Recent Questions - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange |
- Can you tell someone "You didn't have to be so rude"?
- What does it mean when someone says "I shoved my ignorance in people’s faces"?
- "Flood damage-resistant materials" or "Flood-damage-resistant materials"?
- English Grammar [closed]
- How can I write the theme “try your hardest at everything you do” in one or two words?
- Where to use on and upon?
- Can "fellow writers" live in different times?
- What sound (Onomatopoeia) does big lights shutting off sound like
- What's the word for when someone tries to one up them about being in a worse position?
- write about your daily life [closed]
- Which is correct --"in" or "on" as used in this phrase? [closed]
- Word for holding something thats not yours
- Is "data, in its broader typological sense" correct to use in a sentence?
- Is this question about future fuel prices grammatically correct? [closed]
- Combination of past subjunctive and past perfect [duplicate]
- Syntax of "Best Before"
- What noun or adjective describes a message/song/poem that is mournful, but intense?
- What does the adverb as modify in this sentence?
- Opposite of wailing to describe how a cello sounds
- Single Word for a Person starting a process or activity
- Phrase origin: "You ain't got to go home but you got to get out of here."
- How to pronounce "Question"?
- How to reference a long title with a shorter one
- Why "silver-tongued" for someone who is convincing?
- Single word for floating dust visible in sunlight
- Is there a more literary term for a "parallel" in a story?
- differentiating between all that and what
- Does the expression, “As sound as a pound” still holds its currency?
| Can you tell someone "You didn't have to be so rude"? Posted: 20 Oct 2021 11:28 AM PDT "You didn't have to be so rude" - Is it grammatically correct?  |
| What does it mean when someone says "I shoved my ignorance in people’s faces"? Posted: 20 Oct 2021 11:21 AM PDT
Does shoved my ignorance in people's faces means asking people even the smallest doubts which makes them feel we are ignorant?  |
| "Flood damage-resistant materials" or "Flood-damage-resistant materials"? Posted: 20 Oct 2021 10:47 AM PDT I work at a publishing company that generally follows Chicago Manual. I thought "flood damage-resistant materials" is the proper way to hyphenate, but another employee thinks an additional hyphen should be added: "flood-damage-resistant materials." It seems to me "flood damage" should be kept unhyphenated because the materials are resistant to flood damage - it's a unit. Which is the more accepted usage? I looked through the CMoS hyphenation table and didn't see this scenario covered (multi-word noun + adjective).  |
| Posted: 20 Oct 2021 09:53 AM PDT Answer the questions in full sentence:
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| How can I write the theme “try your hardest at everything you do” in one or two words? Posted: 20 Oct 2021 11:39 AM PDT For example, I could describe "put others before yourself" as "selflessness". Or "Do not let fear hold you back" as "courage".  |
| Posted: 20 Oct 2021 09:18 AM PDT Does the meaning of the sentence change if we substitute on and upon? Some sentences-
I have noticed that upon is used more in idiomatic expressions(unlike the third sentence I presented, though), but what is the difference in their meaning? Is there any other way besides intuition to understand which preposition to use of the two?  |
| Can "fellow writers" live in different times? Posted: 20 Oct 2021 10:04 AM PDT I may be mistaken but I usually use "fellow workers", "fellow players" or "fellow actors" when they share a profession at the same time. According to lexico.com, "fellow" as an adjective means "sharing a particular activity, quality, or condition with someone or something." Now I wonder if I can use "fellow writers" to refer to two or more writers who lived in different times. For example, can I say, "Virginia Woolf and her fellow writers", while by the latter I mean her predecessors?  |
| What sound (Onomatopoeia) does big lights shutting off sound like Posted: 20 Oct 2021 09:23 AM PDT I'm writing a story about a paranormal tornado and the story starts at a basketball game, but when the lights shut off and the warning sirens start, I don't know what sound effect (onomatopoeia) to use. Could you help me find something?  |
| What's the word for when someone tries to one up them about being in a worse position? Posted: 20 Oct 2021 08:00 AM PDT Like the inverse of one-upmanship. For example, if you mention that you're a little short on money this month and then a certain type of friend begins to discuss how they are the single poorest person to ever walk the earth as if to prove they are much more efficient at being living in poverty. It might just be "one-upmanship" but I'm curious to know if there's a word for when a said person seemingly wants to appear worse off or in a worse position than someone else.  |
| write about your daily life [closed] Posted: 20 Oct 2021 07:33 AM PDT Thank you for giving me this wonderful opportunity to talk about myself. My name is Nguyễn Thị Hà Duyên. I'm originally from Nam Dinh Province. It is a peaceful city which is well-known for its delicious foods and beautiful sights. I'm 18 years old, and at the moment I am in the first year of university. My department is Banking and Finance at the Academy of Finance. My plan in the next three years is to study hard and have an IELTS Certificate in my fourth year. I am a student, and like the others, my daily activities are regularly the same. Today, I am going to describe my usual day. As my main duty now is studying, my main activities on week days are going to university and doing my homework. I start my day by getting up around 6. 00 a.m on the contrary Sundays. Then I head to the bathroom to brush my teeth, get dressed, and do my morning skincare routine. And I usually drink a glass of lukewarm water right after waking up to help boost my metabolism. It takes me about 20 minutes to get ready. I then have a light breakfast at 6. 30 am and prepare to go to university. After that, I leave home and go to academy at 6. 45 am. I mostly go to school on foot, as my institute is not that far. It takes 3-4 minutes to walk to school. I go together with my roommates, and frequently with some other friends too. When we get to school, we either chat about various things or go over our homework. My classes start at 6. 55 a. m. We have five periods per day, about 50 minutes each, and we get 5-minute-breaks between periods. We then go home for lunch when classes finish at 11. 30 am. I have lunch with my roommates at noon. I usually have nothing to do after lunch, consequently I take a nap to prepare for a fresh and lively afternoon. After a nap, I do my homework and take a rest. I have dinner around 7. 00 p. m, take a shower and watch the news channel or surf the Internet. One of the most productive things I can do to start my day on the right foot should happen before I go to bed the previous day — make a plan. A day-to-day plan is a key to effective time management. I am usually in the habit of staying late at night too. This is my presentation. I'd like to know your opinion along with possible grammatical errors and other mistakes. Please help me out. Thank you for listening.  |
| Which is correct --"in" or "on" as used in this phrase? [closed] Posted: 20 Oct 2021 06:28 AM PDT Which is correct: "joining you in the journey" or joining you on the journey"?  |
| Word for holding something thats not yours Posted: 20 Oct 2021 09:38 AM PDT My Aunt is holding onto savings bonds my grandparents bought me. There's a single word I'm looking for that means she's holding them & won't give them to me (I'm in my 40's)  |
| Is "data, in its broader typological sense" correct to use in a sentence? Posted: 20 Oct 2021 05:18 AM PDT Through the following sentence :
I want to mean data with its different types (text, image...) Is that correct to say? Otherwise what would be an alternative?  |
| Is this question about future fuel prices grammatically correct? [closed] Posted: 20 Oct 2021 04:33 AM PDT What do you think will fuel prices in India approximately be in June or July 2022?  |
| Combination of past subjunctive and past perfect [duplicate] Posted: 20 Oct 2021 08:17 AM PDT I know that the following sentence is valid. •If I had known about the matter, I would have told you. This means that at a point in the past, I did not know about the matter and I didn't/couldn't tell you (because I didn't even know). Does the next sentence work? •If I knew about the matter, I would have told you by now. Let's say you have a friend who wants to know about everything. She or he asks you if you currently know about a particular matter, which you don't know anything about. But you know that you would have told your friend if you actually knew about that. In the above sentence, the if-clause uses a past tense because it is about the present. However, the main clause uses past perfect because this is about the past as in you would have done it. To me this makes sense and in this particular situation, saying the below sentence sounds weird: •If I had known about the matter, I would have told you. because you are referring to whether you know about the matter now, but not in the past.  |
| Posted: 20 Oct 2021 05:18 AM PDT I know the meaning of the "Best before" tag on food products. However, I am a bit uncertain how to interpret the phrase as a language construct. Is it a simple elision like "[consume] best before date"? Or is "best" perhaps a verb here?  |
| What noun or adjective describes a message/song/poem that is mournful, but intense? Posted: 20 Oct 2021 07:37 AM PDT I have a word on the tip of my tongue, but I'm not sure what it is. I've checked synonyms of words to see if something matched what I was thinking, but I can't figure it out. I used Google's generic thesaurus and "One Word" thesaurus. A term for a message, song or poem that is sad but intense. Like a psalm or lament(as a noun) but without the connotation of numbness or lack of action. Something more desperate, almost soulful. Wrenching, yearning, woeful. Like a word to describe a dialogue reaction to deep injustice. I swear there is a word that captures this accurately, but I can't think what it is. A sample sentence would be something like: "After thinking about [some type of injustice], John let out a blank(as a noun)" or "After thinking about [some type of injustice] John released a blank(as an adjective) song(or exclamation)" or perhaps phrased differently. Sorry if this is a bit confusing, but that's why I need help defining it!  |
| What does the adverb as modify in this sentence? Posted: 20 Oct 2021 03:40 AM PDT "The man is as tired as a sloth." In this sentence, I know the first "as" modifies tired, but what does the second one modify?  |
| Opposite of wailing to describe how a cello sounds Posted: 20 Oct 2021 06:41 AM PDT I'm looking for a word to nicely describe how a cello sounds, and I think that an opposite of wailing might be a good description. The definition for wail describes a high-pitched tone:
So what would be the word for the same description, except it's a bass (or just low-pitched) tone? The purpose is preparing subtitles for a music video which has cello playing, so it would be something like: (But I want to replace "playing" with the cello sound word, in verb form)  |
| Single Word for a Person starting a process or activity Posted: 20 Oct 2021 10:27 AM PDT I'm writing some software and in it there are actions being executed by the users using the program. Those actions might by something like
An action is always kicked off by a single user. Naively I chose executioneer until I realized that this word doesn't exist and the closest existing word is something like hangman ;) Can you help me find the right word? Single words only please.  |
| Phrase origin: "You ain't got to go home but you got to get out of here." Posted: 20 Oct 2021 04:39 AM PDT
Variations of the above phrase are very popular and a common cultural reference — seen in many movies, TV shows and music lyrics. What is the origin of that phrase? Who was the first to use it and under what circumstances?  |
| Posted: 20 Oct 2021 05:43 AM PDT /ˈkwestʃən/ or /ˈkwesʃən/ or both? The dictionary says that it should be pronounced like "kwes+chun", but our teacher says "kwes-shun", and insists that both pronunciations are acceptable. He does the same for "suggestion". Is that really true?  |
| How to reference a long title with a shorter one Posted: 20 Oct 2021 11:20 AM PDT I am writing a paper, and lets say I have a long name, The Swiss Cheese Competition Act of 1950. How would I refer to it in shorthand so I don't have to write it out in the rest of the paper?
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| Why "silver-tongued" for someone who is convincing? Posted: 20 Oct 2021 08:00 AM PDT I understand that "silver-tongued" or "silver-tongued devil" means to be a good orator, or:
My question is: why silver? This question on quora goes into detail about where & when the phrase appears to originate from. But why would silver be chosen as the adjective to describe someone's tongue? I'm making the assumption that it means the valuable metal silver and not simply the color, but would gold not have been more apt, as it is worth more? Or why not jewel encrusted tongue? It just seems rather arbitrary to choose a valuable metal, but not the most valuable, to describe someone with a tongue that is valuable. I was wondering if there is any evidence of a deeper or more substantial meaning as to the original choice.  |
| Single word for floating dust visible in sunlight Posted: 20 Oct 2021 08:00 AM PDT Is there a single word used in English for the visibility of dust particles floating in a stream of sunlight?
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| Is there a more literary term for a "parallel" in a story? Posted: 20 Oct 2021 04:49 AM PDT Right now I'm writing an essay on Death in Venice, and I'm having trouble finding the right word or phrase to express how Aschenbach is parallel to the old man on the boat to Venice (both dress up to fit in with youth, some repetition of specific phrases in descriptions, youth from Pola vs youth from Poland, etc.). The closest word I can find to describe what is a "parallel". I see this word used a lot on the internet to describe (usually in TV shows) when something that one character did in a past episode is similar to something that a character (usually different, but I've also seen it used to point out character development via slight differences in the parallel). It kind of describes two completely separate scenes that have a much more powerful meaning when juxtaposed (usually very blatant mirroring, etc. to point this out to viewer/reader). In my case, it would be the scene with Aschenbach observing the man on the boat and the scene where Aschenbach applies makeup for Tadzio. Specifically, the man on the boat foreshadows the "endgame" for Aschenbach. In my essay, I've referred to it mostly as foreshadowing, but I think the depth of the connection that Mann makes warrants something a little stronger. The word foil came to mind, in terms of the intensity and how it's character specific, but obviously, it has the opposite meaning of what I'm going for. I did think about just using the word "parallel", but I when I looked it up, the definition for the word parallelism came up, and as a literary term it seemed from this definition, it seems that this word as a literary device refers to parallel syntax and a not to a broader similarity. I've come up with "symmetry" and "mirror" to describe individual aspects, but I was wondering if there is a proper term that encompasses the broad connection between the two characters.  |
| differentiating between all that and what Posted: 20 Oct 2021 08:27 AM PDT Original (extracted from the book The Scarlet Letter):
My own rephrased sentences:
Could you throw a light on the difference between the bolded parts of the sentences above? Or could you give me a vivid explanation or example? Or explain the difference in meaning of the sentences?  |
| Does the expression, “As sound as a pound” still holds its currency? Posted: 20 Oct 2021 05:55 AM PDT There is the following sentence in the New York Time's (July 24) article titled, "A Chinese gold standard?" written by its Op-Ed contributor, Kwasi Kwarteng.
I am interested in finding out whether the idiom, "As sound as a pound" still holds its currency today or not, when the pound has given its post as the key currency to US Dollar, with Chinese Yuan at its heels now. Although the author says "As sound as a pound" was a widely used expression, Google Ngram doesn't show the record of any incidence of "As sound as a pound," over the past 170 years, but Urban Dictionary gives the definition of this phrase as:
Was the expression, "As sound as a pound" popular as the NYT article writer says, and still is current? If not, what word can I substitute for "pound" with, e.g. dollar, gold, Federal Reserve Bank or something else to express a 100 % assurance by using 'sound as X' pattern? BTW. We have a Japanese cliché to express a 100 percent certainty – 大地を槌で叩くより確か- as sound (certain) as the chances of your hitting the ground with your hammer without miss.  |
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