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Can "lad" only be used to address a male, while "mate" both male and female? | Lad describes only a male, and it tends to be used as a vocative only in the northern half of England. In informal conversation, mate has traditionally been used only of males as well, but is now used to refer to females as well, and to a mixed group of males and females. | What's the difference between "lad" and "mate" in British English? | english |
I am translating a text which says that during the probation period, the direct report monitors the new employee's performance through a sign-off process. what does sign-off mean in this context? Or is "sign-off process" some kind term? | I have also heard this referred to as a "passport" process, where the individual under review will go through a series of events or stages. In order to advance, he or she must successfully complete the stages, and a reviewer "signs off", indicating successful completion. | what's a "sign-off process"? | english |
I'm trying to think of a word for someone who injects themselves into conversations. Typically in an uninvited manner. You know the guy that comes over when you're talking to someone else and stands around until he can join the conversation. Nosy isn't quite right. | The word meddlesome would fit your description Person who intervenes officiously or indiscreetly in the affairs of others is meddlesome. | Word for "someone who injects themselves into conversations" | english |
Suppose I'm building a website and I want to have a page to help the user know about the website: the apt title would be Help , but I've named it About . (Normally About pages tell us about the author / company /reason for the existence of that website, but I've used the term Contact here.) What is the term for this? (... | 'Anything that can be misunderstood will be misunderstood.' But you may be thinking of misnomer , one of whose senses applies. | One word to denote "A noun that conveys wrong meaning" or misleads | english |
I belong to an organisation which consists of volunteers. We do voluntary work. Would one describe this as a volunteer organisation or a voluntary organisation ? I have seen both expressions used widely, but am uncomfortable with the latter. | volunteer organization refers to an organization comprised of volunteers. voluntary organization refers to an organization which is, itself, voluntary (optional?) The former would be the most correct in your example. | Volunteer or Voluntary Organisation | english |
Most stock markets lost ground after their recent gains. They're not prepared to give ground on tax cuts. These are all the examples I could dig up in my dictionaries. I don't quite understand the meaning because every dictionary says something different. Does give/lose ground mean fail completely or lose an advantage ... | Lose/gain ground give/hold ground are idiomatic and phrasal verbs The expressions give ground and hold , stand , and shift one's ground refer to a position or viewpoint, as in an argument , controversy or struggle. In the phrases "gain ground" and "lose ground" the meaning is 'position or advantage is surrendered / los... | give / lose ground - meaning | english |
Which is correct? Roman temples have not preserved in their original condition Roman temples have not been preserved in their original condition | Neither. There are multiple issues with both. The correct formulation is Roman temples have not been preserved in their original condition. The temples are inanimate, they haven't preserved anything. You need the passive voice for this, have not been preserved . Note also the capitalization of Roman , the subject-verb ... | "Has preserved" or "has been preserved" | english |
I've read it in a news report, " Little if any news will be released during the event(China reform summit), but official news agency Xinhua traditionally issues a dispatch on the last day." Well, I guess I know what every character means, but I still don't get the idea. The whole report: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/a... | What it means is: 'Little news will be released during the event, indeed there may not be any released at all, until.....' All that is abbreviated to ' Little, if any , news will be released during the event, until....' The phrase 'little, if any' is very widely used in English, especially at the start of sentences. | What does a sentence like "Little if......but...." mean? | english |
It is very common for people to say something like "There's a bear here". However, I don't think that this is correct, because a bear cannot be both "there" and "here" at the same time (barring any creative physics concepts). Is there some better way to say it? "Here's a bear" sounds like I'm presenting a bear as a gif... | "There" has a rather more complex set of meanings than simply "a place not near me". In this case it's being used as a placeholder for the delayed subject ("a bear") of the verb "to be" (being used in the sense of existing rather than as a copula). It has no sense of location to it in this usage. So "There is a bear he... | "There's a bear here"- is there a better way to say it? | english |
Did the English word sort originate from the French word sort ? e.g., sortie . Whereas, in French its meaning derives to out , exit , going out . How did it end up in English to mean category , class/type , arrangement , manner/pattern ? | Latin sortiri meant: "to select", "to choose by lot". And it retained that meaning in Old French sortir . Sortir took the meaning of "to exit" in the 16th century, so long after the French and their language had invaded Britain. (The OED provides an example of the use of "sort" in English in a sentence by Chaucer dated... | Etymology of "Sort" | english |
It's in London that he met his wife - I've got this sentence in my grammar book under cleft sentences. It's just one of many. I was wondering if it's possible to use to be verb (I've got no single example). It's from London that I am. Would that be correct? I know it's not how people usually say something like that but... | English has two be ’s, equative and predicative, and both of them seem uniformly to be bad with it -clefts. Compare: Noun phrase: Susan is president / a president / the president. ?? It’s (a/the) president that Susan is. Adjective: Susan is horsy. ?? It’s horsy that Susan is. Prepositional phrase: Susan is under the ta... | cleft sentence + to be verb | english |
Consider the following sentence: The labour-intensive and time-intensive part starts tomorrow. I want to write this without rewriting the word "intensive." Is this the correct way to do it? The labour- and time-intensive part starts tomorrow. Note the hyphen hanging after the word labour. Or should there be no hyphen a... | Fowler recommends that you leave out the hyphen after labour there, because it is not strictly needed for comprehension. I don't have a reference on hand, but it is no doubt in his Dictionary of Modern English Usage , a highly respected style book. | Correct hyphenation for conjunction of hyphenated compound adjectives | english |
There was the following sentence in the article of Washington Post (November 9) that came under the title, “For Obama, and Democrats, it’s crunch time.” Obama is dismissive of the crisis-an-hour mentality that often grips the political chattering class. He has endured low moments throughout his political career and has... | The phrase simply means that crises are coming so fast, there seems to be a new one every hour. (It's figurative language; there isn't really a new crisis every 60 minutes – but it seems that way.) In an office environment, a related metaphor sometimes used is firefighting , which is used to describe a work pace so hec... | What does “crisis-an-hour mentality” mean? | english |
According to Wikipedia, the Latin influence on English builds more than half of its vocabulary . The same source furnishes a percentage of 26% for words of Germanic origin. Although I can easily understand that borrowing from Latin must have been very strong, especially through French, I was surprised to read this numb... | First of all, those statistics from Wikipedia may be a bit misleading, depending on your point of view. What they seem to have done is count every word in a 80,000-word dictionary once, regardless of whether the word is very rare or very frequent. Consider the preceding sentences: -First -of -all, -those +statistics -f... | English words of Latin origin: Did they replace existing words? | english |
I am not sure if I should use "an alternative mean for..." or "an alternative means for..." to express another way of doing something. Since I use "an", I feel it is nature to use the singular form " mean ". But several people insist it should be the latter. Which one is right? | Despite ending with an s , means is (or can be) singular. An alternative means is no different from a means to an end , a means of communication , etc. dictionary.com : means (miːnz) — n 1. ( functioning as singular or plural ) the medium, method, or instrument used to obtain a result or achieve an end: a means of comm... | "An alternative mean" or "An alternative means"? | english |
I was having a look at the official constellations, and I noticed three with similar names: Corona Australis Piscis Austrinus Triangulum Australe Now the "Austral" definitely means "southern", as these constellations are otherwise known as the Southern Crown, Southern Fish, and Southern Triangle, respectively. (Also th... | Australis and austrinus are both Latin adjectives, and they have similar meanings. The first means ‘southern’ and the second means ‘from the south’. Those who named the constellations presumably had some reason for making the distinction. Australis is a third declension adjective which, in the nominative, has the endin... | Australis, Austrinus, Australe - in constellations | english |
There is a word meaning profitable and looking like "ludicrous". I couldn't recall it. Maybe lucri..? Can you help? or are there some websites for searching look-alike words? | The word you're looking for is lucrative. | Word meaning profitable and looking like "ludicrous " | english |
I understand that 'withal' can be used as a preposition at the end of a clause to mean 'with' or 'therewith' but it can, I think, also be used to mean 'in addition' or 'together with'. Concerning the latter meaning, I'm trying to write a poem and wish to use something like the following: He wax'd in stature great witha... | Poetry writes its own rules. But if I saw "wax'd" in the same line with "withal," I would not be inclined to interpret "withal" in the one non-archaic sense that survives today (which Merriam-Webster's gives as "together with this: besides"). Rather I would suppose that it was being used in one of two archaic senses—ei... | Usage of "withal" to mean "in addition" | english |
I'm looking for a book, or any other source, which lists words that are morphologically related, like this: imagine verb imagination noun imaginative adjective Or this: medic noun medicine noun medical adjective medicinal adjective And also this kind of relationship: head noun ahead adverb, adjective Dictionaries will ... | Word by letter Type the beginning of a word and just see how many results are churned out. ENGLISH WORDS STARTING WITH "MEDIC" medic, medicable, medicably, medicaid, medicaids, medical, medically, medicals, medicament, medicamental, medicaments, medicant, medicare, medicares, medicaster, medicate, medicated, medicates,... | How to find words which are related morphologically? | english |
I stumbled upon this phrase in this video 's description. A few words about this masterpiece: Brahms began composing this piece in 1854 and finished it in 1876. The reasons for delaying finishing it are probably two . First, Brahms' self-critical fastidiousness, and secondly, the expectation from Brahms' friends and th... | The original sentence is grammatically correct, as is yours. There are several possibilities as to the why of the structural choice. In highly conjugated and declined languages, such as Latin, a word's grammatical role is usually clear based on its form, and placement is used for emphasis. Placing words first or last i... | The reasons are two. Correct? | english |
In the first instance, what are the grammatically correct ways to phrase the statement below? Second, if more than one is correct, which one seems the more appropriate or natural-sounding? Typhoons [differ/vary] [in/by] the degree and variety of damage (they cause)" | You need the variants using the preposition in here, with either of the verbs. I'd probably choose 'vary' to suggest a difference really in scale rather than kind. | Correct way to phrase something that varies by type and degree | english |
Does anybody know the etymology of the phrase "sweet dreams"? I tried googling but did not find anything satisfying. Is this a relatively new phrase of the modern world or has this been in use for some time? I think it's the latter one. | The OED has the interjection as "a farewell to someone going to bed" from the 20th century: 1908 Sears Roebuck Catal. 198/1 Tenor Solos..Good Bye, Sweet Dreams, Good Bye. But it goes back until at least the 19th and possibly 18th centuries. John Wolcot, writing under the pseudonym of Peter Pindar, used it in his poem "... | Origin of the greeting "Sweet dreams". | english |
Please tell me what the difference is between an adverbial phrase and an adverbial clause . | Essentially Both are Modifiers - which provide additional information. Adverbial Clause always has a Subject and Verb and provides more information about the verb, adjective,adverb. It answers questions: How, when, where, why, to what extent, in what manner etc. They start with a subordinating conjunction (e.g. because... | "Adverbial phrase" vs "Adverbial clause" | english |
If a ship is named the Scienta Victoria , and I wish to drop the first word for the sake of brevity, is it proper to place an apostrophe before the " Victoria " to signify the dropped word? | No apostrophe needed. From today’s news : NORFOLK, Va. — The Navy christened the USS Gerald Ford on Saturday with the traditional smashing of a bottle of sparkling wine across the bow of the ship — the most technologically advanced aircraft carrier the United States has built. The Ford is the lead ship in the Navy’s ne... | Abreviating a ship name with an apostrophe? | english |
A: And then just before the killer gets the girl and stabs her with this giants knife , the power went out and the TV went off. It was freaky. B: Wow. That's terrifying. Was the power out for long? A: Just for a few seconds. When everything came back on, the image on the screen was of the girl's dead body. before the k... | The sentence you offer lacks tense parallelism, and most people would consider it to be grammatically problematic. There are time when there is a tense shift to signify a contrast between two reported events. Often the earlier activities are described in the past perfect and the later activities in the past. That is no... | why is present tense used with before instead of past tense in this sentence? | english |
You know when you see something touching and moving and you feel like tears are about to come out of your eyes, yet you're able to barely control it; how do you describe this feeling or state? i.e. I was all [...] at the sight of his master curled up asleep in fetal position on the floor at the vet's beside his dog. Ta... | I was all choked up. Fig. to cause someone to feel like starting to cry. I got all misty-eyed. Having the eyes blurred, as with tears. | Word meaning crying, but not crying? | english |
Consider the following use of a hyphen: There are many bear-like animals. Now, how does the hyphenation change if "bear" is replaced by "grizzly bear"? Which of the following would be appropriate: There are many grizzly bear-like animals. There are many grizzly bear -like animals. The intended meaning is not "There are... | There is no convention that uses a gap followed by a hyphen in a compound. The construction 'grizzly bear-like animals' would be read as using two premodifiers, 'grizzly' and 'bear-like', as you fear. One is left with the construction using a single compound premodifier needing two hyphens: There are many grizzly-bear-... | Compounds involving compounds | english |
I'm looking for a word, to be honest I'm not sure if such a word even exists, though this would be a word, or a phrase that describes more of a personality. Take this as an example: Bill works as an electronic engineer. He enjoys cycling, jogging and mostly any sport. He's teaching himself piano, and loves music. He co... | One word is polymath . noun a person of wide knowledge or learning: a Renaissance polymath [ODO] You could say he has an eclectic range of interests. adjective 1 deriving ideas, style, or taste from a broad and diverse range of sources: universities offering an eclectic mix of courses [ODO] | Word to describe a personality which has many interests? | english |
I want to close a letter with: With friendship truly, My Name For some background; I wrote a letter of recommendations of features to a site, but by my tone it is not extremely clear that I am serious (it's fairly light hearted) and my intentions sincere. I don't want to say "Sincerely, " because I think it could be ov... | Salutations, valedictions, thanks, and similar bits of etiquette are quite formulaic and generally fall beneath notice. That's problematic if you want to emphasize that you really mean it and aren't just being polite. While you can modify the stock phrases to call attention to them, it may end up sounding affected rath... | Is "With friendship truly," a proper valediction? | english |
Is there any difference between these three expressions? to find one's bearings to get one's bearings to take one's bearings | In this context, bearings means the direction or position of something, or the direction of movement, relative to a fixed point. It is usually measured in degrees, typically with magnetic north as zero: the Point is on a bearing of 015° there were no steeples or bridges from which to take a bearing (one's bearings) awa... | To find/get/take one's bearings | english |
He was in our late army a lieut. Colo. & he performd the duties of that office with reputation. It is probable that he may feel wounded at being offerd the same grade under others whom he then commanded & who are perhaps in nothing his superiors. It is presumd that officers in the actual army will command those... | The noun senses of superior , most often refer to rank or status, but can also refer to quality, such as here . I might say that my partner (for example) is my superior in cooking and music (for example), which I could also phrase as: My partner is in cooking and music my superior. In saying that, I don't allow that sh... | In Nothing - June 12th 1799 Letter by John Marshall | english |
Is there another common way of saying: with his/her back facing me? For example: The person was standing in the middle of the clearing, [...back...] me. I don't want to use his/her because I don't want to reveal the sex of the person. Any suggestions? | If the person's back is showing towards you, their face is looking the other way. The person was standing in the middle of the clearing, facing away from me. An object like a cube has six sides or faces and you can use facing to relate its orientation to a particular face. You do this with your example sentence, "...[t... | Other way of saying "with his/her back facing me." | english |
Here's an example: Chocolate lovers rejoice! Chocolate lovers, rejoice! To my understanding, the first one says that chocolate lovers are rejoicing and in the second one, we are asking the chocolate lovers to rejoice. Am I correct? Or is it fine to use both 1 and 2 interchangeably? Also, if am wrong about the second on... | Both versions are imperative clauses, and both have directive force. The difference is: your first version uses a 3rd person subject, while the second version uses a vocative. In both versions, there is the directive "Rejoice!" Both versions basically have the same meaning. In a roomful of chocolate lovers, you can giv... | Comma after address | english |
I need to measure if someone sends status updates about their current activity. The best I came up with was “Status Update Frequency”. Does this describe that measurement? Is there a simpler term? (I'm not a native English speaker.) | If your goal is to know how frequent is the sending of status updates, you've thought of the best option, I believe. | Simplify “Status Update Frequency” | english |
So we call a French male "Frenchman", an English male "Englishman", and a Dutch male "Dutchman". what do we call Swiss males? "Swissman" comes to mind, but it sounds like a cheesy version of Superman, like "Cheddarman" or "Mozzarellaman". | There are in fact stackexchange-url ("very few cases") where the customary demonym is root + -man — those you have named plus Irishman , Norseman , Welshman , Scotsman , and (obsolete, now considered offensive) Chinaman , and maybe a few others in Britain like Yorkshireman or Cornishman . In the absence of a more estab... | What do you call a Swiss man? | english |
Are there any synonyms for the term mode as used in statistics? <code> the value that occurs most frequently in a given set of data. </code> The term seems like one that is not user friendly and would not be understood by all users. What are possible alternatives that are easier to understand? | Depending on context, I think there are bunch of alternatives: The "most common" value The "most popular" value The "most prevalent" value The "favorite" value (perhaps) The "leader" The "front-runner" | Synonym for statistical meaning of "mode" | english |
Suddenly everyone is calling their iPhone a "pokédex". And not just comments in reddit. Actual industry people. How did I miss this? | Blame xkcd. The comic for November 8, 2013 featured a list of "substitutions that make reading the news more fun". | Did "Pokédex" recently become a slang term for iPhone? | english |
There was the following sentence in Time magazine’s (November 18) article titled, “Chris Christie Was Born to Run”: Behind closed doors at a Westin hotel in Boston, where the governor laid out his not so veiled pitch for the party's 2016 nomination. "I'm in this business to win," he told the crowd of Republican leaders... | It means he has a combative personality – at least politically – yet his political rhetoric is heavily steeped with cliché (as politicians are wont to do – along with political columnists as well). I'm having trouble trying to figure out if the writer is admiring Christie, or making disparaging remarks. I would interpr... | What does "Combat bundled in cliché" mean? | english |
In our culture, we usually serve cooked pig small intestine filled with pig blood in times of feast. Is there a single English word for this? In our language, it's Sa-thithun . | In the UK it is called Black pudding While "blood sausage" in English is understood in the British Isles, the term is applied only to foreign usage (e.g. in the story The Name-Day by Saki ), or to similar blood-based sausages elsewhere in the world. | How do you say 'cooked pig small intestine filled with pig blood' in English? | english |
I do not immediately recollect any others among the old officers whom I coud name for so high an office as the command of a regiment. I am aware that those I have mentiond cannot, shoud you on further enquiry approve of them, be all appointed, but I have namd them because it is possible that those first applied to may ... | Marshall is writing to Washington to provide names of people whom he believes might be invited to command a regiment. Some of the invitees may decline, so he is providing more names than strictly necessary. Apply to here is used in much the same sense as one applies to a university: it means to make a formal request. a... | "first applied to" - June 12th 1799 Letter by John Marshall | english |
I am submitting to a journal, and the guidelines require me to avoid use of the word "issue" as a euphemism for "problem". Thing is, as far as I know the two words are (or can be) synonyms: problem 2a: an intricate unsettled question issue 6b (1): a vital or unsettled matter (2): concern, problem I have frequently been... | "Could you make clear when to use "issue", and when to use "problem"? The simplest answer is this: when the best word to use is issue , use it; when the best word to use is problem , use it. I think (along with others in the above comments) context should guide you. Here are two examples, one "correct" and one "incorre... | Use of the word "issue" as a euphemism for "problem" | english |
-Have your heard anything about Nick? -Yes. He found a job in a Swiss company. (The) employees don't like him much though (The) employees. Does the absence or the presence of a definite article change something? 1) Theory number 1 The employees means all of the employees of the company and Employees means some of them.... | I'll spell it out. (1) -Have you heard anything about Nick? -Yes. He's found a job in a Swiss company. The employees don't like him much though. (a) Sounds just about acceptable (remember 'the employees' now includes Nick). (b) Is probably intended to mean 'a fair number of the other employees don't like him much'. (2)... | Some employees or all of them (Articles) | english |
Washington Post (November 7) carries the article titled, “Democrats begin effort to negatively define Chris Christie before 2016 campaign.” with a caption of video: Gov. Chris Christie may be eyeing a 2016 presidential run, but he may have move to the right if he wants to appeal to the Republican base. Sabrina Schaeffe... | It's very likely a typo; the only way I can see it being correct is if move is regarded as a noun, something meaning "leeway" or "give." Even then it doesn't make sense in the context of the sentence. | “Chris Christie may have move to the right” - Isn’t it a typo? | english |
When writing a sentence, can I change from past-tense to present-tense in the middle of it? For example, Joey realized that the ball is green. or Joey realized that the ball was green. I am talking about a ball which is always green. The second example implies that the ball was green and that it may or may not still be... | The phenomenon you’re looking at is called sequence of tense . It is the topic of substantial research by linguists, but, in a nutshell, past tense matrix verbs (like realized ) can take subordinate clauses with either past tense or present tense; however, the nature of the complement plays a substantial role in determ... | Is it grammatically correct to change tense in a sentence? | english |
What slang expressions can I use to express "Where are you guys?" in a single word? I am looking for a very short, informal phrase or a single word I could use to ask this question that would still be recognizable to an English-speaking person. | Questions that we use for greetings often get eroded to a single word, like whassup for “What's up?” and howdy for “How do you do?” This happens to a lesser extent with very common questions like “Where are you?” so you might hear somebody shorten it to whereyat? in rapid speech. It's not common enough for people to co... | Single word for "Where are you guys?" | english |
When would system need to be pluralized? Say you offer two products that serve the same function. Do you offer two systems or one system? To try and give an example... I have an integrated facial recognition system built into the camera. Few years passed and I developed a new camera that also has my facial recognition.... | In this case it could turn out to be a marketing answer (i.e. how do you want it to sound?) an old system and a new system make two systems . If the underlying code is basically the same, you could say it's the same system (but you may not want to in the interest of selling the new product) If the product is the system... | When is it important to use the plural of "system?" | english |
Let's say I'm writing a letter to a university and my mail has an application form attached to it. How can I say it in a more formal and concise way than "Please see the attached application form that I filled up." or "Please find attached my filled-up application form." I would appreciate it if the answer starts with ... | Any of the following are acceptable: Please see my completed application form. Please find attached my completed application form. Please see the attached application. | Saying that the mail has an attached form filled up by me? | english |
Having the following sentence, I'm not sure how to use prepositions after 'instead': The emphasis is put on the relation between A and B, instead of on A and B themselves. Is "instead of on" correct? Also not sure about the usage of "themselves here". | "instead of on" is correct, but it's not very clear. The simplest way to use a preposition is (preposition) + (object), and the further you get from that formula, the harder your reader has to work to figure out what you mean. A clearer phrasing might be: 'This emphasizes the relationship between A and B, without focus... | Emphasis is put on relation of A and B, instead of/on | english |
Is this sentence (a caption for a question/article) grammatically valid? 'Getting 403 http code when routed to the site's root' When is it suitable to use WHEN + PARTICIPLE Ⅱ ? Should I use being routed instead? | That aspect of your 'sentence' is correct. (It isn't a valid sentence because it doesn't contain a verb.) But certainly 'when + past participle' is good everyday grammar. e.g 'When told she was overjoyed', or 'When excited he is liable to do something silly', or 'I shall be happier when informed of the results'. | Using 'When' + past participle 2 | english |
What could be the difference between contracting a disease and catching a disease ? I know there isn't any big difference. However, it looks like there are some diseases you can both catch and contract and others you can only either catch or contract. | While the terms are often used interchangeably with regard to illness, there are some differences. Contract , in this context, means [with object] catch or develop (a disease or infectious agent): three people contracted a killer virus Catch means contract (an illness) through infection or contagion: he served in Maced... | Difference between contract and catch [a disease] | english |
Here is the sentence: "A is made of a homogeneous material as that of B" Is this sentence grammatically correct?? or is there any more appopriate phrase?? Please help me out.. | In this context homogeneous means: Uniform in structure or composition throughout. Hence a correct way of saying the sentence would be, "A and B are homogeneous." The implication is that they are made of the same material. | Is "homogeneous...as" grammatically correct? | english |
"The tenant complained that water is ponding in the parking area." or, "Due to the ponding of water in the lower lying areas, mosquitoes became a nuisance." "ponding" is not accepted by spellcheckers and I can not find a reference in dictionaries either. In Namibia and South Africa "ponding" is used in spoken and writt... | 'Ponding' and 'pooling' are perfectly well understood terms, but likely to be used more by a drainage engineer than in everyday speech. Were it me talking about the road outside my house I would say 'Water is collecting (or gathering) in puddles'. | Using pond as a verb to describe the formation of puddles | english |
I find the word, ‘purger’ in a popular English-Japanese dictionary (Kenkyusha's Readers English Japanese Dictionary) as a derivative from 'purge,' without definition. I took it for those who purge someone who is harmful or undesired to an organization or country, though it can mean 'pulifier'in correct sense. Please co... | You should consider the noun purged , but before you do, also consider the Great Purge , which is described as a campaign of political repression in the Soviet Union orchestrated by Joseph Stalin from 1934 to 1939. This involved the repression or prosecution of people considered counter-revolutionaries and enemies of t... | What do you call the target of ‘purge’? | english |
I wrote this sentence: My professor in many subjects during my studies at Damascus University and my fourth-year-project sponsor. I don't know if in is correct. Or would it be better to use for ? Also, is fourth-year-project's good grammatically ? | "Professor X, my _ professor at Damascus University, who taught me four courses during my studies there and was also the sponsor of my senior project...." | Is "IN" in this sentence correct grammatically | english |
A round number is defined, informally, as one with lots of zeroes at the end, or one that ends with a 5 (perhaps because it's easier to give change to). What would you call a number that wasn't "round" in this way? I'm less interested in the mathematical definition (where a number has considerably more and smaller fact... | Your presumed definition of a 'round number' is only partly correct. Consider this: 1000 is a "rounder" number than 1024. Also: 1020 is a "rounder" number than 1024. However, 1000 is a "rounder" number than 1020. In other words, 1000 and 1020 are both obtained by 'rounding' off 1024 . Therefore, a number's 'roundness' ... | What's the opposite of a "round number"? | english |
In sentence "A system’s trust model defines the set of software and data upon which the system depends for correct enforcement of system security goals." I don't understand the mean of "upon which the system depends for".any idea? Thanks. | Depends for is not a phrasal verb here; the verb is just depends ["upon which the system depends"] and the for shows the reason that dependence is necessary ["for correct enforcement..."] It's possible to re-order the sentence, which may make its description of the trust model's purpose clearer: The correct enforcement... | meaning "upon which the system depends for" | english |
I often find myself editing prose to remove needless verbiage. Is there a word for this process? It comes up frequently enough to be useful. I sometimes say that I tightened the wording, but perhaps this can be improved upon. | You could say that you streamlined the wording. You could also talk about tidying up the writing. But I actually like both tighten and edit . e: Was rereading Steven Brust's The Phoenix Guards , and the fictional narrator describes this process thusly: ... for the past twenty-one years, we have had the honor of refinin... | "To make terse" (an insufficiently prolix title) | english |
What are these words called, and why are they used in place of traditional verbs? For example: She handed me a pencil. [ handed instead of gave ] He eyeballed me pensively. [ eyeballed instead of leered or looked at ] She eyed the carrots. [ eyed instead of looked at ] He mouthed some words to me. [ mouthed instead of ... | One at a time: She handed me a pencil. [handed instead of gave] Handed and gave are not synonymous. Handed is far more specific, when used in a literal sense (as in your example), as it suggests the action of giving is performed by way of the hand. "She handed me a pencil" elicits a vision of a woman reaching forward h... | "He eyeballed me pensively"; using bodyparts as verbs | english |
What's the proper plural for "photo" - "photos", "photoes", or it is generally desired to rephrase the whole thing and stick with "photographs", "images", "shots", "pictures", etc? As for usage frequency, quick Google search reveals that: "photos" => ~5,380,000,000 ghits "photoes" => ~3,340,000 ghits, which is ~1000 ti... | Photoes seems to have peaked in the 1950s and the usage of photo vs photoes nowadays is about ten to one according to Google's Ngram. I am a native speaker of American English and I suspect photoes is significantly more common in non-US usage. It just looks like a spelling error to my American eyes. | Plural for "photo"? | english |
I'm looking for a word to replace the phrase "being tossed up and down." To be used in something like: The tree trunk [...] between the waves. Any suggestions? | In seas or oceans, the word "bob" is often used to describe the up and down motion: the boat bobbed up and down If you need something a bit more severe-sounding you could go with something like: Crashed Flipped Tumbled | Word meaning "being tossed up and down?" | english |
What is the difference between these two sentences: 1 ) Please tell me why is it like that.(should i put question mark at the end) 2 ) Please tell me why it is like that.(should i put question mark at the end) | The first question is more inquisitive and could be rephrased to be: "Please explain why it is like that." The second question is of a slightly more confronting nature and could be rephrased to read: "Please prove to me why it is like that." | "Why it is" vs "Why is it" | english |
Across the street. Across the street from ... Across from the street. Across from the street from the church. I know what the first phrase means but I have problem with the rest. What they mean? Edit: Examples: He argued that it was across from street and I had given wrong address then. Entrance to the Front Beach acro... | Although the third example appears in the Baltimore Sun , I think it's a misprint. Similarly for the fourth example from Fight News . These should say across the street from . I believe that the articles originally used across from — that is, "...sprawls along Rote 108, across from stately mansions..." and "a hot... | "Across" + "from" structure | english |
Is there any word (noun?) for a person who is not bad at doing something, yet not too good? | Journeyman - An experienced and competent but undistinguished worker. Initially I provided adjectives (included below), apologies for not properly reading the question. Competent - acceptable and satisfactory, though not outstanding. If being "above average" is not a requirement, you might also consider mediocre. Medio... | What do you call someone who is above average? | english |
Famously, if not accurately, Winston Churchill is supposed to have responding to an editor who had "fixed" a sentence ending with a preposition by writing, "This is the sort of thing up with which I will not put." The terminal preposition/adverb construction is often required in German grammar and I am asking if the En... | From Webster's Dictionary of English Usage (1989): Where did this "cherished superstition" come from? It seems to have originated with the 17th-century English poet, playwright, and essayist John Dryden. In 1672, Dryden wrote a piece of criticism called "Defence of the Epilogue," the main purpose of which was to demons... | History of the non-rule that proscribes ending a sentence with a preposition | english |
Why is "pineapple" in English but "ananas" in all other languages? | From Wikipedia, Columbus encountered the pineapple in 1493 on the Leeward island of Guadeloupe. He called it piña de Indes , meaning "pine of the Indians", and brought it back with him to Europe, thus making the pineapple the first bromeliad to leave the New World. The question is: why did the English adapt the origina... | Why is "pineapple" in English but "ananas" in all other languages? | english |
In the following sentence I prefer saying relatives but I am unable to explain why. It's going to be a small wedding. Only a few friends and relatives have been invited On doing research I found that both nouns can be collocated after the following adjectives; distant , blood , and close . We also have the phrase: Frie... | My speculation is that "relations" now carries a rather negative connotation. The most common use of "relations" that I can think of is of a sexual nature. Usually, trying to sound more tactful, media and other outlets will basically use this type of terminology over anything more direct. I personally would not feel co... | Is there any difference between "a few relatives" and "a few relations"? | english |
I am working on programing a citation generator. It will only make citations in MLA format. Does anyone know where I can find a good MLA citation form resource | Library.Cornell.edu has a substantial amount of different types of citations along with examples, all on a single webpage. Purdue OWL also several different MLA citations for various source formats, but they are separated across multiple pages. | Where can I find a good list of MLA citation formats? | english |
I want to describe a circle that is rotating, but the center of rotation is off center, thus giving the circle a sort of "wobbling" motion. Is there a word or term to describe this? | Eccentric ...2 ... b : located elsewhere than at the geometrical center; also : having the axis or support so located | Off center rotation | english |
This is something that confuses me from time to time. When making an analogy in literature, is it better to use the phrase "as if" or "as though", or is it completely a style thing? E.g. She looked frazzled, as if she had just gotten off of a roller coaster. or She looked frazzled, as though she had just gotten off of ... | Garner in Modern American Usage (p67) has an entry on this. First he claims: Attempts to distinguish between these idioms have proved futile. Euphony should govern the choice of phrase. He then goes on to state: One plausible distinction is that as if often suggests the more hypothetical proposition when cast in the su... | Analogy: "as if" vs. "as though" | english |
I would like to use ignorably as the adverb of ignorable but I am not sure whether this is correct. I did not find ignorably in any online dictionary. To give the context: Normally, you cannot ignore a thrown exception in programming: You are forced to handle it if you want to make you program work correctly. I have a ... | The meaning of the word would be clear but it is completely nonstandard. If I saw a method named "ThrowExceptionIgnorably" during a code review I would probably call it out and ask the programmer to change the name. But if they insisted I would let it slide. Alternatives: ThrowIgnoredException ThrowUncaughtException Re... | Is "ignorably" a word? | english |
I'm writing to you to enquire whether you have a need for I'm writing to you to enquire about whether you have a need for Which is proper? | Your first option is correct: I'm writing to you to enquire whether you have a need for... The second option is grammatically odd, but in any case would imply you were asking not about the need, but about everything around that need. I can't think of a correct usage here. | "Enquire about whether" vs. "enquire whether" | english |
"Hiking is fun" Hiking = Gerund is = Verb fun = ? Is it an adverb or noun? | In the sentence "Hiking is fun," the word "fun" is an adjective. It's the same type of construction as, for example, "My mother is tall." The word "fun" can be a noun as well as an adjective, and the verb "is" can link two nouns ("My mother is a teacher"), so I can see where you might be confused. But in the sentence "... | what part of speech is "fun" in the sentence below | english |
Is either of these grammatically and semantically correct? As part of my undergraduate thesis, I undertook a project under ... or I undertook a thesis research project under ... If not, how do I phrase it such that it indicates I took up a project and submitted a thesis on the subject? | Did you mean to say: 'As part of my undergraduate degree/course, I undertook a project, on which I submitted a thesis'? I am a UK person and this reflects what might be the case here. | The right way to talk about my thesis? | english |
I have been thinking of this for the past couple of days. Does the sentence sound naturally because it is grammatical or is it grammatical because it sounds naturally? | There's no single answer to that, but a key complication to consider is that we can have cases where it is difficult to say concretely that an utterance is not "well formed", but where it can still raise acceptability or performance issues. For example, the following (if I've worked it out properly :) doesn't break any... | Does the sentence sound naturally because it is grammatical or is it grammatical because it sounds naturally? | english |
Time magazine (November 4) carries an article titled, “Tutankhamen died on his knees , then his body spontaneously combusted,” which is followed with the following statement: Working together with car-crash investigators, a team of British scientists says that the legendary pharaoh Tutankhamen died after being run over... | The idiom "on his/her/its knees" usually has the connotation of subservience, surrender or defeat . to destroy or defeat someone or something Sanctions were imposed in an attempt to bring the country to its knees. So seeing a headline "Tut died on his knees" immediately evokes an image of Tut being killed while begging... | What does Tutankhamen “died on his knees” mean? | english |
I'm having an ongoing dispute in my organization over whether to use the word "funds" or "money" to describe, um, money that we award to grant applicants. My position is that a fund holds money. When we take a portion of that fund, and pay it to a grantee, we award them money, not funds. At times I've taken out my wall... | I think your position is wrong. While a fund can indeed hold money, that's not the sole accepted and established definition of funds , particularly in the plural. One dictionary says, quite simply, "financial resources". Another says: "money that is readily available". Yes, I can use funds to pay the cashier for my mil... | Funds or Money? | english |
I wanted to help a foreigner looking for his guide. I said: Go towards the church, you will meet your guide along the way. I meant that he would meet him while going towards the church. What should I say instead of along the way which I think is idiomatic? | Just use the nearest synonym for either "along" or "way". This will keep you away from the set phrase "along the way". For instance, use "You will meet your guide along the road/path ", or "You will meet your guide somewhere on the way". | How to say "along the way" when I mean it literally? | english |
When it's OK to omit "where?" For example, is it OK to omit it in the following sentence? This is the one of the few places (where) you can breathe real air. In which situations one's not allowed to do this? | You can generally omit where when the head noun suggests a place: 1a. This is the one of the few places [ where you can breathe real air. ] 1b. This is the one of the few places [ you can breathe real air. ] Here, the head noun is place , which of course suggests a place. However: 2a. This is the web ... | When it's OK to omit "where?" | english |
There is a fashion in the UK, these days for adding the words 'at all' to the end of almost any inquiry that people make. For example you are likely to be asked by a ticket collector 'Have you got a ticket, at all'? Or when checking in to a hotel 'Will you want a newspaper, at all'? Or when taking your car for MOT ' Do... | I do not know whether this is correct and have nothing with which to back it up, but it is too long to go in a comment, so it’ll have to be an answer. Personally, I would suspect that this is perhaps a usage that has spilt over from Hiberno-English. In my experience, a more or less semantically void ‘at all’ is often u... | What does it mean when people ask 'Do you have a credit card, at all'? | english |
Now, although I regard with a hushed and solemn fear, the mysteries, between which and this state of existence is interposed the barrier of the great trial and change that fall on all the things that live; and although I have not the audacity to pretend that I know anything of them; I can no more reconcile the mere ban... | The great trial and change... is clearly death; the mysteries that are on the other side of it are the truths of eternity (whatever they may be; the author specifically says that he does not pretend to know). The banging of doors, ringing of bells, creaking of boards, and such-like insignificances appear (in context) t... | What does this whole paragraph mean? | english |
What do we call a person who constantly demotivates others? For context: someone who thinks he is so brilliant in English, keeps discouraging me about the questions/answers I post. | Hypercritical FTD inclined to judge too severely; "hypercritical of colloquial speech"; "the overcritical teacher can discourage originality" also Excessively and unreasonably critical, esp. of small faults. M.W says: criticizing other people or things too strongly or too often A person who is hypercritical of everythi... | A term for someone who demotivates | english |
For example: I opened Google. Then, after giving it some thought, I typed (in): lolcats. Should I include the in in cases like this. Why? | Use typed in for input into a search engine or thing that will use that as a query, and typed for things like word processing. | "Typed," vs "typed in" | english |
Is there a better verb than "confuse" in this passage: Joe has confused the terms A, B, and C. When describing B he used the attributes of A. Also, Joe used attributes of C when discussing A. | Also, you may use 'conflate'. Conflate has a much better sense here than 'confuse' imo. Even though 'conflate' is defined as 'confuse' it has a secondary meaning of 'to bring together, to fuse'. The first meaning doesn't have a negative connotation, but the the second meaning of 'confusion' does (i.e. that you are conf... | What is the word that means a person has confused two terms with one another? | english |
Is it correct to say "I swim into the water" as a synonym of "I dive"? Thank you | Unless you're a turtle, I wouldn't recommend "swimming into the water". As for your exact question, no, it's not the same. Diving means jumping in head(arms) first. Swimming into the water is something only turtles do, if it's not already classified as crawling. | Swim into the water | english |
I am having two options for users to select from, either they are a Student or they are a Professional . What one word can be used to represent both the names collectively? I tried a lot but couldn't think of any. The context is that i have a registration form for a test that has to be taken by a variety of people so i... | My suggestion is Applicant based on your comments | One word that can be used to represent student and professional | english |
My English professor suggested yesterday that the expression "with respect to", despite being frequently used is simply wrong. He said that one should rather use "in respect of", which in turn is not very common. Can a native speaker confirm this? I have seen this expression so often, even in scientific texts, that I q... | Have a look at points 8 & 9 here . While the expression "with respect to" does exist, and is synonymous with "in respect of" (' concerning or in relation to '), it also has a slightlу different, pragmatic, usage: with respect to can be a means of making a text cohesive and coherent (giving reference to something al... | Is "with respect to" wrong? | english |
What is the history of the word thread in the context of "email thread"? You can also say "thread of a conversation". How old is that usage? Some of my colleagues say "email string" and it drives me crazy. Am I being overly pedantic in thinking that sounds stupid? | SUPPLEMENTAL to T.E.D.'s answer: I cannot now recall when I first encountered a threaded chat, but I have always thought it a a particularly apt metaphor, marrying two different figurative uses of the verb thread : to place beads or the like on a string to keep them together or form a chain. OED's earliest citation for... | Etymology of "Email Thread" | english |
Suppose there was a user of one of these sites whose handle was <code> Won't </code> . How would one form the possessive of this username to refer to that user's post?* Won't's answer Given that 's </code> possessive construction is apparently derived from a contraction , and the existence of a fair number of double co... | Your first formation (Won't's) is correct. It looks weird, perhaps, because it's an unusual situation, but there you have it. If somebody uses a contracted word as his/her username or handle, forming the possessive is going to look strange. Just gotta live with it! | Forming the possessive of a username that is a contraction | english |
What do I call people in between friends and acquaintance? I want to refer to my classmates who I know somewhat well and are friendly with, but not friends. | You could use "classmates." Often when we want to refer to classmates with whom we are friends, we say something like "my friends from school." So if you say "classmates," it suggests they are only classmates and not really friends. I don't think there really is a commonly used word that specifically means a relationsh... | Between friend and acquaintance? | english |
I'm preparing some marketing materials for my boss, and one section contains the phrase "Here are a few examples:". The list that follows contains two items, which strikes me as being incorrect, though I can't find much evidence of this. Is it semantically correct to refer to two items as "a few"? Is there a solid rule... | For two I mostly use some Like snailboat said, a few sounds like 3 or more. It is not grammatically incorrect though. It's simply what one thinks sounds better. | How Many is "A Few"? | english |
I have some questions concerning sentences. ... majoring in Biological Systems Engineering chosen by [full name] conclude with preparation of a thesis and the engineering exam. The title of the thesis prepared by ... ... majoring in Biological Systems Engineering chosen by [full name] conclude with preparation of the t... | Use a thesis . Unless it is a mass noun (which thesis is not), a noun in the singular must have an article or other determiner (eg this , my ). And, barring a few special cases, the is used only when the object has already been identified to the hearer/reader in some way, or is being identified in that use by an explic... | 'a thesis' or 'the thesis'? | english |
Also, what is this property called? X Y versus Y of X. | Education Institute modifies the head noun institute with a noun adjunct, also called an attributive noun or sometimes an adjectival noun. More simply, it is a noun used as an adjective. Institute of Education modifies it with a genitive construction . Genitives express a relationship between nouns, usually possession,... | Difference between "Education Institute" & "Institute of Education"? | english |
I'm trying to find some information on how the very first country came into being. I'm not sure what keywords I should start with. I've tried synonyms like state and nation as well, but none of them works. From my vague memory, I guess this topic is related to history and sociology, but I don't know the correct English... | I believe that you should look into the first government . This should lead to the discovery of the first nation or country, because they need governments. This should probably go into the history StackExchange site, though. | How should I search information on the origin of a country on Google? | english |
I have some questions concerning sentences. [full name], having defended his thesis and passed the engineering exam conducted by the Examination Board, obtained his diploma and earned the title of Bachelor of Engineering. [full name], having defended his thesis and passed the engineering exam conducted by the Examinati... | The first sentence sounds better, but why, it is hard to say. Here's my best shot. A diploma is something personal. It's something that belongs to an individual and is tailored to the individual. Some people get a diploma in Engineering, some in English literature, some get it with honors and some without. The possessi... | Which sentence is better? | english |
I am researching the use of relative pronouns and most websites, including the British Council, list only: who, whom, which, that, and whose What about here? That's the house where I grew up. January is when we go on vacation. That broken window is why you are grounded. | Notice how what is also missing from that list. What she said is true = that which she said is true. They apparently only include relative pronouns that usually refer to an explicit antecedent, as opposed to those that usually include their antecedents, as do what (always) and where (usually). It is just a matter of de... | Why don't most sources classify "when", "where", and "why" as relative pronouns? | english |
Let's say I have this sentence: This process uses [summation] and produces z . Should it be written like this: This process uses w , x and y and produces z . Or like this? This process uses w , x , y and produces z . | The latter example doesn't make sense: This process uses w, x, y[,] and produces z. This looks like it contains a four-element list, but it can't; the reader will quickly see that produces z can't possibly combine with this process uses , so they'll instead interpret "w, x, y" as an asyndetic three-element list. ("Asyn... | Ending summation with "and" right before another "and"? | english |
So Jim is the indirect object in the sentence "Sally gave Jim a sandwich." But is Jim still the indirect object if the sentence is "Sally took the sandwich from Jim"? And if the sentence were to become "Sally took the sandwich from Jim for herself" would Sally now be both the subject and the indirect object? Thanks. Ad... | Let me start off by saying I am not an English grammar professional, so I may not always speak about things using the most rigorous expert terminology. But I am trained in a number of languages (Latin, Ancient Greek, Spanish, French, Italian, German), and I have a very good grasp of grammar, even if I sometimes have my... | Is it still an indirect object if you're taking something away? | english |
Considering the sentence: AD 1453, the city of Constantinople was conquered by the Ottoman empire. Is this a complete sentence? From what I understand of the situation: The era designator 'AD' is an abbreviation for 'Anno Domini', meaning 'In the year of the Lord'. By that reasoning, 'AD 1453' is a complete dependent c... | No, it's deviant. The grammar of a foreign phrase in its own language tells you approximately zero about its syntax in English (or about the syntax of an abbreviation for it, which may or may not be the same). Most commonly in modern English AD is used the same way as BC , as a post-modifier of the year. The older form... | Usage of 'AD' era designation | english |
I've recently been involved in a discussion over different interpretations of the following sentence (paraphrased): Users may update their information every two weeks, at maximum. The intended meaning is "no more frequently than once every two weeks", but some people seem to read it as exactly the opposite ("no less fr... | This is how the sentence actually reads, "Users may update their information (once) every two weeks, at maximum." The clear indication is you cannot do it anymore than once in two weeks and have to wait at least two weeks before you update it. | Finding the correct interpretation of "Every X [units of time], at maximum/minimum." | english |
The following appears in The Haunted House by Charles Dickens. What is the meaning of the bolded phrase? This very concise summary of the facts was all I could learn, except that a young man, as hearty and likely a young man as ever I see, had been took with fits and held down in ’em , after seeing the hooded woman. | From etymonline: fit — "paroxysm, sudden attack" (as of anger), 1540s, probably via Middle English sense of "painful, exciting experience" (early 14c.), from Old English fitt "conflict, struggle," of uncertain origin, with no clear cognates outside English. Perhaps ultimately cognate with fit (n.1) on notion of "... | What does 'had been took with fits and held down in 'em' mean? | english |
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