Tuesday, November 9, 2021

Recent Questions - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange

Recent Questions - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange

A word describing best wishes

Posted: 09 Nov 2021 10:56 AM PST

If I want to share my empathy with someone who has suffered bad luck or heartache, I could be sharing my condolences or messages of commiseration. Neither of these words imply the actual words used, but we know that something was done to convey sympathy or empathy.

I'm looking for a similar word to describe (but not quote) a message of good luck. Right now, I'm tempted to go with good-luck message, but I can hardly believe that's the best term.

What is the negative transformation of the sentence "He is a student."? (Without changing the meaning)

Posted: 09 Nov 2021 10:16 AM PST

I know that to transform sentences into negative sentences(without changing meaning), we have to put "not" adverb before the antonym of the adjective.

But in this case the word "student" is a noun. And there is no antonym of the word "student".

Is there any way to transform this sentence to a negative sentence?

What does “with that” mean here?

Posted: 09 Nov 2021 09:26 AM PST

I heard this sentence from a news program:

"Anytime we release people into the United States pending a hearing with that they're not gonna show up to, we're gonna have tons of people across our borders illegally."

Does "with that" in this sentence mean "after"?

Can "a hearing with that they're not gonna show up to" also be said this way - "a hearing they're not gonna show up to with that" or "a hearing they're not gonna show up to after"?

If conditional sentence with mixed tenses

Posted: 09 Nov 2021 07:16 AM PST

An appalling waste of resources, if this were to happen.

This sentence was observed in a newspaper article recently. What type of conditional sentence is this? Why there are mixed tenses used?

The reasoning behind abbreviating "part"?

Posted: 09 Nov 2021 07:07 AM PST

So, as a disclaimer - it's not a question about whether it makes sense, if it's a common thing then there ought to be some. But it's a question about what are the reasons (including historical) for somebody needing to abbreviate "part" to "pt." (or similar short words to a roughly equal length abbreviation)?

Why does this tagline sound so awkward to me?

Posted: 09 Nov 2021 10:43 AM PST

A new book is being released with the tagline

If you knew how your love story ends, would you dare to begin?

I'm a native British English speaker, the author is, and I presume whoever wrote that is as well.

I imagine it has been written as "ends" to make it sound more punchy than "was going to end" or "ended" but it just doesn't sound right. I feel like the tenses are clashing.

The meaning is obviously

If you knew how your love story was going to end, would you dare begin it?

but is the way it's written acceptable? I've tried substituting other verbs in, and haven't managed to get a sentence I would say yet! But I can't believe a publishing house would put that on the front cover if it's incorrect. Is it just an unusual construction?

English grammar can vs be able to

Posted: 09 Nov 2021 07:21 AM PST

  • You can use my car while I'm on holiday.

  • You will be able to use my car while I'm on holiday –

is this sentence correct? Can we use "be able to" here?

Thanks.

Using a hyphen with in conjunction with an 'and/or' phrase [duplicate]

Posted: 09 Nov 2021 05:50 AM PST

I came across a weird phrase when I was proofreading something and I am not sure how to handle it and I cannot come up with a good search term to find any info on Google either. Then sentence goes something like this...

"We use fine- and coarse-grained mustard seeds in the same recipe."

It just feels wrong, but I can't be certain. Can hyphens be used in this way?

Can we use present perfect tense with past time expressions?

Posted: 09 Nov 2021 05:32 AM PST

Can we use the present perfect tense with past time expressions if we are not telling stories or talking about the past, but if it is important to let know that an action happened at the exact time in the past?

For example:

  • We can return you part of the money only if you bought it last month.
  • I have bought it last month!
  • When have you left your country?
  • I have left it in 2012, 2015, 2016...

Opposite of "successive": one-after-another in a forward order

Posted: 09 Nov 2021 06:58 AM PST

If the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 are successive, what are the numbers 5, 4, 3, 2, 1?

The ____ items are ...

Predecessive doesn't seem to be a word, nor anticessive (such weird attempts).

What's a word that means: each item occurs directly before the next item.

Similarly this word would be the opposite of consecutive.

Same meaning, but in the opposite direction; backwards instead of forwards.

not robust to control/controlling

Posted: 09 Nov 2021 03:12 AM PST

I would like to say that a certain result is not robust after controlling for certain variables, like age or education.

That is, I obtained a certain result, but after I control for certain variables, the result vanishes.

Do I say:

the result is not robust to controls for age, education, ...

or

the result is not robust to controlling for age, education, ...

?

On Google I find 19,200 results for "not robust to controlling", and 14,600 results for "not robust to controls".

So it looks like both ways are possible?

What does 'insinuate' mean in this particular context?

Posted: 09 Nov 2021 09:54 AM PST

While searching for a definition of 'insinuate' and its examples in context, I have stumbled upon the following sentence (Definition of insinuate from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press):

An absolute is a verb that can not be measured because it is a lack of a behavior insinuating an end state

Thomson, M. (2012, June 12). PsyWar of Words. TIME. https://nation.time.com/2012/06/12/psywar-of-words/

According to COBUILD Advanced English Dictionary, if you say that:

  1. someone insinuates that something bad is the case, you mean that they say it in an indirect way
  2. someone insinuates themselves into a particular situation, you mean that they manage very clearly, and perhaps dishonestly, to get into that situation

But the use of 'insinuating' in the sentence mentioned earlier doesn't make sense to me (frankly, the whole sentence either).

position [in/on]

Posted: 09 Nov 2021 02:52 AM PST

What is the correct way to say this?

Is it

female scholars typically hold lower ranking positions in the academic ladder

or

female scholars typically hold lower ranking positions on the academic ladder

? And why?

Effect that cause to keep one thinking of an older version of other person in present, even if they have grown up, because of long break

Posted: 09 Nov 2021 02:29 AM PST

What would you call this effect in following situation and i want to use this phrase as an ____ effect or ___ syndrome:

  1. When husband who is not staying with his family (wife and/or kid(s)) would come home from abroad and meets them after a long time.

  2. When a son who is not staying with his widowed mother come home from abroad and meets her after a long time.

And then in both situations, the husband/father or the son does not reckon that their mother has gotten older or in case of the kids and his wife, the kid(s) have grown and wife is grown up that much.

This happens to the person who is far away from his family members and meets after long time.

I am asking this because this whatever effect/syndrome has its own pros and cons and without coining the word or phrase it can't be expressed. I will highlight one of the con which will emphasis my point about this effect:

That since mother was 68 yrs then the last time the son met, he came after 4 years making her 72 years. In her 60's she use to be agile but she is showing the signs of aging at 72 now. But in his mind, though he knows that years have passed and she has grown, but the mental image is of her doing work like she was 68 and so he in that situation would ask to organize stuff that would normally fit for a person in 60s but not in her 70+. Same but in different magnitude and nature would happen for his wife.

Similarly when it comes to kids the grown up kids would show different level of maturity but he would treat them as the last age he saw them (at least initially).

As a personal experience, if you have seen your mother at 63 and she was fit, then you saw her at 68 and she was still fit and then you see her at 72 you see her weaker but in you mind you still have the image of the mother cooking your favorite food dishes and you don't realize she does not that much physical strength that of the 60's. Unfortunately her health test vitals also show deterioration from that of the 60s and while you on that visit, one fine day you realize she is actually frail and also that she is cooking your favorite food because of her motherly instincts but even she cannot cope up and that her body is over-stressing and it is showing in her health tests (like the blood tests).. Now this could be said of the wife who was in her late 30's and now is in 40's.. while for the kid's they would amaze you with their maturity and leave you feeling much have changed..

How are the two sentences different and which one is correct and how?

Posted: 09 Nov 2021 06:40 AM PST

  • Last night, I was heading home when it started to hail huge hailstones.

  • Last night, I was headed home when it started to hail huge hailstones.

Which is correct: considered vs considerably

Posted: 09 Nov 2021 02:18 AM PST

The target sentence is from TOEIC and goes:

The latest version of the TR21 printer is _____ more reliable than previous models.

A. considered
B. considerably

The answer according to the book is 'considered', but I am not totally convinced. In my opinion, the second option 'considerably' is not wrong either. Please share your ideas.

Correct way to convey "reducing" a trade-off

Posted: 09 Nov 2021 01:47 AM PST

I am writing a scientific paper. In my field, there is typically a trade-off between the robustness and speed of an algorithm. I have developed an algorithm where the trade-off isn't as bad as in existing techniques, but I'm looking for a formal way of conveying this. The phrases "reduces the trade-off" or "alleviates the trade-off" are the best I can think of, but they don't seem right. I also thought of "weakens the trade-off" which conveys the point, but still seems wrong. Is there a weaker form of "breaks the trade-off" that can be used in this situation?

Article the is an adverb or an adjective [migrated]

Posted: 09 Nov 2021 05:42 AM PST

I read an article that states that the definite article "the" is an adjective before nouns (the ball) and is an adverb before superlative adjective (the best player) what its type (part of speech)in this sentence I have the red pen.

Use of "paper" / "study" / ... in scientific publications

Posted: 09 Nov 2021 10:02 AM PST

In my research paper I used the phrase "this paper" to refer to the one I am writing and sometimes I write "the [other] paper" to refer to some other paper. The editor replaced "paper" with "study".

(Edit: The editor is not from a publisher. It is a service that checks my punctuation and spelling, before I submit my paper for peer-review.)

I thought that "study" refers to research in which one "goes out into the world, collects data and draws conclusions from that". That is NOT what I am doing, because I am writing a math paper. My main contribution is the theory not the experiments, which are case studies of my methods. (See what I did there? In the experiments section I do indeed use the word "study".) So, what I opted in for now is, to call other people work "literature" and my own work "this work".

Is the word "paper" bad style in scientific writing? I could also use the word "article" if that is better.

I understand that "research" refers to the entire body of publications on a topic, while "study" only refers to a single publication. But then again I could also say, "other's research [11]", while citing a specific paper, right?

When should I use which word:

  • paper,
  • study,
  • article,
  • literature,
  • research,
  • publication,
  • work?

Number agreement question

Posted: 09 Nov 2021 01:07 AM PST

I have always been wondering how I should determine the number of noun in this case: Compare the effect of the two policies. Or should I put as: Compare the effects of the two policies? Or is there any better way to address this question?

Contextualizing the question: The government is considering two policy options: monetary policy or fiscal policy. Each policy has a different implication on the economy. Economists want to compare the effect/effects of the two policies.

How Was "Feast" Pronounced in Early Modern English?

Posted: 09 Nov 2021 09:20 AM PST

In Romeo and Juliet, Capulet delivers a speech to Paris about his consent for him to court Juliet. With the exception of the first three lines, his speech would follow a coupled rhyme scheme...

16 But woo her, gentle Paris, get her heart.
My will to her consent is but a part.
An she agreed within her scope of choice,
Lies my consent and fair according voice.
20 This night, I hold an old accustomed feast,
Whereto I have invited many a guest
Such as I love. And you among the store,
One more, most welcome, makes my numbers more.
At my poor house look to behold this night
25 Earth-treading stars that make dark heaven light.

However, this pattern is broken with the third couplet feast and guest. This happens again towards the end of the scene, which leads me to believe that feast should be pronounced /fest/. Is there any other evidence of feast being pronounced as such during this time period? The etymology shows that feast was derived from the French, feste, in the 13th century, but that was 300 years before Shakespeare was born...

Should I use a comma with a phrase and clause modifying the same noun?

Posted: 09 Nov 2021 05:01 AM PST

There were things strewn on the floor which the child could have put in his mouth.

Should I use a comma here? Without one, it looks like it's saying the child could have put the floor in its mouth.

Correct form when talking about intersection of few roads

Posted: 09 Nov 2021 09:02 AM PST

I'm in the process of writing a thesis (in a different language). I was wondering if it is correct to say that there are 3 roads that intersect, and I am planning their reconstruction:

Reconstruction of intersection of A and B and C in X.

where A, B, and C are street names, and X is the name of a town.

What word could I use for a person with similar interests?

Posted: 09 Nov 2021 08:03 AM PST

I need to make the following sentence smaller using least words but having exact meaning.

In Search of someone with same interests? If You're, Let's Chat

For that I was thinking to replace "with same interests" with a single word. I could use "someone similar", "someone common" or "someone alike". Could any of this word describe a person who has same interests? If no, then please suggest some more

Why doesn't the auxiliary will qualify as future tense?

Posted: 09 Nov 2021 02:29 AM PST

According to A Student's Introduction to English Grammar, Tense is defined as follows:

Tense. A system marked by verb inflection or auxiliaries whose basic use to locate the situation in time: I liked it (past tense, past time), I like it(present tense, present time).

However, the author also points out:

..., English is not one of them: it has no future tense. It does have several ways of talking about future time, and the most basic one does involve the auxiliary will.

These two quotes made me puzzled because, as noted above, Tense is denoted by inflection or auxiliaries and the auxiliary will seems to clearly meet the criteria. In conclusion, my question is

  • Why doesn't the auxiliary will qualify as future tense?

Why is "batting" spelled with two t's, but "combating" spelled with one?

Posted: 09 Nov 2021 12:07 AM PST

The "bating" in "combating" is pronounced the exact same way as "batting". It doesn't make sense to me.

Is there a term for the stereotypical Japanese ghost girl with a white dress and long black hair that mostly covers her face?

Posted: 09 Nov 2021 09:16 AM PST

There were a slew of Hollywood remakes of Japanese horror films that featured a similar ghost archetype. The most notable examples are (warning, links are images of examples) The Ring and The Grudge.

The common traits are:

  • White dress
  • Long black hair that mostly covers her face
  • A small girl
  • Stilted movements
  • Usually has really dirty clothes, hair and skin
  • Usually out for revenge of some kind

Is there a term for this type of character that is more specific than "ghost"? When I think of "ghosts" in American culture I don't think of these girls.

When did "by way of" start meaning "originally from"

Posted: 09 Nov 2021 12:59 AM PST

Some years ago, after returning to New York from some years living abroad, I began to notice New Yorkers of a certain generation (in their 20s and early 30s) describing themselves or others as "from [neighborhood] by way of [city/state/country]," meaning that they now live in the named neighborhood, but originally come from the named city, state, or country.

This is backwards according to the usual meaning of "by way of." Normally, if one travels "from A by way of B," then one started at A and passed through B.

In those days, I saw this mainly in journals of perhaps lower editorial standards, such as Time Out New York and Metro New York (see Metro New York - Wikipedia). More recently, this has appeared in a New York Times article, which quotes a woman with an obviously Hungarian name and describes her as "from Queens by way of Hungary."

Does anyone know when, where, or why this started?

EDIT

A related question about another instance of this usage:

What does "by way of" mean?

Was "book" to "beek" as "foot" is to "feet"?

Posted: 09 Nov 2021 07:28 AM PST

"Foot" is a curious word in English because it is pluralized in an unusual way; the "oo" in the word is changed to "ee". Did this once use to be a standard way of pluralizing things in English (or a language that contributed to English), which would mean that the plural of "book" was "beek" instead of "books"? Or, is "feet" just a one-off?
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