Monday, May 31, 2021

Recent Questions - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange

Recent Questions - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange

Does "how dare you" imply a question?

Posted: 31 May 2021 10:40 AM PDT

To say "how come you?" like didn't shut the fridge or "how did you" forget to call, implies an obvious question. So my question is: does "how dare you" mean: why do you feel so emboldened to do so and so? If the way I'm writing this is confusing it's okay, trying to start the conversation, thanks in advance 😊

English mathematics multiplication [closed]

Posted: 31 May 2021 10:00 AM PDT

The number that is used for multiplication is

called

(a) multiplier

(c) multiplicand

(b) product

(d) Dividend

What is the right verb form for "this is the first time ..." [migrated]

Posted: 31 May 2021 09:09 AM PDT

-A: Nice handwriting

-B:

  1. This is the first time someone says this to me.
  2. This is the first time someone has said this to me?
  3. This is the first time someone is saying this to me.

Which ones are correct and idiomatic? Based on what I found in similar threads, it seems the second one is correct, but I was wondering if it has anything to do with how long in the past the action has taken place. So, does the fact that B responds right away make it ok to use simple present tense or does it still feel incorrect? Or ia there any circumstances that makes other ones correct?

Word for a person who interprets everything in his / her comfort

Posted: 31 May 2021 08:52 AM PDT

I understand the word "procrastinator" as:

Someone who delays things (almost always) for his/her comfort.

Is there any word for a person who (almost always) interprets everything in his / her comfort, that is someone who (almost always) concludes comfortable meanings of others' sentences / advice?

Is there a word for a taste so bland that it takes away from other tastes?

Posted: 31 May 2021 09:06 AM PDT

When using the word "bland", I take it to mean a taste that is as close to nothingness as possible. But with some foods or ingredients (I'm currently eating oats with skim milk in plain greek yogurt) I feel like they go beyond having zero taste, and go even into a "negative taste" where they cancel out the flavor of everything eaten with it. Is there a word to go beyond just "bland" for this sort of thing?

True realization of /i/ in American English: Is it really [ɪi]?

Posted: 31 May 2021 11:14 AM PDT

I have read in different places that the latter glide-like realization is the only one that exists in American English. Is this a regional thing? If yes, would you say it occurs in western US English?

I can't even hear the difference between the two sounds and the second one (if it exists) just sounds like a pure [i] sound to me.

Meaning of "If you put a cupcake to my head"

Posted: 31 May 2021 07:18 AM PDT

I'm reading "sellout". somewhere writer says "You'd rather be here than in Africa. The trump card all narrow-minded nativists play. If you put a cupcake to my head, of course, I'd rather be here than any place in Africa"

What does "If you put a cupcake to my head" mean here? Thanks

"I miss seeing her dancing" or "I miss seeing her dance"? [duplicate]

Posted: 31 May 2021 10:31 AM PDT

I'd like to know if it's correct to use ING + ING together in that sentence (i.e. seeing & dancing).

I've seen people use both of these options, but I don't know if they are both correct.

How to use 'stingy' in a sentence? [closed]

Posted: 31 May 2021 05:40 AM PDT

You seem to be stingy in using the sanitizer.

If the person does not like to use sanitizers and does not use them at all, can the person be called stingy for not using it?

PS: This is not money-related.

What is the "Incapable during describing but know the word"-issue called that occurs mostly among non-native English speakers? [duplicate]

Posted: 31 May 2021 09:24 AM PDT

This is a phenomenon that occurs mostly among non-native English speakers.

The other day, 4 non-native speakers were discussing the USSR flag. All of them described it as red-colored flag with a hammer and a cutting knife (example: That hook-like knife used for reaping or simply a knife). Now this kind of description would surely bring up the image of the actual USSR flag but would not be treated as a qualified description.

When the topic digressed, I purposely mentioned the sickle in the ongoing conversation and everyone knew what a sickle was and all of them then said the reaping knife that they had described earlier was a sickle.

Now the question is: They could not associate a sickle (which they knew already) with the image of a sickle on the USSR flag while describing the flag but once the sickle itself was the topic they knew that the knife on the flag was in fact a sickle.

What does this communication-association-memory problem or issue called that occur mostly among Non-native English speaker. I don't know if it occurs among native English speaker at all.

We shall be not sorry [closed]

Posted: 31 May 2021 01:53 AM PDT

We shall be not sorry though the man die tonight

Is not here modifyig shall or be ?

How to convey informally that I acknowledged and I am happy that my advice helped the other person? [migrated]

Posted: 31 May 2021 02:05 AM PDT

Acknowledged is a hard long word, every time I say that it's hard and very official. I checked the synonyms like admit, accept, appreciate. But I'm still confused how to tell this in simpler manner.

I have searched these questions

Usage of "acknowledge"

and some more on stackexchange but I couldn't get any relevant results.

Can any native English speakers hear the flap t sound in "But I..." in the clip? [migrated]

Posted: 31 May 2021 04:57 AM PDT

There are five segments in the clip. Are all the ts in "But I..." pronounced out the flap t sound? I personally can hear the flap t sound in the second and third segments. The first and fourth are not that clear. And the fifth, I don't hear the flap t sound at all and the t sounds like a stop t or a silent t. Are there any native English speakers help me with that? Thank you.

What do you call a person without whom work does not get done? [closed]

Posted: 31 May 2021 02:09 AM PDT

An irreplaceable person, in the context of getting work done.

Is there a word to describe such a person?

I can't figure out the -ing form in the passage?

Posted: 31 May 2021 05:29 AM PDT

There is this passage:

All varieties of criminal behavior, including the violence, theft, and drug offences, may be part of a generalized Problem Behaviour Syndrome (PBS), indicating that all forms of antisocial behavior have similar developmental patterns.

And there is this question:

What is the generalized PBS, according to the text?

I am not sure which of the following is the correct answer to the question and why?

  1. All varieties of criminal behavior, including the violence, theft, and drug offences.

  2. All forms of antisocial behavior have similar developmental patterns.

Using the indefinite article before "rain"

Posted: 31 May 2021 03:05 AM PDT

I have recently learned the use of the indefinite article before uncountable nouns to talk about an unspecific instance. Can I use "a heavy rain" in the following sentence to communicate that I am talking about an instance of heavy rain (a heavy downpour)?

The water level in the lake is much higher after a heavy rain.

What'd be the more common equivalent to Tolkien's "the young perish and the old linger"? [closed]

Posted: 31 May 2021 05:16 AM PDT

Is there a more common phrase that people use to talk about the fact when an old person, unfortunately, watches a young person die before them, even though the old one wishes it be the other way around?

For example, imagine a grandma watches her beloved grandchild die because of an incurable disease.

What is the subtle difference between "and so on" and "and so forth"?

Posted: 31 May 2021 02:43 AM PDT

Kurt Vonnegut uses "and so on" a good deal to end his sentences in Breakfast of Champions.

In some places people would actually try to eat mud or such on gravel while babies were being born just a few feet away. And so on.

Of all the creatures in the Universe, only Dwayne was thinking and feeling and worrying and planning and so on.

It said to simply anybody, in effect, "Hey—guess what: You're the only creature with free will. How does that make you feel?" And so on.

He would get down on the floor and roll around with Sparky, and he would say things like, "You and me, Spark," and "How's my old buddy?" and so on.

He would kid Bill about that. "How's the old respiration, Bill?" he'd say, or, "Seems like you've got a touch of the old emphysema, Bill," or, "We never discussed what kind of a funeral you want, Bill. You never even told me what your religion is." And so on.

The expression was first used by news photographers, who often got to see up women's skirts at accidents and sporting events and from underneath fire escapes and so on.

"Vern's wife thinks Vem is trying to turn her brains into plutonium," said Dwayne. "What's plutonium?" said Harry, and so on.

My editor once changed my "and so on" to "and so forth" in a story.

Why?

Is there a word for the feeling that something is “off” about an overly pleasant group activity?

Posted: 31 May 2021 06:07 AM PDT

Is there a single word for the eeriness that you might feel when you're in a group activity that seems so pleasant, cheery, and safe that you can't help but feel like something's wrong?

The word should fit in this phrase: "Everyone is way too happy, and these streamers only add to the ____."

For example, you attend a child's birthday party. Every single guest has a smile on their face, everyone's chatting with each other, everyone's lively and happy. But it quickly begins to feel so false, artificial or superficial, like an illusion of pleasure. You abstain from interacting with anyone because they all seem like robots programmed for the facade that this party is, unreal or inauthentic. You feel disconnected. Perhaps this is "depersonalization", but the word I'm looking for would imply that this feeling was prompted by the merriment of the event combined with the fact that it was a group activity.

As another example, you observe a concert from the outskirts of its audience. Everyone's jumping around, laughing, and having fun. They might feel like genuine, real people, but you can't shake the feeling that everyone ought to be doing something else, something important, even if you can't pinpoint what that something may be. It's like everyone there is experiencing Peter Pan Syndrome. The idea that they're tiring themselves out by moving around so vigorously invokes a sense of pointless self-harm.

A third example: a VTuber excitedly sings a major-key, upbeat song, giggling off their mistakes every now and then. You notice a count of tens of thousands of viewers under their stream, one of which, for some reason, is you. You begin feeling uncomfortable, like this is all weird to be doing. You feel like an adult/teenager in a playpen, and you close the stream.

Basically, I'm looking for a word that means "eeriness" or "uncanniness", which describes the mood of each situation above, but implies that the source of this uneasy mood is the elation that the group activity would generally be expected to be received with.

Note: The reason the activities I refer to are group activities and necessarily not single-person is that the perception of many others indulging in the activity contributes significantly to the triggering of the feeling I'm looking to describe. Say the above examples occurred without crowds, and it was just you enjoying a song or video by yourself. You might be able to just stop, turn around, and engage in another activity as soon as your subconsciousness asks to move on, and you wouldn't feel any noticeable unease. In group activities, not only are you forced to continue witnessing people indulging in the activity, you're forced to witness them indulging together, and there's always a sense of enthusiasm and immersion in group pursuit that one may cringe at if they feel the mood I'm talking about.

Edit: I'm asking for a feeling, a notion, a descriptor of what one's perspective imposes onto a given situation, not an assertion of the intrinsic qualities of the situation, if that makes sense. For example, "dumb" allows that the quality it refers to may be imposed by the speaker's perspective, because the concept of dumbness must be defined in relation to its opposite -- things outside of what is being described. "Insincere" is not like this, because it's centered on intent, which is an intrinsic quality.

usage of when and tense in a conditional sentence?

Posted: 31 May 2021 07:04 AM PDT

There are two conditional sentences which one is more correct grammatically?

  1. When I come home, my children will be playing.
  2. When I come home, my children would be playing.

In the first sentence the when clause verb is in simple present, and the main clause in future continuous. the situation is real that the children will be playing when I reach home.

In the second sentence the when clause verb is in simple present but the main clause verb in past continuous. But how the second sentence also sounds correct?

Are there any expressions to describe being compliant in particular occasions?

Posted: 31 May 2021 08:04 AM PDT

I know that for a person who normally avoids confrontation, in English we have several expressions such as jellyfish, pushover, soft touch ....

But these expressions are too general for my purposes, describing such a person's usual character trait. So what are words or expressions – if any exist – we could use for someone finding themselves a soft touch in a particular instance? In addition, are there words or expressions for putting another person in such a situation?

What is the term for the type of answer "You should not do X. You should do Y instead. Here is how to do Y." to the question "How do you do X?"?

Posted: 31 May 2021 03:04 AM PDT

Just as a rhetorical question has the name "rhetorical", I believe there are types of answers with names, for example "non-answer". Furthermore, I believe I have come across their names before, but forgotten the terms, and cannot find them again with any amount of searching.

What do you call the type of answer of A0?

Q0: How do you do X?

A0: You should not do X. You should do Y instead. Here is now to do Y.

Also, closely related: What do you call the type of answer of A1?

Q1: How do you do X?

A1: I think you actually wanted / meant to ask "How do you do Y?". Here is how to do Y.

Actions That Terminate At Present Moment

Posted: 31 May 2021 06:07 AM PDT

Which tense should I use for actions which terminate exactly at the present time and the final point of the action is the present moment ? Can present perfect be used for this type of situation?

Let's imagine a boy who left his house to go to his school sometime before the present time and I am a teacher standing at the door of his school now. Can I say "He has come to school" or "He came to school" at the first time he be at the borderline of the school when his coming exactly terminates at the present time and the action includes now(the present time)?

I think using past tense is not appropriate here because the action includes the present moment and using past form requires the action to locate in some past section at the timeline.

Does "does not achieve x and y" equal "achieve neither x nor y"?

Posted: 31 May 2021 10:08 AM PDT

Consider the following three statements:

  1. "If Tenant does not achieve x and y then Tenant may terminate the lease."

  2. "If Tenant achieves neither x nor y then Tenant may terminate the lease."

  3. "If Tenant fails to achieve both x and y then Tenant may terminate the lease."

The goal is to only allow Tenant to terminate the lease if they fail at x and fail at y.The situation we want to avoid is Tenant succeeding at one but failing at the other, and therefore claiming "I did not achieve x and y, I only achieved x. Therefore, since I did not achieve both x and y, I may terminate the lease."

Sentence #1 is the current wording in the lease. I am arguing that it needs to be changed to sentence #2, as that is the only wording where no counterargument could be made that achieving one or the other is grounds for lease termination. I am not sure if sentence #3 works or not, but it seems less bulletproof than sentence #2 to me.

Which sentence(s), if any, achieve the stated goal?

Difference between "May" and "Let" in biblical language

Posted: 31 May 2021 10:03 AM PDT

Is there a meaning difference between "May" and "Let" in the following examples?

  1. May/Let praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

  2. May/Let thanks be to God.

  3. May/Let the God (and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ) be blessed.

Is there a word for suffocation by chest compression?

Posted: 31 May 2021 02:23 AM PDT

Question:

I'm looking for a word that means "to be unable to breathe due to constriction or compression of the chest (lungs/ribs)." Does such a word exist, and does anyone know how best to (succinctly) express this concept?

Note: I am looking for a word that is more specific than "suffocate" that specifically refers to the chest (lungs/rib cage) impact.

Background:

It's not quite as morbid of a question as it sounds. I was in the car with my son (in a car seat), and he was talking about how he didn't want his five-point harness (i.e. the "seat belt" part of a car seat) to be too tight or else he would "choke." He clearly meant that he wouldn't be able to breathe properly in that scenario, but I believed that choke wasn't the correct word. This led to an interesting conversation about what the correct word would in fact be. We settled on "suffocate." However, this, to my ear, sounds like it inherently has an implication of airway obstruction in the vicinity of the mouth/nose. And even if not, the word is certainly more generic than the word that I'm trying to identify.

Research:

For reference, here are the words that appear to be relevant. All of these definitions are from http://www.merriam-webster.com/.

choke

  • to become unable to breathe usually because something gets stuck in your throat or because the air is not good for breathing

  • to cause (someone) to stop breathing by squeezing the throat

  • to make (someone) unable to breathe in a normal way [Note: this definition would presumably apply to my scenario, above, but it still doesn't "sound right" because of the prevalence of the first two definitions.]

suffocate

  • to die because you are unable to breathe [Note: this is probably the closest match. It doesn't mention mouth/nose as a key part of the definition. Is that just my own connotation? Additionally, it appears to be quite a generic definition, and doesn't offer the specificity of the chest compression instance that I'm curious about.]

  • to kill (someone) by making breathing impossible

  • to be uncomfortable because there is not enough fresh air

drown (for the sake of comparison)

  • to die by being underwater too long and unable to breathe

  • to hold (a person or animal) underwater until death occurs

  • to cover (something) completely with a liquid

(Note: the full definition goes on to specify: to suffocate by submersion especially in water." So I interpret that as "drowning is a subset of the ways in which suffocation can occur." Thus, the word drown and the word I'm trying to find would be of equal specificity.)

"During this hour" vs. "In this hour"

Posted: 31 May 2021 04:03 AM PDT

"This took place in this hour." "This took place during this hour."

Is there any difference between the phrases "in this hour" and "during this hour"?

Recordkeeping, record keeping, or record-keeping

Posted: 31 May 2021 11:28 AM PDT

In the following sentence, a reviewer claimed that record keeping is a spelling error that should be corrected to recordkeeping.

Service providers shall manage information using agreed upon metadata tags that can be adapted to changing missions and record keeping practices.

My dictionary (and Dictionary.com) list recordkeeping as a noun only, so I am inclined to say that the spelling should be record-keeping since the term serves as an adjective (I would use record keeping for the verb form). I can find no "definitive" source to cite.

In a Google query, at least one Yahoo Answers article agrees with me, but I could probably find ones that do not. This article also claims that recordkeeping is a financial term not widely used in other contexts. A Google ngram search doesn't resolve the issue, but record keeping is more popular.

What is the preferred spelling in the quoted sentence? Is recordkeeping a financial term? Does anyone have a source I can cite in my response to the commenter other than Yahoo Answers?

Is it correct to use two present participles sequentially?

Posted: 31 May 2021 07:41 AM PDT

We are currently in the process of finishing planning for the outage.

  1. It the preceding sentence grammatically correct?

  2. Is the preceding sentence ideally structured?

  3. If not, what would be a better way of saying it?

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