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| bio | website | ancestor-envy.blogspot.com.au |
|---|---|---|
| location | Australia | |
| age | 61 | |
| visits | member for | 7 months |
| seen | 7 hours ago | |
| stats | profile views | 81 |
Dabbled in family history when I first retired from full-time employment. Now regularly put in 60-hour weeks. Is that obsession?
Delighted to have a new focus for my writing.
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May 16 |
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Could I use 'this' to introduce a person? This is a wonderful example of a very bad exam question. Your (entirely understandable) focus on choosing among this, those and that meant that you were not even considering the grammar convention that the person who set the exam thought he was testing. |
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May 10 |
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What's a useful replacement idiom for “money shot?” Is your intended use meant to refer to the shot that costs the most money to produce or the one that generates the most money by attracting audiences? The term you have seems to be the only one that is used for both. |
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May 5 |
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“India have won” vs. “India has won” This may also be question about how one regards national cricket teams. If a Test match results in a "win for India" do you see that as triumph for the nation (non-count) or for the group of eleven players who made up the team. India have won the match emphasises the efforts of the (countable) members of the team. One criticism of aussie "supporters" is that they are quick to claim that Australia has won and bask in the reflected glory, but when India wins it is Australia have lost and nothing to do with me. |
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May 5 |
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What does Pope Francis “called out him (Pope Emeritus Benedict) on it” mean? As evidenced in the responses below, it may not be clear to native speakers either. |
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May 5 |
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What does Pope Francis “called out him (Pope Emeritus Benedict) on it” mean? My comment was intended as a light-hearted reference to your "complaint" (on english.stackexchange.com/a/113169/28951) about unexplained down-votes. I thought that someone with 17k rep could stand the loss for the sin of responding without appropriate reference to context (or in this case, plausibility) of the question. At least you get the opportunity to confirm why "I irritate a lot of people here & elsewhere". |
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May 4 |
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What does Pope Francis “called out him (Pope Emeritus Benedict) on it” mean? Downvote for the use of the expression "When the current pope chastises" when the subjunctive "If the current pope were to chastise..." is required. |
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May 4 |
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What does Pope Francis “called out him (Pope Emeritus Benedict) on it” mean? For the sake of the historical record (although it does not alter the relevance of the grammatical questions), the document being referenced is a work of satirical fiction. The language purportedly used by observers in the Vatican is like totally inappropriate. |
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May 4 |
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Correct usage of lbs. as in “pounds” of weight I am amazed that there can be such spirited debate over whether a period can follow an abbreviation and no-one notes that pounds is NOT a unit of weight! Did the OP mean to refer to mass? |
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May 4 |
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Meaning of “that” in “holomorphic function in the sector S that is continuous” From my long-ago (and poorly understood) pure mathematics, I believe that your interpretation is correct (the sector is not continuous on the closure of itself) but your and solution may make the problem more confusing. I suspect that the best referent for that is the general holomorphic function not the specific instance F. |
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May 4 |
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“Functionalities;” According to Firefox, this word doesn't exist Perhaps you are meant to take this as a warning -- not that the word has been misspelled but that it is unnecessary. Not every collection of syllables needs to be endlessly extended with multiple suffixes. |
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Apr 30 |
answered | Passive voice for sentences using modals and "used to: |
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Apr 27 |
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Introducing a character The OP needs to think carefully before taking your advice about on/in his face. Either would be acceptable but the difference in meaning is significant. Is the vacuum in his life obvious at first glance (on his face) or do you need to look (in his face) to see the truth perhaps behind a facade. |
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Apr 25 |
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How to Reply That PASSPORT NUMBER is not in my remembrance at the moment I am afraid that my { } is one of the many pieces of information that I do not keep in my working memory. I can obtain it for you later. |
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Apr 25 |
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How frequent is the use of 'Appropriation' in American English compared with British English? Would it be impolite to suggest that his sister may be better known in America - Miss Appropriation? |
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Apr 23 |
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What is the plural of “stiffness”? Different materials may have different values for their stiffness parameter or different degrees of stiffness but they can not have "stiffnesses". In this case, the principle of euphony should prevail (even in engineering). |
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Apr 15 |
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Is any utterance in English used only by men or only by women? @JohnM.Landsberg Perhaps I should have been blunter in saying that your long answer (as given in the comment) was what was originally required. Whether your statement "I am not aware of any" is a good approximation to "There are none" rests entirely upon the reputation of the speaker. "How can I prove a negative?" is a straw man that if accepted would allow any unsupported negative assertion. |
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Apr 14 |
answered | Why does “I am in your debt” mean the opposite of what it suggests? |
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Apr 14 |
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Is any utterance in English used only by men or only by women? Surely such "certainty" should be supported by some evidence. |
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Apr 14 |
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Is any utterance in English used only by men or only by women? You probably should put a time frame on your question. In the recent past, there were many words that no self-respecting lady would have used. Today, the use of such terms by females is (in some circles) regarded as a mark of equality. |
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Apr 9 |
answered | Can a double negative be used to express caution or uncertainty? |
