Thursday, November 11, 2021

Recent Questions - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange

Recent Questions - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange

What is the grammatical name and function for the expression "at the gate"? [migrated]

Posted: 11 Nov 2021 07:42 AM PST

I want the grammatical name and function for the following expression:

Meet me at the gate.

What's a word to describe the whole something is a part of?

Posted: 11 Nov 2021 08:29 AM PST

Looking for a word that means the whole something is a part of; e.g.

An element is a constituent of a list; "a whole's constituent" refers to an element. The list is the _____ of an element; "an element's ____" refers to the whole.

Aggregate was my original thought, but I'm not sure it fully works since it's better used with all the elements rather than one specific one; this can be seen in "the elements' aggregate".

Where does the idiom/story "You know what happened to the man who forced his pig" come from?

Posted: 11 Nov 2021 09:42 AM PST

This phrase comes from my dad, who is of bristolian stock, so may be highly regional. I've only heard it spoken, and not written down.

He uses it, I believe, when it looks like somebody is straining to accomplish something, and taking a more relaxed approach would be better for all involved. The exchange usually goes something like:

Dad: You know what happened to the man who forced his pig, don't you?
blank faces and/or groans
Dad: Died.

I think the humour comes from the ambiguity over whether the man or the pig died, and what the pig was forced to do. That ambiguity also covers the fact that this strenuous activity is probably bad for the man AND the pig, no matter what it was.

Have I got the meaning right, and where does this actually come from? My dad doesn't know, but he's sure he didn't make it up. I've also seen the phrase/expression mentioned elsewhere but I've not found any answers as to its meaning and origin.

Does "brought a close to" has a causative sense or non-causative sense in this context?

Posted: 11 Nov 2021 09:07 AM PST

The domestic failure and international success of Akira (a 1988 anime), combined with the bursting of the bubble economy and Osamu Tezuka's death in 1989, brought a close to the 1980s era of anime.

Does brought a close to here mean those mentioned events (Akira, bubble bursting, and Tezuka's death) are the causes of the end of 1980s anime era (the reason why the 1980s era of anime had come to an end)? Or does it simply mean that they are just big events that happened to be in 1989, which marked the end of the 1980s era of anime?

//My interpretation is the latter. It would be weird to say that those events caused the end to a decade-long piece of the overall history. The era is defined by the years, didn't it end because that's where we decided to place the end point? If there is cause/effect nuance here, how come "domestic failure" and "international success" of an anime both affected the anime industry badly?

A specific word for not caring about an issue until you're personally affected or victimized by it [closed]

Posted: 11 Nov 2021 07:20 AM PST

Suppose you read about suicides. The first few reads are dolorous, but over time, you become desensitized. You forget after minutes about a story that would've destroyed you five months ago. However, along comes news of a suicide in your own family, and suddenly, you campaign for suicide prevention, and dedicate every waking hour to that cause.

To take another example, consider reading about muggings, thefts, and burglaries in your area—you learn it's a hot spot, and although it's sad your neighbours were victimized, your concern eventually wanes. You cease to think about their actual, and even your potential, victimization. After you get mugged, have your car stolen, and your house burgled, you suddenly care more, become hyper-aware of it.

The concept I'm trying to capture is indifference/apathy-turned-ardency after being personally affected or victimized by what you were previously indifferent/apathetic towards. Many adjectives/nouns fit my description—self-obsessed, self-centered, apathetic, narcissistic, narcissist, egomaniac, etc.—but they're non-specific. I'm looking for a word or phrase with a more precise definition.

Participal adjective [closed]

Posted: 11 Nov 2021 04:17 AM PST

I would like to know which usage of "tire" is correct in the following sentences and the reason:

  1. Are you tiring of talking about it but doing nothing?
  2. Are you tired of talking about it but doing nothing?

Thank you

As much as... so much [closed]

Posted: 11 Nov 2021 03:28 AM PST

I am wondering whether the following sentences (written by me) make sense.

  1. As much as I can eat, so much you should offer me.
  2. As big as a cake can be made, so fairly we should divide it.
  3. As difficult as the problem is, so hard we should work to solve it.

Does "maximum" stand before or after a number?

Posted: 11 Nov 2021 05:17 AM PST

In a table of different values, I wonder where to put the "max.":
(max. 5000) or (5000 max.)

I feel like one of those two should sound more idiomatic, but I am not sure which one. Or do you think it's the same?

What is the subject in this quoted sentence?

Posted: 11 Nov 2021 09:05 AM PST

"But perhaps most importantly, UF simply should not be looking to Governor DeSantis to decide which speech activities it will permit its employees and students to engage in," the ACLU's Daniel Tilley wrote to university officials.

Is the subject, as regards the verb "decide", here "UF" or "Governor DeSantis"?

Do these words need an article?

Posted: 11 Nov 2021 12:23 AM PST

Do these words need an article?

Words (appearing first time or second time):

  • (the) x axis

  • (the) time dimension

  • (the) b variable

  • (the) resting condition

  • (the) bottom row

Sentence (appearing first time):

  • In (a) task-based protocol, (the/an) experiment is repeated over many trials.

"...The merry children spilling out of their homes..." What is the figure of speech here?

Posted: 10 Nov 2021 11:18 PM PST

What is the poetic device in the line 'the merry children spilling out of their homes'?

This is taken from the poem "My Mother at Sixty-six" written by Kamala Das, an Indian poet (poem is attached below if further reference is needed),

I am arguing for Objectification (Stack exchange answer, Wikipedia definition) or Chremamorphism which is the first thing, I get when I search for the opposite of Personification. But a related answer tells that it is a metaphor. But why not Chremamorphism? After all the children are being compared to spilling milk.

In addition, my teacher also told "spilling milk" is a symbol of prosperity as it is a common tradition in India to boil the milk till it spills during housewarming parties. So can it be a Symbol also. (Symbol as in the figure of speech)

My Mother at Sixty-Six

Driving from my parent's home to Cochin last Friday

morning, I saw my mother,

beside me,

doze, open mouthed, her face

ashen like that

of a corpse and realized with pain

that she was as old as she

looked but soon

put that thought away, and

looked out at Young

Trees sprinting, the merry children spilling

out of their homes, but after the airport's

security check, standing a few yards

away, I looked again at her, wan, pale

as a late winter's moon and felt that old

familiar ache, my childhood's fear,

but all I said was, see you soon, Amma,

all I did was smile and smile and

smile......

Older word for stakeout

Posted: 10 Nov 2021 11:04 PM PST

I'm writing a medieval fantasy story where my characters are looking for a serial killer, and need to go on a stakeout. However, the term stakeout didn't sound right for medieval times, and it turns out it was coined around the 1940s. Is there a similar word that sounds less modern?

Tense in the object clause

Posted: 10 Nov 2021 10:39 PM PST

I found it is more effective in narrowing the gap between the rich and poor.

In this sentence that I wrote, does the "is" in the subordinate clause have to agree with the "found" in the past tense?

"under the ten minutes" vs "under ten minutes"

Posted: 10 Nov 2021 08:39 PM PST

By the end of Chapter 5 of The Hound of the Baskervilles Chapter 5, there is a usage that i had never seen before: under the ten minutes.

The context:

Until we got three-quarters down Regent Street. Then my gentleman threw up the trap, and he cried that I should drive right away to Waterloo Station as hard as I could go. I whipped up the mare and we were there under the ten minutes.

Is "under the ten minutes" exactly same as "under ten minutes"? Or they have different shades of meanings?

was... has been vs was... had been

Posted: 10 Nov 2021 08:42 PM PST

I wrote a sentence by myself as follows:

It WAS acclaimed as a masterpiece that HAD changed the world.

I am confused if the "had changed" here is correct because I intended to say "has changed", but I am not sure if it needs to agree with the past tense "was" in the main clause.

Which one is correct? Is there another preferable way to say?

two gentlemen came out and took a cab from the rank [closed]

Posted: 10 Nov 2021 10:37 PM PST

The sentence comes from chapter 5 of The Hound of the Baskervilles.

I looked up online dictionaries with the word "rank" or the phrase "from the rank".

However, the explanations most relate to social class or position.

Could I find a more reasonable explanation for this word?

What is the difference between commercials and ads (advertisement) and advertising?

Posted: 10 Nov 2021 08:44 PM PST

Is my understanding correct?

  1. Advertisement is more formal than ad.
  2. Advertising is a mass noun and advertisement is a count noun referring each piece of advertising.
  3. Commercials can only used in pl form to mean a special type of advertisement, the video format on TV.

Idiom or Phrase for expressing one's skill/talent has not decayed

Posted: 11 Nov 2021 08:56 AM PST

I am wondering what standard phrase or idiom expresses that one's skill or talent in a particular area has not decayed through the passage of time.

I believe a related idiom is, "[the person] has not skipped a beat", but I have a strange feeling that this is not the "standard" English expression for this use case. Indeed, I suppose "skipped a beat" does not express the time component above, merely that the person's ability is flawless.

What to call the building blocks of something?

Posted: 10 Nov 2021 09:50 PM PST

I'm an Asian teacher (in the field of business and investing).

I'm trying to educate my students to think in the level at which things get done, think in the math, the reasons, at the level of details of something where your hand gets dirty, not abstract, generic thinking, so help me with more proper words to communicate that.

Definite and indefinite articles with uncountable and countable nouns

Posted: 11 Nov 2021 07:00 AM PST

I have a question that has been puzzling me for a while now. I tried really hard to find an answer but never found the one, which would be satisfying enough. I am talking about using definite and indefinite articles with uncountable nouns and also in of-phrases. I would be very grateful if anyone could explain it to me.

These two examples I found on the internet they refer to the usage of articles with uncountable nouns:

The position requires a knowledge of German. The knowledge of computer software is very useful nowadays.

I am not sure why the first sentence uses the indefinite article while the second one the definite one.

When it comes to of-phrases (I apologize for calling them this way, I don't know the proper name for this type of constructions).

For example:

A chapter of a book. / The chapter of a book.

I found an article, which says that if the noun is followed by a prepositional phrase (of/in/to…), it is made definite and takes the definite article. Does it mean that the first noun always require the definite article even if it is the first mention of a noun? The chapter of a book. The name of a movie. etc.

How do I call a word for audible equivalent of visualize?

Posted: 10 Nov 2021 10:04 PM PST

I was looking for a word that would convey a similar meaning for "audio" as it is for "visualize." I ran into several suggestions, but as a former musician, I personally prefer the word - "audiate" from "audiation." However, when checked in google, the Wiktionary describes it as a sound that one hears without that sound physically present there.

It is funny that there is no word in English to describe it adequately, and even Google does not register such.

Remaster “contextual” synonym

Posted: 11 Nov 2021 04:01 AM PST

If remastering means to remake an audio or video recording of better quality with new technologies, then what's the equivalent verb for remaking a document or publication i.e. book with new technologies? For example, the formal document could be a lot better in pictures and formatting, but there is a new technology that can make things a lot better looking and formatted.

present participle as a parenthesis

Posted: 10 Nov 2021 09:02 PM PST

For the first sentence in the picture below:

enter image description here

There were times, listening to Arnold and narrowing his eyes in the same heat-struck gaze, when Jack felt turned about. Away from the Bay and its red rocks, away from their gangs, their games, this particular...

what is the function of present participle here? And why is the restrictive relative clause separated from its antecedent? Please help me, thanks!

in vs for ( regarding time )

Posted: 11 Nov 2021 05:05 AM PST

Which one sounds more appropriate?

  1. I haven't had a good sleep in the past few days.
  2. I haven't had a good sleep for the past few days.

I reckon they both may be correct with different context, so could you please explain to me, when do we use 'in'and when do we use 'for'.

Incorrect test answers for an English test? (Urgent!)

Posted: 10 Nov 2021 08:05 PM PST

I want to preface this and say that I am not a native English speaker. I'm planning to get into the university and to do it, I have to take a test to show how good my English is. And in this test several questions left me wondering why my answer got marked as incorrect. Here are these questions and the answer options:

Which of the two manuals is ... ? I think ... ; ... is not up to date.

  1. the most useful ... the big one; the small
  2. the most useful one ... the bigger; the smaller one (my answer)
  3. the more useful ... the big one; the smaller
  4. many more useful ... the biggest; the small

It's incredible! I … to pay the rent.

  1. ,who had no any income, will have
  2. ,who have no income at all, will have
  3. ,who has no income at all, will have (my answer)
  4. have had no income at all than, that's why I had

The first question is a bit weird and, frankly, I don't like any options here but I like the part "the smaller one is not up to date" in my answer because of the word "one". From my perspective, "the small(er) is not up to date" sounds clunky because "the small(er)" acts as a nominalized adjective but without "one" it seems like it's lacking something. Maybe I'm wrong.

The second one also caught me off-guard when I saw it. I guess the test creators expected me to answer ", who have no income..." but the third option sounded more natural to my ears. I have looked up online that there's a huge debate about it and more conservative English grammarians would probably put "have" here, not "has". But I just wonder if "has" can be considered more informal, but still correct English?

Any help with these questions is appreciated!

'will be V-ing' vs. the present progressive [for future reading]

Posted: 11 Nov 2021 06:00 AM PST

The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language (Page 171-2):

[22] i When we get there, they'll probably still be having lunch. [aspectual meaning]

ii Will you be going to the shops this afternoon? [special meaning]

iii When the meeting ends we'll be flying to Bonn. [ambiguous]

(Discussion of [22i] and [22ii] omitted.)

The distinctness between the two meanings is seen clearly in the ambiguity of [22iii]. On the progressive aspectuality reading, we will already be flying to Bonn when the meeting ends; on the 'already decided future' interpretation, the when adjunct says when we will leave. The first is imperfective, with reference to a mid-interval; the second is perfective, just as in the non-progressive we'll fly, which, however, suggests that the decision is being made now. This use is particularly common with will, but it is also found with, for example, the idiom be going, as in Are you going to be helping them again this year? (where the non-progressive might again be construed as a request).

In the special meaning (aka, the 'already decided future' interpretation), [22iii] seems to mean that we're the ones who participate in the meeting, and that we're scheduled to fly to Bonn right after the meeting ends.

Am I right?

Also, what if will be flying was replaced with are flying?

(1) When the meeting ends we're flying to Bonn.

Can (1) have both the aspectual meaning and the special meaning? Or can (1) have only the special meaning?

Word that means "full attendance"

Posted: 11 Nov 2021 05:06 AM PST

I want to ask whether we're waiting for full attendance before convening, ex: 'waiting [to hold the meeting] until we're quorate', but 'quorate' (as I understand it) only implies 'enough people to hold the meeting' whereas I want to communicate 'everyone who is eligible to attend is present'.

ex:

'... waiting [to hold the meeting] until we're _______ [quorate?]'

Sentence correction and Recommendation needed

Posted: 11 Nov 2021 01:28 AM PST

Can I write " the juxtaposition of the two contrasting dispostions , is merely two sides of the same coin." ? Is the sentence gramatically correct? Also, does it succesfully convey the notion that benefit of mixing cultures both can be viewed from two different angles producing contransting opinions. Both merits and reasons to carp about, depending which angle you chose to see it from.

What does "curfew" mean in the context of a concert?

Posted: 11 Nov 2021 08:00 AM PST

I am going to buy a ticket for a concert, and the show description says:

  • Door time: 7pm
  • Curfew: 10pm

I was thinking that curfew means the latest time you can access the venue, is this correct?
Or does it mean the time the concert will finish?
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