Sunday, August 29, 2021

Recent Questions - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange

Recent Questions - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange

Conditionals, past perfect vs would [duplicate]

Posted: 29 Aug 2021 10:42 AM PDT

I was reading a book and I can't understand why past perfect is used in the sentence below:

The signal from successive eclipse has less and less distance to travel, so it arrives earlier than if Jupiter had remained at a constant distance.

Why can't it be...if Jupiter would remain...?

What is the meaning of ‘neutral’ in the following article?

Posted: 29 Aug 2021 09:51 AM PDT

Source: (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_phonology)

In General American and Canada, /l/ is generally dark, but to varying degrees: before stressed vowels it is neutral or only slightly velarized.[17] In southern U.S. accents it is noticeably clear between vowels, and in some other positions.

Phrase for making an unnecessary purchase before engaging in an activity

Posted: 29 Aug 2021 10:16 AM PDT

Is there an expression or phrase to describe the misguided behavior of believing that purchasing an item relating to an activity you wish to pursue will give you the motivation to actually engage in that activity?

For example, a person who never jogs outdoors purchases an expensive treadmill, thinking that purchase will be the impetus to make them "a jogger" rather than simply going for a run outside and maybe buying a treadmill sometime in the future, after they've stuck with it for a while.

Or a person who never bakes will purchase a top-of-the-line stand-mixer, believing they'll begin baking once they own the proper tools, even though they could have baked a cake with the equipment they already owned.

The implication here is that this is a false premise; if you don't run or bake now, you're unlikely to make it a regular habit just because bought a fun new toy. You've made an unnecessary purchase and you still aren't engaging in the activity in question.

Is America a "constitutional federal republic" or a "federal constitutional republic"? [closed]

Posted: 29 Aug 2021 10:10 AM PDT

Grammarly says the adjective federal goes before constitutional, but I'm not sure what type of adjectives federal and constitutional are.

Here's what they said: "It appears that the modifiers in the noun phrase constitutional federal one are in the wrong order. Consider changing the word order. Nouns can be modified by more than one adjective. A specific order is followed for multiple adjectives. Review the following list to determine the correct order.
Opinion - delicious, friendly, smart
Size - big, diminutive, gigantic
Age - antique, old, youthful
Shape - angular, flat, oval
Color - crimson, magenta, scarlet
Origin - American, eastern, polar
Material - cotton, iron, plastic"

This source says America is a constitutional federal republic: https://ar.usembassy.gov/education-culture/irc/u-s-government/

Three questions about parallelism and plural vs singular [closed]

Posted: 29 Aug 2021 09:02 AM PDT

Getting attacked by a wolf, not having enough food in the winter, and my friend's marriage were depressing times.

Is this parallel? I think the first two are called gerund phrases and the last one is a noun phrase. Can gerund phrases be parallel with noun phrases?

I got awards for best actor, best director, and best animator.

Is the plural "awards" the correct word to use or should I use the singular "I got AN award for best actor, best director, and best animator"?

I create the machines that makes our world a better place.

Is the singular "makes" correct or should it be the plural "make"?

Is there a term for "meltable"? [duplicate]

Posted: 29 Aug 2021 09:32 AM PDT

Full disclosure, I'm kind of dumb so bear with me. I've only googled a dozen or so thesauruses but I came up with nothing for things that are "meltable".

I mean, is meltable even a word? Has to be, right?

Meaning of a paragraph in academic writing

Posted: 29 Aug 2021 10:26 AM PDT

In the science book we call(refer) section 1 as Chapter 1, and subsection 1.1 as Section 1.1 . But in journal articles we do not use word chapter, we use section. How should we call for Section 1.1 in a journal article (Paragraph 1.1 or Section 1.1 or Subsection 1.1)?

Example:

Section 1.1 (divided to 3 parts by new line):

1.1 Sentence 1.      Sentence 2.        Sentence 3.      Sentence 4.        Sentence 7.      Sentence 8.

I need also to refer without a number to subsection 1.1 as: in this(or previous) __________(subsection/paragraph/section) we show the meaning of..

(Please add source to the answer as the Chicago Manual of Style)

Limitation or limitations? [migrated]

Posted: 29 Aug 2021 08:10 AM PDT

I am confused about the following sentence:

Despite limitations from a lack of funding, the study for the first time paints a picture of children prone to suicidal thought.

Isn't 'a lack of funding' singular? Then why it is 'limitations' instead of 'limitation'?

From in your mouth into mine? [migrated]

Posted: 29 Aug 2021 06:57 AM PDT

In the musicnotes preview of "Between two lungs" by Florence and the machine (https://www.musicnotes.com/sheetmusic/mtd.asp?ppn=MN0078870 ;p. 5) it looks like there comes an "in" after "from" which would result in "it slipped from in your mouth into mine".

Is that a valid usage of a prepositional phrase with a prepositional complement? I'm non-native so i'm not sure if that's actually a gramatically correct sentence in english. If there is no "in" she must be adding some kind of vowel after "from" because it sounds so in the song (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_r3yxfU4Gpw ;2:05,2:17).

Would that be a epenthesis/paragoge then? Could someone check that?

Why are these titles grammatically correct? [duplicate]

Posted: 29 Aug 2021 09:47 AM PDT

I frequently come across titles that are hard for me to make sense of in grammatical terms. These titles sound like questions or incomplete sentences to me. For example: "How Social Media Affects Young People's Attitudes" or "Why Cognitive Load Affects Decision Making"

I would like to know how and why these titles are correct. Thank you.

Glottalization vs. Creaky voice vs. Stiff voice vs. Implosive vs. Ejective vs. Glottal replacement vs. Glottal reinforcement [closed]

Posted: 29 Aug 2021 05:59 AM PDT

My question:

  • What is the different between them?
  • How to represent them in IPA?
  • When do they occur in various dialect of English?

Is there any difference between "to drive sales" and "to boost sales"?

Posted: 29 Aug 2021 08:53 AM PDT

I feel the former falls more into the idea of conducting the customers towards sales opportunities, while the latter relates more to multiplying sales.

I wonder if this perception would make any sense within both marketing jargon and general usage.

Thanks!

"man" vs. "men" pronunciation in American English

Posted: 29 Aug 2021 09:33 AM PDT

Here are 10 audio clips taken (more or less randomly) from a book narrated by a professional American narrator. In 5 of them, he is saying man, and in the other 5, men.

Is it possible for a native speaker to tell which word is being said? Or are the two words indistinguishable in this person's speech?

On a technical side, I've tried to analyze the first two formants (using Praat) as well as the duration of the vowel in each of the recordings. Neither of the parameters seems to conclusively determine the identity of the vowel.

What do you call someone who ornaments the letters and pages of books

Posted: 29 Aug 2021 08:40 AM PDT

What do you call someone who makes art in a book? Like beautifying the letters or putting some form of art on the sides of the pages etc.

What is the meaning of the phrase “in all one’s glory and grit”?

Posted: 29 Aug 2021 04:25 AM PDT

Here is an excerpt from the book called Professional Troublemaker by Luvvie Ajayi Jones.

We are afraid of who we are, in all our glory (and grit). We're constantly searching for that person. Or forgetting that person. Or repressing that person. Instead of standing strong in who that person is.

A similar expression shows up again later in that chapter.

What we can control is our own image of ourselves, and how surely we are worth loving, defending, and redeeming. In all of our messed-up, scared glory.

In these contexts, what does the phrase "in all one's glory" or "in all one's grit" mean?

Meaning of the preposition 'in' the sentence: "Her house lies in that direction." [migrated]

Posted: 29 Aug 2021 02:51 AM PDT

What is the meaning of the preposition 'in' in the below sentence? What relationship does it serve to indicate?

Her house lies in that direction.

Is it idiomatic?

Where to put question mark in sentences with two statements

Posted: 29 Aug 2021 03:30 AM PDT

I'm not sure where to put the question mark here. Can anyone help please?

  1. But why would anyone want to be famous? Especially since fame brings a bunch of problems. (This punctuation reflects the intended intonation)

OR

  1. But why would anyone want to be famous, especially since fame brings a bunch of problems?

Thanks.

Whether it's correct to say he is easy to get angry?

Posted: 29 Aug 2021 12:09 AM PDT

My confusion is that if there are any grammatical rules or limitation on the logical subject of infinitive, adjective-wise maybe?

I know these work:

He is happy to do something
something is easy to do

How about?

he is easy to get angry

I know most people would say he gets angry easily. I just wonder if there are fixed logic behind as in sentences of the first kind being used to describe how a person feel about doing something and the second for judgment of something .

"Together with" : including vs. in addition

Posted: 29 Aug 2021 10:01 AM PDT

Together with John, there were 12 of us in the villa.

Together with John, there were 12 people in the villa.

Are both sentences ambiguous with the meaning "a total number of 13 people"?

Serious consideration or reviewing [closed]

Posted: 29 Aug 2021 12:05 AM PDT

What's the best way to say seriously considering or positively reviewing?

For instance, if someone made you an offer, and you're considering the offer very positively.

When to use “staffers” vs “staff”?

Posted: 29 Aug 2021 07:24 AM PDT

For example:

  1. "The company told its staff to take Friday off."
  2. "The company told its staffers to take Friday off."
  • Do both of these sentences mean exactly the same thing?
  • Is one preferred or maybe less ambiguous than the other?
  • Is there ever a situation where "staff" and "staffers" are not interchangeable?

Edit for clarification:

I am aware that a "staffer" (singular) is a single person while "staff" refers to a group. I'm specifically asking about "staffers" (plural) vs "staff".

What would you call someone who is part of a culture?

Posted: 29 Aug 2021 07:20 AM PDT

What would you call someone that is a part of a certain culture? culturees? culturettes?

Single word for the complete collection of all family created media assets (photos and videos)

Posted: 29 Aug 2021 02:01 AM PDT

I have terabytes of digitized family pictures and home videos. I am organizing them and having trouble naming the root folder for all the digital assets. The word "Pictures" and "Videos" by themselves is not sufficient description of all the content within that folder. Looking for a good single word that combines "Pictures" and "Videos" into a one entity. "Media" and "HomeMedia" are the ones I've come up with so far, but not crazy about them as it implies other things like music and movies which belong in an "Entertainment" folder.

Word for purpose-built construct

Posted: 29 Aug 2021 05:06 AM PDT

I am looking for a noun that means "thing built for a specific purpose" or "construct that was made with reason, rather than chance" or "entity which was designed", assuming such word exists.

The extremely specific purpose is for a new role playing group introduction, for every player to read. I am including a sentence for each character, trying to be specific enough so the player knows it's them, and vague enough so the other players are still mostly in the dark.

The sentence I'm working with is: "Alone in the darkness, a tireless {entity} hones his craft, and waits."

In this case the character is a D&D 5e Warforged, so they're a humanoid and for all intents and purposes a conscious being with free will etc (for whatever that matters to the word choice). I could go more specific and use "soldier" or "sentinel", but I'm hoping there's a way to make it a bit more vague while still adding some information.

(Also this is my first question on English stackexchange, if this is a better fit for Writing let me know.)

The use of the phrasal verb "pay off" in context

Posted: 29 Aug 2021 01:04 AM PDT

Tell me please if it is apt to use the phrasal verb in the following conext.

The tablet was expensive, but I don't regret buying it, because it is paying off.

What I mean is that the tablet proved to be very useful and it benefits me. By the pronoun it I am referring to the tablet, not to the action of buying. If I referred to buying, would the pronoun this be more appropriate? For example:

The tablet was expensive, but I don't regret buying it, because this is paying off.

Can "What" or "Which" be used as demonstrative pronouns?

Posted: 29 Aug 2021 06:02 AM PDT

Can what or which be used as demonstrative pronouns (this, that, those)?

Instead of

What colors are you using to paint the waterfall and how are you using those colors?

is the following also grammatically correct?

How are you using what colors to paint the waterfall?

Instead of

What information are marketers trying to convey in the advertisement and how are they trying to convey that information?

is the following also grammatically correct?

How are marketers trying to convey what information in the advertisement campaign?

Is there a word for "piano reinterpretation"?

Posted: 29 Aug 2021 05:42 AM PDT

I really love the idea of people taking a simple melody, perhaps a well known one, and making their own piano interpretation of it, implementing some parts of the original and adding their own bit, many times in free-form. I would like to be able to search for these, but I can't seem to think of a single word to use.

(Sorry if this was posted out of place, but I think "English" would be closer than "Music" in this case)

Rough examples:

BBNG - Bastard/Lemonade

Max Payne 3's menu theme has two movements that play around with the original idea

Is "piano reinterpretation" really the simplest term to use?

Is there a word that means deliberately ignorant, choosing to ignore?

Posted: 29 Aug 2021 09:57 AM PDT

I know what this word really means but I cannot help to think that ignorant also means he ignores his surrounding or the consequences of his actions. "He was ignorant, unwilling to warn the police about what has been happening next door for years" for example. Can anyone tell me the word I am looking for? Or is it too broad to find a suitable adjective?

Is it improper English to read the number 1100 as "eleven hundred"?

Posted: 29 Aug 2021 07:18 AM PDT

For numbers between 1000 and 9999 is it proper English for the word "hundred" to be used? For example is it necessarily wrong to say "eleven hundred" when referring to 1100?
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