Saturday, August 14, 2021

Recent Questions - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange

Recent Questions - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange

What does "voice" mean in the context of written language?

Posted: 14 Aug 2021 09:46 AM PDT

The two most common frames of reference seem to be (1) agency attribution at the level of sentence structure (active vs. passive voice) and (2) the use of stylistic elements to stamp the persona of the author(and/or a character) with identity characteristics- this is closely related to the idea of point of view (POV).

To elaborate a bit more on (2): "voice" gets used in all kinds of more-or-less metaphorical ways-- including to refer to an author's writing style ("Dorothy Sayers' dry voice") and for direct quotation, which may or may not mark dialect or social style. Twain is said to have given Jim (in Huckleberry Finn) a Black voice, and one could describe Questlove's recent film Summer of Soul, which is about the Harlem Cultural Festival of 1969, as simultaneously showcasing Black voices and redeeming the erasure of "the Black voice" from the mainstream cultural history of the 1960s.

Is there a common thread to all these ways of referring to "voice" in written language? What is it? I'd be especially interested in perspectives from rhetoric, perhaps because I am bemused by all the implicit distinctions and variables that seem to be at play (hopefully some of them come through in these examples) and need help parsing them out.

There's a useful thread What does voice in writing mean?, from 9 years ago, but I don't think it fully answers my question.

How to describe a scenario that is close to the real conditions

Posted: 14 Aug 2021 09:05 AM PDT

I am writing a technical paper that includes economic analysis. In one section, I need to give a justification for choosing interest rates used in the study. I am trying to say the interest rates were chosen according to the reports of the central bank of the country to make the results of the study reliable and closer to the real conditions.

I am looking for an elegant and academically acceptable phrase or word to describe this.

“In the light of” vs “in light of” - 2021 Idiomatic BRITISH ENGLISH USAGE

Posted: 14 Aug 2021 09:00 AM PDT

I know that the former is considered to be the traditional British English expression while the second is its American English equivalent, however, has this usage changed in the United Kingdom in the recent years? I have encountered both of them in BrE newspapers and books.

I tried looking the matter up and this is what I found; certain dictionaries (Oxford Learner's) still draw a distinction between the two phrases. However, according to Google Nngram, the American phrase is slightly more common in British English lately, but I don't know if this is accurate, nor do I know whether "in light of" is considered to be a (common) mistake.

Would it be correct to say that BOTH phrases are now acceptable in British English?

Is this a clause? [closed]

Posted: 14 Aug 2021 05:42 AM PDT

People from the UK, who have been fully vaccinated with an NHS administered vaccine, don't need to test to enter Greece.

Is administered part of a participle clause here?

Recursive Lucid Dream [closed]

Posted: 14 Aug 2021 02:19 AM PDT

I had an interesting dream tonight.

It was a lucid dream, but it was recursive.

Essentially, the same character relives their life multiple times throughout the lucid dream, but from the same section of time with different filler details with each successive pass of their life - which all come together to reveal a larger plot (e.g. Abe goes about their life noticing details after a suicide attempt. Later on in the dream, he goes about this same section of time noticing new details).

Sorry it's a little fuzzy.

Has anyone else had this experience? Is there a term to describe such a dream?

Can em dashes be used to introduce a dependent clause?

Posted: 14 Aug 2021 05:04 AM PDT

Consider the following sentence from WSJ:

And so, like the dutiful and efficient worker I was, I'd put my energy into clearing the decks, cranking through the smaller stuff to get it out of the way—only to discover that doing so took the whole day, that the decks filled up again overnight anyway and that the moment for responding to the New Delhi email never arrived. Source

Following the participial clause (cranking through...), a single em dash is used to introduce another dependent clause that begins with a phrase (only to discover ... the whole day).

Is this a valid use of the Em Dash?

Meaning of preposition 'of' [closed]

Posted: 14 Aug 2021 02:24 AM PDT

What is the meaning/function of the preposition of in the following sentence?

We must find some means of dealing with him, if we are to win.

This is my speculation: the preposition of serves to identify 'dealing with him' as some solution to a problem (the definition of 'means'). Is this interpretation correct?

"Go on the programme " . What does go on mean here? [closed]

Posted: 14 Aug 2021 01:04 AM PDT

What does go on mean in this passage about "Desert Island Discs"?

For over 70 years, people from all parts of society and the world have been invited to go on the programme to talk about some of the special or interesting things that have happened to them and choose eight pieces of music that hold a special memory or meaning for them.

There's an extensive list of phrases and phrasal verb forms for go in Lexico, but none seem to fit here.

What's different pane and panel? [migrated]

Posted: 13 Aug 2021 11:10 PM PDT

I am confused pane,panel,frame,window; In my eyes they are 板, can someone know the different between them?

Is 'call screening' really 'filtering'?

Posted: 14 Aug 2021 02:47 AM PDT

When someone talks about 'call screening', that means they are looking at who is calling on the phone and only allowing certain calls through. They are 'filtering out' the unwanted calls, but I've never heard it referred to as 'call filtering'. I would likely never say 'call filtering', but why? Despite feeling awkward, could I say 'call filtering' and still be correct?

Sorry, I am not a linguist, etymologists, or English language enthusiast so I probably shouldn't even be posting here, but none of the other StackExchange communities seemed appropriate. If possible, please respond in 'little words' so that I can comprehend the answer. (And yes, English is my first language so I have no excuse for any grammatical sins in this question :) ).

What words in English sound aggressive to native speakers(not a semantically, but phonetically/ associatively) and why? [closed]

Posted: 13 Aug 2021 08:29 PM PDT

What words in English sound aggressive to native (not a semantically, but phonetically/ associatively) and why? it can be not a "bunch of examples" only, but a generalized rule, if you can, it will be better too.

This question not about a meaning of words(and not about any sentences or context), but about separated words or affixes.

I suggest and ask to open this question again, because:

  1. The question is not "opinion-based", this isn't the case:
  2. The mass "subjective" perceptions for linguistics is an objective relation as the very aspect of language - languages don't exist outside of people and psychology, and never and nowhere has any language in this form existed.

"Psychology of phonetics" - such an universal thing it just does not exist.

  1. And the question definitely has no more to do with neuroscience-psychology than with linguistics - since we are talking about words and affixes, and also only the specifics of the English language. Neurology-psychology as a whole deals with other issues, and although there is an intersection, the question is much more linguistic.

Is "multiple" simply a synonym for "more than one" or is it better used to connote division, duplication, or repetition?

Posted: 14 Aug 2021 01:26 AM PDT

Today "multiple" is widely used as a synonym for "many," fancy jargon, in my opinion, to say "more than one."

Is there any support for a more precise meaning or connotation to stand instead for the repetition or multiplication of an element of a whole?

Oxford, cited below, defines the word as "having or involving several parts, elements, or members," consistent with this sense of the word. At the threads below, we see that Merriam-Webster comes and and says "multiple" means "consisting of, including, or involving more than one." The examples M-W gives reflect a sense of parts of a whole or duplicates: "multiple births" and "multiple choice."

Many people use "multiple" in multiple contexts, so this is hard to search! ELU threads here and here come at multiple in different ways, but neither addresses my question.

What's the word for enticing someone and eloping with them?

Posted: 14 Aug 2021 01:24 AM PDT

What word(verb) should go in the blank in the sentence below?

He----X's wife/girlfriend and married her.

Basically I need a word that means enticed, and later eloped with (X's wife/girlfriend.)

I cannot think of a proper word for this context, and so I would appreciate any help forthcoming.

Is "one of those" grammatically considered a generalisation?

Posted: 13 Aug 2021 11:05 PM PDT

If one says "he is not one of those weird people" is that considered a generalisation of the group mentioned?? I argued against because by saying "one of", it is implies a subsection of the group in question.

Is a constant lockdown a curfew?

Posted: 14 Aug 2021 04:01 AM PDT

I'm hearing the current measures taken during the current coronavirus pandemic referred to in the media as "curfews". To me the word "curfew" implies that people are required to behave a certain way during certain hours of the day. The definitions I've seen given tend to agree with my instinct. In other words, requiring people to be off the streets and in their homes after 6 pm or before 8 am sounds like a curfew to me, but a constant lockdown or what some are calling "shelter in place" doesn't.

n.
1. A regulation or rule requiring certain or all people to leave the streets or be at home at a prescribed hour.
2.
a. The time at which such a restriction begins or is in effect: a 10 pm curfew for all residents.
b. The signal, such as a bell, announcing the beginning of this restriction.
American Heritage Dictionary

n.
1. an order establishing a time in the evening after which certain regulations apply, esp. that no unauthorized persons may be outdoors or that places of public assembly must be closed.
2. a regulation requiring a person to be home at a stated time, as one imposed by a parent on a child.
3. the time at which a daily curfew starts.
Random House Kernerman Webster's Dicitonary

2a : a regulation enjoining the withdrawal of usually specified persons (such as juveniles or military personnel) from the streets or the closing of business establishments or places of assembly at a stated hour The city ordered a curfew to prevent further rioting.
b : a requirement that someone (typically a child) be home by a particular time Instead, [parents] should make a point of enforcing curfews and standards of behavior that reflect their family's values …— Pam Carroll
Merriam-Webster Dictionary

1A regulation requiring people to remain indoors between specified hours, typically at night. 'a dusk-to-dawn curfew'
Oxford dictionaries (at lexico.com

A curfew is an order specifying a time during which certain regulations apply.1 Typically it refers to the time when individuals are required to return to and stay in their homes.
Curfew (Wikipedia)

However it's possible that the Collins Dictionary definitions describes the current public health measures, as it doesn't seem to require a time component:

n
1. (Government, Politics & Diplomacy) an official regulation setting restrictions on movement, esp after a specific time at night
2. the time set as a deadline by such a regulation
Collins Dictionary

Edit: India has recently ordered people to stay off the streets between 7 am and 9 pm. Some people consider a curfew to specifically restrict movement after dark, but to me this sounds like a curfew. I guess you could describe it as a reverse curfew as people are only allowed out at night.

Reference request: interesting writing on the topic of descriptivism and prescriptivism?

Posted: 13 Aug 2021 08:07 PM PDT

It seems to me that descriptivism versus prescriptivism is a false dichotomy. On another stackexchange site, I was recently moved to interject, in a hot and heavy dispute over split infinitives: --

Even someone who thinks prescriptivist grammar is fine can think that a certain instance of prescriptivist grammar is nonsense. Good prescriptivism consists of making the language more beautiful, rich, precise, and expressive by emulating what's best about the best writing -- which has nothing to do with obeying a 19th century grammar book that codified already-obsolete 16th-18th century usage. http://merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/to-boldly-split-infinitives

This sort of thing makes me want to write a manifesto, but we all know that manifesto-writing is a sin, right up there with adultery, kicking dogs, and writing "it's" for "its." It may also be a sin because reinventing the wheel is a sin.

Reference request: Can anyone point me to influential or well written discussions of this topic that would allow me to abstain from this sin? That is, I would like to see a fervent, fire-breathing Fidel Castro defense of what I've described above in vague terms as "good" prescriptivism. I would also be happy to see a well argued explanation of why my notion of good prescriptivism is wrong.

A Word To Use To Describe A Person's Non-Physical Presence

Posted: 14 Aug 2021 12:02 AM PDT

What word could I use to describe a person who is dominating not only physically but also in knowledge, experience, and comprehension? Someone who has a vast amount of experience?

Example of a sentence:

Dominating the room with his physical and ________ presence...

Meaning of "to live one's own bit"

Posted: 14 Aug 2021 05:01 AM PDT

Speaking of Richard Henry Dana, at the end of his study, D. H. Lawrence states:

Dana lived his bit in two years, and drummed out the rest.

Could we say that "lived his bit" is akin to "sow (one's) wild oats"?

Is it a noun or pronoun or something else?

Posted: 13 Aug 2021 07:02 PM PDT

Circle the nouns in the following paragraph.

For the first time in her life, Mary was seeing two boys at once. It involved extra laundry, an answering machine, and dark solo trips in taxicabs, which, in Cleveland, had to be summed by phone, but she recommended it in postcards to friends. She bought the ones² with photos of the flats, of James Garfield's grave, or an announcement from the art museum, one¹ with a peacock-handsome angel holding up fingers and whispering, One³ boy, two boys. On the back she wrote, You feel so attended to! To think we all thought just one² might amuse, let alone fulfill. Unveil thyself! Unblacken those teeth and minds! Get more boys in your life! — Lorrie Moore, "Two Boys"

  1. Why is the one in "one with a peacock-handsome angel" a noun? 

  2. In my opinion, the ones in "she bought the ones with photos of the flats" can't be a noun because it is a pronoun. Also, the one in "to think we all thought just one might amuse" means indefinite or nonspecific people; therefore, it is not a noun, but a pronoun. Is my reasoning correct?

  3. Is the one in "One boy, two boys" not a noun because it is a determiner as in one, two, three, many?

When do you use "this is because" in the present tense versus "this was because" in the past tense?

Posted: 14 Aug 2021 08:24 AM PDT

I found this from a blog where the writer used this is because:

Through the experience of the DSCE, I felt like my life goal had finally been achieved, but when I desperately pleaded with God to let me back into that state, I soon realized it was almost impossible to achieve on my own. This is because I had only become partially self-realized.

Shouldn't the author have used this was because because they were referring a past event? If not, can someone please explain the rule regarding when to use this is because versus when to use this was because?

What is the etymology of "duck" meaning a score of nought in Cricket?

Posted: 14 Aug 2021 08:31 AM PDT

Duck is defined as:

a batsman's score of nought.

How did "Duck", mysteriously, come to mean a score of nought?

Here is the earliest reference in OED from 1868:

1868 St. Paul's Mag. in Daily News 24 Aug. You see..that his fear of a 'duck'—as by a pardonable contraction from duck-egg a nought is called in cricket-play—outweighs all other earthly considerations.

OED has a separate entry for "duck's egg" with a reference to 1863

1863 C. Reade Very Hard Cash vii, Now you and I, at Lord's the other day..achieved..the British duck's-egg.

A NYT reference from 1859 antedates references in OED to "duck-egg" as well.

He is the secretary of the Montreal Club, and was the means of getting the Eleven out, so of course he could not be sent home with a duck's egg."

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I need help understanding the meaning of "insofar as"

Posted: 14 Aug 2021 08:53 AM PDT

I have been trying to get my head around the meaning of "insofar as", but it keeps eluding me. I know it means "to the extent that" or "as much as" as in "I will help insofar as I can" but there are many different cases where I can't grasp the meaning, such as in "The news is good insofar as it suggests that a solution may be possible". Another example is "quarterly earnings matter to investors only insofar as they can at times provide information about future earnings". Can "insofar as" mean because, while, as long as? Any help would be very much appreciated.

Active vs Passive voice in lab reports, and history of scientific usage

Posted: 14 Aug 2021 08:49 AM PDT

I've had some discussions in the past with TA's who would tell my undergrads "Lab reports are written in the passive voice".

Aside from whether or not this is correct (let's come back to that in a bit), where does this come from? Some guidelines I've found that insist on the passive voice (e.g., http://guides.lib.purdue.edu/content.php?pid=232776&sid=1925925) claim that this is done to de-emphasize the role of the investigator, and thus provides a tone of objectivity.

Such arguments never seem to have attribution. Is this a commonly accepted reason, or simply a rationalization?

In effort to prevent this from becoming an opinion-based argument, can anyone point me to a major scientific journal's style sheet or instructions to authors that specifies passive voice for scientific communication? I've published in a number of them, and never came across such an instruction.

As to whether passive voice is correct in this context, I'm thinking of telling my students that there has been a historical tendency to use passive voice for scientific communication, but there seem to be recent trends promoting active voice. I'll point them to examples of both (the previous link and http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/scientific-reports/ for the counter-example), and tell them that I'll accept either style (It will alleviate boredom during grading, if nothing else). Does that sound like an acceptable approach?

"As is customary" vs. "as it is customary"

Posted: 14 Aug 2021 07:01 AM PDT

I more often see the first version being used, but to me, that doesn't sound right because I can't see the subject there. I would definitely use the second one.

What am I missing here?

Update: searching "As is customary" on Google returns more results than "As it is customary", hinting the first form is the most widely used... but I don't know whether that is a good test.

In navigation, what's the difference between bearing, heading, direction, and course?

Posted: 14 Aug 2021 01:26 AM PDT

Specifically, in real-world use, I would think that "course" and "heading" tend to imply a vector of movement, while "bearing" and "direction" might refer only to which way one is facing.

I am looking for two words to correctly assign to these physical components of a vehicle. I suppose I may be looking for military, or naval terminology.

For example, if you were in a submarine, being buffeted by currents, so your vessel was being pushed sideways, how would you correctly say, "we are being pushed east but we are facing north?" Would it be correct to say "we are bearing 0°, but our heading is 270°?" It doesn't sound correct.

Edit

As I note in a comment below: when I clumsily wrote that I was "looking for two words to correctly assign to these physical components of a vehicle," what I meant was, single-word attributes to distinguish between the direction a vehicle was facing, and the actual direction the vehicle was moving in, voluntarily or not.

Use of "in the sequel"

Posted: 14 Aug 2021 09:36 AM PDT

I have seen the following type of phrase in various academic articles and books.

  • Another important decomposition used in the sequel is the ...
  • In the sequel, we identify the position ...
  • the vector v (introduced in the sequel) must be considered...

At first, this use of "in the sequel" seemed strange, and I chalked it up to non-native English writing. I would say something like "in the following" or "below" in a case like this. However, I've seen it enough that I'm starting to question whether it's acceptable/standard English or not.

I can see an argument that by the etymology of the word, it can be used in this fashion. The modern definition of sequel applies to books, films, and events. What's the verdict?

Should I write "module/theme" or "module / theme"?

Posted: 13 Aug 2021 10:40 PM PDT

I usually put a space before and after a slash, when indicating alternatives.

We review a module / theme per user.

Is it correct, or should I rewrite the sentence to remove those spaces?

We review a module/theme per user.
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