Thursday, August 5, 2021

Recent Questions - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange

Recent Questions - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange

Is this statement grammatically correct as-is, or is an extra comma required?

Posted: 05 Aug 2021 09:53 AM PDT

Settle an argument for me. This is the statement as it is written:

An introverted teenage girl with an unconventional superpower, Taylor goes out in costume to find escape from a deeply unhappy and frustrated civilian life.

My friend thinks this is wrong, and there should be a comma after "Taylor", like so:

An introverted teenage girl with an unconventional superpower, Taylor, goes out in costume...

My position is that that would also be correct, but in a different way and it's fine as-is. Am I wrong here?

right expression for "get money out from hopper" [migrated]

Posted: 05 Aug 2021 08:59 AM PDT

There is a game machine with a coin hopper. When the player wins, the hopper pays some coins.

The technician is able to add or remove coins from the hopper by hand.

What is the right way to describe this action from the technician? If I search on the web, I find different ways to describe it. But I am not able to get the correct form:

  • remove money from hopper
  • take out money from hopper
  • pull out money from hopper
  • withdraw money from hopper

"remove" is normally used to install or remove devices, not coins, right?
"take out" seems more an expression for objects and not money.
"pull out" is like take out, not referred to money.
"withdraw" means to get back some money if you received too much.

So, what is the right way to say: "there was 104 coins in the hopper, the technician .... 4 coins"?

good choice to call a precious person [closed]

Posted: 05 Aug 2021 07:33 AM PDT

I'm a non-native and seeking an appropriate expression for a 'precious person' (kind of a lover..) please note that I want to use the term for my song lyrics. the lyrics is : "Someday you my 'sth' definitely will come"

could anyone recommend something adequate for the 'sth'?

Here are what I've thought about but still not satisfying: truelove, beloved, precious,

and I'm curious if I could use 'cherished' for a person as well.

"Get" and "Take" used in idioms [closed]

Posted: 05 Aug 2021 07:00 AM PDT

What's different between get and take used in idioms?

one example:

A- Got my 10 in my hand and a gleam in my eye

The Truth of idiom used in A is: take (something) into one's (own) hands

is The Idiom used in A incorrect?

confused with the usage of plural possessive form of doctor [closed]

Posted: 05 Aug 2021 06:54 AM PDT

There were three doctors' offices along the northern wall of the medical center.

or

There were three doctor's offices along the northern wall of the medical center.

The literal meaning the sentence should convey is "There are 3 different offices for each doctor"

form the above which sentence I should choose?

the number of cars per 1000 people in 5 European countries in 3 years [closed]

Posted: 05 Aug 2021 06:51 AM PDT

The bar chart illustrates information about how many cars of each person in the total of 1000 people in five European countries in 2005, 2009 and 2015, in comparison with the average of these countries.

Overall, there was an increase of the number of cars in Europe from 2005 to 2015, except country 3 and country 4. Another interesting point is that country 4 was the only country where there was no change in the number of cars in three yeas. Looking at the details, there were around 300 per 1000 people in country 1 in 2005. Then, the figure improved to 400 per 1000 people in 2009. However, it reduced again to about 200 per 1000 people in 2015. This figure was the lowest in bar chart. By contrast, the number of cars in country 5 was roughly 900 per 1000 people in 2005. Then, it went up to around 990 per 1000 people in 2015, higher than the average figure for Europe by roughly 200.

In addition, the figures of country 3 and country 4 were similar, approximately 700. However, the figure of country 3 went down to around 690 in 2005 while the figure of country 4 did not change in three years.

Query re: usage of 'take a knee' [closed]

Posted: 05 Aug 2021 06:37 AM PDT

In US English is it more usual to say "take a knee" rather than "take the knee"?

Omission of if in a conditional phrase [duplicate]

Posted: 05 Aug 2021 06:18 AM PDT

This is an excerpt from Kant's Critique of Pure Reason.

It is, however, clear that even this apprehension of the manifold alone would bring forth no image and no connection of the impressions were there not a subjective ground for calling back a perception, from which the mind has passed on to another, to the succeeding ones, and thus for exhibiting entire series of perceptions, i.e., a reproductive faculty of imagination, which is then also merely empirical.

The above sentenced puzzled me because of the bold-faced part.

  • Is were there not a subjective ground a literary form of if it were not for a subjective ground?
  • Why is thus for used? I think thus should be used instead. I don't see how the preposition for can be appropriate here.

Help me understand [migrated]

Posted: 05 Aug 2021 05:04 AM PDT

"Please be assured, I will surely assist you with the same."

This is an answer I received after asking for help. Can anyone explain the logic of the sentence because its the first time I see someone using it. What do they mean with "assist you with the same"?

Meaning of "The Fact" [migrated]

Posted: 05 Aug 2021 04:43 AM PDT

How is "The Fact" in this text understood?

Creating further diplomatic distance is the fact that Raisi will be the first Iranian President to already be subject to US sanctions before even entering office.

What technique is it when you use strings of another language in an English poem?

Posted: 05 Aug 2021 05:03 AM PDT

In Wilfred Owen's poem he ends with "Dulce et decorum est/Pro patria mori". I wonder if there is a recognised term to refer to this technique. Another example of its use is in T.S Eliot's "The Wasteland", where he has lines in German and French such as "And drank coffee, and talked for an hour. Bin gar keine Russin..."

Past & present perfect tenses [closed]

Posted: 05 Aug 2021 03:10 AM PDT

Would you advise me if present perfect tense and past tense have been used correctly in the phrases below? N.B. This is going to be part of a formal email.

As requested, I have filled and attached the sickness absence form. I contacted my GP and I was told that because I had received a positive test result for coronavirus I will not receive any medical certificate.

Passive using the "be" verb: "is been"

Posted: 05 Aug 2021 06:48 AM PDT

So an impossible thought came to my mind. I'd like to know if there's any way to have an "is" in a passive tense. It's probably just a result of broken translation, but I'll try to lead you to it.

  • A service "is provided" - a straight-forward passive, where the verb is in past participle
  • Something "is existing" - valid language (verb in present participle), although it would be better said simply "exists"
  • Something "is existed" - a grammatically correct passive (past participle), right? right?
  • Something "is been" - a grammatically correct "is" passive

Now I have no idea what this would mean, because the English "is" is quite different from the Finnish equivalent which is also used to express "exists" and "has". But I could imagine it being used to convey something like "we are being", to use the "we" passive.

Still, is this valid English? I recognise this has no practical purpose, but it didn't stop me from wondering about this for hours. Languages are fun!

Sources discussing this topic in other ways: SX, Quora, although neither of them mention it being a passive.

What does this sentence about social media actually mean? [closed]

Posted: 05 Aug 2021 01:24 AM PDT

Another explanation is how social media allow users to stay within their filter bubbles, so that users only get exposed to content that is already consistent with their pre-existing attitudes an interest instead of exposing them to diverse content.

What does this sentence mean?

In vs. into? She's sprayed some vanilla into her mouth [closed]

Posted: 05 Aug 2021 02:08 AM PDT

I'd like to ask a question about the use of in vs. into.

Which usage is more correct when I mean that she's sprayed some vanilla in her mouth and swallowed it?

She's sprayed some vanilla in her mouth.
She's sprayed some vanilla into her mouth.

In my mind, I picture the use of in as the center or the beginning of her mouth and into going beyond that, deep down her throat and to her stomach as if she's injected herself with it, putting an emphasis to the precision of doing it.

Which one is correct?

Is “faith”, "substance" or “certainty” more appropriate in this sentence and why? [closed]

Posted: 05 Aug 2021 03:21 AM PDT

If negotiations are to prove fruitful, there must not only be sincerity on each side, but there must also be ____________ in the sincerity of the other side.

In my opinion "certainty" is more suitable than "faith" since the latter is usually used in the context of religion and spirituality, but the answer is "faith". "Substance" seems a little awkward but I can't exactly point out why.

Literary term for visual consistency or uniformity of paragraphs?

Posted: 05 Aug 2021 12:40 AM PDT

I have noticed paragraphs that look visually consistent can seem more appealing on the page. I have noticed this when reading others' writing and when reading my own.

It often occurs when each paragraph is of a similar number of lines, or, when the number of lines in each paragraph forms a subtle, visually appealing pattern when glancing at the page. (It also helps when the last line of each paragraph is complete or nearly complete - i.e. not finishing with just one or two words on the new line).

Is there any terminology describing this somewhat odd phenomenon?

Notes:

  • I can imagine perhaps copywriters may consider the overall aesthetic of a page, and so perhaps this concept is important in the copywriting profession, however, that's speculation.
  • Yes, I feel silly asking about this (since it's implicitly an admission to being easily manipulated by a relatively unimportant aspect of written communication).

Is it "Not so well educated" or "Not as well educated"?

Posted: 05 Aug 2021 07:35 AM PDT

Note: I originally posited this on Writing, but someone told me to post it here because the question is grammatical in nature and not about the writing itself.

I am writing a scholarship essay and one of my sentences is "Although both of my parents have bachelor's degrees now, they were not as well educated or stably employed when I was growing up." There are probably other things wrong with this sentence, but when I asked someone to read it over she suggested that I use "so" instead of "as". I looked it up, and I found that generally negative comparisons use "so" (but maybe can use as?), so it would be correct in this context, but one does not necessarily sound better than the other and I do not know which is more grammatically correct.

Bonus: she also suggested replacing "or stably employed" with "with stable employment". What about "and not stably employed." Thoughts?

Only one vs. One and only one

Posted: 05 Aug 2021 03:04 AM PDT

Suppose that someone proposes "only Jenny can eat this cookie".

Is this proposition saying that Jenny can indeed eat this cookie and no one else can? (1)

Or is this proposition actually saying that "if anyone can eat this cookie, it is necessarily Jenny" but not asserting that Jenny can indeed eat this cookie? (2)

If (1) is true, then that would mean that "one and only one" is the same as "only one".

Is this an appositive?

Posted: 05 Aug 2021 12:20 AM PDT

Keep up the great work you're doing, fighting for both animal and human rights.

And is following sentence grammatically correct?

Keep up the great work, fighting for both animal and human rights.

What is the abbreviation for 'who are'

Posted: 05 Aug 2021 09:15 AM PDT

My school homework asks for abbreviated versions of words, one of which is 'Who are' can this be abbreviated to 'Who're or would it be 'Whom'? Jessica, aged 8

Which tense to use when describing a blueprint of sorts?

Posted: 05 Aug 2021 08:07 AM PDT

I thought I might ask here as well.

So I'm writing a paper and I want to define the experimental process. I have two challenges.

Firstly, when I define the experimental process, I want to write it in a way that is independent of its execution, i.e., a generic process definition. So, which tense should I use? Past doesn't sound right, because it's actually a blueprint for an experiment and not something that was already done. I was thinking present simple? For example, I don't want to say "In the first step, participants had to answer the question" but something in the manner of "in the first step, participants answer the questions". I'm not sure which tense to use.

Secondly, I want to state that the experimental process was executed three times. What noun should I use? I'm using the "instances" noun, e.g., "Three instances of the experimental process were performed across three days". Is this an OK choice for what I'm writing about? Also, I want to stress that the same experiment was completed three times, once each day and not that one experiment lasted for 3 days.

Thanks for the advice!

Clear/reset unsuccessful attempts

Posted: 05 Aug 2021 04:08 AM PDT

What do you think about the phrases below:

  1. Clear unsuccessful attempts
  2. Reset unsuccessful attempts

Honestly, I like neither of them, but I can't think of any short alternative. This phrase is used for the button that sets the count of unsuccessful login attempts to zero. What would be the best way to convey this meaning without losing brevity?

Thank you.

How can I counteract the meaning of "only" changing due to verb modifier?

Posted: 05 Aug 2021 06:00 AM PDT

How can I counteract the meaning of "only" changing due to verb modifier?

"Only" has a different meaning if there is a modifier to the verb.

I want to make "I only strive towards success," mean the same thing as "I only strive. This striving is towards success."

If "only" wasn't a tricky word then "I only strive towards success," would mean the exact same thing as "I only strive. This striving is towards success." However in reality, the first sentence means that I strive and this striving is exclusively towards success. But the first sentence does not necessarily mean that the only action I do is striving towards success. And the second sentences means what I wish the first sentence meant: "The only action I do is striving towards success."

My question is the following. How can "I only strive towards success," be changed to mean the second sentences?

how do you pronounce URL?

Posted: 05 Aug 2021 05:32 AM PDT

When pronouncing URL, I say (roughly) "you-are-ell." A colleague insists that (roughly) "earl" is more common. Is there a widely accepted pronunciation? Within the computer world or without?

Pronunciation of UI

Posted: 05 Aug 2021 07:19 AM PDT

I heard someone pronounce UI as yooey. I guess this comes from the pronunciation of GUI, which is gooey. How common is this compared to yoo-eye and user-interface?

The plural of "index"–"indexes" or "indices"?

Posted: 05 Aug 2021 01:23 AM PDT

A table may have one index, or it could have more [...]?

Is it indexes or indices? I'm just asking because I've noticed they're both used quite often. Even Wikipedia seems to support both variants (as in this article). Though, it prefers to use indices.

"indexes" - Google search

"indices" - Google search

Simply put, which is the preferred plural?
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