Saturday, January 22, 2022

Recent Questions - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange

Recent Questions - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange

Fractional numerals and plural

Posted: 22 Jan 2022 08:54 AM PST

Say you have in front of you three marbles, one of which is red, another blue, and the last one yellow. Is the sentence "A third of these marbles is blue." grammatically correct?

When you've been doing something wrong because that's the way you've always done it

Posted: 22 Jan 2022 08:52 AM PST

E.g. when you've been pronouncing a word a certain way just because you've never seen another person pronounce it.

Sample sentences:

  • I'm pronouncing it that way because X
  • It's a case of X
  • Today I overcame X with my kicking technique thanks to my new martial arts instructor

Words I tried which don't seem to work:

Criteria for the "best" word: perhaps the one that gives closest indication to the phenomenon

Is a compound word or phrase acceptable: yes

Is there a single word that means "less than the number one 1"?

Posted: 22 Jan 2022 08:36 AM PST

In scientific texts sometimes the word "unit" is used instead of the number 1. I wonder if there is a single word that can be used for less than the number 1.

Reduced relative clause with adverbial clause/phrase [duplicate]

Posted: 22 Jan 2022 07:26 AM PST

  1. People who, before their friends arrive, like spending time on the phone are normal these days. (relative clause with adverbial clause)

  2. Students who, after completing their lessons, go playing football are very common. (relative clause with adverbial phrase)

I wonder if we reduce them into a reduced clause?

I guess that we can make a reduction with 2. (students going playing football after completing...)

Can an em-dash function as both an opener to its own parenthetical and simultaneously close a nonrestrictive clause introduced by a comma?

Posted: 22 Jan 2022 06:34 AM PST

I've read that you are not supposed to include a comma before 'in which', since it is part of a restrictive clause linked to a noun. If you do put a comma before it, it is to render it part of a nonrestrictive parenthetical, but you might misdirect what the 'in which' modifies. In the following sentence, however, (sorry it's a bit long) I'm confused about the roles of 'in which', the comma, and an em-dash that both closes the first parenthetical while simultaneously opening a new one.

Its purpose is to turn the scattered stains of life, in which we can hardly be recognized—by eliminating those in which we no longer see ourselves, and by choosing from what remains those most recognizable and thus closest to the current form of our personality—first into a clearly profiled silhouette, and then into a pure form that is harmonious with our own present conception of ourselves."

If the long em-dash parenthetical is removed, the complete sentence reads: "Its purpose is to turn the scattered stains of life, in which we can hardly be recognized first into a clearly profiled silhouette..."

In that case, you have to add a comma after 'recognized' even if you want to remove the first comma to make it restrictive. But when the em-dash is present it acts like that second comma, both closing one parenthetical and then opening another. Is that possible?

Thank you

Is it wrong "These are expensive engagement rings. Having said that, the rings are very glory."? [closed]

Posted: 22 Jan 2022 05:49 AM PST

I mimic the sentense in book

It's an expensive restaurant. Having said that, the food is very good.

Is there wrong "These are expensive engagement rings. Having said that, the rings are very glory."?

I tried to make a new sentence, alter restaurant (singular) by engagement rings (plural). I want have a better sentence, let's me know.

Why do we use a singular noun which is related to more than one person? [duplicate]

Posted: 22 Jan 2022 05:23 AM PST

Why isn't "mobile phone" plural in the following sentence?

70 percent of the population of the world own a mobile phone.

Multiple introductory word elements and commas

Posted: 22 Jan 2022 05:10 AM PST

I am struggling with the punctuation of sentences with multiple introductory elements. Example 1:

However, at the current development stage, this feature is not implemented.

Example 2:

However, in one way or another, both of you are correct.

According to 1 ("If there are two or more phrases and/or clauses before the subject, only put a comma after the last one") and 2, the first comma needs to be removed. However, I have a bad stomach feeling about that. Nonetheless, I am not a native speaker. Is there a general rule how to proceed in these cases?

Is 'Juice' Singular or Plural In This Sentence? [duplicate]

Posted: 22 Jan 2022 02:57 AM PST

"How much juice can you afford?"

I am confused by this because it is asking about the quantity of juice that can be bought. How would one know if it is referring to a single container of juice or multiple containers? For the latter, would one have to ask instead, "How many juices can you afford?" Could it be either, depending on the context?

Is "teleological" used correctly in this sentence?

Posted: 22 Jan 2022 02:32 AM PST

There are investments you can't make from a structured, nine-to-five, narrowly teleological environment. You have to let your life go fallow sometimes, like a crop rotation giving the land time to bring forth new fertility.

From https://palladiummag.com/2022/01/06/quit-your-job/

I understand that the usage here is supposed to mean roughly "an environment oriented towards making judgments and decisions based on their utility/purpose/outcome", but the phrase "teleological environment" still feels off to me. Kind of like saying "epistemological environment" to mean "an environment in which knowledge is challenged".

What I mean is: I get the message, but it still feels like the word is there because of its literal definition, rather than its meaning (that I gather from the kind of problems in which it appears) - in the case of teleology, I feel like the "purpose" it inscribes into things is more of a principal metaphysical necessity, rather than a human-centered "purposeful" utility; and if it weren't for the context surrounding that sentence, I don't think I would've taken the phrase "teleological environment" to mean that.

I realize this may veer slightly into philosophy, but in any case - am I completely off, or is the word "teleological" indeed an awkward fit in this case?

Why are countable nouns sometimes used as uncountable nouns?

Posted: 22 Jan 2022 02:40 AM PST

For example, I've often heard the phrase, "how much house can one buy?" There are some other examples as well I've seen where a countable noun is used as a quantity rather than a discrete object.

How to tell if a clause is interpreted perfectively or imperfecitvely?

Posted: 21 Jan 2022 11:46 PM PST

In A Student's Introduction to English Grammar, they define a perfective clause as:

a clause describes a situation in a way that considers it as a whole, in its totality, without reference to any temporal structure or subdivision it might have,

while an imperfective clause is defined as:

a clause describes a situation in a way that makes reference to its internal temporal structure or subdivision.

However, I still find it a little bit subtle to tell what the interpretation of a clause is. Is it about if the situation is finished, since they mark a clause like She wrote a novel as perfective and one like She was writing a novel as imperfective? How to apply this distinction on more complex constructions, such as the perfect?

What does "sidespin" mean as a verb?

Posted: 22 Jan 2022 02:16 AM PST

"What do you think is the best way to get back on track for those that have found themselves side spun?"

It's a question about game strategies. I guess the user seems to mean 'get bogged down' by 'side spun'?

What does "bunties" mean in this sentence? [closed]

Posted: 22 Jan 2022 01:07 AM PST

"This is a view from a bench where I have been parked while bunties happen."

Is bunties even a word? It looks like a typo of something else.

How can I make this complex sentence clearer (religious writing)?

Posted: 21 Jan 2022 05:15 PM PST

The sentence is in bold. Full paragraph provided for context.

"Even the manger where Mary placed Jesus after His birth was a sign from God (a manger is a feeding trough for animals that is an open, narrow box in shape). In ancient Israel, a firstborn male lamb that was spotless would have been wrapped in cloths and placed in a manger. The lamb then would have been offered to God as a sacrifice to atone for sin. By having Mary wrap Jesus in cloths and by having her place Him in a manger, God was signifying that Jesus was the spotless (sinless) Lamb who would take away the sins of the world on the cross."

I was hoping to find a way to eliminate the "by having her" phrase, since it's repetitive. However, the sentence is obviously not clear if I just say, "By having Mary wrap Jesus in cloths and place Him in a manger, God..."

Meaning and etymology of “weak streak”

Posted: 22 Jan 2022 08:45 AM PST

What is the meaning and history of the phrase "weak streak"?

Example (midway through a page describing a man)

"There was a weak streak; he liked to consider himself a ladies man."

Gerund or Infinitive after an adjective

Posted: 22 Jan 2022 02:38 AM PST

I came across the following test exercise on Gerunds and Infinitives.

The Oscar-winning actor avoids talking to his fans and refuses to give his autograph. <more context>. Doesn't he seem way too shy being/to be an actor?

I'm confused by the choice. In my option both options are fine; the latter is grammatically correct but the former conveys the meaning better.

  • Doesn't he seem way too shy being an actor?
    He is an actor and I'm surprised he is shy.

  • Doesn't he seem way too shy to be an actor?
    He is shy and I'm surprised he is an actor.

Does my understanding make sense?

By the look/looks of things

Posted: 21 Jan 2022 11:42 PM PST

https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/by+the+look+of+things

Example from idioms dictionary:

"The detective said that, by the looks of things, she is probably hiding out somewhere."

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/by-the-look-s-of-things

Example from Cambridge dictionary:

"By the look of things, we won't finish till next week."

As far as I am concerned 'looks of things' is grammatically wrong but colloquially correct. Please correct me if I'm mistaken.

How to hyphenate this phrase

Posted: 22 Jan 2022 12:22 AM PST

I know that compound adjectives like "goal-oriented" get hyphenated before a noun, but how would you deal with two sets of compound words that both end in "oriented"?

It would be repetitive to say "solution-oriented and goal-oriented person" so my question is would you write "solution-and-goal-oriented" person or "solution and goal-oriented person" (without hyphenating the first word "solution")?

Where, when, and how did the term 'dogie' for 'orphan calf' originate?

Posted: 21 Jan 2022 08:55 PM PST

Merriam-Webster's Eleventh Collegiate Dictionary (2003) has this brief entry for the word dogie:

dogie n {origin unknown} (1888) chiefly West : a motherless calf in a range herd

In seeking an explanation of the origin, I came across the following proposed etymology in Ramon Adams, The Cowboy Dictionary (1968/1993):

dogie A scrubby calf that has not wintered well and is anemic from the scant food of the cold months; also dogy or dobie. It is, in the language of the cowboy, "a calf who has lost his mammy and whose daddy has run off with another cow." Although the word is commonly used in the West and is understood by all cattlemen, there has been some controversy over its origin. One version is that during trail days, when it was discovered that the northern range was good cow country, especially for fattening beef, there arose a a demand for young animals. It became the usage to call them dogies, especially yearling steers, to distinguish them from the steers that were fat enough for market.

Another, more likely version is that the term originated in the [eighteen-]eighties after a very severe winter had killed off a number of orphan calves. The bellies of the survivors very much resembled a batch of sour dough carried in a sack. Having no mothers whose brand would establish ownership, and carrying no brand themselves by which they might be identified, these orphans were put into the maverick class. The first to claim them was recognized as the owner, no matter where they were found.

One day on roundup a certain cowman who was trying to build up a herd drove in a bunch from along the river.

"Boys, there's five of them dough-guts in that drive, and I claim every damn one of 'em!" he yelled.

During that roundup all orphan calves became known as dough-guts; later the term was shortened to dogie, which has been used ever since throughout cattle land to refer to a pot-gutted orphan calf. The term became popular through western songs, though a great percentage of the singers pronounce it doggie, as if they were singing of a pup.

The first etymological explanation that Adams presents isn't an explanation at all, as far as I can tell. The second and, according to Adams, "more likely" one strikes me as far from persuasive, despite the exact quotation that Adams attributes to the "certain cowman" who is credited with coining the alleged antecedent term dough-guts.

My questions are as follows:

  1. What is the etymological origin of the term dogie?

  2. When and where did the word first appear in print?

Antonym of operational in the sense of larger scope, and non-recurrence but not military

Posted: 22 Jan 2022 07:06 AM PST

I'm looking for a word in that is an antonym of operational in something other than "does it function" and the online dictionary/thesaurus don't have it. Can you help me find the word, and tell me how you did it so I can find it myself later?

How I would like to use it:

  • The enumerated operational deliverables are one, two, and three; while the enumerated _______ deliverables are exx, wie, and tzee.

Webster gives the following definition for "operational":
enter image description here

My purpose uses it in the sense of day-to-day operations.

It goes on to enumerate antonyms and synonyms as follows:
enter image description here

These are really on the "does it work vs. does it not work" spectrum. They are not on the "day-to-day, recurring, small scope, tactical operations as contrasted against serving a non-recurring, larger scoped, more strategic goal."

Options that don't work:

  • strategy vs. tactics: It is primarily military terminology about the execution of war, or about very high (CEO-scale) corporate jargon. I think of operations as the things that keep the factory lights on, place clean and operating properly, the machines supplied with their inputs, and with room to output their outputs.
  • Functional vs. non-functional. This is about scope, not about functionality.
  • Deliverable. It could be argued that a deliverable encompasses both operational and the word that I am trying to find.
  • Material. I work with folks who will view it as input to a production process and not as an outcome of a particular type of work.

(update) About what should work:

  • it is a kind of deliverable, but deliverable is too broad, and material gets confused with the 5M+E/Ishikawa input. It tends to be one-off instead of recurring. Balancing books is operations, but making the certification tests for the new mark-3 widget isn't the same thing.
  • it is an antonym to operational, as in not sweeping floors or keeping lights on. It is about scope of functionality, not whether or not function exists.
  • it is more strategic than tactical in terms of scope, but the word isn't strategic because of the baggage that comes with it. Sometimes it is tactical, as in local goal oriented. Mostly it serves strategic goals.

Is "from the freezer to the foil" an idiom?

Posted: 22 Jan 2022 05:08 AM PST

In the song "Steam" by Peter Gabriel, there is a line of lyrics:

Stir-crazy from the freezer to the foil

Is this an idiom I have never heard before, or just a bit of nonsense he strung together?

It's not even used as a rhyme, it's just a free lyric near the end.

EDIT:

In a comment, @BoldBen questions whether its actually even "foil" in the first place. Now I'm not sure! Maybe this is just a mondegreen!

When you do a Google search or Bing search on "Peter Gabriel Steam lyrics" you get a ready-to-read list of lyrics, credited to MusixMatch.com, and those show "from the freezer to the foil". Here's a link to the lyrics on the site: https://www.musixmatch.com/lyrics/Peter-Gabriel/Steam

Likewise MetroLyrics.com says "foil":

https://www.metrolyrics.com/steam-lyrics-peter-gabriel.html

On one web site the lyric is given as "from the freezer to the boil":

https://songmeanings.com/songs/view/13042/

On another web site, the lyric is given both as "from the freezer to the foil" and as "from the freezer to the boil", for two edits of the song. It's highly unlikely that the lyric was changed, it seems certain that one of them is incorrect.

Radio edit, "freezer to the foil":

https://genius.com/Peter-gabriel-steam-radio-edit-lyrics

Main song entry, "freezer to the boil":

https://genius.com/Peter-gabriel-steam-lyrics

Okay, let's go to the source. Here's the YouTube video for the song, cued up to the part (at about time mark 4:55) where Peter Gabriel sings that line:

https://youtu.be/Qt87bLX7m_o?t=294

I'm still not sure which one it is! I have literally thought for decades that it was "foil", but listening to it now it sounds closer to "bowl" than anything.

There's a following line (at about time mark 5:06) where he sings "coming to a boil" and the word "boil" is clearly enunciated, which argues against this word also being "boil"... why would he pronounce the same word two ways? But the second time he sang the word "bubble" over and over and maybe that changed how much emphasis he put on the 'b'?

Arguing for "boil": The technology used for this song to equalize the levels on singing tends to over-emphasize white noise, causing an 'S' sound to be amplified into a bit of a hiss. You can clearly hear this on the often-repeated "steam" in the song. An 'f', as in "foil", can get amplified as well, to a lesser degree. On the mystery word I don't hear anything boosted at the start of the word.

Also, arguing against "boil", it's not a hard word to rhyme and it's surprising if Peter Gabriel used "boil" as a rhyme for itself. But there's this "freezer to the ???" lyric and then "coming to a boil".

But doing web searches for "freezer to the foil" finds nothing but references to this song, so I'm now convinced it's definitely not an obscure idiom, but either nonsense Peter Gabriel made up or a mondegreen for "freezer to the boil".

If it is "boil" that means that the song follows "freezer to the boil" with "coming to a boil", which is kind of repetitive, but it's kind of free verse at the end rather than the neat rhymes of the main song.

Use of 'in which'

Posted: 22 Jan 2022 03:08 AM PST

Is the use of 'in which' correct in this context?

...and Fc is the flux vector:

enter image description here

where U is the velocity vector, ρ the density, p the pressure, E the total energy, and Vc=V.n the contravariant velocity, in which n is the unit normal vector to the face.

Thanks for your attention. I'm looking forward to your reply

How to choose between "work day" vs "working day"

Posted: 21 Jan 2022 06:02 PM PST

For business days, I see both 'work day' and 'working day'. Which one is correct? Also asking between 'work hours' vs 'working hours'.

Context: I have 5 work/working/business days. My work/working/business hours are 7 per day.

"A friend to all is a friend to none" - Aristotle. What does this exactly mean?

Posted: 21 Jan 2022 05:14 PM PST

Why shouldn't a person be friendly to everyone? Is "being friendly" and "being a friend" being differentiated here?

Also, I consider a person as one's friend only if that person doesn't betray his/her other friends. So going by my rule of friendship, there won't be any problem if my friend is a friend to every person, since he/she is not going to give up on me and neither he/she will give up on his/her other friends when he/she us spending his time with me.

What is the main context under which this proverb becomes true?

phrase origin: "sent packing"

Posted: 21 Jan 2022 09:07 PM PST

What is the origin of the phrase "sent packing," which is used when someone gets the boot? I have seen it used a lot but would like to know where it originally came from.

"In person" equivalent for inanimate objects

Posted: 22 Jan 2022 02:39 AM PST

This is much easier to explain by example. So you might hear someone say this photo of her is ok, but she looks much better in person.

I am looking for the equivalent of "in person" that applies to things, e.g.,

A photo of the house is on the museum's homepage, but it is more impressive [in person].

There doesn't seem to be a concise, elegant way to say this, though it seems there should be, perhaps a latin phrase like in corpore (that's not it).

What is the meaning of "way better" [closed]

Posted: 22 Jan 2022 06:27 AM PST

I sometimes hear people use "I hope you feel way better","This is way more than I was expecting" and etc. Could you explain this type of usage and what is the difference between "feeling better" and "feeling way better"?
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