texts:
In a book these two forms are acceptable:

  Before a complete version of Louisa May Alcott's novel Little Women appeared in 1880, the book had been published in two separate volumes.

AND

  Before a complete version of Louisa May Alcott's novel Little Women appeared in 1880, the book was published in two separate volumes.

I do not quite understand why both are acceptable. However I decided to just follow it. So I started working on other problems for practice and this is where all the confusion stems from.

  By the time Pearl S. Buck was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1938, she was a best-selling author in the United States for nearly a decade.

So using the general rule for Past Perfect, I said had been. And that, it turns out, is correct. However, since I was bored, I thought: Why cannot it be was? Since the rule provided above accepts either the Simple Past or Past Perfect?

So, is there anyone who can confirm why, for the first example both the Simple Past & Past Perfect can be used without error? And also, why when we come to the second example "was" does not work?

Thank you for your help.


texts: Can I use "Teachers portal" instead of "teachers' portal"? Which of them is more accurate?


texts: Can 'still to be' + past participle precede a noun as a modifier?

texts: There are adjective phrases constisting of a qualified past participle that usually precede the noun, like 'a much loved song'. Now I encountered this expression: 'the still to be surpassed view'. Is this correct English, or should the participle phrase follow the noun? And how about present participle phrases with 'still', e.g. 'still grieving', can they precede a noun?


texts: Is there a "-cide" word for murdering a child who is older than one and unrelated to the murderer?

texts:
Terribly morbid but I am looking for a "-cide" word to describe murdering a child who is older than 1 year old (which is, as I understand it, outside the realm of infanticide) but unrelated to the murderer (ruling out filicide)?

I basically want to replace "child homicide" in the following sentence with this word:

  You have been charged with multiple counts of child homicide.

Given that this word might not exist, I'd be interested in any alternative phrase that is commonly used by law enforcement to describe a child killer.


texts: OED Appeals: Antedatings of "party animal"

texts:
The OED has made a public appeal for help in tracing the history of some English words, including:

  party animal

  noun earlier than 1982

  When the OED added its entry for party animal, meaning ‘an exuberant reveler’, in 2005, the earliest quotation we were able to include was from 1982, but we knew that the term could almost certainly be traced earlier. As our entry notes, the slang lexicographer Jonathan Lighter has recorded hearing the term in a Saturday Night Live episode which aired in  1978: ‘Here is the party animal himself—Bill Murray.’ There is also a record of the similar term party hound being used in 1973. Yet, the first verifiable evidence we had at hand was from an interview with the playwright Israel Horovitz:

    1982 New York Times 2 July c8/5   If this movie stops one couple from getting a divorce because it’s the groovy, party-animal thing to do, it’s worth everything.

  Can you help us uncover party animal's earlier history? Records of spoken language such as television and film sources may hold the key, including any leads on establishing the original air date for the usage on Saturday Night Live.

I've found the original air date of the Saturday Night Live in question, and some examples on the same programme from the previous year.

But can you find anything earlier?


texts: What does "get someone's chest opened" mean?

texts:
I came across this expression in an article:
"My chest opened and has not closed ever since."

Based on the content (He saw the little girl cried), I think it means his heart is broken.

But I couldn't find any explanation. Was my guessing right? And is it a phrase or an idiom, or just an expression from west culture? I mean why an open chest is a metaphor for broken heart? (Quite beyond my understanding)

Thanks so much!

Best,
Shuo

  While I was in El Salvador in June, waiting for my interview, the Trump administration’s policy of separating children from their parents at the border was in full swing. I was staying with my grandfather. One morning I decided to check my email. I hadn’t looked at it in days. Someone had sent a link to a news story: “We have an orchestra here,” were the words a border patrol agent said in a recording released by ProPublica.org. I knew better than to click the link, but I did anyway. Grandpa had already gone to the market and brought back tamales de elote, beans, queso fresco. He never let me go to the market with him. That little girl’s cries and the cries of the other children on the recording were the coldest rain that did not stop. My chest opened and has not closed since.
  —“I Have a Green Card Now. But Am I Welcome?”, New York Times, retrieved 8 November 2018.


texts: Does "so called" have a negative connotation in English?

texts:
In some languages the word-by-word translation of "so called" usually has a neutral connotation. E.g. in the Czech language you may very often find a sentence like this (word-by-word translated from a Czech newspaper, not a genuine English text):

  1. The government approved exceptions for so called non-pedagogical workers.

Here the "so called" means that what follows is a terminus technicus, a domain specific jargon.

Only sometimes (in the Czech language) in a very specific context it has a negative connotation (and is usually marked with quotation marks in written form or by showing the quotation marks by two fingers of both hands or by changing the intonation in speech):

  2. The government does not accept the result of the so called "referendum" in the East Ukraine.

However, I read a recommendation in an English textbook not to use "so called" as it almost always has a negative connotation in English, like in my second example.

The book was written by a native English speaker who had lived for many years in my country and wrote recommendations specific to our locale. In my language we use "so called" by default with a neutral connotation and we usually have to mark a negative connotation somehow, e.g. by intonation. The writer of the textbook, however, advised against using it in English as its default connotation is negative.

Is it true? Do you as native speakers perceive it the same way?


texts: Are focusing adverbs exceptions of adverb definitions?

texts:
“Adverbs characteristically modify verbs and other categories except nouns, especially adjectives and adverbs.” (The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language, p.563)
“The basic division, then, is between words that modify nouns, and words that modify other categories (categories of words or of larger constituents). The noun modifiers are adjectives, and the others are adverbs.”
(A Student’s Introduction to English Grammar by Huddleston & Pullum, p.123)

Even though adverbs are excluded, by said definition, from modifying nouns, the so-called focusing adverbs are found in CGEL and COCA, that modify nouns, proper nouns and pronouns.

You are the only boy.
Only Kim resigned.
Only he knows.

Can they be regarded as exceptions of the definition? Or is there a certain reason, for example, the focusing range being movable or sometimes ambiguous we cannot say definitely that the adverbs modify only nouns?


texts: According to Wiktionary, the past participle of "flaw" is flawed, and flawn is not mentioned as being a valid alternative. However, the past participle of "draw" is drawn. I know that Modern English is irregular with regard to many forms and conjugations (for better or worse), but at first glance it is logical that the past participle form should be flawn, and not flawed. In short, what is the correct conjugation of the past participle for the verb flaw?


texts: Difference between a synecdoche and metonym?

texts:
From the definitions of these two types of figures of speech (tropes, if you will), I have always understand them to mean the same thing. Essentially, that is the usage of either a specific attribute or a generalisation of a thing to refer to that thing.

Could anyone perhaps qualify the difference between a synecdoche and metonym; is one a sub-category of another, are these essentially equivalent, or are they mutually exclusive in some subtle way?


texts: How do I refer to a quote whose author I don't know?

texts:
I have a quotation from someone which I want to use. But this quotation is from person X, who doesn't remember who said it to him.

How do I refer to it in this case?
If I don't mention the author, is this plagiarism?


texts:
Do the English verb "crush" and the Old Slavonic verb крушити (krushiti) "to break, to destroy" [where ити (iti) is a verb ending] have somehow relation with themself. Internet sources are scanty:  https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%D0%BA%D1%80%D1%83%D1%88%D0%B8%D1%82%D1%8C
https://lexicography.online/etymology/vasmer/%D0%BA/%D0%BA%D1%80%D1%83%D1%88%D0%B8%D1%82%D1%8C


texts: What are the grammatical rules for use of "these", "those", and "them"?

texts:
I am unclear of the use of [these|those] objects. I am unsure when to use [these|those|them].

Please someone help me tell me which is correct in the previous sentences.

This is not a dupe of What's the difference between "these" and "those"?


texts: How did a "ton" come to mean "one hundred" of something?

texts:
The etymology of "ton" is described by the OED as derived from French meaning "cask."

  In origin the same word as tun n.1 (Old English tunne, Old French tonne) a cask. In Middle English this was commonly spelt, as in French, tonne; in 16–17th cent., more often tun; from c1688 the two spellings have been differentiated, tun being appropriated to the sense ‘cask’ and the liquid measure, and ton to the senses here treated, which, it will be seen, are partly measures, and partly weights

My question is essentially how a word with this origin came to have a colloquial meaning referring to one hundred of something, such as in OED definitions referring to 100 points in cricket or darts, or 100 pounds in money.  The variants of this meaning are first attested from 1936 - 1962, where the 1962 attestation is the first under the definition:

  In other miscellaneous colloq. uses to denote one hundred.

A ton can refer to a whole lot of different measurements, many of which are outlined on its Wikipedia page, and some of which are formally defined in the OED as well.

The second definition given in the OED (after "cask") mentions one meaning specifically referring to "100 cubic feet," so to some extent I wonder if the meanings referring to 100 in colloquial use in the 20th century have some relationship to the meaning referring to 100 cubic feet.

  A unit used in measuring the carrying capacity or burden of a ship, the amount of cargo, freight, etc. Originally, the space occupied by a tun cask of wine (see explanatory quot. 1894   on tight adj.   and quot. 1539   here). Now, for the purposes of registered tonnage, the space of 100 cubic feet. For purposes of freight, usually the space of 40 cubic feet, unless that bulk would weigh more than 20 cwt., in which case freight is charged by weight. But the expression ‘ton of cargo’ is also used with regard to special packages which are conventionally assumed as going so many packages to the ton. Cf. also tonnage n.

This definition has attestations ranging from 1379 - 1867.  The OED doesn't draw a direct connection between "Now... the space of 100 cubic feet" and the other definitions that refer to 100.  Are they related, or is there a separate etymology for the later uses of "ton" referring to 100?


texts: What is the difference between "Have you seen this?" and "Did you see this?"

texts: What's the difference between these two phrases?


texts:
In my native language we have an idiom that goes like "to check/sync own's watch". It means, to verify with yourself that you are on the same page with something. To make sure you know the latest tendencies and are following them.
Example:

I go to interviews "to check/sync my watch" with the current status of the IT business.

Meaning: I go to interviews to make sure my knowledge and salary are matching what currently the companies are looking for.
Now, what's the corresponding idiom, if any, in English? Thanks.


texts:
In the movie Listen up, Philip, the narrator uses this sentence at one point:

When Philip departed in late August for the college, Ike was remiss to find himself backsliding into a familiar pattern of boredom and tedium.

Is remiss correctly used in the sentence? What does it mean here?


texts: Is "Betty learned that Albert telephoned after Isaiah visited" ambiguous?

texts:
Betty learned that Albert telephoned after Isaiah visited.

Can anybody explain whether "after Isaiah visited" tell us: (1) when Betty learned something about Albert or (2) when Albert telephoned?
Could a large pause between "Albert" and "telephoned" or after "telephoned" disambiguate the sentence in sense (1) or (2) respectively?

(1) Betty learned that Albert [... large pause ...] telephoned after Isaiah visited.
(2) Betty learned that Albert telephoned [... large pause ...] after Isaiah visited.

Also, what are the possible meanings or interpretations in written English? For example, could we conclude that:

(1) Betty learned that Albert telephoned after Isaiah visited. ["after Isaiah visited" attaches to "telephoned"]
(2) Betty learned that Albert telephoned, after Isaiah visited. ["after Isaiah visited" attaches to "learned"]


texts: Clearest and most succinct way of wording this confusing instruction

texts:
I need a clear and succinct, 1 or 2 sentence way of writing the following:

  Create 40 digital images of a set of black items on a white background
  in varying canonical and arbitrary arrangements. For each set
  numerosity 1-8, create 5 images.

And to clear up any confusion about what the above means - a longer way of writing the same:

  Create a total of 40 images of black items on a white background, in
  varying canonical and arbitrary arrangements, such that there are 5
  images of 1 item, 5 images of 2 items, 5 images of 3 items and so on
  until there are 5 images of 8 items.

Any method of writing it that I have come up with has led to confusion when asking people if they know what I mean. Thanks in advance for any help.


texts: Did ‘alakazam’ magically appear out of the thin air?

texts:
I doubt it. But when did alakazam enter English, where did it come from, and who first used it?

I vaguely recall the TV magic show The Magic Land of Allakazam (1960–1964) from my Texas childhood, and I’ve always assumed that the incantation “alakazam” (like “abracadabra”) was much older than that. A Google Books search for alakazam, however, turns up only a handful of matches from before the 1950s, and none earlier than 1919 (in The American Lumberman).

A query about abracadabra and alakazam posted on Reddit’s AskHistorians page (not by me) yielded a fair amount of information on the former but very little on the latter. A poster there noted that Merriam-Webster gives a “first known use” date of 1937 for alakazam. My copy of the compact edition of the OED (a 1985 reprint of the 1971 edition) doesn’t list the word at all, and neither does Oxford Dictionaries Online.

Hence my questions above.


texts: Formality: "city" people vs "city"er vs the people of "city" vs "city"'s populace

texts:
How would you rank the following phrases, which more or less describe the same thing, from most to least formal/precise (the chosen term will be used to describe the residents of a city):

London/New York people
Londoner/New Yorker
the people of London/New York
London/New York's populace

My ranking

Formality: 4 >= 3 >> 1 = 2; Precision: 4 >= 2 >= 3 >= 1

I've seen many instances of officials referring to residents of a city as Londoner/New Yorker. I suppose such use is recognised as semi-formal in the least?

Also, could someone explain if there's any differences in using these phrases?

Thank you for your attention!


texts: What is a word that describes both "entry" and "exit"?

texts: If you had to describe two locations, an "entry" and an "exit", what one word would encapsulate both meanings?  For example, I would describe them as "access locations".  But I want a single word that means that.


texts: What punctuation mark should be used before the choices when asking a question starting with "which"?

texts:
In the following question:

  Which is more expensive_ the apple or the orange?

What punctuation should I use in place of the underscore?

I have thought of a few possibilities.

  Which is more expensive? The apple or the orange?

When I read it without punctuation, I kinda raise my tone in both "expensive" and "orange", so I guess I should put question marks in both places?

  Which is more expensive, the apple or the orange?

The two parts belong to a single question, so there should be a single question mark at the end?

  Which is more expensive - the apple or the orange?

I faintly remember that I saw something like this in books. My memory could be wrong though.

Which should be used and why?


texts: Can you *donate* to a non-charitable cause?

texts:
I just had someone insist that a donation can only be to a charitable cause or organization; otherwise, the word contribution should be used. When I objected to "contribution" on the grounds that it sounds like what you send to your favorite politician, he suggested offering. But that's not any better - I've only really seen it used in church.

Is he right that donation implies charity? If yes, what's a good alternative?


texts: Define a term for a website user who does not have cookies activated

texts:
I'm looking for a term that describes a user of a website that has not enabled the cookies of that website.

My initial though was new user, but an existing user could delete cookies if they wished, so new user doesn't work in that case.

Any ideas? I conducted a quick google search but drew a blank using the search term define website user "not enabled cookies"


texts:
Is the above a pun? In one sense, the word covered is used to different ways (sort of) in that the phrase is usually used to mean a covered responsibility, not literally covered.

At the same time, one use of the word is clearly descended from the other (so much so that maybe it is the same definition of the word that is being used, not two distinct ones).

Is this is pun?


texts:
What is a word/phrase that could be defined as “the conflict between individual liberty and the public interest”?

I.e. the conflict between the state protecting individual rights and the state sometimes violating certain individuals’ rights in order to maintain the general welfare and safety of the population?


texts:
Can I use the verb reduce in the following way?

Also can anyone help me verify the whole sentence?

  The transmission overhead is reduced to more than 95%.


texts: I would like to ask a grammatical question in the following sentence. "I was happily munching away when some mouse spilled coffee on me." Why it says some mouse? But not some mice?


texts: SNL's Black Jeopardy: What does "fid'na" mean?

texts:
In perhaps one of the funniest SNL's Black Jeopardy! sketches ever, the expression  Fid’na was one of the six categories along with; Grown Ass, Aw Hell Naw, Girl Bye, I Ain’t Got It, and White People

  They fid'na to take prayer out of school
  Shanice: “What is they wonder why ever'body is pregnant?”

The second clue was

  This is the reason your cable bill is in your grandmamma's name
  T'Challa:  “What is to honor her is the foundation of the family?”

(P.S. the sketch gets even funnier after this warm-up)

Note that the term fid'na is missing in the second clue, and it was missing in the contestant's question/answer, too.

In the first answer, it seems that fid'na could either mean “thinking of”
or “shouldn't have” but the spelling makes no sense. There is barely anything that I could find online for fid'na or fidna. Just links to the SNL's comedy sketch and two references

  We couldn't find a direct definition for the term fidna.
  Definitions.net

and

  about to, 'fixing to'
  (September 06, 2003)
  Urban Dictionary

The UD's definition makes some sense, although I am unaware that fixing to means to arrange to do something in the near future. I'm guessing this is American English.

Is the spelling of “fid'na” appropriate? See @Janus's comment below “… my immediate thought was that it looks like eye dialect for “They’re fitting to [sense 2] take prayer out of school”.

Can someone please confirm whether "fid'na" is an abbreviation of "fixing to" or not.
Is the spelling an abbreviation or eye dialect?
How did fixing (to) become fid(na)?


texts: Which question tag below is correct? Apparently the second is correct but I want to put emphasis on first part of the sentence " I take it ..."

texts:
"I take it that your question has to do with what my perception is of being a good teacher, isn't it?"
"I take it that your question has to do with my perception is of being a good teacher, hasn't it?"


texts:
On a TV program, an immigration officer said to an immigrant as follows:
C1: Take four of your fingers and put ’em on the pad.

The pad was an electronic device which had a glass plate on its top and was about seven inches deep, five inches wide, and five inches tall. The immigration officer wanted the immigrant to put four of his fingers on the glass plate. I thought the device would get fingerprints by using light.

What motion or action does “take” of C1 mean?


texts: What exactly is different between "outspoken"/"softspoken" and "unspoken"/"misspoken"?

texts:
My brain completely misinterprets the last 2 of these words every time I read them:

When I hear X is "unspoken", I interpret it to mean nobody speaks about X.
When I hear X is "misspoken", I interpret it to mean that people say X by mistake.
When I hear X is "outspoken", I interpret it as meaning that X is spoken of (or X does speaks) but the speech tends to be drowned out by others' voices.
When I hear X is "softspoken", I interpret it as meaning that people tend to speak "softly" of X.

Yet somehow, it seems the first two are correct, but the last two are wrong.
Heck, the first two apply to things, whereas the last two seem to apply to people.
In the first two cases, X is the subject of the sentence, but in the last two, it is the object.

Shouldn't the consistent usage and the "-en" conjugation mean X is the subject?
From a language standpoint, what exactly is different about these that makes their meanings so seemingly ambiguous grammatically?


texts: Use of 'Connotation' for referring to large set of words?

texts:
What I mean to ask is, I only see single words having connotation. Can I use it to express the feelings that the whole passage invoked inside me?

Like

'This story has negative connotation of depression and anxiety'
'His speech contained negative connotation of unhappiness'

Please elucidate?
if not, what word should I use in replacement of connotation?


texts:
Is this punctuated correctly?

  If happy little bluebirds fly beyond the rainbow,
  Why oh why can’t I?"

Or should “oh why” be set off by commas?

  If happy little bluebirds fly beyond the rainbow,
  Why, oh why, can’t I?


texts:
I grew up in South Africa.  When someone said something costs 'two bucks' it meant two rand (like saying two dollars, but South African currency).

It made perfect sense, as the 1 Rand coin had an image of a Springbok on it (3rd from right):

(source: Wikipedia)

However, I then moved to New Zealand.  The 1 dollar coin has a Kiwi on it (not a buck). But you still hear people saying 'a buck'.  Even in adverts on tv.

So what gives? I assume there's a different etymology, but all I can find online are some comments about buckskin, but that doesn't really seem certain.


texts: Can you use "query" to begin a sentence?

texts:
The following sentence uses query at the beginning of a sentence:

  Query when is it ever good time.

Am I using query correctly. I am trying to say "I question whether..."


texts: Is there a word for how one feels when thanked?

texts:
People say "thank you" because they're thankful. One would responed "you're welcome" because they are what?

Is there a single word to describe a state of happily doing something for someone else for which they've received thanks?


texts: On the scope of negatives embedded in free relative clauses

texts:
I would like to ask two questions about "free relative clauses" like the one shown in [1]. I am not a native speaker of English, but I feel that  "what appears to be" in [1] acts as a hedge, expressing speaker's uncertainty about "no sense of reality". Is this intuition correct?

  [1] Sue has what appears to be no sense of reality.

The second question is whether there is contrast between [2a] and [2b] in terms of grammaticality.

  [2a] Sue has what appears to be no sense of reality and neither do I.
  [2b] Sue has what appears to be no sense of reality and so do I.

The point behind this question is whether negative expressions such as "no" that are embedded in what looks like the relative clause ("what appears to be") can have scope over the matrix clause ("Sue has"). If "no" can have scope over the matrix, the sentence in question will be combined with a “neither”-tag as in [2a] but not with a “so”-tag as in [2b].

Thanks.


texts: Is this correct usage of the word "resist"?

texts:
Is it correct to say "People resist to learn new things."? By saying so, I intend to convey that most of us are not willing to learn new things. Also, which one of the following do you think is better.

People resist to learn new things.
People offer resistance to learning new things.


texts: Is there a name for this type of construction? E.g. possessive continuous? Is it even valid?

texts:
I'd like to know if this type of construction has a name, and for that matter, if it's even grammatically correct. I can remember seeing it in certain formal texts, but not as much recently:

  The dog began to growl, despite his continuing to wag his tail.

...

  She still held out hope for good news, as shown by her checking the
  mail each morning.

Those are made-up; I can't find a good real-life example right now. But the way I explain it is that a continuous action like "checking the mail each morning" is made into a noun-like object and treated as a possession of a person. It seems somewhat stiff, and in most cases I think you could rewrite the sentence to use more direct phrasing. But is it valid? And what is it called?


texts: Origin of meaning of 'express' such as a fast train?

texts: I seem to recall reading that 'express' to mean a rapid transport service (e.g. express train) has its origin in the verb 'express' to mean to press out. Can anyone shed any light on this? (Of course, my recollection may be wrong!)


texts:
Is there really a difference between using "allows for" and just simply "allows" as in this scenario? To me, both of these sentences mean exactly the same thing. Does having the 'for' make the sentence mean something even slightly  different at all? I have searched all over but have not encountered anything that is similar to this scenario. Any help is much appreciated.

  Music allows me to express myself.
  Music allows for me to express myself.


texts: How to change questions to indirect speech if we are asking about personal information?

texts:
I want to to know how to change questions to indirect speech if we are asking about personal information? E.g "What's your name?" said John to the man.
"How old are you?
What's your job?


texts:
I just started reading a short story by Kate Chopin: "The Story of an Hour", and got stuck on the phrase "in broken sentences". What does it mean?

  It was her sister Josephine who told her, in broken sentences; veiled hints that revealed in half concealing. Her husband's friend Richards was there, too, near her.


texts: Is this past tense or has this changed to present tense?

texts:
I'm sorta new to writing and I'm wondering is this past tense or has this changed to present tense?
"The hum of the bike quickly filled the air as Eddie finished drinking his water."


texts: same as what she said vs same as she said

texts:
I have some questions confusing me.
(I work in a cafe.)

Is this the same order as she said.
Is this the same order as what she said.

What is the difference between 1 and 2 and which one is correct?

Is this the same as she said
Is this the same as what she said.

Do 3, 4 have the same meaning as 1, 2?


texts: What is a word that means "Psychadelic Nightmare"?

texts:
I read a word that was used to describe the original Willy Wonka movie's bad acid trip boat scene, the definition of the word was something like a circus of hallucinogenic nightmares and the word sounded like "cacophony".
I think it started with the letter 'P' and the word is definitely an adjective.

Please help! Trying to find this word is driving me insane.


texts: "Happy Birthday " or "Happy Birthday to " on a cake?

texts:
What is better to write on a cake? "Happy Birthday <name>" or "Happy Birthday to <name>"?
Or are both of them equally fine? Or is there an alternative that's better than both?


texts:
I have a question about stringing clauses together. The following is an excerpt from a book called 'Jolie Blon's Bounce' by James Lee Burke:

  ...I wanted to drive deep into the Atchafalaya Swamp, past the
  confines of reason, into the past, into a world of lost dialects,
  gator hunters, busthead whiskey, moss harvesters, Jax beer, trotline
  runners, moonshiners, muskrat trappers, cockfights, bloodred boudin, a
  jigger of Jim Beam lowered into a frosted schooner of draft, outlaw
  shrimpers, dirty rice black from the pot, hogmeat cooked in rum, Pearl
  and Regal and Grand Prize and Lone Star iced down in washtubs,
  crawfish boiled with cob corn and artichokes, all of it on the
  tree-flooded, alluvial rim of the world, where the tides and the
  course of the sun were the only measures of time.

Is this simply a case of a 'list'-style sentence? Or is it something more complex? It's a very long sentence, and I'm wondering how accurate the grammar is? If it's correct, can someone explain why? What exactly is happening? I understand dependent and independent clauses, but in a case like this I'm unsure of what's really going on.

Any help on this is greatly appreciated. Thanks!


texts:
1.) Money is all that I need.
2.) Money is all what I need.

Which one is right? or which one have you not ever seen? and is there any difference between them?

But, what about the following?

If we consider the word "all" as an adverb, not as a noun, what would you like to say?

(In addition: I am wondering the reason why my question is labeled as an answered question, because if you look at it you will notice that they are not the same at all.)


texts: What's the difference in usage between "install" and "instill"?

texts: Is there actually any difference between the words?  I feel like I am perfectly capable of installing a healthy fear in someone.


texts: Me maw used to say to me 'at the double', meaning for me to come as quick as possible. Just wondering today: what was the origin of this saying? It seems to me that the words don't apply to anything really specifically, so can some one provide a feasible explanation?


texts: Relation between 'As a matter of fact' and 'Matter-of-fact

texts:
I'm aware of the meanings of these expression. I'm just wondering if there is
any relation between the two. I've looked into many dictionaries but haven't
understood much about their similarities,if any.

Does these expressions share a history of common origin.
Whether the latter is derived from the former considering their origin according to this site.
If these are completely independent expressions, then how come they are named almost the same. Is the hyphenated form going to twist the whole meaning?

I don't suppose we can use 'as a matter of fact' in place of 'matter-of-fact', right?


texts: Can a relative clause be an independent clause?

texts:
Consider the sentence:

My uncle who lives in Australia has sent me a present.

It is my understanding that who lives in Australia is a sub-clause in this context. However, if you isolate the clause, does it become a question and therefore an independent clause? Consider this:

Who lives in Australia?

Cheers.


texts:
For example:

• We're both 20.

Or

• (The) both of us are 20.

I don't mean to include the person I'm talking to. Which one is more appropriate?


texts: What is the origin and earliest recorded usage of 'cock-up'

texts:
In informal British English, the expression 'cock-up' (c.f. the US English 'fuck-up') is used to indicate an error or problem in a situation.

What is the origin of this expression and its etymology? Does anyone know of its use prior to the 1960s?


texts: What does 'excluding the systematics' mean?

texts: A business user asked me if I can run the report for her 'excluding the systematics'.  Does that mean without going through the formality and procedure and etc?


texts: I use the word 'also' a lot when writing paragraphs.  When I find myself using 'also' twice in the same paragraph, it feels a bit awkward.  Is there another word or phrase I should be using?


texts: What does Mitt Romney's “Telephone Tips: ‘Just Left,’ 25 cents; ‘On His Way,’ 50 cents; ‘Not here,’ $1; ‘Who?’ $5.” mean?

texts:
There was the following paragraph in Maureen Dowd’s article titled, "Mitt Romney is the president of white male America” in November 10 New York Times:

  Maybe the group can retreat to a man cave in a Whiter House, with
  mahogany paneling, brown leather Chesterfields, a moose head over the
  fireplace, an elevator for the presidential limo, and one of those
  men’s club signs on the phone that reads: “Telephone Tips: ‘Just
  Left,’ 25 cents; ‘On His Way,’ 50 cents; ‘Not here,’ $1; ‘Who?’ $5.”

As it is customary to her writings, I was puzzled with the sign on Mitt Romney’s phone: Telephone Tips: ‘Just Left,’ 25 cents; ‘On His Way,’ 50 cents; ‘Not here,’ $1; ‘Who?’ $5.

Can you decipher for me what this line means?


texts: What words should never be capitalised in a title or heading?

texts: Are there any exceptions to the rule? Sometimes song names will have "the" with a capital "T".


texts:
If I remember correctly from English class, then one should put a comma after "i.e.", i.e., the Latin abbreviation for id est.

But lately I've seen the comma after "i.e." dropped in books. So what is the rule or consensus here if any?


texts: Are R-colored diphthongs phonemes or not?

texts:
There are some sounds called the "R-colored diphthong" in English, such as [or] sound in "court" or the [ir] sound in "clear".

My question is simple: are these R-colored diphthongs regarded as phonemes, respectively for native speakers?


texts: Is it necessary to append a comma before the coordinate conjunction "or" here?

texts:
Here's my initial attempt at formulating this sentence in a grammatically correct manner:

I can't tell if I should be insulted by this recommendation because of
what I think the YouTube algorithm's reason is (you know what it is)
or if I should be flattered because the video is about a highly
academic topic.

I'm aware of the widely known general rule that for a comma to be required in a sentence, the sentence should be compound. I.e., it should have two or more independent clauses.
My problem now is ascertaining whether the second clause is in fact an independent clause.


texts: What is the scope of the expression "Industry experts"?

texts:
When in a sentence it is necessary to refer to an expert person, someone who is a reference for a specific field, I've often seen the expression
"industry expert".

Is it an expression wide enough to be used for contexts different from the industry or it is better to write something like "expert in the field" or similar?


texts: A verb that means to signal or to signpost

texts:
If someone is really overt with their intentions, you could say they're _____ their intentions. Signalling and signposting kind of work, but there's a word that's eluding me which fits this usage exactly.

The connotation I'm looking for is to make really obvious or call attention to especially with regards to how the intentions (or other noun) change with time.


texts:
Crafty, Craf+tea= Craftea

Overwhelming, Over+whale+ming= Overwhaleming

cutie, Cu+tea= Cutea


texts: Explanation of Grammatical structure is needed

texts:
The crowd saw him clap his hand to his mouth.

This is a sentence from Harry Potter I. I don't understand how "clap" is used right after "saw". Shouldn't there be a "to" in between? i.e. "saw him to clap" seems appropriate.


texts:
In the following:
 The French background check program, in partnership with the French army, is extended to the following:
- All French tennis Technical Officials, National and Above

Does this mean all French tennis technical officials including national and above or does it mean only national and above and exclude all others?


texts: What does "ought to have been a wheelbarrow" mean?

texts: My grandmother (who was of Irish descent) was born in the New England area of NSW, Australia. She used an idiom that she "ought to have been a wheelbarrow". I think it meant something about a lack of intelligence, but I'm not sure; can anyone give me a source and meaning for it?


texts: Meaning of "scared the hell out of someone"

texts:
The phrase I read on yahoo.com is the following one.

  Tendulkar never scared me, says Akhtar.
  The Pakistani maverick pacer said it was Adam Gilchrist and Brian Lara who scared the hell out of him.

Here, I just want to know the meaning of  "scared the hell out of someone."


texts: (Romanian(?)) expression akin to "Running on paddlers' fins"?

texts:
I was in a meeting today with a Romanian man, mid-40s, clearly well-educated. His first language was, I believe, Romanian. In any case, he used a lot of expressions as he spoke, and whilst they were all basic expressions one would hear from a native speaker, it struck me as pleasant that he spoke like this in what was, to him, a foreign language. A one point during the meeting, however, he used an expression which I believe was meant to indicate the futility of something - specifically, he said it was "[tantamount to] running on paddlers' fins". I had never heard this before so I jotted it down, but after the meeting, I couldn't find it anywhere! Has anyone heard this before? (The man was making Star Trek references and quotes in English, I don't think he just translated it on the spot, it flowed so naturally). Please help!

Is this an established expression?
What does it specifically mean?


texts: How much time must elapse for an item such as a book to become classic?

texts:
Mentioning a book to an individual to include in their list as classic was met with...

  I wouldn't call "Book Name" a classic - it's less than 11 years
  old.

This got me thinking about when a book or other item (car, slang, recipe, etc...) becomes a classic. In my initial investigation I stumbled upon this description...

  A novel can be called a classic when there is a significant time
  period between its publishing and the current age we are in. In other
  words, it has to be old, as well as critically renowned as a good
  novel. Then, it can be called a classic.

While the above may help define what constitutes a classic, it doesn't define the amount of time that needs to pass before that criteria is met.

Does the designation classic truly imply that a significant amount of time has passed since the work's creation, and if so, how long must that period be to qualify as "significant"?


texts:
Are «said I» and «I said» interchangeable? «Said I» is pretty uncommon, or so I thought.

The sentence in question looks like so: «"It's not going to be your way," — said I.» Or it could be «"It's not going to be your way," — I said.»

Which one sounds better?

(same question for "exclaimed I" vs. "I exclaimed", etc.)


texts:
I find myself recurrently stopped while writing e-mails for a main purpose (e.g, answering a direct question from a previous mail somebody sent me) and wanting to add a second theme "taking advantage that I'm already writing you".

I don't want to be rude, in my native language this wouldn't be offensive if one writes something like "I take advantage that you've written me", but "taking advantage" seems awkward in english.

Both links below show some advices but not exactly in the context I'm looking for.

Take advantage of - positively

"Take advantage" vs. "make advantage"

A workaround I'm using is include a separate paragraph with some connector or another phrase (e.g, "I was about to get in touch with you because...") but I would like to understand if this is the only way (the other way is more natural for me).

UPDATE

Another example came to my mind. It could happen during a class where a student asks about theme A and the teacher "takes advantage of the question" for clarifying A,B,C or whatever.


texts:
The train is running at a speed of 65 kms per hour.
The train is running at a speed of 65 kms an hour.
Which one is grammatically correct?


texts:
Given the following question, in the context of a poll or vote:

Should any employee of Company X be allowed to assume absolute authority in any project with Company X's name associated?

Under the rules of English, are both of these interpretations valid, therefore making the question ambiguous?

Interpretation #1

"Should any employee of Company X (without restriction; meaning, regardless of their standing in the Company and the amount of support they've received) be allowed to assume absolute authority in any project (without restriction; meaning, any project they wish to embark upon, with or without informing anyone or getting anyone's buy-in) with Company X's name associated?"

Under Interpretation #1, someone would only respond by voting "Yes" if they felt that replacing the word any with every in the original question would be perfectly acceptable. If they could think of just one situation where this would be unacceptable, they'd have to vote "No."

Interpretation #2

"Should any employee of Company X (ever) be allowed to assume absolute authority in any project (whatsoever) with Company X's name associated?"

Or -- perhaps more clearly --

"Are there any circumstances or conditions under which a Company X employee embarking upon a certain project would be allowed to assume absolute authority over the project with Company X's name associated with it?"

Under Interpretation #2, someone would only vote "No" if they felt that no justification can exist for allowing an employee to have this absolute authority on a project with Company X's name associated. If they felt that some conditions would make it acceptable, then they'd have to vote "Yes".

Q: Are both of these interpretations valid? If not, which one(s) are incorrect?


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  When does a word become a ‘word’?

Someone in work asked about the welfare of my girlfriend, to which I replied "She's fine, a little be-gruntled but fine."  People knew what I meant, although on reflection perhaps I should have said disgruntled?  I'm just wondering why I said it this way, was I improperly abbreviating *to be disgruntled"?


texts: What is the meaning of the phrase: "N weeks ago tomorrow"?

texts:
Please explain to me the meaning of the phrase:

  Two weeks ago tomorrow.

It seems to be in the past (ago) but with a link to the future (tomorrow).


texts: Can "status quo" be used in regards to micro topics?

texts:
I was having a discussion with my fiancee about whether or not she was going to take my name when we get married. As of right now, the plan is that she will keep her current last name.

When asked if this will change before our wedding, I said "we will most likely stick with the status quo, and she'll keep her name."

A. Is it incorrect to use the term "status quo" to describe the current state of a micro-topic?

B. Does using it in that sentence conversely imply that that "status quo" is what is normal in society (which is for the female to take the last name), and thus the "status quo" is actually her taking my last name?

Thanks!


texts:
In an English-language book, we conventionally have, among the first few pages, a page displaying essential data concerning the book: Library of Congress Cataloguing Data, various credits, publication date/location, copyright and other legal information, etc.

What is this page called? Do we have a specific term for it?

EDIT: in my research, I found this described as metadata. Would it be appropriate to call it the metadata page?


texts:
Chortle is a very common synonym for 'laugh', although arguably more specific in the type of laugh. I've been ignoring this word for some time since whenever I think I finally know how to use it I see another definition which makes me wonder how it's different to the generic 'laugh'.
The explanation that makes most sense to me is that chortle is a combination of a 'chuckle' and a 'snort'. Therefore: a quieter/subdued laugh with the mouth closed, and the air escaping the nose (snort) rather than the mouth.
Now the reason I'm breaking this down to such an nth degree, is for characters, the way they express themselves is important. For example, if a character cackles rather than laughs you'd assume they're either evil or crazy or both. So apart from the definition above I have two further queries to break this down:

Some definitions suggest to chortle means you have a level
of glee, pleasure or satisfaction. What I'm wondering is, since
laughing generally has those anyway, does this mean that to chortle
you have an excess amount of this, as in similar to a happily evil
cackle? Or is chortle considered less subdued?
Secondly, my understanding is that this is not the same as a
snorting laugh, which is louder and used more for humour?
I am also thinking that this is not the same as snarfing a laugh, or trying to stop laughter by closing your mouth which can lead to a chortle if it is too hard to control

Anyway, looking for to some insight into this elusively defined word. I look forward to your suggestions.
Here is the best example I was able to find of a chortle. In the beginning of the video everyone is snarfing their laughs, but by this point they give up and resort to a full on chortle instead, but still maintain enough respect to not do an open mouthed laugh.


texts: How to use "when" between two sentences?

texts:
Following is the semantic rule of English grammar

  When + Simple Past Tense + Past Perfect Tense or Past Continuous Tense

But I have seen many examples and texts that do not follow the rule. For example:

  When I was a child, my parents bought me a dog.

In fact, it should be written as:

  When I was a child, my parents had bought me a dog.

Is this an exception to the rule?


texts:
I wonder what this means: an open-ended, all-or-nothing licensing process.
And what does it mean in the context: streamlined approval?

This approach will need a sensible regulatory framework. Currently, as M.I.T.’s Richard Lester, a nuclear engineer, has written, a company proposing a new reactor design faces “the prospect of having to spend a billion dollars or more on an open-ended, all‑or‑nothing licensing process without any certainty of outcomes.” We need government on the side of this clean-energy transformation, with supportive regulation, streamlined approval, investment in research and incentives that tilt producers and consumers away from carbon.


texts: Is "The thinking of humanity needs oil to survive is completely wrong" a correct senetence?

texts: I am practicing for the IELTS test and end up freezing at the moment wondering whether the above structure correct: "The thinking of.." followed by a full statement as the subject and then "...is completely wrong". It sounded right to me but I couldn't find any example online with that structure. Hope you guys can help. Thanks!


texts: Peculiarities of translating the gerund in civil law documents

texts: I'm writing a thesis and I've been given this subject: peculiarities of translating the gerund in civil law documents. How can I extend this subject?


texts: Idiom for 'after they get what they want'

texts:
Is there an English idiom meaning "after they get what they want" in the following dialog:

  A: Mike was much friendlier when he was a low-ranking officer. He doesn't even say hi to his old friends these days.
  B: Well, yeah. He used to need us but now that he's a high-ranking officer ...
  A: Right. People tend to forget about you after they get what they want (when they don't need you anymore)


texts: Is there a word that encompasses both "receiving" and "sending"?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Word for application that is both sender and receiver

In the sentence "There are many ways to receive and send information.",  is there a word that can replace "receive and send"?

I was thinking of the word transmit: "There are many ways to transmit information.",

But transmit seems to convey only a one-way direction instead of a two-way direction.

Is there a word that encompasses the meaning of both "receiving" and "delivery" ?


texts: What does the word "enchaliced" mean in John Ashbery's "A Wave"?

texts:
I'm reading John Ashbery's "A Wave" and the word appears in this context:

[ . . . ] and incorrect conclusions based on false premises that now / Slow you down but by that time, enchaliced, will sound attentive, / Tonic even, an antidote to badly reasoned desiring [ . . . ]

I can't seem to locate a definition.


texts: Using a or an article before unfamiliar or new termed acronym

texts:
I have seen in a number of places, such as this answer, that the usage of a or an in front of an acronym is dependent on the common pronunciation of that acronym.

I am confused for the following reasons:

It is very possible that a certain acronym will be differently pronounced in two cases (based on geography for example) due to cultural or context differences.
If I am terming a new acronym, do I get to choose how to pronounciate it as well? For example, say I am writing an academic article and have defined a new term for which I choose a new acronym, how do I determine the correct article?

A good example of the latter case could be derived from the world of computers. Say I am an innovator who just invented the Serial AT attachment SATA computer bus, and I am terming the acronym SATA. I may pronounce my new term either as saa-taa or ess-ay-tee-ay. For the first case, I will have to write a SATA bus while for the second, it seems I will have to chose an SATA bus.

Is there a rule of thumb here to make things clearer?


texts:
In academic publication, I must use inverted commas.

"The fact that they had accepted the offer was sufficient to give rise to a binding contract, notwithstanding
the fact that the plaintiffs were mistaken and that they pointed out their mistake to the defendants immediately and before the defendants had acted on it in any way."1

Presume I must write out "The fact that" like this.

Their having "accepted the offer was sufficient to give rise to a binding contract, notwithstanding
the fact that the plaintiffs were mistaken and that they pointed out their mistake to the defendants immediately and before the defendants had acted on it in any way."1

Now presume I must quote antecedent of "Their", "[T]he defendants [who] clearly ought to be given leave to defend this action"2. Can I write this?

"[T]he defendants [who] clearly ought to be given leave to defend this action"2's having "accepted the offer was sufficient to give rise to a binding contract, notwithstanding
the fact that the plaintiffs were mistaken and that they pointed out their mistake to the defendants immediately and before the defendants had acted on it in any way."1

I start another example, but same question.

"The fact that the pursuers had supplied drivers to operate
the machinery and remove the silt did not demonstrate the existence of a contract on the
defender’s terms."3

Presume I must write out "The fact that" like this.

The pursuers' "having supplied drivers to operate
the machinery and remove the silt did not demonstrate the existence of a contract on the
defender’s terms."3

Now presume I must clarify pursuers, "pursuers [who] offered to supply machinery that could be used to remove silt from the
defender’s pond"4. Can I write this?

The "pursuers [who] offered to supply machinery that could be used to remove silt from the
defender’s pond"4's "having supplied drivers to operate
the machinery and remove the silt did not demonstrate the existence of a contract on the
defender’s terms."3

1McKendrick. Contract Law: Text, Cases, and Materials (2020 9 ed). p 29.
2 Op. cit. p 28.
3 Op. cit. p 89.          4 Op. cit. p 88.


texts: Is there an English word for a woman who has recently given birth?

texts:
In some cultures, there are lots of customs about a woman who has recently given birth to a baby, such as feeding special fancy meals to her, taking special care of her, and so on for (a certain number of days, e.g. 40 days from baby's birth) and of course there's a well-known word that explains this.

I couldn't find anything in the dictionary and thesaurus and based on my search keywords. Does it exist in English?

P.S.: The term new mother is quite general that won't refer to this certain period just after birth.

Update: I just removed single word request rag and added word choice instead. Happy to get more opinions on this question, if any.


texts:
What is difference between these two sentences and when can I use each one

There has been a fierce debate over the way the war was fought

There has been fierce debate over the way the war was fought


texts: "How do you call it" vs "How you call it" vs "How it's called", which way is correct?

texts:
I stumbled across the following in a conversation with a friend who is not a native English speaker. Considering the context, what is the correct way to phrase the  second sentence?
They said:

I need to buy something. I am not sure how do you call it in English.

To me, this sounds incorrect but I am not sure why. I can think of a few different ways to rephrase it, but which one is actually grammatically correct?

I am not sure how you call it in English.
I am not sure what you call it in English.
I am not sure how it is called in English.
I am not sure what it is called in English.


texts: What is the name of the construction , "I'm liking" and when is it appropriate?

texts:
I hear phrases such as, "I'm wanting a new car," and, "He was wanting to go home," and, "I'm liking this new CD," more and more frequently. It seems ubiquitous and it is jarring to my ear.  Why not just say, "I want a new car," or, "He wanted to go home," or, "I like this new CD?"

What is the name of this construct, and when, if ever is it appropriate?

Thank you for your help.
Kind regards,
j


texts: A term or phrase meaning "to explain in simple words"?

texts: How do you ask someone to explain something in very simple words, understandable by everyone from general public? In Russia we say something, that can be translated like "explain on fingers". What's the correct English for this?


texts:
I'm trying to write something along the lines of:

  The system can do three things; thing1, thing2, and thing3, and can do each of these in a variety of ways.

Does this work as written, or is there a better structure/more correct punctuation I should be using? Specifically, it seems a little awkward to me to be using commas to separate both the list items and the two parts of the sentence.

Thanks!


texts: What is the correct way to pronounce 'router'?

texts:
Merriam-Webster lists both ˈrüt and ˈrau̇t as possible pronunciations for route but only
ˈrau̇-tər for router.

Is it really wrong to pronounce router as 'rüter ?


texts:
Can I start a sentence as follows?

  Allowing to detect only circular shape objects, objects, classified mistakenly as trees, can be avoided from the modelling process.

or may be can we write it as:

  Objects, classified mistakenly as trees, can be avoided from the modelling process allowing to detect only circular shape objects.

Please correct me in this.


texts:
E.g. "I get called Hitler in school." or "I get called 'Hitler' in school."?

Would quotation marks be needed for 'Hitler'?
What if it was an uncommon or nonsensical word like 'A123' or 'Gaylord'. Would the capital letter alone be enough to grammatically make its usage fine? What if the nickname is made up of multiple words like "Fatty Pig Face"?


texts:
How to arrow/limit the text that comes after some broader meaning.
For example:
Several models have been proposed in the field of mathematics and engineering. Now I want to limit my further discussion on engineering field neglect the other one. How to make a transition?


texts:
I need help to find some idioms on creating a sudden idea, so I thought, why not, ask the question? So I'm gonna write down the ones I already know and then ask you guys to write yours...

Popped into my mind

An "Aha!" moment

Hit me in the face like a thunderstorm


texts: Single word for (shrugging) hands action

texts:
If you want to convey "What now?" or "I don't know what to do", you might lift your hands up and outwards. Is there a word or phrase for this action and intent? Closest I can think of is 'She shrugged her hands' but OED only lists shrug (as a gesture) as applying to the shoulders.

I've tried a reverse dictionary search and searched on this SE but cannot find an answer to this exact question.


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  “How big of a problem” vs. “how big a problem”

I was recently typing along on this site, when I found myself typing

  . . . that big [of] a list.

and I couldn't figure out if of belonged in the phrase. Does it?


texts: Is there a word that means "unnecessarily evocative"

texts:
What is the word to describe when language should be neutral such as in an encyclopedia entry of scientific text but instead the language is unnecessarily evocative. Is there a word that describes this?

For example use of the word "assasinated" when "murdered" or "shot" might be more appropriate.


texts: Usage of maverick as an adjective for a thing

texts:
I saw on Google the formulation: "the maverick of the sea scrolls…".

Would it be better, equivalent or incorrect, instead of saying for example "the maverick of frameworks", to say "the maverick framework" or the "the frameworks' maverick"?

EDIT
Actually I want to know if I can use correctly the shorter sentence: "the maverick framework", as it is using maverick as an adjective?

Thanks!


texts:
could anyone please tell me the difference between the two following sentencess? And which one is grammatical?

1- All the children in the world are different. And they love everyone unconditionally .

2- All children in the world are different. And they love everyone unconditionally .


texts:
You will love him to ruins.

This is the first sentence of the book The Evolution of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin.

Could somebody tell me what does that mean?

Here is the sentence in context:

  YOU WILL LOVE HIM TO RUINS. The words echoed in my mind as I ran
  through clots of laughing people. Blinking lights and delighted
  screams bled together in a riot of sound and color. I knew Noah was
  behind me. I knew he would catch up. But my feet tried to do what my
  heart couldn’t; they tried to leave him behind.

  I finally ran out of breath beneath a leering clown that pointed to
  the entrance to the Hall of Mirrors. Noah caught up to me easily. He
  turned me to face him and I stood there, my wrist in his grasp, my
  cheeks wet with tears, my heart splintered by her words. If I truly
  loved him, she said, I would let him go. I wished I loved him enough.


texts:
I asked this question on Mathematics Stack Exchange (here) but I haven't had any luck so far. Allow me to copy the question:

If I wanted to be scrupulous about correct spelling, is there any reason that I should prefer either:

non-abelian or nonabelian?
nondegenerate or non-degenerate?
hyperkähler or hyper-Kähler?

NB: For some reason, hyperkähler is more common than hyper-Kähler, however quasi-Fuchsian is more common than quasifuchsian, and I don't think anyone writes "pseudoriemannian".

While I'm at it, allow me to ask a second spelling question: should I write PDEs or PDE's? It seems to me that there is no reason to use an apostrophe but a lot of people do.

PS: Wikipedia says something about the use of lowercase "a" in "abelian": here.


texts: When using it as 'personal computer', should it be lowercase as opposed to other uses such as 'political correctness' which may be more descriptive through use of uppercase?


texts:
Can someone explain why this sentence is considered passive voice. Also convert it to active voice.
"The recruits are tested and qualified for the finals".


texts: What is the difference between 'past' and 'present perfect;?

texts:
Are they here?

1) Yes. They arrived.

2) Yes. They have arrived.

I cannot understand what the difference is.

Of course I know 1) is 'past' and 2) is 'present perfect'

But in my country, 'Present perfect tense' is not exist.

So I cannot understand detail meaning between them.

My teacher told me that 'Present perfect tense' occurred in the past, but still related to present.

But I cannot figure out.

Here is another dialogue that I cannot understand.

Are you hungry?

1) I had lunch.

2) I have had lunch.

Please tell me the difference between them.

Thank you.


texts: Word meaning: A slip of the tongue which suggests how you actually feel, often humorous

texts:
I'm sure there's a word which matches this definition. Where you make a slight mistake in saying something and a friend will nudge you and say "oh, so that's what you really think?!"

One example, though not perfect, was when Prime Minister Gordon Brown, in a heated exchange, meant to declare "We saved the banks" but actually said "We saved the world..." before correcting himself.


texts: Can "which" and its antecedent be used together in a sentence for reading clarity?

texts:
Unfortunately I could not find an authentic example of the rare construct I have in mind, but I am just as sure as I am typing this question that I have read so many sentences from older prose where the relative pronoun "which" and the noun it refers to are both there. In this case, it sounded almost as though "which" were used as "such."

Which + its antecedent.

The following example is mine, not taken from any authentic author; but it attempts accurately to emulate many sentences I have read:

  Yet a certain problem still persists in this society, which problem has been
  handed down from one generation to another.

Could it be that a writer is allowed to do so to avoid the syntactic ambiguity of whether "which" refers back to "society" or "problem"? Now of course the rest of the sentence may clarify for the reader what the antecedent for "which" is (without having to mention it); meaning that ". . . handed down from generation to another" gives the impression that the antecedent is indeed "problem." But still, could the combination of "which" followed by its antecedent "problem" be used to give the reader a more fluid and smooth reading experience?


texts: Heavy element shift.. what if the prepositional phrase is long?

texts:
We can infer from his face that we did not do what was wanted.

As above, when a noun phrase or that clause gets long, we shift those phrases or clauses around and place the prepositional phrase in front of the noun phrase or that clause.

But what if both that clause and prepositional phrase become long? Is it recommended to use heavy element shift or not?

  We can infer from the fact that he is angry about the decision that he will not do the work crucial to this project.

  Or

  We can infer that he will not do the work crucial to this project from the fact that he is angry about the decision.

Should I move it or keep the prepositional phrase at the end? Which one sounds more idiomatic?


texts:
If someone says that they had been to Florida on a recent trip, which one of the following would be a correct respone:

That must had been fun.

That must have been fun.

Or is there a better way of saying this?


texts: How does "very much" fit in with "thank you very much"?

texts: I would never say, "I am sorry very much" or "You're welcome very much", why is it that it fits well with "Thank You"?


texts: term for "finding correct solution by excluding wrong solutions"

texts:
In German we have the pretty common term Ausschlussverfahren for this, especially used as a line of reasoning when solving a puzzle/problem. Linguee gives out several options, but imho no coherent and representative term/phrase, I would trust. Process of elimination sounds awkward to me, but seems much more common than terms I thought of, like exclusion method.

Which terms/phrases do you know matching the meaning in the title?


texts:
Is an article needed before a variable with a name, like, variable Z, in a text?
If you give a variable a name, it becones like a man, say, named John - and I am yet to see 'the man John'. But I often see 'the radius r', 'a distance d'. Is it correct?


texts: Why is it carriage and pair when you have 2 horses

texts:
The correct (UK) English usage is "horse and carriage", "pony and trap", etc., when you have 1 horse, "carriage and pair" for 2 or "coach and horses" for more.

I am wondering why the coach or carriage goes before the horses when there are more than one but we would never usually say "carriage and horse".

Is this just one of the peculiarities of the English language or does someone here know of a grammatical rule?


texts: What do we call the “rd” in “3ʳᵈ” and the “th” in “9ᵗʰ”?

texts:
Our numbers have a specific two-letter combination that tells us how the number sounds.

For example

9th
3rd
301st

What do we call these special sounds?


texts:
When on a job interview and asked:

  Tell us more about yourself.

How do I say something like:

  ...Well, I would've been a father but sadly my son died due to cord constriction...

My son died on the 35th week of pregnancy, just a few days shy of the due date.


texts: How do I go about writing and pronouncing my name if it has non-english letters

texts:
So I'm soon going to England to study and I'm not quite sure how should I write or pronounce my name in English, which includes Lithuanian letters. I can't imagine anyone spelling my full name correctly, never mind pronouncing it. (It's Mažvydas Janiškevičius)

Do I keep using Lithuanian letters when writing it down/pronouncing it (š instead of s, ž instead of z and č instead of c) or just stick to Latin letters?

I was thinking of just coming up with an English name. If I do, do I need to go through some legal process or just tell my friends to call me by my English name? Also, do I then use that English name when I need to provide it to someone (for example for a reservation at a restaurant, etc.)

Then it still leaves my last name, which if even harder to spell or pronounce than my first name. So yeah, I have no idea how do I go about this.


texts: Excuse my stupid question, but do "favorite" and "favourite" mean the same thing?


texts: Why is it "grandfather", but "great-uncle"?

texts:
I know that there are six forms of this word, but "great-uncle" is most common ("great-aunt" has a similar graph).  Why is this, if "grandfather" and "grandmother" are common?

http://ngrams.googlelabs.com/chart?content=great+-+uncle%2Cgreat+uncle%2Cgrand+-+uncle%2Cgranduncle%2Cgreatuncle%2Cgrand+uncle&year_start=1800&year_end=2008&corpus=0&smoothing=3


texts: Inversion verb-subject after an appositive phrase

texts:
I can't find a written rule about the subject-verb inversion in appositive phrases.

In the temple, is a statue.

In the temple, a statue is.

I feel that the first one is more natural, but, as said, I can't find a written rule in grammar sites or books. What is the rule?

Is it working when the verb is the descriptive "to be"? Or only with it?
Is it only with location phrase (in the temple)?


texts:
I'm doing a bit of copy editing on some work, and ran into a sentence that I feel is poorly constructed; however, the author insists that there is no error and that the supposed error in question is a style choice.

I've included the quote; however, I've swapped out the proper nouns for anonymity's sake, so whether or not the sentence is factual is irrelevant.

  Panthera leo senegalensis are the most endangered of lions, residents
  of Africa.

I feel as if though something is wrong with the phrase "...of lions," but I can't put my finger on the exact rule.

Adding the definite article "the" feels as if though it would help: "...most endangered of the lions." However, from what I understand, the use of a definite article before a plural pronoun indicates the scope, and its use is optional dependent upon the meaning. Therefore, this would change the meaning of the sentence from all lions to a specific subset, "the lions."

So what I'm really wondering is if there's a grammatical rule I can cite that says "of" must be omitted in the sentence, if the definite article is not present. Or perhaps despite reading awkwardly this sentence is still grammatically correct, and it is in fact a style choice?

I also feel as if "...residents of Africa." is a dangling modifier, but in the sentence it is meant to modify lions (not Panthera leo senegalensis) so I'm not sure again if there is a syntax error, or if this is simply an awkward choice of wording.


texts:
I was wondering if these two sentences had a different meaning.

1) He came into power when his father, Gerald, was exiled to Europe during World War II.

2) He came into power when his father, Gerald, exiled to Europe during World War II.


texts: When the verb precedes the noun "percentage", a singular verb is required

texts:
According to Garner's fourth edition

When the verb precedes the noun percentage, a singular verb is required. That is,
a higher percentage of them are, but there is a higher percentage of
them

I'd love to have some elaboration on this point because I could't find any related information at all.
Does this singular have to do with the pronominal there itself in general?
EDIT:

Though serving as a plural when the need arises, series is ordinarily
a singular noun. But it is also a noun of
multitude, so that phrases such as a series of things take a plural
verb. However, the collocation there {has been - is} a series has predominated
in print sources.
Common nouns of
multitude: lot, majority, mass, minority, multitude,
percentage, proportion, variety.

According to Microsoft® Encarta® 2009,

If you put the indefinite article a before percentage, use a plural
verb when the noun or pronoun in any subsequent prepositional phrase
is regarded as a countable plural, not a unit or a whole: A large
percentage of the errors are found in this text. If the noun or
pronoun object in such a phrase is singular or is regarded as a unit
or a whole, use a singular verb: A large percentage of the electorate
remains undecided.

However, a counterexapmle:

If you are speaking of the senators as individuals, say A majority of the senators have cast their votes


texts: What is the difference between these two sentences? "If A is true, then B is true" and "Since A is true, B is true"

texts:
Consider the following two sentences:

  If A is true, then we can conclude that B is true.
  Since A is true, we can conclude that B is true.

I have two questions:

What is the difference between two sentences above?
"Since A is true, then we can conclude that B is true." Is this sentence correct?


texts:
I found a word, near-career filling in the following article of today’s New York Times titled Unusual Work, Even in World of the Theater.

  Tom Santopietro has made a near-career filling in for other people on Broadway, not as an understudy, but as a substitute for house managers and company managers.

I also found a line using near-career in a site (City-Data Forum) that follows:

  I also had my own military near-career so I moved even more. After living in seven other states, some of them more than once, and three other countries, I landed back in California 32 years ago and have stayed.

Judging from the context of those sentences, near-career job seems to me akin to probationary, or not full-fledged job.

What does near-career exactly mean?


texts: How to correctly quantify the term "research"

texts:
What is the correct way to express the quantity of research.

Eg:
Joe has done a lot of research on the subject.

Is there a better way to express "a lot".

Thank you


texts: Adjective for having enough and satisfactory food

texts: I have eaten enough food. The food was delicious and may be I have eaten a lot more than required. I enjoyed it. Now I am very happy about it. How to describe this? Should we say "I have had enough food/ satisfactory meal" or should it be "a decent meal". Somebody suggested me "bellyful" which I don't think is right in this situation because 'bellyful' talks about only quantity. Please suggest right vocabulary.


texts:
Which one is more correct?

The concert was a big success due to high demand.
The concert was a big success due to high-demand.

This article seems to suggest that you hyphenate "high" when it is placed next to an adjective, but "demand" is not an adjective.


texts: Which is correct – "whoever" or "whomever" in this example?

texts:
I say that "whoever" is the correct grammatical choice in the following sentence:

  Give the raise to the hardest-working employee, whoever/whomever that may be.

I say "whoever" is correct. The reason is that, when we isolate the "whoever/whomever" clause ("whomever that may be"), the phrase converts to "It may be he". "It may be he who is the hardest-working employee", not "It may be him who is the hardest-working employee". Thus, I believe "whoever" is the correct choice here. Am I right? And is my explanation in determining "whoever" on point?

This question is different because the "whoever" clause is at the end of the sentence.


texts: Is there a phrase for "the first thing I want to see in the morning as I wake up"?


texts: What is the meaning, or fun of the pun in the line, “H.D. was the youthful butt of excruciating jokes, or eggscruciating yolks”?

texts:
I came across the line, “In the orphanage he shared with Puss, H.D. was the youthful butt of excruciating jokes (or eggscruciating yolks).” in Time magazine’s review of the newly released animation, “Puss in Boots” under the headline “Antonio Banderas in Puss in Boots: One Cool Cat.”(October 28).

  "Humpty is Puss’ childhood frenemy: pal, rival and seemingly inept marplot to our hero’s suave efficiency in a crisis. In the orphanage he shared with Puss, H.D. was the youthful butt of excruciating jokes (or eggscruciating yolks). Ever since, he has sought revenge against the world, Puss possibly included, as he searches for the magic beans from yet another fractured fairy tale."

I don’t understand the meaning of the line “H.D. was the youthful butt of excruciating jokes (or eggscruciating yolks).” Though I think it is a pun of “excruciating jokes” and “eggscruciating yolks,” it is difficult for a non-native English speaker to grab the fun or gist of this phrasing.

What is the connection of “excruciating jokes” and “eggscruciating yolks”? I mean, what is the fun and humor of putting “ excruciating joke” and “eggscruciating yolks” in juxtaposition but for rhyming? After all, what does this line means?

Besides, I can’t find the definition of “eggscruciating” in neither Cambridge nor Merrimu-Webster Dictionary. Is it the writer’s coinage in an attempt to make a play of word?


texts: single word: person who loves the night or staying up at night

texts:
What a person would be called who loves the night or staying up at night?

In both senses, like the young generation with their smartphones, and someone who just loves staying up late at night.


texts: Does the phrase “don't even pass the laugh test” pass as an idiomatic expression, or only a set of words?

texts:
I was intrigued to the phrase, ‘the argument doesn’t pass even the laugh test’ in the following statement of Bruce Schneier, a security technologist on the debate about whether Edward J. Snowden who leaked NSA's surveillance programs is a whistle blower or criminal in the Opinion Page of June 11 New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2013/06/11/in-nsa-leak-case-a-whistle-blower-or-a-criminal/before-prosecuting-snowden-investigate-the-government):

  “Keeping things secret from the people is a very dangerous practice in
  a democracy, and the government is permitted to do so only under very
  specific circumstances. Reading the documents leaked so far, I don't
  see anything that needs to be kept secret. The argument that exposing
  these documents helps the terrorists doesn't even pass the laugh test;
  there's nothing here that changes anything any potential terrorist
  would do or not do. “

I wonder whether the phrase, “the argument doesn't even pass the laugh test” can be an idiomatic phrase, or just an ad-hoc expression, though I think it’s too early to count it as an idiom, or idiomatic expression in light of the relative recency of the word, ‘laugh test.’

According to Google Ngram, the word emerged only in circ 1980, although the incidences of use have been on a sharp rise. At present, none of Cambridge, Oxford, and Merriam-Webster English online dictionaries registers ‘laugh test.’

Can I say “Your idea (invention / rhetoric / logic) doesn’t even pass the laugh test”  – I know it’s offensive - as a quip in conversation, and be understood by my people, or is it safer to stop short of using such a phrase?

As the disclaimer in advance, I would like to add that my question only regards the usage of the phrase in question, and has nothing to do with the pro and con of the political argument on the leak case.


texts:
Is there a quotative verb (or one I can abuse as a quotative) that means "to voice [a] concern"? (Other than "worried"?)

  "Hey, uh... guys," I _____ed, "it looks like it's getting bigger..."

There are a bunch of verbs for complaining (grouse, gripe, whine), there's "warn" if I want to be more definite, but is there a word for 'concerned, but uncertain'? ("Flagged" would sort-of worked except that'd be a real stretch as a quotative. "Advised" is also 'close, but not quite'.)


texts: I'm talking about the name of the popular Internet photograph service. I guess the first part of the word (insta) means instant, but I couldn't figure out what it means when it's colligated with gram.


texts: One word adjective which means "that can't be given up"

texts:
For Example:

People have (immense) faith in God. In place of immense, what would be the proper word to convey that 'the faith is not immense, but it is that which can't be given up, due to the fear of being alone. Even having less faith in God, we can't give up' ?


texts:
"Psycho Buildings: Artists Take on Architecture" is the title of an exhibition.

Does it mean "artists' understanding of architecture"? Thus, is "take" here a noun? If so, wasn't it better to say "Artists' Take on Architecture"? Maybe it is OK to remove that apostrophe, since it is a title?


texts:
I have a question about the following sentence:

  You have each come to me for separate cases. I need to settle this here.

I wonder why "each" is placed between "have" and "come".
Is it possible?


texts: Can anyone provide me with a more professional way of saying "slice and dice"?  For example, "This new interactive report allows you to slice and dice information regarding your clients"


texts: What is the name for the flat attire worn over the shoulders at academic graduations?

texts:
An example of the specific article of interest is the flat, light blue item worn by each individual in the below photo:

(Photo source: http://graduation.aces.illinois.edu/sites/graduation.aces.illinois.edu/themes/sitetheme/templates/images/Graduation-Large-Box-01.jpg, accessed 21 Feb 2016)

It does not appear to fit the definition of a sash or baldric or shoulder belt (these three drawn from this English.SE question), but I may be interpreting the definitions of these too strictly.


texts: Single word for a thing being described in a legend (i.e., a table such as on a map)

texts:
I'm working on a document where I use legends to describe abbreviations, short column names, units... generally things for which I don't have enough place in the main text to explain / elaborate.

These legend are formatted as a table, second column having the title "description", however I can't find a good title for the first column (abbreviations / words / expressions being described / explained).

What should be a good word here?


texts:
I have a question regarding the definition of "about to" and "on the verge of"
I was told that they mean the same, in which they mean that they both indicate that the thing is going to happen in the future very soon. I don't think that's the case, though.
Tiktok is on the verge of getting banned in America.
vs
Tiktok is about to get banned in America.
Can someone tell me the difference?
Is there a difference?


texts: Use of the opening roll for corny/pointless exposition?

texts:
(Please note - indeed @Dan Bron came up with the word exposition, which is now used to further clarify the question.)

There are many specific terms for different types of corny exposition in films.

For example a "pull-down-the-map" scene has a specific slang term, "the big board".

Sometimes the "corny exposition" is presented in textual form as a crawl...

Is there a term for using the crawl for corny exposition?

(Of course, a crawl need not be "corny" - in Star Wars the opening is generally well-loved!)


texts: Does the sentence "Just as many would agree, I, too, believe that..." sound okay?

texts:
This is the first sentence of the conclusion of my essay:

  Just as many would agree, I, too, believe that...

I don't want to use "also" just to avoid repetition in the subsequent sentence. Does it sound good to you in the formal writing? I am unsure of that because there are three consecutive commas. Or, are there any better alternatives?


texts: The phrase "fat chance" can be used as a way of sarcastically describing the impossibility of something, but where did it originate from? I've googled it several times, and it always comes up with the definition, not the origin.


texts: What is the agent noun for verbs ending in -y?

texts:
What is the correct way of spelling it, and what would the rule be for -y verbs like retry.
Is it retryer or retrier?
That is, on -y verbs, is the y kept or substituted by i?


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Why is the incorrect phrase “should have went” so widely used?

Which is correct?

  If you haven't went out to see the moon tonight, you should.

  If you haven't gone out to see the moon tonight, you should.


texts: What does "growing from strength to strength" mean?

texts:
as the title asks What does growing from strength to strength mean ?
A Google search yields meaning for the word strength and not the phrase. [It would be great if somebody can provide URL/search engine for looking for the meaning of such phrases]

Context

  During my own lifetime our popular cinema has auspiciously grown from
  strength to strength

Source : Acceptance speech at the Brisbane Doctorate ceremony


texts: Specific verb or phrase for holding or transporting something in this particular way

texts:
Is there a specific verb or phrase for holding or carrying something in this particular way:

Is it just "to hold or carry [something] under one's arm" (as translated literally from my mother tongue) or is there something more idiomatic?


texts: How do you use ressentiment in a sentence?

texts:
I'm talking about the philosophical term, developed by Nietzsche and other philosophers. I think this is an important word, because it describes a particular form or hatred or ill will that we encounter in our relationships. There seems to be no other word for it. For example, "resent" is too general: it alone doesn't imply the cause of resentment. With "ressentiment", on the other hand, you know the ill will is caused by feelings of inferiority toward the object of ressentiment. It's a defense mechanism, that covers up one's insecurities by blaming someone else and delegating inferiority on that person.

How do you use it in a sentence, though? Would these be correct?

"He harbors ressentiment towards his colleague."
"His ressentiment made it hard to be on the same team as him."

I've never personally used the word before, at least not in conversation, so these sentences feel weird for me. Is it a word that doesn't really belong outside of philosophical discussion? Or are there ways to incorporate it into everyday speech? If so, I would love to see some examples.


texts: Two consecutive sentences that begin with in

texts:
I start off two sentences with "in" and it really irks me. Is this okay, does it sound bad? Any recommendations on how to reword the beginning of my sentences would be appreciated.

"In response to the current geopolitical crises plaguing the Middle East, specifically the Syrian Civil War, the war in Afghanistan, and instability in Iraq, the countries of Western Europe have experienced a substantial influx of refugees. In 2015 over a million migrants crossed into Europe seeking asylum, a number unprecedented in recent history."

I thought of changing the second sentence to "Over a million crossed into Europe seeking asylum in 2015, a number unprecedented in recent history," but after I read it, the flow felt worse.


texts: "Assist someone do" vs. "assist someone to do (or "in/with" doing)"

texts:
I just recently came across "assist someone do" searching Google for examples to my previous question, and would like to check with you whether it is an acceptable option to "assist someone to do (or "in/with" doing)", or a snapshot of language in transition -- analogous with "help someone do" -- that I caught here.

Please consider the following examples for this:

  NAFDAC is to assist you do your business right.source

  Our company will assist you do your assignments...source

  (Go down to bottom of page and look up "Transtec Inc.,
  Robert Rasmussen PE") We are a specialty engineering company with award-winning expertise in pavements and pavement materials. We can assist you do your job better.source


texts: Is this the proper way to use the word ‘aspirant’?

texts:
I am new to the workforce and thought it would be a good idea to create a profile to attract new job opportunities. One of the requirements, when setting up the account, is having an appealing header.

I have come up with the header provided below, and would like to know if I am using the word ‘aspirant’ in the proper context. If not, could someone please recommend another word I could use in place of it. Thank you so much for your time.

  ITIL and ServiceNow Administrator certified aspirant eager for new
  opportunities.


texts: Answering a negative question with one word

texts:
There has been talk of how to answer a negative question without ambiguity, most often with a qualifying phrase needed for clarification. (For example, "yes, I do"/"no, I don't.)

I've noticed that other languages have a single word to address a negative question on the contrary. In German, ja means yes and nein means no. Alternatively, doch is used to respond in the positive to a negative question, in essence meaning "No, I intend to do the opposite of what your question presumes."

Take for example the question, "You don't want to go to the movie then?" German speakers could simply reply, "nein" if they don't want to go or they would say "doch" if they did want to go; an unambiguously positive response to a negatively phrased question. No need for, "no, I actually would like to go" or "yes, I'll come actually". In French, the respective equivalents of ja, nein, and doch are oui, non, and si. I imagine many other languages contain this set as well.

I am wondering whether there was at one time an equivalent word in the English language that has since (unfortunately) disappeared. Any ideas?


texts: A discussion of machinery today set me wondering why it is called "plant"? Is there some metaphor I am missing out on?


texts:
I am looking for a phrase to mean that one is fully prepared for the task ahead.

I was originally thinking of "all the pieces are falling into position" but that implies things are presently coming together, not that they have already.


texts:
What is the antonym of "crepuscular"?

Crepuscular animals are most active at twilight (crepusculum = twilight). Thus, the antonym of "crepuscular" would refer to animals most active at midday or midnight.


texts: What word can I use to describe the process of something becoming hollow?

texts:
For example, if a solid metal rod is drilled down its longitudinal axis, the result will be a hollow cylinder.

"The cylinder underwent... [blank]"

In developmental biology, solid cords of endothelial cells undergo a process whereby they form a hollow cylindrical tube.

"The endothelial cells underwent LUMENIZATION"

....but I'm hoping for a more general term to describe this.


texts: Is there anything wrong with the usage of "the more exciting" this sentence?

texts:
Nearly all of the editors of the magazine agree that of the two articles to be published, Fujimura's is the more exciting.

Shouldn't it be "the more exciting one"?


texts: ovethrown and fire-blasted blocks = overturned and scorched?

texts:
I would like to clarify whether my understanding is correct (a sentence from an old tale where the main character climbs up to an old, ruinous city):

It was like climbing amid the overthrown and fire-blasted blocks of a
titan citadel.

I struggle especially with the word "fire-blasted", but my best attempt to rephrase that would be:

amid the overturned, scorched blocks (=large bricks, boulders?)..


texts: How can I explain why the following sentence is poorly written?

texts:
I came across the following sentence in some instructions and it almost seems like a double negative to me, yet there are not two negations in it that I see, so I am wondering how to explain what intuitively feels wrong about this sentence:

  All of these are not applicable to both events or people.

To me, this is more clearly written as:

  Some of these are only applicable to either events or people.


texts: Is my comma usage correct in this sentence?

texts: "When there is too much carbon in the atmosphere, too much heat is trapped from the Sun’s light rays, dramatically increasing the global temperature."


texts: History of the phrase "play Mickey the Dunce"

texts:
Growing up, my mother would use the expression "play Mickey the Dunce", meaning roughly "play the fool" or "play dumb", generally in order to gain some advantage by appearing clueless or uninformed.
I was just reminded of the phrase and was curious where it came from. A quick search reveals a few discussions of the term (e.g. here and here) but not a lot of concrete answers. I'm hoping someone can shed some more light on this curious expression.


texts: A synonym for coldhearted that has a positive connotation?

texts: I'm looking for a word that means being able to act in spite of emotions. It's meaning would be to detached or coldhearted, but with a positive connotation.


texts: "Paper never refused ink" - has any one heard a more modern/online version?

texts:
I'd imagine most of us have heard of the phrase "paper never refused ink", roughly meaning "they'll" print anything.

Can anybody think of a more modern/online version?


texts: How to rephrase the term "physical sciences"?

texts:
A distinction is often made in the natural sciences between the life sciences and the physical sciences. Semantically, I believe this is a false distinction. Since all life depends on a physical dimension, life sciences would be a subset of the physical sciences. However, this defeats the point of the distinction, i.e. to distinguish between science where the system under study is necessarily living (biology), and science where there is no special treatment of living systems (physics and chemistry).

Is there an alternative way to make this distinction?


texts: Is "the" needed in the following scenario?

texts:
I am just going to make a scenario of which nothing has been mentioned before in my paper. The scenario is as follows:

  A biology student hears, while she is cooking in the kitchen, that someone on the TV says Scottish wildcat will most probably be extinct in upcoming years.

I haven't talked about kitchen before, so I shouldn't put "the" before it, but then without "the" it sounds weird.


texts: Am I using "due date" correctly if I write "Task A due date" in a calendar if you mean that Task A should be competed on this day. Or should it be "due today" or something else?


texts: Phrase/word that is a synonym to "Question Everything"

texts:
What are some phrase/word synonyms for the phrase 'Question Everything'. My friend came up with nullius in verba, which I really like, and I was wondering what others are out there?

Edit (from comments): Perhaps synonym was not a good word-my vocabulary is not the best. I am just looking for phrases that portray a similar idea. The context would be potential tattoo phrases.


texts: An expression that is the opposite of Mortons's fork

texts:
Morton's fork is a situation where all outcomes are unpleasant. Is there an expression or term that describes a similar situation, but instead all outcomes are pleasurable/beneficial except only one choice can be made.

Crude example:

If you have the option of either riding a nice train to destination and the fly back on a private plane, or fly in a private plane to destination and then take the nice train back. In both circumstances everything would be the same, and neither would do you a disservice. *That is assuming that neither both are working at 100% and nothing happens, or if something happens it is equally as likely it will happen in both situations.


texts:
Are "impose a problem" and "pose a problem" both correct? If not, why? An example usage I have is:
"We're doing X. This imposes two problems: 1) ... 2) ..."
However I can't find a credible reference for using the word "impose" this way - only "pose": https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/pose - I'm sure though I've "heard it" ;) being used that way.


texts: Is "solutioning" a correct word in a technical context?

texts:
I'm a translator from English into Italian language. While translating a British patent I found the following sentence:

  The large heat treatment window seen in the ThermoCalc simulation also suggests that it [the alloy in question] will respond with full solutioning without incipient melting for the solutioning and HIP procedures associated with most base alloys when it is used as filler alloy for welding.

What do you think about "solutioning" as used here?


texts: What is the literary device used to show internal contradiction in dialogue?

texts: In Joseph's Conrad Heart of Darkness, the Russian, the Brickmaker, and Mr.Kurtz are often contradicting their own statements. For example the Brickmaker hesitant actions paralleled with his short, and clear diction, shows two conflicting personalities. For example, when 'he answered, in a short tone looking away' while he is describing Kurtz. This isn't the best example for what I'm trying to illustrate, but it still shows his lack of conviction for what he is saying.


texts: Which one is correct? "has been taken already" or "has already been taken"

texts:
I'm creating a registration form. I want to display a message if a particular username already exists.

So which sentence is correct?

  This username has already been taken by another user. Please pick
  another username.

or

  This username has been taken already by another user. Please pick
  another username.


texts: "not" is an adverb with special positioning (like "do solemnly swear")-- are there others? Is there a name for this positioning?

texts:
Adverbs allow for a range of positions, but focusing how a adverb might be positioned relative to a verb phrase, "always" allows (But is not limited to):

For single verb phrases,

"always" can go before the verb (I always run.)
unless that verb is "to be" (He is always late.)

For multiple verb phrases, "always" can injected into the phrase (I have always run.)

I don't know if this is a shared opinion, but I start to think of "not" as being an adverb more usage restrictions:

For single verb phrases,

we use the verb "do" to make a multiple verb phrase (I do not always run.)
unless that verb is "be" (He is not late.)

For multiple verb phrases, "not" is injected into the phrase (I have not run.)

I wasn't sure of this, but I realized other adverbs can follow the ruleset of "not" (solemnly:  I do solemnly swear.  I do solemnly.  I have solemnly sworn).  "I do solemnly swear" does sound a bit archaic compared to "I solemnly swear".  Maybe it's a historical usage that decreased in use, while "I do not swear" did not decrease.

It makes me wonder -- do people think of not as being an adverb with special positioning constraints?  What other adverbs might follow these same constraints?  Or if it's not an adverb, how to people classify "not" and discuss its usage?

Perhaps the position constraint is not really a positioning constraint but a constraint on the adverb with regards to the verbs or type of verbs it can modify ("not" as an adverb then having strict constraints sometimes requiring the introduction of auxiliary verb "do").  If that is the case, is there a name for these types of constraints that I can google?  Or recommended reading on different adverbs and the ranges of verbs they can modify?

Thank you.


texts:
Please see the img below.

What does "write me a new minivan" mean here?
PS: I am from a non English Speaking country.


texts:
Stupid term, but still: Is it hyphenated or not?

  Bob was really happy to have hired Alice; she was an 'A-Player' from the world of private equity and would add a lot to the firm.