Generate the answer for a given question. The question requires common knowledge of English. Make sure that the answer is in detail, long, consistent with the context, and requires general knowledge of English. To be less repetitive, please vary your language for each question. Give a proper explanation to answer, and if necessary, provide the definition of various terms. And conclude your answer if it's long. If you have used other resources (e.g., Merriam Webster's.) to answer the question, include citations in your answer. You don't need to paraphrase the context of your resources, but make sure that your answer is consistent and complete.
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Question: I am writing a technical thesis and find myself using the word the an awful lot. Here are some examples (I spare the technical gibberish): The main purpose of the presented applications is to visualize roses in space. The user can run around and experience the roses from different angles. The position of the roses can be stored in the ROS-fileformat. I tried to ask Google, but it filters out the main word the, which makes it impossible to find anything.

Answer: Perhaps use the indefinite article 'a' sometimes instead? Or refer to things in general (or plural) or as mass nouns, so you avoid articles (see the first point here, and see this guide to how you can use nouns without articles). The main purpose of the presented applications is to visualize roses in space. A user can run around and experience the roses from different angles. And clauses to promote flow without always referring to a subject immediately: The main purpose of the presented applications is to visualize roses in space. By running around, a user can experience roses from different angles. Positions of the roses can be stored in ROS-file formats.


Question: How do I say all sensitive information has been obscured, what is the correct word? For context this is data that contains encrypted passwords. While these are difficult to get meaningful info from, there is still enough information to get a password from this given enough time and effort. What I refer to is the password field replaced with '******' No information left.

Answer: The correct word is redacted. From dictionary.com: Redact - to hide or remove (confidential parts of a text) before publication or distribution, or to examine (a text) for this purpose: My example (edited): 'Here is the document. We have censored classified information, replacing it with black boxes. The redacted information is only available to certain individuals.'


Question: In English-speaking TV shows, characters sometimes say something similar to dips to say to other people they are taking something for themselves before others do. Neither Google, Wiktionary or Urban Dictionary give positive results for this so the word may be misspelled. What is the word and what is its origin?.

Answer:
The word you're hearing is actually dibs: 2: claim, rights // I have dibs on that piece of cake Etymonline says it's a children's word to express a claim on something, 1915, originally U.S., apparently from earlier senses 'a portion or share' and 'money' (early 19c. colloquial), probably a contraction of dibstone 'a knuckle-bone or jack in a children's game' (1690s), in which the first element is of unknown origin. The game consisted of tossing up small pebbles or the knuckle-bones of a sheep and catching them alternately with the palm and the back of the hand.