-2
votes
1answer
27 views
“…FDA, who…” vs “…FDA, which…” - relative-pronouns of authorities
I'm referring to the following sentence: "Observes express their concerns whether the FDA, which/who is already overrun with work..."
My question is: Are authorities in the English language treated ...
1
vote
1answer
59 views
Are both ‘Hit a raw nerve’ and ‘Tip sb. the wink” predominantly British English idioms?
I was drawn to both of idioms,‘hit a raw nerve’ and ‘tip sb. the wink” being quoted as British skewed English idioms in the following scenes describing verbal exchanges between Captain Richard ...
1
vote
2answers
52 views
Is the tense in the sentence correct?
The sentence is
I bought a bottle of milk on Friday night, and I found that it had gone sour the following morning.
I think the past perfect tense is weird with "the following morning."
Am I ...
3
votes
1answer
51 views
What is there in the English corpus beside nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, etc?
As you can see from this NGram, the total number of words in the indexed English corpus that were nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, determinants, pronouns, adpositions, numerals, conjunctions, or ...
0
votes
0answers
48 views
“Harrass over X” vs. “harrass for X”
She harassed me for days over mistake.
They would have teased me for not being brave.
Both prepositions indicate the reason for harrassment. What is the difference in meaning? Can they be ...
3
votes
0answers
29 views
Are the different pronunciations of “species” regional differences?
As far as I know, the word "species" can pronounced either as spee-sheez or as spee-seez. I understand that neither of these is incorrect: they're just two different ways to say the same thing. I also ...
2
votes
3answers
82 views
Where does the term Cracker come from, and how disparaging is it?
My grandmother from Georgia openly refers to herself and other white southerners as "Crackers", and sometimes adds a state as in "Georgia Cracker" or "Florida Cracker". She says it means simple folks ...
2
votes
1answer
32 views
In real estate, what is a split plan? [closed]
I'm looking through house listings and keep coming across "split plan." This is not a synonym of "split level," because the houses are pretty flat. What is a "split plan" house?
2
votes
0answers
36 views
After 13 years in the 21st century, what conclusion have we come to regarding the short forms of the names of the years?
Do you remember the other Year 2000 problem, regarding the nicknames of the years? If 1999 was "ninety-nine," then what would we call 2001? At the time, answers such as "one", "oh-one", "two-oh-one" ...
0
votes
0answers
16 views
Corner Vs. Quarter [closed]
Which expression do you use when you want to mean that there's much of something somewhere? For example, if I want to say that there are many shops in my city, shall I say:
- There's a shop in each ...
0
votes
2answers
31 views
“The city raises above…” [closed]
I need to describe a city which is located above another city.
Should I say: "The city raises above X", "The city rises above X", "The city looms above X,...? I need help with the verb, please!
4
votes
0answers
39 views
Distinguishing /f–t–θ/ in th-fronting and th-stopping dialects
In standard English, the digraph th is a dental fricative [θ, ð]. Several dialects feature th-fronting, where th becomes a labiodental fricative [f, v]; others feature th-stopping, where th becomes a ...
2
votes
2answers
51 views
Is it grammatically correct to say: Your understanding is correct?
Is it grammatically correct to say: Your understanding is correct to re-assure a concept?
4
votes
1answer
51 views
Do vocal pitch and timbre differ by accent?
Guys from the UK and India seem to have higher-pitched voices than Americans. Similarly, I have heard comments from Japanese-American women that they make an effort to lower their voices when speaking ...
0
votes
0answers
24 views
property of words to infer its meaning [closed]
What allows us to use a word that we rarely use, or haven't looked at the definition for, properly in a sentence? I don't necessarily mean a specific usage, but rather we can substitute big words that ...
2
votes
2answers
38 views
Progessive or simple aspect?
Is he still smoking? vs Does he still smoke?
Which aspect would be correct, progessive or simple? In my opinion, the first question sounds somehow better, however, I think the second question is ...
3
votes
1answer
41 views
“Common to” OR “Common in”
Which preposition is used with common when I mean to say that these features are common in/to all the applications?
Is there another way to write this type of a sentence?
0
votes
2answers
72 views
what does “off-the-shelf” mean? [closed]
I am applying for a job and in my proposal my mentor commented the following.
Please explain me what it means.
ME: Finally I found something promising. Please have a look
Mentor: That's a good find ...
6
votes
2answers
55 views
Is there a word for selecting yourself as the target audience for an invention or product?
Let me explain this with an example. An inventor faces a problem, he decides to develop a solution for it. Initially, he is the main target audience for his invention.
I was wondering if there was an ...
3
votes
1answer
53 views
“Make easy” vs. “make it easy”
I need to know which of these options is the correct one and why:
The Spanish cooking makes it easy to have a nice meal.
The Spanish cooking makes easy to have a nice meal.
I don't know ...
1
vote
2answers
44 views
Is “mainstream” an acceptable verb?
I recently read the word "mainstream" as a verb and doubted whether it was the best choice in the sentence. Can you say you want to "mainstream" something? Perhaps it is grammatical but just ...
2
votes
2answers
69 views
Correct phrase for „Chain of equations“
In math, one often writes
a = b = c = d
to prove a=d. How is such a sequence of equations called in English?
In German, there is “Gleichungskette”, but the direct translation “Chain of ...
3
votes
4answers
93 views
A pejorative term for “unreasonably gregarious”
I am looking for a pejorative term to describe someone who constantly needs social interaction regardless of quality.
Something along the lines of "social nymphomaniac", but not necessarily ...
2
votes
0answers
53 views
when to use Huge and Big
What is the difference between both : Huge and Big
take an example,
he made a huge difference to the team.
it can also be like,
he made a big difference to the team.
Does the meaning for both the ...
1
vote
2answers
38 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?
1
vote
2answers
72 views
Is a sentence beginning with “Different from” not so good?
I saw one topic on the wordreference forum discussing whether a sentence could begin with "Different from" (see the post). The example sentences in that post are
A: Different from Drug A, Drug B ...
2
votes
2answers
56 views
A summer house, a cottage or a cabin?
When I want to refer to a (rural) vacation home, what would be the most appropriate term in BrE? I know in American English cabin and camp are used for those, but what would correspond to those in ...
-1
votes
0answers
19 views
Avoiding Ambiguous in combining “Really” and “Always” [closed]
I need a specific description on how to avoid ambiguous line if we use "really" and "always" in one sentence. Any help is appreciated. Thanks in advance.
0
votes
1answer
31 views
“Compute column last line” vs “compute column's last line” [closed]
Is "compute column last line" correct? Or should I write it "compute column's last line"?
Regarding a program which computes the last line of a given excel column.
1
vote
2answers
56 views
How would you apply the idiom “I'm $verb'ed out” to “eat”?
I've often heard people apply the suffix -ed after a verb to create phrase, "I'm $verb'ed out." They do this to mean that they've already done $verb, and don't intend to do it in the immediate future ...
-1
votes
0answers
29 views
The other norths [closed]
If 'true north' is as Mitch says (and I like his answer best) then what is the metaphorical equivalent of Grid North, and Magnetic North?
0
votes
0answers
52 views
Is there any word for people who are strongly against artificial intelligence? [duplicate]
A group of people who strongly oppose the idea of having humanoids, robots, expert systems and claim they are degrading and insulting to human intelligence.
Is there a word for a group strongly ...
1
vote
1answer
54 views
“Which Allow me” or “Which Allows me”?
Context: "My work requires me to be at different areas for different events which allow me to learn ..."
Do I use "allows" or "allow"? Can you provide me the rules/situations in choosing which one to ...
1
vote
2answers
44 views
Is it correct to use the term paranoia when expressing overrated reaction due to fear of something?
I was discussing with someone who had this strong conviction that AI is a ridicule all through and neglected all of its uses. At a stage, the argument got heated, and I said:
I think you are ...
1
vote
1answer
48 views
What's the name of the color
Can any body tell me the official name of the color? I want to say light blue, but people may not be able to get the closest image in mind.
0
votes
1answer
23 views
Polemic/controversial in noun form [closed]
what would you call the putting forward of a controversial debate?
i.e. something is polemic when controversial but you can't say 'i am developing a polemic' (that is, use polemic as a noun)
is ...
2
votes
1answer
52 views
What does a “visiting writer” mean?
From wiki page about Michael Crichton":
In 1988, Crichton was a visiting writer at the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology
What does exactly the term visiting writer mean?
Does it mean he ...
4
votes
0answers
46 views
Etymology Moderne of … “sick”, “bad”, and words we hardly consider being the opposite any more [closed]
Somewhat prosaically, it was stated that the origin (or at least the coining practice likely used) of the word "sick" to mean "awesome", or "cool", or "astounding" ... itself used the word "cool", ...
3
votes
1answer
134 views
“I have done every bad thing in the good book” - what does it actually mean?
This question might be very specific to a situation in "Revolution" but I cannot understand this sentence.
From my understanding, he was saying that he has done everything that the book (he ...
0
votes
3answers
51 views
Party organized by the students of a department
At German universities, there student councils, called "Fachshaft", which is an extracurricular representative structure for students.
Each year (or semester), the student councils organize parties ...
2
votes
1answer
46 views
“Feeling well” adverb ambiguity
Am I just crazy, or is there some ambiguity in the phrase "feeling well"?
Example:
Billy has a genetic defect that causes him to lose sensation in his fingertips every few days, or so. "How are you ...
1
vote
1answer
55 views
Pluralizing shortened words
I'm stumped at this forum reply which states that the contracted plural of "regulation" is "reg's".
"Cigarettes" is shortened to "cigs", as far as i know, but perhaps that's because "a cig" is a ...
2
votes
5answers
68 views
What's the meaning of “I casually drink alcohol” and “I socially drink alcohol” [closed]
If I said,
I casually drink alcohol
or
I socially drink alcohol
What would you think about how often I drink?
2
votes
2answers
51 views
I've been seeing good movies or I've been watching good movies? [duplicate]
what would you rather say? Which one is correct?
Thanks,Herman.
5
votes
1answer
69 views
Etymology of “typeface Weight”
My boss stated that he noticed the word "weight" is used to refer to the boldness of a character, and stated that he felt this was a new occurrence.
My gut feeling is that this is an old term, ...
2
votes
2answers
28 views
Singular or plural usage for ellipsis in direct object
Suppose I have the following sentences:
There should be an X and a Y chromosome.
There should be an X and a Y chromosomes.
Is the second grammatically correct? If the last word had to be plural for ...
1
vote
0answers
21 views
What are some examples of adjectives expressing varying levels of intensity using the same root or unit word [closed]
What adjectives express varying levels of intensity using the same root or unit?
3
votes
1answer
46 views
How to Construct an Unambiguous Joint Possessive that Follows a Verb?
How to Construct an Unambiguous Joint Possessive that Follows a Verb?
I've read that when writing about multiple possessors who jointly posses a thing, the common practice is to add a Saxon-genitive ...
0
votes
0answers
10 views
Translation for “calificador” (from Spanish to English) [migrated]
In Spanish, calificador means someone (or something) that examines some score or performance and gives you a grade, like a teacher gives you an A, B, C, etc. or in a contest a judge gives you a 10, 9, ...
1
vote
1answer
37 views
Colon for 'because' omission?
Colon or semicolon when because is omitted from a sentence e.g.,
I am sorry I disturbed you (;) (:) (because) it looked like you were having a lot of fun there.
Because explains and clarifies a ...
