Recent Questions - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange |
- Is there one word for "abruptly turning around"?
- Is "taking liberties with something" always disapproving?
- What does "until next week" means? [duplicate]
- Word to describe the total on which commissions are calculated
- Is saying 'I appreciate it' slightly condescending? (i.e. implying a higher level of power)
- Idiom and grammar [migrated]
- Is the useage of "that" in this clause correct?
- Which option is correct? I may get ill if I stay / will stay outside [migrated]
- Best common term for shop, store, division, counter, station, department or branch? [closed]
- What do you prefer vs. Which do you prefer [duplicate]
- Is there an idiomatic expression for "treating a story freely"?
- Is there a difference between “half a half-red thing” and “a half half-red thing”?
- "Was" or "is" when comparing? [duplicate]
- Looking for any degrading terms in which its actual meaning means something good
- How should I treat the conflict between the orders?
- Join, join in or take part in a talent show? [closed]
- present perfect in the since-clause
- Is litany only used in negative connotations?
- Eat & Ate, in a "suggestive" context
- Meaning of “acting along”
- Why is this noun singular?
- What is the meaning of the phrase 'charging' in this context?
- What does "you'll know me again" mean in British English?
- Is "its" ambiguous in "This bucket is produced in a factory overseas. Its capacity is small"?
- Difference between a word combination "retail fuel company" or "fuel retail company."
- Is there a term to describe a suspended exterior door in a building?
- Can a place name modify something else
- What do we call the little cape that just covers the shoulder?
- Use of articles in lists
- Why can 'so' be a conjunction, but not 'hence', 'therefore', 'thus', ...?
| Is there one word for "abruptly turning around"? Posted: 06 Nov 2021 10:04 AM PDT I'm looking for a stronger verb for "she abruptly turned around". In this scene I'm writing, my character is frozen in place, observing something disturbing, but then she turns around abruptly to leave the scene.  |
| Is "taking liberties with something" always disapproving? Posted: 06 Nov 2021 09:53 AM PDT The expression "to take liberties with something" are defined by different dictionaries as follows:
I wonder if the expression is always disapproving. I mean if someone, for example, says that Kurosawa took liberties with Shakespeare's Macbeth, are they actually disapproving of Kurosawa's action? Can't we use it when we are approving of his audacious adaptation? For example,
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| What does "until next week" means? [duplicate] Posted: 06 Nov 2021 09:00 AM PDT What does "until next week" means?
(1) She will be on leave from Tuesday to Sunday of Week 1 and back on Monday of Week 2. (2) She will also be on leave in Week 2. Which one is correct? My interpretation will be Option 1 but I wonder if there is a correct answer to interpret this sentence?  |
| Word to describe the total on which commissions are calculated Posted: 06 Nov 2021 07:41 AM PDT Suppose a team of salespeople are to be paid on commissions. These commissions are calculated by subtracting specific expense items from the revenue they generated (for example: advertising costs). Some other expense items are not subtracted from the revenue (for example: travels). For example, John generated 100,000.00$ in sales, and for this he spent 60,000.00$ in ads and 10,000.00$ in travels and courses. John commissions will be calculated as a percentage of 100,000.00$ - 60,000.00$, and the 10,000.00$ he spent on travels and courses will not be subtracted from this total upon which commissions are calculated. What is the word for this total? Suppose you were to redact a sheet like this:
What would you write in 'MISSING WORD'? Would "sub-total" be appropriate? What's a more appropriate alternative?  |
| Is saying 'I appreciate it' slightly condescending? (i.e. implying a higher level of power) Posted: 06 Nov 2021 06:41 AM PDT I feel it has a tone similar to a Godfather-like figure saying 'I will remember this favor in due time'. Or am I just translating in my head from the meaning in Spanish, which I feel can imply that?  |
| Posted: 06 Nov 2021 06:42 AM PDT
Do you know any idiom for this sentence? And is this sentence right? How can I make it better?  |
| Is the useage of "that" in this clause correct? Posted: 06 Nov 2021 05:55 AM PDT I miss the days that I was trouble-free. I know it would be correct if "that" is replaced by "when," but can "that" also be correct? Also, I have this faint feeling that there are two types of clauses that denote the time of occurrences, one in which no "that" or "when" is needed (the day she left), and the other type in which "when" is necessary (the days when I had to walk home alone after school). I think in the first type, the action described is often transient, whereas in the second the action usually spans a period of time. I'm confused and didn't find the answer after several searches. Any help would be appreciated.  |
| Which option is correct? I may get ill if I stay / will stay outside [migrated] Posted: 06 Nov 2021 04:44 AM PDT Or can I just use both options?  |
| Best common term for shop, store, division, counter, station, department or branch? [closed] Posted: 06 Nov 2021 04:14 AM PDT Best common term for shop, store, counter, station, department, campus or branch? Actually, I need to build a software which generically handles certain features of any these entities. For example, if my software is given to a University, it could be a department or campus. If given to a business organization, it could be a store or branch. Currently, I use the term, division. Can a better word be suggested?  |
| What do you prefer vs. Which do you prefer [duplicate] Posted: 06 Nov 2021 03:37 AM PDT I've got a question about the difference between what/which. According to the textbook I use (I'm a teacher) the correct sentence is:
This sounds like the most natural option to me too. But when thinking about the grammatical rules, I'm wondering why "which" isn't correct? I mean, which is usually used for a limited number of choices, which is the case in this sentence. Or does it have to do with the fact that the options are verb forms?  |
| Is there an idiomatic expression for "treating a story freely"? Posted: 06 Nov 2021 02:57 AM PDT I'm looking for an idiomatic expression which means "treating an original story freely". For example, a film director takes an old traditional story and treats it freely in his/her adaptation by making a lot of changes to the original story. I'm not even sure if it is correct English to say, "X treated the story freely", because I couldn't find anything like that on Google Books, Google News, etc.  |
| Is there a difference between “half a half-red thing” and “a half half-red thing”? Posted: 06 Nov 2021 10:15 AM PDT Is there a difference between "half a half-red thing" (predeterminer half) and "a half half-red thing (adjective half)?" I think the former is the same as "half of a half-red thing," so half a half-red thing doesn't need to be half-red, but a half half-red must be half-red. Interestingly, predeterminer half and adjective half can't be used together. I don't know why.  |
| "Was" or "is" when comparing? [duplicate] Posted: 06 Nov 2021 02:17 AM PDT Is there a difference between the following two sentences? 1). The person that went to the moon in 2003 is X. Both statements express an equality. Which of them is correct and why?  |
| Looking for any degrading terms in which its actual meaning means something good Posted: 06 Nov 2021 12:18 AM PDT The term I'm looking for must sound insulting to anybody but the meaning behind it actually means extraordinary, unusual, exceptional, prodigy, or something of the like.  |
| How should I treat the conflict between the orders? Posted: 06 Nov 2021 01:21 AM PDT
The first sentence means I eat an orange on Friday whenever I eat an orange in the park. The second sentence means I eat an orange in the park whenever I eat an orange on Friday. Ordering prepositional phrases But prepositional phrases have to be in a specific order. How can I treat the conflict between these? If I follow the order rule, the meaning will be changed, and if I follow the proper order for the meaning, the rule will be neglected.  |
| Join, join in or take part in a talent show? [closed] Posted: 06 Nov 2021 01:18 AM PDT Which of the following has the correct collocation? Please explain the differences. Thank you very much. A. Tom has joined a talent show.  |
| present perfect in the since-clause Posted: 05 Nov 2021 09:39 PM PDT The following sentences are judged unacceptable by many people, but some people, especially Brits, find b and c okay. If they are okay, what does b mean exactly? Is c ambiguous? a. It is over 20 years since John has died for his country. b. It is over 20 years since John has lived in this country. c. I've known her since I've lived in this street.  |
| Is litany only used in negative connotations? Posted: 06 Nov 2021 05:55 AM PDT I've been encountering the word litany in articles and some videos and they're sort of used to mean like "a list of", but upon looking in different dictionaries it seems like it is used to list some things that are repetitive or some things that are negative in a way. An excerpt from an article:
The only dictionary source that I've seen that sort of defines it to list something in a generic way is Merriam-Webster, which defines it as "a sizable series or set" and yet it seems like these have negative connotations.
Just want to verify if I can use it some cases in the place of a list or set?  |
| Eat & Ate, in a "suggestive" context Posted: 06 Nov 2021 09:48 AM PDT The following is an extract from a passage, the emboldened sentence being the phrase of interest:
Although it sounds harmonious, I'm interested in knowing why exactly the word "ate" was chosen to be used as opposed to its present-tense counterpart (eat). Which grammar rule has a hand in this and where can I read more about it? EDIT: To clarify, this has been taken from a CAIE examination question insert. The entire passage (text A) can be found on page 2 of this document.  |
| Posted: 06 Nov 2021 01:09 AM PDT I came across this phrase when I was reading a manga series. The demon king ain't acting along right? Basically, the speaker is inquiring about what's going to take to beat him. Here is the dialogue. Speaker: The demon king just how do you beat it? Listener: Huh? Speaker: The demon king ain't acting along right? If we take him down, then the attacks of people by monsters is sure to settle down a bit as well, am I wrong?  |
| Posted: 06 Nov 2021 09:42 AM PDT Why is the "performance" singular in "Analysis of authentication and identification performance" since it is basically the shortened of "Analysis of authentication performance and identification performance" so there are two performances?  |
| What is the meaning of the phrase 'charging' in this context? Posted: 06 Nov 2021 09:07 AM PDT
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| What does "you'll know me again" mean in British English? Posted: 06 Nov 2021 02:08 AM PDT I'm reading The Lives of Christopher Chant by Diana Wynne Jones, and someone says to a stranger who is helping him, "You'll know me again, young lady." What does that mean? I think it must be a British English idiom, because Google says that "you'll know me again" is also used in Salome and the Head and Bleak House. But I don't know those works well enough to triangulate a meaning.  |
| Is "its" ambiguous in "This bucket is produced in a factory overseas. Its capacity is small"? Posted: 06 Nov 2021 03:07 AM PDT I would like to show two sentence patterns:
I think the use of "its" in A) is O.K. as "its" can refer back to capacitor only. At first glance, it could do so to "purpose" and "energy". However, as neither of them can be associated with "capacitance", it is clear that "its capacitance" is the capacitance of the "capacitor". Furthermore, I think in B), "its" is used in an ambiguous manner. Here, "capacity" can refer back to both "bucket" and the "factory overseas". Is my understanding correct?  |
| Difference between a word combination "retail fuel company" or "fuel retail company." Posted: 06 Nov 2021 06:04 AM PDT Please give me your opinions to a word combination "retail fuel industry/company/network/logistics" or "fuel retail industry/company/network/logistics." What is primary in this word combination a word "retail" or "fuel," or there is no difference between them? I have seen in the Internet different word combinations "retail fuel company" or "fuel retail company," but when we talk about "retailers," there is always "fuel retailers." Thank you for your time and answers!  |
| Is there a term to describe a suspended exterior door in a building? Posted: 06 Nov 2021 05:14 AM PDT Is there an accepted term to refer to an exterior door in a building which is suspended above ground level so anybody exiting the building would immediately be met with a sheer drop? (Having been installed through miscommunication or building modification or deliberate design) I've seen the term 'door to nowhere' or 'nowhere door' used to refer to a door that has an unusual position like this, but it also seems to refer to doors that open onto solid walls, and purely decorative non-functional doors set into walls, ceilings or floors. The context is that I would like to be able to search for images and articles about these doors, their history and so on, but without a common term I haven't had any luck. Is there a term specifically referring to elevated dangerous useless doors?  |
| Can a place name modify something else Posted: 06 Nov 2021 05:06 AM PDT I have looked up the proper way to punctuate place names (for example San Francisco, California) and am wondering if they can be used to modify something else. Here is what I have so far: The "Spicy Ramen Festival" of San Jose, California, was held on April 7th at the Johnson Community Center. But it sounds better to say verbally: San Jose, California's "Spicy Ramen Festival" was held on April 7th at the Johnson Community Center. It this grammatical? Thank you.  |
| What do we call the little cape that just covers the shoulder? Posted: 05 Nov 2021 09:22 PM PDT The Coneheads wore little capes that just covered the shoulders.
What's the word or phrase for these little doodads?  |
| Posted: 06 Nov 2021 12:07 AM PDT I'd like to know if I can omit the definite article when I'm giving some sort of a list, like in this example:
Do I need to use articles before "interest" or "possibility" in this example, or I can leave them out when listing things like this?  |
| Why can 'so' be a conjunction, but not 'hence', 'therefore', 'thus', ...? Posted: 06 Nov 2021 07:06 AM PDT While so can be an adverb or a conjunction, as the latter, it can mean 'therefore': see ODO Definition 1. Yet why did ^synonyms of so fail to become conjunctions as well? ^Footnote: 'hence', 'therefore', 'thus', and other 'final or illative conjunctions' are listed here, but my grammar teacher insists that they're formally only adverbs.  |
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