Sunday, October 24, 2021

Recent Questions - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange

Recent Questions - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange

When to capitalize "crown" when referring to a monarchy? [closed]

Posted: 24 Oct 2021 07:13 AM PDT

I have noticed an inconsistency in articles referencing the Spanish monarchy:

  1. When "Spanish" is in front of crown, "crown" is lowercase:

    The Spanish crown funded expeditions to explore the New World.

  2. When "crown" is alone, but still referring to the monarchy, it is often written as uppercase:

    The viceroys were subjects of the Crown.

Is this correct? If so, why? If not, what is the correct way to capitalize "crown" when referring to the Spanish monarchy, or any other specific monarchy?

Is saying high/low (number) wrong?

Posted: 24 Oct 2021 06:59 AM PDT

I got this feedback of "wrong collocation" on my essay.

Here is the line -

The average level of computer ownership in 2002 was in the high fifties (in percentage).

The teacher said that 'high fifties' is incorrect grammar (wrong collocation). I just want to know why and how to correct it.

Is Zero Singular or Plural [duplicate]

Posted: 24 Oct 2021 06:41 AM PDT

Is Zero Singular or Plural?

The Problem

The title pretty much says it all; but I have to elaborate more in order for my question to survive in the website :)

Is zero singular or plural? You can't say that it is singular becuase singular means 1, if you say it's plural because you don't say 'Zero Gravity' but 'Zero Gravities'(just an example), you disagree with dictionaries which say it means more than 1.

Can Somebody tell me which category this exactly falls in?

Can "that" stand after a comma? [duplicate]

Posted: 24 Oct 2021 06:38 AM PDT

A scene from the game "Genshin Impact"

Is the underlined "that" used accurately there?

I suppose it is a relative clause, based on its meaning and function but this dialogue has been bugging me for a while since all I've learned is "that" never goes after a comma, in any cases. Is it something I'm unaware of or just an error?

If it is correct, how often is it to encounter it? Is there a meaning behind it?

Using "that...in" instead of "in which" [duplicate]

Posted: 24 Oct 2021 07:26 AM PDT

Is it grammatically correct to say the following?

What we are doing is not being interpreted in the way that it was meant in.

Instead of...

what we are doing is not being interpreted in the way in which it was meant.

I would appreciate it if you could specify the academic basis if possible.

Can "Although" be followed by a V-ing? [closed]

Posted: 24 Oct 2021 05:15 AM PDT

In these two sentences:

  • Although he played very well, he ended up losing.

  • Although playing very well, he ended up losing.

Is the second one grammatically correct? If it is correct, what grammatical point is it, and is it possible to use said grammar with other words like "though" or "while"?

Convert plural to singular and visa versa [migrated]

Posted: 24 Oct 2021 02:54 AM PDT

Can anyone please help me find an ONLINE singular to plural (and visa versa) converter that will convert a list of words at once? I've found plenty that do one word at a time.

There are so many online text/word manipulaters out there, I'm surprised that I can't find one for singular and plural conversations.

What does the word "snobbish" mean contextually? [closed]

Posted: 24 Oct 2021 12:40 AM PDT

In a couple of contexts I have seen the word snobbish being used in a very negative sense. However while reading a vocabulary book I found out that snobbish means aristocracy or majestic. This seems an extremely positive word. Please highlight slightly in the context.

heard of VS heard about [closed]

Posted: 24 Oct 2021 01:47 AM PDT

I want to write

"From Koreans to Americans also (once) heard about untrue home remedies."

Is heard about better or heard of? Also put "once" between "also" and "heard" make the sentence worse or better?
Is there anything wrong with the grammar?

He lives in a suburb of New York. Is the phrase "in a suburb of New York" adverbial phrase? or Adjective phrase? [migrated]

Posted: 23 Oct 2021 11:11 PM PDT

I am confused with this as different sources are giving different reasons. Please explain your answer.

Is there a word for words that are uncannily similar?

Posted: 23 Oct 2021 09:25 PM PDT

I may have too broad or subjective of a definition here, so I will try to end with a more specific definition/example -- but if there is a word similar to the definition listed at the end, that may be the right word even if I am off on the definition.

Perhaps that mess is appropriate for how frustrating it is to verbalize this: is there a word/category for words that are uncannily similar?

The very vague and overly subjective description would be "words that are a little too similar." Googling got me as far as uncanny. It feels like a hard thing to Google, which is admittedly as fitting as it is frustrating.

Example of what a definition might look like if there is an objective term rather than a subjective one: Igneous and Ingenious

  1. Same number of syllables
  2. Multiple syllables exhibit similar sounds whether it is a rhyme, off rhyme, assonance, alliteration, etc.
  3. The words share a high number of letters in a similar or identical order
  4. (This probably goes too specific to be useful enough to exist) The words could syntactially be said together, but are very unlikely to make semantic sense

Sample sentence: I am literally looking for a word to classify other words, so the best I can do here is "igneous" and "ingeneous" for a sample pair.

Thesaurus: uncanny is as good as I could do

Why it doesn't work: I'm trying to figure out if there is a specific word to classify sets of words

Criteria: similarity in function to the word oxymoron, but for words that bear a striking or uncanny similarity.

Whether a compound word or phrase would be acceptable: yes. But a single word would be a much more fun answer, don't you think?

word for something(especially concept) that is filled with holes/not-solid [closed]

Posted: 24 Oct 2021 05:46 AM PDT

I'm looking for a word to describe something/concept/idea that's fragile, not-solid, fluffy inside, doesn't fit the narrative

I want to describe a concept/idea that has something to do with this image

enter image description here

"People who move innovative ideas into reality." Is this sentence correct? [closed]

Posted: 23 Oct 2021 07:49 PM PDT

"People who move innovative ideas into reality."

A few minutes later Goldilocks arrived at the bears' house. Bears' or Bear's? [closed]

Posted: 23 Oct 2021 07:18 PM PDT

A few minutes later Goldilocks arrived at the bears' house.

A few minutes later Goldilocks arrived at the bear's house.

Which is the correct? bears' or bear's In the story book. It was printed bears' What does it mean?

Is there a word that means "influential location/place"?

Posted: 23 Oct 2021 08:14 PM PDT

A word that could be used to represent a city (e.g. New York), or a building (e.g. the US Capitol), or even a sacred site of some sort (e.g. Mauna Kea).

Preferably a noun, but a single adjective could work too.

"Influencer" and "sanctum" were the closest ones I've found, but they don't seem to contextually fit well enough to convey such a meaning on their own, if that makes sense.

If it helps, I'd be using the word to represent a card type in politically themed board game. So, the ultimate goal of the word is to assist in teaching game's mechanisms.

What do you call a person who's limited to contemporary ideas and practices?

Posted: 24 Oct 2021 09:16 AM PDT

Someone who doesn't have any appreciation for the past and clings to modernity, or to the current, the way a bigot clings to the outdated. Trendites or hipsters wouldn't quite cut it any more than nostalgic would cover bigotry. It lacks the irrationality and the negative connotations.

Per request, here's a sample:

"Speaking of Abraham Lincoln, do you know what his greatest achievement was?" "Abraham Lincoln? Didn't he die like 5000 years ago? How old do you think I am?" "How is the time he lived in relevant, dude? There's much to learn from the man." "I concern myself with what's happening now." "Present concerns are rarely as profound as the wisdom of the past. You're such a ______."

Hopefully that somewhat cuts it. Reverse the positions to something like a person talking about how gay people should be stoned or a different horrible, outdated thing, and the other responding by calling him a bigot, and you might have an even clearer picture of the word I'm looking for.

Etymological origin and earliest recorded occurrence of 'saunter' in English

Posted: 24 Oct 2021 03:59 AM PDT

Someone just sent me a quotation from the explorer/naturalist John Muir, in which he makes the following etymological claim:

Do you know the origin of that word saunter? It's a beautiful word. Away back in the middle ages people used to go on pilgrimages to the Holy Land, and when people in the villages through which they passed asked where they were going, they would reply 'A la sainte terre,' 'To the Holy Land.' And so they became known as sainte-terre-ers or saunterers.

The quotation goes back to Albert Palmer, The Mountain Trail and Its Message (1911), who reports that Muir said it to him in a conversation they were having about hiking. Palmer withholds judgment about "whether the derivation just given is scientific or fanciful"—but Merriam-Webster seems inclined to view it as the latter. From Merriam-Webster's Eleventh Collegiate Dictionary (2003):

saunter vi {prob. fr. ME santren to muse} (ca. 1667) : to walk about in an idle or leisurely manner : STROLL

The Online Etymology Dictionary likewise appears to be unimpressed by the "sainte-terre-er" explanation:

saunter (v.) late 15c., santren "to muse, be in reverie," of uncertain origin despite many absurd speculations. Meaning "walk with a leisurely gait" is from 1660s, and may be a different word. Klein suggests this sense of the word derives via Anglo-French sauntrer (mid-14c.) from French s'aventurer "to take risks," but OED finds this "unlikely."

In an interesting extended discussion of the Muir quotation, Etymology Online traces the "à la sainte terre" origin theory to Samuel Johnson's 1755 Dictionary of the English Language and beyond. Johnson has this entry for saunter, which he augments with instances of the word (in various forms) in literary use by L'Estrange, Dryden, Locke, Prior, Tickel, Gay, and Pope:

To SAUNTER v.n. [aller à la sainte terre, from idle people who roved about the country, and asked charity under pretence of going à la sainte terre, to the holy land, or sans terre, as having no settled home] To wander about idly ; to loiter ; to linger.

Etymology Online then traces the roots of Johnson's proposed etymology back to Nathan Bailey, An Universal Etymological Dictionary, second edition (1724), which actually proposes two possible derivations:

To SAUNTER, {of Sauter or Santeller, F. to dance, q. d. to dance to and fro, or of Sainte-Terre, F.} to go idling up and down. See to Santer.

Bailey's etymological entry for santer is quite elaborate:

To SANTER, {of Sancte Terre, F. or Sancta Terra, L. i. e. the Holy Land, because when there were frequent Expeditions to the Holy Land many idle Persons went from Place to Place upon pretence they had taken the Cross upon them, or intended to do so, and to go thither} to wander up and down.

I have three questions about the etymology of saunter:

  1. What is the earliest source in English to make the connection between saunter and sainte-terre?
  2. What is the earliest recorded instance in English of saunter/santer in the sense of "to wander or go idling up and down"?
  3. What is the likeliest etymology of saunter?

How to describe a single item within supplies?

Posted: 23 Oct 2021 08:06 PM PDT

I'm trying to translate terms used in a database to terms used by end-users. There is a supplies table which holds information on supplies held in stock. Supplies is generic on purpose, as there is no one specific category or type. Each record details a single item/thing held and what it is, how much is in stock, etc.

I refer to supplies as 'supplies' for the end-user, but I'm struggling with the singular form.

  • I've tried 'supply' but it doesn't seem to fit, e.g. "add a supply" and "edit a supply" doesn't sound right.
  • The word 'item' doesn't mean much without context and using that in actions also feels awkward, e.g. "add an item" – an item of what, add to where?

Should I stick with 'supply', or is there a better term?

Is Gordon Ramsay right to use the term "plank" for an "idiot"?

Posted: 23 Oct 2021 06:51 PM PDT

In this video clip, amateur reality TV-chef Gordon Ramsay says,

I think you're a plank. [...] Plank means an idiot.

Is this a real definition of plank? Dictionary.com doesn't acknowledge it. Is Gordon Ramsay just calling people a slice of a dead tree?

Is it "a grammar mistake" or "a grammatical mistake"

Posted: 24 Oct 2021 09:04 AM PDT

It seems to me that when we say "a grammatical mistake" it means a mistake that is grammatical in nature (something that is grammatical can't be a mistake, right?!), so i'd say "a grammar mistake" is correct. However, I've seen a lot of controversy about it. which one is correct?

thanks in advance

In “We’re going to throw a surprise party for her”, is "for her" an adjectival phrase or an adverbial phrase?

Posted: 23 Oct 2021 06:02 PM PDT

Consider these sentences:

  1. We're going to throw a surprise party for her.
  2. I'll get some flowers for Anne.

In (1) for her is a prepositional phrase. Is this instance of for her an adjectival prepositional phrase or an adverbial prepositional phrase? Or is calling it either of those still okay no matter which you choose?

In (2), for Anne is a prepositional phrase. Same question here: Is for Anne an adjectival prepositional phrase or is it an adverbial prepositional phrase? Or are both choices correct?

Do those two sentences mean the same thing as these two respectively mean? Here instead of a prepositional phrase, an indirect object is used instead.

  1. We're going to throw her a surprise party.
  2. I'll get Anne some flowers.

If (3) and (4) mean the same thing as (1) and (2), would that alter whether the prepositional phrases in the first pair should be analysed as adjectival or adverbial modifying phrases?

a tense in a subordinate clause

Posted: 24 Oct 2021 06:05 AM PDT

I watched Ace Ventura - Pet Detective and didn't understand past continuous usage in the scene which can be watched here: ''https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuhPPOXnyKo'' (0:42).

''I wouldn't want somebody tracing my steps, pointing out all the mistakes I was making''

One thing I know this sentence is reduced ''I wouldn't want somebody tracing my steps, pointing out all the mistakes I was making (e.g., if I were you)''

But why ''was making''?

I believe it doesn't refer to the past since context refer to present.

Thank you for helping me out.

Proper formatting for names of ships and taverns in fiction writing

Posted: 24 Oct 2021 08:23 AM PDT

I know that the names of ships and taverns need to be italicized in the general text, but what about in dialogue..within the quotes?

Who first objected to the term "chain mail"?

Posted: 23 Oct 2021 05:49 PM PDT

Recently, I've become aware of a new (to me) peeve: some people say that chain mail/chain-mail/chainmail is incorrect in some way when talking about armor, and that the proper way to refer to it is mail or maille.* Now, it's true that it's not exactly composed of chains, although loops of mail are closer to being a chain than a chain link fence is. But anyway, the point of this question is not to ask for an evaluation of this peeve, or your opinion of it. What I want to know is if all these people independently came to the conclusion that the term was illogical, or if they absorbed this idea from some common source.

The term chain mail has been around for a while. The OED's earliest citation is from 1822; using Google Books, I was able to find what seem to be even earlier examples:

1789:

The Haubergeon was a coat compoſed either of plate or chain-mail without ſleeves.

– Original Letters, Written During the Reigns of Henry VI, Edward IV and Richard III., edited by Sir John Fenn

1796:

The hauberk was a complete covering of double chain mail.

– Fabliaux Or Tales, Abridged from French Manuscripts of the XIIth and XIIIth Centuries by M. Le Grand

So, I'm curious about the first attested objection to the term. How early is it, and who made it? What was the reason given, if any?

*Examples:

  • The modern usage of terms for mail armour is highly contested in popular and, to a lesser degree, academic culture. Medieval sources referred to armour of this type simply as "mail", however "chain-mail" has become a commonly used, if incorrect neologism first attested in Sir Walter Scott's 1822 novel The Fortunes of Nigel.

    (The Wikipedia article on "Mail (armor)")

  • First my standard critique: it's mail or maille not chainmail, since that's chain chain (insert song here). Otherwise an excellent point that I wish was followed more.

    (Comments to this article "It's Time to Retire "Boob Plate" Armor. Because It Would Kill You.")

  • It is called mail not chain mail, you don't tie up someone with a hauberk.

    (Layering system and medieval clothing explained)

Adrenaline vs epinephrine

Posted: 24 Oct 2021 06:05 AM PDT

I just stumbled upon a blog that states that epinephrine is the American name for adrenaline. Is it true? If so, how prevalent is this Americanism within America? And do they prefer epinephrine in phrases like adrenaline rush, adrenaline junkie, etc.? What about situations where adrenaline is used not as a scientific term but a metaphor for action?

why do we say "too bad"?

Posted: 24 Oct 2021 12:33 AM PDT

At first glance you'd think the correct use of the expression "too bad" would be in a conversation like this:

Sure stealing candy would be bad but stealing candy from a baby is just too bad.

But instead we more often use the expression either sarcastically in cases like this:

Yeah, I got it first! Too bad. You lose.

or as a synonym for "unfortunate" such as in:

It's too bad that you can't come to the party.

But why did we come to use "too bad" in this way that seems to be little related to the literal meaning of the words?

Other ways to say "I'm rooting for you?"

Posted: 23 Oct 2021 09:28 PM PDT

What are other ways one can say that have the same meaning as, "I'm rooting for you?"
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