Choosing the best phrase for a particular context or meaning.
1
vote
2answers
37 views
Which is the correct expression for say that I have two items of three possibilities?
Which is the correct expression for say that I have two items of three possibilities?
Two of three?
Two out of three?
Other?
3
votes
1answer
77 views
Can “Call it a career” be applied only to celebrities and successful people?
I saw the idiom, “Call it a career” in the article of New York times (May 12) announcing Barbara Waters’ planned retirement in 2014:
...
2
votes
1answer
86 views
“To go so far as to” — suitable for academic writing?
Is using the phrase "to go so far as to" in an academic context (e.g. in an article in humanities journal) acceptable?
New Example:
I do not know why Mister X went so far as to assert that Mister ...
1
vote
0answers
29 views
How to express this idea on formal occasions [closed]
everyone.
I was making an application for iPad.
It's a music game that you can record and play your tracks by touch the virtual piano keyboard on screen.But in the manage view,i want to remind the ...
3
votes
1answer
63 views
If I go to a Language School, do I go to school?
My friend, aged 21, has just started taking classes at a language school, and will shortly be doing 4 hours each weekday there. It feels very odd to be saying "How's school going?" – we finished ...
0
votes
4answers
66 views
Failing sometimes for unknown reason
Context: I have an automated test that sometimes fails for unknown reason. It's a sort of false positive: the feature it tests is not broken. Most of the time, either it succeeds or fails for right ...
0
votes
1answer
195 views
“Trust arrives walking and departs riding.”
That is the translation (provided by Wikiquote) of the Dutch proverb "Vertrouwen komt te voet en vertrekt te paard." I don't like this translation very much for conversational use. It doesn't "feel" ...
2
votes
5answers
121 views
Expression for “resource paralysis” - can't do anything because you have too much?
Is there any word, expression or proverb for the condition or state where you can't do anything because you have too much? I have heard a professor of English refer to this as "resource paralysis" ...
0
votes
3answers
98 views
Expression for “pulling out something from the past”
I am looking for an expression (proverb / idiom) meaning "pulling out something from the past" in disapproval.
An example of this would be: somebody mentioning a thing of the past, which is not ...
-1
votes
2answers
56 views
Which “one” should I use?
I'm having a hard time picking between
These are one of the foundations of....
and
These are ones of the foundations of..
Or is there a more idiomatic way to express it?
0
votes
1answer
58 views
Can “the fact that X” imply “X is a fact”? [closed]
A: How do I know if my professor is good?
B: Do you understand what he says?
A: Yes, but that might be because I'm a natural genius, and not
necessarily the fact that he is good at ...
1
vote
1answer
273 views
“Take the role” vs. “take over the role” vs. “take on the role”
Is there a significant difference between the three expressions, or can they be used interchangeably?
I'm trying to say that a colleague of mine succeeded to another after the latter had quit his ...
3
votes
5answers
156 views
Short expression for “If you are not 100% convinced yet, this last thing will seal the deal”
I'm writing a LinkedIn recommendation for a colleague of mine. I praised his abilities far and wide; now I would like to throw in one last (ironic and informal) punch line to top it all off.
Here is ...
-1
votes
2answers
85 views
Do you “program with language X” or “program using language X” or something else?
What is the correct way of saying the following sentences (python is the name of the language and numpy is one of the libraries):
I made this program with Python using numpy library.
I program ...
3
votes
3answers
139 views
How to describe “choose to do something by one's own willing”
For example, there is a course (say French course), for students in a college. The students can take it, but they don't have to. Someone, who is not a student in that college, thinks that this course ...
3
votes
3answers
154 views
What's the act of darkening windows to disallow visibility?
What's the word to describe the act of darkening windows to disallow visibility from outside yet visibility from inside to outside is possible?
I was thinking of tinting, to tint a window, but ...
2
votes
4answers
235 views
How can I rephrase “enough rope to shoot yourself in the foot”?
Some time ago I have a read a very famous book of Allen I. Holub "Enough rope to shoot yourself in the foot" (this book on openlibrary.org). I have read it in Russian and the book was titled with ...
2
votes
6answers
327 views
How can I say “not any time soon, but it won't take a long time either”?
I was writing an email to a client about a feature we plan to eventually release, maybe in a couple months, but they want some of the functionality now. I initially wrote:
If there's something ...
3
votes
2answers
70 views
Question mark with your hands [closed]
How do you call a gesture of spreading one's hands and turning them palms up to suggest a question?
As in "what did you just do, man? That was so weird that left me speechless, so I had to raise my ...
-1
votes
1answer
140 views
Is “come again” an absolute slang? [closed]
I am not a native English speaker and use the expression "come again" in various forms such as "Come again, please" or "Can you come again?". I consider it to be a general expression which can also be ...
21
votes
6answers
1k views
Are “Fish in a barrel” and “Sitting ducks” similar?
Do the phrases "Fish in a barrel" and "Sitting ducks" convey the same thing?
In my opinion, they have the same tone and express something to be an easy target.
Eg: Out there, they are just fish in ...
2
votes
1answer
111 views
Why is it “the worst round one care to remember”?
I am interested in the usage of “care to infinitive verb” in the following sentence in Jeffery Archer’s fiction, “Kane & Abel”:
“By the time they reached the eighteenth, Alan was eight holes ...
8
votes
10answers
598 views
“You get what you deserve nothing more nothing less”
In this world we reside, what we acquire depends on what we can acquire. In other words, if we have the money to, we can buy a house; if we have the necessary educational qualifications to, we can get ...
2
votes
3answers
161 views
Alternative expression for saying “piece of someone's mind”
Sentence example:
I am really upset and frustrated with one of my friends. So when I meet him next time around I will definitely not hold myself back and give him a piece of my mind.
What ...
0
votes
4answers
278 views
The difference between using a comma or a full stop
What's the difference between "I see, I see" and "I see. I see"? Can one use a comma in between?
The first sentence could be used in formal writing, right?
What about this one: "My house, my rules" ...
2
votes
3answers
197 views
Colloquial expression for something working very fast?
I am looking for an expression as an alternative to fast in the following expression:
Ever since they have constructed flyover/overbridge, traffic has been very fast.
My laptop has been super ...
39
votes
12answers
3k views
What's the English equivalent of the Japanese saying, “A fart ruins 100 days of sermons by the priest (bishop)”?
I was amused by the expression "Paid a penny and only farted" (related by @FumbleFingers), which suggested a similar Japanese saying: 大山鳴動鼠一匹 - "Find only a small mouse coming out after hearing ...
0
votes
3answers
104 views
“in response to” vs “for response to”?
"I am writing in response to your mail."
What does it mean by "in" in this sentence?
Is "I am writing for response to your mail." acceptable?
0
votes
0answers
96 views
What is the best way to say [closed]
What is the best way to say "A new person to remember birthday in my life"?
To show excitement on a baby's birth.
12
votes
6answers
1k views
Expression for someone who doesn't like to eat
Is there an expression for a person who eats very little, doesn't like eating, avoids it?
I don't mean the medical condition of anorexia, I mean a common preference, like kids who need a lot of ...
2
votes
3answers
260 views
What is a common English expression for when you were very tired or out of it and said something extremely stupid?
I kept thinking of "spazzing out" but that doesn't quite seem to be it. An example is when you're very tired and kind of dozing off and you say something or ask a question that is incredibly stupid ...
3
votes
2answers
433 views
Shut your mouth
I’m confused regarding these expressions:
Shut up
Shut your mouth
Shut your mouth up
Shut up your mouth
After some research, I’ve come to believe they are all correct except “Shut ...
2
votes
3answers
102 views
Is “optimization to” correct phrasing?
I have this sentence in my bachelor's thesis:
After a paragraph describing an accommodation subprocess (set of activities)...
Basically, there are two potential optimizations to this ...
0
votes
3answers
383 views
How to use 'both due to' in a sentence? [closed]
I'm a non-native speaker and I'm having trouble using both due to in a sentence.
I want to describe a certain thing, let's say 'A', is a result of two processes, 'B' and 'C'.
I remembered a friend ...
-1
votes
2answers
175 views
What do you call/describe these windows/pages and things within these windows/pages?
When using the computer and surfing the net, you often come across these windows/pop-up windows, and pages where you need to or are asked to fill in blanks, check boxes, select items from drop-down ...
5
votes
3answers
343 views
What is the behavior where one closes their nose with their lips to elude foul odour called?
I have seen this question, and it is not exactly what I'm asking. Sometimes people (most especially in developing countries) raise the tip of their lips to cover their nose when a foul odour is sensed ...
10
votes
4answers
432 views
Who is that for?
Showing a baby bottle to my son I ask him "Who's that for?", obviously waiting for a "That's for me!" answer (which turns out to be just "Me!")
But I am not a native speaker and I kind of translate ...
0
votes
1answer
578 views
“More precisely” usage [closed]
After describing a certain issue in a more general manner I want to outline the inner details of it. Is it correct to start the paragraph whose purpose it is to give to the reader the detailed ...
2
votes
3answers
504 views
On the difference between “noun + infinitive” and “noun + present participle”
Infinitive and present participle can be used to modify the noun:
Infinitive:
I had no time to read those books.
Present participle:
There should be a law banning abortion.
In (1), ...
0
votes
2answers
128 views
Is there a difference between “to go forth” and “to go further”? [closed]
Last week I studied with some friends at college and after a short break, I decided to proceed with the exercises.
I said "Well, let's go further." and one guy (native american) said "Okay then. ...
1
vote
3answers
104 views
How do I reexamine for the first time?
I'm about to examine something. This something has been examined before by somebody else.
How do I say in one word (or more) that I'm about to examine this something for the first time, but it is not ...
1
vote
2answers
88 views
From the statistics point of view, does an estimator may have a bias or it may be biased?
Will it be correct to state that a statistical estimator may be biased, or that I must state that the above estimator may have a bias?
Is it acceptable to add the /-ed/ to the word bias in the above ...
3
votes
1answer
298 views
Used since sometime in the past until now (and still continuing)
How can I express that something has been used for a while and is still being used?
…used a xyz system that has been in daily use for several years.
I'm not sure whether this expresses that the ...
0
votes
2answers
249 views
What is the best way to say that something was done in teamwork?
In my resume, I'm describing several projects I've worked on in the past. Most
of them were done in teamwork. What is the best way to say this?
Examples:
Together with XY, I built ... OR
In ...
0
votes
1answer
170 views
what do you say when someone is at your door? [closed]
When a mail man knock at the door, I was sleeping. I was going to put on my clothes, then open the door. Then I said: "coming". I suddenly felt like it was "come in".
So what do you say when you want ...
4
votes
5answers
251 views
Synonym or equal phrase to “merely philosophical”
When something is bound to be of little substance, or the discussion of it surely only giving rise to opinion or sophistry, sometimes the phrase "merely philosophical" is used.
In this article I'm ...
1
vote
3answers
656 views
“I'm proud that you are my father”
A friend wrote this as a tribute to her father for his birthday:
I'm proud that you are my father
I am not a native speaker either, but it to me it sounds like "you are the father of someone ...
2
votes
2answers
386 views
Expression that means “as soon as something is finished”
I am looking for an expression that means "right after finishing something, start something". For some reason, the words "fresh off the heels" keep springing up but I googled them and it's not an ...
2
votes
2answers
177 views
Almost half a dozen [closed]
I understand, dozen may be more comfortable than twelve in speech.
I can understand using over a dozen or almost a dozen These imply rough measurement of the count, maybe ten, maybe eleven, or maybe ...
1
vote
4answers
114 views
“This is the most important harvest I have received from this project”
I was wondering if it is fine to write
From this project, I have learned [blah blah], and this is the most
important harvest I have received from this project.
What is a better metaphor or ...
