Recent Questions - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange |
- Can I say "hit the bushes" to mean escape?
- Is deep the opposite of shallow?
- Is there a word to describe something new, but completely unnecesary?
- Initials as Title Abbreviations: Should I Format Them as Titles?
- What is the meaning of “screen” in this context?
- A "conjecture on" or a "conjecture about"?
- What is an idiom stronger than "fit for a king"? [closed]
- Question words as subjects
- What are these types of soldiers called?
- "All the way back" vs "All the way in the back"
- Do British speakers sometimes omit schwa sound?
- joining "the first" and "the second"
- Why is the zh (ʒ) sound so infrequent in English?
- What's the word for warning people of something?
- Word or phrase that means correct, but difficult to interpret - the opposite of expressive?
- What does this phrase mean: “Strategy of leveling/heights”
- Why use 'can' in this sentence?
- What does "deviously" mean?
- Is it not correct Discussing about? noun not a verb
- What does "lover of ladies" mean?
- No test that you wouldn't have had done before
- Expectations usage: is this sentence correct?
- "Could be" vs "Could have been"
- A word that entails the meaning of "the trait of being public"
- Word for knowing what to do and not doing it
- Craving vs longing vs yen
- What does ‘Snake in my ear” mean?
- English equivalent proverb for an absent minded person
- Can a music band be referred to as an artist?
| Can I say "hit the bushes" to mean escape? Posted: 28 Mar 2021 03:15 PM PDT Can I say "hit the bushes" to mean escape? I simply want to verify if this expression exists. I know "beat the bushes" to describe a thorough search.  |
| Is deep the opposite of shallow? Posted: 28 Mar 2021 02:02 PM PDT I came across a text today that suggested that deep is the opposite of shallow but I found this difficult to digest. Furthermore, it feels one could use shallow as the opposite of deep but not vice versa. The word 'shallow' is usually used to quantify depth deriving its meaning from the idea of how deep something can be. Deep on the other hand usually signifies significant depth but does not necessarily give the impression that something deep is far away enough from shallow that it is an opposite. From Oxford dictionary: shallow (noun): an area of the sea, a lake, or a river where the water is not very deep. So in actual sense, it could be more technically correct to say that very deep is the opposite of shallow? How are cases where dimensions are loosely defined like in this case treated when considering opposites/antonyms?  |
| Is there a word to describe something new, but completely unnecesary? Posted: 28 Mar 2021 02:39 PM PDT Is there a word to describe making a new thing (instead of old one), which should be way better, more innovative, but in the end remains same or even worse. Example - car manufacturers are putting displays in place of dashboards, but those displays still show same two round dials for speedometer and tachometer (only difference - they are shown in screen instead physically with dials and needles).  |
| Initials as Title Abbreviations: Should I Format Them as Titles? Posted: 28 Mar 2021 12:11 PM PDT I am the webmaster/editor/curator for a website/e-magazine focussing on a game system. Reviews of scenarios published for the game system are a regular feature, and it's frequently the case that a required add-on product will be named. Often, the add-on is well-enough known that the review author will often just refer to it by its initials (e.g., a product called Guns of the World might be referred to as "GotW". In the past, I've been less than entirely consistent in handling formatting in the magazine and on the website. I am starting to write a style guide for myself. How should I handle these abbreviated titles? As I see it, my choices are:
Which is most consistent with 'normal' practice?  |
| What is the meaning of “screen” in this context? Posted: 28 Mar 2021 01:25 PM PDT What is the meaning of "screen" in this contexts? And what is for an screen to be elementary? Screen has two main meanings: monitor and partition. None of them seems to fit in this context.
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| A "conjecture on" or a "conjecture about"? Posted: 28 Mar 2021 12:01 PM PDT As a non-English scientist, the question bothers me. Maybe the answer depends on the context? Allow me to give a few examples:
For those who do not believe it: Google gives only a few pages of hits when searching for the two expressions ("A conjecture about": 13 pages; "A conjecture on": 7 pages). The number is so small that no conclusion can be drawn. Also there seems to be no discussion of the issue anywhere on the web.  |
| What is an idiom stronger than "fit for a king"? [closed] Posted: 28 Mar 2021 11:07 AM PDT Is there an idiom like fit for a king, which is stronger than that? Like when you want to say this thing is so good that even can not have that!  |
| Posted: 28 Mar 2021 06:32 AM PDT I am going to teach a Celta lesson on indirect questions. Amongst the indirect questions there's one which is a question with a question word as the subject:
Should I teach that as an indirect question or should I teach that after all other types of indirect questions?  |
| What are these types of soldiers called? Posted: 28 Mar 2021 12:23 PM PDT During the military service in Iran, some soldiers are responsible for traffic control (entrance and exit of people in a garrison or headquarters after writing down their names and searching them), appearance and discipline of other soldiers, opening and closing gates for vehicles, and things like that (you could say they are in charge of the building although having low ranks). What do we call them in English? P.S. I believe the words "doorman" or "guard" wouldn't be appropriate since they do not encapsulate all of their duties.  |
| "All the way back" vs "All the way in the back" Posted: 28 Mar 2021 04:34 AM PDT Are "All the way back" vs "All the way in the back" the same ? I found the explain for "All the way" phrase in here: https://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/all-the-way Do they depend on the context of the sentence? For example, someone invite a friend to his exhibition. There is a picture that he want his friend to see it and he said: "It's all the way in the back.". Does he means the picture is in somewhere in the back of the exhibition or it's picture he put all the effort into doing it? If his mean is the second one, what is the role of the phrase "in the back" in this sentence? Does it emphasizes the phrase "all the way"?  |
| Do British speakers sometimes omit schwa sound? Posted: 28 Mar 2021 02:35 AM PDT I notice that British speakers omit schwa sound in a diphthong with r sound. For example: hair > he, more > mo Please make it sure.  |
| joining "the first" and "the second" Posted: 28 Mar 2021 01:48 AM PDT I have a question about joining "the first" and "the second". Is it grammatically correct to write "the first and second" rather than "the first and the second"?  |
| Why is the zh (ʒ) sound so infrequent in English? Posted: 28 Mar 2021 07:13 AM PDT I've always heard that the "zh" (ʒ) sound (e.g. in "vision", "usually") was an uncommon sound in the English language. A quick Google search returns multiple results (The Relative Frequency of Phonemes in General-American English, Most common sounds in spoken English) that indicate that not only is it uncommon, it's the most infrequently used phoneme, at 0.07% usage frequency. According to Most common sounds in spoken English, other than "oy" (ɔɪ) — such as in "boy" — with its 0.10% usage, every other phoneme is used at least 5 times more frequently than "zh". The most common phoneme (ə) by contrast occurs with 11.49% usage frequency — 164 times more frequently. As an aside, as a native U.S. English speaker, "zh" (or the similarly infrequently used "oy", for that matter), doesn't feel particularly strange or alien, despite its relatively infrequency. I haven't had much luck finding information on why this phoneme is so infrequent, though it's very probable it's a problem with how I'm searching. Why is the "zh" (ʒ) so infrequent in the English language? Is there something in how the language evolved that resulted in its infrequent, yet still present, usage?  |
| What's the word for warning people of something? Posted: 28 Mar 2021 02:05 AM PDT I've seen it used online but I can't think of it, It's in the vein of FYI or OMW that's typically used to let everyone know of something they might not have heard about. Thanks for helping!  |
| Word or phrase that means correct, but difficult to interpret - the opposite of expressive? Posted: 28 Mar 2021 01:29 AM PDT I'm critiquing code that runs perfectly, but which is difficult for people to read, understand, and interpret. Code which is pleasant to read and is relatively easy for people to interpret is often deemed 'expressive', in that it conveys the ideas to humans well. What is the right way to describe something (code, or technical writing, or anything else really) that is not incorrect in any way, but which fails to easily communicate with at least one part of its intended audience? I've considered:
I wonder if there are other words (or perhaps phrases) that can describe the property of being technically correct, but not easily understood or interpreted?  |
| What does this phrase mean: “Strategy of leveling/heights” Posted: 28 Mar 2021 02:34 PM PDT Please I´d like to know what is the meaning of "Strategy of levelling/heights" in the airport construction context. Thank you  |
| Why use 'can' in this sentence? Posted: 28 Mar 2021 02:39 PM PDT 1 ) I CAN hear a strange noise. What is it? 2 ) Some people are unlucky. Life CAN be very unfair. I think could is used instead of can, but it isn't right. So I want to surely know it, what is difference between can and could'?  |
| Posted: 28 Mar 2021 01:44 PM PDT Most online dictionaries I've found define "deviously" as
I find it difficult to apply any of the three meanings of "devious" when trying to understand "deviously" in the following quotes:
How should I understand the meanings of "deviously" in the above quotes?  |
| Is it not correct Discussing about? noun not a verb Posted: 28 Mar 2021 04:00 AM PDT Here I found in this book "Grammar Between Norm and Variation" By Alexandra N. Lenz:
 |
| What does "lover of ladies" mean? Posted: 28 Mar 2021 09:06 AM PDT What does it mean? A playboy? Like a womanizer? I was watching a video on YouTube where a British man said "he's a lover of ladies" but then goes on to say "he's a very nice guy" and now I'm confused. He's not a teenager. He's almost 30. Is it a player, cheater, womanizer, etc.? If not, then what is it? If "lover of ladies" means a cheater then he won't be calling him a "very nice guy" but I've searched everywhere and didn't find anything to suggest what the meaning is. This is an old reading but the question still stands. Even if not in a palm reading but if someone uses this phrase, am I supposed to use the pejorative sense? The link for reference: https://youtu.be/aXjPUqsmSrs  |
| No test that you wouldn't have had done before Posted: 28 Mar 2021 11:09 AM PDT
Is this phrase grammatical? There's no idiom such as would (not) have or have done. What about No test you hadn't had done before?  |
| Expectations usage: is this sentence correct? Posted: 28 Mar 2021 12:04 PM PDT
Hey guys, I am a foreigner and would like to add this phrase in one of my texts; however, I feel like it is a bit off. Could let me know if it looks alright, and if not, where could I improve? Thank you  |
| "Could be" vs "Could have been" Posted: 28 Mar 2021 02:06 AM PDT "it could be rain yesterday" or "it could have been rained yesterday" Which one is correct? When we talk about a past event, actually didn't happen.  |
| A word that entails the meaning of "the trait of being public" Posted: 28 Mar 2021 09:59 AM PDT I'm looking for a descriptive word to use when referring to something that is public. It's better if I give an example: Consider the adjective red. When something is red you could say it shows some redness. The same thing with public, but I'm not sure if publicness is a word, and even if it is it just sounds weird. Edit: Just found out that this class of words are called abstract nouns.  |
| Word for knowing what to do and not doing it Posted: 28 Mar 2021 03:43 PM PDT I think most will agree it's a really common human condition:
I recently found a word that describes this condition and now have lost that word. I would absolutely love it if somebody knows it. I think it may be a psychology term, or it might be something originated from Plato. One word to describe humans' inability to do what we know we should do. Anybody?  |
| Posted: 28 Mar 2021 03:00 AM PDT What is the difference between long, yen, and crave, as verbs and nouns both?
They're used as:
Is seems to me craving is used mostly when you talk about food or something (or something immaterial, like attention). Both long and yen strike me as somewhat poetic. What are the differences between them, which is used more often and in what contexts? Do any of them sound archaic / stilted / poetic?  |
| What does ‘Snake in my ear” mean? Posted: 28 Mar 2021 02:21 PM PDT Some older person was talking about evicting some renters from her property, and she said to me "she had a snake in her ear".  |
| English equivalent proverb for an absent minded person Posted: 28 Mar 2021 08:01 AM PDT There is a proverb in Hindi language बगल में छोरा, गाँव में ढिंढोरा It means that a person has lost something and is searching every corner of the city. But, the lost thing is right with him which he realizes much later. It could also indicate a forgetful or an absent-minded person. What is the English equivalent proverb or idiom for this?  |
| Can a music band be referred to as an artist? Posted: 28 Mar 2021 09:25 AM PDT Is it correct to refer to a band as an artist such as 'My favourite artist is The Beatles'?  |
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