This mode of thought, or rather perhaps of feeling, was common among the last generation of European liberalism, in the Continental section of which it still apparently predominates. Those who admit any limit to what a government may do, except in the case of such governments as they think ought not to exist, stand out as brilliant exceptions among the political thinkers of the Continent. A similar tone of sentiment might by this time have been prevalent in our own country, if the circumstances which for a time encouraged it, had continued unaltered.

Mill states that this mode of thought . . . was common among the last generation of European liberalism, of course including that of British one. However, since by this time implies that specific actions have been somehow completed before then, it has the completely paradoxical implication that the attitude once common in Britain might have completed to prevail itself in its country by now (but actually it is not).

Is it a typo? At least all the texts I have seen do not mention this problem, and some friends of mine agreed with this hypothesis. Please be it noted that in this context, I guess, any philosophical/political knowledge should not necessarily be needed. I would rather like to hear some opinions from a grammatical point of view.

what it the correct use of object in my sentence? [closed]

Posted: 12 Oct 2021 09:37 AM PDT

which one is more better and accurate:

Some people prefer to live far from the city, without anybody around them VS
Some prefer to live far from the city, without anybody around

If your know any specific article or grammar tutorial about this topic I will be grateful to hear from you.

What's a word for opening and closing a store

Posted: 12 Oct 2021 07:50 AM PDT

I am trying to use a term that defines the action of opening /closing.

For example if you are a shop owner and you open and close your shop at certain hours you can say we are open for trade at x.xx hours and close at x.xx. A way to describe this two actions is open/close shop for trade. what can I replace open/close with?

How have writers explored the relationships between rhetorical figures? [closed]

Posted: 12 Oct 2021 07:20 AM PDT

In his Apology for Rhetoric, the French author Ferdinand Brunetière asks

…why may I not go to the length of saying that prosopopeia is to be answered only by hypotyposis and metonymy only by synechdoche?

He seems to be countering the general with the specific.

Prosopopeia is another word for personification. Hypotyposis is a detailed description of a person, or one of their attributes - either physical or character-based.

(The pairing is apparently something that was discussed in musical circles.)

Metonymy involves referring to something vicariously by one of its attributes ('the crown' for 'the monarchy', for instance). Synechdoche also refers to something vicariously, but by using one of its parts ('Nice set of wheels you have there' instead of 'Nice car you have there').

Which other authors have explored the qualitative relationships between rhetorical figures rather than simply defining individual figures and giving examples of their use?

Is using 'as if' okay as a sentence starter?

Posted: 12 Oct 2021 07:03 AM PDT

My teacher is having us write as if sentences and using as if at the start of the sentence. For example, she used "As if I had money, I went shopping". This makes no sense to me or several other classmates. I searched up if it was right to start a sentence with as if and found nothing to match the way that she used it.

Is she grammatically correct?

Counting state of an object or person

Posted: 12 Oct 2021 06:39 AM PDT

Is it natural to use an article to specify the state of an object or person? Or alternatively, is this structure not suitable?

For example, see the following sentence.

An unconscious Michael Jackson was rushed to UCLA Medical Center on Thursday afternoon by paramedics who performed C.P.R., according to the Los Angeles Fire Department.

from EthiopeanReview.

As a writer for whom English is a second language, I feel a little worried about the start of the sentence. It does not feel natural.

possible revision : Michael Jackson in an unconscious state, was rushed to UCLA Medical Center on Thursday afternoon by paramedics who performed C.P.R., according to the Los Angeles Fire Department.

How can I convert logical operations to simple text

Posted: 12 Oct 2021 05:15 AM PDT

I am working on a software project that allows users to formulate logical statements in order to filter data. E. g. a user might set their filter as: (size = 100 and weight < 50) or (area > 200 and weight < 100) or color = blue which would roughly translate to Filter for all objects with a size equal to 100 and a weight less than 50 - or an area larger than 200 and a weight less than 100 - or simply any blue object.

Is there a way to make nested conjunctions and parenthesis easy to read? Is there a general way to do this? I am looking for rules to convert the logical statement to natural language.

Definite and indefinite articles with uncountable and countable nouns

Posted: 12 Oct 2021 05:40 AM PDT

I have a question that has been puzzling me for a while now. I tried really hard to find an answer but never found the one, which would be satisfying enough. I am talking about using definite and indefinite articles with uncountable nouns and also in of-phrases. I would be very grateful if anyone could explain it to me.

These two examples I found on the internet they refer to the usage of articles with uncountable nouns:

The position requires a knowledge of German. The knowledge of computer software is very useful nowadays.

I am not sure why the first sentence uses the indefinite article while the second one the definite one.

When it comes to of-phrases (I apologize for calling them this way, I don't know the proper name for this type of constructions).

For example:

A chapter of a book. / The chapter of a book.

I found an article, which says that if the noun is followed by a prepositional phrase (of/in/to…), it is made definite and takes the definite article. Does it mean that the first noun always require the definite article even if it is the first mention of a noun? The chapter of a book. The name of a movie. etc.

A word meaning both masturbating and consoling oneself?

Posted: 12 Oct 2021 09:06 AM PDT

In Chinese, 自慰 means '(of a person, genderless) to masturbate', and it also means 'to console oneself'.

I took it as an extension of 'God helps whose who help themselves' for a certain period of time.

I just wonder in English, whether such a word exists?

Phrase choice for "one of x preferred colours" when two colour choices are equivalent

Posted: 12 Oct 2021 04:39 AM PDT

Let us say that Eve has 3 preferred colours:

Red
Green
Blue

Of those 3 colours, Eve prefers red the most, but her preference for green and blue are identical.

In English, would it be preferred for one to say/write green is one of her two most preferred colours or green is one of her three most preferred colours?

Obviously, the latter statement is true regardless of whether or not the former is true (it is a superset), but I prefer to use whichever phrase is more specific, clear, and accurate.

Is the last word an adjective or the past participle of a verb in "The student looked at him, perplexed."? [duplicate]

Posted: 12 Oct 2021 04:21 AM PDT

The student looked at him, perplexed.

I used a grammar checker website to check my sentence. When I substitute 'perplexed' to 'puzzled' (adj), it shows ok, when I substitute it to 'hated' (past tense), it also shows ok.

I have two questions:

Can I use either an adjective or the past participle of a verb to substitute the word 'perplexed'?
Is the sentence after the comma called a subordinate clause?

Interrogative Sentence meaning interpretation

Posted: 12 Oct 2021 02:39 AM PDT

My English teacher asked me to construct the passive voice of the sentence " who knows you?". Then, I could immediately make up the sentence "To whom are you known?". My English teacher said that it was absolutely correct. But she constructed another sentence: "Who are you known to?". I could understand that the sentence is grammatically correct as the preposition "to" is at the end now, and the interrogative pronoun "who" is not a prepositional object. But still I could not appreciate that the meaning of the second sentence should be as clear as the first one. How should I understand "1. Who, are you know to?" and "2. Who are you, known to?"? I could not make out the meaning of the sentence "who are you known to?". Please explain the reasoning leading to the right interpretation.

What's a word for a person who buys random things just because they're on sale?

Posted: 12 Oct 2021 12:54 AM PDT

Recently, my dad bought headphones just because they were on sale. But, the thing is, none of us needed new headphones, he just got them for no other reason other than they were on sale. This isn't the first time he's done this either.

He's bought a bean bag game cause it was on sale, he's bought a futon even though we didn't need it and barely use it, he bought my mom a motorcycle that she never uses and probably only rode once, and much more.

I'm trying to think of a word for this cause I know he's not a minimalist when it comes to money because if he was then he wouldn't be buying all these random things.

So does anyone know a word for this? Please let me know! I'd like to have a word to describe my dad. That way when someone asks in the future, whether from a boss or something of the sort, I have a word prepared for it. Kinda like preparing for future questions about my family.

Identify the Adjective [closed]

Posted: 11 Oct 2021 11:31 PM PDT

These mangoes are ripe.

Ok, 'these' is a demonstrative adjective, I get that but what part of speech is 'ripe' in this sentence.
Is 'ripe' a noun or adjective?

Proper address for ordained minister [closed]

Posted: 12 Oct 2021 07:18 AM PDT

In the USA, there is a man who trained to be a minister and was ordained, but never led a church.

This man does a variety of other jobs to earn a living for the next 20 years.

Should this man still be addressed as "Reverend" because he was once ordained, or as "Mister" since he never followed through on pastoring a church?

This is important to a friend of mine, so I would appreciate honest, well reasoned responses. Thank you.

"This July" vs "This past July" [closed]

Posted: 12 Oct 2021 04:48 AM PDT

Which of the two forms is correct when referring to July of 2021? What is the contribution of past, if any?

Why is "second to last" not documented with the meaning of "third to last"?

Posted: 12 Oct 2021 09:43 AM PDT

All dictionaries I have looked at give the sole meaning of second to last as next to last (or penultimate and, in BrE, also second last). However, second to last is also used to mean what most folks call the third to last item in a series, especially in technical/scientific usage (see examples below). Can anyone provide documentation of this meaning in a reference work or do dictionaries omit this usage because they judge it to be incorrect (and if so, why not include it with a usage note)? I do not think previous related questions document this meaning adequately.

Related ELU/ELL questions:

"Usage of "second/third/fourth ... last"

Are there any differences between "penultimate", "the last but one" and "second to last"?

"Second-to-last vs second-to-previous"

Dictionaries with second to/from last meaning only next to last or penultmate:

m-w and m-w

Wiktionary

vocabulary.com

Macmillan

last

With the or possessive and an ordinal number. The one(s) the specified number of places from the end of a series. With of.

The year 1624, the second last of his life, was thus spent by Kin James, in [etc.]
She was the third-last of thirteen children. OED

Examples from Google Books where second to last and next to last are not the same i.e., second to last = third to last (in the usual meaning, or antepenultimate.

When the exact number of an instar is not known, it is often convenient to refer to these with terms such as middle, antepenultimate (second to last), penultimate (next to last), and/or ultimate instars. David L. Wagner; Catepillars of Eastern North America p.13 (2010)

Accent. For most scientific words, the accent is either on the next to last syllable or on the second to last syllable:

a. The accent is on the next to last syllable:
(1) When the word contains only two syllables; algae (AL·gae).
...
b. In all other cases, the accent is place on the "second" to last syllable (ar·TI·cul·lus)...

Anthony M. Belmont; Acquiring a Scientific Vocabulary p.23 (2019)

S second to last hour
T S next to last hour
U T S last hour

Gregg DeYoung in Helaine Selin, ed.; Astronomy Across Cultures p. 484 (2021)

Rule C ('two bounce' rule). Have at least 3 searches; stop if both the last quote and the next to the last are larger than the second to the last. Peter E. Earl; Behavioural Economics, Vol. 1, p.168

... the local collections are formed using first, second, and third window, and second to last, next to last, and last window, respectively... Genome Research Vol. 14, p.706 (2004)

The cautionary instruction failed to cover the next to last and second to last prior questions to which responses indeed had been given and which contained the prosecutor's accusatory statements. Reports of Cases Decided in the Supreme Court of the State of Oregon, p.25 (1996)

Missing values are more common for the next-to-last births and especially the second-to-last births before... An Assessment of the Quality of Health Data in DHS-I Surveys, p.85 (1994)

The first digit gives the number of electrons in the last (outermost) shell..., the next two digits give the number of electrons in the next to last shell.., and the final two decimal digits give the number of electrons in the second to last shells... K. B. Lipkowitz et al. Reviews in Computational Chemistry, Vol. 20, p.293

(a) Last
(b) Next to last
(c) Second to last
Guide to Port Entry, Vol. 2, p.48 (2001)

As the last stage of this chain of full buffers completes its send command it waits a time BL before receiving its next token and unblocking the next to last stage of the chain. This stage then waits an additional time BL before the next token arrives, and the receipt of this token unblocks the second to last stage. This continues until the end of the chain... P. A. Beerel et al. A Designer's Guide to Asynchronous VLSI, p.71 (2010)

...the most weight was placed upon the last stage, followed by next to last, second to last, etc. The staging algorithm that we propose... The application of decomposition to transportation network (snippet)

"It doesn't matter anyway. You called second to last; I called next to last. That means I go after you."
"You're crazy! Next to last and second to last are the same thing," Ronny countered fervently.
You're the crazy one!" Billy shouted, his steel-blue eyes radiating fire. "It goes last, first to last—that's the same as next to last— and then comes second to last."
"You always have to have things your own way!" Ronny proclaimed without exaggeration. Bill Sullivan; Eleven Miles South of Half Moon Bay, p.33

These results are read from the frame F by starting with the last row of two boxes indicating a 2-cycle, the next to last row of two boxes indicating a second 2-cycle, the second from last row of three boxes indicating a 3-cycle, and finally the first row of four boxes indicating a 4-cycle. S. Keown; An Intoduction to Group Representation Theory (1975)

Photo 3 is the last mold; photo 2 next to last; and photo 1 second to last Transactions of the American Society for Steel Treating, p.390 (1924)

Rotation periods
Last ending in 1927 / Next to last / Second to last / Third to last / Fourth to last
B. Koehler et al.; Effect of Sec, Length of Feeding period..., p. 475 and repeated on p. 475 (1930)

Third from last row added ...
Second from last row added ...
Next to last row added ...
Last row added ...
Edward L. Thorndike, "The Curve of Work" in Psychological Review Vol. 19 (1912)

WORK EXPERIENCE [Form]
Job 1—Last or present position
Job 2—Next to last position
Job 3—Second to last position
N.Y. State Restaurant Association and E. Curtis; How to Cut Labor Costs, p.21 (1949)

(I've also found examples in U.S. and Canadian patents; however, the url links to the Google Book snippets aren't stable, so I've omitted them.)

A fair number of dictionaries don't have an entry for "second to last," which may foster to-each-their-own usage. The above examples essentially self-define how the authors are using the expression, even if incorrectly. My own hunch is that some may assume that because there are two well-known expressions, next to last and second to last, they must mean different things. The logic seems to be:

Next to last is considered to be the first from the last (although we don't usually say this) or penultimate

Second to/from last (Wikitionary has both) is therefore the next item, or the antepenultimate.

Are there uses of the word eidetic not involving the word "memory"?

Posted: 11 Oct 2021 10:57 PM PDT

Title says it all. Are there ways to use the word eidetic that don't follow it immediately with the word memory? Seems like a waste of word with wonderfully unusual spelling.

Plural form of country names

Posted: 12 Oct 2021 06:08 AM PDT

Can all country names be pluralised in English?

There are some countries which have a plural form, although such name is, for obvious reasons, not used - for example, Sicily - Sicilies (I know Sicily is not a country & the reason it has a plural form of its name), Malta - Maltas, Italy - Italies, America - Americas.

If so, what would the plural name of 'France' be? Frances doesn't seem correct.

Confusion with “would” meaning on sentence

Posted: 12 Oct 2021 01:02 AM PDT

I am wondering about the meaning of "would be" in the below sentence, is this "would be= past tense of will" or it is "would be = guessing like 'could be'"?

"Do you ever think it would be a good idea to allow exceptions to rules? Then the adjective good would have an adverb goodly."

Regards,

Kiran

Can we use a comma before "and" if it precedes a dependent clause?

Posted: 12 Oct 2021 07:07 AM PDT

Here is an example from Longman dictionary,

We are new to the London area, and would like to eat in restaurants or visit pubs with others.

My question is that since the second clause "would like to eat in restaurants or visit pubs with others" is a dependent clause, why add a comma before "and"? From my understanding, we do not use comma before a coordinating conjunction if it precedes a dependent clause.

I feel it's correct to write like this:

"We are new to the London area and would like to eat in restaurants or visit pubs with others."

"We are new to the London area, and we would like to eat in restaurants or visit pubs with others."

Present or confer?

Posted: 12 Oct 2021 04:06 AM PDT

For example, which one is more accurate in the following context? 1) The government presented a medal to him 2) The government conferred a medal to him

And in general, what is the difference between the two words?

Your fashion Christmas

Posted: 11 Oct 2021 11:15 PM PDT

I've seen this sentence here. Shouldn't it be "your Christmas fashion"? If it's right, what does it mean?