Recent Questions - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange |
- How do you interpret this Disclosure?
- Which is the correct one? "When should we" or "When we should"? [closed]
- An alternative to "Old Wives' Tales" to avoid implying old women are likely to be wrong
- What structure appears in this sentence?
- much/very respected
- What is the name for the symbol of a person?
- Would you say "There was three feet of snow" or "There were three feet of snow" and why not - and why isn't in standard grammars? [duplicate]
- Word for collective followers of Sisyphus
- When not to use huge [duplicate]
- How much meaning of a sentence changes in respect of changing the position of "The"? [closed]
- What's the shortest way of saying "Without taking up much space? [closed]
- Read an article, select the answer, where are the mistakes? [closed]
- What is the difference between Indecisive and Undecisive [closed]
- Use of ‘had’ in Indian English
- Is there a descriptor for courses/classes you take without necessarily being in college?
- Single word for "in a holy way"
- Skill to Hindcast
- Word for the thing that's fixed on the wall and holds a (fire) torch in stories set in the distant past
- The meaning of "upon one"
- How should I use "on" after the verbs to get the meaning of "continuously"?
- Used to and would
- Is the tense of the latter part of the sentence correct?
- Usage of "elder" and "eldest" in degrees of comparison
- Does 'droll' have a negative connotation?
- What is the origin of "dibs"?
- How did 'sluice' evolve to have 2 distinct meanings?
- Why use "on-pass" / "onpass" instead of "pass on"?
- What's the difference between a "racist" and a "racially sensitive" remark?
- What is the difference between "can't" and "mustn't" in the expressing of prohibition?
| How do you interpret this Disclosure? Posted: 12 May 2021 09:43 AM PDT "Basement sliding door had a small leak during rainstorm, replaced sliding door and all new siding for house. All windows/doors where new siding was put, flashed by contractor with new house wrap as well - Diamond Kote brand siding"  |
| Which is the correct one? "When should we" or "When we should"? [closed] Posted: 12 May 2021 09:19 AM PDT I would like to know which of the following sentences is the correct one: a) **When should we** use this or that? or b) **When we should** use this or that? If both are correct, is there a different meaning? Thank you all! Best regards, Jose.  |
| An alternative to "Old Wives' Tales" to avoid implying old women are likely to be wrong Posted: 12 May 2021 09:56 AM PDT An old wives' tale, according to Collins, is a traditional belief, especially one which is incorrect. We might not always want to imply that married women, however ancient, are repositories of traditional erroneous views, so is there an alternative phrase carrying similar meaning? Sometimes folk wisdom (Collins again) will do, but this doesn't carry the same suggestion of "probably wrong" or scepticism. It works, in my opinion, in the context of traditional cooking tips in a question at cooking.se (where I suggested it as an alternative), but I can't see it being a universal replacement.  |
| What structure appears in this sentence? Posted: 12 May 2021 08:24 AM PDT
I saw this sentence in the Collins Dictionary. It seems weird. It looks like a compound sentence, yet the tenses of the coordinate clauses are different.  |
| Posted: 12 May 2021 08:08 AM PDT Fowler's Concise Dictionary of Modern English Usage, page 621 reads
What process and effect is the author referring to here?  |
| What is the name for the symbol of a person? Posted: 12 May 2021 09:03 AM PDT
New Oxford American Dictionary, may 2021 According to this definition, what is the word for a personal symbol? Emblem? Badge? Insignia? I know the definitions of those words, but I wonder whether or not one's symbol falls into either. Is there a dedicated term for this? By personal symbol, I mean a symbol meant to represent someone. Since I was a child, I have been designing personal symbols for myself; those someway represent me. That is what I am referring to.  |
| Posted: 12 May 2021 08:56 AM PDT Do you say (1) "There was three feet of snow" or (2) "There were three feet of snow" when referencing the amount of snow and NOT three feet that were made of snow! The Novels of Charles Lever: Tom Burke of "Ours"; By Charles James Lever p. 11 (1894) The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson, Chatto and Windus, 1912 p. 412 The Works of Theodore Roosevelt, Volume 1, Theodore Roosevelt, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1906, p. 105 As a small sampling of the writers who used (1) this choice of wording. I.e. There was three feet of snow. Now I would argue that even after measuring 3 feet, 2 feet or 200 feet, you still end up with an amorphous uncountable mass of snow, water etc. Whereas if you end up with a defined, countable quantity then it is more correct to use are/were since there is no longer an uncountable mass. I'm assuming that countable here refers to whether or not each individual component is individualized so that it is not an amorphous mass that can be quantized into discrete units. Bags of flour, barrels of oil are all individual discrete units, hence There are three bottles of oil; There are five bags flour. of Snow is still just snow without any discrete individual components unless you have 4 barrels of snow. Also what about There is 5 gallons of oil vs. Thwew re 5 gallons of oil! This isn't simply a measurement usage. This is a question of finding a source to support your position. I think the point is subtle, I don't think there is a definitive answer and to dictate one way or the other is a rabbit-hole, but I'm interested to know if there are any definite style-references or grammar guides that specifically note this, and have a definitive answer.  |
| Word for collective followers of Sisyphus Posted: 12 May 2021 08:33 AM PDT I am looking for a single word to describe the group of followers of Sisyphus (or generally any Greek name ending in '-phus'). I am unsure of how to modify the word to achieve this. Possible guesses: Sisypheans, Sisyphees, Sisyphians. Example sentence: "Despite their differences, the men were all ____" Related: The word 'sisyphean' is used to describe an endless or immensley repetitive task, so 'Sisypheans' might be ambiguous as used to describe the followers of Sisyphus. Relevant research: The OED lists both 'sisyphean' and 'sisyphian' but none of the examples use the word to mean 'people/followers of Sisyphus'. Further, search results for 'sisypheans' yields only references to an album with that name. The word 'Sisyphians' is used in the Marie Belloc Lowndes 1904 novel "The Heart of Penelope", Chapter II: "Mr. Gumberg hesitated; words sometimes failed him, but never for long-'all I can say is he was the first of those I was the first to dub the Sisyphians ... // ... Those for whom I invented the name of Sisyphians-there are plenty of 'em about now—well, i divide 'em into two sets, both, I need hardly say, equally distasteful to me. The one kind cultivates platonic friendships with the women'-Mr. Gumberg made a slight grimace." In this example, 'Sisyphians' is a fictional name given to these people due to their actions relating to or resembling those of Sisyphus, but not as followers of Sisyphus. I am unsure of whether there is any way English meaningfully distinguishes between the two via suffixes.  |
| When not to use huge [duplicate] Posted: 12 May 2021 04:20 AM PDT I know that huge means very large. However, I have heard from my English friends that huge cannot be used instead of very large in some situations. What are some examples where huge cannot be used instead of very large or very big?  |
| How much meaning of a sentence changes in respect of changing the position of "The"? [closed] Posted: 12 May 2021 03:50 AM PDT Can anybody explain the differences of meanings if the position of article "the" changes?
Explanation with more examples is appreciated. Thanks.  |
| What's the shortest way of saying "Without taking up much space? [closed] Posted: 12 May 2021 03:49 AM PDT I'm looking to say "this [x] will [y] without taking up much space" without being too wordy.  |
| Read an article, select the answer, where are the mistakes? [closed] Posted: 12 May 2021 01:48 AM PDT english is not my native language, I translated the text, I looked for words in dictionaries, I do not understand where the mistakes are? Help please.  |
| What is the difference between Indecisive and Undecisive [closed] Posted: 12 May 2021 04:22 AM PDT How would you used these in a sentence? In Spanish "Indecisivo" means indecisive but I think you can also use undecisive. But how?  |
| Use of ‘had’ in Indian English Posted: 12 May 2021 05:11 AM PDT
I asked some people about use of "had" in this sentence and they said that this is an incorrect use of past perfect and it could be right in Indian English. I don't understand it. Does "had" have a different use in indian english?  |
| Is there a descriptor for courses/classes you take without necessarily being in college? Posted: 12 May 2021 07:17 AM PDT For example, if you take a class on sewing or boating, basically any class you might take for your personal development or wanting to learn a new skill. It might be offered by a school, or maybe by a local community organization. Could there be a word to describe that type of independent class? I feel like saying "classes" automatically makes people think of school. So, just like the way we say "college classes", might there be a "_____ classes" for this other scenario?  |
| Single word for "in a holy way" Posted: 12 May 2021 05:44 AM PDT I was writing a satirical story, and wanted a single word to express the concept of "in a holy way" or "in a holy manner". For example, were it actually a word, a good example would be "holy-ly". For a specific instance in which it might be used:
A compound word or phrase would be acceptable. However, I'm not a huge fans of neologisms, so nothing constructed please. I would strongly prefer an adverbial form, but would accept it if no such suitable word exists.  |
| Posted: 12 May 2021 04:00 AM PDT I wonder whether it's correct to say hindcastive, similarly to what we do with predictive to denote the ability to predict. If not, what would be an equivalent term? possibly:
NB: the term isn't even listed in the OED, unlike in Webster's, but it's known in scientific literature. Thanks!  |
| Posted: 12 May 2021 09:26 AM PDT What do you call the thing that holds a torch? They're used a lot in old movies. They're fixed on walls and used for holding the fire (torch). Here's an image of what I'm talking about but it's not quite the same as the one used for holding the torch:
Here's the torch I'm referring to:
What's the name of the thing that is fixed on a wall and holds this torch?  |
| Posted: 12 May 2021 05:02 AM PDT What is the meaning of "upon me" in the following excerpt of one of Whitman's poems? Dictionaries don't help in this case.
What I guess is he means "the life that doesn't exhibit itself is strong and sits by me".  |
| How should I use "on" after the verbs to get the meaning of "continuously"? Posted: 12 May 2021 09:04 AM PDT What are some words that mean "continuously" if I add "on" after these words? For example, You should try on (or) You should try on and on. And the others Do on,Eat on,teach on...etc.  |
| Posted: 12 May 2021 06:05 AM PDT Is the verb "work" a state? For example, the sentence "I used to work as a doctor." is grammatically correct but is "I would work as a doctor." also correct? It doesn't sound weird, is it because it is used as unreal present? The sentence "He would work from 4 am to 7 pm when he was an accountant." is grammatically correct, so does that mean the verb "work" becomes dynamic when it is used in that sentence? Someone please explain, I'm confused.  |
| Is the tense of the latter part of the sentence correct? Posted: 12 May 2021 03:03 AM PDT "He couldn't foresee devoting himself to anything other than that passionate desire, even if the fire eventually burns him down." Is 'burns him down' correct? The speaker is okay with the fire burning him down in the future if that is the consequence of following his passion.  |
| Usage of "elder" and "eldest" in degrees of comparison Posted: 12 May 2021 01:01 AM PDT If one has two elder brothers, is it OK to say "My eldest brother is this and the second eldest is that"?  |
| Does 'droll' have a negative connotation? Posted: 12 May 2021 04:35 AM PDT I'd taken droll to mean something like drily amusing, but without any implied negativity. But I've often heard people say
in response to something that they appear to find mildly amusing but not exactly LOL territory. They certainly would not have described the comment as hilarious or very amusing, which terms would be reserved for something much funnier. For example:
(From Yes, Minister series 1, episode 1: Open Government.) Is this a correct understanding of the term? Does it suggest a lukewarm assessment?  |
| Posted: 12 May 2021 02:12 AM PDT Etymonline has this entry for dibs:
However, while Merriam-Webster's entry for dibs gives the same definition and origin as an abbreviation of dibstone, it traces the first known use to 1812. An Ngram of dibs shows that it was indeed used in the early 1800s, having peaks in the 1840s and 1880s. After the 1880s peak, it drops gradually and does not really rise again until the 1980s. In fact, 1932 seems to be during one of the word's lowest points.
Given this information, why does Etymonline trace its origin to this low point in 1932 when it was actually in use over a century earlier? I'm looking for an explanation for the disparity between these sources. As far as I can determine, there is not another meaning of dibs to explain its earlier appearances.  |
| How did 'sluice' evolve to have 2 distinct meanings? Posted: 12 May 2021 08:04 AM PDT What explains this word's opposing meanings? Can they be conciliated? I already understand and so ask NOT about the definition, below which I want to burrow. I heed the Etymological Fallacy.
I don't replicate Etymonline because it only explains the noun's etymology. My issue is that any  |
| Why use "on-pass" / "onpass" instead of "pass on"? Posted: 12 May 2021 06:44 AM PDT Where I work some people use "on-pass" in sentences such as "We get data from the stock exchange and on-pass it to our customers" or "We need to on-pass that information to the other team". Does this mean anything different from "pass on", e.g. "We get data from the stock exchange and pass it on to our customers"? My impressions are it's more used by people in our American office than in our UK one, also, that it wouldn't be used informally (they don't say "Thanks for the tip, I'll on-pass that to Bob"). Edit: (However I've now heard one person in UK office using it, informally; he didn't know why he used it instead of "pass on" when I asked him nicely about it.)  |
| What's the difference between a "racist" and a "racially sensitive" remark? Posted: 12 May 2021 03:49 AM PDT Former England football captain John Terry has been cleared of making a racist remark to a fellow professional. However it is clear he said something which caused offence, which the BBC sports website chose to call racially sensitive.
So what then is the difference between a "racist" remark and a "racially sensitive" one?  |
| What is the difference between "can't" and "mustn't" in the expressing of prohibition? Posted: 12 May 2021 09:25 AM PDT
What verb should be used?
Is can't correct, or only mustn't is correct?  |
| You are subscribed to email updates from Recent Questions - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange. To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, United States | |
No comments:
Post a Comment