texts:
Could someone please tell me whether it is possible to use Dissimilar and Different interchangeably?

  Belief, concept and opinion may be different from individual to individual.

Can we replace the word 'Different' with the word 'Dissimilar' in the above sentence without changing it's meaning?


texts: Rule of punctuation when a principal sentence is followed by two or more subordinate sentences

texts:
I put below a text I found in a written reply I came across:

  "...in the Audit Report, it is stated that we did not rebut the Draft Audit Report (DAR). The actual fact is otherwise: we had prepared a written submission against the DAR; when we went to submit the same to Sales Tax Office, the Receiving Clerk, before receiving the written representation, asked us to get an initial of Mr. Dharmendra Verma on the written representation in compliance with the practice prevalent in that office; when we requested Mr. Verma to put the initial, he kept the written representation with himself and asked us to visit him on a later date; we paid several visits to him on the later dates as, each time we visited him on a later date, he asked us to visit him on a still later date; he has not yet put the initial and the written representation is still laying with him. So, it is not true that we did not rebut the DAR."

In the text quoted above,  the writer, in order to introduce a story, first puts an introductory sentence as follows:

  "The actual fact is otherwise:"

and then unfolds the story in five sentences that follow the introductory sentence. After the introductory sentence is written, the story that the writer seeks to introduce gets initiated, but remains incomplete until all the five following sentences that unfold the story are written. It is perhaps for this reason that the writer first punctuates the introductory sentence with a colon (:) and then punctuates all intermediate sentences with a semicolon (;) before he punctuates the final sentence closing the story with a full stop (.).

I do not know if this rule of punctuation is okay. Can anybody shed some light?

In the instant text, the story consisted of just five sentences, so the punctuation pattern (first a colon, then one or more semicolons and, finally, a full stop) was workable. In case a story is lengthier, say consisting of twenty sentences or thirty, the reader, by the time he finishes the story, would forget the context that he was in when he started reading the story. Cannot in that case the writer resort to put the entire story in a separate paragraph with usual punctuation and no need to punctuate as aforesaid?


texts: Is there a word for "galaxy" that doesn't reference milk?

texts:
I am writing fictional stories that are universe-wide, and I feel like the world "galaxy" is too mammal-centric and Milky Way-centric because it involves a reference to milk.
Is there any other way to call a large unit of stars like this?
Examples:

Shulamit is from a ____ called NGC 7840.
The sun, Betelgeuse and UY Scuti are all located in Milky Way _____.


texts: Is there a term for words that have identical singular and plural forms?

texts:
Is there a term for nouns that have identical singular and plural forms? For example,

sheep
fish
glasses
aircraft/spacecraft

etc.


texts: What's a more powerful phrase with the same basic meaning as "no adjustment"?

texts:
What is a powerful phrase to describe the failure of a person or organization to react to a large change in the environment?

Three examples:

Mapquest continued to use static pages even after the bandwidth and browsers were available to allow interactive mapping. This failure allowed Google maps to overtake Mapquest.
Mr. Incredible continued performing hero-work in secret even when the world demanded that he stop, almost resulting in Buddy/Syndrome killing Mr. Incredible.
The Human Genome Project failed to adopt the shotgun sequencing approach immediately when it was demonstrated to be superior. Instead, Celera genomics, a much smaller and less well-funded effort used shotgun sequencing and produced the first human genome.

"No adjustment" is has the right basic meaning, but doesn't fully capture the severity of these examples.


texts:
In A. E. Housman's With rue my heart is laden:

  WITH rue my heart is laden
    For golden friends I had,
  For many a rose-lipt maiden
    And many a lightfoot lad.

he refers to laden as loaded, burdened with regrets. But laden differs from loaded according to a pocketbook I have.

Can somebody help with the big difference?


texts: Why “king & queen” but not “roi & reine”?

texts:
If I am not mistaken, modern English language has a large influence from Old French through the Norman invasion by William the Conqueror in 1066 and subsequent Norman monarchs.

However, the modern words used in reference to male and female rulers in a monarchy are king and queen, derived from Old English cyning and cwen respectively.

But if the new rulers brought with them their language, why aren't monarchs today called something derived from roi and reine, or something along those lines?

Is it something the new rulers chose, maybe to bring themselves closer to their new subjects? Or did the population keep calling the new rulers cyning and cwen, regardless of the language the rulers brought with them, and it simply stuck? Or is it something completely different?


texts: what does somebody's "release date" mean?

texts:
I am reading a book "Pro git", in the preface, the author says:

  I would like to dedicate this, my first print book, to my little girl, Josephine,  whose release date was nearly the same as this book’s.

So what does "Josephine's release date" mean? birthday? wedding day? or other meaning?


texts: What's the better preposition to use with "love" -- "love for" or "love of"?

texts:
He had always had a fond love of  literature.

Love of something or love for something? What's the correct preposition to be used with love, in the above context?


texts:
I am a software developer. I am looking for a good verb that I can use to convey to people that I made a set of changes to a piece of code that made the code more modular. In other words, I took a bunch of tightly coupled code and broke it out into a bunch of smaller blocks that can now be easily interchanged.

I don't really like "modularized" although it appears to be an accepted term.

Are there any good synonyms?


texts: The other side of the 'certifier' person

texts:
So let's say I have person A certifying person B.
I call person A a 'certifier' - the one who certifies.
Is there a single word to describe a person B - the one who is being certified?

For simplicity the certification is a process where person A ensures person B possesses certain property.


texts: Is there a word or short phrase for when someone brings up a topic then tries to drop it or move on from it?

texts:
I am curious as to if there is a phrase or word for when some one brings something up then tries to drop it.

I suffer mild OCD and my biggest trigger and cause of a lot of ruined social encounters are the events when somebody goes...
"Last Thursday.... Oh sorry dont worry I never should have mentioned that"
Or
"I had this great story... But I shouldn't say"
This seems to happen a lot around me, so I wondered if it has a name as it must happen around others too, even if they are able to accept it needn't be discussed.
Thanks very much !


texts: Full Steam Ahead ... malappropriated when applied to Trains?

texts: Would the phrase "Full Steam Ahead" be appropriate to use in reference to trains? I know there where plenty of steam powered trains, but I thought it was a nautical term. Would it have been used by the Engineer (Assuming that is the name for the chief train operator.)?


texts: Do the notes that are folded into paper airplanes and thrown across classrooms by kids, have a special name?


texts: what does "it's time I told you" mean and why past tense here?

texts:
I'm watching Suits TV Series, and there was something that caught my attention. 2 guys meet, have a drink, chat, and then one guy says:

  I mean it's time I told you. I made a deal with Darby to take over the
  firm from Jessica.

Why is "told you" in paste tense? What exactly does it mean? He is saying that news right now. If I were to say that, I would say "it's time to tell you" or "it's time I'm gonna tell you".

Thanks!


texts: "team of engineers IS standing by" or "team of engineers ARE standing by"?

texts: Which is correct: "Our team of engineers is standing by" or "Our team of engineers are standing by"?


texts: "Because you have more money than sense"

texts:
I saw an advertising poster on a Samsung shop that was saying "iPhone 5, because you have more money than sense".

But I don't get it, is that even a correct sentence?


texts: Can anyone tell me what exactly sweeping bow means please?

texts:
I'd like to know if anyone can elaborate the sentence below (from the Red Headed League by Conan Doyle), specifically the characters movement?

He made a sweeping bow to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the detective.

Is this "sweeping bow" just a courteous bow where you lower your head very low (almost as if bending over)?
Or does this indicate specific movements quintessential in western customs  that I don't know? Like..

1  Turning over your hat
2  Pulling one of your legs back
3  Raising your hand and putting it down (or putting before your chest)
4  (Or even) Making your leg in a circular movement (sweeping) on a floor?

I couldn't look it up or google it up.
What kind of bow it is? Thank you.


texts: Usage of 'in' in 'the series end in 4 games'

texts: I saw a sentence : The series end in 4 games. Does this sentence mean the series end after 4 games, or the series end b4 games, or the series end at 4th game?


texts: What is the opposite of "to stink" (v)? Is there one at all?

texts: Specifically I'm looking for an antonym of the infinitive rather than the noun. For example, "fragrance" is an antonym of "stink" (the noun), but you can't say "Wow, that fragrants" or "Wow that fragrances" in the way you can say "Wow that stinks".


texts:
I'm looking for a verb that describes falling over forwards - for example, if you're setting on a chair and someone shoves you from behind. What's the proper word to use here?

Thanks a lot!
Nicolas


texts: Is there an English equivalent for the expression "Playing the flute to a buffalo"?

texts: There is a saying in India, "Playing the flute to a buffalo" (is wasteful), generally used in the context of knowledge imparting to a stupid person. At the end of the day, stupidity still remains. Is there an English equivalent for that?


texts: Are what-cha and arent-cha examples of elision?

texts:
Are these words examples of elision? What effect do they create? If a child says them what does this suggest about their language development?
Thanks for any help!!


texts: To assay, assess, measure, determine or quantify, in scientific writing?

texts:
Suppose I do many experiments, to know some unknown value, or to
know how some value changes, the amount, rate or amplitude.

When I describe my experiments in English, how do choose from verbs “quantify” “assay” “assess” “measure”, and “determine”? Can these be used interchangeably? If so, it better to loop over these words à la round robin, or to stick with my favourite? Does the nature of experiment procedures matter, e.g. whether the result is obtained by visually comparing the size of two shapes, or from a machine read count?

Quoted from dictionaries:

Determine, to ascertain the presence, quantity, or amount of; as, to determine the salt in sea water.(1913 Webster)
Quantify, to discover or express the quantity of.(Collins COBUILD)
Assess, to fix or determine the rate or amount of.(1913 Webster)
Assay, to subject to chemical analysis, as in the determination of the amount of impurity; to test, analyse, or evaluate.(Collins COBUILD)
Measure, to ascertain by use of a measuring instrument; to compute or ascertain the extent, quantity, dimensions, or capacity of, by a certain rule or standard; to take the dimensions of.(1923 Webster)

I know there are also “find out”, and “analyse”. I think those are more general or abstract, right?


texts:
This is a region-specific question--Indian English

I have noticed when working with colleagues from India that they use the word 'doubts' where the typical American would use the word 'questions' or 'concerns'.  This is most prevalent at the end of a meeting or discussion where an Indian colleague will ask "Do you have any doubts?"

I have noticed the same word being used in the same way on several StackExchange forums (I assume from Indian users) and I'm curious how this word came to be used this way in India.  I don't think I've ever heard this in British English (should that be the Queen's English?), so I doubt it started directly during the colonization period.

How, then, did it come about?

Edit-clarification for some very good point already provided in answers below:

In current American English, 'doubt' could be considered to be a synonym of 'question', but the difference is that 'doubt' implies lack of belief rather than lack of knowledge.

For instance, a math teacher may explain that any number raised to the 0 power is 1.  For the uninitiated it may seem counter-intuitive because raising to a power implies multiplication and any number multiplied by 0 is 0, not 1.  In this case an American student might say "I have doubts", meaning "I don't believe you", rather than "I don't understand you."


texts: What is the simple form of this complex sentence?

texts:
I am little bit confused of making this complex sentence into simple sentence. The sentence is:

  As I was ill, I could not attend the class.

However, I made three types of simple sentence of this but don't know which is more precise and correct. The three simple sentences are given below:

  Being ill, I could not attend the class.
  I could not attend the class being ill.
  I could not attend the class for being ill.

Are they all correct? Are they have the same meaning? If not please then please clarify.


texts: When to pronounce long u as "yoo" or "ooo"

texts:
Can you look at a word and see if a "u" should be pronounced as "ooo" or "yoo" by using some set of rules, or do you just have to know the correct pronunciation ahead of time?

For example:

cop[u]late "yoo"
l[u]minate "ooo"
r[u]minate "ooo"
imm[u]ne "yoo"
cons[u]me  "ooo"
comm[u]ne "yoo"


texts: What is the English word for "young woman"?

texts:
How do you say "young woman" without using the word "young" and without using overly slang words such "broad" or "chick"?
I am trying to translate word from my native language, which is Hebrew: בחורה
The main motivation is to respectfully compliment a middle-aged woman by referring to her as young woman.
The backstory to this question is a conversation, in Hebrew, that I had with my wife and a middle aged woman that we just met. At one point in the conversation I turned to my wife and said: so what this <בחורה==young woman in Hebrew> here is saying is that so so and so. Our new acquittance took it really well and considered it as a great compliment. I am curious if there such a word in English that has the same meaning, that is if I use it in the same context, would be received as well.


texts:
I've heard from somewhere in this website that being can be deleted after almost every preposition... which aroused many questions as to the usage of being for me.

Today, I encountered this sentence:

  It was not even close to straight.

What I normally prefer:

  It was not even close to being straight.

The original author of the sentence did not include "being" in this sentence, and I wondered if it was fine to do so, as it was just a comment for some silly video (not very credible). This sounded slightly too elided, but not so much that I detected the horrendous ungrammaticality.

So my question is this. Is it grammatical and not informal to delete the being here? And also, is the rumor (at least to me, it is) true that "being" is redundant after the prepositions so is almost always deleted?


texts: structure of sentence with an economics content

texts:
I want to reword the following:
"The ability of trade balance to withstand the acceleration of wages depends negatively on the level of employment. "
Thank you so much FumbleFingers and Weather Vane for helping me narrow down my options. I really appreciate your help! So we have 2 options:

The response of the balance of trade to the acceleration of wages varies inversely with the level of employment.

The extent to which the trade balance is affected by wage acceleration depends inversely on the employment level.

Which is more appropriate?


texts: A word or short phrase instead of "the time taken between xxx and xx is..."

texts:
In looking for a word or short phrase to replace "the time taken in between milestone A and milestone B".
For example a project plan has 4 milestones:
Milestone 1: project initiative
Milestone 2: submit proposal
Milestone 3: deliver a working prototype
Milestone 4: submit a business plan

Different projects take different time in these milestones. Project A may take {12,10,5,8} days. Project B may take {20,6,15,4} days.
The days taken might be affected by human (e.g. forget, too busy etc), I am looking for a phrase to embody this.
So when describing the time (days) taken in between the milestones, what is the good and simple way to say, instead of "the days required from project initiative to submit proposal is 12".
Thank you.


texts: What does "lemon on" mean in this context?

texts:
What does the phrase lemon on mean in this context? Is it an idiom? What is its correct usage?

Excerpt from where I read this phrase:

  ... Hold on, for this deal, one that does not exist anywhere outside a
  very fertile imagination, could actually be a lemon on at least five
  counts.  These are the lures that should alert you and beg a recheck before you book the deal.

Source: How to Avoid Common Travel Traps


texts: Meaningless "Do" And the supposed relationship between English and the Celtic languages

texts:
The verb "do" often serves a meaningless purpose in questions. John McWhorter argues in his book "Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue" that this is a direct influence of the Celtic languages. In all of my studies of linguistics and philology I have never before seen anything concerning this hypothesis. Is this a widely accepted theory? If so, who are some other proponents? If not, what are other theories about the origin of the meaningless "do?"

Example of meaningless "do."
Do we need to go to the store?

In most languages, this phrase would roughly be stated as...
Need we go to the store?

Thank you in advance for your answers.


texts:
I am a high school student studying English in Korea. I am asking this question because school changed the original text on the English test. So, I have some question and want to get your explanations. please check it up and answer. Have a happy day. thx
[Question]
When reading another scientist’s findings, think critically about the experiment. Ask yourself: Were observations recorded during or after the experiment? Do the conclusions make sense? Can the results be repeated? Are the sources of information reliable? You should also ask if the scientist or group conducting the experiment was unbiased. Being unbiased means that you have no special interest in the outcome of the experiment. For example, if a drug company pays for an experiment to test how well one of its new products works, there is a special interest involved: The drug company profits from the experiment it shows that its product is effective. Therefore, the experimenters aren’t objective. They might ensure the conclusion is positive and benefits the drug company. When assessing results, think about any biases that may be present!
[Original text]
: The drug company profits if the experiment shows that its product is effective.
In this question, The answer indicates "shows" in bold is not correct.
So, Can you tell me what should be used instead of "shows" in question and
what "it" is in bold.


texts: A term for non-player targetted information

texts:
I'm looking for a term that would describe the information that is not supposed to be known by players, not essential for their gaming experience.

Like a game object (or feature) that isn't actually present (or is not directly addressed by its name) in the game, but some other game objects are based on its functionality.

Or a kind of a backstage game object whose functionality is inherited by several other very important game objects, most of which have names, and are known to players, but that base object is supposed to stay a secret, because it doesn't actually mean or do much by itself, so it is of little to none importance to players.


texts: How did "at once" get to be used to mean "immediately"?

texts:
How did "at once" become an idiom meaning "do this immediately" or "as soon as possible"?

I just thought of this question after seeing this old UK WWI Propaganda poster in the link below. I glanced over it, and thought it seemed a bit awkward to be used in this way. Which made me curious about how it came to be used in this manner.

Only way I could think of how this came to be used, is if they were referring to a "timer" starting or something. As if it means "start at the first moment", or "start at the first chance". Maybe, "first" somehow being implemented as "at once"?

Either way, I cant find any references in regards to how "at once" first became used in this manner.


texts: Where does the term "key-thong" (for flip-flops) come from?

texts: In the east Bay Area of California, in the early '60's, we called flip flops key-thongs. (The spelling is likely wrong as I couldn't read at the time.) We moved to New Mexico in the late 60's, where they had no idea what that meant. Does anyone remember the term? Was it Bay Area dialect? Where did it come from?


texts: Does anyone in the UK say flat building? I live in the US, mind, so I have no clue. It sounds a bit funny saying that. Do they say apartment building instead, maybe? Or is there another word for a whole building of flats?


texts: How was the letter -u- written in Old English?

texts:
I was reading the etymology for 'come (v.)' when I encountered:

  [...] The substitution of Middle English -o- for Old English -u- before -m-, -n-, or -r- was a scribal habit before minims to avoid misreading the letters in the old style handwriting, which jammed letters. The practice similarly transformed some, monk, tongue, worm. Modern past tense form came is Middle English, probably from Old Norse kvam, replacing Old English cuom. [...]

Are there any illustrations or depictions of texts, to help me visualise and discern how this problem of misreading caused this morphological substitution (from -u- to -o-)? I Googled to no avail.


texts: Why do we say my goodness?  It doesn't sound appropriate for the contexts in which it is used.  Both the my and the goodness don’t seem to bear on a surprising or startling situation.  When was it started, and why?


texts: What do you call a person who takes interest in analyzing people's handwritings?

texts: Is there any single word that is used to indicate a person who reads the psychological aspect of people's handwritings (like what they believe and what type of people they are, etc.)?


texts:
I was told the other day that when writing a report, the first occurrence of a word should be in quotes and all further occurrences should not. When I asked whether there was a rule to which words should be in quotes, he could not give definite criteria. I have since looked through some of his work and found that he puts an awful lot of nouns in quotation marks following the above rule. And it is not like he ever defines them in the text, they are just in quotes the first time that they appear.

My question is: is the above an actual rule for proper grammar? If it is not, is there a similar one that he might have got mixed up with? Or is it simply not a rule and just something he made up? I certainly hadn't heard about a rule like it before talking to him.


texts: A word similar to "Donate" but more freely provided to

texts:
Are there any other words similar to these words:

Award, Bestow, Donate, Grant, Give, Provide, Tax

...that give a meaning of:  I freely give to you a portion what I have acquired or earned, without hesitation or expectation of anything in return. You are owed this, without question. There is no emotion involved with this transaction. It just is what it is.

For example: as a member of the Thief's Guild, 20% of everything you acquire will be ______ to the Guild.

Bestowed and Granted are very close...

Any other ideas?


texts:
So I need a little help confirming something.

This sentence:

  [...] key components of urine (urea, creatinine and uric acid) were not diluted in the fluid.

Does it mean that key components of urine was found in the fluid, at concentrated levels, or that the key components was not found in the fluid?

I think that the key components was found, at concentrated levels, but since english is not my first language, and in my language, this could be interpreted in such a way that it sounds like the key components were "watered-down".

Also, I could not find another example of use of the word "diluted" (antonym. "not diluted"), in such a way that it's causing the confusion.
I suppose it is a case of bad sentence strucuring (Something I am almost certainly guilty of when writing this question).

So which is it? Were the key components present at higher levels, or at lower levels?

Thanks.


texts: What does this phrase mean ‘so much for something’?

texts:
I was reading an article on ESPN and at the end it said ‘so much for team loyalty’.

Can anyone explain what this means?


texts:
I'm trying to understand the meanings of must with a lexical verb in present continuous.
Usually "must" means the judgement of the speaker (epistemic modality).

Can it have a non-epistemic meaning (obligation or necessity) with a lexical verb in present continuous? For example,

  It’s 10.30, he must be running now, why isn't he here?

Is this a correct sentence?


texts: Does it make sense to say "recorded an ever-growing collection"?

texts:
Can one write the following?

  Since January 19, 1919, Some Band has recorded an ever-growing collection of original pieces of music.

I have doubts because with "recorded" it sounds as if the action is complete while "ever-growing" tells the reader the opposite.

What are better/other ways to tell if there's a significant and constantly increasing number of items in a collection?


texts: verb - Is there a word for 'de-acknowledging'?

texts:
Is there a singular word for the act of 'de-acknowledging' or 'removing an acknowledgement'.

For context:
I am creating a computer program with a list of issues. Issues can be acknowledged. But these acknowledgements can than be removed again.

I would like to put a singular word on the button that performs this action.


texts: Phrase or idiom for someone that is overspecialized

texts:
If I have a friend that spreads their interests too thin, gathering a large body of superficial knowledge related to many topics, I'd probably use the phrase "jack of all trades, master of none" to describe them.

Are there any phrases or idioms to describe the opposite? Someone suffering from an extreme overspecialisation, who is so singular in their expertise it perhaps damages effectiveness?


texts: Is “The two types of beaver are.” grammatically correct?

texts:
Sentence: The two types of beaver are.

I was asked in class if this was a fragment. It clearly sounds like one, but it caused me to wonder if the word are can be used intransitively. I know it is technically a form of be, and the infinitive of be can mean to exist. So could the sentence be saying that two types of beaver exist?


texts:
what is the meaning of "head over to"

I was reading one blog. In that blog, they said like if you want more informatio
please "head over to this link"


texts:
Popper (1972, bold font added):

  It is very important to appreciate the huge difference between a thought that is only subjectively or privately thought or held to be true, which is a dispositional psychological structure, and the same thought when formulated in speech (perhaps also in writing) and thus presented for public discussion.

I can't figure which (if any) of Wiktionary's 8 meanings given for disposition fits the above.


texts: Subgroup of finite index in mathematical writing

texts:
I have a question about mathematical writing. A group G can have a subgroup H and every subgroup H has a so called index in G, which is a number (finite or infinite) and depends on both G and H and is written [H : G].

Which of the following two version is better?

  A: For every subgroup H of finite index in G there exists a subgroup J of finite index in H such that ...

or

  B: For every subgroup H in G of finite index there exists a subgroup J in H  of finite index such that ...

I personally find the first one more logical but the second one better to read because it is immeditately clear that H is a subgroup of G. Is it bad style in the second version to write "of finite index" after specifying the subgroup itself?


texts:
Is there a word for implying something that is actually false to be true, without specifically stating it to be true or false?

As an example (can’t really think of anything better):

  persons A and B on the phone:

  (A) Are you ready, I’m near your house.

  (B) (While still in bed) What do  you think, I’ll see you in 10.

  (A) Alright, Just checking, I’ll see  you in 10 then.

  (B) (Frantically tries to get ready).

Edit:
I’m gonna anwser my own question here in case someone finds this post, but I think the anwser I was looking for is:

equivocate;
“use ambiguous language so as to conceal the truth or avoid committing oneself.”


texts: What is the meaning of the expression "We can table this"?

texts:
This came up in an email discussion - we are arguing about the merits and demerits of a certain approach, and I mentioned what I thought was a drawback to a scheme. To that, my colleague replied : "Okay, we can table this, but I just want to clarify something..." after which he went on to elucidate his views....
Does that mean that the discussion is closed on this ? If so, did he mean to say "I agree to what you say, but I wasn't totally wrong either" or something similar, or is it the reverse ?


texts:
What does " hollow shell" mean in the following context.

  So, why did France fall so easily? It is too easy to point to the
  cause usually cited in textbooks--that Napoleon III's France was a
  hollow shell. That might have been true, but so was Austria, so was
  Russia, so was the Ottoman Empire, and they took much longer to fall
  from grace. It is possible that France fell first because of Prussia's
  absolute advantage in strength on the Continent; it was in the wrong
  place at the wrong time in the face of such a strong enemy.

http://www.sparknotes.com/history/european/1871/section5.rhtml


texts: What's the difference between evasion and avoidance?

texts:
I know there are some technical cases where they are different, but it seems that in most common situations, relating to physical activity, they mean the same thing. For example:

He threw the ball at me, but I avoided it
He threw the ball at me, but I evaded it

Is there a difference? Or are they purely synonyms?


texts: Word or phrase for inability to enjoy something fun

texts:
I am looking for a word or phrase that describes when a person can't enjoy something that should be enjoyable because there is some aspect of the experience present that other people would normally not consider important.

For instance, a person who really loves ice cream is out with friends and they go to an ice cream shop, but the price of the ice cream is higher than the person is comfortable paying.  Due to social pressure the person buys some ice cream anyway, but can't enjoy it.

I'm not looking for the case where the person associates the activity in question with a bad experience or has a bad experience.  Rather the reason for the lack of enjoyment is something that most people would probably dismiss as silly but which the person experiencing it has strong, perhaps irrational, feelings that interfere with their ability to enjoy what should be a fun experience.


texts: An expression for trying to futilely apply old methods that once worked

texts:
We are looking for an expression that captures this idea:

When someone tries to adapt an old way of doing something, holding on to the original core of their process, in a futile way, instead of discarding that approach and trying something novel.


texts:
I'm looking for a word to indicate a member of a library's staff.

The obvious choice, librarian, is not appropriate, because it refers to someone with a specific degree, usually in Library or Information Science. (Referring to all staff members at a library as librarians would be akin to referring to all medical practitioners in a hospital as doctors.)

Can anyone think of something more concise than library staff member, preferably one word?


texts: What determines the pronunciation of the prefix 'arch-'?

texts:
In the case of an archbishop, or archvillian it is pronounced arch.

In the case of archetype, it is prounounced ark-e-type

In the case of an archenemy I think you would say ark - enemy

Is it simply the fact of a vowel following the arch that turns it from arch to ark?


texts: The correct form of "the same way"/"the same way as"

texts:
In an example sentence, what would be the correct form of using "the same way":

  Sell your fruit the same way Walgreens does.

or

  Sell your fruit the same way as Walgreens.

I'm leaning towards the first one but only by ear, I don't have a grammatical explanation for it.


texts:
The study was carried out up to visit 11 under the name of X1,
  whereas all later visits were carried out under a different name,
  X2.

In the above sentence, does V11 belong to X1 or X2? I want the sentence to mean that V11 was included in X1, how should the sentence be then?


texts:
I'm aware of most differences in punctuation usage between American English and British English. However, I came across something conflicting or erroneous when I was reading Oxford English Grammar, Sidney Greenbaum.

The following two examples is from the book and on how AmE kind of decrees that the final punctuation be included within the end quotation mark.

One writer, signing his letter as "Red-blooded, balanced male," remarked on the "frequency of women fainting in peals," and suggested that they "settle back in their traditional role of making tea at meetings."
Last December, he made his Metropolitan Opera debut leading "The Tales of Hoffman"; he returns his winter to do "Samson and Delilah" and "Faust."

I want to understand whether or not the semicolon in the second sentence is correctly placed after the quotation mark.

I wouldn't have any question if it were say a question mark instead of the semicolon, because in that case the question mark would be within the end quotation followed by a reporting clause something like below:

"The Tales of Hoffman?" he doubted whether that was with which he led his Metropolitan Opera debut.


texts: The English term used for a complete and happy person

texts:
I am looking for an English word which describes a completed person who is ethicly mature.
A word with the same meaning or feeling as the Yiddish word mensch.

For example:

How can we guide my son to become a ...
Despite his struggles in    life he was a real ...


texts: Is there a difference between "political science" and "political sciences"?

texts:
I am doing a research about research disciplines. I found it confusing and surprising that there are two ways to refer to "political science(s)"

Google:

"political science" returns 26 million results.
"political sciences" returns 4 million results.

It seems like a considerable amount of texts refers to what I understand as "sciences". Does it mean that there are many sciences?


texts: What is the right preposition: On/In/At and the right question word: What/Which websites...?

texts:
How do I know which of the following questions is grammatically correct?

On/In/At what sites will this product be able to be sold?

On/In/At which sites will this product be able to be sold?

What/Which sites will this product be able to be sold?

And does it make sense to write "will this product be able to be sold"?
Thank you!


texts: "To be is to do" — "To do is to be" — "Do-be-do-be-do": what does this mean?

texts:
To be is to do. —Socrates
  To do is to be. —Plato
  Do-be-do-be-do. —Sinatra

I saw it on some shirts or somewhere. I don’t understand what it means when those sentences are put together.


texts:
I was wondering whether using a colon is incorrect if I used it as follows:

I’m sorry: I only saw your message this morning.

My logic for using the colon rather than the semicolon is that the relation between the apology and the succeeding statement is direct. The reason why I am sorry is as I didn’t see the message until the morning.
This use of the colon to show a more direct relationship between the first clause and the second is really emphasised in the University of Sussex’s English grammar guide. For example, the author writes that:

Lisa is upset; Gus is having a nervous breakdown.
The semicolon now suggests that the two statements are related in some way. The likeliest inference is that the cause of Lisa's annoyance and the cause of Gus's nervous breakdown are the same. Perhaps, for example, both are being disturbed by building noise next door. (Remember, a semicolon connects two sentences which are related.) Now try it with a colon:
Lisa is upset: Gus is having a nervous breakdown.
This time the colon shows explicitly that Gus's nervous breakdown is the reason for Lisa's distress: Lisa is upset because Gus is having a nervous breakdown.

This is the basis of my logic. I don’t know if when one is unsure, it is better to err on the side of the semicolon, as ‘who’ is suggested, for example, with who vs whom.
It seems whenever I look up ‘I’m sorry’, only variants with a comma or semicolon are shown.


texts:
How do I say a vegetable or some meat is not cooked yet?

Is it raw or fresh?

Because uncooked meat/vegetable may be rotten. And they may not be fresh.

  ... add spices, salt, water with vegetables/meat and keep them on stove (with flame) for an hour

Is this boil or cook?

It can't be cook, because I am not stirring, or applying any special procedure to the food.


texts: What is the word for writing prose under self-imposed restrictions

texts:
There's a word for writing prose, or indeed poetry, under self-imposed restrictions such as only using one vowel, or maximum word length, or only on initial character (such as the poem On Thriftiness)

What is that word, please?


texts: Can I use a question mark and the a comma or semicolon here? If not, how can I write this coherently?

texts:
What is the correct way to punctuate a sentence like the following?

  The problem of descrimpivity challenges us to answer the following questions: (1) which is more important, the bibble or the babble?; and (2) how do we explain why the potato trumps the tomato?

Spell check rejects both comma and semicolon after the question mark. But then how do I separate questions (1) and (2)?


texts: Ambiguity of meaning of for in this sentence

texts:
Learning everying at once is too confusing.
  The post concludes with tips for what to learn next.

Last sentence is in trouble. I think for in the sentence could have two meanings. To clearify two mearnings:

Tips that recap what you've been learning on the post is provided at the end of the post, so that you are not perplexed with the things you will learn on the next. (organizaing your mind with the tips before the next)
Tips about what to learn next is provided at the end of the post.

Which meaning is correct? Or Both are not valid?


texts: Can "à la" be applied to ideas, countries, cultures?

texts:
I checked two dictionaries, Merriam-Webster1 and Collins, and both define à la in a similar way: i.e., in the manner or style of a particular person.
But dictionaries are sometimes incomplete. I wanted to know if there are any other common uses of à la.2 Would any of these uses work?

We often make choices without knowing, à la Freud's unconscious.
Stick it out, à la Résistance — the cause is worth fighting for.
They hacked our election à la Russia.

1 On Merriam-Webster, you have to scroll down to find the preposition à la.
2 I know about à la mode and à la carte, but not interested in those.


texts: "Let's play with each other" vs. "Let's play together"

texts:
Do

  Let's play with each other

and

  Let's play together

mean the same thing?

Do they have different connotations? What's the difference?


texts:
I have the following sentence:

"The improvements are on average 5 % and depend strongly on the price difference".

Would you rather use 'strongly depend' in this case? I read on a German website that the adverb should come after the object (https://www.ego4u.de/de/cram-up/grammar/word-order/adverb-position, example"He    drove   the car carefully"). This does not make any sense to me as the sentence would be:
"The improvements are on average 5 % and depend on the price difference strongly".


texts: When do you use what word to express that something consists of something else?

texts:
There are various ways of saying that something consists of something else:

composed of
comprised of
contained in
consist of

Maybe there are more. Are there hard and fast rules when to use which or are they synonyms?


texts: I recently read the beautiful poem by Samuel Coleridge. Why did he call it a rime? I looked up rime on the dictionary, and it means a thin layer of ice; so was the name playing around with the rhyme of the words "rime" and "rhyme" at the same time, referring to the icy time when the Ancient Mariner killed the albatross (that was when the ship was somewhere near the Southern Pole)?


texts:
I'm reading 'The Well at the World's End' by William Morris. I'm curious about some of the syntax he's used to invoke an archaic style. For instance, 'amidst of':

'. . . he came on a shepherd lying amidst of his sheep . . .'

But at other times he's happy to use 'amidst' without 'of':

'From amidst its houses rose up three towers of churches . . .'

What does 'of' signify here? And is there a reason why he's omitted it in the second example?


texts: Was the phrase "taking my talents" a common phrase before LeBron James used it?

texts: Before LeBron James announced that he was "taking his talents to South Beach", was this common phrase, or did he create it? I seem to read or hear that phrase used very commonly now but I can't recall ever seeing it before.


texts: Term describing emotional agreement with an argument regardless of the validity of the argument itself?

texts:
I was wondering if there is a word that describes when someone emotionally agrees with someones argument regardless of whether the argument actually is a valid argument or not.

For example a fan of sports team X might get excited and agree with someone's argument that "Sports team Y is terrible" regardless of any evidence they give to support that claim.

The online Cambridge definition of 'jingoism' is close, but describes only nationalistic arguments.  It's not a potshot, or straw man because those describe the argument and also because the word I'm looking for could allow for a rigorous, and true argument, but the reason the person agrees with it is not based on the argument but their allegiances.


texts: Is there an expression to describe "waiting for someone to make a mistake so as to criticize them harshly"?

texts:
I am looking an expression that could mean "eager for someone to make a mistake so as to criticize them?". This is to be used in the instance where a famous personality has a lot of critics, probably jealous of him. They read too much into what he writes and tries to criticize him. They are eager for his new writing with the sole purpose of criticizing his writing and him.

Example:

  You should be very careful when you go on twitter. There are people _________________________________ (who expect you to make a mistake so as to criticize you).

I was wondering if there is something like "thirsty for you blood", not sure.


texts:
I have a question about relative clauses and possession, the answer to which I can find nowhere and I was hoping you could help me with that. We can say:

This is the book whose title I had forgotten.
This is the book the title of which I had forgotten.
This is the book that I had forgotten the title of.

In sentence 3 above, we can say that "the title" is the object in the relative clause, which makes the last structure with "that...of" sound great.

What about the case when it is the subject of the relative clause? Eg.

This is the book whose title is very clever.
This is the book the title of which is very clever.
???

Is there a third case with "that...of"?
And if so, is it like one of the following cases?

This is the book that the title of is clever.
This is the book that is clever the title of.

In my opinion, the former structure sounds a lot better, but still I'm not sure if it is correct. I'd appreciate any help!


texts: Usage of the word "coordinated" in a professional report

texts:
Which is a more apt way of using the word coordinated in the given context:

I thank Mr. XYZ, who coordinated with me on the project.
OR
I thank Mr. XYZ, with whom I coordinated on the project.

Note that the sentence should relay prime importance to the author.


texts: Is there a word for the practice of fobbing off additional unwanted software on the downloaders of your free product?

texts: Free software providers, including such giants as Adobe or Dell, will often try to make the downloaders download more than they are trying to download. Is there a name for this practice?


texts: Ranting against a poorly understood concept

texts:
What verbs (or phrases) describe the behavior of expressing negative opinions on a topic the speaker is seriously misinformed about? What can be such a person called? "Droning"; "incompetent", "demagogue" or "ignorant" aren't quite the terms I'm looking for. Perhaps a combination of "judgmental" and "ignorant"?

Example:

  He was going on and on about how gays are depraved immoral animals who wanted to destroy the traditional marriage, but could not name a single marriage broken by, or crime committed in the name of homosexuality.


texts:
I was describing my 8 week old child to someone recently and struggled to pick the correct word for her height/length. "Tall" doesn't feel quite right for something whose natural orientation is horizontal.

Tall doesn't seem right because they can't stand or sit yet.


texts: Idiom or proverb request for describing or criticising a situation in which the lowliest dare mock a mightiest who has become old

texts:
I am looking for an idiom or proverb that can be used in situations which the lowliest dare mock a mightiest because of his/her age and thus considering him/her enfeebled.

There is proverb in Persian which literally means:

  "The jackal derides an old lion".

The connotation or implication of the proverb is that age destroys even the mightiest (= the lion) and most noble, to the extent that the lowliest (= the jackal), who would have never dared in his prime, now mock him.

For example; imagine that a famous veteran football coach whose team has been defeated recently, is being criticized and mocked by some young or newly-appointed officials who barely have any knowledge of the game; they even demand he be fired. Then this coach's fans would say:

  "Heh! Look who is talking! Jackals deride an old lion!"(= How dare you mock this veteran coach and assume him useless and weak?!)

I have noticed that there is a perfect analog in German:

  "Alten Wolf verspotten die Hunde"

which means "Dogs deride an old wolf".

Does English have a direct analog too? If not, is there any idiom, proverb or saying in English which conveys the same meaning?


texts:
I watched the movie Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind yesterday, and this quote in the movie forms the theme:

How happy is the blameless vestal's lot! The world forgetting, by the world forgot. Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind! Each pray'r accepted, and each wish resign'd.
-- Alexander Pope, "Eloisa to Abelard"

I get the intuitive idea behind it, but could someone help explain it in a more verbose way. I am definitely lacking context with regard to "vestal lot" and do not understand what "prayer accepted and each wish resigned" means.


texts: "Let's see who wins" vs. "let's see who will win"?

texts:
I have seen the following sentences:

  Let's see who wins.

Why not "who will win"?

  Let it be decided tomorrow who will win.

Why not present here, then?


texts:
The expression "one and done" is from basketball according to yourdictionary.com and means:

(slang, basketball) A basketball player who plays college basketball for a single year and then declares for the NBA draft.
John Calipari's Kentucky squad was made up of one-and-done players.

But what does the expression mean outside the basketball context? How can it be correctly used?
For instance what does it mean in the following context?
"Fed’s Fischer on rates: Can’t say one ‘and done’" by Greg Robb, MarketWatch.com, Aug. 30, 2016

It is impossible to say whether the next interest-rate hike would be “one and done,” Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer said on Tuesday.
“We can choose the pace. But we choose the pace on the basis of data that are coming in,” Fischer said in an interview on Bloomberg Television.
“So I don’t think we know at the time we start whether it’s one and done or several. It depends entirely on what happens in the economy,” Fischer said.
Last week, at the Fed’s closely followed Jackson Hole, Wyo., policy retreat, Fischer said he saw the possibility of two rate hikes this year.


texts:
Should I use at or of in the following passage?

  and through attendance [at/of] the regular video conferences has
  played an active part in ...

I guess my attendance at school could be questioned here, but perhaps through my  attendance of an intensive English class I'd be able to figure out which one to use.


texts:
Is there any relation or difference between warranty and guarantee? What do they mean? In what situations do we use them? For example, I suppose we say

  When we buy something it has a warranty.


texts:
I was reading Art and Lies (2013) by Jeanette Winterson and came across this sentence (bolded):

  Look up. A hundred billion stars in our galaxy, the Milky Way. Unconcerned with me, that confidence of stars, light offerings, two thousand years old. If they are anything to me they are jewels for my shroud. I cannot know them. Icannot even know myself. Pascal's terror is mine: ‘Le silence éternel de ces espaces infinis m’ effraie.’ What can balance the inequity of that huge space, which nevre ends, and my bounded life?  Perhaps this: The beatland of my body is not my kingdom’s scope. I have within, spaces as vast, if I could claim them.

I couldn't find the meaning of the word beatland anywhere. What does the word mean?


texts:
When hunching myself answering a reading comprehension task, I was particularly unsettled with one question, which I will show you right now:

This is an excerpt from Susan Orlean's "Life is Swell" - 1998 in Women Outside

... On our way to the video store, the girls told me they admired my rental car and said that they thought rental cars totally ripped and that they each wanted to get one. My car, which until then I had sort of hated, suddenly took on a glow...

Question:

In the highlighted portion of the passage, the phrase "they thought rental cars totally ripped" suggests the girls:

A. Assumed rental cars broke easily

B. Considered rental cars were appealing

C. Were surprised that rental cars were new

D. Determined rental cars were ugly

Now, it is obvious that D is easily eliminated, and that left us with A,B,C. The official answer is B. Nevertheless, I thought that A and C were also very sound too. This is because we can infer that the girls' presumption or prejudice of rental cars was that they would be all ripped, in the other word, in bad condition. As a result, I want to have someone clarify this situation for me. Am I wrong because it is a literal question instead of an inference question? Thanks for any help!

Best regards


texts: Is it correct to say "Me and my friend, we..."?

texts:
I know normally to use:

  "My friend and I went shopping."

But what about when we make it into:

  "My friend and I, we went shopping."

It seems to me that in this structure, we could or should change it to:

  "Me and my friend, we went shopping."

My reasoning is that it "sounds correct" to say "Me, I went shopping."

What's correct?


texts: President of [Country][Name] vs President [Name] of [Country]

texts:
I came across the following sentence in The Guardian (emphasis mine):

  President Vladimir Putin of Russia said the EU was putting pressure on Kiev and organising mass protests against President Viktor Yanukovych.

I've seen this construction used only for royalty, e.g.

  Prince Harry of Wales, King Stark of Winterfell, King Louis of France, etc.

On the other hand, non-royal government leaders usually seem to follow another pattern:

  Presidend of the USA Barack Obama, Prime Minister of Italy Silvio Berlusconi, etc.

Am I imagining things about this distinction or is ther truth to it? Is it possible that the unusual wording is a subtle pun or am I reading too deep into it?


texts:
If you were to describe a group of poor illegal immigrants who live in tents under a bridge, would you say that they are "camping" under a bridge, or that they are "camped" under a bridge?

If I write "Homeless man camping under a bridge" (e.g. in a photo caption) might it perhaps sound like he is camping there for fun? Does "camping" sound like it's a leisure activity, and "camped" (as a past participle) like it's a makeshift form of accommodation for the homeless?


texts: Is there a word for "the use of opposite expressions" similar to "comparison"

texts:
Is there a word as a use of language when the writer uses an opposite / bad example to make the correct / other ones particularly stand out?
Thanks


texts: What is the origin of "GO + VERB + ING"?

texts:
The construction GO + V + ING is among one of the first things a learner is taught. Take for instance the verb swim, very often English expresses the activity in the present simple like this:

  I go swimming twice a week

This construction is used with any ‘outdoorsy’ or sport activity that employs a verb, such as:

  He goes skiing whenever he can
  She goes dancing with her friends.
  We go walking every day
  They go surfing at/on weekends.

The verb GO is inflected to express different tenses such as

  He didn't go swimming.
  She's going fishing  in the morning.
  We went bowling last night.
  He'd gone hunting before.
  They've just gone rock climbing.

Shopping and drinking seem to break the mould, they are neither sports nor games, but you can think of them as being “outdoor” or pastime activities. You can go drinking with your mates, and while many Italians believe lo shopping is only the activity that young girls do in boutiques; people also go shopping for food etc. And nowadays, we go shopping online.

  They've gone shopping.
  Let's go drinking.

But GO + V + ING for the following activities is “ungrammatical” or dubious at best:

  *I go playing tennis regularly. (maybe this one's OKish)
  *You go working twice a week.
  ?Let's go criketing/baseballing/basketballing (etc.)
  *He goes cleaning his car  at/on the weekend.
  ?She goes painting outdoors every Sunday.
  *You go washing up after dinner.
  *Let's go eating out.
  *Let's go seeing a movie.

Questions

What is the origin of GO + V + ING? When was this construction first noted?
Is this construction becoming increasingly flexible in English speaking countries?
Are the expressions go shopping and go drinking considered isolated/unique cases? I am particularly interested in hearing about activities that are unrelated to sports/games/outdoors but use GO + V + ING.
For example, @pazzo's suggestions: gamble and window shop.


texts: Is the phrase "Best of luck ahead! " grammatically correct?

texts: "Best of luck for your future ahead!" - can this phrase be shortened to "Best of luck ahead!".


texts: known as (a, the) - which article to pick?

texts:
A quote from the Economist:

  Part of this naturalistic approach is that the transistors in his
  systems often operate in what is known technically as the
  “sub-threshold domain”.

May we use a instead of the here and if no, why?

Google Books comes up with numerous examples of "known technically as a":

  The sound of h (aitch) at the beginning of words such as have and
  house and in the middle of words such as ahead and behave is known
  technically as a voiceless glottal fricative.

(2008, R. Allen, "Pocket Fowler's Modern English Usage")

Are articles in this expression interchangeable? Or do they matter?


texts: Grammar of "Love is the pearl of great worth"

texts: According to the book I read, "Love is the pearl of great worth" is grammatically wrong. Why is it? (It says "the" is [sic].)


texts: Is there a definite term(or phrase) for the concept "This thing I don't know about probably works perfectly"?

texts: For example, I work as a stock trader and at times people talk about some combination of indicators or some chat pattern I don't know about and I immediately think "This must be it, this is why my trades weren't working. If I master this concept I can win". I know this won't work in trading nevertheless this feeling comes in many other occasions too. I just wanted to ask if it has a term in English.


texts:
I'm looking for an adjective which describes a complexion. I understand that the term complexion is primarily used to describe the color of someone's skin. However, I'm looking for a word which says that I find the complexion attractive, without actually specifying any color.

  Her complexion was _____

I'd prefer to avoid any generic positive word like good, great, amazing and the like. The word should be (at least somewhat) specifically applicable to complexion.

Oxford lists these collocations:

  a dark/pale/light/sallow/ruddy/olive/swarthy/clear complexion

Almost all of them denote some color. Clear doesn't (arguably), but it doesn't necessarily connote attractiveness.

For the sake of illustration, I tried "her complexion was beautiful" on Google books, which gave has a mere 1500 hits. It doesn't sound right.

Is there a common collocation/turn of phrase I could use here?


texts:
What does this mean ?

I'm on the couch tonight for sure

From the movie Judgment Night (1993).


texts:
I am referring  to shakedown meaning a thorough search as in :

the morning after their arrival, scouts and their leaders endure the shakedown, where their backpacks are inspected with drill sergeant thoroughness. (ODO)

a shakedown of prison cells to uncover hidden drugs

tighter security measures and shakedowns at airports have increased dramatically in recent years.

Etymonline  says that the meaning "a thorough search"   is from 1914; perhaps from the notion of measuring corn.
I couldn't find other evidence on its etymology;

what does "measuring corn" refer to?
how is this practice related to a "thorough search"?
are there other plausible assumptions on its origin?


texts:
The conditional:

  When I copy and paste this answer into my .xml file, it won't read any attributes past the 1st line.

Should I add a comma to the following, before the phrase "when I copy"?

  For some very odd reason when I copy and paste this answer into my .xml file, it won't read any attributes past the 1st line.


texts:
The house was broken into by a person or persons unknown.

Whis is (the adjective?) unknown used after the noun phrase here?


texts: Does "Bitcoin" need to be capitalized?  In formal writing or informal, what is the current usage?


texts: What does 'removed from' mean when it's used with some type of material?

texts:
The following is a quote from the computer science classic, "The Mythical Man-Month" (1975).

  Finally, there is the delight of working in such a tractable medium. The programmer, like the poet, works only slightly removed from pure thought-stuff. He builds his castles in the air, from air, creating by exertion of the imagination. Few media of creation are so flexible, so easy to polish and rework, so readily capable of realizing grand conceptual structures. (...)

What does the phrase "removed from" mean in this context?

Although this quote is cited so often, I cannot find a contentable translation in my own language and my understanding of the original sentence is vague.

Here are several interpretations in my mind of the part including the phrase, just for reference.

"The programmer, like the poet, works in close proximity to the material(medium) which is a pure thought."
"The programmer, like the poet, works mostly using the material(medium) which is a pure thought."

I would appreciate your help.


texts: What part of speech is 'Hearing' in these sentences?

texts:
What is hearing in these sentences?

Hearing the voice, the boy woke up.
The boy woke up hearing the voice.


texts: 'When going to school...', 'When I went to school...' What is the difference?

texts:
What is the difference between these two sentences in meaning?

  When going to school, I wore necklaces with starfish pendants."

and

  When I went to school, I wore necklaces with starfish pendants."


texts: Is "dress" in this sense a stative verb?

texts:
When one uses "dress" to show the particular way that one dresses, is dress a stative verb?

For example, "She dresses well" or "He dresses extravagantly."


texts:
I have a few questions, and I was hoping you could help me clear my mind

Would you say, “I was watching her dance,” or “I was watching her dancing”?
Would you say, “I was watching you sleep,” or “I was watching you sleeping?”
Would you say, ”they were watching them argue, ” ”they were watching them arguing,” or “they watched them argue/arguing”?
And lastly, would you say, ”I’ve never heard you laugh before,” or ”I’ve never heard you laughing before?”

Thank you in advance :)


texts:
My Roget's and online sources aren't helpful. I'm looking for words or short phrases that can be used as synonyms for conflicts of interest.

thanks!


texts: Use of 'litany' in the place of 'collection', describing a list of physical objects?

texts:
I wasn't aware that the word 'litany' could be used when describing a collection of physical objects, but there it is on the Slate website:

"He found a vast plastic-plankton soup and a litany of bigger objects:a volleyball, a cathode-ray tube for a 19-inch TV, a truck tire mounted on a steel rim..."

I've been known to miss obscure uses now and again but this seems out of bounds. I'm interested to hear what the community has to say about it.


texts: Start a letter/email with a minuscule or a majuscule

texts:
So in German when you write a letter, you start the body with a minuscule letter because the salutation is seen as an interjection, I presume:

Dear Max,
We just saw [yada, yada, letter]

Dear Max, we just saw [yada, yada, letter]

So, my question is: is it OK to start a letter in English with a lowercase letter, or is that bad style/mechanics/etc? If it's not acceptable, what is the salutation considered as and why do we separate it with a comma if it's not part of the first sentence.


texts: What's the difference between "puberty" and "adolescence"?

texts: The two words puberty and adolescence seem to be referring to one thing; what is the difference between them?


texts: Is there a common term for the unfinished portion of a calendar year?

texts:
Year to date (YTD) is commonly used to describe the completed portion of the current calendar year. Is there a common term to use for the remaining part of the year (i.e. - now through December 31 of the current year)?

The idea is to use this in a graph with a fixed x-axis showing the entire year. Obviously, I could truncate the graph to the current date. However, the use case (out of my control) calls for showing all the dates of the year and adding a label to the unfinished portion of the year.


texts: Are collective nouns always plural, or are certain ones singular?

texts:
I'd say Microsoft have a way of bending the rules and I know that McLaren have won the championship. While this sounds strange, I believe it is correct English (sorry, I'm not native).

But when it's a small company, would you still use it this way? Is a company always plural, or are small companies singular? I.e., would you say Bakery Johnson makes fine bread or Bakery Johnson make fine bread? Is it My book seller, Woody's, have moved or is it has moved?


texts: What is the difference between "fair" and "festival"?

texts:
The words "fair" and "festival" seem almost identical to me, but they have separate Wikipedia entries (here and here) with similarly structured, yet different information.

In terms of the meaning and usage of the word, what is different about "fair" and "festival"? Are there examples of activities that are "fairs", but not "festivals" and visa versa?


texts: What does “bathe someone in a glow” mean?

texts:
I found the phrase “bathe someone in a glow” in the following sentence of the New York Times columnist, Maureen Dowd’s article titled “Memoirs of a Geisha.” (September 13).

I was attracted to the caption, and I thought it was a review of a memoire of the famous former Geisha residing in New York (I don’t know why Dowd likened Jacqueline a Geisha), but it was about the tape of an interview of Jackie Kennedy with Arthur Schlesinger, which was discovered 47 years after the interview took place.

  “In the 1964 tapes, the 34-year-old widow can be unsparing and caustic, except about her sometimes imperfect husband, whom she bathes in an impossibly perfect glow.”

As I’m not clear about the meaning of “bathe someone in glow,” I checked Google, and found no definition, but for an example of the usage in A Wagnerová - Czech Sociological Review, 1996.

  “It also affected the poor and property-less since they were no longer bathed in the glow from men at the peak of the social hierarchy.”

What does “bathe imperfect husband in glow” mean? Does it something to do with “put someone in the limelight”?


texts:
Prioritize is a term coined a few decades ago and its usage, according to the AHD, should be considered informal by now:

Like many verbs ending in -ize, prioritize has been tainted by association with corporate and bureaucratic jargon. Even though the word still does not sit well with some, it should be considered standard.(AHD)

According to Etymonline the term is quite recent:

1972, apparently coined during the U.S. presidential contest that year, from root of priority + -ize.

while its root, priority, is much older:

late 14c., "state of being earlier," from Old French priorite (14c.), from Medieval Latin prioritatem (nominative prioritas) "fact or condition of being prior," from Latin prior (see prior (adj.)).

But earlier  usage examples actually suggest that the term was coined and used before 1972:

The department shall, in consultation with the department of health, evaluate existing site evaluation systems and shall develop a system to select and prioritize sites for remedial action.From Warren's Weed on the New York Law of Real Property 1950.
... localities with the expense of school building construction, it may exercise its discretion in weighing and applying specified factors applicable to requests for state education funding in order to prioritize such requests. From American Jurisprudence: A Modern Comprehensive Text Statement of American Law, 1962.

Questions:
Is now "prioritize" a  standard verb, commonly used outside beaurocratic contexts as AHD suggests?
When and where (AmE or BrE) was the term actually coined?


texts: What is the origin of "pan" as a slang term for "face"?

texts:
I was think of posting a picture of my ugly pan here instead of the gravatar, when I started to wonder, why is it my ugly pan? The slang term pan meaning face occurs chiefly in phrases such as ugly pan and smack in the pan, suggesting that is not very complimentary.

Green's Dictionary of Slang has several different meanings including the female pudenda, the mouth, the head and the anus but suggests no etymology.

Does anyone have any idea where the term came from?


texts: The Passive Voice when referring to time

texts: If we say something like "More than two months have passed", would you say this is speaking in the Passive Voice? When you look at the general rules about when to use the Passive Voice, it doesn't seem to mention the passing of time, so I'm wondering why we say it this way.


texts:
In a conversation, which of the two sentences below is grammatically correct?

There was a party celebrating for my sister's marriage.
There was a party which was being celebrated for my sister's marriage.


texts: In a headline written with initial capitals, should "outside" be capitalized?

texts: I'm writing a headline for an article ending with "outside the organization."  According to our style book, we capitalize on headline.  Should "outside" be capitalized in this context?


texts: What is the feminine version of ‘macho’ or ‘machismo’?

texts:
A single word is preferable, but a phrase will suffice.

I found this reference at dictionary.com.

It suggests 'swagger' but I can't relate this to the Latin for 'feminine'.

I am hesistant in suggesting 'womacho' or more simply 'wocho', but I have done!

--(edit)--

This ELU question, ‘Macho for women’,  is similar but views machismo in its negative sense. A more positive view of machismo can be seen in films such as the Die Hard franchise. My view of female wocho is taking a seemingly impossible amount of time to apply make-up, amongst others, not necessarily aligned to a 'view of the Virgin Mary'.

Butch used to refer to lesbians, and I don't think mannish is polite. No male is actually offended by being called macho, and any word for wocho should reflect this.


texts:
I am not a native speaker. Looking at the dictionary both sentences could be correct. I think in this example "example feature" is the right choice:

  These two example features are both optional.
  These two exemplary features are both optional.

What is correct word?


texts:
After submitting my essay, my English teacher marked the word "quote" as an error. Is this incorrect word usage, and should I be using "excerpt," quotation," or "event" here? The quote is from Frederick Douglass's speech, "What to a Slave is the Fourth of July?"

  “See, too, that girl of thirteen, weeping, yes! weeping, as she thinks
  of the mother from whom she has been torn.”

  Although this quote
  was not from one of Douglass’s personal experiences, Douglass told it
  like a story, as though he was there.


texts: Asking a "Do you have..." question without do-support

texts:
Is the following sentence correct English?

  Have you the address?

The address in question is obvious to the person being asked.

It's normal to ask such a question as "Do you have the address?" or even "Have you got the address?" But is it acceptable to use just the verb have without do or got?


texts: Single word to express "over-eagerness" in a negative sense

texts:
I would like to use the sentence

  He was 'over-eager' to implement his plan, leading to failure.

I am looking for a single word which expresses over-eagerness in a negative sense.

TIA


texts: What is the word for nouns that used to be specific, but are now ambiguous?

texts:
I once discovered a word with a fascinating description but have forgotten it.

The word refers to nouns that at one time meant something very specific, but would now be ambiguous and needs an accompanying word to specify further. The best example is 'guitar'. Once, the word unequivocally referred to an acoustic guitar, but would now need 'acoustic' added, lest it be confused with electric guitar, bass guitar, etc.


texts: How to change a passive sentence having transitive verb to active voice?

texts:
Suppose take this sentence:

The door is opened

I am not very sure that it is in passive voice. But I think so.

I am struggling converting it into active voice.(If it is already in active voice, how to convert it into passive voice)

Please help me.


texts: How to say in a formal way that a car outside of the building is ready?

texts: At work today I wanted to tell our guests that a car was waiting for them. Is there a formal way to say that? Are "The car is waiting for you" and "The car is ready" correct?


texts: Using 'an' before a vowel/vowel sound in a quote

texts:
Should “an” or"a" be used before words in a quotation that start with a vowel sound?

An example would be... It is part of a 'everything is fine' narrative that will do more harm than good.


texts:
I know that "stuff" is a collective noun, but other collective nouns like "family" can be pluralized, but "stuffs" doesn't sound quite right to me. However, the spell check on my browser says that "stuffs" is a word.

If "stuffs" is correct, why does it sound wrong to me? If it isn't, then why is it different from other collective nouns?


texts: Is there a better way to say, "explain to themselves"?

texts:
In the Common Core Standard for Mathematics, it says.."
"1 Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.
Mathematically proficient students start by explaining to themselves the meaning
of a problem and looking for entry points to its solution. They analyze givens,
constraints, relationships, and goals. ..."

In my attempt to re-writing this, MS word reports that the grammar is incorrect because of "themselves";  MS word would prefer I use "them".

Here is what I've come up with. Can someone offer an alternative and/or explain why it is wrong?

"Confidently, dive right into interpreting a problem, and explain it to themselves to look for entry points to a solution."


texts:
When reading Nabokov's The Annotated Lolita I came across these two terms on p. 104: girleen, Laureen.

  After all, Dante fell madly in love with his Beatrice when she was nine, a sparkling girleen, painted and lovely, and bejeweled, in a crimson frock, and this was in 1274, in Florence, at a private feast in the merry month of May.

And:

  And when Petrarch fell madly in love with his Laureen, she was a fair-haired nymphet of twelve running in the wind, in the pollen and dust, a flower in flight, in the beautiful plain as descried from the hills of Vaucluse.

My question is: does the desinence "-een" denote endearment? Could it be applied to other words and names?


texts:
Can I use 'contiguous' for time periods that immediately follow each other, or is usage restricted to geography? For example, would it be correct to say that "session B will be taught contiguously with class A", if I mean to say that class B will start as soon as class A ends?

If that use is not correct, what alternative would you use?


texts: "Visuals" are to "to show" as "sounds" are to what verb?

texts:
When taking about visuals, we can use the verb show as follows:

  I want to show you something.
  Can you show me?

What would be the corresponding verb to use when talking about sounds?

  I want to [verb] you something.
  Can you [verb] me?


texts:
So on the pro side, they're very visible, they're very attractive, they're eye-catching, and they can really drew you in as a potential buyer and prospect.

What I mean by that is the meaning of "they can really drew you in."

And a grammar question: after can it used a past tense verb, drew. Why?


texts:
(Note to the dyslexic: be sure NOT to confuse this with “Google”.)

Horse and goggle --> Horse 'n' goggle --> Horsengoggle

There is a Wikipedia entry for this hand game: a kind of rock-paper-scissors, or drawing straws for a group to pick a single 'winner'.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horsengoggle
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=horsengoggle

My question is, within the context of this game, where did the name come from?

My best guesses:

A jockey on a horse who wears goggles running around a track like the circle of people?
The goggles that a horse wears, like blinders?
People goggling (gaping) at a horse race?
Horsing around and goggling the results?
Somehow related to the dice, poker, and basketball games called “horse”?
?

The game may have started in Germany, or from an American whose family came from Germany, so maybe “goggle” has some alternate meaning lost in translation?


texts: Can I switch between 'the cow' and 'cows'?

texts:
I was writing an essay on The Cow. I started like this:

The cow is a four-footed domestic animal. It has a big body...

....There are many different breeds of cows in the world.

You would notice that I started with 'the cow' and then I changed to 'cows'.
Is there anything wrong about this?
Is it grammatically incorrect switching between them two?


texts: What does "B-grade" mean in the context of Japanese food?

texts:
In movies, "B-grade" refers to lower-budget movies:

When Hollywood studios were at their height -- and before television
was available -- it was common for people to spend an entire evening
at the movies, where there would be a main feature, a second feature,
a newsreel, and cartoons. The main feature would be the "A" film; it
used the leading stars, and had a bigger budget. The second feature
would typically be a movie that used lesser talent, and had inferior
production values and less sophisticated plots. These films -- which
were consciously made to be second-rate in this way -- were called "B
movies", just as the "B" side of a record would not be the song that
was popular, but just something else included because it was expected.
The term has come to be used in general conversation to mean "of inferior quality, and appealing to less sophisticated tastes."
Source: http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=1352120

But what is B-grade Japanese gourmet food?:

These days, so-called "B-grade gourmet" foods are getting popular even among foreigners
Popular B-grade gourmet of the Osaka, a Review ranking.
Enjoy savoring grade B gourmet foods from Tokyo!

Sources: 1, 2, 3.


texts: What is a shop that sells phones, tablets and computers called?

texts:
Can I call it an electronics shop?

What would it be called in the US or in the UK? What would a native English speaker call it?


texts: When can you use "adjective + cookie" to mean person?

texts: I've seen people use things like "smart cookie" or "strong cookie" when referring to intelligent or strong people, respectively, and I was wondering when and which adjectives you can use in these "constructions", or if you can use any adjective you want.


texts: Abbreviation or word like "cc'd", but referring to someone in the "to:" field

texts:
I'm looking for an abbreviation or single word which functions just like the abbreviation "cc'd", except explicitly refers to someone who is in the To: field of an email, and not the CC: or BCC: field.
For example:

To: michael.scott@dundermifflin.com, scrantonbranch@dundermifflin.com
CC: nybranch@dundermifflin.com
We're bring in Michael Scott (cc'd*) as the new manager of the project.

*Except the cc'd in the above sentence would be replaced with the word/abbreviation I'm looking for--because Mr. Scott is not cc'd, he's included as a primary receiver of the email.
This question is concerned with how to, "convey the idea that someone's email address is in the box named "Cc" ". It is similar, but does not address the preferred way to address someone that is in the To: field as opposed to the CC: field.


texts: Is there a feminine equivalent to the adjective "avuncular"?

texts: My brief researches only bring up the word "auntlike" to render the feminine equivalent of avuncular. Surely, though, and given the etymology of "aunt" [ < Latin amita -father's sister, old feminine past participle of amāre to love, i.e., beloved ], there must be a more lyrical word to hand.


texts: ‘to this end’ or ‘toward this end’ or ‘towards this end’?

texts:
To say ‘in order to achieve this goal’, should I use...?

to this end
toward this end
towards this end

Which of these would be correct, and which is used most often?


texts: What is the most suitable "Want" or "Need"

texts:
When I send an email to a seller, I can express,

1.
I want to buy ....

2.
I need to buy ....

What is the most suitable one? What are the differences between "Want" and "Need" ?


texts: What's the meaning of the phrase "to name others"?

texts:
By using this behavior, you can change
  some of the default settings for this
  provider like the connection string or
  whether the instance should be removed
  from the database after its
  completion, to name others.


texts: The difference between "parts of speech", "word classes", "word categories"?

texts:
As a foreign language speaker, I find it hard to distinguish these terms. I've searched on the net; on wikipedia, on grammar.about.com, and some other pages, yet still having difficulties.

One just lists

Noun
Adjective
Verb
...

Other lists

Content words

Noun
Verb
...

Functions words

Articles
Pronouns
...

Also what is the term or topic header for these "subject, object, predicator, adverbial"?

PS: I'd appreciate if you could recommend a good English linguistics book. Something that offers just want I need to know, not redundant information.


texts: Is the phrase "Like many another" correct in standard English?

texts:
I've come across "like many another" in a GMAT question. Its use is similar to "Like many other" e.g. "Like many another in his class, John is thirteen years old."

It has 1M hits in google (compare to 135M for "like many other").
I would like to know if it's a mistake or an uncommon but standard phrase.


texts: How do I call a result of tinker or fiddle?

texts: A person who tinkers is a tinkerer (and fidler is fiddling), but how do I call a result or product (noun) of fiddling or tinkering? Also fiddling or tinkering?  Fiddlery/Tinkery? But looks like such word doesn't exists - Google shows no meaningful results for "tinkery" or "fiddlery".


texts:
I was reading my class textbook, International Management: Strategic Opportunities & Cultural Challenges, where it said

  He solved this problem in a very clever way by devising several
  objective indicants of time, ones that did not rely on language or
  self-report.

It feels like the word indicants here are more synonymous with the word standards than with the word indicators. Is the book just using flowery language here? Why didn't it just use standards or indicators instead of indicants?


texts: Is the phrase "stone-throwing devil" actually a slur?

texts:
Inspired by this question.
What is the etymology of the phrase "stone-throwing devil"? Is there any evidence that it has been used as either a racial or religious slur historically or in modern times?
Googling the term leads to results related to the controversy being discussed in the thread linked above; however, I can find no hard evidence of the term actually being used as a slur. Various theories pop up (and I'll list some here), but none of them provide citation.
A user on TappedOut claims that it is a derogatory allusion to the Stoning of the Devil. A search through Twitter finds similar claims like this one asserting the term's origin in the Victorian era, but the linked Wikipedia article doesn't include any references to Muslims who participate in the Stoning of the Devil being characterized as "devils" themselves or to the insinuation that participating in the ritual is considered barbaric by outsiders.
This tweet claims that it is a slur for Palestinians. My preliminary research on this proposed origin would suggest that "stone thrower" is often used in news reports about the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict to refer to (usually children) literally throwing stones, but I was unable to turn up any derogatory uses. Obviously, the word "devil" has been used to refer to non-white people historically, so the combination could conceivably be used in a racist manner.
Other allusions can be found - such as Lithobolia, a 17th Century story about what is now New Hampshire - which are clearly unrelated to Islam. Additionally, MTG Wiki suggests that it is a direct quote from an English translation of "One Thousand and One Nights," but again, no reference seems to be provided. This tweet asserts that literal stone-throwing devils appear on an island in one story but doesn't specify which story that is.


texts: turn right backward or turn slightly right backward?

texts:
Please see the image. When giving directions, how should I describe what the arrow indicates on the road?
My ideas are

turn right backward
turn slightly right backward

I'm not sure if they make sense.


texts: Difference between "relationship" and "relation"

texts:
How can I easily differentiate between when to use "relationship" and "relation". More often than not,  I tend to use "relationship", but would really like to know how these are to be used in writing. Speaking from a general viewpoint, the definition for both of these is almost similar. (this is something I've gathered from a simple Google Search)
When discussing two entities, relationship seems to be an appropriate choice. But there are times when these could be interchangeable.
For e.g., the relation between writing and reality  OR
the relationship between writing and reality.
So are there are rules or pointers that are to be kept in mind to avoid using these incorrectly?


texts:
Ok so, for some reason I don't like using the word giggle or chuckle, I seriously don't know why. Instead, I use laugh quietly, or softly, and I think it's getting repetitive.

Are there any other ways to describe this? Example:

  "Oh no...Not this again..." Jay said and Jacob laughed quietly, picking up a plastic knife. "Knife-y Jr Jr."

(BTW, that's an inside joke from my story)


texts: I have one good and one bad question (or is it plural "questions"?)

texts:
Which one is correct?

  I have one good and one bad question
  I have one good and one bad questions

I can invent rationales for both answers, which does not help.

I am tempted to prefer the first proposal, "I have one good and one bad question", especially if I replace question by, say, mouse. But I also prefer "Here are one good and one bad question(s?)" over "Here is ..". This is only getting more confusing.


texts: What’s the origin and history of the phrase “ten foot pole”?

texts:
According to Dictionary.com the phrase,  ‘Not touch (something/someone) with a ten-foot pole’, dates back to the mid-eighteenth century:

  This expression dates from the mid-1700s, when it began to replace the earlier not to be handled with a pair of tongs. In the 1800s barge-pole was sometimes substituted for ten-foot pole, but that variant has died out.

But where does it come from?


texts:
Is there a word for an atomic unit of flour? If so, what is it?

I use atomic unit not to refer to chemical compound, molecule, or atom, but rather the individual particle of flour after milling. In the same way that grains of sand can be different sizes, I'm aware flour can also be different sizes, but I am trying to distinguish from a clump of flour, which is not a byproduct of milling, but adhesion.

Grain does not seem correct, as flour is composed of particles of a grain, with grain being a unit of corn, wheat, etc. However, if there is justification as to why it is actually the most correct, that is fine.

For instance, if the word was foo,

  "There are a few foos of flour on the counter."


texts:
I have been reading a text about spotting lies by analysis of voice, gestures, etc., and cannot understand the word leakage in this sentence:

  ... clues of emotions... These are what provide leakage or deception clues.

Is it related to clues (leakage clues or deception clues), or does it mean leakage on the liar’s side (unintentionally revealing he is lying)?

All dictionaries mention only two meanings of leakage: physical (such as of liquid) or deliberate disclosure of information. Neither fits here for me.


texts: What does "Pudding for supper.." mean in this context?

texts:
Here's an excerpt from the novel "Moby Dick". Emphasis mine.

  "‘Look at that chap now,’ philosophically drawled Stubb, who, with his unlighted short pipe, mechanically retained between his teeth, at a short distance, followed after—‘He ’s got fits, that Flask has. Fits? yes, give him fits—that ’s the very word—pitch fits into ’em. Merrily, merrily, hearts-alive. Pudding for supper, you know;—merry’s the word. Pull, babes—pull, sucklings—pull, all. But what the devil are you hurrying about? Softly, softly, and steadily, my men. Only pull, and keep pulling; nothing more. Crack all your backbones, and bite your knives in two—that ’s all. Take it easy—why don’t ye take it easy, I say, and burst all your livers and lungs!’"

The sentence that begins by "Pudding for supper, you know;—merry’s the word" sounds ambiguous to me. While the setting is an ocean, it seems that "pudding" was not something available to sailors.

Does "Pudding for supper" have any metaphorical meaning in the mentioned paragraph?


texts: One subject, compound object phrases - comma or no comma?

texts:
My question is about how to punctuate sentences like the following:
The system allows searching for variables using their long name and cryptic variable names and filtering the data sets based on a given variable availability.
subject: the system
main verb: allows
object 1 (gerund+participial phrase?): searching for variables using their long name and cryptic variable names
object 2 (gerund+past-participle-phrase?): filtering the data sets based on a given variability
coordinating conjunction between object 1 and 2: the second of the two 'and' words
Because the second 'and' is not followed by a subject + verb, this sentence appears not to require a comma. However, the presence of the first 'and', plus the string of gerunds and nouns this sentence contains, might cause the reader to have difficulty identifying the second object phrase. I encounter many such sentences in the editing I do, but I'm loathe to rephrase too many of the ones that might cause confusion.
Hoping someone can help!


texts:
"He had left the house when we arrived."
  I feel it is most certainly wrong, but I figured it's safer to ask the community here. To me it feels like it should be "He had already left the house when we arrived," or "He had already left the house by the time we arrived." Am I wrong here?


texts: Political writers sometimes talk about "the former Soviet Union".  This seems to me to suggest that they are trying to distinguish between the current Soviet  Union -- the one that exists now -- and the old Soviet Union -- the one that existed in the past but no longer.  This obviously would be incorrect since there is no current Soviet Union.  Wouldn't it be more appropriate simply to talk about "the Soviet Union".  Readers can be assumed to know that it no longer exists.


texts: Single word for "the one being stolen from"?

texts:
By forming a noun from a verb, the person that steals is called a stealer. What do you call a person that is being stolen from?

Is there a corresponding noun that denotes the object of this action, as there is for verbs like employ (employer, employee), call (caller, callee), etc.?


texts: What does “I’ll give you undercover!” mean here?

texts:
I have no idea on the meaning of “give you undercover” in the following citation.

  “ ’S’ up, Figgy?” he said, staring from Mrs. Figg to Harry and Dudley. “What ‘appened to staying undercover?”
  “I’ll give you undercover!” cried Mrs. Figg. “Dementers, you useless, skiving sneak thief!” (Harry Potter 5 [US Version]: p.22-23)

N.B.: He and Mrs. Figg were supposed to guard Harry without Harry’s knowledge, but while he was absent from the duty, dementers (evil ghosts) attacked Harry, when Mrs. Figg’s identity was exposed. This scene is just after he came back. (Dudley is a boy accidentally involved in the attack.)

Here are my questions. I’d be glad if you could help me.

What’s the undercover’s part of speech?
Is there any reason she’s using the same word as he?
What’s the meaning of the whole sentence?


texts: Word for small informal business in third world country

texts:
I am looking for a word that describes individual economic activity in third world countries that supports a person and his family's livelihood. Imagine a fisherman who sells his catches on the streets of Dar es Salaam, someone who sells bracelets to tourists on Cape Town beaches or a barber who cuts people's hair on sidewalks in Hanoi. Is there a term for this type of informal business?
Such a business is typically:

very small in terms of income and expenses
not registered or regulated
often not in a permanent location
run by poorer parts of society in third world countries

The word 'sole proprietorship' is not precise enough, because it does not convey the informalness of the business. I did not choose 'informal business' either, because that just means that income is generated off the books and would include large illegal gambling or drug business.


texts:
This is a thinly veiled rant, I realize, but if anybody can rationalize "emails" for me in such a way that I can stop grabbing people who say it, and asking them if they've ever gone to their mailsbox to retrieve the mails left for them by the mailsman... I would very much appreciate it.

I realize it's probably pure laziness, but maybe someone can rationalize this in such a way that I can stop cringing every time I see it used in a professional setting.


texts: On the back of the package or at the back of package?

texts:
Is this sticker:

"On the back of the package" or
"At the back of package"

I am confused.

I do not know the use of on or at. Waiting for somebody's reply.


texts: Infinitive modifier subject or object or depends on context

texts:
I gave her medicine to keep from falling sick.

Is this sentence right?   Intended meaning is that I have a friend who is not feeling well therefore, I gave her medicine so that she will not be sick.

  I took medicines from her to keep from falling sick.

Is this sentence right considering the intended meaning - I am not feeling well. And I want to keep from falling sick. therefore, I took medicines from her.   For me they both sound right and seems to convet the intended meaning which is clear from context. But the issue is that I have learnt that infinitive modifies the subject of the sentence. For example (see the link) here it is suggested that infinitive modifies to the subject only. Therefore, we need to rewrite the sentence. Passive form of a sentence that has "promise to [verb]"
  Please let me know how infinitive modifier works? Can it go to object or not? OR depending on the meaning it can modify anything. If that's the case then both of these sentences should be right.


texts: Difference between "novice" and "newbie"

texts: I can say "I am a novice in English" or "I am a newbie in English". Is there any difference between these?


texts:
What preposition do I have to use here: "sipping water (...) your lips"?
I was thinking of from/off.

Don't mind the sense, it's about poetry.

Anything is helpful and general tips about prepositions are helpful as well


texts: "To know X is all I need" vs. "knowing X is all I need"

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  How does one know when to use a gerund or a infinitive?

Which of the following is the correct form?

  To know you're interested in my book is all I need to go on with my work!
  Knowing you're interested in my book is all I need to go on with my work!


texts: Why can't I use a regular modal verb here?

texts:
I have a question regarding the following question in a English grammar test:

Fill in the correct option in the blank:
What  ___  in order to get a permit to work in your country?
A) do I need to do
B) must I do

The correct answer (as per the key) is option A, but option B sounds fine to me.
Can anyone tell me why option A is better than option B?


texts: Can an infinitive phrase be equivocal in its function in a sentence?

texts:
I have found the following sentence as an example of an infinitive phrase used as an adjective, however, it seems to me that it could also be taken as an adverb of purpose.

Jane bought a radio to listen to the news.

Is there in fact an ambiguity as for the function of the infinitive phrase in this sentence?


texts: Word to describe something of something of something

texts:
What is a word for recursion/nesting of an entity in English ? I'm looking for a word that replaces the colloquially used -ception suffix. A generic term that encapsulates all nested attributes. For instance:

word - abbr is the abbreviation of abbreviation
image - (Droste effect) a wall with a hanging picture of the wall with the hanging picture
Eg: Ummagumma album art , Droste Cacao
math - (recursion) function of a function Eg: f(f(x))
object - two mirrors placed facing each other
abstract - dream within a dream

Preferably a word or a phrase, but any other way to convey the same is also welcome. The French seem to have covered all the expressions out there. However, I'm looking for the English counterpart of what the French call mise en abyme.


texts: what does ranger redhead mean for Australians?

texts: I heard this reference on the Bravo TV show "Watch What Happens : Live" when Andy was speaking to the Housewives of Melbourne. They were giving phrases to the guests that were things Australians say, and the guests were guessing the meanings--only I didn't hear the meaning of "ranger redhead" and was curious. I did however hear one of the guests say ,"oh, I know", "summer high tide", but I'm having trouble connecting the two. Can you help?


texts:
I wanted to know how and when the word "bananas" came to be associated with "crazy". There was nothing detailed on Etymonline, but thanks to OED, I came to know that this book is the origin of this usage.

I haven't been able to figure out the reason behind the usage, though. Is it arbitrary? Is it a random usage made popular by others, like videos that go viral on social networks?

PS: Incidentally, the use of "jerk" to mean a fool also originates from the same text.


texts: Gloves that have only two compartments, one for the thumb and the other wide enough for four fingers. What are they called?