A phrase is a group of words that make a unit of syntax with a single grammatical function.
2
votes
3answers
137 views
Phrase help for do's and don'ts
While I am writing some health tips, I used a phrase do's and don'ts, in describing my activities. I wonder, if there is any equivalent word to do's and don'ts. I believe this phrase is archaic. Are ...
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
1answer
96 views
Does “safety level” mean the same thing as “level of safety”?
Does "safety level" mean the same thing as "level of safety"?
I suspect that the former is used as a technical term, with exact definitions of different safety levels. This would be similar to ...
1
vote
1answer
276 views
Idiom for “The solution for the problem is the cause itself”
Is there an idiom or phrase which means:
The solution for the problem is the cause itself.
I was thinking of
Use the snake to suck out the venom
which, I'm unsure, is a valid phrase.
0
votes
2answers
82 views
Content Performance [closed]
What is a right word to describe Content/Performance? It is about best and effective content that form a complete artefact.
The example text as below:
5.4.1 Content/Performance
This is about a ...
2
votes
1answer
189 views
Push somebody over the edge
From TheFreeDictionary, pushing somebody over the edge is defined as:
If an unpleasant event pushes someone over the edge, it makes them start to behave in a crazy way.
Can crazy here be to ...
0
votes
3answers
380 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 ...
3
votes
4answers
108 views
Can we use “off-chance” in a scientific paper?
In an article that I'm writing, I would like to say that some special ideas are at a disadvantage concerning their consistency in producing results. In other words, we use those approaches in the hope ...
2
votes
2answers
73 views
How do you define broke and broke into?
How do you define broke and broke into here?
OP: "If you're not making six figures by the time you're 40, you fail at life."
P1: "whew... I just made it... broke into 6 figures at 39."
P2: "I broke ...
5
votes
5answers
152 views
Phrase which describes falsely improving something
Is there an aphorism or proverb in English which describes attempting to improve something fundamentally flawed by dressing it with a lot of ornament?
0
votes
5answers
648 views
term for people who lack empathy, bikeshed, are overly idealistic, impractical
This might be a long shot, but here goes.
I work in internet technology and often encounter (virtually and some times physically) people with the following characteristics. Is there a term or phrase ...
-1
votes
1answer
246 views
“No problem” or “no problems”? [closed]
I study English and I ran into a problem.
What version is correct:
"no problem" or "no problems"?
P.S. Is "ran into a problem" correct?
P.P.S. Is version correct word for this situation? May be ...
1
vote
1answer
143 views
Etymology of “What could (possibly) go wrong?”
What is the (likely) origin of the popular usage of the phase "What could go wrong?" or "What could possibly go wrong?" as a theatrical plot device or ironic commentary? Does this usage pre-date or ...
-1
votes
1answer
131 views
What does “take subject to” mean?
I read it as part of a case [1] Judgment; used as follows:
1.)
If the creditor bank has notice, actual or constructive, of the undue
influence exercised by the husband (and consequentially of ...
1
vote
4answers
182 views
phrase to mean “giving the exact answer” [closed]
I was having a coversation and part of the conversation, the person asked me which part of the world I was from, and I answered him exactly "the western hemisphere". Then I asked him the same question ...
2
votes
4answers
712 views
Alternative to “as-well-as” for an academic paper
Is there some better alternative to phrase as well as for an academic writing? It sounds to me too informal.
The whole sentence is:
Improvements of both parts are possible as well as joining ...
-2
votes
1answer
79 views
What is the meaning “borderline cuckoo” [closed]
Please read below excerpt from "Revolution 2020" by "Chetan Bhagat"
I didn't give a fuck about Raghav anymore, He had anyway become borderline cuckoo, with his pink- newspaper. Aarti deserved ...
0
votes
0answers
27 views
Pre-design, design and post-design [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
If ‘pre’ is previous, ‘post’ is after, what is current?
Pre-design, design and post-design.
What is the right word that describes during the design (design that is ...
2
votes
2answers
163 views
What is the meaning of “dumbly eloquent”?
Please go through this excerpt from "The Story of My Life" by Helen Keller:
The hands of those I meet are dumbly eloquent to me. The touch of some hands is an impertinence. I have met people so ...
4
votes
2answers
876 views
Is “No offense meant (taken)” well-accepted English expression?
I’ve seen the phrase “No offense taken” in the answers to the comments in EL&U site.
None of online Cambridge, Oxford and Merriam-Webster dictionary registers this usage, nor does Google Ngram.
...
1
vote
2answers
120 views
What does one's status being “less a blank check than an equation with multiple variables” mean?
There is the following line in a December 8 New York Times article titled “Clinton’s countless choices hinge on one: 2016”:
“But being Hillary Clinton is never a simple matter, and her next few
...
-1
votes
1answer
59 views
Wondering if there is a word for “Incompletely defined”? [closed]
No big deal if there does not exist such a word, but I was wondering.
0
votes
2answers
272 views
What is the courteous alternative of “Do you understand what I say?”? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
“Does it make sense?” or “Do you understand me?”?
"Do you get me?", "Do you get my point?", etc?
What is the courteous alternative of "Do you understand what I say?"?
1
vote
4answers
153 views
A prediction made in the past that affects something we will do in the future
Please ignore the factual accuracy of this sentence and focus on the tenses used.
If the Mayans were wrong to end the calendar on Dec. 20, 2012, we'll use your donation to fund 2013 programming.
...
-3
votes
1answer
96 views
What is meaning of “Sulking though”? [closed]
The background story is as follows. Author flunked engineering entrance exam. He took tuitions by paying hefty fee from his father pockets in order to crack the exam. How ever he flunked again. After ...
5
votes
4answers
250 views
What’s the difference between “Take yes for an answer” and “Say yes for an answer”?
Today’s (December 7) Washington Post carries the following quote from the Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s remark on the back-and-forth debates of raising the debt ceiling in the congress as the ...
3
votes
3answers
318 views
Is “Something in the sand” a popular English phrase?
I’m interested in the line, “Raising tax rates on the wealthy is Obama’s line in the sand” in the following lead-copy of Washington Post’s (December 4) article titled “President Obama’s tough time ...
-1
votes
1answer
938 views
Phrase “I am off to …” [closed]
"I am off to Prague". What does it mean? Could you explain this phrase in another words?
5
votes
4answers
244 views
What is the meaning of the phrase “we-find-each-other's-lame-jokes-funny vibe”?
I learned the specified phrase from the book "Revolution 2020" by "Chetan Bhagath".
I didn't like the we-find-each-other's-lame-jokes-funny vibe between Raghav and Aarti
What is the meaning of ...
2
votes
3answers
111 views
What is the meaning of “divinity that hedges sublimest woe”?
I found the above phrase in the book "The story of my life" by Helen Keller. The actual sentence is below.
It has been my privilege to meet a few great actors and actress who have the power of so ...
1
vote
2answers
509 views
Is there such a thing as an idiom thesaurus that delivers synonym phrases? [closed]
Is there a resource that anyone knows of that is the equivalent of a number of phrases that mean the same thing? Perhaps called a "phrase thesaurus" or "idiom thesaurus" or "phrase synonyms" for ...
4
votes
3answers
343 views
Bless your heart
Is "bless your heart" something only used by old women in the South (all I've ever heard)? Or is it ever appropriate for a man to use it without seeming unmanly? Does the term always have ...
1
vote
6answers
256 views
Is there another way of saying “I lost my train of thought”? [closed]
I am an ESL learning and I use the idiom "I lost my train of thought" quite often. Recently, I think that it is sort of redundant to use it several times when I talk to my friends.
I am curious that ...
1
vote
3answers
403 views
Meaning of “saved my sanity” [closed]
What is the meaning of the phrase saved my sanity?
I attempted another sip and winced. He smiled and poured more water in my drink to dilute it. It ruined the scotch but saved my sanity.
The ...
4
votes
1answer
99 views
Meaning of “there are many and several” [closed]
What does the phrase "there are many and several" mean?
...which represent the highest quality properties in the market of which there are many and several.
3
votes
2answers
226 views
Meaning of “Spoil Yourself Silly on a Shoestring”
What does Spoil Yourself Silly on a Shoestring mean? It is the title of a chapter of the book I'm reading.
3
votes
1answer
141 views
What is the present participle of “stop, drop, and roll”?
In a verb phrase, such as stop, drop, and roll, how do I conjugate this in the present participle? Stopping, dropping, and rolling? Stop, drop, and rolling?
2
votes
4answers
1k views
Usage of “in contrast”
I want to explain something in the first sentence and then say some opposite thing in the second sentence. I thought, I could use the phrase in contrast to make the flow of a paragraph.
For example:
...
5
votes
1answer
102 views
What is the exact meaning of the phrase “Cataract of rippling notes”?
I am reading the book "The story of my life" by Helen Keller. Many of the words, idioms and phrases are unfamiliar to me.
I have come across the phrase "Cataract of rippling notes". What does it ...
-2
votes
2answers
82 views
'Sit on your left' or 'sit to your left' or 'sit on to your left' etc [closed]
Which one of the following is correct. There are pairs of chairs in a classroom and one wish to say that students should sit in the left-hand side chair, leaving the right-hand side chair empty.
...
-2
votes
2answers
120 views
As or due to give same meaning? [closed]
Does as or due to give same meaning? I have written some example case
As the reference data is available with a leading company and
difficulty of making own reference data, the overall ...
-2
votes
1answer
94 views
usage of “lead to”
If I want to use lead to, does it always need to use being as shown below.
less number of points lead to missing edges being occurred, are
recognized using proximity analysis.
0
votes
2answers
73 views
“Ignored for deletion” [closed]
Is the phrase "item is ignored for deletion" grammatical and idiomatic?
The context is a software program. I have a list of items to be deleted from a database, and if an item from the list is not ...
6
votes
1answer
293 views
Meaning and origin of “Get someone's shirt out”
I was wondering to myself about the word "shirty". It seemed so curious a word. After all, what did its meaning have to do with shirts. "Were the two words even related?", I wondered.
So I looked up ...
0
votes
2answers
178 views
I had it coming
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 ...
8
votes
2answers
3k views
Origin of “More X than you can shake a stick at”
What is the origin of the phrase "more X than you can shake a stick at"?
Every website I've seen on this basically says the same thing (e.g., http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-sha2.htm):
Recorded ...
0
votes
2answers
114 views
What does “to be caught in a controversy” mean?
Can I use something like "I am caught in a controversy" to express that I am witnessing and confused by the controversy between other entities?
4
votes
4answers
454 views
What is the correct definition and usage of “for all I know”?
I saw some sentences using this phrase "for all I know" but wasn't quite sure what is its exact definition and also whether a modal verb such as "could, may or might" expressing uncertainty must be ...
3
votes
1answer
165 views
What does the phrase “red rovering” mean? [closed]
What does the phrase "red rovering" mean? Here is the context:
Over a decade ago, Billy Bob’s career began in the corporate world before red-rovering to agency life.
-2
votes
2answers
171 views
Origin of “sick to my stomach”
Where does the phrase sick to my stomach come from? Never stopped to think of it before. It doesn’t even seem grammatically correct.
