title: Bullet points where there is an 'or' before the final point.

text: I would typically write a bullet point list that is all part of one sentence with:   * no capitals   * no punctuation at the end of each point   * a grammatical structure that is consistent   * a full-stop after the terminal point. However, I've come across situations where the list is an 'or' list, instead of an 'and' one. For example, when writing such a list, I would not use:   * capitals   * end-line punctuation [OR]   * incorrect grammatical structure. How and where should I structure it so the 'or' is apparent? The 'and' is usually implied in such a list, but without punctuation at the end of each line, the 'or' can get lost. Thoughts? Thanks!


title: What does "bar hate" mean?

text: > The controversial law will also **bar hate** speech and harassment. What does it mean in the above example?


title: What is the origin of "breaking bad"?

text: Wiktionary gives the meaning of " _break bad_ " but does not mention about the origin: > **1.** _(colloquial, of an event or of one's fortunes)_ To go wrong; to go > downhill.   > > > * * * > > **2.** _(colloquial, chiefly Southern US and Midwest US, of a person)_ To go > bad; to turn toward immorality or crime. * * * Cassell's Dictionary of Slang (by Jonathon Green) has the below definition that gives a hint about the origin: > **break bad** _v._ **1** [1960s] _(US Black)_ to become angry and aggressive > **2** [1980s] _(US campus)_ to perform well. [BREAK v.2 (3) + SE _bad_ ] > > * * * > > **break** _v._ 2 _(US)_ **3** [1930s] to conduct oneself. It looks like the origin is African American Vernacular English but how did this phrase emerge exactly? And how did it gain a new meaning (with almost opposite connotations) in campus slang?


My joint make cracking sounds while I am turning my arm. When turning my arm during exercise, my joint making crack sounds. Does the sentence above have any grammar mistake?


title: What does "Apple never falls far from the tree" means

text: What does this term, Apple never falls far from the tree, means?


title: Origin and variations of "being handed your hat"

text: I heard the expression _being handed your hat_ being used to mean that you are invited to leave. What is its origin and what are the possible variations?


title: On the expression "the poverty and lack of opportunity"

text: This is a passage from _The Economist_ : > Unlike townships such as Soweto, which were designated areas for blacks to > live in under apartheid, the shantytowns are spontaneous settlements set up > by people fleeing **the poverty and lack of opportunity** in rural South > Africa. This can be read in two ways:   * the poverty _in rural South Africa_ and lack of opportunity _in rural South Africa._   * the poverty _of opportunity_ and lack _of opportunity_ in rural South Africa. Which interpretation is better?


title: "Go, Yankees!", "Go, Tigers!", etc. — go where?

text: It's common to hear cheers of the form "“Go X!” where X is the name of a team or individual. I understand that its meaning is, as nohat said in another thread, > “Go ___!” is a common exclamation intended to express approval and > encouragement to a team or an individual. My question is: does this phrase have an etymology? The sense of "go" as used in this template does not seem to be used anywhere else. For instance, we cannot report this exclamation as "he asked his team to go". Does the phrase originate in some archaic sense of _go_ , in some larger phrase (like "Go and win") or is it of unknown origin? **Edit** : If I'm not mistaken, the phrase can be used not only for sports like football that involve physically moving towards a goal, but also sports like baseball and even chess or (competitive) programming, which mostly involve sitting in one location.


title: Is there an English grammar equivalent of the Italian "complemento"

text: In Italian, translating from the Italian wikipedia as accurately as I can muster, > a "complemento" is a part of a sentence (one or more words) that specify, > clarify and enrich the meaning thereof. Italian has a loooong, punctilious list of various possible types of "complemento", for example:   * I have plenty _of diamonds_ -- "complemento" of abundance   * I am short _of diamonds_ -- "complemento" of privation   * It's made _of diamonds_ -- "complemento" of matter   * Some _of the diamonds_ are valuable -- "complemento" of partition   * Each _of these diamonds_ is valuable -- "complemento" of specification   * It's worthy _of diamonds_ -- "complemento" of value I can't find anything like this on the English wikipedia - although adjuncts sound suspiciously similar, I'd say none of these are temporal, locative, modicative, causal, instrumental, conditional or concessive - although there certainly are some that are, and not all require prepositions:   * I'm waiting _there_ \- "complemento" of being in place   * I'm going _there_ \- "complemento" of motion to place   * I'm going _to Rome_ \- "complemento" of motion to place also. The next closest thing would be adverbial complements, but most of these aren't required for the sentence to make sense, or tied to the verb.


title: Possibility of using either verb tense and convey the same meaning

text: I have two questions: Q1: Which one(s) of the sentences below, can be grammatically correct and why? And if there are more than one correct sentence, does the meaning change when the verb tense is changed or are they synonymous and can be used interchangeably? 1- Yes, I was. I've never known until he had appeared on TV. 2- Yes, I was. I've never known until he appeared on TV. 3- Yes, I was. I've never known until he has appeared on TV. 4- Yes, I was. I've never known until he was appearing on TV. Q2: What if the choices above are answers to this question below, are the answers to Q1 the same to Q2? So in 2003, when you said you didn't know, were you telling the truth at that time?


title: Romney, "regards to", and disfluency

text: This is kind of a follow up to "in regard to" or "in regards to". I have always considered that _regards to_ means sending well wishes, while _regard to_ means "concerning". Hence _with regards to_ or _in regards to_ , meaning "concerning", are erroneous and should be _with regard to_ or _in regard to_. Yet just looking at the recent Presidential debates, we have the following quotes from Governor Romney: > And then, of course, _with regards to_ standing for our principles, when -- > when the students took to the streets in Tehran and the people there > protested, the Green Revolution occurred, for the president to be silent I > thought was an enormous mistake. > The — the greatest failure we've had _with regards to_ — to gun violence in > some respects is what — what is known as Fast and Furious. > Number two, _with regards to_ Iraq, you and I agreed, I believe, that there > should have been a status of forces agreement. > And finally, _with regards to_ that tax cut, look, I'm not looking to cut > massive taxes and to reduce the -- the revenues going to the government. > Well, President, you're -- Mr. President, you're absolutely right, which is > that, _with regards to_ 97 percent of the businesses are not -- not taxed at > the 35 percent tax rate, they're taxed at a lower rate. In all these cases, he means _concerning_ and is not sending well wishes. Is this a Romney disfluency? Is this a regional variation? Is my intuition just completely wrong and this is generally accepted as standard?


To what extent is it correct to refer to a credit union as a bank? Is it correct to use the verb "banking" when referring to credit unions, for example "I do my banking at Northern Credit Union"? One last question, when I looked up the definition of banking on Google how come it says it's a noun?


title: "Coat" vs. "jacket" in AE

text: In some regions of the U.S., can the term "coat" be used to designate what other native speakers of other U.S. regions -- and from farther out -- would call a jacket? > Please consider this Ngram: source > > And this other one also...source


title: Phrase for pooling funds with others for a purchase

text: I got an email today from a parent in my son's K class for a party the kids will be hosting for their teacher. Part of the content was this: > I'm asking for volunteers for the following: > > Cut-up Fruit (various types or multiple people could contribute to a small > tray) > > Cake (again thought few people could contribute to this) In response, I replied > Happy to pool in for cake. I meant that I wanted to pool in with other parents for cake. Did I convey it right? How can I say it in other ways?


title: What is the meaning, history, and current popularity of "of a Monday" (or Tuesday, or Wednesday, etc.)?

text: I was watching a 1934 Hollywood film today and one of the American characters used the phrase, _Of a Tuesday_. I don't think I'd ever heard an American use this in real life or in a film before then, even though I watch a lot of 1930s and 1940s Hollywood movies. I have since heard it used occasionally in films from about the 1920s to the 1960s, but I have still never heard it used outside of films. Perhaps this, like the MidAtlantic accent in the first half of the century, was and is something used by actors, and in this case writers, far more commonly than by regular (non-theatrical) Americans. Does phrase _Of a Tuesday_ simply mean the same as _On a Tuesday_? Is it a commonly used phrase? Has the meaning or popularity changed significantly over time? Are there differences in meaning or usage between British and American English? So, what are the meaning(s) and usage(s), history, and current popularity of both in American and British English?


title: What is going on in this sentence?

text: I was helping my brother study for the SAT, and we came across this sentence: > While it was different from all the other classes he had taken, Eric was > unhappy with his psychology class. The answer was that there are no errors in that sentence. But my brother thinks that the noun following the comma should be consistent with the "it" in the first clause. I have come across sentences of this form in the works of well-known writers, but I do not know how to explain to him why this is correct.


title: What's up with the word "egregious"?

text: According to Google's dictionary (and MacOS/iOS dictionary), egregious has the following definitions: ![enter image description here](http://i.stack.imgur.com/K4VPv.png) I've seen words with multiple definitions, but not ones that are exact contradictions. Some references state that "remarkably good" is archaic - is it possible that the meaning of this word has changed over time to be the exact opposite of what it once meant?


title: How to say: "this number has not been rounded"?

text: Let's say I count some items and the result is exactly 1000. How do I convey the fact that the actual count was 1000, and that I didn't round the number? It should fit into a sentence like "Overall, we found 1000 items that are related to X."


title: Interpretation of a quote from "Easy A" (the 2010 film)

text: In the 2010 film " _Easy A_ ", there is an exchange between several characters: > **_Rhiannon** : George is not a sexy name. George is like what you name your > teddy bear, not the name you wanna scream out during climax._ > > **_Mr. Griffith** : I hope by "climax" you weren't talking about..._ > > **_Olive Penderghast** : The stable and self-perpetuating end-stage in the > evolution of a plant community. Like "by George, that tree has reached the > final stage of ecological succession"._ > > **_Rhiannon** : And it only took 20 seconds._ What does Olive mean here by " _The stable and self-perpetuating end stage in the evolution of a plant community._ "? **_Please note** : English is not my native language, so the simpler and clearer you can make your explanation, the better._


title: What words should be capitalized in "to whom it may concern"?

text: I'm writing a business recommendation, and since it's a proxy for a proper name, it seems like capitalization might be in order, but it looks odd.


title: Origin of 'acle' ending in words

text: What is the origin and meaning of the _acle_ ending in words like _oracle, debacle, tabernacle, miracle, spectacle_. Or are there more than one explanation/meaning here?


title: 'Year' or 'Years'?

text: In the context of the following sentence: > "This report gives an overview of x, which took place between the second and > final **year** of my degree from xmonth to ymonth." Should I be using the word **year** or **years**? I'm inclined to choose the latter, as I am referring to two years and not one.


title: What is wrong in saying " I am feeling well right now"...?

text: The following sentences are frequently heard spoken by people if someone asks them about their well-being (especially when a doctor inquires about a patient's health!) : **I am not feeling well** and **I am feeling well** But yesterday someone prompted me saying that "feel, taste, smell, realise, etc" are verbs of perception and a continuous tense shouldn't be used. Instead it should be: **I feel well.** Is this really so? My question is, will it not give rise to an ambiguity situation if when a person wishes to express his current state of well-being he uses 'I feel well'? Couldn't he be misinterpreted as if he always feels 'well'?


title: What does ‘ Seven years there and he won’t know himself.’ mean?

text: The school is the finest school and seven years’ studying there should be great for students, but I can’t read it that way for some reason. > “If he wants ter go, a great Muggle like you won’t stop him,” growled > Hagrid. “Stop Lily an’ James Potter’s son goin’ ter Hogwarts! Yer mad. His > names’s been down ever since he was born. He’s off ter the finest school of > witch craft and wizardry in the world. **Seven years there and he won’t know > himself.** He’ll be with youngsters of his own sort, fer a change, an’ he’ll > be under the greatest headmaster Hogwarts ever had, Albus Dumbled—“ ( _Harry > Potter 1_ [US Version]: p.58) [Bold font is mine] If seven years there and he still doesn’t understand who he is, the school, I would think, is not so effective. The context is saying, however, the school is very good. Would you guide me to the right meaning?


title: Meaning of the word "congratufukinlation"

text: What does congratu-fukin-lations mean?


title: Do we use the word "disjoint" as a noun?

text: I've looked up in the dictionary and didn't find a noun form of the word _disjoint_. What is the word if I want to mean the fact that 2 things are disjointed?


title: What is an alternative (more positive) analogy to "beating a dead horse"?

text: I'm looking for an analogy for my repeated attempts to revive interest in a project. The phrase _beating a dead horse_ almost fits the bill, but a _dead horse_ refers to a subject that is no longer relevant or useful, and this project is both relevant and useful, it's just considered a low priority. Without giving the subject a negative label, is there an analogy I can use to express my persistence and frustration?


title: "Compared to" vs "as compared to"

text: Are both "compared to" and "as compared to" correct?   1. Microsoft has bigger market share **compared to** Apple.   2. This question is more difficult **as compared to** the previous one.


title: What is the difference between "Drop in" and "pop in"

text: In British English do "drop in to see someone" and "pop in to see someone" have different meanings?


title: Metaphorical antonym of "crutch"

text: Often times something is referred to as being a "crutch" for something, meaning they rely on it. What would be a suitable opposite to this metaphor? EDIT: To rephrase: What's a good metaphor/term for something that "sets you free" or liberates you or helps towards a cause? I hope that makes more sense.


title: "Where we headed?" or "Where we heading?"; which one is correct?

text: I had to pick one of my friends for a movie. She didn't know where we would go, so the moment she sat in the car, she asked "So, where we headed?" I told her the multiplex name. But I thought she should have asked, "where we heading (= going)"? Why people say use past tense "headed" when they still need to reach the destination?


title: Which to use: "altitude" or "elevation" in regards to height above sea level?

text: I've developed an Android application that is used as a Car Home replacement. One of the pieces of information that I return to the user is what I originally called "altitude": the height above sea level the user is currently at while driving. However, a user sent me an email regarding my use of the word _altitude_ and recommended that I switch it to _elevation_ saying "Altitude is a measurement used to show how far off the ground you are, elevation is used to show how high above sea level you are." I started to believe that what he told me was correct, but after a search I found this interesting comparison of the two. Additionally, Android's API declares this value as "altitude" when returning it from the GPS receiver. Now I'm just confused. Which word should I be using to express this?


title: Pickup vs. Pick Up vs. Pick-up

text: Researching another question, Takeout vs Pickup, is there a difference? \- and at first I used "pick-up" - but it appears that pickup would be a better choice. Is this correct, and how do you fit one of the three terms to its usage? ![enter image description here](http://i.stack.imgur.com/Ufo1X.jpg)


title: How should I start a conditional sentence with "should" instead of "if"?

text: With this sentence: > If she feels worse during the night, give her these tablets. I am asked to rewrite it beginning the sentence with _should_. It's obviously not simply a question of replacing _if_ with _should,_ because that would be trivial: > *Should she feels worse during the night, give her these tablets. What else is needed, and why?


Are there any specific words for the first events and first things like the first rain, the first fruit of a plant, the first grey hairs, etc.?


title: What does the “a’ ” in “a’blowing” signify？

text: Quotation from _A History of the Cries of London: Ancient and Modern_ > Oh, dearly do I love “Old Cries,”   >  Your “Lilies all _a’blowing_!”   >  Your blossoms blue, still wet wih dew,   >  “Sweet Violets all _a’growing_!” ![image](http://i.stack.imgur.com/d9Xrk.png)


title: Repetition of articles in a sentence

text: The following sentences use more than one adjective for a single noun. > She has **a** black and white cat. It implies that the person involved here has only one cat which is _black and white coloured_. The following sentence is however different from the preceding one. > She has **a** black and **a** white cat. The indefinite article _a_ has been repeated as many times as there are adjectives for the noun in the sentence changing in meaning of the sentence - the person involved has now two cats - one is a black coloured cat and the other is a white coloured cat. * * * Similarly, the following sentence implies designations. > **The** magistrate and collector **is** present. **One** person owns two different designations which are magistrate and collector. The following sentence however implies two different persons - one is a magistrate and the other is a collector. > **The** magistrate and **the** collector **are** present. * * * What do the following sentences mean? >   * He is **a** better counsellor than **a** scholar. >   * He is **a** better counsellor than scholar. > and >   * He is **a** better poet than **a** novelist. >   * He is **a** better poet than novelist. >


title: "Try and produce best output" versus "try and produce the best output"

text: I've heard people say both. Which is the right one?


title: "If you think it's hard to meet new people, try picking up the wrong golf ball."

text: What does the following Jack Lemmon quote mean: > If you think it's hard to meet new people, try picking up the wrong golf > ball. I guess _picking up the wrong golf ball_ must be an idiom but I couldn't find its meaning online. What does it mean? Does it have anything to do with the game itself and the rules for hitting the wrong ball?


title: "How's things?" or "How are things?"

text: In a short interview where people were introducing themselves I saw something that grammatically sounds erroneous. Is the use of _How's things_ instead of _How're things_ a kind of expression or a simple mistake? > David: Hi. I’m David. > > Rachel: Hi. I’m Rachel. Pleased to meet you. > > David: Likewise. **How's things?** > > Rachel: Great thanks. And You?


title: Grammar query - is vs. are

text: The sentence in concern is : We agreed that Coco and Rocky **are** not the same dog. Shouldn't it be: We agreed that Coco and Rocky **is** not the same dog. ? According to my Word grammar editor, **is** is the correct form of the verb there. It doesn't sound right, though.


title: Tense choice in "the strategy was exploited so frequently before, that it has long lost its originality"

text: I am not sure if the Past Simple and Present Perfect tenses in the second part of the sentence are used correctly: > Surely, we can experiment with various styles, combine genres and produce > eclectic output, but let us face the truth: the strategy was exploited so > frequently before, that it has long lost its originality. I often have these doubts when it comes to using PS and PP in one sentence.


title: Is "all 'day'/'week'/'month' round" proper English?

text: Searching on the Internet one can find a lot of occurrences of "all year round" and there are plenty of sites which explain what the expression means: _throughout all the seasons of the year_. So, one would expect that "all [x] round", where [x] is _day_ , or _week_ , or even _month_ , would be well established, too; but that is not the case, at least judging from Google results, which show the use of "all _day/week/month_ round" mostly in some illiterate comments. It's easy to deduce the meaning of "all week round" as " _throughout all the days of the week_ ". Can this expression be used like this? If not, why?


title: Is prefixing "@" to address a person becoming an English standard?

text: In order to address or reply to a person, is prefixing an "@" symbol in front of their names becoming a standard in English? This is really useful in e-communications wherein a parts of message can be addressed to a particular person out of the bunch without breaking up into sentence fragments.


title: Grammaticality of "Is it today that..."

text: I would like to know if it is grammatically correct to ask the question, "Is it today that you are going to town?" My concern is specifically the "Is it" part.


title: What is a single word for the things that can be heard from a particular place?

text: A _view_ is the things that can be seen from a particular place. What's the auditory equivalent? Shorter words preferred.


title: Relative Clause Extraction from Subordinate Clause - Compare and Contrast These Sentences

text: Please emend the title; I'm tentative whether it summarises this question precisely. >   1. I went into the store, which if I had seen from the road, I should have > known to be a company. > >   2. I went into the store, which, if I had seen it from the road, I should > have known to be a company. > >   3. I went into the store, which if I had seen from the road, I should have > known it to be a company. > >   4. I went into the store, if I had seen which from the road, I should have > known it to be a company. > > 1 seems the most natural to me. Would someone please compare and contrast the other 4? Are they grammatically correct? If so, how are they?


title: Is there another word for 'sentence finisher' in English?

text: I am just interested in finding another word for _sentence finisher_ in English, or basically someone who has a habit of cutting off another person's sentence and putting in their own statement.


title: What does "First Lad” mean?

text: In New York Times (March 22) article titled, “Palmy days for Jerry,” Maureen Dowd interviews former California governor, Jerry Brown who was once the rival of Bill Clinton, and quotes his latest assessment of his old nemesis: > “In retrospect, after we see all the other presidents that came afterwards, > certainly, Clinton handled his job with a level of skill that hasn’t been > met since.” And could he see his old nemesis Bill, who endorsed Gavin Newsom > for governor instead of Brown in 2009, as **First Lad**? > > “Wherever he is, he will fill up the room, that’s for sure,” he replies. “He > has a lot of political energy.” > > http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/23/opinion/sunday/dowd-palmy-days-for- > jerry.html?hp&rref=opinion I see “first lady” and "first husband," but I can’t’ find the word, “first lad” in any of CED, OED, and Merriam-Webster Dictionary. What does “first lad” mean? Is it the same with the first husband, or does it mean a "top-notch person"? Is this a common word?


title: Another word/phrase for "In addition to"

text: What is an alternative phrase or word for "in addition to"? Here's an example sentence: > In addition to the tasks listed above, we ask that you complete the > following tasks as time permits. Is there a word or phrase that can replace "in addition to" in the above sentence without altering anything else in the sentence?


title: Can "sufficient" be used in a negative sense?

text: Can the word "sufficient" be used in a negative sense, i.e. relating to something that has a negative effect when augmented? Example: > These problems influence the results for sufficiently high speeds. Since "sufficient" is a fundamental logical concept (as the logical opposite of "necessary"), I feel it shouldn't be "biased" in this way. On the other hand, maybe in linguistics it is different. The meaning of "sufficient" is equivalent to "as much as needed", so I can imagine that the "positive" nature of the verb "need" influences the meaning here. So, can "sufficient/ly" be used in this way?


title: is "purposely" an actual word?

text: I grew up in Malaysia and Singapore, and it's taken me a long time to dissect my vocabulary into "local slang, incomprehensible/incorrect elsewhere" and "proper English". 'Purposely' is one of those words that's just felt wrong to me for a while. It's an adverb of the + 'ly' form, except that "purpose" isn't an adjective. However, I've seen the word used so often on the Internet I can't help but feel that it's not just us South-East Asians doing it. Is "purposely" grammatically correct? If so, in what context? If not, what is an appropriate substitute, and why is it so common?


title: Word to make a distinction between license as a concept and a license held

text: What would you call a pilot's license as a concept, and what would you call a license that the pilot is actually holding in his hand? For instance, a pilot may acquire a Private Pilot License (PPL). There is a series of requirements to obtaining this license. I consider this to be the concept of a PPL. When a pilot passes the test, he is issued the actual license, the one he can hold in his hand. While the difference might be negligible, for the purpose of identifying concepts that make up the domain model in a software application, it would be highly preferable to have two separate words describing them. I myself would call the concept a `license`, and the actual license an `issuance`, but since I am not a native speaker of English, I am not sure that this is correct.


title: "At all" vs "Not at all" in negated sentences

text: If I say _That makes sense to me._ I would say definitively _at all_. > That makes sense to me at all. But in the negated sentence I'm not sure. I've the feeling, that it is still _at all_. But if I say _not at all_ it still sounds OK to my ears but I would, though, separate it with a comma or even with a full stop. Which one is correct? > That makes no sense to me at all. or > That makes no sense to me, not at all. > > That makes no sense to me, by no means at all.


title: Time before now vs. time before us

text: We all know that _before_ normally means "earlier in time", but I've been thinking about the opposite meanings of those expressions:   * The days before now (the past)   * The days before us (the future) I'm aware that some other European languages have similar usages, too, so I would like to understand when and how such contrasting meanings developed in English.


title: Is it acceptable to use digit and word form of numbers in the same sentence/paragraph?

text: To illustrate, this reads a bit awkward: > In a country with 75 billion SMBs, at least seven billion of them should > advertise. What's the acceptable practice in such sentences ?


title: A person looking for a place to stay the night - is it accommodations

text: Given this fragment: "Can't find accommodation in Mantova, Italy." Assume it is a single person looking for a place to spend the night. Would the correct word be "accommodation" or "accommodations"? While ODO does list _accommodation_ as a mass noun, it also has a count example: > Lodgings, sometimes also including board:   >  _the company offers a number of guest house accommodations in Oberammergau_


title: Do you use he/she or it to refer to ghost?

text: If I have a sentence: > There are many stories which have been told about a ghost that haunted this > castle. Strangely, ... (the ghost) has never appeared in front of my face > for 10 years. I notice that when it comes to "spirit, dark force", many people use "it" instead of making it personalized by using "she/he" as the subject pronoun. Should I use the subject pronoun "he/she" or "it" to refer to the ghost?


What does 'let the idea go begging' mean? Does it mean someone hesitates when making a decision?


What does Banglored mean and how it is created? is there any relation between indian banglore city?


title: When can "as" be used instead of "when"?

text: I am having problems explaining the use of "as" and "when" to my foreign language pupils... To me, this sentence is wrong "Even as he had the chance to help, he did not." I would say "Even when he had the chance..." However, I do occassionally use as in a temporal sense, e.g. "As I was going to St Ives, I met a man with seven wives.. etc". How can it be explained? When can "as" be used instead of "when" and more importantly, when not? Looking forward to your ideas!!


title: Quickly responding or Responding quickly?

text: Here is the sentence in question. I helped customers by quickly responding to their requests. I helped customers by responding quickly to their requests.


title: 'Hope' vs. 'wish' in unlikely situations

text: Although 'hope' and 'wish' have many different uses, I've seen the basic difference often summarized as: 'wish' is for imaginary, unlikely or impossible things, whereas 'hope' is for more likely or realistic things. For example: > I wish I was a billionaire (unlikely) > > I hope you get well soon (likely) This distinction seems logical, but then I don't understand the following: > I hope you win the lottery tonight (unlikely) > > I hope you rot in hell! (impossible ... I hope!) Both scenarios seem highly unlikely, yet the grammar is acceptable. Is there are a better distinction between 'hope' and 'wish' in this kind situation? Many thanks in advance.


title: Prosodic stress

text: What difference do different stress positions make to the meaning of the following sentence: _**What_** would you like? What **_would_** you like? What would **_you_** like? What would you **_like_**?


title: Alternative to "accessible"

text: In the context of a technical manual, engineers use the word "accessible" to indicate that a piece of hardware should have "easy access" for repair, maintenance, and other modifications. What would you use instead of "accessible" in such contexts (avoiding the lexeme _access_ )? For example: > The TMGB must be located such that it is _accessible to_ telecommunications > personnel.


title: Can we use this expression

text: Is this OK to use the below usage. Looking into the photograph the girl said, "It's me before 5 years."


title: Polite way to refuse to answer a question

text: It sometimes happens that I am asked a question which I am uncomfortable answering for a variety of reasons (it invades my privacy, the answer may hurt the person asking, it is painful for me to discuss, it would violate a confidence etc.). I may also not feel comfortable **explaining** why I don't want to answer. I remember a colleague of mine introducing me to the Far Eastern concept of Mu (sometimes translated as "unask the question"), which seems to quite aptly capture what I'm looking for. What is the most polite way of expressing this in English?


title: "Why didn't (or did not) somebody do something?" or "Why did somebody not do something?"

text: I was wondering which one is grammatically correct between "Why didn't (or did not) somebody do something?" and "Why did somebody not do something?"


title: Meaning and usage of "Adjacent to refuse, is refuse"

text: In a show I have heard the line: "Adjacent to refuse, is refuse". Can anyone explain to me what that means. I found the script and give the context in what is was said. > JERRY: Was it in the trash?   >  GEORGE: Yes.   >  JERRY: Then it was trash.   >  GEORGE: It wasn't down in, it was sort of on top.   >  JERRY: But it was in the cylinder!   >  GEORGE: Above the rim.   >  JERRY: **_Adjacent to refuse, is refuse._** What does it mean, and how can it be used.


title: Why isn't "ecliptic" a proper noun?

text: Why isn't _ecliptic_ a proper noun? There is only one, and it has a name. Example (context): > ... the true Sun is not always exactly on the ecliptic for a hypothetical > observer at Earth's center, but may be some arcseconds north or south of it.


title: "to build meaningful relationships in important areas of my life"

text: Should I have said "of my life" or "in my life" in this sentence: > to build meaningful relationships in important areas of my life


Yesterday, I watched MasterChef America. There were two teams competing in the challenge of cooking and serving food at a football game. There were 100 voters and the red team won the blue team by 51 to 49. Since the blue team lost in the competition, they had to do the pressure test where they cook against each other and only few of them would stay in the game. Before the pressure started, one of them said "I know we lost only two points but in the competition it doesn't matter how many points we lose. They balcony is really far away." What does "the balcony is really far away" mean?


title: what does it mean to "betray contempt for" someone?

text: I came across this phrase in a quotation from Carl Sagan, "they betray contempt for the intelligence of their customers". From the context, it seems to mean "to show contempt", but I couldn't parse why betray and contempt are used together. Edit: How does the meaning work out?


title: "You being an Asian does not / don't know this"

text: > It’s a shame that you being an Asian **does not** know this I somehow have the feeling that this doesn't sound right! Particularly the last _does not know this_ part. Should it be > It's a shame that you being an Asian **don't** know this?


title: lengthy sentences/second subordinate clause

text: > To further drown him in statistics, amongst all the bowlers who bowled in > more than 5 innings away from home in the last 1 year of ODI cricket, Ashwin > has the second-worst bowling average after Xavier Doherty, **which is really > not a surprise.** Is the usage of _'which is not really not a surprise'_ fine, or is it flawed? It refers to only the main clause 'Ashwin has the second-worst bowling average after Xavier Doherty', which is the surprise part.


title: When is it appropriate to use "to receive someone"?

text: In what cases we can use the verb _receive_ to refer to a person and not to an object?


title: Slightly more complex parallel sentence, and what is this called?

text: I had an internet argument about grammar (unwise, I know) on a headline that read: > The Food Gap Is Widening - Wealthy people are eating better than ever, while > the poor are eating worse. I argued that the sentence meant: > Wealthy people are eating better than ever, while the poor are eating worse > **[than ever]**. He argued that it wasn't a sentence, and that the headline read: > Wealthy people are eating better than ever, while the poor are eating worse > **[than before now]**. _Edit: to clarify, "than before now" to him meant "in the last 10 years or so", which was the time period covered in the article, as opposed to "than ever before". This was in response to a third party pointing out that the poor [in the US] probably do not eat worse than ever before, as a lot more people used to starve to death than they do now. /Edit_ I still think I am correct, but I had a hard time finding any resources on the topic. It was even hard to find what I was looking for. This is a form of Zeugma? Is there anything I can look up that would be more definitive on the topic?


title: Is there a term for a euphemistic term being used literally?

text: Is there a term for using a word that's often a euphemism to mean exactly what the word means? For example, in Terry Pratchett's _Discworld_ , what would the act of using the word "seamstress" to refer to someone who actually mends clothes, rather than someone who is a prostitute?


title: Derivations of operation, operable vs. reparation, reparable

text: After a little thought I decided _irreparable_ derives from _repairable_ , but a few seconds later, decided it stems from _reparation_ , "like _operable_ from _operation_ ". Looking the words up, I found I was wrong about both derivations: _Reparation_ and _reparable_ derive from L. _reparatus_ , pp. of _reparare_ "restore", (ca. 1400 and 1570, resp.) rather than one from the other. For _operable_ and _operation_ the story seems a bit different, with _operable_ deriving in the 1640s from operate + -able and _operation_ (late 1300's) from L. _operationem_ , from pp. stem of _operari_. What are the names of the processes by which these words derived from Latin?


title: What does "quadrants" mean in an article stating that Obama's birth facts "do not seem to matter in many quadrants of Republican Party"?

text: I found the word _quadrants_ in the opening of a _New York Times_ Opinion column, titled This Just In… President Obama Is an American Citizen. Its opening paragraph: > President Obama is not a foreigner. He is not secretly a Muslim. Those are > the facts, but they do not seem to matter in many quadrants of the > Republican Party. Oxford Dictionary defines quadrant simply as   1. a quarter of a circle of its circumference   2. an instrument for measuring angles (and that was my understanding)  However, _quadrants_ seems to be used with a different meaning, here. Does it mean _members_ , _supporters_ or _sectors_?


title: The rise of "all of the"

text: In the following graph, the long _s_ accounts for the sudden rise in frequency of _most of the_ ; if you search for _moft of the,_ the lines match up nicely. But what would be behind the sudden increase in the string _all of the_ at the beginning of the 20th century? ![Frequency of various determinatives in the pattern "DET of the"](http://i.stack.imgur.com/2XEHs.png) Link here The long _s_ problem is illustrated here:![Google Ngrams for "most of the" and "moft of the"](http://i.stack.imgur.com/j3Ovg.png) Link here


title: "Bring the house down"

text: What is a group or person called who "brings the house down" or "can bring the house down"?


title: Non-pejorative term for 'alcohol aficionado'?

text: Is there a non-pejorative term analogous to "foodie" but in the context of alcoholic drinks? Everything that comes to mind suggests some form of alcoholism or affinity for binge-drinking. More concretely, I am looking for a term that describes a person that enjoys making or trying new, possibly eclectic drinks, but is not interested in doing so solely for the buzz. "Foodie" almost fits, but it seems too broad.


title: How to describe "working steadily and slowly is treated as stubborn"

text: It is not uncommon that those who prefer to work or learn in a solid and therefore usually slow way are being called as stubborn, and those in a fast- pacing but non-solid way as smart. I wonder how you would express such phenomenon? Does English have some words and/or fixed phrases for this purpose? Thanks!


title: What does "use social media to the chagrin of their administrators" mean?

text: I learned the sentence in bold from the transcript of a podcast in 60-Second Science: > Eysenbach tracked more than 4200 tweets that cited 286 articles in his own > journal. Three quarters of articles that got tweeted a lot (or, to use the > study’s nomenclature, had a lot of tweetations) turned out to get a lot of > citations. Only 7 percent of poorly tweeted pieces wound up highly cited. As > the article notes: "Social media activity either increases citations or > reflects the underlying qualities of the article that also predict > citations." **But I predict that young researchers _who use social media to > the chagrin of their administrators_ will cite this journal article. Or > tweet about it.** I don't understand what is the meaning of " _use social media to the chagrin of their administrators_ ". Is there a phrase of the pattern "use something to something"?


title: Is there any difference between "He won't do something" and "He wouldn't do something"?

text: I have read somewhere that _He won't do something_ means _He refused to do something_ and also _He wouldn't do something_ has the same meaning. Now I'd like to know, what is the difference in usage of these two sentences? * * * I checked the book _Grammar in Use: Intermediate_ again and I found my answer: > You can use **won't** to say that somebody **refuses** to do something: > > _I've tried to give her advice, but she won't listen._ > > _The car won't start. (=the car refuses to start)_ > > Ref: _Grammar in Use: Intermediate_ , 3rd Edition,pp 40-41, Cambridge > University Press, 2009. and: > Somebody **wouldn't do** something = he/she **refused** to do it: > > _I tried to warn him, but he wouldn't listen to me. (= he refused to > listen)_ > > _The car wouldn't start. (= it refused to start)_ > > Ref: _Grammar in Use: Intermediate_ , 3rd Edition,pp 68-69, Cambridge > University Press, 2009.


title: What is the grammatical function of 'that' in Shelley's poem?

text: I am trying to determine the grammatical function of _that_ in the line:   * _The hand **that** mock'd them and the heart **that** fed._ from Shelley's _Ozymandius_.   I want to work out if 'that' is being used as a pronoun or an adverb.


title: Can you be literal about non-literal things?

text: I know many hackles have been raised over the misuse of the word literal. Let's say there are a couple of mobsters talking about a third guy who has made a minor mistake, and jokingly one says, "I'm going to fit him for some cement shoes." Meaning he's angry, but not homicidal. Perhaps he makes this joke often. He does not intend to kill him. If he actually wanted to kill him he might say, "I'm _literally_ going to fit him for some cement shoes", meaning take my non-literal euphemism for killing literally. Beyond this there is a third level of literality where the very nature of the euphemism is taken into question, not a euphemism for murder, but an actual pair of shoes fashioned from cement. My question is if someone says, "I'm _literally_ going to fit him for some cement shoes", are both interpretations potentially correct? That he's not joking about killing him, and that he's going to make him some heavy footwear?


title: Can using "drop" alone cause confusion?

text: Dictionary.com and Oxford Dictionaries Online define _drop_ as: >   1. cause or allow to sink to a lower position >   2. let or make to fall vertically > When I say “I dropped the baton” without further information like “to the floor,” can the listeners interpret it as "the baton went down off my hand"?


title: Drinks Shirley - Slang for overhead dispenser?

text: In a TV series, a man from London (living in Canada) asked for the house bar using the word "Drinks Shirley". What does it mean exactly? Is it this kind of dispenser? ![Drinks dispenser](http://i.stack.imgur.com/mToI9.jpg)


title: What does an odometer measure? Another term for "mileage"

text: I'm developing a software application in which users must enter odometer values of their cars. I'm looking for the correct term for the variable/database field that stores an odometer reading. Terms I'm not really satisfied with:   * **mileage** : Too imperial, since I'm actually storing kilometers and not miles. And this term is a bit ambiguous because it's also used for fuel efficiency.   * **distance** : Too generic.   * **odometerValue** : Too literal. I'm looking for the metric (or unit independent) equivalent of the term _mileage_ , or is this term also used in metric countries?


title: What types of sounds do cars make?

text: What words can be used to describe the sound a driving car makes? I'm specifically looking for words that could apply to a standard 2000 Honda Civic, or comparable vehicle. "Roar" sounds too powerful. "Whir" sounds like a word you'd use to describe an electric fan. It'd also be absolutely amazing if the word could be used in place of "roar" in the phrase "the car roared to life."


title: ESL question with/by/or something else

text: > I need to modify a picture **with** pink color. Or > I need to modify a picture **by** pink color. Or > I need to modify a picture **using** pink color. Which one is right?


title: "Sleep in the nude" or "sleep nude"

text: Which is correct: _sleep in the nude_ or _sleep nude_? I've seen both phrases being used, and Googling this yields no viable results.


title: "Sold" equivalent for something free?

text: Specifically, how could I say 20 tickets have been "sold" when referring to free tickets? I've considered given out or given away, but **neither implies a person asking for a ticket** and being given one.


title: Suitable abstraction for Email and SMS

text: I am making a piece of software which has the ability to send out Emails and SMS messages. My boss has asked for both facilities to go under the same heading in a dropdown menu. But I can't think of a suitable work that encapsulates both. Any suggestions?


title: "Separated" versus "separate"

text: > Keep both of them separate.   >  Keep both of them separated. Between the above two sentences, which one is correct?


title: captilization of words with abbreviation

text: I always used to capitalize first letter of words that have abbreviation. For example, > Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA). I do this more often when i mention the abbreviation within the brackets. Is it correct? if so, is it essential to capitalize these abbreviated words?


title: Other expressions to say "don't get involved with" something or somebody'

text: I am looking for expressions or idioms to describe a context where you advise someone not to do something (a favor, give help or advice, lend money, etc.) because by doing so he would probably risk getting involved in potential problems that he is not aware of. Sort of _Don't mix with_ that issue, or you may regret it. Idiom - If you play with fire, you'll burn your fingers.


title: Position of "to" in the sentence

text: Is there any difference between the below two statements:   1. I have to pay bills   2. I have bills to pay Could you please tell us the difference between the above two statements and when to use them.


title: Why is there a distinction between "its" and "it's"?

text: While I know technically the English language has a distinction because when there's a conflict between the possessive form and a contraction, the contraction wins. That is:   * **Its** is the possessive form of it—and this will presumably be followed by some form of noun spec or something.   * **It's** is short for "it is" or "it has" (as in "it's been years since..."). The rule of thumb I use to remember this is that it follows the same pattern as whose and who's, for which the correct use is much more obvious. While technically I see why there's (ha ha) a distinction, I can't think of any case why it really needs to be there, because for every use of either construct, the meaning intended is usually (if not always) obvious from context. Case in point: many questions and answers written on the Stack Exchange network are written incorrectly, yet nobody notices or cares. (Usually in my case, I default to "it's" then realize I screwed up) As a single word, I could see why it'd be ambiguous, but I don't see why in typical prose it would matter. Is there a specific reason for this in earlier dialects of English, or specific cases where choosing the incorrect form leads to lack of understanding of a particular sentence?


title: Difference between "of" and "for"

text: Which one is correct?   1. He is accused of killing a person   2. He is accused for killing a person I thought option 2 is correct. But I was told that option 1 is correct. If you know why "of" is used, please share your views.


title: Is it fine to use has been + past participle of a verb

text: I know that **has/have been + verb -ing** makes present perfect continuous tense but here I am getting confused. If first question is grammatically correct, which tense is it in? Also, is it in passive form? 1)Has he been discharged from the hospital? Is this question grammatically correct? 2)Is he discharged from the hospital?


title: Why is "fastly" not a word?

text: As well as being an adjective, _fast_ is an adverb. We use it all the time as such: > He ran fast. However, though _slow_ is definitely an adjective, it sounds wrong when used as an adverb, because _slowly_ is more common. > He ran slow. We would always say: > He ran slowly. My question is, why isn't _fast_ treated the same way as _slow_ ; why is there no _fastly_ , while there is a _slowly_?


title: "rising sea level" or "rising sea levels"?

text: I've seen both in newspapers when it comes to the subject of global warming. Confusingly, "rising sea levels" seems to be used more frequently. For me, it's much easier to understand "rising sea level", an uncountable noun used to describe a concept of the rising sea, than to imagine it as a countable noun, "sea levels." How does "rising sea levels" even mean? Aren't all the seas that would be affected by the melting of the glaciers connected with each other in a way? How can their "levels" be separated from each other when the amount of water in seas on the earth rises?


title: "okay" vs "good" in questions starting with "Is it okay/good"

text: Is it better to use "good" instead of "okay" in question starting with "Is it okay/good", or isn't? For example, > Is it okay/good to eat tonight? > Is it okay/good to break the rules?   >  (I know it isn't)


title: Can time breaks be shown using dialogue breaks

text: By ending a set of quotation marks and starting a new set, can this show a break in time? E.g. "I need to read the letter before I can comment." "It looks like he's determined to come here." Here, the dialogue shows that there is a time break because the speaker would need to read the letter before commenting. Is this correctly used, and clearly understandable. I could add normal narrative between, but I don't want to.


title: verba lgre 2@24

text: In seventeenth-century France, private and public opinion portrayed the physician as a vulture of greed, circling the sick and dying, battening off the suffering of the afflicted, and **_______________** the remains of his prey. A) spending B) devouring C) retreating from D) decrying E) resorbing I think correct answer is 'spending' , because some keywords 'vulture' , 'circling' , 'batten' are directly support it . but the answer is b can anyone explain ...........


title: How to correctly use 'whereupon'?

text: How to use 'whereupon'? I'm making sense of it in the following example by taking 'whereupon' to mean 'which at'. 'This Is Jinsy is one of those weird British comedies, like The League of Gentleman and The Mighty Boosh, whereupon a first viewing, it seems inaccessibly strange but, given time, you come to embrace its eccentricities.' Can anyone tell me if there's anything wrong with this, specifically if the 'it' can be om-it-ted? Cheers


title: is it possible making plural of 'conceit'?

text: i think, 'conceit' means pride or something like this.then it is an abstract form.but i find a sentence as_their conceits are sometimes not based on wit.


title: How offensive is it to call someone a "slag" in British English? (NSFW)

text: One more colorful slang term I gleaned from the British movie I recently watched is _slag_. In the movie, it was used in curses like, "Fuck-ing dogs! Slags." "Right slag, that one." Now I know via dictionaries that _slag_ means "a loose, promiscuous woman." But there are multiple slang terms for such a woman in American English that have varying levels of vulgarity -- here's how I would rank a couple of them, from least to greatest in vulgarity: > **skank** < **slut** < **ho** < **bitch** < **cunt** So where does _slag_ fit on this spectrum? Of course, I imagine you'd never hear it on proper television, but is _slag_ barely elided over when someone goofs and says it, kind of how the word _bitch_ is in American English? Or is it a word that a rough group of friends might use around each other casually, sort of how the word _motherfucker_ is in American English, and apparently _cunt_ is in British English? Or perhaps _slag_ is a word that one should prepare for a fight over if one uses it, like _cunt_ in American English?


title: Should there be capitalization after an equation?

text: In continuation of this question, Should one capitalize the first letter after an equation which is not at the end of a sentence? For instance in the following example, should the second 'the' be capitalized? > In the equation: >   >   >     z = x+y, >   > > the symbol z represents the last number.


title: "Innovation" vs "invention"

text: What is the difference between _innovation_ and _invention_? Where should we use these words? I referred to Wikipedia but did not understand much.


title: What are the abbreviations for days of the week?

text: I would like to know if there is a common abbreviation for days of the week in a two letter form. I mean: Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday; can be abbreviated as Su, Mo, Tu, We, Th, Fr, Sa? Is this the common form? Note that I have also seen Sn for Sunday, and some times St for Saturday (but I think less frequently). It will be used in a tabular data program to show information about free work days of employed and each column can't have enought space to include full week day name. For "common form" I mean, what are the abbreviations that is more used in programs.


title: Simple past or present perfect?

text: Which is preferable, simple past or present perfect, in situations like this one: I had a conversation with my friend and we planned to do something; shortly afterwards I call him back to announce the accomplishments. My biggest doubt about simple past is that perfect aspect is used to indicate past action (accomplishment) with current relevance, at the same time I'm not sure if I'm allowed to use present perfect, because there's a gap between accomplishing and the current moment, which is a characteristic of simple past.


title: Something is of/in the order of

text: What is the right preposition in > The human's weight is (of/in) the order of 10^2 kg. Are both correct, or do they have different meanings? I found both in the internet and I found many discussions on this question without a solution. I guess SX is ideal to find a short solution.


title: "Head over heels" and "head over feet"

text: Does the expression _head over heels_ mean the same as _head over feet_? To be madly in love with someone?


title: What is another way of saying "final solution?"

text: "Final Solution" is not the optimal phrase to use because it has a negative historical reference. When working on a project, I'd like to find a phrase that describes the process of evolving solutions (see, for example, Agile software development). Additionally, the phrase should fit well with phrases like initial solution, intermediate solution, etc. **Update** : Doesn't necessarily have to be a 'solution.'


title: How can I rephrase a question with if clause, to be answered only if the event of the "if" clause happened

text: I would like to ask a question which is to be answered only if some past condition is met: _If you did something in the past, could you tell me more about it?_ How should I rephrase it?


title: What is the difference between "have not to" and "have to not"?

text: English isn't my native language, of course, to ask something like this. I personally thought that "have not to do something" and "have to not do something" were the same. But recently, I've seen a (self-claimed) native speaker in an English forum state they're different. For example:   1. > You mustn't stay up late. Clear, you don't have any choice, you don't do it.   2. > You don't have to stay up late.  Clear, you have got a choice. You don't do it if you don't want to, do if you want. It's not necessary to do it.   3. > You have not to/(haven't to) stay up late.  Same as _mustn't_ (per that English forum).   4. > You have to not stay up late.  Not clear? I think it is the same as 3.


title: “Half a cup of milk” or “half cup of milk”? “½ cup of milk” or “½ a cup of milk”?

text: I have two questions related to this topic. Since they are very closely related, I decided to group them in one thread. If it is better to separate them, please let me know and I will fix it. Thank you. **Question 1:** **Context:** It is only half a cup of milk. Drink it all. Is it “half a cup of milk” or “half cup of milk”? I am leaning toward “half a cup of milk” but I have no explanation. I can only guess that it is probably because it is half of a cup, so half a cup. But then this reminds me of “half an hour” and “half hour” :( so now I have just confused myself. **Question 2:** Under the same context, except now instead of having “half a cup” we have “½ cup.” **Context:** It is only ½ cup of milk. Drink it all. Is it “½ cup of milk” or “½ a cup of milk”? I am pretty sure it is “½ cup of milk” because of examples like “⅔ cup of milk” and “½ cup of butter.” But again, I have no explanation (assuming I am right). Please advise. Thank you in advance. P.S. Under what grammar keyword should I look into for this topic? I thought it would fall into measure words or something, but my grammar book doesn't have this specific topic.


title: Irregular verbs: differences between BrE and AmE

text: I've just found BrE sneak/sneaked/sneaked and AmE sneak/snuck/snuck. Are there more of these deviations? Generally, lists of irregular verbs in grammars are so poor that they show only half of what there is to know. PS I see there is an article on the verb form snuck on the Internet. "snuck" in AmE


title: Which one is acceptable in an academic paper? Fig 4. show or Fig 4. shows?

text: Is it right to say: > Fig. 4, **Show** the wireless transmission of data. Shouldn't it be: > Fig. 4, **Shows** the wireless transmission of data. By the way, another question would be, is it right to use both of mentioned forms in an academic paper? I mean, some one writes _Fig. 4, shows_ in a paragraph and in another, in the same paper, writes _Fig. 4, show_?


title: Is this wrong? "What are each of them's objections?"

text: Let's say I've put forward an idea to a number of people and each person has several different objections to it. I know I can say: > What are each individual's objections?   > \- OR -   > What are the objections for each of them? But can I say: > What are each of them's objections? It sounds awkward, but is it wrong? I don't want to say: > What are each of their objections? Because the "their" in that sentence refers to all the people and therefore all the objections. What I want is to ask for the objections grouped by person. Also can I say: > What are each's objections?


title: What is the right sign to show in a retail shop

text: Let us see the signs shown in the images below. What is the right one to show in a retail shop, #1 or #2? In case #2 doesn't it seem as if the cashier may **or may not** give us a receipt? ![enter image description here](http://i.stack.imgur.com/z3zAY.gif) ![enter image description here](http://i.stack.imgur.com/SdaZc.gif)


title: use of "everything" or "anything" in positive and negative sentences?

text: As a non-native speaker, when I read the books about grammar, I learn that usually the word "everything" is used in a positive sentence and that the word "anything"is used in a negative or interrogative sentence. But I often see sentences in some magazines and articles like:   * _We'll do almost_ **_anything_** _for our beloved animals._ What's the difference between them, and is it changing the meaning in sentence?


title: An active verb "to find peace in" something

text: I'm looking for an active verb which means something along the lines of "to take or find peace in" something. Something like _soothe_ is the opposite of what I want, in the sense that the something is the thing doing the soothing. e.g., > The river soothed him. But I would want "him" to be the subject. This would result in... > He was soothed by the river. ...but this is passive rather than active. Is there such an active verb? A single word that means something like "find peace in" in the following? > I find peace in the trickling of the river.


title: Article necessary with "secret"?

text: Is it necessary to use an article with the word _secret_? For example: > Teach your children not to keep problems, games, or other activities a > secret. or > Teach your children not to keep problems, games, or other activities secret. and > If your kids go out for ice cream with a grandparent—even though you > wouldn't approve—the grandparent shouldn't tell the kids to keep the ice > cream a secret from you. or > If your kids go out for ice cream with a grandparent—even though you > wouldn't approve—the grandparent shouldn't tell the kids to keep the ice > cream secret from you.


title: Must I capitalize Tivoli?

text: In this sentence: "Bakken is the world's oldest tivoli", must tivoli be capitalized ? My program's atleast trying to make me think I must.


title: "Excuse I" correctness

text: I had a gentleman say "Excuse I" to me the other day as he passed me in the hallway. He was a professor at the university I attend, and so it got me thinking: Is "Excuse I" acceptable grammar even though "Excuse me" is more commonly used?


title: Latin (or Greek) -x becomes -ght?

text: I have attested two words in English that come from two Latin words. These are "night" and "light". They derive from the words "nox" and "lux" respectively; both Latin — in the case of the word "nox", though, this one might also derive from Greek "nyx". Nevertheless, the question is: is this a normal transition and happens often, or has it happened because of the word wasn't a direct loanword from Latin, but it came through other languages? If so, do we have any other word in English that ends with _-ght_ and its Latin counterpart ends with _-x_?


title: Are constructions like "That's me out, then" primarily British rather than American?

text: Prompted by comments to this question on English Learners (about _"That's you done"_ ), I've been searching Google Books for similar constructions of the general form _that's [pro]noun adjective_ (for this context, I classify past- tense verb forms such as _done, fucked, finished_ as adjectives). What I seem to be finding is that using _"That's"_ in this way (not referencing anything in particular, just "whatever came before/caused the current situation") is a relatively recent phenomenon. I'm also getting the impression it's more common in BrE than Ame. So by implication, if the boss says to his secretary... > "Just get those letters off in the post, and that's you done for the day." ...I should assume the boss is probably British, rather than American. * * * Would my assumption be right? Can anyone shed more light on the usage? Is it the same as... > "Here's me doing all the work while you just sit around waiting to be fed."   >  _(said by, for example, hard-pressed mother to idle teenage offspring)_


title: "To dedicate" for "to inaugurate" in AE

text: What's the difference between "to dedicate" and "to inaugurate" in the sense [to open or begin use of formally with a ceremony, as of a highway, park, or building]? What's the story to "dedicate"? How did it evolve from the sense [to address or inscribe (i.e. a literary work) to a person or a cause, etc., as a mark of respect or affection] to the "inaugural" one? Sources: > http://www.thefreedictionary.com/dedicate > > http://www.thefreedictionary.com/inaugurate


title: What is the word that is emphasized more?

text: There is a sentence. > He gave me an apple. I heard that more emphasis in on 'an apple' because of the end focus rule. Then, is the subject 'I' prior to ending 'an apple' in meaning? In other words, which is the word on which there is more emphasis the 'I,' or 'an apple,' or another word?


title: The demand for the stock /The demand for stock or Demand for the stock?

text: Context: a stock (traded in a stock exchange) was defined prior to the appearance of the following sentence: The demand for the stock/the demand for stock/demand for the stock decreases significantly. Question: which of the three phrases is suitable to use?


title: Alternative to "a bunch"?

text: About two years ago I watched some old Monty Python interviews. In one of them, Graham Chapman, a Brit, makes fun of Terry Gilliam (the only American) for his lack of vocabulary. He specifically cited a moment when the group flew over the great lakes and Gilliam said "there's a bunch of water". I found this amusing. But it's also stuck with me. And ever since, every American I meet with seems to have an affinity for saying "a bunch" to describe anything with a high quantitative value. This can be anything from purely literal (a bunch of parsley) -- though this doesn't bother me as much -- to the generally "many", such as "a bunch of candies" and almost sarcastically as in Gilliam's case (obviously several thousand cubic miles of water is a bit more than a "bunch"). But what is a solid alternative for these uses? Not that I'm looking for something to replace "a bunch" entirely. I find it can be useful and an endearing "Americanism". But I'd like to hear of some options. EDIT: Maybe I can make this more specific and ask this: What would an appropriate British expression be for the Gilliam scenario above? Maybe something like "A Considerable Amount"?


title: "Could not have been" vs. "must not have been"

text: What's the difference between "could not have been" and "must not have been"? For example, >   * That could not have been an easy task. >   * That must not have been an easy task. > I've seen both used. What's the difference?


title: Word for "to make italic"?

text: When we make text **bold** , we can just use the verb "bold". When we make text underlined, we can use the verb "underline". But which verb would we use for making text _italic_?


title: What is wrong with the phrase “me and my work”?

text: For my thesis, in my acknowledgements, I have the following line: > I would like to thank my fiancé, ----, who has endlessly supported me and my > work. My supervisor highlighted _me and my work_ and commented “Check grammar :)”. I have been trying to figure out what is incorrect here, but am stuck. What would the correct grammar for this sentence be?


title: What does "boo-boo face" mean, and how did it originate?

text: What does "boo-boo face" mean? I've found it many times before but can't understand it. Is it a recent expression? What is the etymology of _boo-boo face_?


title: knowing as a noun

text: I'm slightly confused by using the word 'knowing' as a noun. Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (5th edition) says that 'knowing' can be used only as an adjective. But, for example, Merriam-Webster Dictionary says that it can be a noun. I've always thought that we should use 'knowledge' instead of 'knowing', and that the last one doesn't exist as a noun at all. But recently I faced with such Richard Feynman's quote: "I learned very early the difference between knowing the name of something and knowing something". So, is using the word 'knowing' as a noun good and common for standard English?


title: "...and who knew?" or "...,and, who knew..." or "..., and who knew..."?

text: > Maybe by joining that religion I'd be able to understand myself, **and who > knew?** Maybe I'd find the meaning of life. > > Maybe by joining that religion I'd be able to understand myself, **and, who > knew,** maybe I'd find the meaning of life. > > Maybe by joining that religion I'd be able to understand myself, **and who > knew,** maybe I'd find the meaning of life. What the most grammatical choice? If all of them are, what's the most commonly used?


title: Can "wet" be used for liquids other than water?

text: _Wet_ can be used to describe being dowsed in liquids such as beer, milk, juice, urine etc. All of these, however, are water-based. Can _wet_ be used for a liquid that has no water? Can you be _wet_ by mercury? Or liquid nitrogen? I know I wouldn't use it for mercury, but that may be because mercury would not actually stick to anything it was splashed on so it wouldn't even _look_ wet. I could live with _drenched, dowsed_ , or _immersed_ but _wet_? Does _wet_ really imply water or is it just that we tend to get splashed by water- based liquids and so the word is most often associated with water? This definition states > consisting of, containing, covered with, or soaked with liquid (as water) What do you think, would anyone use _wet_ for something completely unrelated to water?


title: What is the origin of "bouillon cubes"?

text: What is the etymology of _bouillon cubes_? What other word can I use?


title: Usage of "same" vs. "selfsame"

text: I have been wondering in my head when is it more appropriate grammatically and more appropriate in terms of the English language to use word selfsame instead of same. The research that I have done suggests that 'same' can be used as an adjective and a pronoun and as an adverb. While selfsame can only be used as an adjective. So comparably it would appear to be only a subset of grammatical cases where its used. That being said, I am having still having trouble imagining a sentence or a set of rules to follow that indicate when you should use selfsame instead of same. Google define gives this example: > He was standing in the selfsame spot you're filling now. But I can easily see 'same' replacing 'selfsame' without an apparent change in meaning of the sentence.


title: Is there another way to say 'working on'?

text: Is there another way to say "We are working on to update our resort."? I do not want to use _working on_.


title: Statement complementarily reverse to given

text: Person A stated some noble motives behind actions person B found suspicious. > [Person B] answered with very measured words, her smile not quite reaching > to her eyes. "If what you claim is true, then you can count me as your > friend." The unsaid **counterpart** of the sentence hung heavily in the air. I'm not quite sure if _counterpart_ conveys the meaning well. Is there a better phrase to fit that meaning? How would you call the sentence: _"If what you claim is a lie, then you can count me as your enemy_." in relation to the one given in the quote?


title: Meaning of “candle” in "I now call to mind that there was a letter in the candle three days ago"

text: In the book The Trumpet Major, by Thomas Hardy, there is the following paragraph: > That was Budmouth postmaster, and he says there's a letter for me. Ah, I now > call to mind that there was a letter in the candle three days ago this very > night - a large red one; but foolish-like I thought nothing o't. Who can > that letter be from? What is the meaning of _candle_ in this text? That is the only occurrence of the word _candle_ in that chapter.


title: What is it called when an hourly worker is paid at a different rate for doing different things?

text: What is it called when a worker is paid a different hourly-rate for doing different things during their shift? The reason I'm asking is I want to learn a bit more about how payroll is calculated when people get paid different rates for doing different jobs at an hourly rate, and would like to know the common term for that so I could search and read up on the subject.


title: Plural for "photo"?

text: 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 times less often used, although some of the results point to English grammar forums where some people suggest that "photoes" might be indeed _correct_ form given Greek origin of the word Dictionary check reveals:   * Oxford clearly gives plural as "photos", but suggests that "photoes" is a verb   * Merriam-Webster gives plural as "photos", but does not recognize "photoes" as a valid word at all, albeit it does recognize "photoed" as a verb   * Cambridge gives "photos", clearly makes it as AmE-only and also insists that there's no verb - i.e. no "photoes", no "photoed", no "photoing"   * Collins agreed on "photos" and agreed on that verb does not exist   * Douglas-Harper Online Etymology Dictionary tells us that both noun and verb exist - the noun is since 1860, the verb is first recorded 1868, from the noun. I'm kind of hesitating here. If you'd ask me, I'd rather opt for not using plural forms of "photo" at all - both "photos" and "photoes" feel somewhat awkward for me (as do "audios", "videos" or "alphas" / "betas" / "gammas" / "deltas"). So, generally, what's the most neutral way to refer to a group of photographs? Bonus points for revealing BrE/AmE differences.


title: Is this considered grammar?

text: If I say "today was good day," and add an _a_ in the right spot like, "today was _a_ good day," from a broad view, is what I just did considered a _grammatical_ change or something else?


title: Term for “pressure relief valve”

text: For a history paper, my argument is that the American Frontier acted as a sort of _pressure relief valve_ for Colonial dissidents who did not agree with Puritan theology. What is a more appropriate word or term for _pressure relief valve_?


title: did <verb> and <verb>

text: While reading _A Dance with Dragons_ by George R. R. Martin, I came across the following line which seemed odd to me. _(Note, English is only my third language so "seemed odd to me" is about as meaningless as it gets)_ > [...], even if he did look like a monstrous yellow slug and smell of piss. The _smell_ part is what seems off to me, though I realize there's an assumed repetition of _he did_. I guess I just find it sounding odd. Is the used phrasing correct? Is it also correct to use the following line? > [...], even if he did look like a monstrous yellow slug and **smelled** of > piss. Which way is most common in English?


title: Which type of comma is used here?

text: I was reading a book called "The Penguin Guide to Punctuation" by R. L. Trask. It seems that the book doesn't explain all the uses of comma. It says "There are four uses of the comma, called the listing comma, the joining comma, the gapping comma and bracketing commas". Here's a brief summary of the rules as described in book: * * * **The listing comma** : Use a listing comma in a list wherever you could conceivably use the word _and_ (or _or_ ) instead. Do not use a listing comma anywhere else. **_Example_** : _The Three Musketeers were Athos, Porthos and Aramis._ **The joining comma** : Use a joining comma to join two complete sentences with one of the words _and_ , _or_ , _but_ , _yet_ or _while_. Do not use a joining comma in any other way. **_Example_** : _Norway has applied to join the EC,_ **and** _Sweden is expected to do the same._ **The gapping comma** : Use a gapping comma to show that words have been omitted instead of repeated. **_Example_** : _Some Norwegians wanted to base their national language on the speech of the capital city; others, on the speech of the rural countryside._ **The bracketing comma** : Use a pair of bracketing commas to set off a weak interruption. **_Example_** : _Schliemann, of course, did his digging before modern archaeology was invented._ * * * In the following examples, which type of comma is being used? > After two hours, the train came to the station.   >  Before I could talk to her, she was gone. It appears to me that the above usage of commas doesn't meet any of the comma rules described in the book.


title: What is "Theodical" disappointment?

text: A recent Wired article had the following sentence: "... beneath the paranoia and infighting lurked something more vulnerable, an almost **theodical** disappointment." I've never encountered this word, and I haven't found it in any online dictionaries either. I'd guess it shares a root with Theology, but I can't guess at the exact meaning. \--Edit-- Even after reading the Wikipedia article, the meaning of this sentence is not clear. What makes disappointment "theodical" when the subject is not God?


title: Vocabulary resources for abstract concepts

text: I watch out for a resource that provides me with vocabulary for comparatively 'abstract' concepts, which means words from areas such as:   * emotional/inner states   * communication   * personal relationships   * temporal and causal relationships   * hierarchical relationships I hope you get a picture of what I mean. Most vocabulary books provide vocabulary for material objects, but I have not found something comparable for this class of words.


title: Usage of "matter" and "substance"

text: What is the difference between _matter_ and _substance_? For example, are ice and water "the same matter" or "the same substance"? Dictionaries seem vague about the difference. For example, the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary states that _matter_ is "a physical substance in general" or "substance, material or things of a specified kind", while _substance_ is a "particular type of matter".


title: Mathematical symbol as simple predicate

text: I am translating a paper about a general physics question. I am not very familiar with physics other than the historical perspective and I am requesting some help with the grammar. I have a sentence that translates perfectly from the original Spanish as follows: “At the moment of t1 at which both objects reach the ground, y1(t1)=y2(t1)=0.” In English, a complete sentence requires a subject and a predicate. In the above sentence, the subject would be “y1(t1)”, which I guess I don´t have a problem with. My query is regarding the simple predicate, which in this case would be “=”. All of the English words in this sentence amount to prepositional phrases. Is this standard use of language in scientific documents in English? Should I change the sentence to read something like, “The formula y1(t1)=y2(t1)=0 is satisfied at the moment…”?


title: What time is 12.00pm?

text: There is a sign outside a shop near us which says 'Parking for loading vehicles only from 7 to 12pm'. Does that mean between 7pm and midnight, or between 7am and noon? For me 12.00 is neither post-meridian nor ante-meridian, it is either noon or midnight. Equally when someone says from midnight on the 3rd, do they mean midnight which precedes the 3rd or midnight which ends the 3rd. The precise moment of midnight belongs neither to one day nor the other. These are crucially important matters as regards flight timetables, and insurance policies. If the policy expires at midnight on the 15th, when exactly is that? It is why many insurance companies now speak of 12.01am on the 22nd or 11.59pm on the 21st. Should it be insisted that all references to 12.00 state either noon or midnight and how can we express midnight with clarity?


title: Is "cattle herds" grammatical?

text: I know that "a herd of cattle" and "many herds of cattle" are correct, but what about "cattle herds"? For example, > We drove by cattle herds. Is that grammatical?


title: Can "retrospectively" be used in this manner?

text: The following is the paragraph which the word "retrospectively" is used. I meant to say something like " the government has learnt from the past events, and as a result, have implemented these measures. " Can the word "Retrospectively" be used to represent what I am trying to convey ? > This recent Avian Flu outbreak will definitely bring to mind a similar > scenario that occurred five years ago. In 2009, the Swine Flu outbreak > resulted in 120,000 people being infected and 648 deaths in our country. The > government has **retrospectively** implemented measures to further enhance > our readiness to combat such disease outbreaks occurring in the country.


Is it better to write "on the side" or "at the side"? I always thought that "on the side" was the correct form, but today I've seen the sentence: > The thorax is protected by the ribs at the sides. And, in the same book, > The cheeks are on both sides of the face.


title: Is the sentence "The police had evidence on him." grammatically correct?

text: Please cite some sources to show whether the above phrase is correct or not.


title: When/by whom was the computing use of "agnostic" to mean independent coined?

text: Agnostic, as a term to refer to a particular philosophy with respect to spirituality and mysticism, was coined by Thomas Huxley; Wikipedia gives the date as 1869 while Wiktionary says 1870, but the point is that it's from the the latter half of the nineteenth century. Wiktionary _also_ gives as a meaning > ( _computing_ ) A software component (or other entity) that is unaware or > noncommittal regarding the specific nature of the components with which it > interacts about which this site already has a couple of questions (Odd use of agnostic, Another word for agnostic when used to suggest independence through a lack of concern). However, neither this site nor Wiktionary, nor any other source I could find with a Google search, indicate when or by whom this usage was coined. The fact that this use has its origins in computing suggests a certain timeframe, to be sure, but I am curious about the specific origins.


title: Words with multiple uses

text: I was posed a question the other day:   "Can you think of a word that can be used as a Noun, Verb or an Adjective?" One such word would be "light". Is there a rule for identifying such words? (See also: What word can fulfill the most parts of speech?)    Along a similar line, is there any rule (or name) for words that could be a Noun, Verb and Adjective (and other parts of speech) depending on the interpretation of a single sentence? An example of the above that satisfies two out of three could be "This is a _rubbish_ pile." i.e. Is it a pile of rubbish, or a poorly constructed pile? * * * (Whether [a version of] this question is on topic is discussed on meta, please close/edit if appropriate.)


title: can you give me a synonym for " accumulated wisdom"?

text: who can explain for me what exactly the " accumulated wisdom" mean? I mean in this sentence from a play by Bruce Norris" KELLY : Right. I think the point is, I hope? that the accumulated wisdom of your nineteen years might not be all that comprehensive, Okay?"


title: How to avoid this repetition

text: I have the following sentence: > He grabbed the Duke's shoulder and turned him to face him. Without pronouns for disambiguation of the two occurrences of "him": > Vigil grabbed the Duke's shoulder and turned the Duke to face Vigil. Both of these contain very ugly repetition that I would prefer to avoid. I've tried all possible combinations of pronouns and proper names but I can't a solution that sounds right. How could I restructure this sentence to avoid both the ambiguity of the first and the clumsy over-usage of proper names in the second?


title: Are "nil" and "null" interchangeable?

text: Are _nil_ and _null_ interchangeable? For example, > My bank a/c has a **nil** balance. > > My bank a/c has a **null** balance.


title: Can I use the word "must" in subjunctive mood?

text: I'm a student in China. Our English exam has a grammar item. > 54．My boss ordered that the legal documents ___ _ to him before lunch． > >   * A．be sent >   * B．were sent >   * C．were to be sent >   * D．must be sent > The answer is A, but I think D is correct, too. Can I use "must" in subjunctive mood?


What word describes someone who offers unsolicited advice? For example I might write, "At the risk of being called a **___ __ ___ __**, I will offer you some unsolicited advice."


title: Résumé as summary vs document describing work experience

text: Because "résumé" or "resume" as a noun is a false cognate with the French equivalent, I tend to avoid using "résumé" to mean "summary", and only reserve it to mean "that document people bring to interviews." **Is the use of "résumé" to mean either "summary" or "document describing work experience" localized to certain areas of the world? Is it more British English, American English, Canadian English, other, or is is used widely (in all English around the world)?**


title: "Thinking you recognize everyone"

text: Is there a word for "thinking that you recognize everyone that you see"? I recently just transferred schools, and the first couple of weeks or so I thought that every stranger I saw was someone that I knew (until they got closer, of course). Googling seems to give me irrelevant results like "How to spot an idiot" and "how to recognize delusional disorders." Is this phenomenon common enough that someone bothered to create a word for it?


title: IMHO, I am great?

text: I am not a native English speaker. I was wondering if the phrase "in my humble opinion, my proposal is interesting because ..." is contradictory? I am trying to say that something I proposed/said is interesting/valid (basically I am trying to defend some of my arguments against a certain criticism), but on the other hand I say "my humble opinion". Should I just remove this phrase in order to avoid contradiction? I was just trying to soften my words since I am writing to a higher authority.


title: How do I politely say I have used my mouth while drinking water from a bottle?

text: Is there a one word substitute for the scenario below, and what is the politest way of saying it to another person or colleague? > I drink water from my bottle by touching my mouth When someone wants to drink water from my bottle, I need to inform him/her in a polite way that I drank it by touching it with my mouth. This is because some people are concerned about this thing, and I don't want to embarrass them.


title: What term means "a language one does not know and is not learning?"

text: In linguistics and foreign language teaching, there are various terms to describe languages one knows or is learning, e.g.:   * L1, first language, native language, mother tongue; a language one acquired from birth.   * L2, second language; a language one learned or is learning, it not their mother tongue.   * Target language, in the context of language learning, the language one is trying to learn. What term can be used to describe a language that a subject does not know, they are not currently learning, and it is not their "target" of study?   * The term should be fairly precise, such that readers can readily recognize that this term is neither a L1 nor a target language nor a partially learned language.   * A term used in academic writing in the fields of linguistics, foreign language teaching, or second language acquisition studies is preferred, but if none is available, a new term that is consistent enough to fit in a set along with the other examples will be fine.


title: Is "interesting" a negative or positive phrase?

text: When someone tells you something like: > It's interesting to have such a feature. > > It's interesting to look. Is it a negative or positive phrase? It sounds like a positive phrase but I think it may be a negative phrase because if we wanted to express a positive phrase then we wouldn't use "interesting". We would use a more appropriate phrase like "it's good", "it's nice", etc.


title: "Race" is to "racist" as "knowledge" and "disposition" are to what words?

text: * _race → racist_   * _freedom → fascist_ (for example)   * _knowledge_ → ?    * _disposition_ → ?  What's the word to describe a person who is disrespectful of your knowledge or disposition?


title: '[sic]' to indicate punctuation errors

text: Can _[sic]_ be used to highlight a punctuational error? In the sentence below, the bracketed _sic_ would obviously denote that the punctuation preceding it was an error -- that is, a semicolon should supplant the comma. Has anybody ever seen this usage, and would you support it? > The sun is high, [sic] put on some sunblock.


title: Why do we put "the" before "end"?

text: At the end of most movies I see the phrase "The end". Obviously the meaning of "end" here is clear, but I don't see a purpose for the "the" before it. Would you elaborate why it goes before "end"?


title: "I, for one, don't know "

text: I am curious about the precise meaning of _for one_ in the expression "I, _for one_ , don't know." This came up in a discussion about the amount of social efforts society should be willing to put in reducing CO2 emissions. In essence, my interlocutor said something like > " given the limited precision of complex climate models, the uncertainties > about future technological progress, and the doubts about the exact damages > that would be caused by climate change if it were to happen as predicted, > how much should we be willing to invest in reducing carbon emissions by say > 1 ton? I, for one, don't know." In this context, is the meaning "I, _for one_ , don't know." closer from "As far as I am concerned, I would no dare saying that I have an answer to that question" or "In this case, I cannot answer this question", with _for one_ indicating that the person has an answer to many other questions but not this one?


title: "Polarized" or "polarizing" opinions?

text: English is a foreign language to me, and one word that is particularly confusing is "polarize". In physics, it has contradictory definitions; when polarizing waves you remove inequality, but polarizing can also mean to cause something to acquire polarity, or in other word emphasize inequality. When applied to opinions, however, people usually seem to have the second definition in mind.   1. In a Huffington Post blog entry, I found the phrase "polarized opposite opinions". Is this an indication that "polarized opinions" on its own could be interpreted as "unified opinions" unless clarified? Otherwise, how should I understand the phrase?   2. I've compared the number of search results for "polarized opinions" and "polarizing opinions", and the latter seems to be more popular. Nevertheless, to me that one seems to imply that the opinions themselves bear the responsibility of dividing people into groups, instead of blaming the people who formulate the opinions. Is that correct, or is there another distinction between "polarized" and "polarizing"? Thanks!


title: Obsessed with a statement of Charles M. Schulz

text: _**Sometimes I lie awake at night, and ask, "where have I gone wrong?" then a voice says to me, "This is going to take more than one night."_** My friends and I have been discussing on the above statement of **_Charles M. Schulz_** and have come to different interpretation of it. Would someone please tell me what the owner of the statement is going to imply by saying that. Thank you so much in advance!


title: Compound verbs with infinitive and gerund

text: Which statements are grammatically correct and which meaning do they convey,   * This concept helps understand the problem.   * This concept helps to understand the problem.   * This concept helps understanding the problem.   * This concept helps in understanding the problem.


title: Words to help describe when you are using spaces and line breaks in text?

text:
If you look at the difference between something like `quick brown fox` and `quickbrownfox`, you might reasonably describe the first as being **"spaced"**. While the second is, perhaps **"unspaced"** or **"spaceless"** ... doesn't sound too unreasonable... not great. You might think that had to do with spacing between the characters instead of the words (so more like "kerning"). But if you look at the difference between:               the     lazy     dog      ...and `the lazy dog`, then is there a word for distinguishing the first case? **"newlined"**? **"linebreaked"**? **"linebroken"**? Web programmers might say the second case comes from a distinction between the words being in "block-level elements" vs. "non block-level elements". So the first case would be **"
ved"** and the second **" ned"** (?). Maybe they'd get it, but I doubt most people would know what that meant. The fallback here is compounds like **words-separated-by-spaces** vs **words- without-spacing** vs **words-separated-by-newlines**. I'm just fishing for some possible terminology that could do it in fewer words, if it exists _(from typography, or elsewhere?)_


title: "Invidious" vs. "Insidious"

text: Can anyone give me a really short & sharp distinction between these two words? Are they notorious for often getting mixed up?


title: Where did the "art" in "Our Father who art in Heaven" go?

text: What happened to the _art_ in "Our Father who art in Heaven"? And why is it _art_ , and not _is_?


title: Difference between "architecture" and "structure" in the context of software

text: In the software industry, we call a step to building a software "architecture". I always take "architecture" as "structure". So for me, _software architecture = software structure_. Is that right?


title: Why “Many and many A year ago”, not “Many, many years ago? Are they same?

text: I was amused with the introductory part of the New York Times’ article（September 13) by Dick Cavett called “As comics say, ‘These kids today! I tell ya!’” that begins: > **“Many and many a year ago** , in the kingdom of ABC, Woody Allen was one > of my very first guests. And we consented to take questions from an eager > audience of mostly young people. Like ourselves. The questioner looked like > a high school girl and shouted to Woody from the balcony, > > “Do you think sex is dirty?” > > Allen: “It is if you do it right.” Besides Allen’s exquisite riposte, I was drawn to the beginning words, “Many and many a year ago”. Is it the same as “many many years ago”? Why is ‘year’ in a singular form when you are referring to multiple years' time span? Is “many and many a” an idiom, or a set pattern of phrase? Can I say 'I bought many and many a book this month" instead of 'I bought many books this month,' and 'I have many and many a question to post in EL&U' instead of 'I have a lot of questions ---'?


title: 'Spick and span' /British phrase for a flawless person?

text: I was wondering if there exists a British expression to denote a flawless/good/spotless person. I'm thinking of using it in a context similar to 'he's no saint', which if I'm not wrong, is American. I would like to be able to use it with the following sentence construction: "He's a far cry from **__** himself." Would it be correct to use 'spick and span' in this instance? Are there any other (more appropriate) alternatives? Thanks very much.


title: Jealousy and hate

text: Is this grammatically correct? Why does "jealousy and hate" sound more natural or better than "hate and jealousy." Isn't "jealousy and hatred" more grammatically correct than either?


title: Usage of "not comparable"

text: Can the phrase "not comparable" be used in a negative context? For example, if someone says the latest pirates movie is not comparable to the previous versions, can it mean it is so bad?


title: The phrase "God willing."

text: Does "God willing" have a religious connotation to it? What are some other phrases that mean the same thing but don't have this connotation?


title: Verbs within a prepostional phrase

text: In the following two sentences I see verbs being used within prepositional phrases. Is this acceptable in casual conversation? The meanings in both cases are clear. > It depends on what the meaning of "is" is. > > I washed the dog with that soap you got. Also, in the first example, "is" is being used as an object noun, followed by a verb.


title: Equivalent for "optimizable"

text: Apparently optimizable is not a word. Why? This occurs semi-frequently when we have candidates for one or more optimization techniques. Note that I would argue that suboptimal has the undesirable connotation that the subject is inadequate, or a poor solution. related: Meaning of "suboptimal"


title: How do you explain usage of infinitive in "to hear all these large words, you would think..."?

text: I stumbled upon this quotation from Thomas Huxley: > You have all heard it repeated, I dare say, that men of science work by > means of induction and deduction, and that by the help of these operations, > they, in a sort of sense, wring from Nature certain other things, which are > called natural laws, ... To hear all these large words, you would think that > the mind of a man of science must be constituted differently from that of > his fellow men; but if you will not be frightened by terms, you will > discover that you are quite wrong, and that all these terrible apparatus are > being used by yourselves every day and every hour of your lives. (From On Our Knowledge of the Causes of the Phenomena of Organic Nature, 1863) Apparently, "to hear these large words" here means roughly the same as "upon hearing these large words". However, my intuitive is that when an infinitive is used adverbially it takes the meaning of either "in order to" or "so as to". In both cases the motion indicated by the infinitive happens _after_ the main clause. However, in this case the relationship seems to be reversed. I can scarcely recall similar usages of the infinitive elsewhere. I have also noted that this is pretty old text. My questions are:   * Is there an alternative, more apparent explanation of the usage of infinitive here?   * Is this usage common in modern English, or out-dated? I would also love to see other examples of this particular usage of infinitive, from both modern and relatively old sources.