is known, and even thought, just not said.

I would think this would fall in the range of semantic disorders, but it's pretty distinct from the most common semantic disorders listed.

Speech difficulty is much too general, that's all of these things.


texts: How to express the noise of eating melon seeds?

texts: Are there any words or phrases that can express the noise made by melon seeds eaters?


texts: What should I say when people say "thanks a lot"

texts: When I help others, they say "thanks a lot". What should I say to reply to them?


texts: Error Grammatical - Use of preposition A

texts:
What's wrong in this phrase?

Yesterday I was talking with a russian ...

My teacher putted like wrong "a russian".


texts:
Is the phrase "fake teeth" correct? I googled it and found out that it is used. But my English tutor says that this phrase is incorrect and the book from Hillside Press had this phrase as a mistake.

So what is true?


texts:
My first language is not English and I have a question about a sentence that I recently saw. And I hope someone can help me.

Is it correct to say:

"I wish John were a myth so you could bust him."

instead of:

"I wish John was a myth so you could bust him."

And if both are correct, what are the difference between the two?


texts: Where can I find a list of colloquial abbreviations for cities?

texts:
I'm seeking a list of commonly used abbreviations for US cities (and also European cities, but let's start with the US).  When I say abbreviations, that could be anything from 2 letters or more that is colloquially used to represent the city, so I would include say "LA" as an abbreviation for "Los Angeles", "NYC" for "New York City", "VEGAS" for "LAS VEGAS"...etc.  It doesn't have to be restricted to 3 letters like an airport code.

Explanation: In the iPhone application that I'm building, I'm wanting to create some precomposed tweet templates which the user may choose from to start with, so that they may tweet about a certain thing that has just happened in the app.  I want to combine a word representing the main subject of the app or what they've just done (e.g. "fitness") with an abbreviation for the city they're in or their nearest city, and possibly have this term as a twitter hashtag.

So, for example, if they're in New York, the precomposed tweet template might contain the hashtag #nycfitness, or #fitnessnyc .... and I need to come up with the "nyc" part for whichever city they're in.  Thus far, Google has found me lots of state abbreviations, and even city airport codes...but I don't think airport codes are commonly used to represent the city in many cases, e.g. people don't use LAX to mean Los Angeles...LAX is the airport and LA is the city.  I'm not from the US, so while I can come up with a few of the big ones (LA, NYC, DC, VEGAS), I don't have enough local knowledge to compile the list myself.

Any ideas?

Edit (provided here as edit rather than reply to reply because of letter count):

Ok, I understand perfectly the need to maintain the credibility of individual stackexchange forums as a source of truth on their particular subject.  And whilst I provided some context for my question by explaining to you the reason for my requirement, this explanation was more for folks to get a sense of what sort of suggestions might be appropriate in response; it certainly isn't your place to use that context as reasoning for your condemnation - it's kind of none of your business what I do with the information I glean from this answer, and I've only given you that information because I thought it might get me more appropriate responses.

An example of an intelligent and helpful responder who took the information provided in the question and suggested an idea I hadn't thought of (the very purpose of these forums, one might think) was that provided by @J.R. regarding colloquialisms.  If folks are likely to use the hashtag #beantownfitness, then clearly (because I've told you why I need this information) I'm as interested in colloquialisms as I am in abbreviations.  Striking the discussion off on the basis that "This is a question about standard abbreviations..." is being a bit lazy, in my opinion.


texts: I’m searching for a word to complete the analogy. While the word doesn’t have to be a “-phile” hat is the intended meaning. Thanks in advance!


texts: Is there a valid or recognized verb for rote learning?

texts:
In the sentence "rote learning is a decent way to memorize a writing" , can "rote learning" be replaced by a verb and the sentence be changed to ".......ing is a good way to memorize a writing"?

I need a verb to fill in the position that should be similar or same in meaning to the if existed verb form of "rote learning".

(please excuse the language or grammatical errors)


texts: Questions on usage of 'as' in the following sentence: "Maybe Andrew Jackson was as impetuous, maybe Richard M. Nixon as venal."

texts:
While reading an article, I found a sentence of which I couldn't get the exact meaning, which was:

  It is difficult, at the moment, to fully assess the damage Trump is wreaking. We have never had a president like him, so history is a poor guide. For his racism, we can perhaps look back to Woodrow Wilson; his general unfitness to hold the nation’s highest office recalls the hapless Andrew Johnson. Maybe Andrew Jackson was as impetuous, maybe Richard M. Nixon as venal. (Eugene Robinson, The Washington Post, December 24, 2018)

And this is another sentence I slightly changed in a way that it looks somewhat familiar to me:

  Andrew Jackson was as impetuous as Richard M. Nixon was venal.

So the questions are:

Is there a significant difference between those sentences in terms of meaning?
Could you grammatically analyze the original sentence? Are there any omitted components or inversions?

You can find the full article on:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trump-is-incompetent-impulsive-and-amoral-heaven-help-us-all/2018/12/24/b78e25d2-07bb-11e9-a3f0-71c95106d96a_story.html


texts:
Is there a specific word that means something that was always there, as in the first thing to be created and the last thing to cease to exist? Like the "Alpha and Omega" concept but in one single word?
As in, what would be called the very first atom to come into existence on this universe if that was the very same atom that will be the last to decay when this universe ceases to exist.


texts: How would you change the punctuation when citing a quote in MLA?

texts:
If I wanted to cite a question in MLA, but use it as a statement, how would I change the punctuation?

For example, would I change the sentence

  Does it not occur to you that this is the first time we two, you and I, husband and wife, have had a serious conversation?

to

  ...this is the first time, we two, you and I, husband and wife, have had a serious conversation[.]


texts:
Do British people use ”inquire” or ”enquire”?

I just read it’s more common in AmE, is that true?


texts:
How should a quote like this be punctuated?

"Amanda, I meant to tell you earlier, but...," his voice shook with sorrow, "I couldn't find the words."

Would this be correct if I deleted the comma after the ellipsis? Or would it be better to eliminate the ellipsis? Or to eliminate the comma after the ellipsis and then add an ellipsis in the second part:

"Amanda, I meant to tell you earlier, but..." his voice shook with sorrow, "...I couldn't find the words."


texts: What does "It can't have been her you saw yesterday: she is abroad." become in indirect reported speech?

texts:
What does the sentence:

It can't have been her you saw yesterday: she is abroad.

become in indirect reported speech?

He told me it…

can't have been (?)

couldn't have been (?)

… her I had seen the previous day because she was abroad.


texts: Why are we supposed to say the “a” as an “e” in “any” and “many”?

texts:
I speak Australian English, but I seem to pronounce the words many and anything differently from how the vast majority of people here do so.

I pronounce it using an a sound rather than an e sound like they do. Nobody has been able to tell me an existent rule that deems my pronunciation incorrect.

Why would I be pronouncing this differently and thinking meny and enything sounds wrong? Please help!


texts: "Barrier will open" vs. "barrier will be opened"

texts: To me "barrier will open" sounds more correct. I am not 100% sure if "barrier will be opened" is acceptable. What do you think?


texts: How does 'contingent' mean 'subject to chance'?

texts:
contingent =  {adjective} 1. Subject to chance
Etymonline: late 14c., from Old French contingent or directly from Latin contingentem (nominative contingens) "happening, touching," present participle of contingere "to touch" (see contact). The noun is from 1540s, "thing happening by chance;" as "a group forming part of a larger group" from 1727.

I don't excerpt OED because it doesn't explain the above definition. I wish to dig deeper than the definition, which I already understand and so ask NOT about. I heed the Etymological Fallacy.
What are some right ways of interpreting this etymology, so that it feels reasonable and intuitive?
How does to touch mean 'to happen by chance'? Suppose that X touches Y, and then Y occurs.
So X caused Y. So how does it make sense to say that Y happened by chance?


texts:
I just read The Jakarta Post
I've got this:

  "Prabowo changes style in campaign as poll nears"

what is the meaning of 'as poll nears', I've got some guesswork and I am not really sure about it, does that mean "the method to get the polling"?


texts:
The term appears in the International New York Times: "Radical Pope, Traditional Values":

  As a result of its work in basic health and education — and despite its obtuse views on birth control — in the last 50 years the church has probably lifted more people out of poverty than any other civic institution in history.

Internet (I forgot where) suggests that a 'civic institution' by definition cannot be a government (or a market participant). However, we also have

  civic Of, relating to, or belonging to a city, a citizen, or citizenship; municipal or civil.

and

  civil (not comparable) Having to do with people and government office as opposed to the military or religion.

This could be construed as excluding the Catholic Church (and including government).

So, what, if any, is a good definition of 'civic institution'? Or is the term ambiguous?


texts: Using "largely" to mean "significantly". Which is correct?

texts:
I have a question concerning usage of the word "largely". While proof-reading a text written by a colleague* I saw a phrase similar to the following:

"Because of these advantages, technique X largely contributed to the understanding of Y."

My gut feeling was that this doesn't convey the intended meaning of "X contributed a lot to Y", but rather "X mainly contributed to Y, and that's the most it ever did."

He came up with examples that seemed to confirm his use of the word, but most of them were English-language websites of non-English-speaking companies. My own Google research was somewhat inconclusive: some instances came up, but again with a large bias towards non-native speakers.

Which is right?

*Both of us are native German speakers.

EDIT: Perhaps I should clarify that I do not fear the original sentence, in its context, might be actually misunderstood in the way I suggested, just that it would stand out as improper use of the adverb, and break the flow of reading.


texts: Using (or not) the word "to" in a sentence ending with "be able"

texts:
Which of these is grammatically correct?

As educators, we are always looking for ways to reach all the learners in our classroom as effectively as we are able.
As educators, we are always looking for ways to reach all the learners in our classroom as effectively as we are able to.


texts:
In the March 4 issue of TLS a Mr. Brown wrote a letter recalling how when he was an undergraduate at Columbia and Allen Ginsberg came to give a reading, it was in fact the students that heaped scorn upon him, whereas most senior faculty treated him with what they (the students) saw as undue deference. At the end of the letter he writes:

  It was a time when American social and cultural totems were falling, something Highet, a pillar of the New York literary establishment, recognized and we young blancbecs did not.

This is the first instance of the word blancbec I've seen in English (it means a kind of arrogant upstart.) I was wondering if anyone knows of any usage in any other context (I have been unable to locate one.) Any other information - etymological or historical - would also be very welcome - especially if it sheds light as to how idiosyncratic an anglicization it is.


texts: "Very much true": how often have you heard a native speaker say that?

texts:
How often have you heard a native speaker say "very much true"?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzMx1Oo7hvg&t=0m18s


texts: Alcoholic beverage brought by groom as a gift to bride's family

texts:
I'm naturally an Estonian and we have a word called "kosjaviin" and it's a noun. In general it is a bottle of strong alcohol (~40%) brought by groom as a gift to the bride's family. The first part of the word means "betroth" and the other part means "vodka". In Estonia it is a traditional gift to the future in-laws on the day the groom pops the question.

My question is: "Does there exist a similar word in English?"

Additional questions are welcome!


texts: The phrase, “ Ya, boss,” is a senior executive’s response to his direct subordinates on occasion.  Executive is male, subordinates are female. Aside from the fact that the supervisor thinks he is being playful or light hearted, it sounds inappropriate.  Is it more of an insult?


texts:
Is there an online reference resource devoted to commentary on the finer points of usage, connotation, and word choice in English?

(E.g. what nuances/shades-of-meaning/usage considerations would inform the choice between "firmament", "(the) heavens" and "(the) heaven"? or between "spry" and "lively"? etc. etc.  I'm thinking of something in the spirit of the usage notes sprinkled—sparingly, unfortunately—throughout the M-W's Collegiate, but more extensive and up-to-date.)


texts: Is there a word for one side in a pair? In a conversation it would the the interlocutor, but I'm looking for a generic term.


texts:
What is the difference between
"I'll go to the sea."
and
"I will be going to the sea."

If it's ok with you, could you tell me how to use these?


texts: What are "identical words" as distinct from homonyms?

texts:
The wikipedia entry on homonyms contains the following diagram:

In the very center of that image is a category labeled "identical words" which is separate from the rest but is at the intersection of "Same spelling" and "Same meaning". So, apparently there are words that are spelled identically and have the same meaning but are considered separate words.

Am I reading the diagram wrong? If not, can someone explain what these words are and offer an example?


texts:
As far as I know, both are grammatically correct, so which one is best to use?

  My predictions of the future

Or:

  My predictions for the future


texts:
How are these two different?

  Build [something] out

vs.

  Build [something] up


texts:
i think it is possible to say 'throw someone overboard' (= meaning that person will thrown into the water)

in a similar sense, can you throw someone ashore (= from the boat to the pier, for example)?


texts: Meaning of 'Within 24 hours they will be shown for a & b times respectively' in this problem:

texts:
In a movie theatre two movies 'Avengers' and 'Inception' with running time of 3 & 4 hours respectively and ticket price of 15$ & 25$ respectively will be shown. Within 24 hours they will be shown for a & b times respectively such that a,b >= 1. What will be the value of a+b so that the theatre owner make the maximum profit out of it?
My confusion:
Here is it necessay to keep the theatre running for all 24 hours or it can be closed before 24 hours if the owner can make maximum profit??


texts:
We can say for example:

  It suffices to say that...

But I wonder if a similar verb exists that can be used for people(humans), e.g:

  He only (...) to explain the first part and skips over the second part, however, I find the second part more difficult. (I want to say: He(the author) has decided to avoid explaining the second part, because he has thought that it's been so uncomplicated_which is not the case about me of course_)

I know that I could say this

  He only explains the first part and...

and also this one

  He neglects to explain the second part and only explains the first part, however,...

but I feel I've heard another way for saying it too. I'm just trying to figure out if such word exists at all to fill the gap above.

I also found a very close option, which is the phrasal verb "settle for", but it doesn't apply to the example above, because the author has neglected explaining it more because of its "simplicity", whereas "settle for" is used in cases that the person "has not been able" to reach that amount of quality.(E.g: The team settled for a bronze medal.)

Thoughts?


texts:
Regarding the pronoun "your", ignoring the singular possessive form.

Is there some significance to the "prefix" y or is this a coincidence?

Our:  Collective possession, including me.
Y our:  Collective possession, excluding me.

I'm not sure if I had an epiphany or a burnout academic experience.


texts: Word for a somewhat dishonest action (like fibbing to save face); something like "cowardly" but not as strong

texts:
Imagine:

Two people are in an argument. One person, upon noticing their point has been refuted, says something like "I was just playing devil's advocate" or "I was just trolling."
A person says something insulting, and attempts to pad it by going "Haha, I'm just joking."
Bobby makes a mistake, and, upon being called out, justifies it by pointing out someone else's actions—and claiming they were the cause of Bobby's actions, which lead to the mistake

All of these things share something in common, and I want to refer to them in a similar way. It has something to do, maybe, with avoiding responsibility? I want to say "cowardly," but that's far too strong of a phrase.

If I wanted to say...

  Arguing your point, and then saying "Haha, just kidding. I'm just playing devil's advocate" is a bit... [word]

What could [word] be?


texts:
My professor tells me that the word i.e should be written with a brace and quotations outside it For example: "(i.e)"

is that the correct way?


texts:
I heard someone talked about "skimming stones" but read in a book about "stone skipping".

Is one from the US and the other from the UK ?
Is there any difference or do they have the exact same meaning ?


texts:
On the context of technical literature I have seen both of the mentioned verbs to introduce a problem formally.

Is there any nuance between them or they can be indistinguishably used?

The exact phrase I am interested on would be something like the following:

"The problem is [posed]/[posited] as a numerical optimization over..."


texts: What is the origin of "daemon" with regards to computing?

texts:
Daemon has an interesting usage in computing. From my local dictionary:

  a background process that handles requests for services such as print spooling and file transfers, and is dormant when not required

Does anyone know where this came from? I assume its relation to the word demon is notable. My dictionary also lists daemon as an archaic form of demon. Why did computing use daemon instead of demon?


texts:
What does "strike home" mean in this sentence?:

"This example ought to strike home for you"


texts: How to refer to something "demanding" which doesn't happen all of a sudden?

texts:
Looking for a verb to express something that requires some time and effort to evolve, like collecting.
I want to express that collecting requires some time and the collection doesn't just come out from a smoke, all of a sudden.
Any verb that describes this whole thing?

Thanks,


texts: Meaning of 'shot' as in "This could be my shot"

texts:
"This could be my shot"
What does the word "shot" mean?

It sounds like "This could be my chance/opportunity". Is that right?
And I wonder whether this sentence is too informal to use.


texts: Is continueability [continuability] a word?

texts: It appears that "Continueability" does not get a lot of hits on Google, which usually is a good indication to avoid it. What would be a good repalcement? "Ability to continue" doesn't do it for me.


texts:
I got a facial at the beauty salon.

Any dictionary I've checked confirms that facial can be a noun. For example, my Shorter Oxford calls it "A beauty treatment for the face" and dates it to the early 20th century.

What is the origin of facial as a noun? Did it come from a phrase in which it appeared as an adjective? Did something like "She got a facial treatment at the beauty salon" simply evolve to drop the noun?

If so, what was the original phrase? And when did the adjective become the noun? Who dropped the (other) noun - was it the professionals who provided the "facial treatments" (or "facial whatevers")?


texts: Difference between therapy mode and modality?

texts:
I don't really understand the word modality and how it's different from mode.
Merriam defines it as

1 a : the quality or state of being modal
b : a modal quality or attribute : form
2 : the classification of logical propositions (see proposition 1) according to their asserting or denying the possibility, impossibility, contingency, or necessity of their content
3 : one of the main avenues of sensation (such as vision)
4 : a usually physical therapeutic agency

And defines modal as

1 : of or relating to modality
2 : containing provisions as to the mode of procedure or the manner of taking effect —used of a contract or legacy
3 : of or relating to a musical mode
4 : of or relating to structure as opposed to substance
5 : of, relating to, or constituting a grammatical form or category characteristically indicating predication (see predication 2) of an action or state in some manner other than as a simple fact a modal verb
6 : of or relating to a statistical mode

Therapy modality seems to be used, in research, to indicate different kinds of therapy, like behavioral or cognitive therapy.  But why not use the word mode for that? If I type "therapy modes" in google, I get like 1/10th as many results than if I type "therapy modalities."


texts: What is the appropriate usage of "attentions"?

texts:
I recently wondered what the difference between attention and attentions was, as I've heard both, but couldn't think of or remember when someone would use attentions.

One definition for attentions gives "acts of courtesy, consideration, or gallantry, especially by a suitor."

So now I remember that attentions always seems to be used romantic contexts. I've personally never heard of it used in other ways.

So would it be appropriate to use attentions in a sentence such as:

  His neglected daughter just wants his attentions.

And would it be incorrect to say, "He wants his mom's sole attentions" to mean that he wants his mom's focus to solely be on him? I just think it's weird because sole, meaning 'one and only' is describing a plural word; just as "sole focuses" would be weird. I don't know if it's just me.


texts: Is it ever grammatically correct to say "I'm sure they're."

texts: I currently can't think of a good reason grammatically; but there are plenty in terms of clear communication.


texts: "IoT": How well understood is this abbreviation, especially when heard, not read?

texts:
How well understood is the abbreviation “IoT” for “Internet of things”?

A company has a product, let’s call it the “IoT Refrigerator.” At first glance, I personally had no idea what this “IoT” is. However, I see that the Wikipedia entry initially says “Internet of Things” and then uses “IoT.”

The company wants to make a video about this IoT Refrigerator, and so there will be repeated “eye oh tea” will do this and “eye oh tea” will do that, explaining this new technology.

Would it be best to simply say “Internet of things” in every case except for the product name itself? Or would it be ok to introduce the term in the long form (“Internet of Things, IoT”) and then just use the abbreviation after that.


texts:
What's the difference between "go to", "go for" and "go on"?

When can we use each of them?

For example:

books.google.ru:

  1. At the age of ten my teacher suggested I should go for an audition at the Royal Ballet School and I was fortunate enough to be accepted.

books.google.ru:

  2. If you go to an audition, and you look horrible, who's going to hire you?

books.google.ru:

  3. When you go on an audition, you're not guaranteed a job, or even a fair shot at a job.

Thanks!


texts: The difference between ''cringy'' and ''cringey''

texts:
Can anyone explain to me the difference between these two words?
I looked up them in a dictionary but I find the both meanings to be quite similar.
Also, is there any difference in their pronuncation? Thank you.


texts: How do you describe waking up in the morning brain functioning slowly?

texts: Is there an adjective describing waking up in the morning and feeling slow, not able to remember stuff and think slowly?


texts:
If we go by the word, an "automobile" should be anything that can move (mobile) on its own.  The etymology section under Wikipedia suggests so.
But dictionaries, Wikipedia, etc., say that its meaning is simply "car".

My question is: can planes, trains, and other vehicles be called automobiles? If not, how does this transaction happen (since etymology suggests that it can be anything that moves on its own)?


texts:
Does the word "midnight" mean only 12 o'clock at night?

Is 1:30 AM midnight? Could you teach me?


texts: We were taught at school that if we want to make something plural, we should add "s" at the end. Later on, I learned that there are uncountable nouns. Not so much familiar with it. Can you please give some examples?


texts: What is the origin of the word 'dashboard' - as in 'car's dashboard'?

texts:
The word certainly predates the motor car, and horse-drawn carts and carriages had dashboards which were:

  A board or leathern apron in the front of a vehicle, to prevent mud
  from being splashed by the heels of the horses upon the interior of
  the vehicle. Also, movable sides to a cart for the same purpose
  (Halliwell). (OED)

Doubtless this is where the name comes from. But why were they called dashboards? The verb dash means to strike or hit. Was it that the earliest dashboard was just a hit board for mud, stones etc?


texts:
I've encountered the following sentence:

order a helmet

Shouldn't it be "order an helmet" instead?


texts: Word describing a thing that faces all directions, or can be viewed from all directions

texts:
I'm looking for a word that describes an instance of a class of objects typically viewed from one angle (i.e. the front) but in this case is viewable or is interesting from all angles. For example, many sculptures may have a "dominant" or intended "front," but perhaps a sculpture like this one...

...might be intended to be viewed from all directions. This sculpture might be called a _______ sculpture.


texts: Specific use of "less" and "fewer" vis-à-vis the word "frequencies"

texts:
An interesting grammatical argument has come up with a friend of mine: which of the following sentences is correct, or are they both correct?

"The phone company can use less frequencies" or
"The phone company can use fewer frequencies"

The rule is to use "fewer" when you have an enumerable quantity, and in this case, there are an infinite number of frequencies (i.e. an uncountable amount). However — and this is the source of the argument — "less frequencies" sounds wrong to my ears due to the pluralization of "frequencies". That is, this is a case where the plural is used for an uncountable quantity.

So is there a rule for this case?

P.S. This friend of mine has convinced me that I'm an incorrigible pedant, but I am still curious. I promise I won't use your answers as ammunition


texts: What does it mean: ".. if the Neumann problem is to have a solution"

texts:
I am reading a mathematical book with the title of "The Numerical Solution of Integral Equations of the Second Kind." In the penultimate paragraph of the page 309, you read:

  The identity (7.1.6) can be used to prove (i) if the Neumann problem (7.1.3)
  has a solution, then it is unique up to the addition of an arbitrary constant; and (ii) if the Neumann problem is to have a solution, then the condition (7.1.4) is necessary.

The indicated part is really unclear to me; what does it mean?


texts:
Can there be a missing on when I say somebody leaves on some date? For example, is it okay if I say:

  We'll have to leave September 1st, because we have to be back in school on the 2nd.

instead of:

  We'll have to leave on September 1st, because we have to be back in school on the 2nd.


texts: Why is the clause "They filled me in on all the latest news from Cambridge" correct?

texts:
Why is it not like the following:
They filled the latest news from Cambridge in me.


texts: Is "you will be frowned upon" always an ominous understatement?

texts:
I am from the UK, and have always read phrases like "anyone who does this thing will be frowned upon" as ominous understatements portending heavy administrative action against violators.

For example, I recently interpreted a mod saying:

  Further attempts to [perform some action] will be frowned upon

...to be a threat in "mod voice" of potential mod action against anyone who dared perform the described action.

However, a Canadian argued that they had not interpreted it in this way at all.

Is this a regional variation?

If so, might it be an intensifier/mitigator difference, like "quite" is usually an intensifier in the UK intensifier, but a mitigator in the US? Someone "quite tired" in the UK is aching for sleep, but in the US would likely just welcome a sit down.

That is, if someone in power says this phrase in, say, Canada, is the implication ever that you will "[merely] be frowned upon [and nothing more]", rather than "be frowned upon [and subject to the speaker's wrath]"?


texts: What do you call two consecutive months; a sixth of a year?

texts:
Half a year is a semester, i.e. (literally) 6 months. Since it’s often wrongly thought to derive from semi- ‘half’, there’re contradicting definitions of similar terms: Both a trimester and a (rare) quadmester are either 3 months, i.e. a fourth of a year, or a third of a year, i.e. 4 months. The definitions are mutually exclusive, that means the terms never mean the same duration in the same context. These are academic terms that usually subdivide the academic year from autumn to autumn, not the calendar year. Human pregnancies are also often divided into 3 three-month trimesters.

In economics and accounting, a quarter or quarter-year is often used, which is either defined as 3 months or as 13 weeks, i.e. 90–92 days. The possible alternative term fourth is not being used, as far as I know.

What would you call a sixth part of the calendar year, i.e. 2 collective months or about 60 days?

From other European languages, I’d assume sextal, but the OED only lists ‘base 6’ as a meaning of that word (like ‘octal’) and it’s not quartal (or tertial and quintal) in English but quarter – alas, sexter seems just wrong. Sometimes the Romance x becomes an s, and sester used to be a (Middle) English measure indeed.
I could also go Greek (hexa-) instead of Latin.

I guess double-month or di-/bi-month could also work.
A neologism is fine as long as it’s understandable and doesn’t raise wrong associations like a six-month span.


texts: Sometimes knobs have a certain mechanism built in (like a detent) that gives them a bit of resistance by design - so that they are more difficult to twist to varying degrees. I'm looking for a word or technical phrase to describe this type of action. Something that means "difficult to twist" but not necessarily "sticky" because it is by design, not due to lack of lubricant or corrosion.


texts: Difference between "question" and "query"

texts:
What is the difference between a question and a query? It seems that in certain circumstances, the words are interchangeable:

  I have one further question.

  I have one further query.

But, other times they are not:

  The police officer questioned the man.

  The police officer queried the man.


texts:
I was wondering whether or not the word 'still' could ever have the meaning of 'as well' or 'also'. Translating a sentence into English, I came up with: 'My life has been a lie and my death a lie still.' For some reason it feels good to me, but I need to know if it's grammatically correct, or if it makes any sense at all.
Thank you very much!


texts: Is there an adjective meaning "pertaining to friction"?

texts:
A friend and I were discussing Apple earbuds. I said that the cables used to be coated with smooth plastic, but on the newer ones, the coating is closer to rubber, so the cables get tangled up easily.

I wanted to say, "I don't like the new, frictive cables." The only problem being that "frictive" isn't a word.

I've searched the OED and thesaurus.com, but haven't come up with a good word meaning "pertaining to friction" or "having the property of offering friction when rubbed." Does anyone have any ideas?


texts: Is saying 'What did you think' acceptable?

texts:
Can you please tell me what is correct:

The situation is that you have been to a movie with another person.  At the end of the movie you ask:

  What did you think of the movie?

I want to know that persons thoughts of the movie and even though an opinion is used in the present, the movie finished and I want to know what they thought.  Is it correct to use this form?


texts: "Avoided" categorized as a type of presupposition

texts:
while reading a Wiki page about pragmatics and presuppositions, I came upon this explanation:

Some further implicative predicates: [...] X avoided Ving » X was expected to, or usually did, or
ought to V, etc.

I don't understand how it presupposes the implication of "usually did".
If one says: "Tom avoided gaining weight." I could understand it presupposes Tom should have gained weight, ie. expected to gain weights. Yet, it seems to be a stretch to presuppose Tom usually gained weight.
Would someone please help explain? Thank you so much for helping!


texts: express to fall flipping uncontrollably from a high place

texts:
Hi everyone is there a common way to express an uncontrolled fall, when the body goes flipping on it self before crashing. like in diving for example so that the question wouldn't be restricted starting 18 and above haha.

anyway thanks for your help.


texts: Obviously other than false accuser. Something like charlatan but specifically when someone is making a false claim against another.


texts: Using 'a dime a dozen' in the 'so...that' construction

texts:
This Forbes article titled "There Are 6 'Strongest Materials' On Earth That Are Harder Than Diamonds" has this paragraph:

The quest to make materials harder, stronger, more scratch-resistant, lighter, tougher, etc., is probably never going to end. If humanity can push the frontiers of the materials available to us farther than ever before, the applications for what becomes feasible can only expand. Generations ago, the idea of microelectronics, transistors, or the capacity to manipulate individual atoms was surely exclusive to the realm of science-fiction. Today, they're so common that we take all of them for granted.

In the last sentence, I'd like to use the idiom 'a dime a dozen' instead of 'so common'. But I don't know how to use it. Can I simply replace 'so common' with 'a dime a dozen'? Or do I need 'such' instead?

(1) they're so common that we take all of them for granted
(2) they're a dime a dozen that we take all of them for granted
(3) they're such a dime a dozen that we take all of them for granted

If neither (2) nor (3) works, which I suspect neither doesn't, how can I use this phrase in the sentence?


texts:
The context is an Internet platform to which http requests are sent. In a sentence like this:

The system behaves differently when users' requests increase.

what is the correct usage of user request terminology?
I have the following doubts:

I think the article is not needed: is it? (when users' requests vs when the users' requests)
Is saxon genitive mandatory, optional or must it not be used at all? I am more comfortable with user request expression but often I found the user's request expression.
plural: are user requests and users requests both valid? If so are they interchangeable or are there some differences?


texts: What's a good adjective to whether a set/range can be "tessellated"

texts:
Say I have the concept of a "Range", which is basically an "Interval" in Mathematics. If a range is inclusive ("closed") on one end and exclusive on the other, it has the following property:

  It can be placed immediately before or after another range with the same inclusiveness of both endpoints and leave no gaps or overlapping.

For example, given the ranges 0-5 and 5-10, if their starts are inclusive and their ends are exclusive, they can be appended to form the range 0-10. However, if their starts and ends are both inclusive or exclusive then appending them will result in either an overlap or a gap.

What is the most suitable adjective or adjectival phrase I can use to describe a range that has this property? The best I can think of is tessellatable, which is really more about geometry and seems uncommon.


texts:
What is the difference between "across" a field and "through" a field?

What is the difference between "across" water and "through" water?


texts: When to use aware / conscious / deliberate?

texts: As far as I understood, aware and conscious are synonyms in which the last one being more formal.Is deliberate even more formal or highlighting an aspect I didn't get yet?


texts:
I was wondering what would be the right pronoun to use in this sentence:

  a person sees something that ... really likes

he, they, s/he ?


texts: Would the adjectival form of "on the premises" be on-premise, on premise, or on-premises?

texts:
I am familiar with the origin of the word premises as it relates to property, both land and structure (relayed here: Is "premises" always plural?). I want to know if there is an accpetable adjectival form.

So which of the following is most correct and which are acceptable?

Virtual events are less effective than on-premise.
Virtual events are less effective than on premise.
Virtual events are less effective than on-premises.

(I know that reforming the sentence so that it doesn't use an adjective would likely be best, but what is the runner up?)


texts: How do I continue a sentence that contains a quote mid-sentence

texts:
The following question is quite similar, but it's not a duplicate because my example sentence does not follow up with a conjuction.
Which instance of the following sentence is right:

We cannot expect another person to say, "That is correct" if we appeal to circular reasoning.
We cannot expect another person to say, "That is correct," if we appeal to circular reasoning.
We cannot expect another person to say, "That is correct." if we appeal to circular reasoning.

I'm particularly interested in how this should be resolved according to Chicago Manual of Style.
I'm aware that I could reword the sentence in the ways presented below, but I would prefer to have an answer to my question:

We cannot expect another person to conclude that we are correct if we appeal to circular reasoning.
If we appeal to circular reasoning, we cannot expect another person to agree with us.
If we appeal to circular reasoning, we cannot expect another person to say, "That is correct."


texts:
I saw in various dictionaries that Debit has a verb definition.
Example from Dictionary.com:

verb (used with object)

to charge with a debt: The store debited her account for the purchase.
to charge as a debt: The store debited the purchase to her account.

However, I couldn't find any example sentences which people actually used containing the verb form of debited.
I need do decide whether I want to use this word in our company documentation instead of "charge", for the sake of consistency.
For example:
Specify the item for which the customer is being debited.
Also - assuming the word can be used in this manner - is it OK to say that a person is being debited, or can only accounts be debited?
Thank you in advance for your help.


texts: What does the noun "lucker" mean? It's not in the Webster, but Google does give search results for such key phrases as "I am a lucker" or "He is a lucker" (and those are not misspellings like "luckier" or "lurker"). So people DO use that word. I myself heard it a number of times. And if they use it, it should have some meaning. So, here is my question: what does the noun "lucker" mean?


texts:
According to OED, the most common use of "terse" is:

  Freed from verbal redundancy; neatly concise; compact and pithy in
  style or language.

I've see some usage of terse conciseness, or terse brevity, or similar constructions. To me that seems redundant, even ironic. Am I wrong?


texts:
I have a prompt that allows the user to input a date used to generate a report. The date is used to find records.

date is on MM/DD/YY
date is before MM/DD/YY
date is after MM/DD/YY
date is between MM/DD/YY and MM/DD/YY

My question is for the first prompt. The word on doesn't seem correct to me, and using the phrase is equal to sounds to technical.

What would be the best way to write "date is on MM/DD/YY".

NOTE: I can not remove the third word. So "date is MM/DD/YY" is not an option, because "on/before/after" are part of a drop down selection. See sample image below.


texts: 'Both', 'each', or 'either', when there can only be two of something?

texts:
a) He had a gun in both hands.
b) He had a gun in each hand.
c) He had a gun in either hand.

In a) there are two hands but only one gun. Clear.
In b) there are two hands and two guns, one per hand. Clear.
You would find c) in sentences questioning whether or denying that he had a gun in one hand or the other, or even two guns, one per hand. Clear too.
But how about

c) There were trees on both sides of the street.
d) There were trees on each side of the street.
e) There were trees on either side of the street.

Two sides, trees on one side and trees on the other side. Why the different determiners then? What shades of meaning?


texts:
I read the following sentence in an essay:

The number of visitors to France is approximately between 8 and 10 million each year.

Can I replace "and" with "to", as follows:

The number of visitors to France is approximately between 8 to 10 million each year.


texts: Meaning of " he is welcome to attend and take part"

texts:
I am helping my son with an application for an after-school program. I asked the coach if they would still accept new students. The coach emailed me back:

  While we have selected the kids who are moving on in the competition
  he is welcome to attend and take part.

I am confused. Is this a "yes" or "no"?


texts: "State of Maryland" or "state of Maryland"?

texts:
When referring to a U.S. state in a formal document, is it correct to capitalize "State," or should it remain uncapitalized?

For example:

This school is accredited by the State of Maryland
OR
This school is accredited by the state of Maryland


texts: Capitalize name of document section when used in text sentence?

texts:
I file briefs with appellate courts. Each brief has a section called a "Table of Contents" and one called a "Table of Authorities," where the "C" and the "A" are capitalized because those phrases are the titles of those sections.

What if I want to refer to those sections in the text of the brief or in the text of a motion accompanying the brief? Should I capitalize as it is capitalized in the titles of those sections, or treat the phrases as common nouns? E.g.,

  "I revised the table of contents in the brief."


texts:
If both predicates pertain to the same subject, do I need to use an 'and' to separate them?

Example:  Mrs. Hayes takes her son by the arm, tries to pull him from us, but Elijah pries his bicep from her grip and steps away.

Is that right? Or must I say

Mrs. Hayes takes her son by the arm and tries to pull him from us, but Elijah pries his bicep from her grip and steps away.


texts: Need help with repetitive use of a company name

texts:
I have a question regarding a report I'm preparing for a company. Since I'm not affiliated with the company, I have to refer to them in the third person. In this case, do I need to use the company's name every time or can I just use the company?

For example, let's say the company is Apple. Should it be:

  Apple is _______. Apple is also _______. Apple aims to _______.

Or:

  Apple is _______. The company is also _______. The company
  aims to _______.


texts: Is "human" sometimes pronounced as "yuman" and why?

texts: I can hear people say "human" without the h-sound, while in other words like "huge", the h isn't dropped.


texts: Why is a problem with tendons called tendinopathy?

texts:
Why is a problem with tendons called "tendinopathy"?
i.e. why does the o in tendon change to an i?


texts: Is it possible to use "should have" in a conditional sentence type 3?

texts:
I know it's possible to say:
If I had studied more, I wouldn't have failed my exam.

Rules given in some Russian student's books let me say:
If I had studied more, I shouldn't have failed my exam.

But my American teacher says the above variant is impossible.

Whom should I believe? Can we use "should have + verb (3 form)" in this case?


texts: Which sentence is right: "On Saturdays I play video games." vs "I play video games on Saturdays"?

texts:
Which sentence is correct:

On Saturdays I play video games.
I play video games on Saturdays.

I think that both are correct but I got this sentence as incorrect in a test.
I searched the web for examples and found phrases where the time is placed at the beginning and at the end:

On New Year’s Day, the whole family gets together.
The folk festival is always held on the last weekend in July.


texts: Is "are you done for" similar to "are you ready for"?

texts:
I heard this question: "Are you done for sushi?". I guess the guy who asked this question meant "Are you ready to eat sushi?".

Is it right or did I mishear the question?


texts: Possible use of "formal": absence of rigor

texts:
According to the Oxford Dictionary, the word "formal" used as an adjective has, among other definitions, these meanings ([...] are examples or precisions):

  Done in accordance with convention or etiquette; suitable for or constituting an official or important occasion: [...]
  Officially sanctioned or recognized: [...]
  Of or concerned with outward form or appearance as distinct from content: [...]

The definitions 1. and 2. may have an opposite meaning to 3. in some contexts. More precisely, in mathematics, one often uses the adjective "formal" to express the absence of rigor (content) and emphasize on the idea that what is exposed is heuristic and makes sense in terms of symbols (outward form/appearance). There is a question about the use of the word "formal" in mathematics on the mathematics community.

However, it seems that "formal" and the derived adverb "formally" are generally used to express rigor, at least in common language (this is my observation and there is a high chance that it is biased since I am not a native speaker of English and I do not live in an English-speaking country). Searching for questions containing the word "formal" on this community mostly yields posts were the meaning is 1. Even the description of the tag formality refers to the meaning 1.

When writing in English, if I want to make one understand that I do not focus on rigor, I use the words "informal" and "informally", to emphasize the fact that it bears (motivational) informations and not rigor. This does not quite satisfy me, as I am not sure if my worries about the use and possible ambiguity of "formal" are founded on existing subtleties of its meaning and use.

Is the word "formal" really often used to mean "without rigor" as used in mathematics papers and books? Or is it a particularity of mathematical/scientific usage of the word?


texts:
Which is correct: "To believe this is committing a fallacy" or "To believe this is to commit a fallacy"?

Context: "When a conditional expression and its consequent are both true, one cannot automatically infer its antecedent. To believe the contrary is  committing/to commit a fallacy known as affirming the consequent".

Edit: I changed "incurring/to incur" to "committing/to commit", but I'm still hearing proposals...