Thursday, October 21, 2021

Recent Questions - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange

Recent Questions - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange

Plural or singular with "reward"?

Posted: 21 Oct 2021 10:56 AM PDT

A bonus reward for matches will be doubled.

Bonus rewards for matches will be doubled.

I receive a different amount of bonuses after each match in an online game. On the one hand, "bonus reward" is a reward type, and I always get the same thing - bonuses (not different types of rewards). On the other hand, I get this reward for each match, so the plural seems appropriate too. Should I use "reward" or "rewards" here? Could you please clarify this to me?

A non-negative synonym for "unused" or "untouched" that doesn't have the sexual implications of "virginal"

Posted: 21 Oct 2021 10:54 AM PDT

I am writing some software that maintains a large data space, and we need to be able to tag areas that have never been touched/written to, and be able to request those areas.

When we request areas we can add flags to the request for what we want, and currently the flag I am using for getting any hasn't-been-used-yet area is "virginal" - but eventually this software will be used by a larger audience, so I'd rather avoid the connotations that are connected with virginal. I don't want to use a "negative" word like "untouched" because I think the double-negative can be confusing if you, for example, request a region where "untouched = false"

I feel like there is a word that I'm just missing that is positive and doesn't have connotations involving sexual purity, but I can't think of what it is.

Suggestions?

phrase or idiom similar to "To each his own"?

Posted: 21 Oct 2021 10:12 AM PDT

I know "To each his own." and "Different strokes for different folks" but what I am looking for is a good, wise saying that

What works best for those in one situation does not always work best for those in another situation. Let each situation create their own optimal solution.

Just for your information, the issue is about legislative redistricting.

It's like "One size does not always fit all."

Can you help me find a better phrase?

Are fairy and ferry exact homophones?

Posted: 21 Oct 2021 10:11 AM PDT

I was puzzled when a native speaker of American English (grown up in Texas) recently told me that they would pronounce fairy and ferry the same. I would expect a "long" vowel in fairy and a "short" vowel in ferry, partly because of the double consonant in the latter.

This concept of vowel length, which is important in my mother tongue German, is foreign to that speaker and confuses them. Merriam-Webster provides two possible pronunciations for ferry, one of which is identical to the one for fairy, but their phonetic spelling doesn't seem to distinguish vowel lengths at all.

Obviously, given the heterogeneous English speaking community, there may not be one right answer at all; I'm interested in all accents and aspects.

Edit: Collins provides different pronunciations for fairy and ferry; their audio samples come closer to how I would pronounce the words.

Apostrophe after Acronym that ends in "S"

Posted: 21 Oct 2021 10:09 AM PDT

What are the rules for using apostrophes after an acronym that ends in the letter "S"?

For instance, if I have a pretend product called Fast Ice Cream System, or FICS, which delivers ice cream very quickly to wherever you are, I could:

  • Have more than one FICS (would this be written as FICSs, FICS', FICS'S or FICSS)
  • Have a component of the FICS (this would be "the FCIS's flux capacitor)

Is there an appropriate English style guide? I can't imagine this is new territory.

"General" bibliography

Posted: 21 Oct 2021 09:04 AM PDT

I'm in the process of writing some training content - primarily PPT and a workbook - where I'm pulling in a LOT of "bits" of information from a ton of sources. This content can be split, spliced with other content, and re-used.

Given the nature of the content (e.g., not a paragraph or essay form), is it acceptable to create a type of "general" bibliography? For example, for just a few bullet points, I may draw the information from multiple sources. The bullet points are NOT direct quotes, just ideas gathered from the sources. However, I want to give credit where credit is due. So, is it acceptable just to list all used sources in a bibliography?

Thanks.

Do you need help VS Can I help you

Posted: 21 Oct 2021 09:16 AM PDT

Is it true that asking "Do you need help?" may sound a little offensive implying that a person needs some mental help compared to the regular "Can I help you?" which sounds neutral.

Is the sentence "Because something is ..., so is something" correct?

Posted: 21 Oct 2021 08:59 AM PDT

I have a sentence "Because A and B are finite, C is finite". Then I think of a way to remove the duplicate of "finite" with "Because A and B are finite, so is C".

Could you elaborate if this sentence is grammatically correct?

There is a button on a website that says "Add a comment". Is this the imperative mood?

Posted: 21 Oct 2021 08:58 AM PDT

Let's say there is a website where there is a button with the text "Add a comment". Clicking this button will let the user add a comment. Is the string "Add a comment" in the imperative mood?

On one hand, it looks like the imperative mood; the subject is omitted and certainly in a different context, the exact phrase "Add a comment" can be used as an imperative phrase (i.e. if I am sitting next to someone and I want them to add a comment, I can tell them "add a comment" and that is certainly imperative).

On the other hand, in this context the website is simply letting the user know that if they click the button, they have the ability to add a comment. It's not giving the user an order

For more context, I want to know what tense this phrase is in so that I can help get the string translated into other languages properly.

Regarding the use of the word 'affirmative' in this context

Posted: 21 Oct 2021 08:55 AM PDT

I am presently reading Lewis Henry Morgan's Ancient Society. I have come across a sentence, which I am having some trouble understanding.

It is difficult to describe an Indian tribe by the affirmative elements of its composition.

What does Morgan mean by 'affirmative elements' here?

A "Subjected case"?

Posted: 21 Oct 2021 08:27 AM PDT

I usually see the following phrases when someone from support team contacts me or my team for help:

"Need help with the subjected case"

or

  "I am contacting you regarding the subjected case"

or

"Please look at the subjected case"

And the Subject: line of the mail will usually have Case #<a-5-or-6-digit-case-ID>

They probably mean they need help with the case ID [in the subject] ? Is the usage "subjected case" correct ?

What’s a better way to word “times are hard”

Posted: 21 Oct 2021 10:13 AM PDT

In a sentence it would be "Even when ___, she remained persistent"

Electrical engineering/programming terminology: bitwidth vs bit-width vs bit width [closed]

Posted: 21 Oct 2021 07:34 AM PDT

Which version is correct in a technical (electrical engineering or programming) text, discussing how many bits are represented by a register or a bus?

  • bitwidth
  • bit-width
  • bit width

What do you call a husband's sister-in-law if he was divorced

Posted: 21 Oct 2021 07:11 AM PDT

what do you call a husband's sister-in-law if he was divorced

How to Smoke Weed Complete Guide for Beginners? [closed]

Posted: 21 Oct 2021 06:42 AM PDT

Some smoke marijuana for inspiration, become creative, to be more sociable, to be energized, and to improve focus.

Good alternatives to "circus" metaphors for tension (juggling, plate spinning, tightropes etc)?

Posted: 21 Oct 2021 06:09 AM PDT

In my writing, reviewing strategy games, I often have cause to describe a process whereby someone has to deal with large amounts of conflicting priorities and information. I've noticed that in doing so I very often fall back on some kind of circus stunt as a metaphor:

Between resources, cards and the conflict players are left with a lot of plates to spin and only two measly actions to do it with.

Together with the ever-present risk of an own-goal, they make every match a fast-paced tightrope walk, dangling between speed and sureness.

You've thus got to juggle four different payment options while still finding time to buy and build the tiles you need.

It's a good metaphor, concise and conjuring exactly the right sense of having to do multiple things at once under pressure. But I feel like I've come to rely on it too much, and am having trouble trying to think of something that's equally quick and powerful.

Any suggestions would be very welcome.

Causative constructions [closed]

Posted: 21 Oct 2021 02:53 AM PDT

Is it correct if I Say...?

• I will have him arrested.
• Peter will have his friend Jim killed.

Let me know the construction is perfect.

A verb for "be the most important"

Posted: 21 Oct 2021 02:22 AM PDT

Contexts:

Personalized news recommendation plays a big role in helping users acquire their interested information. It consists of two major steps: recall and ranking, in both of which efficiency is the most important.

I'd like to find a verb for be the most important. Any suggestion?

"There has to be" vs "there have to be" [migrated]

Posted: 21 Oct 2021 01:46 AM PDT

Which form to choose for the verb "have"?

"There have to be other solutions..."

"There has to be other solutions..."

Somehow, both sound correct. I chose the first one, but isn't the second one also ok? Or does the meaning change somehow? Or does it depend on what follows (singular/plural)?

Disclaimer: Not a native speaker.

In Loving Memory of with comma or no comma? [closed]

Posted: 21 Oct 2021 12:42 AM PDT

I am planning to write an engraved message behind an Ipad, which reads:

In Loving Memory of,  name of deceased

I am wondering if comma is needed here.

Can I say "I paint in city" instead of "I paint in the city" to be more generic? [closed]

Posted: 21 Oct 2021 12:05 AM PDT

Is it something that everyone can understand : "to paint in city" instead of "to paint in the city" to be more generic, or it is clearly an error?

Comma, new sentence or semi-colon? Linking a statement with its justification/reason

Posted: 21 Oct 2021 12:37 AM PDT

I need to edit this sentence of the form "[statement about an object], [explanation as to why the statement holds]", but there is no language that links the two clauses, like a "this is due to [...]". For example,

"There is dark cat hair all over my sofa, the cat is allowed on the sofa now."

To me, a comma seems inappropriate here. There should either be a full stop in place of the comma, or a semi-colon, or the addition of "because", "this is due to the fact that", etc.

Any thoughts?

When is the word "vaccine" uncountable?

Posted: 21 Oct 2021 08:17 AM PDT

According to the Oxford Learner's Dictionary definition for vaccine:

[countable, uncountable]
​a substance that is put into the blood and that protects the body from a disease

  • a measles vaccine
  • There is no vaccine against HIV infection.

I am confused about the description in the OALD. It said that "vaccine" is uncountable sometimes. When is vaccine used this way?

Mentioning isolated effect using alone/lone [closed]

Posted: 21 Oct 2021 02:06 AM PDT

I was explaining a physical phenomenon where an element produces an effect (say pressure), which is combined with the pressure induced by another phenomenon. The writing in my case demands special mentioning for the original pressure induced by the element. For that, I tried this:

1. The element alone induced pressure

The intention was to distinguish the original pressure induced by the element from the combined pressure. But Practical English usage (Micheal Swan) quotes such usages as wrong and suggests "lone" in such scenarios. Therefore,

2. The element lone induced pressure

Should be fine, but the above-mentioned examples are not seen on the internet. The word "original" does not fit in the case, because the readers may misinterpret it. Welcoming suggestions.

Which adjective best describes a person who seeks complex ways of solving a simple problem?

Posted: 21 Oct 2021 07:29 AM PDT

What adjective would best describe someone who seeks complex solutions to simple problems? For example, one who would design the tree-swing in any other of the ways described below except the last one.

Tree-swing problem

Why is "x" used as an abbreviation for some nouns?

Posted: 21 Oct 2021 07:30 AM PDT

This question is related, but is not a duplicate, of Why do some words have "X" as a substitute?.

I have noticed that a few nouns can be significantly abbreviated with an "x" at the end. Some examples come to mind:

  • Transmit → Tx
  • Receive → Rx
  • Passengers → Pax
  • Tickets → Tix

There are likely others in existence I'm not aware of. Most abbreviated nouns ending in "x" seem to be used only as technical jargon (in this case, Fax, Fax, Transportation, Entertainment, respectively). What is the history of using "x" at the end of a word to severely shorten it? And, does the usage of "x" in this context have a single word to describe it?

What would you call a person who doesn't like questions being asked of them?

Posted: 21 Oct 2021 08:01 AM PDT

My sister says I ask too many questions, such as "What have you been up to lately?" She is the only person who says that.

What do you call a person who doesn't like questions being asked?

What's the difference between "informal", "colloquial", "slang", and "vulgar"?

Posted: 21 Oct 2021 10:57 AM PDT

It seems many people get confused about the differences (and similarities) between "colloquial" and "slang", so what exactly does each term apply to?

But to be even more thorough it seems to me we can also include a couple more terms which are often applied to language and arrange them into a scale from most acceptable to least acceptable: "informal" > "colloquial" > "slang" > "vulgar"

Are any two synonyms? Do they all overlap semantically or only with their closest neighbours? Or should some of them be seen as independently variable aspects of a word or utterance?

Finally, could each term apply equally as well to a word, a phrase, and a grammatical or syntactical usage?

EDIT

Perhaps I should've also included "nonstandard" - not sure whether it belongs to the left or the right of "slang" though.
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