Friday, September 17, 2021

Recent Questions - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange

Recent Questions - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange

What is a formal synonym for "active involvement", in something?

Posted: 17 Sep 2021 10:43 AM PDT

Thank you for your active involvement in the project.

In the above sentence, what is a single word synonym that can be used in a very formal letter.

Is the sentence "something created using something else" good english?

Posted: 17 Sep 2021 10:39 AM PDT

I had s discussion with someone who told me the title of my thesis is incorrect in english. The title reads:

Optimizing websites created using the Wordpress framework

Neither of us is native english so the discussion didn't really go anywhere but my reasoning is as follows:

The websites have been made inside the wordpress framework but the optimization only partially occurred within this framework. Therefor a sentence like:

Optimizing websites using the Wordpress framework

would be incorrect in describing what the thesis is about.

Am I correct here? Is the first sentence correct english?

Out of one’s hands / Beyond one’s control: synonyms?

Posted: 17 Sep 2021 09:56 AM PDT

I am writing something about legal defences available to a defendant.

I would like to know if these two expressions (title) can in this case be synonyms and if one is more used than the other.

Context: The defendant will not be liable if they can show that the accident could not have been avoided by exercising ordinary care and skill.

Phrase: If the driver took all due care and precaution, before and while driving, they will not be liable: the accident was completely out of their hands / beyond their control.

I initially wrote "beyond their control", but searching on Internet, I found that the first is more common than the second.

Nevertheless, the second sounds more natural to me.

P.S. I intentionally used the "singular they" (politically correct).

To pass something one does not want onto someone without them really wanting it

Posted: 17 Sep 2021 10:35 AM PDT

I am looking for a word that means to give something to someone without them really having a need for it or wanting it. To give away something one doesn't want to someone else who doesn't want it either, however, they accept it out of kindness. To burden someone with something, so to speak.

Good Friday as a greeting?

Posted: 17 Sep 2021 10:44 AM PDT

I have an interesting one which surprisingly I haven't found answer for on Google or here.

You can say Good day when greeting someone. (I think) Can you also say Good Friday when it is obviously not the religious holiday, just a normal Friday? Or does it sound odd in any way?

thanks Lucas

Can we use both word orders? [closed]

Posted: 17 Sep 2021 07:37 AM PDT

Can we swap the word order in these two sentences to get the same meaning:

1)Do you know where Eiffel Tower is?

2)Do you know where is Eiffel Tower?

Similarly can we swap the words in this sentence:

1)Do you know where is Anna?

2)Do you know where Anna is?

In hand and with the other hand, what is correct?

Posted: 17 Sep 2021 08:05 AM PDT

I would like to know which version of this sentence is correct ? I don't know if it's ok to write "with the other" or if it's best to write "in the other" ...

Ben is pasha-style slumped in his chair, a large iced coffee mug in hand, playing with one of Lili's hair clip in the other (hand).

or

Ben is pasha-style slumped in his chair, a large iced coffee mug in hand, playing with one of Lili's hair clip with the other (hand).

Thank you !

Is it appropriate to speak of a "pre-study intern"?

Posted: 17 Sep 2021 07:45 AM PDT

I completed a short internship at a large company before starting my studies in a similar field. This is often mandatory for engineering classes in Germany and called a "Vorpraktikum", literally translated a "pre-study internship".

I wonder whether it is appropriate to call the position "Pre-study Intern" in my CV, this would be in line with later internships (e.g. "Research Intern"), but sounds a bit odd to me.

How does this sound to a native speaker, do you have better suggestions?

Verb misuse question

Posted: 17 Sep 2021 08:15 AM PDT

I've come across a few references in written and spoken American English along the lines of "She feared him into staying home," or, "The new development feared them to upgrade their defenses." I understand that the usage is not formally correct, and that "scared" is a much more appropriate verb choice. I can imagine this phenomenon happening with other verbs, e.g. "They worried the poor chap to move out."

Can anyone explain what it is that makes this incorrect, i.e. what is the general grammar rule being bent?

What is subject of the second sentence joined by "and"? [duplicate]

Posted: 17 Sep 2021 06:56 AM PDT

In some logical reasoning questions, I get stuck in the following type of sentences.

  1. Car A is parked somewhere in the left of Car B and is parked somewhere in the right of Car C.

  2. Jack is at the right of Rose and is facing north.

Now my query is what is the subject of the second part after "and" i.e. in 1. Car C is right of which Car? In 2. who is facing north?

It will be helpful if someone can provide the sentences so that the subject switches and give some more interesting examples of these kind.

Is this sentence grammatically correct? "Mixing capitals with lowercases are wrong" [closed]

Posted: 17 Sep 2021 06:38 AM PDT

Is this sentence grammatically correct?

Mixing capitals with lowercases are wrong.

I thought it sounded right (and so did Grammarly apparently, and all my other friends...) but is it really?

If I write "using knives with chopsticks are stupid", it seems right, but if I write "using a knife with a chopstick are stupid" that just seems plain weird. Not vice versa though, if I wrote "using knives with chopsticks is stupid", it would still sound right.

Can someone please explain this to me?

Please, Which of these choices is the right one in the context (and why each choice is right/wrong)? [migrated]

Posted: 17 Sep 2021 06:43 AM PDT

The government has the power to take custody of land ____ historical significance.

A) when having
B) for its having
C) that has
D) for it has

Definition of a proxy in this context

Posted: 17 Sep 2021 07:25 AM PDT

An ARIMA model is a statistical model. I'm having problems to understand it.

The definition I found on Cambridge dictionary:

A situation, process, or activity to which another situation, etc. is compared, especially in order to calculate how successful or unsuccessful it is

The examples I found on internet don't seem help much in this context. Could you help me with other examples in this context?

"gracefully touched"?

Posted: 17 Sep 2021 06:02 AM PDT

When I was ten I was suddenly confronted with the anguish of moving from the old [only?] home I had ever known. My whole life, brief as it was, had been spent in that big old house, gracefully touched with the laughter and tears of four generations.

What does "gracefully touched" mean here? What does " gracefully touched with the laughter and tears of four generations" modify?

all the best of luck in..? [closed]

Posted: 17 Sep 2021 05:36 AM PDT

I was wondering whether it's correct to say I wish the team all the best of luck in… etc

Is this correct English?

Thank you for the confirmation!

She requires that he undergo/undergoes an exam [duplicate]

Posted: 17 Sep 2021 05:12 AM PDT

Is it undergo or undergoes? I have the vague impression that the former is more correct, but I'm not sure what this type of grammatical construction/tense is called.

Controlling ideas in a topic sentence [closed]

Posted: 17 Sep 2021 05:55 AM PDT

From my understanding in a topic sentence the topic is always the subject and cannot be the controlling idea, is that correct ?

Then, if it is the case, it is possible to have 2 controlling ideas in a topic sentence. See my example below.

For example : "This bicycle tour goes through a great selection of Bordeaux's vineyards and wineries."

Are my controlling ideas vineyards and wineries and is it ok to 2 or is one the norm ?

Thank you,

Phrase: 'I don't give a ship' [closed]

Posted: 17 Sep 2021 02:39 AM PDT

Can anyone explain the meaning of the phrase 'I don't give a ship', please? Thank you very much.

What is the name for a hardware equivalent of a Widget?

Posted: 17 Sep 2021 03:49 AM PDT

In graphical UI development we have buttons, knobs and sliders and the hypernym would be widgets.

In computer hardware we have buttons, knobs and sliders and the hypernym would be ... for some reason it isn't coming to mind.

Is it still a widget if it isn't in a graphical user interface?

I wanted to tag this #hardware but apparently the local ontologist doesn't believe in the existence of hardware.

I wanna ask about use of "filling" [closed]

Posted: 17 Sep 2021 01:48 AM PDT

I want to ask about this sentence:

He tried to change his profile without filling all the forms.

Why is filling used, verb+ing (fill + ing)?

Can a conditional sentence begin with "when"?

Posted: 17 Sep 2021 08:27 AM PDT

I would want to dispel my doubts about the grammaticality of the following sentence:

  • When Andrew is there, he will probably have to be helped to climb the stairs.

Some context: I know for certain that Andrew will go there, but I am not sure he will need help.

Is this a conditional sentence? If so, must the dependent clause begin with "if" instead of "when"? And, if I remove "probably", is the sentence no longer conditional?

Thank you in advance.

Top down or bottom up for reducing a sentence to all its parts?

Posted: 17 Sep 2021 07:08 AM PDT

I'm still learning grammar. I'm trying to figure out the steps to break down a sentence. My process now is to look at the sentence as a whole first. Then I classify it as either simple, compound, complex, etc. Then I classify it again as either declarative, imperative, etc. Then I work out the subject and predicate and label them by clause type; main, subordinate, adjectival, noun. Then I break the clauses into structures like subject+verb, subject+transverb+direct, etc etc.

Now I'm trying to identify all the phrases and I'm getting stuck ... so I'm moving to a bottom-up approach by looking at words on their own to see if they are nouns, verbs. phrases, whatever ... so that I might make phrases out of them. But I'm getting stuck at this point.

Anyway, my question is what is the best way to break down a sentence into all its levels, from the words/parts of speech all the way up to the clauses and sentence?

Should you start with the sentence and begin chopping it into smaller and smaller chunks (clauses, phrases, etc), as I've been trying to do, or should you identify the word types first and then build them up (bottom-up approach)? Is there a formula I can follow like a recipe to accomplish this?

Can participial phrases describe the actions of a subject other than the first one mentioned?

Posted: 17 Sep 2021 08:08 AM PDT

I'm still very confused about the correct placement of participial phrases when they describe the action of a noun that isn't the main subject.

"I eventually saw the film that had everyone talking, creating shock and surprise among the community."

Does the participial phrase modify the object (meaning the film created shock and surprise) or the whole of the preceding clause (as in, the act of the narrator seeing the film created shock and surprise)? If it's the latter, then that means I shouldn't use constructions like this, because that is not the intended meaning.

"Lost challenge" clearly showing a reversal of expectations

Posted: 17 Sep 2021 05:09 AM PDT

In a scenario where the conventional thinking that when A competes with B, A would win / get the upper hand, but where last findings in date show that B has the upper hand, I'm trying to phrase this idea in a concise way that highlights the logic:

The challenge was lost by A.

While this is probably acceptable, I don't feel the reversal of expectations has been conveyed clearly.

meaning of ''bearing gifts'' in context [closed]

Posted: 17 Sep 2021 06:41 AM PDT

what does ''bearing gifts'' mean? forexample, you are going to travel to a county, your friends might tell you, take some some bearing gifts for your host.

Non-finite clause or to-infinitive?

Posted: 17 Sep 2021 06:00 AM PDT

I'm analysing this sentence complex in terms of sentence trees and am a bit at a loss here.

He began to swim again, feeling suddenly the desperate exhaustion of his body.

In the part "He began to swim again," is the "to swim again" a nonfinite clause or just a bare infinitive? Do I write the tree as S --- Cl1 (He began) and then two subordinate semi-clauses Cl2 (to swim again) Cl3 (feeling suddenly....)

OR

Is it Main clause (He began to swim again) with one subordinate nonfinite clause (feeling suddenly...)?

One word meaning "good wish" or "well wishing thought"?

Posted: 17 Sep 2021 01:03 AM PDT

Is there any one word in English that means a "good wish" or "well wishing thought"?

For example, "It's a good wish/well wishing thought, and I hope it comes true."

Society as a countable noun

Posted: 17 Sep 2021 01:51 AM PDT

Macmillan Dictionary gives the following example sentence for the word "society" as a countable noun: "Good writing still has a place in contemporary society." (http://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/society)

I know "society" can be used both as a countable and uncountable noun but if it is used as a countable noun in this sentence, why is an indefinite article not required (i.e. in a contemporary society)? Is it something to do with "contemporary"?

I hope anyone can help me with this question. Thank you!

Comparative and Superlative for little? [closed]

Posted: 17 Sep 2021 03:14 AM PDT

What is the comparative and superlative for little?

How to form a gerund from “practise”? [closed]

Posted: 17 Sep 2021 06:48 AM PDT

I (think) I know the difference between practise (verb) and practice (non-verb).

However, I am not sure which form I should use in cases like the following ones:

I love practising the guitar.
You can try practising with this.
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