Wednesday, November 10, 2021

Recent Questions - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange

Recent Questions - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange

In what regions is "Do you work tonight?" clear and acceptable usage?

Posted: 10 Nov 2021 08:24 AM PST

In my answer at ELL regarding a question of whether someone is working that evening, I suggested the alternative:

Do you work tonight?

There was a comment about this being incorrect usage, because "the present simple is used for actions or situations that occur regularly, or are always true:" "Do you smoke," "do you go to the movies," "do you like pie," etc.

I would agree with this, but in my experience adding a specific time to the verb "work" is clear, understandable, and common usage to mean "are you scheduled to work at [this time]." So:

Do you work [on] Sundays? [habitual... sort of]
Do you work [on, this] Sunday? [specific]

I grew up in the US Midwest and the East Coast, and I never thought that this usage would be strange or incorrect.

In what regions or countries would this usage be considered correct, and where would it be considered incorrect?

Is it appropriate to use two "of"s in quick succession? [migrated]

Posted: 10 Nov 2021 07:45 AM PST

For example in this phrase:

Creation of library of gas turbine components in MATLAB/SIMULINK

Is there a better way of phrasing this?

Note: Substituting creation with creating is not desirable here

Edit for more context: The phrase is the title for my diploma thesis

please check the grammar of this sentence [closed]

Posted: 10 Nov 2021 06:56 AM PST

Which is correct?

  • Guess who has become a coffee addict.
  • Guess who became a coffee addict.

What does "in hearing" mean in this sentence? [migrated]

Posted: 10 Nov 2021 06:50 AM PST

In hearing so many people relate the fascinating experiences with which this volume deals, I have come to feel almost as though I have lived through them myself.

What does "In hearing" mean?

Case and choice

Posted: 10 Nov 2021 08:47 AM PST

I need to choose most intuitive, generic and neutral terms, so I am wondering if "case" and "choice" are best ones?

By "case" I mean something (good or bad) what may happen and user can't directly control it. E.g. transport delay, customer decision to buy.

"choice" is something which will happen only if user decides to go this way. E.g. pay for some service or not, go to bus station or call for taxi. (But if bus or taxi will come or not - it's case already, not choice, because user has no control here)

Context - generic planning application, so there are two categories of items listed in the plan.

P.S. I'll try to give more context how this terms are going to be used.

Imagine roadmap diagram with step by step plan of some project. This diagram is build of blocks, like

start -->  [choice] take a loan -->   [case] bank gives a loan -->   [choice] buy 100x teddy bears -->   [case] nothing sold --> [choice] start bankrupting   -or-   [case] 50 sold --> [choice] make discounts  -or-  [case] 100 sold --> [choice] repeat

So these terms are not used as part of sentence. It's just categories of diagram items not really related to the exact content of each item.

I've chosen "case" because in progamming it's common to have multiple conditions block which looks like:

switch valueToTest {    case 'A' -> do smth    case 'B'-> do smth else  }

So in my case I have smth similar - item which describes one of possibilities. But I need it to be understandable for non-programmers also.

P.P.S Ima now thinking also about "occurrence", "occasion" and maybe "instance" as a candidates to replace "case", but not sure if it will be better.

And as "choice" alternative I can think about "option".

For choice user can ask him self "to be or not to be" And for case he will be wondering if it will happen or not.

How to recognize stressed and unstressed syllables? (E.g. admit vs limit) [duplicate]

Posted: 10 Nov 2021 05:51 AM PST

I wonder is there any simple rules to recognize is a syllable stressed or unstressed.

When I try to pronounce any word, I don't recognize any of the following features of a stressed syllable: 1) longer, 2) louder, and 3) change in pitch. All words sound "the same" because I'm not a native English speaker.

For example, why "admit" is stressed but "limit" is unstressed?

What is the meaning of this pun: "planphlet"? [closed]

Posted: 10 Nov 2021 06:56 AM PST

In a recent video (exactly here) there was a term used, "planphlet":

... a plan printed on a pamphlet. PLANPHLET!

which I believe is a pun, but I can't decipher what it relates to.

From context I believe it means that the plan proposed to fight the climate crisis is somehow not adequate.

To be exact, I am interested in what makes it a pun, e.g what "-phlet" means here, what makes it a pun.

Question about a plural

Posted: 10 Nov 2021 07:43 AM PST

Recently I've encountered an exercise that my teacher marked as wrong, but I'm pretty sure it isn't.

I have to complete with various words some phrases. In this case the words are: instruction, instruct, instructed, instructor (note that the context is about computer science).

The phrase is:

Both … and data have to be changed to machine code.

The exercise specified that I might have to change some words slightly, so I put instructions.

The thing that my teacher corrected is the 's'.

Is it acceptable in both forms? Or am I/is she wrong?

Omitting "to be", "that", "it is" all in the same sentence?

Posted: 10 Nov 2021 07:56 AM PST

I encountered the following in a 1958 book on investing:

How has the market price of these shares responded to all this? Has the price-earning ratio continued to advance as, twenty-two months ago, I indicated appeared probable?

The last part made bold is the difficulty for me.

So I can ignore the middle sentence "twenty-two months ago", and focus on

Has the price-earning ratio continued to advance as I indicated appeared probable?

In this question, it seems to me that some words are missing. I can guess the meaning is

Has the price-earning ratio continued to advance as I indicated (that) (it) appeared (to be) probable?

But it looks like there are several grammatical rules involved here, that the author used to omit these parts, and I can't understand the interplay of these rules.

Could you help explain the rules which allowed the author to write this question in such form?

I know it involves omitting "to be" after linking verbs such as "appear," and that you can omit "that" before complements, but why "it" can be omitted, whether after "as" or in general? or otherwise is there some other grammatical rule that I'm missing here?

Does every piece of punctuation add syntactic information? [closed]

Posted: 10 Nov 2021 05:03 AM PST

Does every piece of punctuation add syntactic information?

I am on an endless mission to find a fool-proof usage for commas (for some reason I can't breathe), and in lieu of someone sending me an agreed list of usages...

  • My father ate the muffin, the greedy man.

I want to say yes, the comma adds syntactic information above, because it seems like a useful comma (I can't see the noun phrase 'the greedy man' being a complete sentence, yet I feel it does need to be set off as additional and inessential information). But does it? Without the comma it reads, to me, no differently just awkward.

Is this interrogative sentence correct? [closed]

Posted: 10 Nov 2021 06:09 AM PST

Why is deals incorrect here

What problems does this article deals with?

but seemingly correct here?

This article deals with what problems?

Legalese: Place the preposition closer to the verb to make the text shorter?

Posted: 10 Nov 2021 03:37 AM PST

In the dense legalese of a product license I found the following sentence:

The subscriber shall not disclose to, or permit the use of, the Licensed Rights by any third party.

I assume what is meant is

The subscriber shall not disclose the Licensed Rights to or permit the use of the Licensed Rights by any third party.

Does this grammatical trick of placing the preposition closer to the verb, so that the noun can be omitted in the first occurence, have a name? Is this considered "proper" outside the special language of terms and conditions?

Is "you look like your dad" a simile?

Posted: 10 Nov 2021 01:37 AM PST

Is "you look like your dad", or indeed any statement of looking like something in which the description is meant literally (unlike e.g. you look like hell), a simile?

Is gapping comma appropriate for formal writing?

Posted: 10 Nov 2021 06:51 AM PST

Some politicians argue that most of tax is paid by the poor; others, the rich.

Is this construct formal, informal or neutral?

Can relative adverb "when" also be used to indicate condition?

Posted: 10 Nov 2021 07:28 AM PST

As far as I know, I can't use the word "If" to make a relation between noun and clause such as

*The threshold if X occurs is 40 products at a time.

The right form of it would be

If X occurs, the threshold is 40 products at a time.

However, is it grammatically correct to do this with the word "when"?
i.e

The threshold when X occurs is 40 products at a time.

When X occurs, the threshold is 40 products at a time.

Is the preceding sentence of using when as a relative adverb grammatically correct?

The reason I'm asking it is I'm confused about am I allowed to use the word "when" as a relative pronoun not only for the time but as a condition.

Thank you!

What does "She flat-tired on some junior varsity b*s*" mean?

Posted: 10 Nov 2021 12:33 AM PST

I've watched Grace and Frankie, SE1 EP7. I liked that but I don't understand this sentence.

She flat-tired on some junior varsity bullshit.

Frankie answered her phone while she'd been watching 'The Spelling Bee'.
Here's the part of the script for context.

Frankie: Hi, Mike.

Mike: Is this a good time?

Frankie: It's always a good time to talk to you.

Mike: So how is everything going?

Frankie: Well, you just missed Marinda just before. She flat-tired on some junior varsity bullshit. Her parents are going to kill her!

Mike:- And now... I'm sorry? What?

Frankie: Well, you know, the spelling bee!

I think that means Marinda did something wrong. I would really appreciate it if you explain it.

Which one to use appears or appearing?

Posted: 09 Nov 2021 11:23 PM PST

Question: The number of candidates __________ in <some exam name> this year is very large

I am confused.

appearing sounds more natural to me but in the answers it's given appears.

Is there any specific word in english for the following situation: "The time you wait until its your turn again"?

Posted: 09 Nov 2021 10:09 PM PST

I have to write an email where I have to tell them that the time they have to wait until their turn is about 5 weeks.

Events at the different times in one sentence

Posted: 10 Nov 2021 04:03 AM PST

The apple was green two months ago, and it was red one month ago, and now it is brown.

Is "the apple was green and red" a correct expression even though it wasn't green and red at the same time, but at the different times? Or should I say "the apple was green and was red"?

Shall I use present tense or past tense to describe the features of the product I developed "previously"？

Posted: 10 Nov 2021 05:27 AM PST

Describing what I did during the project in the past, I should use past tense, right?

But regarding the product the project produced, when describing the product's features functions, should I still use the past tense? I guess present tense would be better like that used in product specifications. Is it based on whether the product is still in use or wanting to emphasis on this?

Could anyone have any clues?

What is the meaning of 'from someone on down'?

Posted: 10 Nov 2021 12:38 AM PST

I was reading about the recent news in Houston and encountered the following sentence.

Everybody at that event had a responsibility, from the artist on down.

I guess it means everyone is responsible for what happened starting from the artist. But I couldn't confirm my understanding. Can you give some examples or further explanations?

Have difficulty in pronouncing /g/ [migrated]

Posted: 10 Nov 2021 12:14 AM PST

I noticed myself have this problem recently. When I pronounce /g/, I get a result like a mix of /g/ and /d/, is there any suggestions on how to train and improve this point? I can hear the sound correctly, but I can not pronounce it well.

using preposition 'of' to mean 'possess'

Posted: 09 Nov 2021 11:09 PM PST

Is using the preposition 'of' in places where you want to say that the subject is possessing the 'something' which follows 'of' (basically an adjective) a common practice and correct?

example:

My girl of beautiful eyes and dark tresses showed up at the hall in her wedding dress.

The meaning intended: The girl has beautiful eyes and dark tresses.

Is this tense usage correct, "you'll continue acting"?

Posted: 10 Nov 2021 05:23 AM PST

if you'll continue acting like...

I understand "if you continue to act like..." seems more logical, but is there a fault in the first sentence? I am focusing on the "act" part. Can it be a continuous? what type of a sentence would it be in terms of verb/tense/...

Can I say "Thanks to this answer."?

Posted: 10 Nov 2021 09:02 AM PST

At the end of some of my posts (like this) I want to say thank you to another answer that helped me.
I just end my post with the sentence 'Thanks to this answer.' (adding a link to this answer part).

Is that correct?
If not, how should I say thank you to that post.

My house vs our house when speaking directly one on one

Posted: 10 Nov 2021 04:51 AM PST

If I call a plumber and tell him I need service at an "address". Then he calls back to say he's lost, which of these would be grammatically correct to say?

My house is second on the right.

Our house is second on the right.

The original conversation was between him and I, no one else involved. The house is owned by my wife and I. If I say our its because its not just mine but he only knows of me so is it ok to say my house?

How do you describe someone who is into incest?

Posted: 10 Nov 2021 02:01 AM PST

pedophile - one who is into pre-pubescent children

_____phile - one who is into incest?

Is there a single word that fits into "He's a ______" to describe someone who is into incest?

A hyphenated word is fine.

Should a note be addressed with "Hi all" or "Hi All"?

Posted: 10 Nov 2021 01:58 AM PST

It is common to begin an email with the greeting "hi all" when the note is addressed to multiple recipients.

What, however, is the correct capitalization of "all" in this context? Does it become a proper noun?

Expressing infinite amounts [duplicate]

Posted: 10 Nov 2021 06:26 AM PST

I know

There is an infinite number of prime numbers

is correct. But is

There are infinite prime numbers

correct as well?

Syllable Count for Apparent Monosyllabic Words

Posted: 09 Nov 2021 11:31 PM PST

How many syllables are there in "child," "wild," and field"? If we look at the dictionary, it will tell us that these are monosyllabic words. There appear, however, to be diphthongs in each of these that lengthen the vowels to make them sound as though there are two. What do our experts say?
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