title: "Testing started" versus "testing has been started"

text: I wish to notify my colleagues that they may start testing because I have prepared the environment. Among the many ways to say this, I wonder whether I can say simply _Testing started_ or _Testing has been started_. I feel that passive voice is not appropriate here, but others vote for it. Which one would be the correct version: one of these two or a different one?


title: What is the etymology of "cornhole"?

text: Since being introduced to the bean bag-toss game of the same name, I've wondered about this word. The old farm game, similar to horseshoes, has recently gained such popularity that Googling _cornhole_ is now anodyne. Aficionados are unapologetic about the game's name, but given the word's unsavory history, introducing the game to the unfamiliar can still be sheepish. Checking Etymonline, I was surprised to find this: > **cornhole** synonymous with "do anal intercourse" by 1930s, apparently the > reference is to a game played in the farming regions of the Ohio Valley in > the U.S. from 19c., in which players take turns throwing a small bag full of > feed corn at a raised platform with a hole in it. Does the game's name _really_ predate the word's other meaning(s)? Where did the other meanings (I've seen it used as a noun and a verb) originate? I'm interested in any substantiated clues to the historical development of this Americanism.


title: Prepositions used with "Home"

text: I've encountered different usages of `preposition + Home` and I want to learn which of them are correct. Some examples: > Back home   >  Back **at** home   >  Back **to** home


title: Difference between "Please don't be long" and "Please don't YOU be long"

text: In the song "Blue Jay Way" from the Beatles, we've got the following lyrics : > Please don't be long > > Please don't **you** be very long I'm (obviously) not a native English speaker but the first sentence seems right to me but the second one seems pretty weird because of the subject of the imperative sentence being explicitly given. Is the second one just as right as the first one? Is it just a songwriter trick to get the good number of syllables? Is it something specific to the scouse? Does having an explicit "you" change anything in the meaning? Which one is the most usual? (Also, one can find the same king of difference in "Don't ever change" : > So please don't ever change > > Now don't **you** ever change )


title: "That" or "which"? Does it matter?

text: If I wish to say something along the lines of > Consider the bear _that_ scratches his head. It seems to me that I could instead say > Consider the bear _which_ scratches his head. I am unsure which of these is correct, if it even matters. Does anyone know a rule which makes this clear?


title: How would you use rationale in a sentence?

text: How is _rationale_ used in a sentence? Can it be used in place of _logic?_


title: No longer valid vs. Invalid

text: There is a subtle or perhaps more than subtle difference between the phrases **"no longer valid"** and **"invalid"**. Can English experts elaborate with examples where one should be used and not the other.


title: Clarification in sentence usage

text: I want to rephrase this: > "No member in my group is pending to clear the certification". May I say "No one is yet to be certified"?


title: Do Americans understand Donald Duck?

text: I had always assumed that although I understood only about half of what Donald Duck says in his cartoons, Americans understood everything despite his comical pronunciation. However friends have just offered me DVDs featuring Donald and one 1948 episode, "Donald's Dream Voice", hinges on the fact that he can't sell brushes—he is a sales representative—because nobody understands him (until he buys pills that give him a human voice). So my question is: do native speakers in the USA actually understand Donald's squawking (but delightful) English?


title: Phrasal verb “be a thing”

text: I’m looking for the origin of the phrasal verb “to be a thing”. It means roughly “exist” or more specifically “be recognised” or “be a phenomenon”. I first noticed it around 2008–2009. >   * Is medical grade tea a thing? >   * I don’t think that is a thing, but I just don’t think that it should be > mandatory >   * Unlocking accomplishments? I don’t think that is a thing. >   * Is That a Thing? >   * I didn’t know that was a thing. >   * a tech startup cto who doesn’t know how to code / yes, that is a thing > :( > It _seems_ to come from the use of _thing_ in the sense of a popular phenomenon—cf. “Ecigs are the new thing”. However, its meaning also extends to differentiating set phrases, names, or terms of art from normal productive constructions. For example: > — If you assign the mutable reference…   >  — Is that a thing? _[Is “mutable reference” different from “mutable” + > “reference”?]_   >  — Hm? Oh, no, a variable can be mutable or be a reference, or both; they’re > separate.   >  — Oh, okay. So if we assign this here… So I’m wondering how it was originally used and whether any authorities recognise it yet.


title: A proper definition for "hogget"?

text: This is the meaning of _hogget_ in the Collins English Dictionary: >   1. a sheep up to the age of one year that has yet to be sheared >   2. the meat of this sheep > So, is a lamb a hogget? This shouldn't be true. I also know sheep are shorn every year, so that part of it doesn't really help. Can someone provide a good meaning which can be differentiated from lamb?


title: some time vs sometime

text: Is there a rule for "some time" vs "sometime"? For example: Don’t trust your memory to recall noteworthy situations and events some time (sometime) later.


title: What does "when you’re talking to the cool kids around the water cooler" mean?

text: > The DOM is what you call bits of rendered HTML when you’re talking to the > cool kids around the water cooler. What is the meaning of the when statement ("when you’re talking to the cool kids around the water cooler") in this sentence?


title: "Using" or "by using"?

text: Example: "The feasibility of this approach has recently been demonstrated **using** PET/CT technology in a small series of patients". Should this not be: The feasibility of this approach has recently been demonstrated **by using** PET/CT technology in a small series of patients.


title: Pronunication of "Dijkstra"

text: I am a computer professional. I have heard the pronuciation of the word _Dijkstra_ from various sources as   1. _di-kstra_   2. _diji-kstra_   3. _dik-stra_ Which is the correct way of pronouncing it?


title: Pronunciation problem with "park" and "walk". Is there a name for this "phenomenon"?

text: Now and then, I struggle to say a pair of words such as "park and walk". It may come out as "park and wark" or "pork and walk". It occurs generally when the two words are close together in a sentence. Is there a name for this behaviour or speech idiosyncrasy or is it unrecognised officially? I know there is rhotacism, which is the recognised mis-pronunciation of the letter, "r". Is there a name for my "affliction"? Some other examples:   * War and car   * Far and talk


title: I had it coming

text: When you say "I had it coming", does it always mean "I caused it to happen to me"? Can it also mean in an appropriate context "it just happened to me"? Also, does it always have to be "coming" and not base form "come" like "I had it come"?


title: Iambic Tetrameter?

text: > God and my right shall me defend. I have said this motto a fair few times in my head a number of times and it seems as though iambic tetrameter is the meter that fits best The way I see it is,               god   AND   my   RIGHT   shall   ME   deFEND      x    /      x    /        x      /    x /      I was wondering if anybody had any alternative suggestions or if for once I am actually correct in seeing the motto in this way?


title: What pair of words can be combined with “worth every penny” as an idiom?

text: When I was listening to AP Radio News of Eagle 810 (Far East Network), the only English language public radio broadcasting service available in Japan, together with members of a local English Speaking Society, who wish to improve English hearing proficiency, there was the following line reporting 85th Anniversary of Coney Island’s Cyclone roller coaster: “In honor of 85th Anniversary, ride is just a quarter for the first 85 minutes, the coaster was open. Michel Hamline says it is worth every penny and ...," followed by the word that sounds something like “men some” phonetically. We couldn’t hear out the ending words sounding like “men some.” though we tried by replaying the tape a dozen times. I could have passed by this part, but was haunted with the question. So I'm venturing to ask: Is there a set of words that can be combined with “worth every penny” as an idiom? I thought “worth every penny” is a self-completing idiom sui generi, and wondered why it should be followed by anything. Can you guess what the part that sounded like “men some” would be?


title: Hypernym for "movie" and "TV series"

text: What is the hypernym for _movie_ and _TV series_?   I read that _medium_ might be possible, but it doesn't sound that good.


title: Meaning of "to be on the top side of the grass"

text: What is the meaning of this sentence: > To be healthy as long as you're on the top side of the grass I specifically mean the phrase _on the top side of the grass_.


title: "Covered with" vs. "covered in" vs. "covered by"

text: I want to find out the differences in meaning among _covered by, covered in,_ and _covered with_. For example, what is the difference between: > covered with blood   >  covered in blood or the differences in meaning among > the mountain was covered with snow   >  the mountain was covered in snow   >  the mountain was covered by snow


> **Possible Duplicate:**   >  “Covered with” vs “covered in” vs “covered by” Which is the correct option: "a jungle covered in snow" or "a jungle covered with snow"? If both are possible what is the difference in meaning?


title: Double genitive

text: Which of the following is grammatical? >   1. That action would not increase my satisfaction, but the one of my > driver's. >   2. That action would not increase my satisfaction but my driver's one > I think 1) is correct, whilst 2) is wrong, isn't it?


title: "Go shut the door" or "Go and shut the door": AmE/BrE difference

text: The usage you put the verb (in its infinitive form) right after "go" is used in AmE but not in BrE, as I heard. For example, > Go shut the door. However, I doubt this is true and want to know the truth. I know it may very well depend on the speaker's age/gender etc. and am not expecting one-or-the-other answers. This question is for more of a statistics purpose. Do you think the statement above is true (based on your usage)?


title: What is the meaning of "to tween"?

text: I recently stumbled upon the word _tween_ but neither in the meaning as a contraction of _between_ nor as little child. It seems to be similar to _to tweak_. I found it in the context of programming like in UIButtonTween of the NGUI library or in the GoKit library saying > Lightweight tween library for Unity aimed at making tweening objects dead > simple and completely flexible. Any explanations or links are appreciated.


title: The difference between "elected and selected", and "election and selection"

text: What is the difference between > _elected_ and _selected_ and > _election_ and _selection_ in English? What are the tenses used in these words?


title: When does an aunt’s partner or husband become an uncle?

text: Being the youngest of five siblings, with relatively old parents, I’ve always referred to my aunts and uncles as such, even though in fact only one of each pair is a blood relative. It never occurred to me as a child that in fact Uncle Ron was my father’s brother, but Aunt Pat was related to me only via marriage to Ron. So is she really my aunt? I raise this because I’m in a situation where I’ve married a woman whose brother has a young son. He was age two when we were first acquainted, and as his aunt and I were not married I was, quite reasonably, not given immediate uncle status. His aunt and I have since married, however, so does this mean I should now be referred to as his uncle? For some reason I feel uncomfortable referring to him as my nephew — I have other nephews and nieces via my own siblings — so I usually resort to “my wife’s nephew” or “my wife’s brother’s son”. Any thoughts on this issue of when aunt–uncle status is acquired? Is marriage a precondition? Does the marriage need to predate the birth of the niece–nephew?


title: What does N.B. stand for?

text: I have received letters for years, and some of the most common things in letters are post-scripts, however, there are also these funny little "N.B." which obviously do not stand for Post Script. What are these letters and how are they used?


title: What is the male equivalent of "damsel"?

text: Is there a male equivalent of "damsel" ? > **damsel (dam·sel)**   >  _Pronunciation:_ /ˈdamzəl/ > > _noun archaic or literary_   >     a young unmarried woman. (from OxfordDictionaries.com)


title: "You took... and you..."

text: How would the grammar of this construction be analysed? I am trying to identify and define the difference between using this and the regular way of saying the same thing. Examples:   * You took this place and you transformed it / You transformed this place   * You took that song and butchered it / You butchered that song   * You took my trust and abused it / You abused my trust   * Alcohol took my life and destroyed it / Alcohol destroyed my life   * The internet took society and transformed it / The Internet transformed society


title: "He cannot be reasoned with"

text: This is a phrase I hear extremely often, with some modifications to the subject. But it seems to be improper, because the sentence is ended with a preposition. What is the "correct" way to say this phrase?


title: Is there a different grammatical term for "If I was" than for "If I were"?

text: Many people would say the correct form is "If I were rich ...". In modern colloquial English though most younger people would say "If I was rich ...". Prescriptivists might say the latter is "the subjunctive mood" and the former is "just plain wrong". Both forms "were" and "was" are identical to English past tense forms. There are no distinct subjunctive forms I am aware of in Modern English though I do not know if Old English had them. When learning foreign languages such as Spanish or German we are often told "English doesn't have the subjunctive". Such languages usually do have distinct forms for the subjunctive. So my question is what terms are used in English linguistics to cover each case? Is it just "subjunctive" or are there also now terms such as "colloquial subjunctive", "informal subjunctive", "formal subjunctive"? Or are there people who insist that English is unlike Spanish and German and name these constructions something distinct from "subjunctive"? Also how do the terms "counterfactual" and "irrealis" fit in? **UPDATE** I didn't find this related question when I was writing mine: What happened to the subjunctive? **UPDATE 2** After much Googling I've noticed the phrase "marked subjunctive" seems to have some currency but I haven't yet seen it specifically defined to mean the use of "were" rather than "was" so the hunt continues but it's the closest so far.


title: What is a word for "about to burst out laughing"?

text: Is there a word that can describe this facial expression? ![enter image description here](http://i.stack.imgur.com/wvfTu.png) _("about to burst out laughing")_


title: Term or phrase for a traumatic or life-changing event

text: What is the word or phrase that describes a traumatic event that stops or changes a person’s mode of living? Something like an illness or something like happened to Tom Hanks in the movie _Cast Away_. Or even Tom Hanks’s girlfriend, who was going to school to get her doctorate but “put everything on hold” when Chuck (Tom Hanks’s character) disappears in a plane crash. I’m almost looking for a psychological term here, and I want to study more about the topic, but I don’t have a term or phrase for it that I can use to research it.


title: Why is "idea" sometimes pronounced as "idear"?

text: I know that idea is pronounced as /aɪˈdiə/, but I've meet several people in real life who put an 'r' at the end of the word. How come?


title: Meaning of "he takes the cross of making his own"

text: > For the ease and pleasure of treading the old road, accepting the fashions, > the education, the religion of society, **he takes the cross of making his > own,** and, of-course, the self-accusation, the faint heart, the frequent > uncertainty and loss of time, which are the nettles and tangling vines in > the way of the self-relying and self-directed; and the state of virtual > hostility in which he seems to stand to society, and especially to educated > society. When I start analyzing its meaning, I don't get even little far and stuck up in almost near beginning of it, the following comes in my mind, which does not makes any sense to me:- > For enjoying walking on the old road ... he takes the burden of making his > own way in life... I have skipped the sentence in place of ... because it was not making any sense to me. Please help me and explain the meaning.


title: "Deeply appreciated" or "dearly appreciated"

text: I want to express my great satisfaction of this person. Are there any differences between the two sentences? > This shows a great sense of responsibility which is **deeply** appreciated. > > This shows a great sense of responsibility which is **dearly** appreciated.


title: Opposite of "numerous"

text: What is the opposite of _numerous_? I expected the answer to be _innumerous_ , but that seems to mean _too many to count_. There must be a negative to _numerous_ that isn't simply _few_.


title: Where does the word "grateful" come from?

text: If "grate" isn't a word, why is there a word "grateful" (and "gratitude")?


title: Etymology of "shark"

text: I found Etymonline's entry on the word _shark_ unusually inconclusive. Not only is the origin of the word uncertain, it is also not clear if _shark_ was first applied to a dishonest person or to the sea creature. It also had no mention of this positive connotation from _NOAD_ : > **2** an expert in a specified field : _a pool shark_. Can any etymology sharks out there supply some of these missing links?


title: Any idea where the phrase at sixes and sevens came from, and what it really means?

text: Any idea where the phrase **at sixes and sevens** came from, and what it really means?


title: "noun of noun" vs. "noun+noun"?

text: I wonder if there is a significant difference at the semantic or pragmatic levels in using the compounds structures noun of noun or noun+noun. For example, is it the same to say "the consumption of energy" or "energy consumption"? Do these forms have a specific name in the English sintax? I would really appreciate if somebody can help me understand the difference between these structures, if any.


title: "In the middle of riddle" means what?

text: There is a song whose lyrics is given below... Can anyone tell what exactly "in the middle of riddle" means? > At the edge of the moon there's   >  a lonely man   >  And he blows on his horn as   >  strong as he can > > And the girl at the bar wipoes the breath   >  of winter away with a smile of her face   >  And a little black dog barks along   >  with a loon > > Is this my appointment or did I came   >  too soon   >  Got a strange invitation for teatime 'twas   >  given by somebody   >  I can't recall   >  It's **the middle of the riddle**   >  It's not very serious   >  It's nothing but a big surprise > > And the president's horse is a rabbit   >  of course   >  That is livin' in a big boy's mind   >  Livin' in a big boy's mind > > And I skate on a knife on a wire   >  That is strung from this song   >  to a distant shore > > And then I say   >  Intuition is just another phase of chance   >  While we're walking the old   >  pyramid's floors (Little pharaoh's)   >  And the little black dog   >  Here it comes again   >  He's a true companion in a foreign land > > On a quest for the valley of boojums and birthdays   >  And phone calls I cannot recall   >  It's **the middle of the riddle**   >  It's not very serious   >  It's nothing but a big surprise > > And the president's horse is a rabbit


title: Why does -istic turn some words negative?

text: The definition of -istic is: > Used to form adjectives from nouns, especially nouns in -ist and -ism, with > the meaning "of or pertaining to" said nouns. I don't see anything in there that could make words negative, but I can think of a few adjectives that are more negative with the suffix -istic. A few examples: negativistic, simplistic, moralistic, and legalistic.


title: Difference between "yours" and "your"?

text: What is the difference between the following sentences? > Your car is black. > > The car of yours is black.


title: Grammar of 'Meaning' and as in 'meaning of life

text: There is something about the term 'meaning' that is eluding me (and seems to have eluded many of humanities 'best' minds) as in 'what is the meaning of life'. The 'question' seems to lack a necessary object viz: To us, you, god, life etc and it seems to relate to the term 'meaning in some characteristic way. Does anyone have any stirring comments. Seems even Wittgen was muddled by this but it seems to be a grammatical problem... thanks The above is a thorny problem perhaps. If great philosophers have had difficulty with it perhaps it is to much to pose at a 21c forum. May i ask some narrower questions? How would one parse, "What is the meaning of life" grammatically? There is a missing term, is it a direct object? "what" an indirect object? "life" an indirect object? I realize to someone in the field of grammatical analysis this is a trivial question, but it has been 50 years since I did the coursework.


title: Noun for “the version that I handed in”

text: At university, we get problem sets, I work on them and hand them in. Then a tutor corrects them and gives them back to me. On my website, I want to provide both (since the former is digital, the latter is scanned). What would be concise words for   * “The version that I have handed in” and   * “The version that the tutor corrected”? Currently, I have “My version” and “Corrected version”. In German, I would use “Meine Abgabe” which is “My hand-in” or so, which I think is more expressive than “version”.


title: Which is longer: snooze, nap, kip, 40 winks or siesta?

text: How long is a snooze? My boyfriend will invariable take an afternoon snooze which might last anything up to two hours. A nap on the other hand, can be _short_ , _quick_ or even _long_ , and sometimes they are called power naps. Is _40 winks_ shorter than a _snooze_ but longer than a _kip_? Am I right in thinking that _kip_ is considered old-fashioned although etymologically speaking it is probably one of the most recent. And what about the term _siesta_? OD states 2 > Siesta: an afternoon rest or nap, esp. one taken during the hottest hours of > the day in a hot climate. But I'm sure one can take a siesta in the middle of winter. Questions:   * Which of the above terms has the oldest, (and consequently the longest) history?    * Has anyone ever specified the length or duration of any of these terms? For example, when does a _nap_ stop being a _nap_?    * And when did _power nap_ first appear?


title: Is there a name for synonyms that appear to have opposite meanings?

text: The words flammable and inflammable mean the same thing, but (to someone unfamiliar with their meaning) appear to be opposites (because of the "in" prefix). Is there a name for such word pairs that appear to be opposites but actually mean the same thing? A few other examples are _ravel/unravel_ , _regardless/irregardless_ , _radiation/irradiation_ , _incite/excite_ , _culpatory/inculpatory_ , _press/depress_ , _to/unto_ , _part/depart_ , _fat chance/slim chance_ , _thaw/dethaw/unthaw_ , _candescent/ incandescent_ , _canny/uncanny_ , _dead/undead_ , _write up/write down_ , _valuable/invaluable_


title: Where does the slang adjective “peng” come from?

text: I read on Cambridge Dictionaries’ _About words_ blog that **_peng_** is a British slang adjective meaning _pretty_ , _very attractive_. I am told by a coworker that it is of Caribbean origin, but have no more information. Can someone confirm this origin, and maybe provide some more information (e.g., what root it ultimately comes from)?


title: When Are There Too Many Commas?

text: This should be a fairly easy question: When the beginning of a sentence includes a parenthetical phrase, is it necessary to use more than one comma? Take this sentence for example: > "But yeah, the astronauts made it safely into their spacecraft." Is that fine, or would there need to be another comma before "yeah"? I'm sure there are more intricate examples related to mine, so extra knowledge would be much appreciated. Thanks.


title: Why is it called a "bank balance"?

text: When describing how much money is in a bank account, we'll often say that the account "has a balance" of a certain amount, as in: > Your bank balance is currently £13,550. Why do we describe this as a "balance", though? If anything, it seems like an account _imbalance_ , because more money has been paid into the account than has been taken out. The only time an account would be "balanced" is if it was at zero. So why the term "bank balance"?


title: Is this sentence correct?

text: > I ain't heard no word to let me know you **wasn't** just eating hay. Should the wasn't be weren't?


title: Adverbs + Present Perfect

text: Here's my problem: I've been confused about the placement of adverbs in present/past perfect phrases. For example, which sentence would sound better: > "We had been slowly drifting down the river when a bear attacked." > > or > > "We had slowly been drifting down the river when a bear attacked." Personally, I'd go with the former, and this led me to believe that if the sentence contains both "had been" and a verb, the adverb should be placed after "had been"--if the adverb is indeed modifying the verb. This, however, led to me to think of other uses of the present/past perfect, where another verb isn't present. The is the best example I could formulate: > "He has always been an academic and a charitable person." See, right there, _always_ \--an adverb of frequency--was placed in between _has_ and _been_. Does this mean only adverbs of frequency (e.g., _always_ , _usually_ , etc.) should be placed in between such constructs? A final example to put this topic over the edge is "He had been either sick or exhausted." Now, if you were to move "either" in between "had been," would the sentence be grammatically incorrect? I've noticed that the former is used more frequently, but the sandwiched version doesn't sound wrong either. Thanks!


title: Style Question: Use of "we" vs. "I" vs. passive voice in a dissertation

text: As I'm not a native speaker and just finishing my dissertation in Computer Science, I wonder what style I should be using. In German (my native tongue) most dissertations, school-books and scientific writing use third person or passive voice to sound 'objective'. I know that passive voice in English should be avoided. In most of my publications I use "we" (e.g. "we can improve the recognition rate by ..."). For the dissertation, as it is my work, should I prefer "I" over "we"? I don't like the idea too much, as it sounds pretentious to me. Currently, I want use first person singular for the contributions section and first person plural for the rest. I try to avoid passive as often as possible. Is this acceptable?


title: “We”, “I”, “this author”?

text: > **Possible Duplicate:**   >  Style Question: Use of "we" vs. "I" vs. passive voice in a dissertation   >  Use of “I”, “we” and the passive voice in a scientific thesis For my thesis project, I have decided to always use "we" instead of "I". What do you think of this decision? To me, it seems more common out there to use "we". In addition, using "I" sounds somewhat ... egoistic. However, there are cases where I want to stress that I myself, the author, has to do with something. For instance. It would seem rather unnatural to say "It is our opinion that...", because in many cases when using “we”, it is really both the author and the reader that are doing something together. Do you think it's okay in these cases to say "It is the opinion of **this author** that…"? So the question is basically twofold:   1. Is using “we” throughout, to mean interchangeably myself, or myself and the reader both together?   2. When I want to stress myself, can I use “this author”? Feel free to add further thoughts.


title: Pronoun to use in a one-person report ("I", "we", something else)

text: > **Possible Duplicate:**   >  Style Question: Use of "we" vs. "I" vs. passive voice in a dissertation When I am writing a report I usually use _we_. What if the project is done by only one person? Should I use _I_? It sounds a little bit arrogant.


title: Is there a shorter synonym for "extra-curricular activities"?

text: I always find the expression "extra-curricular activities" very clumsy.


title: What does “the contender to late-night-punch line” mean?

text: Today's New York Times carries an article titled, “Mark Sanford’s path of Most Renaissance” followed by the lead-copy on its home page: > “The South Carolina governor went from potential **presidential** > **contender to** **late-night punch line.** Now he’s a junior congressman > trying to find his way in a divided G.O.P.” Apparently, a strident conservative David Brat Sanford emerged from “the place where nobody wanted to even acknowledge your name,” as he told in a press interview to the position to influence on G.D.P’s destiny and its policy. None of CED, OED, and Merriam-Webster carries this word, nor can I find it on Google NViewer. I think this requires some knowledge about the situation of U.S. politics and the background of U.S. politicians. But what does the word, "Presidential contender to late-night-punch line”? Does it mean that he came up from the unknown to the well-known, then up to the popular object of late night show topics and quips?


title: Is it proper grammar to write a number with "th" after the month or only if it is used before the month?

text: Is it proper grammar to write July 17th or would it be the 17th of July?


title: English equivalent of komorebi (木漏れ日) — "sunshine filtering through leaves"

text: Is there an English equivalent of _komorebi_ (木漏れ日), which means the sunshine filtering through the leaves of a tree (or trees)? It is made up of three kanji and the hiragana particle れ. The first kanji 木 means ‘tree’ (or ‘trees‘), the second one 漏 refers to ‘escape’ and the last one 日 is ‘light‘ or ‘sun‘. _Komorebi_ can also be seen as a light curtain which is more visible after the rain because of the reflecting light from the water vapor: ![enter image description here](http://i.stack.imgur.com/sbCtT.jpg)   Source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Forest-sun_01.JPG It is also mentioned as the interplay between the light and the leaves which is observed especially on the ground. Additionally, there is a rare phenomenon when the light of the crescent sun during a partial solar eclipse is dappled on the ground in crescent shapes (which is circular normally): ![enter image description here](http://i.stack.imgur.com/GSpem.jpg)   Source: http://www.pinterest.com/pin/125678645821705633/ _Sunray_ and _sunbeam_ come to mind but they are too general. Of course, the word is the result of Japanese culture and aesthetics influenced by the nature. But there might be a colloquial usage or scientific term regarding the phenomena related to _komorebi._


title: One word for "not allowed to do things"

text: I am making a precis. I have a sentence here.               A child feels sad when he is not allowed to do things on its will.      How can I replace sentence with a single word. " **not allowed to do things on will** " Thanks


title: Changing person and tense in a quote

text: I'm reading _Cranford_ (1853) by Elizabeth Gaskell, and encountered the following passage: > "Have you seen any numbers of _Pickwick Papers_?" said [Captain Brown]. > (They were then publishing in parts.) "Capital thing!" > > Now Miss Jenkyns [...] looked upon any conversation about books as a > challenge to her. So she answered and said, **"Yes, she had seen them; > indeed, she might say she had read them."** The text in bold is in quotation marks, so one would normally assume it was a literal reporting of the speaker's words. But here the text is in third person and past perfect tense, although it is a reply to a question in second person and present perfect tense. We presume that what Miss Jenkyns actually said was, "Yes, I have seen them; indeed, I might say I have read them." (Either that or we must assume that for some reason Miss Jenkyns is referring to herself in the third person, which would seem very peculiar and not in character.) **I'd like to learn more about this device. Does it have a name? What effect is intended by it? What other authors have used it, and in what time periods?** I've noticed this device at several other places in _Cranford_ , and I also vaguely recall Jane Austen using it. It seems to mostly be used for humorous effect, as when a character says something unintentionally amusing or embarrassing. In the passage above, Miss Jenkyns expresses her disdain for _Pickwick Papers_ , preferring the work of Samuel Johnson; but this only reveals her own poor taste in literature (in the opinion of the narrator, who also prefers Dickens). It seems to me that the effect is to preserve the speaker's words and phrasing as much as possible, while at the same time distancing the reader from the speaker, so that the reader can most effectively see the speaker "hoist by her own petard." Does this seem accurate, or do I misunderstand?


title: "The best age to be", precis title

text: I wrote a precis of a paragraph whose title was " **The best age to be** ". This real paragraph described that each age has its sorrows and happiness-es. What a child can do and can't do. What young man can do, and can't do. and same for old age person. I am little confused about another title for this precis which covers such idea. Any suggestion or help. Thanks


title: "This serves as a quick reference to verifying resource availabilities in Espresso"

text: What is the correct way of expressing the following sentence? > This serves as a quick reference to verifying resource availabilities in > Espresso.   >  This serves as a quick reference to verify resource availabilities in > Espresso.


title: What does it mean "off one's look"

text: I've come across the following passage in a script. > PERSON 1: And tomatoes are actually berries! > > _The others look at him with annoyed confusion._ > > PERSON 1: _( **off their looks** )_ What? It’s true… What does _off their looks_ mean? Is the person looking away?


title: meaning of "no earlier than x months from ....."

text: Are the following two statements written in correct grammar? What do they mean? Can they be written in more easily understandable manner? If yes, how should they be re-written? The student's pass will be issued no earlier than one month from the course commencement date. This letter will be valid for two months or till the course commencement date as indicated above, whichever is later.


title: 'Little' and 'small' in British vs American English

text: Is the preference for 'little' over 'small' one of the things that differentiates British from American English? I find expressions like "I'm only little" or "She's only little" in British children books. This is something new to me. Are these also common in American English? I am not a native English speaker, but I guess I am more accustomed to American English. I would have said "She's still very small" instead.


title: Structure and meaning of 'having a just a few' in the following paragraph?

text: What is the structure and meaning of _'having a just a few'_ in this paragraph? > The major shift here is that we treat both entities and users groups as very > cheap resources. Instead of having a just a few and structuring around them, > we define what we want and then structure the groups around them. The burden > them moves from complex code to maintaining the structure. I find this a > very reasonable tradeoff for a simple security model and the flexibility > that it gives me. This paragraph is extracted from a blog post.


title: "It is a highly unusual form of melody, one that..." — what is the referent of "one"?

text: > It is a highly unusual form of melody, one that occurs only in this > composer's work In the above sentence, what is the referent of the pronoun _one_? Is it _melody_ or the entire prepositional phrase _form of melody_? Or, perhaps the referent is the subject of the sentence, _it_? I frequently hear the rule that the referent has to be the prior proximate noun.


title: What is the preposition category of "along"?

text: Most place prepositions have an instance for each of the informal preposition categories - I'll refer to them as _active_ and _passive_ , since I'm not familiar with the actual terms. I'm using _active_ here to refer to prepositions which signify movement, and _passive_ to refer to those which signify a state of staying. For example: the active _into_ and the passive _in_ , the active _up_ and the passive _above/upon_. Sentences: > I am _going_ **into** the house. > > He _is_ **in** the house. It is obvious from these examples that the two forms of the "in" preposition have different meanings - one active and one passive. You can do the same for every place preposition, though some, like _between_ , are the same word when either active or passive. So there is a _between_ meaning something _is_ between, and a _between_ meaning something _is going_ between. Sentences: > I am _going_ **between** the two big trees. > > He _is_ **between** the house and the stable. It is obvious that in both cases the preposition remains the same, though one is active and one passive. Basically, to find the two forms, you pick a place preposition (say _into_ ), determine whether it refers to _going_ or just to _being_ ("He is **going** into the house" - sounds right; "He **is** into the house" - sounds terrible; so "into" is _active_ ), then search for the form you didn't pick ( _passive_ , so what sounds right with "He **is** [prep] the house"? - _in_ \- "He is _in_ the house" sounds right, so _in_ is the passive form of into), and there you have your two forms ( _into_ \- active; _in_ \- passive). What I'm trying to figure out is where _along_ fits in. Is it active, and if so, what is a passive counterpart?


title: Why does the common meaning of "impertinent" have nothing to do with "pertinent"?

text: Every time I want to use an antonym to "pertinent", I think of "impertinent", which I don't like to use because of its more common meaning. How did "impertinent" come to mean "intrusive or presumptuous, as persons or their actions; insolently rude; uncivil" (Dictionary.com)?


title: what does "the powers that be have to really mean it for the work to matter" mean?

text: The following is from Jeff Atwood's blog: > When given the freedom to "work on whatever you want", the powers that be > have to really mean it for the work to matter. Mostly that means providing > employees the unfettered freedom to fail miserably at their skunkworks > projects, sans repercussion or judgment. Without failure, and lots of the > stuff, there can be no innovation, or true experimentation. The value of > (quickly!) learning from failures and moving on is enormous. * * * There are two sentences I don't understand:   * the powers that be have to really mean it for the work to matter   * sans repercussion or judgment I found that "the powers that be" seems to be a idiom. There's another paragraph: > If there isn't a healthy respect for individual experimentation versus the > neverending pursuit of the Next Thing on the collective project task list, > these initiatives are destined to fail. You have to truly believe, as a > company, and as peers, that crucial innovations and improvements can come > from everyone at the company at any time, in bottom-up fashion – they aren't > delivered from on high at scheduled release intervals in the almighty Master > Plan. The following sentence I can't understand:   * they aren't delivered from on high at scheduled release intervals in the almighty Master Plan. Wow, studying English, there's a long way to me.


title: Usage with "in this"

text: I am writing a technical report. I want to link previous sentence with the current sentence, giving the reasons. I used the following wording: > In this end, this report discuses a novel approach... Also, suppose I am describing something and then I want to explain more about that particular case by my next sentence. For that, I used the following: > In this case, a segment must have a single relationship... When writing I am having many occasions like the above two. So, can I have synonyms for "In this end" and "In this case"?


title: What is the origin of the usage of the word "rook" as it refers to the chess piece?

text: And when did it start being used that way? Before or after the bird meaning of "rook"?


title: What does the phrase "50% premium" mean?

text: In the context of commissioning a piece of artistic work, what does the phrase "50% premium" mean? Sentence for context: > Would a 50% premium be OK to include a transfer of IP rights for said art > piece?


title: When two words are put together as in "put down" - is it a phrase?

text: When two words are put together as in "heads up", "put down", "build out"... are they considered a phrase? And if so, do the term for these are "adjectival phrases" as they mention on this question: Is "put together" an adjectival phrase?.


title: What does it mean to say you are doing something "over the next 3 weeks"?

text: What does it mean to say "over the next 3 weeks"?


title: Filler-gap dependencies and recoverability of meaning

text: Consider the following sentence: > In my head, there is nothing more wonderful than [] understanding how > someone else feels and [] choosing to [] take action to [] resolve **it**. It contains multiple verb phrases whose subject is "gapped" (indicated by `[]`), and must be inferred from context. Additionally, it contains an anaphor "it" whose antecedent must be inferred from context. In such a sentence, is it difficult for the average reader to resolve all of the necessary relations? If not, then why, and how could it be rephrased?


title: How to say "write a program" in a proper way for thesis/dissertation

text: I am in dilemma on how to open a short text, that is giving instructions to someone to write a computer program. The setting is academic/research and that text will appear in opening paragraph on a paper. Strictly speaking by program I don't mean a complete piece of software, but rather some methods/functions that will perform particular tasks and give end results that will also be discussed in paper. When reading resources in internet and in jargon talk between peers, it is very usual to say _" Write a program"_. But since as mentioned before, this time the setting is academic/research, I am not sure if this kind of statement fits in a text that will be published. It is important that, if possible, the chosen word does not give an impression that we are talking about commercial software. **Is it ok/usual to say _"Write a program"_ in an academic/research text, or should I use any alternative ?** ( e.g.: "develop" ) I would appreciate any help.


title: Can I grow some gratitude?

text: Just curious, normally if a person is not appreciating another person that's helping him, the person can tell him to show some gratitude. But how about "grow some gratitude"? It implies the person has no gratitude at all and have to undergo natural development by changing physically or psychologically to develop the quality of being thankful. Will people think I am strange if I tell them to "grow" some gratitude?


title: Can a participial construction modify an adjective?

text: > It was a very dark, cloudy night, and they were a bit late **arriving** at > Hagrid's hut because they'd had to wait for Peeves to get out of their way > in the entrance hall, where he'd been playing tennis against the wall. > (Harry Potter) In the example, a participial construction seems to modify an adjective, late. Can a participial construction have the same function as a to-infinitive does, or does this have the role of something else?


title: The position of "always" in different sentences

text: I want to know about the position of _always_ in different sentences. For example: > Always she is tidy and on time. Is it correct or not?


title: "Any requirement" or "any requirements"

text: Which of the following expressions is grammatically correct: >   1. I will let you know if I come across **any requirement**. > >   2. I will let you know if I come across **any requirements**. > >


title: What does “soft bigotry of low expectations” mean?

text: There was the following question from a reader and the answer by Charles Blow under the headline, **“Your Questions, Answered”** in the Opinion Page of May 7 New York Times. > I invited you to ask me anything this week, and you did. Here are my answers > to some of your most interesting questions > > Q. What do youthink of the phrase “ **soft bigotry of low expectations**?” > What do you think of the way it figures in today’s education policies and > debates?—John A., New York, N.Y. > > A. I think it’s a fascinating concept and often a true expression of the way > some children are treated. According to Wikipedia, the phrase “soft bigotry of low expectations” was conceptualized by the former President G.W. Bush, and involves much debate. What does the phrase exactly mean? Is this phrase still up-to-date and meaningful as being questioned now by a NYT reader?


title: Incorrect grammar versus different dialects

text: My girlfriend, someone from southern New Jersey, constantly says phrases like "I'm done my homework" or "I'm done my dinner." I try to correct her and say, "I'm done with my homework" or "I'm done with my dinner," but she insists this is what she has always said. Is her grammar just plain incorrect, or is this allowed if she actually has a different dialect where everyone in the region says the same thing?


title: Can you explain the meaning of sentence and the word "run"?

text: I am not the native English reader. I want to know what the "sentence 3" means, especially with the meaning of "run." The reason why I quoted "sentence 1" and "sentence 2" is to help you understand the context of the sentence 3. By these parts are included in the article about teacher evaluation. Thank you for your help.   * sentence 1: Thus, a teacher who appears to be very ineffective in one year might have a dramatically different result the following year.    * sentence 2: The same dramatic fluctuations were found for teachers ranked at the bottom in the first year of analysis.  **\- sentence 3:** This **runs** counter to most people’s notions that the true quality of a teacher is likely to change very little over time and raises questions about whether what is measured is largely a “teacher effect” or the effect of a wide variety of other factors.


Can I get an example of statement that can be said to be Hofstadterian? Also please provide a small comment with the statement if possible. thankyou.


title: "Can't see a difference" vs "Can't see the difference"?

text: My friend and I are in an argument regarding the usage of the phrases listed in the title. The situation is: Facebook starts screwing up message sending for a while. I express my concerns: "What's wrong with Facebook"? A friend replies "I can't see a difference". This looked correct or at least acceptable in spoken English - people seem to use it. An alternative, and perhaps even more correct, would be "I can't see ANY difference". However, my friend insists the sole correct form in this case would be "I can't see THE difference", backing it up with a parallel to the customary of the definite article (we already know what we can't see the difference between). IMO, "the difference" is more suited for cases where we instantly list the things we're comparing, e.g. "I can't see the difference between Araya's and Petrozza's voices". It just doesn't seem to look so good on its own to me. I know these are rather subtle nuances, but IMO: "I can't see a/any difference" but "I can't see the difference between A and B". Am I correct on this?


title: Name and list of words with common sounds that share common meanings

text: There are some words that have similar sounds, though they seem to not share any particular root, and have general connotation. For example, gl-, in gleam, glitter, glisten, has something to do with shiny things. That's the only one I can think of, but I saw an article with one or two other similar "root"s. Is there a name for words/sounds/roots like these? Is there a good resource for a list of them? Could be fun to learn them all and use them for poetic effect.


title: Word for referring to the arts of the carpenter

text: You can say "sartorial" to mean "of or pertaining to tailors of their trade." Is there an equivalent for carpenters?


title: What's the "case" in "basket case"?

text: The following is a passage from an article on the origin of the idiom _basket case_ : > The origins of this idiom are somewhat grisly. In World War I, there were > cases reported which involved soldiers who lost both their arms and legs in > battle. Any soldier in such a condition would be especially helpless, and > other soldiers dubbed them "basket cases" in reference to the fact that they > would have to be carried around by others. As such, the original origins of > the phrase caused it to invoke physical helplessness. "other soldiers dubbed them "basket cases" in reference to the fact that they would have to be carried around by others." I know what a _basket_ is, but what is the _case_ of _basket case_? All I could think of a _case_ is those container or covering used to protect or store things, but wouldn't make sense that both _basket_ and _case_ go together?


title: Origin of the saying 'eyes like pissholes in the snow'

text: What is the origin of the phrase _eyes like pissholes in the snow_?


title: Meaning of "a can not"

text: What is the meaning of _a can not_? > This guy is a can't-miss prospect. I heard this sentence in an English movie.


title: Meaning of "Gambler at heart"

text: I want to know what does the expression `gambler at heart` mean and in which context we can use it?


title: What is the correct word order between "have/had", "been", and "already" in statements?

text: What is the correct word order between _have/had_ , _been_ , and _already_ in statements like the following: > By the time the product was officially announced, I **had already been** > using it. Or: > By the time the product was officially announced, I **had been already** > using it. Or: > By the time the product was officially announced, I **had been** using it > **already**.


title: Origin of “I’ve heard of [x] but this is ridiculous!”

text: I heard this on a David Frost show from the 60s. It’s got me wondering who was the first comedian to use this joke form. http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ButThisIsRidiculous


title: I am afraid I look servile when I say "please"

text: In Korea, when I say "please", others think that I am servile. In English, do I look servile when I use "please" in conversation? I want to know the intensity of the word "please" in servility.


title: Which is more correct, "Which one do you want?" or "What one do you want?"

text: Which of the following is correct? >   1. Which one do you want? >   2. What one do you want? >


title: Usage of "as if" as interjection

text: My question concerns the usage of _"as if"_ as an idiomatic interjection. The references I have consulted (etymonline, online dictionaries, _etc._ ) seem to agree that _"as if"_ is used in this context to convey incredulity or doubt. This is how I have always thought of it. The other day, I was with friends who used _"as if"_ to express their surprise and joy about a wedding proposal. They weren't being sarcastic or incredulous; they were genuinely happy about the proposal. Here is a loosely paraphrased version of what they said: _"As if they're getting married!"_ Is my friends' usage of _"as if"_ standard? Is it a primarily regional distinction? (I am in Ontario, Canada right now.) The closest example we could come up with is someone says "I can't believe that you won first prize!" Of course, the person _can_ and _does_ believe it, so their words ought not to be taken literally. Is it the same idea with _"as if"_?


title: "At" vs. "in" before verb

text: In a document I found the following sentence: > listeners are more accurate **at** understanding speech spoken in their own > accent... Would it be an error to use "in" instead of "at"? Actually in this case "at" sounds better than "in", but in general before verb is "at" always used?


title: "Good at" or "Good in"

text: > **Possible Duplicate:**   >  “At” vs. “in” before verb "He is good in painting" or "He is good at painting" — which one is correct?


title: "I am poor in english" or "I am poor at english" Which one is correct?

text: Well the title pretty much speaks for itself. Also all kinds of other suggestions are accepted. I just want to know the correct usage.


title: "Would you mind not to do something?"

text: I have had this question for a long time and I couldn't find any answers for it. I have often heard this sentence from an American interlocutor and also in some movies: > "Would you mind not to do something?" I would like to know if it is correct to use this sentence in this way.


title: Is it possible to get real property from the phrase "real and tangible personal property"?

text: My understanding from the research that I have done on the phrase "real and tangible personal property is has follows:   1. Real and tangible are adjectives    2. and is a conjunction that puts together words, phrases, or clauses that have the same grammatical function    3. personal property is a compound word defined by Websters as a noun meaning personalty    4. that this phrase could be written as "real and tangible personalty" which would have the same meaning. That the only way I could see this written to mean real property is to say: "real property and tangible personal property" If you made real a noun and tangible personal property a noun you still could not come up with "real property" as real could be a Spanish coin.   5. I also do not believe this is legal question, as it is written in the Michigan constitution, which was ratified by the people at large not a group of attorneys.


title: a better way to express "an idea/thought suddenly came to me"

text: What are some grandiloquent, or simply better, ways of expressing "an idea/thought suddenly came to me", or "an idea/thought struck me", or "I was struck by an idea/thought"?


title: Which is better: "was dead" / "died" / "has passed away" in my case?

text: I came across a question in Chinese@SE, which is about a status update of someone's cat. I asked the OP in the comment whether the cat _was dead_ at that time: > I assume his cat was dead, can you confirm this? But a friend of mine later told me that this usage is not correct because _was_ implies "previously was in a certain status, but now is not", which is impossible for death. I've found an answer to a related question on English@SE, somehow backing my friend's opinion in another way, but meanwhile I think the last exception raised in the answer fits my situation. So do I have to use _died_ or _has passed away_ in this case?


title: What’s the difference between "in" and "at" when used before a Location/Site/Country/County etc

text: We always were told that you could use the word _in_ before a place which is a large space e.g. country/city etc. Whereas, before a smaller site or place you should use _at_. But actually I don’t know what the precise scope limitation between those two words is. Large? How large is _large_? Small? How small?


title: The origin of the term half assed

text: Does this slang originate from half asked, since the difinition means exactly that. You only did half what I asked you.


title: Is "humbleness" a word?

text: I am curious if "humbleness" is a word that can be used in place of the word "humility." Example usage: A certain amount of humbleness is necessary to fit in with the office environment.


title: Is yea an acceptable replacement for yeah?

text: I'm an amateur writer, writing almost entirely fanfiction, and I use the word 'yea' in my writings rather often instead of yeah. In sentences like "If you mean did that just happen? Yea." or "Yea... I'm gonna need another cup of coffee before dealing with this." I know that originally Yea was the opposite of Nay but more and more I'm seeing people use it in place of Yeah, dropping the h. Is that becoming the correct way, an acceptable way, of saying it or am I just mistaken?


title: "As of this patch..." , "From this patch onward..."?

text: I want to express that the new patch of the software I am writing enables the system to do "X". Which of the following options are preferable: >   * As of this patch, the system is able to do X. >   * From this patch onward... >   * Starting on this patch... > Any other sugestions will be much appreciated.


title: Term for words like Snowmageddon, Nipplegate and even cheeseburger?

text: Is there a term for words like _Snowmageddon_ , _Nipplegate_ and even _cheeseburger_? I know they're portmanteaus (or portmanteaux), but they seem to belong to a special class of portmanteau. In the title examples, _Armageddon_ , _Watergate_ and _hamburger_ seem to be the "mother" terms respectively (more so than _snow_ , _nipple_ , and _cheese_ ), and the derived terms _Snowmageddon_ , _Nipplegate_ and _cheeseburger_ seem to be child terms in the sense that each _clearly_ alludes to its mother term and could conceivably have sibling terms like _Floodmageddon_ , _Lewinskygate_ , and _chiliburger_. Actually, the more I thought about examples of this phenomenon, the more I came up with examples that fit the description but weren't strictly portmanteaus. One might be "Rat Pack", which gets referenced by "Brat Pack" and "Frat Pack". Idk, maybe I'm getting too inclusive. Is anyone familiar with a term for this or has seen a list of them? I love lists.


title: Translation of slang *pass*

text: I have a movie (The wolf of wall street) I'm translating (subtitling) with the dialog below, and I really don't have a clue what this _pass_ is about. I'd appreciate a help understanding it. > -I'm not gonna give you a fuckin' pass, just give me the case. > > -Oh, you're not gonna give me a pass? > > -Get out of here. Look, it's a figure fuckin' speech. > > -Oh my God, the Emperor of Foxville > > -Just give me the fuckin' case > > -came down from Foxville to give me a pass!


title: How does one write the name of a married female and spouse in a list of classmates?

text: In a list of classmates, how is the name of a married female and spouse listed? Is the female given name or her husband's given name written first? How is the maiden name shown?


title: Was "oop" really more common than "oops" till 1990?

text: Ngrams shows a marked preference for _oop_ over _oops_ up until 1990: ![](http://ngrams.googlelabs.com/chart?content=oop%2Coops&year_start=1800&year_end=2008&corpus=0&smoothing=3) Is Ngrams to be trusted here? Is it strange that I've never seen _oop_ in writing? Even Dictionary.com doesn't have anything more than acronyms under _oop_.


Why do we refer to the floors of buildings as stories? Example: > I live up on the sixth **story**.


title: What do you call things made out of natural waste materials?

text: How do you categorize things (say, a toy, doll or idol) made out of natural wastes like leaves, trunks, etc., from nature?


title: An unlikely but very bad event (technical word)

text: I'm looking for a word that describes an event or situation that is problematic but unusual. The word should indicate that something is theoretically possible, but so unlikely that you could ignore it. Example: > Physicists laugh at the [unlikely but bad] possibility that the large hadron > collider creates a black hole that engulfs the planet. There are many words in the English language that relate to things that cause harm with varying shades of meaning: _pernicious_ events are harmful but subtle, _maleficent_ characters spread destruction using tools of magic, and an _inimical_ situation both harms and frustrates. In technical fields, harmful but unlikely events tend to form the core areas of concern—the LHC is a perfect example. It seems rather likely that there is a word, perhaps drawn from technical jargon, that succinctly captures this idea. EDIT: Added additional background, specified technical nature of question, and asked for jargon.


title: Does "end up with something" always mean possession? (Harry Potter spoilers)

text: Does "end up with an object" always mean _possession_? Can it possibly mean _destruction_? Here is the context. **Source:** _Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows_ by J.K.Rowling. Characters: Harry Potter, Dumbledore, Snape.   Object: the Elder Wand. The first passage: > **Harry** : “If you planned your death with Snape, you meant him **to end up > with the Elder Wand** , didn’t you?”   >  **Dumbledore:** “I admit that was my intention,” said Dumbledore, “but it > did not work as I intended, did it?” Does it mean that, according to Dumbledore's plan, Snape would have become the master of the wand? The second passage: > **Harry** : “Snape was never the true master of the Elder Wand. He never > defeated Dumbledore. ... Dumbledore’s death was planned between them! > Dumbledore intended to die, undefeated, the wand’s last true master! If all > had gone as planned, the wand’s power would have died with him, because it > had never been won from him!” (Harry explains that, according to Dumbledore's plan, the power of the wand would have been destroyed.)   * If "end up with an object" always means possession, don't you think that the passages are contradictory?   * If not, how we can possibly distinguish which of the two possible meanings is applicable: possession or destruction?


title: The third conditional for "if I could"

text: What is the third conditional for "if I could"? For example, we say: > If I had studied hard, I would have passed the exam. _How about this:_ > > If I could study, I would have passed the exam.[Is there a past perfect for > could?]


title: "strain gauge" or "gage"?

text: When referring to a device that measures tensile or compressive force, is the correct spelling _strain gauge_ or _strain gage_? I realize that in general _gage_ is an archaic spelling of the word _gauge_ , but which spelling should be used in this compound? (Context is an engineering dissertation on signal processing)   * Google Ngram viewer


title: Proper usage of plural/singular verb

text: I wanted to ask, which of these two is correct. I would be grateful for your answer. > People’s lives is involved. Or > > People’s lives are involved. 2nd is grammatically correct, I think.


title: How do you call the sound of a bell?

text: If you want to describe the sound of a small brass bell that you can hold in your hand (this is an example image of what I mean \- what word would you use? _Brrring_? _Bling_?


title: Is there a reversal in the following sentence?

text: > This mapping also helps better support page parameters. Is the above sentence the same as this one? > This mapping also helps support page parameters better. The original sentence is extracted from the tech book ' _Silverlight 4 in action_ '.


title: Does "split" necessarily mean 50/50?

text: In the Jerusalem Post headline, _Palestinians split on Itamar_ , the statistics cited in the article say that approximately two-thirds of the Palestinians who were polled opposed the attack ( _Itamar_ is the name of an Israeli town in the West Bank that was the site of a terrorist attack). Can _split_ mean divided in a manner other than 50/50? When contacted, the Jerusalem Post editorial staff defended the headline. Do you agree? If so, is there a limit to the ratio; for instance, if 90% were opposed, would it still be called _split_?


title: What is the lexical class of the word 'worth' when used in a sentence like "Is this apple worth $3?"

text: The question "Not worth the paper it's printed on" \- wrong meaning? got me thinking about what part of speech, or lexical class, the word 'worth' takes? A comment in "Is it worth it?" vs. "Does it worth it?" advises to treat 'worth' as an adjective, but I'm not sure that's right. 'Worthy' is an adjective, but that's not the same as 'worth'. In the title question you could replace 'worth' with the phrase 'of comparable value to'; what part of speech would _that_ phrase be considered? Are the word and the phrase in the same lexical class? * * * **Edit:** Just to throw another option out, after a stimulating discourse under the answer provided by @Henry: Wiktionary mentions that used in the context of this question, 'worth' is considered an adjective, but it also notes that > The modern adjectival senses of worth compare two noun phrases, prompting > some sources to classify the word as a preposition. Most, however, list it > an adjective, some with notes like "governing a noun with prepositional > force." It also notes that > Joan Maling (1983) shows that worth is best analyzed as a preposition rather > than an adjective. If viewed as a preposition, then it is easy to replace 'worth' with another preposition of somewhat equal meaning, such as "Is this apple _about_ $3", "Is this apple _under_ $3", or "Is this apple _over_ $3". Adjective, infinitive, or preposition? ...or is this a rare case of an old language usage that straddles multiple lexical classes in modern language?


title: Transitive-like nouns

text: I've always wondered about certain kinds of nouns, a particular example is _worth_. As in:   _It is worth 100 dollars, It is worth it, It is not worth anything._ In which they handle direct objects, like transitive verbs. This isn't applicable for nouns like, say, 'cat' or 'monster'. _Worth_ can also be used in embeds. Eg:   _The car worth ten thousand finally sold._ I can't think of any use alone apart from the idiomatic 'It has some worth'. Am I misled? Or is this a thing like I think it is? Is there any information and other examples?


title: Is the second "are" required in "Here are the ideas I thought are worth spreading"?

text: 1. Here are the ideas I thought _are_ worth spreading.   2. Here are the ideas I thought worth spreading. Which one is correct?


title: Past perfect events timeline

text: In the following example:   * He had walked away when she looked at him. If it is correct then which event came first? "She looked at him" should come first before "He had walked away" but here to me, it sounds like he walked away before she looked at him. How would you explain this?


title: Why is "taking a biscuit" a bad thing in the UK?

text: So, I'm reading up on a list of English Idioms and I see two that bear a striking similarity.   * _**"Take the biscuit (UK)_** : To be particularly bad, objectionable, or egregious.    * _**"Take the cake (US)"_** : To be especially good or outstanding. Now I can understand why cake is "good" and "outstanding". In the USA we're rational, and that makes sense to me. However, why are biscuits "bad", "objectionable" or "egregious"? It would seem to me that if the country thought so poorly of biscuits they'd naturally go away. Personally, I like biscuits too; and, I especially like biscuits with gravy. Why do people in the UK hate biscuits, and how did the saying "take the biscuit" come to be? You can hear an example of "taking the biscuit" thanks to Thunderf00t


title: Usage of consecutive infinitives of purpose

text: Is it possible to modify an infinitive of purpose with another infinitive of purpose if the action of the first one is not yet carried out? _Ex. Jack brought beans home **to give** to his mother **to plant** in the garden.   Ex. Jack went to the market **to sell** the cow **to please** his mother._ Is that correct? Is the notion of being carried out important for the first infinitive? Does that imply that the action of the first infinitive is sure to be carried out? Or is the action of the first infinitive perceived as already carried out, in other words, not as an infinitive of purpose like _'brought and gave', 'went and sold'_?


title: Pronunciation of "xeno-"

text: I actually want to present this question in two parts: 1) First of all, _xenos_ comes from ξένος. Nevertheless, it is pronounced with "z" instead of "ks" (/ks/). How come? 2) Let's take the word "xenocide" (the killing of _xenos_ \- strangers). Should 'Xe' be pronounced as "ze" or "zee"? In popular culture, you usually see "zee" being used. But, in the context of xenocide, there is a clear connection with genocide (/ˈʤɛnəsaid/, [jen-uh-sahyd]). What should be preferred? I always pronounced it "zee-no-cide". For easy reference:   * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:IPA_for_Greek   * I recalled a very old discussion concerning the pronunciation of a FOSS game's title, "Project Xenocide": http://www.xcomufo.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1639 edit: As another example, take "Xena".


title: Changing a quotation so that the original is recognised, but has been given a new meaning

text: I didn't know how to phrase my title to make it meaningful to anyone, and I can't really explain it now, so I shall use an example: The opening phrase on the DSGB website is "It's counting, Jim, but not as we know it". This comes from the Star Trek quote "It's _life_ , Jim, but not as we know it". What is it called when someone does this (mainly for comedic effect)?


title: Does the etymology of the phrase "Pardon my French" mean that it is an ethnic slur?

text: I've long thought that the phrase "Pardon my French" is an unintentional ethnic slur. This other question doesn't discuss whether it is or not. I'm looking for historical references that could provide factual guidance.


title: Does anybody know where the phrase "lost to the ages" originates?

text: I think there's something fairly poetic about the origins of the phrase "lost to the ages" actually being lost to the ages, still I'd like to know where it hails from if anyone knows. Thanks


title: What's the meaning of "at 91 yen to the dollar"?

text: Context (New York Times), > Edakuni Eiichi, the chef, turns out innovative dishes like daikon rolls > stuffed with foie gras and sweet potatoes. The set 10-course meal, which > changes monthly, is 3,680 yen (about $40 **at 91 yen to the dollar** ).


title: "Programs running in/on machine”

text: Which preposition should be used in the following sentence? > All of my programs are running **in/on** a 16-core machine. Google shows both options.


title: sarcastic vs sarcastically

text: Where is the difference between these two forms? > His message was meant sarcastic. > > His message was meant sarcastically.


title: Does Capitalization Make Sense in This Context

text: I have a lot of experience as a content writer and did a lot of fiction writing in my past; Things like the Onion's rules on semi-colons make me giggle endlessly. I'm out of SEO and working as a programmer now, but I got roped into editing a lot of the stuff that comes from our SEO firm. So this sentence came across my desk today and I honestly can't decide whether or not it's justified. What do you guys think? > Learn more about [our company name here], the premiere satellite Internet > Company. Our content writer over there, who has made quite a few grammatical mistakes in the past, corrected the lower-case company to Company. Based on the rules I'm seeing, I can't find support for it. Thoughts? **Edit:** I should also clarify, this is sentence not part of a title.


title: History of pronunciation of "moiety"

text: Wiktionary shows the pronunciation of _moiety_ as /ˈmɔɪ.ə.ti/, which I think agrees with the audio versions at merriam-webster.com and howjsay.com. (Be warned that both those links produce audio when clicked.) Anyhow, from an 1832-vintage quotation for sense 1 at wiktionary (meaning _half_ ), I have the impression that at some times or places the word has been pronounced with 4 syllables instead of 3, and rhyming with _society_ : > From New Holland the emu,   >  With his better moiety,   >  Has paid a visit to the Zoological Society. Has its pronunciation changed since then? Or was this perhaps meant to be merely a half rhyme? _Edit:_ A _half rhyme_ , or _near rhyme_ , or _imperfect rhyme_ , entails consonance on the final consonants of the words involved. _Moiety_ (/ˈmɔɪ.ə.ti/) and _society_ (/s@"saI.@.ti/) rise a little above that level, but not to the level of _perfect rhyme_ , which according to wikipedia's rhyme article, entails having final stressed vowel and all following sounds identical. But /ɔɪ/ and /aI/ are not identical.


title: Beneficiaries of an action ending with the "-ee" suffix

text: To refer to the beneficiary or patient of an action, sometimes one can form a word using the verb and the _-ee_ suffix, e.g.   * assign → _assignee_   * employ → _employee_   * refuge → _refugee_ On the other hand, some forms like _givee_ (the beneficiary), _killee_ (the victim) or _massagee_ (the one massaged) sound inherently stupid. I guess there probably are other _-ee_ nouns that are at least that bad, but which I would unfortunately miss because of my poor English and wild imagination. Are there any usage rules or common-sense methods that would help me to distinguish between the proper, understandable words and the rest? Any help or some references to on-line sources would be greatly appreciated.


title: Land cover, land-cover, or landcover?

text: In literature, I often see _landcover_ , _land cover_ , and even _land-cover_. _Land cover_ seems slightly more prevalent than the others. Which is correct? Land cover is the material covering the Earth's surface: grass, trees, concrete, _etc._ Here's the Wikipedia definition. I typically use it in the context of: > The land cover dataset… > > 90% of land cover classes were…


Height and Weight — How to write them when abbreviations are not used. He was a _6-foot 5-inch man_. (Not: 6-foot-5-inch man, with three hyphens.) She gave birth to a _7-pound 11-ounce baby_. (Not: 7-pound-11-ounce baby, with three hyphens.) And, it should be, I believe: He is _6 feet 5 inches tall_. (Not: 6 feet, 5 inches tall.) The baby weighed _7 pounds 11 ounces_. (Not: 7 pounds, 11 ounces.) Despite variations in punctuation, I believe that we do not separate singular units of measurements like these with commas. Good to all?


title: "We pulled rank"

text: What does _pulled rank_ mean? > "Don't worry about it," Mulder said, "we'll take the heat. You can tell him > we pulled rank." > She's the producer on this picture, but she never at any time made you feel > that you should keep your place. I'm not talking about me, I'm talking about > anybody, the lowliest of jobs. She never pulled rank on anybody, which is > hard. — _Sandra's secret side_ , Juliann Garey.


title: Synonyms for "anal retentive"

text: I would like one or more synonyms for _anal retentive_. I was chatting last night in an mmorpg, and any message with the word _anal_ was banned. I ended up talking about my _canal retentive minus c_ guild-mate instead.


title: Is there a term for the name of the country in country's language?

text: Is there a single word or term for the country name (either official or short name) in the language of that country? For example, Germany is called Deutschland (short name) or Bundesrepublik Deutschland (official name) in German. Is there a special name for it? Of course, I could say: "Country name of Germany in German" but if I want to make "a list of country names (in?)" such word/term would be very handy.


title: Place of "not" in sentence

text: In _The Island of Doctor Moreau_ they chant: "are we not men". So my question is: when we place _not_ before _men_ , not after _are_ , what we are implementing?


title: Terms for duplicated words

text: I can't recall term used for duplicating extraneous words e.g. VIP person (Very Important Person Person), first question what is this term? Second question, is the same term used when the duplicated term is a synonym?


title: How to paraphrase this sentence?

text: I am told that these three sentences imply the same meaning and I can put them together: any idea pleas!                Still, domy and duny products have not been evaluated to date with respect to the       most recent products(smhs) at a global scale. That motivates us to do global inter-      comparison between domy and duny products using smhs products.Our study evaluated       domy and duny products with respect to smhs products during the 1989–2000 period.


title: Describing a frame as "thin" or "bold"

text: I need to describe the thickness of an image frame. Is it correct to say _this frame is **thin** and that one is **bold_**?


title: "Book paragraphs" vs "book snippets"

text: In the following book page, I have both paragraphs (which is a block of the same type of text) and some special paragraphs which are statements forming a special praying sentence. Here is the original page, and a marked form of it: ![Original page](http://i.stack.imgur.com/PHvIM.gif) ![enter image description here](http://i.stack.imgur.com/YXEOr.png) How can I call each item in the marked picture: snippet, paragraph, section or element? Is there a better term that can describe them both? Understanding the meaning of the above text is not that important as this is not a regular book but one like the bible. That is why I marked the text with blue circles. This allows me to demonstrate the types of text that we have in this book, which is two: one is paragraphs or big Siddur sections like the text in the big circles, and the other contains a Siddur paragraph/section that contains a bunch of smaller elements. Each element is a different section as you can see from the special outline. What I'm looking for is a word that will describe each element that is atomic. Each circle is the atomic element.


title: What causes a verb to be infinitive only?

text: Why are some verbs only usable in the infinitive? The one example I can think of is "to spite" (see "to wit in the accepted answer). While wiktionary claims that spited is a word, that doesn't match other ite words, like bite or smite. OED disagrees, saying there is no past tense.


title: Can the verb "solve" be applied to the noun "challenge"?

text: For example, "John was asked to solve a complex challenge." I find this to read very awkwardly, as if someone told me they solved a banana. Is this a case of verb-noun mismatch?


title: What is the proper term for names typically assigned to people in countries using the first-middle-last format?

text: In countries where English is common, people typically have names in the format `<given name> <middle name> <family name>`.   * Is there a general term for this structure of name, as opposed to `<family name> <given name>`, which is sometimes used in Asia?   * If I meet someone from Canada, who has a name in the `<given name> <middle name> <family name>`-format, should I say they have a "Canadian name", and "English name", a "Western-style name", or should I use some other term?


title: What is the term for someone that blames you for breaking something that you never touched?

text: This happens to me all the time in the tech world and I'm sure there is some kind of term to describe this behavior. Here are some examples: With website hosting, you move a website and it's not functioning properly or the same way it did before even though it is. A client wanted to move their email and web hosting. They gave me their current hosts login and before I could touch anything, they complained they couldn't connect to FTP and their email stopped working and they try and blame you (this has happened many times to me). A clients computer is running slow from spyware, malware, whatever the case is. You clean it up and then they complain it's running slower.


title: What terms describe the various parts of someone's name?

text: People tend to have at least one personal name and one family name. Some people also have middle names and nicknames. What terms describe other kinds of names, e.g.:   * What term describes additional names, such as those added after the middle name?   * What term describes surnames which combine two family names, joined by a hyphen?   * Are there any additional kinds of names? What are they called?


title: Should I use "is" or "are" in this sentence?

text: It goes on until everything Job has ever known, including his children _is_ gone. It goes on until everything Job has ever known, including his children _are_ gone.


title: "During summer" vs. "during the summer"

text: What is the difference between saying "during summer" and "during the summer"? As in: >   * I work during the summer. >   * I work during summer. > Are both common? Is my feeling correct that the first stresses that I work (only) this summer, and the other is more a general statement — every summer, during summer, but not in (the?) winter?


title: Shorter alternatives to "staying up-to-date"

text: Is this kind of bad foreign English or it would be correct to say "to keep yourself up-to-date"/"informed" when subscribing, e.g., a twitter or a RSS feed? Is there a single verb/adjective/shorter synonym for saying your knowledge is constantly updated/on a current level? Is there anything suited for keyword/tag usage?


title: Word for an Origin and Destination without regard for route

text: I'm looking for a word that describes an origin and destination, regardless of the route taken. The words I've come up with so far, route, trip, travel, etc. all imply a specific set of directions. To clarify: I'm interested in a noun that describes a set of two points, one of which is an origin, and the other a destination. It does not care about how, or even if, the travel is made. Additional clarification: The motivation for the question is the naming of a software class. This class holds information about traveling one point to another. Those travels can occur along multiple routes (another class), hence the desire for a path-agnostic noun. Despite the original motivation, I am now very curious for a word to describe this, regardless of the software development context. The best I've found so far is 'commute.' As a thought... I'd imagine the airline industry must have a term for this. Travel from Hong Kong to New York - one route may have a layover, another may be direct, though the origin and destination are the same.


title: Can you "empower" a goal rather than a person?

text: I want to write: "...to empower individual health." However, I can't think of examples where "empower" takes a direct object that is not a person. You can empower a person, but can you empower a goal? If not, what other verbs would get the message across while using this syntactic structure?


title: "Painful" vs. "hurtful"

text: Can _painful_ be used in place of _hurtful_ as in the following sentence ? > It is a painful story of a small baby fish I would not like to share with > anyone.


title: Is there a schwa in the middle of Coleridge?

text: How many syllables are in the name Coleridge - two or three? I.e. is it [koʊləɹɪdʒ] or [koʊlɹɪdʒ]?


title: What is the meaning of "pur sang"?

text: In the closing of an English L&U question, one of our users, Cerberus, used what I'm sure is a marvelous construction full of history, _pur sang_ , as in: > "...he is trying to argue here why it should mean something other than it > does, which is argumentative pur sang." Now I know "sang" means blood in Latin, and "pur" probably means "in order to" or something, but I don't get the feel of this phrase by breaking it down into its constituents. What does _pur sang_ mean in this context? Is there a particularly famous literary usage?


title: What do the letters ï and ô mean?

text: > **Possible Duplicate:**   >  What is the distinction between “role” and “role” [with a circumflex]?   >  What is the significance of the “ô” character in “rôle” in this work?   >  What is the standard rule for using or not using hyphen and diaeresis on > the words like reelect , reexamine, and cooperate?   >  “Whereäs” as an alternative spelling of “whereas” In an English science book written by an American, I saw some questionable spellings:   * _rôle_ , with a circumflex accent ( **^** ) over the _o_ ;   * _coïncidence_ , with a diaeresis ( **¨** ) over the first _i_ but not the second. Can anyone explain this? I am not a native speaker and don’t understand this culture.


title: Is 'used to' describing something changed?

text: I'm an English learner but I found that here are different ideas on "used to" among others and me. I think 'used to' is used to describe something changed now. > I used to be afraid of snakes. (But now I am not.) But others think I'm wrong. > I used to be afraid of snakes. (Don't know how is the speaker feeling now.) I am not sure I'm correct or wrong. Could someone explain it?


title: Word coined to describe the phenomenon of using an oft-repeated rhetoric to shut down a discussion or debate

text: Some time ago I read about a word that was coined to describe when someone uses a "common sense" style rhetoric to attempt to stifle or shut down further discussion on a topic, but I cannot recall what that word was.


title: What is the Adjective form of Tuba

text: If "xylophonic" is the adjective form of "xylophone", what is the adjective form of Tuba?


title: What is the meaning of "if only as"?

text: I can only intuitively grasp the meaning and usage of "if only as". It seems related to "if only" at this other question: What does "if only" mean? However I don't feel they're quite the same. Hence I would like to know the meaning of "if only as", and whether an how it's related to "if only".


title: What does "My duh on" mean?

text: What does "My duh on X" mean? Does it mean "I like X" or "I don't like X" or something else? What does "duh" mean in general?


title: I was wondering whether it is acceptable to put the adverb “rudely” in the following three places in this sentence

text: sentence: The man looked at me. 1 The man looked at me rudely. 2 The man rudely looked at me. 3 The man looked rudely at me.


title: Why does Germany's English name differ from its German name?

text: Germany in German is Deutschland and the language is Deutsch. I'm used to words being anglicized, but why is there a complete replacement in this case?


title: High School learning address

text: I must insert in my curriculum my high school studies. Well, nothing bad with this,unless for a small thing. I attended High School in Italy, My school was not a technical school but what we call a "Liceo", an institution made for those one who wants to continue studying after graduation. In Italy every school has many learning courses, let's call them in this way. For example, in Italy, in my school, I could choose among this possibilities:   * A normal course   * A 2 years intensive math and physics + 3 years philosophy and physics course   * A special course with no Latin language to be studied I am calling them courses but in Italian they are called "Indirizzi di studio", verbatim they are "Study addresses". How would you refer to them in English?


title: What's the difference between "aim" and "ambition"?

text: What's the difference between _aim_ and _ambition_? In my opinion, it is that we _aim_ towards the _ambition_ , so ambition would be a far thing and aim would be a way towards getting it. Is that correct?


title: "To kill a fly with a..."?

text: I seem to recall that there is an expression for when you are throwing something too big at a particular challenge: "To kill a fly with a..."? Or am I way off here? **Edit:** maybe it's not a fly after all? I found this article talking about 'Using a sledgehammer to crack a nut'.


title: What are the differences between 'offer', 'propose', and 'suggest'?

text: What are the differences between _offer_ , _propose_ , and _suggest_?


title: Integrating quotes from a short story into an essay for better flow

text: I am working on Freytag Pyramid and wish to integrate a direct quote from the text with my sentences. Example Original Text:               There was a white horse spreading its wings of fury over the horizon.      Integration (1):               One thing it liked to do was to "[spread] its wings of fury".      Are ellipses needed at the beginning and end of the quote? Integration (2):               One thing it liked to do was to "[spread] its wings of fury over the horizon".      Can the period be omitted inside the quote? As for providing a source of the quote in the text, I would do something like this               In second paragraph, the protagonist states that she "was unhappy with her social status".      Is there a much more elegant way to cite the source of the quote in the text, so I won't have to include `In the second paragraph, the protagonist states...`?


Does this sentence have too many subjunctives? > If it **please** the king, let it **be** decreed that they **be** destroyed, > and I will pay 10,000 talents of silver into the hands of those who have > charge of the king's business, **that** they may put it into the king's > treasuries. I am stumped by this sentence construction. First, there is "Let it be," which is a common English idiomatic phrase, but then it follows another subjunctive. Is that to say you can actually have a subjunctive followed by another subjunctive? Also, why does the sentence use "please"? If that's the subjunctive tense there, then why is it followed by another subjunctive instead of a conditional, or maybe "Let it be" _is_ the conditional? Lastly, I wish to know how the _that_ is used in the sentence. Perhaps, the simplified sentence can be restated like so: > Let it be decreed that they be destroyed and that they may put it into the > king's treasuries. If not, maybe the simplified sentence can be restated like so: > I will pay [insert direct object here] so that they may put it [insert > prepositional phrase here]. Maybe the "so" word is eliminated and replaced by a comma? For reference, this lengthy sentence comes from the Esther 3:9 (English Standard Version of the Holy Bible).


title: What does “I don’t think God’s through with me,” mean?

text: In addition to the comment, “I don’t have to go any further than the mirror. It’s me and me alone,” I was interested to find another repentant phrase, “I don’t think God’s through with me,” in John Edwards' remark after coming out of the courthouse that judged his campaign fraud trial. In May 2nd New York Times article titled, “Mr. Edwards and the Shrimp," "Edwards thanked the jurors for acquitting him of one count of campaign finance violations and failing to come to a decision on the other five. “ _I don’t think God’s through with me_ ,” he added. - - Although Edwards was _appropriately vague about what he thought God had in mind._ He did say he hoped to do something to help children “in the poorest parts of this country.” As the writer says “Edwards was ‘ _appropriately vague’_ about what he thought God had in mind,” I’m not clear with what is exactly meant by “I don’t think God’s through with me.” OALD defines “through with sth /sb” as “Especially AmE. Used to show that you have finished using something or have ended a relationship with somebody.” So I guess “God’s through with me” means (he didn't think) “God abandoned (him),” but I'm not sure of. Although OALD says it’s especially American, is “ _God’s through with me_ (us, them)” well-accepted in English speaking countries other than America? Can I say “Voters are through with the candidate,” “It looks my boss is through with me,” “I heard she is through with her husband”?


title: Is 'compatriate' really an English word?

text: I recently saw the word 'compatriate' used in a newspaper article. Upon looking it up, suspecting a typo (or even an eggcorn: it is easy to see how _compatriot_ would be mixed-up with _expatriate_ etc.), I was surprised to see Wiktionary vouch for the word with the sole explanation: "Alternative spelling of compatriot". However, not only did my googling yield extremely few credible uses of this spelling, none of the dictionaries I have access to have ever heard of it: both dictionary.com and Merriam Webster do not return anything. While I don't want to cast unfair aspersions on Wiktionary's reliability, I find it slightly suspicious that no other online sources mention this spelling... And if it _is_ an acceptable spelling, I would love to know what is its relation to the main spelling and whether it is tied to particular regional or historical practices.


title: Is this comma necessary?

text: I am writing a poem about a coach. Is this comma necessary? > Without doubt, one of the best!


title: "Certify" vs. "certificate"

text: As verbs, what are the differences and relation between _certify_ and _certificate_? For example, in human resources, why is it _effort certify_ not _effort certificate_?


title: Word for arms "outstretched, overhead, in y-shape"?

text: Just as "arms akimbo" has a very specific meaning, is there an "arms __" that specifically means what I described in the title?


title: What does a sentence like "Little if......but...." mean?

text: I've read it in a news report, " **Little if** any news will be released during the event(China reform summit), **but** official news agency Xinhua traditionally issues a dispatch on the last day." Well, I guess I know what every character means, but I still don't get the idea. The whole report: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia- pacific/2013/11/china-communist-party-kicks-off-reform- summit-201311983528568573.html The sentence is in the forth paragraph.


title: "There's a bear here"- is there a better way to say it?

text: It is very common for people to say something like "There's a bear here". However, I don't think that this is correct, because a bear cannot be both "there" and "here" at the same time (barring any creative physics concepts). Is there some better way to say it? "Here's a bear" sounds like I'm presenting a bear as a gift.


title: Etymology of "Sort"

text: Did the English word _sort_ originate from the French word _sort_? e.g., _sortie_. Whereas, in French its meaning derives to _out_ , _exit_ , _going out_. How did it end up in English to mean _category_ , _class/type_ , _arrangement_ , _manner/pattern_?


Is it correct to say "I found the map" or "I have found the map"?


title: What exactly does "already" mean when used in the imperative mood?

text: This is a question about American English usage of the word "already". As a UK resident I don't completely understand when I hear Americans give commands like "Stop it already!" In the UK the word already is not normally used in the imperative mood and the sentence I've just quoted would leave an English person thinking "If you're saying I've already stopped it why are you asking me to stop it again?"


title: Usage of "p." versus "pp." versus "pg." to denote page numbers and page ranges

text: At the risk of saying something foolish, I won't attempt to answer the question myself. I understand that all three synchronically more or less equivalent and substitutable, but it would be quite nice to know the traditional usage notes on the abbreviations.


title: What is a more eloquent way to say "I hope I'm not asking too much"?

text: I've been emailing back and forth with another professional who has been very generous in sharing a workflow developed at their institution. This professional has gone to great lengths to answer my questions. Given that he has no obligation to answer my questions, I'm starting to feel that I'm overstepping boundaries by asking for more details that would require a higher level of investment for him to answer. I feel that "I hope I'm not asking too much" is cliche at this point in the discussion. What would be a more sincere way to communicate that the effort is appreciated and helpful, and then follow up with another request while making it clear that he has no obligation to reply. It may also be helpful to note that this would be the last question.


title: Why is "pull my finger" a joke?

text: I've heard of this joke in the TV show "Friends" several times, and I don't understand why it's funny. Could someone give me a hint? It's hard to get Chandler's joke for non-English speakers.


title: What word is used to describe an event that will never occur?

text: If an event happens a lot in a small window of time, it is considered frequent. If it does not, it is considered rare. What about a _possible_ event that has never happened and which is expected never to happen? What word would describe the frequency of that event? For example how would you answer this question: "How often does a nuclear war occur in your lifetime?"


title: An alternative word for "lest"

text: Reading a book from 1995, I encountered the word _lest_ in the proof of a theorem. I had not seen it in about twenty years of reading and working on mathematical contexts. Is this word used nowadays? Babylon suggested to use "against the possibility" instead of it but I found it very easy and beautiful. Did this online software suggest me correctly?


title: What is a good word for the object under review?

text: Is there a good general term for "the thing that is being reviewed"?   * The activity is _reviewing_   * The product is a _review_   * The person conducting doing it is the _reviewer_   * The object being reviewed is _?_ The closest I've come up with is _specimen_ , but that is more the subject of scientific scrutiny. I could use a more general term like _subject_ but I would have to prefix it to make the context clear (e.g. _review subject_ ).