This tag is for questions specifically related to written English.
1
vote
2answers
391 views
Writing about contributions
If we were asked to write about the contributions a person made to the study of computer science for example, is that different from if we were asked to write about the contributions a person made to ...
2
votes
3answers
190 views
What are alternatives to the verb “study” (in the meaning of “research”)?
When writing scientific discussions (articles, book chapters, reports, ...), I frequently feel short on synonyms of the verb study, which I use extensively in sentences such as “in the next section, ...
5
votes
1answer
253 views
Capitalization of “Assembly Language”
This Wikipedia article does not capitalize "assembly language," for understandable reasons. It uses it as an indefinite article, i.e. "an assembly language." But how should it be written when using ...
2
votes
3answers
403 views
Which Is Correct: “Do More Faster” or “Do More, Faster”?
I have been stumbling with this phrase for a few days now. I read a book the other day called "Do More Faster". The title comes from a slogan about startups getting more work done than their ...
1
vote
1answer
1k views
In the sentence “You, too.”, is the comma acceptable?
I tend to think it is, as "too" serves the role of a referential phrase, repeating the verb-phrase of a preceding sentence, and "you" acts simply as a subject pronoun. But, I've heard an argument to ...
8
votes
4answers
1k views
Is “Mecca” capitalized when used figuratively?
Waleed made his pilgrimage to Mecca.
This is a given.
But I would write:
Bombay is India’s entertainment mecca
Is this correct, or is Mecca capitalized in its figurative use, as well?
6
votes
2answers
863 views
How to punctuate an answer to a question when the answer is also a question?
The title to this question is sort of long-winded but the example here should clarify it.
Which of these is correct?
Who should be baby-sitting your children, your neighborhood teenagers or ...
2
votes
5answers
561 views
Use of ! to convey sarcasm vs. emphasis
One, two or even three exclamation marks are often added, especially in e-mail, to convey emphasis to phrases such as Thanks!, or No problem!. My problem is that in British English, you could also ...
0
votes
3answers
1k views
What are the words where “-ei-” (except in “-cei-”) is pronounced as [i:]?
The rule is that "ei" is pronounced as [i:] only after letter c (or what is pronounced as [i:] is written as "ei" after letter "c" only).
There are exceptions, that I could find so far, like
...
6
votes
7answers
5k views
When and how should I use multiple exclamation marks?
Now, I never do this, but in some few cases I have seen people use multiple exclamation (or question) marks like this:
Hey!!!
Is that grammatically correct? (Or just okay). In case it is, how ...
7
votes
1answer
3k views
To hyphenate or not?
As a non-native speaker of English and an engineer by training, I always get confused about hyphenation and almost always end up referring to Google every time I need to make that decision.
Does ...
2
votes
1answer
640 views
“Easy to explain, here is an example for you:”
Here I present you two scenarios of mine:
This can be explained very easily, with this example:
example here
and
This can be explained very easily:
example here
On the first ...
7
votes
3answers
3k views
What is the correct name for posts made on twitter?
Well, I honestly tried to search for this but I drowned in twit* and tweet* results.
Should I write:
"my tweet" or "my twit"?
"I am tweetting" or "I am twitting" ("to twit" vs. "to tweet")?
...
4
votes
5answers
1k views
Coordinating conjunction immediately followed by parenthetical — Is a comma needed or not?
William Strunk's Rules of Usage states:
If a dependent clause, or an introductory phrase requiring to be set off by a comma, precedes the second independent clause, no comma is needed after the ...
3
votes
2answers
452 views
Is the word “Americana” capitalized?
...in the sentence "Here's a list of great Americana books."
It looks SO weird lowercase: "Here's a list of great americana books."
2
votes
5answers
861 views
“That my results are not reproducible” or “that my results are unreproducible”?
What is better to write?
that my results are not reproducible
that my results are unreproducible
How can it be re-written as positive affirmation (preserving the same meaning)?
Edit:
Do ...
0
votes
0answers
128 views
Where do I place the closing character when I end a sentence with parenthesis? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Where does the period go when using parentheses?
Which of the following should I use? Are there any exceptions to the rule?
I enjoy breakfast (sometimes).
I ...
1
vote
2answers
119 views
Is “Law of Leaky Abstractions” a proper noun?
From Leaky abstraction (Wikipedia),
As coined by Spolsky, the Law of Leaky Abstractions states "All non-trivial abstractions, to some degree, are leaky."
I am not sure if Law of Leaky ...
4
votes
1answer
748 views
What is the difference between “solidus” and “slash”?
I was reading a text, and I found the word solidus.
What is a solidus? Is the word normally used in everyday language, or is there another word that replaces solidus even if it's not the completely ...
11
votes
4answers
249 views
Usage of “|” in English sentences
I have a book about punctuation marks, but it doesn't report when to use | in a English sentence.
I notice that the New Oxford American Dictionary uses that character to separate the examples it ...
4
votes
2answers
620 views
How to punctuate sentences like “I'm just calling a spade, a spade.”
I was browsing Area 51 and I saw this comment:
I'm just calling a spade, a spade.
I'm never quite sure how to punctuate sentences like these where a phrase is repeated back to back, without any ...
6
votes
3answers
2k views
Usage of commas with “albeit”
Is it correct to place two commas in this sentence?
New York City plays a significant, albeit previously neglected, role in the urban narratives of [...].
7
votes
2answers
488 views
How to punctuate lists in general?
(1) How to punctuate lists in general? (2) also, what case to use?
In the case study, signal comparison could be used for:
• signals from redundant channels of emergency stop button,
• output ...
4
votes
2answers
458 views
Capitalization of “Dictator”
I'm wondering whether the word dictator should be capitalized.
Is it just an adjective and not an (official) title?
1
vote
4answers
2k views
Should 'Today' and 'Tomorrow' be capitalised?
I always wonder whether 'today' and 'tomorrow' should be capitalised. Can anybody help me?
1
vote
3answers
166 views
“indulger of” vs. “indulger in”
A person can indulge in something. Is he therefore an indulger of something or an indulger in something? Are both okay?
If both are okay, is there any difference between these two phrases or are ...
2
votes
3answers
1k views
“Tone” vs. “shade”
"Tone" and "shade" seem to refer to the darkness or brightness of a thing. So do they mean the same thing? Where is it proper to use each of them?
When describing a person's skin, what is the ...
18
votes
3answers
3k views
Capitalisation of nouns in English in the 17th and 18th centuries
It seems to have been common practice in the 17th and 18th centuries in Britain to capitalise the first letters of nouns in English, e.g.
At which Time he prov'd himself the Noah's Dove, that ...
1
vote
1answer
64 views
Help with sentence: don't come in
Which of the following is correct:
1) Don't come in, I'm busy.
2) Don't come in; I'm busy.
3) Don't come in. I'm busy.
4) Don't come in I'm busy.
And why?
6
votes
1answer
872 views
Question mark usage/position when sentence ends with a declarative quotation?
Who said "I am hungry?"
The quotation is not a question, but do I put "my" question mark there anyway?
This is related to, but not the same as Position of question mark when sentence doesn't ...
3
votes
2answers
348 views
Is “public listed” an adjective?
The series in the sentence below and its positioning sound awkward. Micro, small and large are all adjectives, but public listed? Has the rule on parallelism been violated? And should anything be ...
3
votes
3answers
496 views
Enjoys his fair share to work hard and smart to meet commitments
Received a resume lately. One of the sentence, in summary section, doesn't look right to me. It may be not a very obvious mistake, or may not be a mistake at all. But I can't say anything for sure, as ...
4
votes
4answers
6k views
6
votes
2answers
756 views
Capitalization for a bullet list
The following is from some software documentation we are writing:
NOTE: Refreshing a report may be necessary or helpful when:
you believe the data in the report has changed since it was ...
9
votes
3answers
3k views
Footnote marks at end of a sentence
I find it common in my writing to end up a sentence with a footnote reference mark. Should the footnote mark come before the stop or after it?
... this is some text1.
... this is some text.1
38
votes
9answers
3k views
Why, in old books, are dates often given with the years redacted?
silly question, and I'm not sure this is even necessarily the right forum, but it's the most appropriate on StackExchange, so here we are.
Why is it, in older books, that years are sometimes redacted ...
3
votes
3answers
3k views
Asking for feedback on a meeting summary
I've got to write a meeting summary, and amongst the recipient will be my boss. To ensure that I was accurate, I would like to ask for feedback from my recipient. I've got the following sentence:
...
5
votes
2answers
3k views
What (grammatical) tense to use when doing reference in a paper?
For example, A published a paper with title B in 2000.
Then, in my paper:
A says / said that [C works / worked out perfectly].
and
B illustrates / illustrated that [C works / worked out ...
2
votes
3answers
727 views
Can “his/her” be replaced by “his”?
Yesterday, I asked this question on Web Apps:
If a Facebook user dies, what happens
to the account?
Actually, I wanted to ask it this way:
If a Facebook user dies, what happens
to ...
7
votes
2answers
407 views
3
votes
4answers
259 views
Mark: outstanding (as in: not yet known)
I’m updating my tabular CV for an application and I’d like to include my master thesis even though it’s not yet finished (soon!) and marked. So I’d like to write that the mark is still outstanding but ...
9
votes
2answers
385 views
avoid the slash?
Should the slash be avoided?
For example every week/day in my head is translated to every week or day. I think I started using slashes because I saw them used in forums and in articles.
Is using ...
7
votes
8answers
359 views
“flavorx” v.s. “flavors”
I wrote something about the food. And I use flavors for plural flavor, however my foreign English teacher corrected it as flavorx. And he considers that I also should read 'flavors'.
I googled the ...
37
votes
7answers
2k views
Which variant of English should I use when my target audience is the world?
I know that all variants of English (American English, British English, etc.) can be generally understood by everybody who knows any of the English variants. However, there are some regionalisms that ...
5
votes
4answers
16k views
Is an indentation needed for a new paragraph?
Is an indentation (Tab button in Word) needed for a new paragraph when you start one? I was told to do that a long time ago but 3 years after I stopped doing it and have done it since.
Are you meant ...
0
votes
1answer
117 views
J.A. Gagarin's flight vs J.A. Gagarin flight
1) Is it Ok to leave the initials or would you drop them? Writing his name in full seems odd since it isn't Gagarin who is the point of discussion.
2) Is it Gagarin's or Gagarin? Is there any ...
14
votes
7answers
9k views
What do all capital letters typically refer to in writing?
In many error messages and conversations, I come across words in all capital letters, as demonstrated in the examples below.
ERROR: Please type your e-mail address.
or
ME: I can't make it
...
5
votes
3answers
806 views
Is it correct to write “a 5-mm-thick layer”?
Do I need hyphens? Should I use the indefinite article or zero article?
7
votes
3answers
2k views
Recommended books on writing well in English? [closed]
I keep "On writing well" close to me when writing something long. What other books would you recommend on the topic of good writing-style in English?
4
votes
3answers
2k views
What does “open up a vein” mean?
I found the phrase 'open up a vein of fury' in the article of today's Washington Post as shown below.
The New Year's Day suicide bombing of a church that killed 21 people has opened up a vein of ...
