Sunday, September 19, 2021

Recent Questions - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange

Recent Questions - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange

How do you pronounce "over the complexes"?

Posted: 19 Sep 2021 10:11 AM PDT

Is there an agreed-upon way to say "complexes" in the sense of "the set of complex numbers" (as in "solve over the complexes")? Do we keep the stress on the first syllable (as in "complexes of buildings") or do we shift it to the second one (as in "complexity" or "non-complex")?

"Unlike" after negatives

Posted: 19 Sep 2021 09:50 AM PDT

Fowler (1926) criticized the position of unlike in:

'M. Berger, however, does not appear to have— unlike his Russian masters— the gift of presenting female characters.

As with many negatives, the placing of unlike is important; standing where it does, it must be changed to like; unlike would be right if the phrase were shifted to before "does not appear".'

What is actually wrong with unlike in that position?

Can I say: Not so homeless a black cat?

Posted: 19 Sep 2021 09:55 AM PDT

I know that grammatically correct is 'How sad a story!', but can I put an indefinite article before adjective 'black' e.g. 'Not so homeless a black cat'?

Has the author deliberately omitted the ' comma' in the given sentence after ' Being intent on the matters'? [duplicate]

Posted: 19 Sep 2021 08:07 AM PDT

Being intent on other matters I watched these futile attempts for a time without thinking, unconsciously waiting for him to resume his flight, as one waits for a machine, that has stopped momentarily, to start again without considering the reason of its failure.

Source: Death of a moth by Virginia Wolf

Why comma has not been used after ' being intent in other matters' in this sentence despite being being a present participle? [duplicate]

Posted: 19 Sep 2021 07:39 AM PDT

Being intent on other matters I watched these futile attempts for a time without thinking, unconsciously waiting for him to resume his flight, as one waits for a machine, that has stopped momentarily, to start again without considering the reason of its failure.

SOURCE: Death of a Moth by Virginia Woolf

How to understand this paragraph? [closed]

Posted: 19 Sep 2021 06:38 AM PDT

What's the meaning of this paragraph? How to understand it?

I got the impression more than once that people think that "we, the experts" use some kind of magic fairy dust and promptly post the solutions without breaking a sweat, I thought it would be nice to show the reality:

Sadly they removed all of the few hundreds hours of stream after they changed-over their business model a few times. There will be quite a few now-dead links to streams in the comments at my answers. I'm sorry.

I am taking the bus tomorrow vs I am going to take

Posted: 19 Sep 2021 08:35 AM PDT

In your interviews for an ESL teacher, you are asked a question of this sort:

What is the difference between:

a. I am taking the bus tomorrow.
b. I am going to take the bus tomorrow.

Or

a. I lived in Kerala for 2 years.
b. I used to live in Kerala for 2 years.

Surely, they mean the same thing. That's precisely what makes it difficult to explain the difference. Could anyone help me with it?

Is it important to learn sound of English? [closed]

Posted: 19 Sep 2021 04:57 AM PDT

I just checked out IELTS speaking marking criteria and it's include a part that require user to pronounce the right English sound. I can speak English fluent and pronounce word correctly but i totally forgot about the sound of English symbol and i can't read the IPA of the word but still pronounce it correctly. What is your opinion, should i learn the sound of English ? Btw, i only listen to pronunciation of the word ( UK accent)

Can I say "Whatever You did do"? [closed]

Posted: 19 Sep 2021 05:30 AM PDT

I am trying to write an English song and "It does not matter what you did do" perfectly fits the rhyme scheme while "...what You have done" does not. Can I say the first? Does it sound awkward to native speakers and would you understand it? Do native speakers ever speak about the past like that - at least in colloquial English?

"Less" or "fewer" for comparison of weight [duplicate]

Posted: 19 Sep 2021 06:32 AM PDT

In this this Youtube video the following question is posed at the 4:20 time mark:

Which of these is correct?

The baby weighed fewer than 2 pounds at birth.

OR

The baby weighed less than 2 pounds at birth.

Lucy states in her video that the correct sentence is the first one. This has caused a heated debate in our family with a family member disagreeing with her on this point. Is Lucy correct here?

didn't use to vs used not to [duplicate]

Posted: 19 Sep 2021 04:16 AM PDT

In all the coursebooks I've used there has not been a mention of the structure used not to in a sense that somebody did not do something for some time but started doing it. Consider the following examples:

  1. He didn't use to do a lot of experiments.
  2. He used not to do a lot of experiments.

Is example (2) grammatical and/or acceptable? If so, is there any pragmatic difference between (1) and (2)?

Complicated Sentence [closed]

Posted: 19 Sep 2021 03:33 AM PDT

We, or at least some of us, have been persuaded to believe that there are not, alas, two kinds of people, the sane and the mad, but that there is, as we say, a continuum that we are all on; that we are all an uneasy mixture of the two, if there are two such states; or even that we make this reassuring distinction because we know somewhere how blurred the boundaries are; that a lot of so-called sanity is crazy, and that there is a lot of sanity in socalled madness. And indeed that there is some kind of complicity between the nominally sane and the nominally mad. And just as sanity and madness may be secret sharers, there may be no more to a person, as Macbeth famously wonders, than the parts they play (doubts about essentialism have a long history).

What means this sentence in the above passage:

there may be no more to a person, [...] , than the parts they play

does this mean that there is nothing more for a person than the parts they play ? if that is correct then whats the relation between this sentence and the previous one?

Using 'a' article two times in a simple sentence [closed]

Posted: 19 Sep 2021 03:18 AM PDT

I have a trouble figuring out which one is correct:

I am a student and journalist.

I am a student and a journalist.

Would you help me, please? I understand this likely is a low quailty question :(

Whats is the correct plural form of compound nouns

Posted: 19 Sep 2021 04:28 AM PDT

First: This is not a question about spelling in software development. But I'm often stumbling upon it in software development.

In software development it's often necessary to name entities both in singular and plural form to distinguish if it's about a single entity or a list of such entities.

$car = new Car(); // one car
$cars = new Cars(); // a list of cars

$cars->add( $car ); // add a car to the list of cars

Now in my current use case I'm implementing a QR code algorithm. I need a mapping of encoding modes to their indicators. That means I have multiple encoding modes, every one of them mapped to a different indicator.

Would a list of those mappings be called

  • 'encoding mode indicators'
    • This would imply their is one encoding mode with multiple indicators.
  • 'encoding modes indicators'
    • This would imply their is multiple encoding modes with multiple indicators.

I could name that list 'encoding mode indicator mappings'. That would nail it. But while it's a use case in software development, what would a correct real world spelling look like? There are multiple cases, I'd have to decide which plural form is correct and currently I don't now.

Concise Word/Concept for: "Deceiving with a GOOD reason, to hide their REAL reason" [duplicate]

Posted: 19 Sep 2021 06:01 AM PDT

Is there a concept/technical word in law, politics, psychology, literature (e.g. George Orwell), signalling theory etc for the following deceptive technique, process or phenomena:

The act of avowing that something is motivated by:

A good reason

But it is actually for a:

Hidden, less noble, reason

The deception functions this way: the avowed reason acts as a cover-story for the true-but-concealed reason.

I'll give a political-revolutionary example:

Avowed: We are doing this for the people

Real: We are doing this to establish a dictatorship

And a political commentator could say:

The revolutionaries are _________ {NAME OF DECEPTIVE TECHNIQUE, PROCESS OR PHENOMENA}

The revolutionaries are using _________ {NAME OF DECEPTIVE TECHNIQUE, PROCESS OR PHENOMENA}

Here are a bunch of examples of other psychological methods that would fit the empty slots:

  • The revolutionaries are Love bombing
  • The revolutionaries are Nudging
  • The revolutionaries are Low-balling
  • The revolutionaries are Fearmongering
  • The revolutionaries are Baiting-and-switching
  • The revolutionaries are Gaslighting
  • The revolutionaries are Virtue-signalling
  • The revolutionaries are using Doublethink
  • The revolutionaries are using Grey Propoganda
  • The revolutionaries are using Bribery
  • The revolutionaries are using Ingratiation
  • The revolutionaries are using Superficial sympathy
  • The revolutionaries are using Character assassination
  • The revolutionaries are using Emotional blackmail
  • The revolutionaries are using Intimidation
  • The revolutionaries are using Nit-picking criticism

I'm trying to avoid nouns that require an article prefixed, e.g.

  • The revolutionaries are using a gambit
  • The revolutionaries are using a ruse
  • The revolutionaries are using a pretext
  • The revolutionaries are using a trojan horse
  • The revolutionaries are using a trick

Ideally, I am looking for:

  • a verb ,or

  • a noun (that doesn't require an article)

The word (if there is one) might resemble the form of some of these "Ericism": https://theportal.wiki/wiki/Ericisms

or

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Deception

My question is not this: What is another word for a reason that is "not the real reason"?

I think a concise word/concept to express this specific kind of two-sided deception would be very useful!

Thanks for reading

When do you use 'nom de plume' vs. 'pen name' vs. 'pseudonym'?

Posted: 19 Sep 2021 03:21 AM PDT

Dictionaries usually treat nom de plume as synonymous with 'pen name' or 'pseudonym'. Example from Merriam Webster's dictionary:

Definition of nom de plume: a name that a writer uses instead of his or her real name : PSEUDONYM, PEN NAME

In what context would you use one rather than the other? Is it a matter of regional preferences (ex. one is more prevalent in Britain and the other in America)?

Is there a word for people who use children to gain sympathy?

Posted: 19 Sep 2021 03:27 AM PDT

For example, beggars use children to get more money. People who think they can get away with things because they have children around.

The word can be an adjective or a noun.

A ______ person.
A ______.

Doesn't matter.

What is the word for the edible part of a fruit with rind (e.g., lemon, orange, avocado, watermelon)?

Posted: 19 Sep 2021 08:38 AM PDT

This morning I found one avocado I bought had become over-ripe: part of its edible part had changed color and was no longer green. So I was trying to describe this to my friend and I wanted to say "Hey I wanted to make some smoothie with this avocado but I found it over-ripe and part of its ____ has changed color."

I wanted to find a word to fill in the blank. I speak Chinese and in Chinese we call the edible part "fruit flesh". I'm wondering what the English word is.

A quick googling gave me the word "pulp", but it looks like "fruit pulp" is created by processing the "fruit flesh" and it's not the "flesh" itself.

Can a conditional sentence begin with "when"? [closed]

Posted: 19 Sep 2021 08:31 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?

Take advice vs follow advice

Posted: 19 Sep 2021 06:55 AM PDT

To take advice is usually defined as:

obtain information and guidance, typically from an expert.

Lexico

By this definition there is no implication that the advice is actually followed. But can take advice also imply that the advice is actually followed, i.e. put into practice? Are there better expressions to differentiate the obtaining of information vs the putting into practice of it?

Does "unnerve" mean "to make nervous"? If not, what are some verbs for "to make nervous"?

Posted: 19 Sep 2021 07:13 AM PDT

I'm confused by the word "unnerve" which sounds like it might mean "to make nervous," but seems to actually mean, "to emasculate or weaken."

So what would be some words that mean "to make nervous," i.e. to rattle someone, or to make someone anxious? The most direct synonym I'm looking for is "to frighten" or "to fill with dread."

What does 'intimated' mean in the following sentence? [closed]

Posted: 19 Sep 2021 03:35 AM PDT

As we shall see, when satisfaction is invoked in Othello, and by Othello himself, what is being sought is proof and revenge, knowledge and retaliation, certainty and redress. And what is more than intimated, as I want to show, is just how inextricable these things can be.

This is a philosophic, psychoanalytic text. What does 'intimated' mean in the above passage?

I have searched in different dictionaries and I can find many meaning the problem is that I cannot say which meaning is the closest in this context

Does it mean more than what has been said, more than just how inextricable can these things be? If "intimated" here means explained or shown, then what is that "more" doing in the sentence?

This type of + plural ( reason)

Posted: 19 Sep 2021 08:00 AM PDT

As we all agree on, types when plural, always comes after "of" a plural noun.. Like types of cars : meaning different classes of cars. My question here is : when I want to address one type of the "types" of cars, why should make "car" not cars to be this type of car, not cars?? Another example : we have different types of students, but this type of students is the hardest to deal with? As here I address one type of "different types " as the prepositional phrase "of students"works as an adjective for types or"type"

Adjective /Adverb modifier

Posted: 19 Sep 2021 05:06 AM PDT

"The decision affects people at large/in general" what role does the phrase 'at large/in general' perform here? Are they used as adjective modifier of noun 'people ' or adverb modifier of verb 'affects'.Thanks

Addressing attorneys general

Posted: 19 Sep 2021 08:13 AM PDT

Is it conventional to address attorneys general as "General", in the second person?

In 2012 New Hampshire's attorney general Michael Delaney met with Vermont's attorney general William Sorrell, and an account I read of the meeting said Delaney said "Good morning, General Sorrell." Is that a standard usage?

Euphemism for "There's more than one way to skin a cat"

Posted: 19 Sep 2021 08:37 AM PDT

Growing up in the 80s, I ended up hearing/using this phrase a lot whenever I wanted to express that there was more than one way to do something: "there's more than one way to skin a cat."

I have recently been in situations where I need to express the same thing, but am realizing that the phrase is actually quite grotesque. Is there a well-known euphemism to express the same thing - that there is more than one way to get something done?

This question is slightly related, but only asks for the origins:
Posted by at

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