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.

[Q]: Possible Duplicate: Why don't we use the indefinite article with 'software'? In France I have always been told that saying 'a software' is not correct English (as a nominal compound), and that 'a piece of software' or 'a software program/package/product/system' must be used instead. Recently I have doubts... is there any case where it is actually correct? Examples found on the Internet: SalsaJ, a software for data analysis at school So if you sold a software which required your customer to pay a monthly fee, [...].
[A]: No, this is always wrong. Both examples you provide contain incorrect usage of the term 'software.' (A mistake is still a mistake even if many people make it.) However, there might be special cases where you'd see the article preceding software. For example: A software solution would be better for the problem than a hardware one. The indefinite article 'a' modifies 'solution', not 'software', in this case in spite of preceding 'software' in this case.


[Q]: Maybe this question is too simple for this site, and I should post it on the english-learners-site, but I will give it a try. Lets say we have 3 scenarios: A person who hates all followers of a specific religion, no matter what their background is, but otherwise likes people of all skin colors and origin countries who are not followers of a specific religion. A person who hates all people with a specific skin color, no matter what their background is, but otherwise likes followers of all religions and origin countries who do not have a specific skin color. A person who hates all people from a specific country, no matter what their background is, but otherwise likes followers of all religions and all skin colors who are not from a specific country. 'Hates' in this context means believing they are worthless, being prejudiced against them, generally discriminating against them, bad behaviour against them, and disliking them. 'likes' just means the opposite of my explanation above. So, based on this definition of the word racist: The belief that race accounts for differences in human character or ability and that a particular race is superior to others. Discrimination or prejudice based on race. Would you use the word racist to describe the person in all of the 3 examples I gave? Or are there better fitting words for specific forms of discrimination? Particularly for the first scenario (religion specific racism). I am looking for a better word to describe such a person. Religion is independent from race, and I am not sure if only country of origin is enough to relate to a specific race so that the word racist could fit here. Skin color is more obvious, but there could also be some discussion if a specific skin color already suffices to assign something to a specific race. (I am not a native english speaker, so sorry for any mistakes and if this is obvious for native speakers.) Edit: This question may be related to this Question and this Question, but I dont see it as a duplicate at all, because there are various different aspects in the question and answers. Also i could not find the questions by search before i wrote my question, maybe some of the answers and aspects are similar, but the questions itself are different in my opinion. But that is only my opinion, feel free to close this, if you think they are too similar. I got some useful answers already, so I dont insist to keep this open. I will accept the answer with most votes at the weekend, so the community decides which answer fits best.
[A]: Bigot is the term that you're looking for. bigot: a person who strongly and unfairly dislikes other people, ideas, etc.; especially: a person who hates or refuses to accept the members of a particular group (such as a racial or religious group) - (Merriam-Webster)


[Q]: Suppose I tell something to my companion and I want to make sure he understands me. I thought I may simply ask 'Do you understand me?'. But recently I heard that in such cases I should ask 'Does that make sense?' instead. Is this true? Which option is appropriate to use in business communication?.
[A]:
'Do you understand me?' slightly carries the implication that it is your fault if you do not understand. 'Does it make sense?' carries the implication that it is my fault if you do not understand. So politeness suggests that the latter is better.