Wednesday, June 23, 2021

Recent Questions - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange

Recent Questions - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange

Question about a sentence structure

Posted: 23 Jun 2021 09:22 AM PDT

I need help with the following sentence:

"Bearing in mind the defendant is preparing to sow the field with some kind of crop, thus exposing me to further costs, i.e., afterwards I will have to replough and sow it with a crop with which I have the intention to (do), I propose that the court should adopt the following ruling:"

So, do I use the "do" in the brackets, or do I remove it?

Is "honor is satisfied" correct and have the meaning I think it has?

Posted: 23 Jun 2021 07:58 AM PDT

I'd like to verify the correctness of a verbal statement or phrase that I might have heard or read somewhere but I don't have the source anymore.

The context is the conclusion of a duel in the Victorian era, and I believe the phrase "honor is satisfied" can be used by someone with authority to state it aloud for all the participants and witnesses that according to their observation the duel itself was fought properly, and whatever the result is, there is no further need for remaining offended nor ashamed and the matter should be closed.

Example:

Jennings fell to his knees, unable to continue. His wavering hand was barely able to hold the sword. "I yield!" -- he breathed hesitantly.
Lord Yarmouth raised his hand and stepped between the fighters to end the duel. "Honor is satisfied" -- he declared firmly.

"Truth" as a reply instead of "True"

Posted: 23 Jun 2021 08:03 AM PDT

I think this sentence is grammatically correct:

  • You need a new pair of glasses.
  • True.

However, I've heard sometimes someone says Truth instead of True:

  • You need a new pair of glasses.
  • Truth.

Is this correct? Or is it a well-known slang term? Or is it just plain wrong?

Should it be 'equals' or 'equal'? [duplicate]

Posted: 23 Jun 2021 05:03 AM PDT

I was reading something and found this line. I just want to know whether the word 'equal' should be 'equals' or 'equal'?

Which sentence is grammatical?

At the time of settlement the cash value plus the amount at risk equal the death benefit.

OR

At the time of settlement the cash value plus the amount at risk equals the death benefit.

Administrative block or Administration block? [closed]

Posted: 23 Jun 2021 03:45 AM PDT

We usually refer to the building where college management offices are located as an 'administrative block'. Even back then, our English teacher, who was known to be excellent in the English language, disagreed. The teacher argued the correct way to refer to the building is as the 'ADMINISTRATION BLOCK', not 'administrative block'.

Since then, I stopped using administrative block to refer to any such building. I however find people using it, so would like to know from native speakers, is 'administrative block' the wrong phrase?

'laid out on three levels of elevation 20 feet in height' Help me understand this phrase

Posted: 23 Jun 2021 03:22 AM PDT

The following is the description of the camp. I cannot imagine what it is, because of the ambiguity of the underlined part. The wooden building is 20 feet high? Could anyone be kind enough to explain it for me?

The camp was constructed entirely of one story, wooden building, laid out on three levels of elevation 20 feet in height, connected by wooden stairways.

Do they "only support" or "support only"? [duplicate]

Posted: 23 Jun 2021 02:53 AM PDT

From our docs, written by non-native speakers:

Frobnicators often support only discrete values.

my gut feeling (non native speaker):

Frobnicators often only support discrete values.

a) Is either blatantly incorrect?

b) Is one generally preferred?

c) If both correct, do they differ in meaning?

Occupation where the person receives the punishment for upper class kids

Posted: 23 Jun 2021 02:49 AM PDT

I've read it somewhere but I don't remember it, it was apparently very popular during medieval times especially for the wealthy. The people that are taking the punishment are usually kids.

What was this occupation called?

Phrase meaning (synonym) [closed]

Posted: 23 Jun 2021 02:17 AM PDT

"Despite the fact that the disease is so prevalent, treatment is still far from satisfactory."

What can I use instead of 'The fact that'. What are the best synonym of 'The fact that' to understand its meaning as a non-native speaker?? Please, help me regarding this critical phrase. I cannot understand its meaning at all

What does "normal people" mean, literally? [closed]

Posted: 23 Jun 2021 02:55 AM PDT

1, What do normal people talk about? Well, normal people like to share experiences with each other.

2, Celebrities can live a luxurious life. Normal people can't afford that.

3, I can't cure your mental illness like a professional. I am just a normal person. You should go to a therapist.

4, Normal people don't react that way.

Is normal the antonym of abnormal in these examples? Do these sentences mean that: those who don't like to share experiences are abnormal, celebrities are abnormal, therapists are abnormal, those who act that way are abnormal?

Or is this usage correct? Is there another word that can characterise people without parting them into normal and abnormal?

What are some adjectives to describe the texture of a book cover? [closed]

Posted: 23 Jun 2021 12:51 AM PDT

I'm looking for words (adjectives or compound adjectives) that can be used to describe the texture of a book cover. The book in question is old. I'm thinking 'rough', 'grainy' etc., but I want something on similar lines that sounds better/more literary.

Here's the sentence I have in mind: 'He held the book, feeling its /texture/ with his hands.' Please suggest some words I could insert in place of 'texture'.

"probably" placement [migrated]

Posted: 23 Jun 2021 06:28 AM PDT

Please help me with placing of "probably" in negative sentences.

My workbook says that 'probably' comes before helping verb. For example,

Anna probably won't be in class tomorrow

or

Anna probably isn't going to be in class tomorrow.

So I did some exercises and the answers for them doesn't match with this rule. The same workbook also suggest sentences like this:

They are probably going to invite.
They are probably NOT going to invite

or

I'm probably going.
I'm probably NOT going.

So what's the rule? Should we place it before or after 'to be' and auxiliary words?

Deselect or Unselect Checkbox? [duplicate]

Posted: 23 Jun 2021 12:01 AM PDT

Which is the right usage of unselect or deselect when it comes to getting checkboxes unticked.

Will you use,

Select/unselect the checkbox of your choice

or will you use,

Select/deselect the checkbox of your choice

I'd like to know the more appropriate usage in this context.

Is the "Actor" a Proper Element of an Infinitive Phrase?

Posted: 23 Jun 2021 12:07 AM PDT

Consider the following sentence:

Tell him to make a sandwich.

This article at the Purdue Writing Lab teaches that the word him should be analyzed as being an "actor" of the infinitive phrase to make a sandwich. The actor is described as being akin to the subject of an independent clause. The cited article explains that him, as the actor, is part of the infinitive phrase.

I question the validity of the actor concept. It seems to me that the pronoun, him, is the indirect object of the verb, tell. Certainly, in the following sentence, him is an indirect object.

Tell him a story.

I find it odd to think that the role of him in the sentence would morph if the direct object, a story, is replaced with the infinitive phrase, to make a sandwich. Following the logic of the cited article, him would cease to be an indirect object, and would become part of the infinitive phrase.

I have not seen the actor concept taught elsewhere. Is the actor a proper element of an infinitive phrase?

[EDIT: I ask this question from the viewpoint of a user who has learned a traditional, schoolbook grammar, not as an academic studying the subject. As @Shoe implies, perhaps the author of the article is writing from a theoretic point of view.]

[SECOND EDIT:]

I, here, add a confounding contra example. One can rewrite the second sentence to replace the indirect object with an adverbial prepositional phrase.

Tell a story to him.

However, the first sentence cannot be rewritten in that fashion.

Tell to make a sandwich to him. [nonsense]

That contrast implies, perhaps, the nature of the word him is altered by the presence of the infinitive phrase.

How would one analyze him in the first two sentences (using traditional grammar)? I believe the answer is that it is an indirect object in both cases, but I'm starting to doubt that conclusion.

Is ‘red’ an abstract noun? [duplicate]

Posted: 23 Jun 2021 09:33 AM PDT

I think that a color is intangible and a paint (thing) is concrete but a color (property) is abstract. Isn't 'color' itself an abstract noun? I cannot imagine a red color but only a red-colored thing.

Looking for a word that means "overly conciliatory"

Posted: 23 Jun 2021 06:07 AM PDT

Taking an Ethics class, and in a unit of Aristotelean Virtue ethics, we are covering "The Mean."

Is there a word that means roughly, "seeking middle ground for middle ground's sake; compromising to a fault?" Seeking a middle ground or happy medium not because it is optimal or virtuous to do so, but just because it is the midpoint between two extremes of a certain behavior?

Thank you!

Is there an antonym for "paucity" that means not scarce and not necessarily but possibly enough?

Posted: 23 Jun 2021 09:29 AM PDT

I am trying to fill in the blank in this sentence: "There is a(n) ___ of research on this topic."

Using the word paucity would imply, to me, that I feel there is definitely not enough research and more needs to be done. However, what I am trying to say is that I know some amount of research has been done on the topic, and while there are certainly gaps in the knowledge yet to be filled, there is enough to justify a systematic review of the literature on the topic.

The best word I've been able to come up with is abundance, but I don't think it's quite what I am looking for because I feel it implies that the topic is very well understood and further research is not necessary.

Another possible answer would be "good amount". I think this fits my needs, but doesn't sound formal enough, as this is for an academic paper.

A practical example of what I mean is this: Suppose you are driving on the highway with about 1/8 a tank of gas left and approaching an exit that has a gas station but no restaurant. Your passenger asks if you should stop for gas at this exit or wait for the next one so you can get lunch at the same time. Being away from home, you don't actually know how far the next exit with a gas station is, but because your car gets pretty good mileage and the area isn't extraordinarily rural you assume you have enough gas to get to the next exit and decide to stay on the highway. How could you describe this amount of fuel?

What do we call the shift in the orthography of words like "cuppa, fella, attaboy and attagirl"? [duplicate]

Posted: 23 Jun 2021 01:54 AM PDT

I know that words like

cuppa, fella, attaboy and attagirl

are contractions of, respectively,

cup of tea, fellow, that's the/a boy and that's the/a girl.

I wonder if there is a term which would describe the process through which the orthography of these contracted words changed to what they call phonemic orthography (writing words as they are pronounced).

For example, the British cuppa comes from cup of tea but it renders just cup of.

As for attaboy, it comes from that's the boy, but there were stages ("That's the boy"—"'at's a boy"—"atta boy" – there is even a variant of at her, boy!)

Also, cuz just popped into my mind because (!) it became so short. Kinda seems to be kind of (!) in between.

So from a proper English orthography there is a shift towards phonemic orthography in informal English. Is there a term for this? Does anyone know of any reliable investigations of this process?

Edit: The question indicated as already existing does shed some light, but the accepted answer is relaxed pronunciation. And the question seems to focus on speech and pronunciation. My question is rather about this tendency to write in this way in informal writing. It may be though that such term does not exist in orthography. The result is phonemic orthography; just wondered if the process leading to it has a name.

Is there a word category for a certain kind of words beginning with 'a-'? [duplicate]

Posted: 23 Jun 2021 08:13 AM PDT

A few words beginning with an a came up to my mind recently because their structure is similar in the way they convey their meaning.

Those words are like: atop, alight; afloat, afresh, anew, asleep, etc.

Where a seems to have a meaning like "on the _ of", "in the _ of", "on a", "in a" or other particular meanings that slightly change the meaning of the following syllable.

Though these words obviously do not belong to the same part of speech, are they all linked? Also, why is the prefix "a" so common?

Chip away at something [closed]

Posted: 23 Jun 2021 04:01 AM PDT

Can I say "I tried to chip away at our meetings" if I mean to say "I try to meet with somebody more rarely so that we gradually stop meeting at all"?

...gave me (the) strength and inspiration to [closed]

Posted: 23 Jun 2021 03:46 AM PDT

In this sentence:

His support gave me strength and inspiration to continue my campaign without wavering.

does using the before strength imply a restriction?

His support gave me the strength and inspiration to continue my campaign without wavering.

Is there any difference in meaning between the two?

Does "more recently" just mean "recently" here?

Posted: 23 Jun 2021 03:00 AM PDT

Here's the context:

"In England's residential nurseries in the 1960s, there was a reasonable number of caregivers, and the children were materially well provided for. Their IQs, though lower than those of children in families, were well within the average range, up in the 90s," Zeanah told me. "More recently, the caregiver-child ratio in Greek orphanages was not as good, nor were they as materially well equipped.

Usually "more recently" implies a comparison between two recent events but here we are talking about something that happened more than half a century ago so I wonder if "more recently" just means "recently here. Thanks!

Is there a word for being excellent at something you hate doing?

Posted: 23 Jun 2021 03:52 AM PDT

I'm seeking a word or phrase which means being excellent at something you hate doing.

For example: I'm excellent at placing labor epidurals in pregnant women, it might even be my best skill. But, it is also one of my least favorite tasks to perform at work.

Example sentence:

Dave's skill at placing epidurals is only exceeded by his hatred of placing them. It's a great example of ............

While irony would fit here, I'm seeking a word or phrase that refers to this specific situation. Ideally, it would convey the whole concept of being good at it while hating it.

Is "I" an alphabet or a letter?

Posted: 23 Jun 2021 05:54 AM PDT

I came across this sentence,

"Modi understands only one alphabet, and that is the capital I"

in the Indian writer Dr. Shashi Tharoor's recently published book "The Paradoxical Prime Minister".

When I looked the word 'alphabet' up in dictionaries, I get the definition as 'a set of letters or symbols in a fixed order used to represent the basic set of speech sounds of a language, especially the set of letters from A to Z'. (Oxford Living Dictionaries)

Why was 'alphabet' used here?

“...where it’s at.” - Is that grammatical?

Posted: 23 Jun 2021 09:32 AM PDT

I stated to a customer, "They can tell you where it's at" (regarding the office location of an appointment). The customer then asked if he could correct my grammar, to which I consented. It was an older gentleman; he was simply being talkative, so I didn't mind. He said, "You do not have to say 'at.' You can say, 'They can tell you where it is.'"

Dictionaries such as Merriam Webster don't have any examples of at being used at the end of a sentence like this.

Was my statement grammatically acceptable? If so, why?

What do you call a person who suggests ideas?

Posted: 23 Jun 2021 08:42 AM PDT

Sorry if it has already been asked, but what do you call someone who gives ideas/suggestions? At a business meeting or a group discussion, for example.

What's an alternative term to "politically correct"/"political correctness"?

Posted: 23 Jun 2021 08:48 AM PDT

The terms "politically correct" and "political correctness" are used by people everywhere on the political spectrum. However, these terms have garnered some negative connotations, sometimes being used in a derogatory way to refer to any attempt to advocate for respect for those who differ from the majority. See for example these quotes from the thread How has the meaning of "politically correct" changed?:

There are all kinds of things people say that are a little (or a lot) hurtful in this way. Sometimes, people who like to say these things ("lady doctor", for example) object when they're corrected and say "oh, sorry, guess that's not politically correct" implying that it is, however, just plain correct.

... it seems clear that the vast majority of derisive users of politically correct employ it to caricature and dismiss the views of political liberals.

Non-ironical usage of the phrase soon attracted mocking usage; and in the past two decades, the phrase has broadened further—first to refer disapprovingly to liberal political views on any subject ...

I don't want to use "political correctness" because I don't want to use the same term as those who who attack the principles of respect and equality. Using it can also offend or alienate some people. Is there a clear, more neutral equivalent?

Usage of "flavour" vs. "version"

Posted: 23 Jun 2021 01:43 AM PDT

Software systems undergo versioning when changes are made to them. E.g.: "Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows RT etc. are some popular versions of the Windows Operating System."

Similarly, some software also comes in different flavours. E.g.: "BOSS, Ubuntu, Fedora, Mint are some popular flavours of Linux."

I fail to understand whether version and flavor of a software mean the same thing, and can be used interchangeably. Or are there some not-so-subtle differences?

Alternative terms to "Blacklist" and "Whitelist"

Posted: 23 Jun 2021 04:45 AM PDT

My company is developing a management tool for managing SIM cards. One of the features of the tool is to block the SIM card if it's put into a disallowed device by device IMEI validation.

The feature for this was mocked up using the terms blacklist and whitelist. However, after a while someone raised the point that these terms could feel a bit controversial.

The advantage of using these terms is that they are clean and easily understandable, but then again if they could invoke any racial issues we don't want anything to do with them.

So far we've come up with these possible alternatives:

  • Blocked List
  • Unblocked List
  • Allowed List

And honestly, we're not very excited for any of these words.

Are blacklist and whitelist controversial? Are there better words we could use?
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)