Recent Questions - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange |
- What does 'broadly conceived' mean?
- Plural form for country names
- How does this sentence sound to a native speaker?
- What is the meaning of the passage in simple language? [closed]
- What does 'Im okHwz u' mean? [closed]
- Indefinite Articles for Proper Nouns [migrated]
- What is the name for the term that describes small changes in normality?
- Daily routine : COLLOCATION: do my other hygiene? [closed]
- Other ways of conveying the idea of building/making a snowman
- What's a word for short bursts of speech?
- Is there a word for a 'Dictionary about flowers'?
- Productive cooperation or "A" productive cooperation
- It is a rare and (often heard, seldom heard) song
- Difference of meaning between the two sentences
- What is "inclusive of savings" meaning?
- what the does the word 'nature'(of something) actually means?
- What is the difference between a round number and a square number? [closed]
- What is the origin of the phrase "ah yah"? [duplicate]
- the formalest or the most formal english [migrated]
- What word is "inexplicable" posing as in this sentence?
- (Deleted because of vandalism) What is a vegetarian synonym of "meatspace" denoting the "real life" world as opposed to the internet or "cyberspace"? [closed]
- Why is James Bond saying "We didn't get yet"?
- What do you call an introvert who likes to meet new people and hear people's experiences/stories? [closed]
- an atom vs the atom [duplicate]
- Need clarification on noun phrases
- A de facto assumption?
- Is the use of the word “terrible” in a positive sense at all common?
- How to avoid starting sentences with "And" or "But"? [closed]
- How do you punctuate something you paraphrased?
- “Oojakapiv”: what does this word mean?
| What does 'broadly conceived' mean? Posted: 03 Oct 2021 09:40 AM PDT
According to Oxford dictionary, 'conceive' means 'to form a plan or idea in mind'. Why does 'broadly conceived' means 'to cover a wide range of sth' in the sentence above? Is the course still thought of in mind or has it become an existing thing in reality?  |
| Posted: 03 Oct 2021 09:12 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.  |
| How does this sentence sound to a native speaker? Posted: 03 Oct 2021 09:06 AM PDT I am currently working on an email template. The template asks for a phone call and at the end of the email I am writing the following:
I am a native german speaker and in German this kind of formulation sounds absolutely okay, actually somehow unusual but still good ;) So, I thought in English maybe as well? But yeah, I am unsure. So, how does this sound to you as a native speaker? Would you think this sounds weird? Thanks for you help.  |
| What is the meaning of the passage in simple language? [closed] Posted: 03 Oct 2021 08:17 AM PDT Passage:
I really do not understand the meaning of the passage, please explain it in simple language.  |
| What does 'Im okHwz u' mean? [closed] Posted: 03 Oct 2021 06:43 AM PDT I was doing some search and Bing wanted to chat. I said no but he told me this. So what does it mean?
This should not be a typo, as it is a robot on the other side.  |
| Indefinite Articles for Proper Nouns [migrated] Posted: 03 Oct 2021 05:50 AM PDT Is the article "a" OK in this sentence? "The door opened, revealing a laughing John." Thank you very much!  |
| What is the name for the term that describes small changes in normality? Posted: 03 Oct 2021 09:28 AM PDT Small changes can be very difficult for humans to recognise, so we get used to the new normal and do not realise that the many small changes have collectively created a huge change. To take one specific example of this phenomenon, lifestyle creep means that as a person earns more, they spend more, as their "normal" has changed. What is the general term for this changing normal baseline?  |
| Daily routine : COLLOCATION: do my other hygiene? [closed] Posted: 03 Oct 2021 05:24 AM PDT I would like to ask – Is it possible to say the following (in the context of daily routine)?
Do my other hygiene sounds strange to me. If not correct, what should be said instead?  |
| Other ways of conveying the idea of building/making a snowman Posted: 03 Oct 2021 05:14 AM PDT It is conventional to impart the idea of creating a snowman with the verbs "to make" or "to build". Would it be expedient to use for the same purpose verbs applicable to the volumetric objects from the sphere of art, such as:
 |
| What's a word for short bursts of speech? Posted: 03 Oct 2021 02:00 AM PDT
I'm looking for a word like bursts, but bursts of speech.  |
| Is there a word for a 'Dictionary about flowers'? Posted: 03 Oct 2021 09:47 AM PDT It would be a noun, and I've been trying to look for if there is anything even similar, but I have sadly come up empty with Dictionary.com, Thesaurus.com, and the Reverse-Dictionary, with a general Google search. A 'dictionary about flowers' would simply be a book about flowers, their meanings, genus, name, and maybe they would have a picture or two (As most books of this type do) It would be used in a sentence like
I'd much prefer if it was single-word; I've considered phrases like 'Botanical dictionary/encyclopedia/compendium' or 'Flower catalog' and the likes, but they don't fit the single-word criteria and either have no ring, or the meaning of which are too broad or slightly off.  |
| Productive cooperation or "A" productive cooperation Posted: 02 Oct 2021 11:46 PM PDT I wrote in an email the next sentence: "I believe we could have a productive cooperation." I'm using Grammarly and it suggested removing the a and change the sentence to: I believe we could have productive cooperation. I feel like it's a mistake but I can't figure out why Grammarly would think that's a mistake (that's a very simple, straightforward sentence, with no special ambiguity). Am I missing something here?  |
| It is a rare and (often heard, seldom heard) song Posted: 03 Oct 2021 12:33 AM PDT I want to know which one would be the appropriate answer to this sentence:
What I really need to know is that as you know rare here can mean exceptional and really good so in my opinion the answer is often.  |
| Difference of meaning between the two sentences Posted: 02 Oct 2021 11:17 PM PDT Whenever I see "to be", I don't get the whole meaning, so please help me with other scenarios which could help me get rid of my fear with "to be".
 |
| What is "inclusive of savings" meaning? Posted: 03 Oct 2021 02:06 AM PDT Is "inclusive of savings" same as "savings included"? Is there a difference between saying one or another? Example of usage: "You must be in employment and earn a minimum of £15,000 per annum. This home is not available to anyone who currently owns a property. The household's total income, inclusive of savings, must be less than £50,000 per year."  |
| what the does the word 'nature'(of something) actually means? Posted: 03 Oct 2021 09:23 AM PDT as we say 'nature of time', is the term 'nature' the same as the word 'tendency' in these scenarios. what the word nature truly means is a bit confusing to me to understand in these situations  |
| What is the difference between a round number and a square number? [closed] Posted: 02 Oct 2021 10:17 PM PDT What is the difference between a round number and a square number? I know that a round number can be circular in shape, and a square number has a shape similar to that of a cereal box (if the box is not rectangular). But I'm not sure if rectangular or triangular numbers even exist.  |
| What is the origin of the phrase "ah yah"? [duplicate] Posted: 02 Oct 2021 08:23 PM PDT What does "ah yah" mean? Is it used mainly in the Northeast as an expression that means "Oh, yes"? Ex.: "Waste not, want not. Ah yah." Do you think this is a self-contained colloquial regionalism commonly uttered by southern forest rangers?  |
| the formalest or the most formal english [migrated] Posted: 02 Oct 2021 07:20 PM PDT Is 'the formalest' a valid alternative for 'the most formal'? the searchs i'm making return articles about the formality of the language rather than answering my guestion  |
| What word is "inexplicable" posing as in this sentence? Posted: 02 Oct 2021 06:53 PM PDT Background: I post occasionally on Next Door, in a neighborhood which is well educated. I ignore typos, and even mistakes such as your for you're and it's for its. and, with less good cheer, imply for infer and vice versa. These are busy people (no sarcasm) and their fingers can outrun their brains, and I make mistakes too. At least it is clear what they mean. But one recent mistake has me puzzled. A distraught OP told us how a driver hit her dog, and did not stop. The dog may or may not survive after a long surgery. One comment was:
The rest of the post made it clear that there was nothing inexplicable about her sadness. What word would have made better sense? The only thing I can come up with is inexpressably sad. Is there a word that might be easier to confuse with inexplicably?  |
| Posted: 03 Oct 2021 07:17 AM PDT This question has been deleted by its owner in response to moronic vandalism.  |
| Why is James Bond saying "We didn't get yet"? Posted: 02 Oct 2021 07:43 PM PDT I've recently seen the trailer for the new James Bond movie and he is saying: "We all have our secrets. We just didn't get to yours yet". Shouldn't have he said "we just haven't got to them yet"? Also considering he is British.  |
| Posted: 02 Oct 2021 09:24 PM PDT What do you call an introvert who likes to meet new people and hear people's experiences/stories?  |
| an atom vs the atom [duplicate] Posted: 02 Oct 2021 10:19 PM PDT In Britannica's Atom term, some general sentences about an atom use "an atom", and others "the atom", why? Sentences with "an atom":
Sentences with "the atom":
Thanks Edit: The question does not answer my question, because in the same case of Atom (in meaning of all atoms) sometimes uses "the'' and sometimes "an''. Maybe the writer wants to emphasize by use of "the" and "an", to say it is a general case of an Atom? (Because, "the" may say specific atom, and "an" may say one of the atoms and not all, but when "the" and "an" use together for general Atom meaning, reader understand 100% that it all atoms) If this is the writer meaning, should we use this style in our formal writing?  |
| Need clarification on noun phrases Posted: 02 Oct 2021 07:06 PM PDT I am currently trying to understand noun phrases and I have a question. From my understanding a noun phrases is created with a modifier when you modify a head noun. For example « Travel along the Rhine river » (in this sentence the head noun river is modified by Rhine) and the noun phrase is "the Rhine river » Another example would be : "Travel across the Puente Nuevo in Ronda "(in this sentence Puente Nuevo is modified by Ronda with a preposition and the noun phrase is "The Puente Nuevo in Ronda » Am I correct with those 2 examples ? My question is can a conjunction, an apposition or even a verb create a noun phrase ? For example here with an apposition : "Later on, experience the otherworldly feel of Riquewihr, a village on the route des vins." Is the village on the route des vins a noun phrases and is the village identified as Riquewhir ? Another example with a conjunction : "Later on, experience the otherworldly feel of Riquewihr and the route des vins. » Is "Riquewihr and the route des vins" a noun phrase ? Last example with a verb. "Later on, experience the otherworldly feel of Riquewihr located on the route des vins " (is "Riquewihr located on the route des vins" a noun phrase ? Thank you very much for your help and clarification, Stephane,  |
| Posted: 03 Oct 2021 08:56 AM PDT I am trying to describe an assumption as a common and conventional one. No one ever doubts its reasonableness, and everyone simply takes this assumption as granted without thinking about it. Can I call such an assumption as "a de facto assumption"? If not, what adjective should I use? I feel "conventional assumption" does not catch my intended connotation.  |
| Is the use of the word “terrible” in a positive sense at all common? Posted: 03 Oct 2021 02:21 AM PDT I recently had an argument with one gentleman where he charged that he had heard the word terrible being used in a positive sense, as if something was good, or great. I had lived in the States for over 12 years where I was exposed to different strata of society from PhDs to lowly construction workers and warehouse serfs one of whom I was as well. I have heard people talk of all sorts of bad, brutal, sick, even ill, and generally awesome things, but I had never encountered the word terrible being used that way, even in this age of ironic hipsters. In the question about the origins of the word, few people pointed out that in French the word terrible does have a positive colloquial meaning, which is confirmed by several dictionaries. Likewise, English dictionaries acknowledge different meanings for the sister word terrific pointing that the meaning of fantastic and the like is informal, and the meaning of inspiring terror is archaic. But no respectable dictionary I had checked does mention any sort of ambiguity in regards of terrible. The only source known to me as yet that acknowledges the positive sense of terrible is Urban Dictionary, and even there it has been consistently downvoted. Yet, it still received some votes, so at least some people think there is a legitimacy to this claim. Is there anything to this at all? Is that some sort of new phenomenon, or is it utterly misguided? If it is indeed real, are there any examples of such usage in popular culture?  |
| How to avoid starting sentences with "And" or "But"? [closed] Posted: 03 Oct 2021 08:53 AM PDT A lot of times my sentences start with "And" and "But" and they tend to run long. I read a lot of news articles and blogs and have not seen many sentences starting with conjunctions, but I don't seem to get the trick of how to avoid it. English is my second language.  |
| How do you punctuate something you paraphrased? Posted: 03 Oct 2021 09:12 AM PDT Sometimes I need to adjust a quote for whatever reason. I don't want to steal somebody else's words, so I want to quote, but if it's no longer their exact words, wrapping it in "" doesn't feel right to me. For example, I just altered
To squeeze it into a tweet. I wound up changing it slightly to
I wrapped it in ~~ to try to show that it's not a direct quote, but wonder; is there a way to 'almost' quote somebody?  |
| “Oojakapiv”: what does this word mean? Posted: 02 Oct 2021 11:42 PM PDT A lot of people in my family use this word, not regularly, but enough for me to ask what it means. I know it's not a "real word", but how come people from different sides of my family use it? It must mean something. The way the word is used is for a word that doesn't mean anything, like gobbeldygook.  |
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