All Questions
129,890
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meaning of " I once had it all...My palate was sated…Nostrils stimulated…standing venerated " [closed]
Hello English is not my first language . I came across this sentence that i don't understand :
I once had it all...My palate was sated…Nostrils stimulated…standing venerated
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Meaning of "these thin boards divided the secret"
(From The Wrecker by Robert Louis Stevenson and Lloyd Osbourne, Chapter XX, published 1892)
Passage 318
I had escaped the grounds and the cattle; I could not escape the house. A lady with silver hair,...
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1
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43
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Is 'where' accurate here, or is 'with' accurate?
I wrote in my manuscript:
'Let f be a k-face of D where $k \ge 4$.'
However, I feel that replacing 'where' with 'with' might be more appropriate. I'm a bit uncertain, so I'm posing this question. Can ...
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Is "all showing that the weapons were being used by the Free Syrian Army" an absolute?
At the same time, dozens of videos of the weapons were being uploaded from Daraya, all showing that the weapons were being used by the Free Syrian Army
**Source-New Yorker magazine
https://www....
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Is the noun modifier "among them a portable anti-tank rocket and a wheel-mounted recoilless rifle" an appositive or absolute phrase?
Higgins was looking at videos coming out of the Daraya region when he noticed several weapons that he had not yet documented in Syria, among them a portable anti-tank rocket and a wheel-mounted ...
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30
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Which is better, 'Iberophile', or 'Hispanophile'?
I'm not sure, because according to dictionaries, Iberophile isn't a word, but it is the first result on Google for "lover of Spain"
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1
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28
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Adjectives with "these"
I thought I was doing a simple exercise (in attachment) from an English tutorial.
But I didn’t find the expected sentences in the answers to the exercise:
These expensive pants are too big
My black ...
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3
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1
answer
54
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How did "phenomenal" come to mean "extraordinary"?
Phenomenal nowadays is primarily used in common discourse to mean extraordinary, although it has a now-rarer secondary meaning which I suspect was originally its primary meaning:
a. known through the ...
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1
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44
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Another phrase for "he is a very easy person to scare"? [duplicate]
Can I have another phrase for the sentence/phrase;
He is a very easy person to scare.
Please I need this because I am writing a story which I'm going to produce when I'm finished...
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27
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Square Feet versus Square Foot [duplicate]
The sentence is
The project would construct a 2000 square (foot/feet) kitchen.'
I put 'The project would construct a 2000 square feet kitchen.'
My senior reviewer changed feet to foot. Why?
If I ...
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1
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The meaning of "The paradox of courage is that a man must be a little careless of his life even in order to keep it." — G. K. Chesterton
I recently came across this quote by G. K. Chesterton.
The paradox of courage is that a man must be a little careless of his life even in order to keep it.
(Note that the version I initially saw ...
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1
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29
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A single word that describes or connotes all items in a list except the last item
Is there a single word to describe all the elements in a list, except the last item?
The head of a list refers to the first item in the list and the tail refers to the last item. In mathematics and ...
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35
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When do you use hyphens with compound adjectives?
I understand there are numerous questions related to this question but nothing truly clarifies my problem.
I have been trying to understand when I should use hyphens in compound adjectives and I seem ...
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There is a table in a/the kitchen? (if 1st sentence) [migrated]
I'm confused as to why internet shows a lot of hits like 'There is a table in 'the' kitchen?' after 'There is a table in'. Is it because the sentence(s) are assumed to be already in the middle of the ...
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2
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Etymologically, how did 'outrage' get 're-analyzed'?
Wiktionary:
From... Old French... oultrage (“excess”)... derived from Latin ultrā (“beyond”). Later reanalysed as out- + rage, whence the contemporary pronunciation, though neither of these is ...
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What is the difference — honor, confer, decorate —?
I’m a Japanese college student, and in English class, I saw a sentence saying,
The prime minister was formally invested with the title by Emperor.
When I looked up words which mean "to give a ...
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37
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Growing calls, calls have grown
I'm wondering if 'calls have grown for X to be Y-ed' is an acceptable substitute for 'there have been growing calls for X to be Y-ed'?
To clarify, these are examples of the latter from the first page ...
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28
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What does the phrase, 'as thus construed', mean? [closed]
What is the meaning of the phrase, 'as thus construed'?
I was writing an essay and felt that phrase was appropriate, but I looked it up with quotes on google and found only references in some legal ...
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27
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Origin of the expression “turn the card” meaning to pass on an opportunity
I recently dropped the phrase “turn the card” meaning to pass on an opportunity in an answer of a sister site. While not a common expression, I would have expected most people that I converse with in ...
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38
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What is a word for a bad thing that is so common that it is mostly ignored? [closed]
I am not sure if there is such a word but it would be very helpful to know.
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42
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Easier said than done vs. Easier to say than do
As a speaker of English as a second language, I've long been curious to know why English speakers would choose to say "Easier said than done" over "Easier to say than do".
Why ...
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Proper sorting of groups that begin with a person's name
If I were sorting, for example, audio recordings based upon the performer, then "Vince Guaraldi" and "Bob Seger" would be sorted as "Guaraldi, Vince" and "Seger, Bob&...
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Meaning of "teen" in Aeschylus's play "The Persians"
I came across the phrase "how shall I bear my teen?" in Aeschylus' play "The Persians". I also saw "the children of teen" in "Seven against Thebes". What ...
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'as he had lived'
In the clause 'He died as he had lived', what is the grammatical function of 'as he had lived'? I know it modifies 'died', and I know 'as' can be used.
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41
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One word for the noise that ships make when approaching a port [closed]
I’m writing my book where I would like to describe the noise, using one word, that ships produce approaching a port. I would say something like TU-TU. I’m not sure if it works though…
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What is the function of the word "boats" in this sentence? [migrated]
For instance, they can learn that boats float and can practice ways to make boats move across water.
Is it a subject or an object (the bolded word)?
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23
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Is it proper to switch from the third person singular (The Department of Environment) to the first person plural (we) in the same sentence? [duplicate]
I often have to translate sentences such as:
The Department of Environment has offices everywhere in the country, and we would love for you to join us [us as in "the whole department, and not a ...
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0
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33
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"by validating" - missing direct object?
According to several dictionaries I have, "validate" is a transitive verb. But both Grammarly and ChatGPT judge the following (imperative) sentence as correct:
Ensure feature quality by ...
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Is there a word for technical debt that is centered around at-rest configuration data?
So sometimes my team runs into technical debt centered around persistent data. A quick example is if we create four options KNOWING that we will want to reduce them to two options later. This would ...
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33
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What’s a word for an organization you’re soliciting a sponsorship from?
For example:
Please enter the name and email of the [word meaning
a possible sponsor].
I am building a website that helps users find and
connect with companies and other organizations to ask
them ...
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0
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34
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What is a term for the evolution of idioms through error?
At my place of work the idiom bottom-up (as in bottom-up design) is often used and debated as a way of doing things. However over the last year or so it's increasingly being expressed as bottoms-up ...
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43
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Galloping incompetence & galloping ineptitude
Is it correct to use "galloping" as a synonym of "extreme"? For example, I often see "galloping incompetence" and "galloping ineptitude".
But Merriam Webster's ...
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1
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29
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What seems more accurate "You and your kid discover their true capability" or "You and your kid discover his/her true capability"? [duplicate]
I have been asked to look at some old admission response forms that our school mails back to applying students. This letter consists of their test scores and the programs that is offered to them.
Now, ...
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Meaning, determined by usage of quotation marks around a single word [closed]
He only wanted the best for his retail “family”.
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2
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37
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When you compare an object to a reference object, what noun to use to refer to the former?
I am in the process of writing a research paper that compares my Methods A and B against a commonly accepted gold standard (reference) method. All methods produce objects that are identical in the ...
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2
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42
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Do I need to repeat the subject after a semicolon splitting two sentences that have the same subject in formal written English?
Do I need to repeat the subject after a semicolon splitting two sentences that have the same subject in formal written English?
For example:
He talked to the owners, which was understandable; paid ...
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0
answers
30
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A/an + adj. + weather [duplicate]
We can say,
"I had a delicious breakfast"
because of the adjective, as opposed to
"I had breakfast",
where we don't use an indefinite article. As in this former case we have ...
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0
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66
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Why are "all together" and "altogether" exact homophones in American English?
This question was inspired by the interesting discussion here: Why isn't the T in "relative" flapped?
It seems like the adverb already and the two-word phrase all ready should be ...
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2
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55
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Should you italicize names of aircraft if they are serial numbers?
In English, it's customary to italicize the names of vessels, aircraft, and spacecraft, e.g. USS Oklahoma, B-17 Ye Olde Pub, and space shuttle Discovery. Does that also apply to specific aircraft ...
user448501
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1
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431
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Meaning of "swindle" in "…while four to five days in London would be suitable to swindle across the streets" [closed]
I came across this sentence in a blog. Is the 'swindle' being used correctly? If yes, what does it mean in this sentence?
In most cases, three to four days in Paris would be enough to skim through ...
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What is the correct title for my great niece’s husband?
What is the correct term to use when I’m referring to my great-niece’s husband? While I often referred to her as my niece it seems somewhat odd to refer to her husband as my nephew. It sounds somewhat ...
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1
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51
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What is the grammatical term for a noun after a gerund/infinitive
For instance, there are the sentences "Reading books is good" and "To be a hero is your duty."
Could I say that books and "hero" are objects of the verbs reading and To ...
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0
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36
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Why and when are linking verbs omitted? [duplicate]
I see that linking verbs are omitted when one wants to quickly convey information (radio communication, newspapers).
Examples: enemy spotted, game over, Lincoln shot, block broken, 3 left.
Are there ...
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Word or concept for when the correction to a misconception becomes more popular than the misconception?
For example, when people say "Napoleon was short", it's almost immediately followed up with "actually he was average height for the time".
Is there any concept or word that ...
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3
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73
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Ignorance is the opposite of bliss
The proverb "ignorance is bliss" is used to express that somebody feels better by not knowing all the details about a topic.
In an existing thread titled "ignorance is not bliss", ...
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23
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If I didn't have vs Hadn't I had. What's the difference? [migrated]
I took an English test where I had to complete sentences. After I finished the test I was told that my answer "If I didn't have..." was wrong and I should have written "Hadn't I had...&...
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“The rides were fast and long, as well as exciting, despite my apathy.”
Is this grammatically defective?
The rides were fast and long, as well as exciting, despite my apathy.
Context: I often find myself writing sentences that I don't want to reorder but may contain an ...
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0
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18
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What is meant by "she hasn't done well by you"? [closed]
Does "she hasn't done well by you" mean that she has not benefited from her relationship with you, or that you have not benefited from being with her?
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1
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66
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"He ordered a whiskey." - metonymy/synecdoche/neither?
From what I understand, "He drank a glass" (container instead of thing contained) is metonymy, but would "He ordered a whiskey" instead of "a glass/shot of whiskey" be ...
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81
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Meaning of "How many Euros can be exchanged for 5 USD?"
Take the question How many euros can be exchanged for 5 USD?
I see two possible meanings:
It's asking about the amount of Euros that we must exchange to exchange to get 5 USD
It's asking about the ...
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