Sunday, January 23, 2022

Recent Questions - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange

Recent Questions - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange

Does insecure mean embarrassed?

Posted: 23 Jan 2022 07:50 AM PST

I'm pretty confused on this because when I hear someone is insecure about something I always thought it meant embarrassed. However, the definition says it means "not confident". But also, let's say you just began playing golf and you're not very good. You wouldn't say I'm insecure about my golf game, would you? That doesn't seem right. It seems like it would be I'm not confident in my golf game. Are they interchangeable at times?

Non restrictive relative clase with prepositional noun phrase

Posted: 23 Jan 2022 07:07 AM PST

In the sentence, "The partner of an old woman who is residing at USA will help us", it is clear that the person who will help us is the partner. But, whether the person who is residing at USA is the partner or the old woman? If I want to convey "the woman is residing at USA", how to convey in writing. On the other hand, if I want to convey "the partner is residing at USA", how to convey in writing?

Is there any difference between (a) The partner of an old woman who is residing at USA will help us and (b) The partner of an old woman, who is residing at USA will help us. Note in (b) a comma is added.

Does saying that something "runs fine" imply that it does not in fact run "fine"? [closed]

Posted: 23 Jan 2022 07:50 AM PST

I've long been very annoyed by English speakers who claim that something "works fine" or "runs fine".

To me, it sounds like they are saying that it "functions OK, if you have very low demands and high tolerance for flaws/glitches". "Fine", to me, is a word that is either rarely used correctly, or actually doesn't even mean what they seem to think it means from the beginning.

https://www.dictionary.com/browse/fine seems to suggest that "fine" means "perfectly", but that's not my perception of the word.

Isn't it at best highly ambiguous if you want to say that something works exactly as intended and you say that it "works fine"? Wouldn't you say "works perfectly" or "works flawlessly"?

"Fine", to me, sounds fundamentally like a "compromise" of some sort.

In the centuries after the group separated/had separated?

Posted: 23 Jan 2022 06:43 AM PST

In the centuries after the group separated, they evolved in opposite directions.

Shouldn't the former part of the sentence be in past perfect and 'had separated' be used instead of just 'separated'?

Compound-Complex sentences [closed]

Posted: 23 Jan 2022 06:21 AM PST

Would you explain to me if this sentence is a compound or compound-complex sentence?

The scouts didn't think they'd make it to the destination because it was so far away, and they were exhausted from the long journey.

Make this sentence correct [closed]

Posted: 23 Jan 2022 06:06 AM PST

What is the correct set of choices that would make this sentence correct:

Sitting on the couch and watching T.V. was/were the best way/ways that he knew to/how to pass the time.

Also, please explain your answer.

What is the difference between "I am" and "I was" [closed]

Posted: 23 Jan 2022 06:05 AM PST

What is the difference between:

  • She was 12 when I was 25.
  • She was 12 when I am 25.

A president joke

Posted: 23 Jan 2022 05:31 AM PST

I recently came across this 'joke':

When Will Rogers was being taken to the White House to meet President Calvin Coolidge, he was cautioned not to try to be funny because the President had no sense of humor. The undaunted Rogers bet that he could have Coolidge laughing within 20 seconds. When the formal introduction was made, "Mr. President, may I introduce my friend, Mr. Will Rogers," Rogers held out his hand with a questioning look and said, "Pardon me, I didn't quite get the name." Coolidge roared with laughter, and Rogers won the wager.

What is the pun? Why did the president laugh? ...I don't see anything funny. Isn't there any context a non-native speaker misses?

Comma needed before "as does"? [closed]

Posted: 23 Jan 2022 05:23 AM PST

Should I write this without a comma:

The evidence from this study suggests that stroke may impose a comparable risk on the survival of older patients as do heart attack due to the close resemblance of the two patient populations.

Or with a comma:

The evidence from this study suggests that stroke may impose a comparable risk on older patients' survival, as does heart attack due to the close resemblance of the two patient populations.

Edited: "fracture" changed to "patient"

Owl's job (meaning) [closed]

Posted: 23 Jan 2022 02:57 AM PST

I found this expression "This is usually the owl's job". Is "the owl's job" an idiomatic expression? If it is, what does it mean?

Simple/Continuous + For .../From ... to

Posted: 23 Jan 2022 02:54 AM PST

  1. The situation: It's 2022 now. Although he started learning English in 2016, he's not learning English anymore. He stopped learning English one year ago. He doesn't know English well.

    The question: which is right or both?

    He learned English from 2016 to 2021. or
    He was learning English from 2016 to 2021.

    He learned English for 5 years. or
    He was learning English for 5 years.

  2. The situation: She started learning to drive two weeks ago. She stopped learning to drive one week ago. She isn't learning to drive anymore. She's decided she will never continue and will never get her driver's license. It's her choice.

    The question: which is right or both?

    She was learning to drive ten days ago. or
    She learned to drive ten days ago.

    She was learning to drive for one week. or
    She learned to drive for one week.

the grammatical point of this sentence

Posted: 23 Jan 2022 01:27 AM PST

Would someone describe how this sentence is created? I am kind of confused about being part and what the original sentence before reducing had been:

There was a sharp rise in the earning of the shop to 10K, this number being the peak level of income during the whole period.

What does "to his feet" mean? [closed]

Posted: 23 Jan 2022 12:59 AM PST

Harry scrambled to his feet. What does the preposition "to" mean in "to his feet"?

Is there a word or phrase for the thinking error where people will be satisfied with an answer simply because it was difficult to arrive at?

Posted: 22 Jan 2022 09:26 PM PST

As per the title, I'm looking for a word or short phrase that describes the phenomenon where people will accept an answer or solution that was difficult to arrive at, simply because it was difficult to arrive at. For example, a police detective making an investigation, coming up with a suspect, but not vetting that suspect because they're confident they've done enough in the first place; the concept is more general than that example though.

My thoughts so far are 'cognitive overload' or 'sunk-cost fallacy', but they don't quite hit the nail on the head. I suppose 'laziness' also kind of describes it, but I'm looking for something more specific.

Cheers.

En dash, em dash, or hyphen add the end of a line of poetry? [closed]

Posted: 23 Jan 2022 01:12 AM PST

I've seen poems with lines ending with en dashes, em dashes, and even hyphens. I personally write poems with hyphens.

For the Embroiderer has numbed all trust,
Stitching in the dark it seems,
In a design called misunderstanding -
Except the tapestry overturned shall prove outstanding.

Which type of dash looks better?

Insecure vs not confident

Posted: 22 Jan 2022 05:40 PM PST

If I am not confident in something does that make me insecure? For instance, if I were to not be confident about my looks does that mean i'm insecure even if I don't feel bad about it and don't care that much?

Which "bra" came first?

Posted: 22 Jan 2022 04:42 PM PST

Most people associate the word "bra" is an abbreviation of "brassiere".

But in science "bra" is a type of vector which is part of bra-ket notation. I think it sounds a little awkward. What's up with that?

Which one came first?

Why keep useless diacritics? [closed]

Posted: 23 Jan 2022 12:09 AM PST

Why foreign physicists' names retain diactrics when the phonetic meaning of these diactrics becomes irrelevant? "Ampère" uses "è" to indicate which type of French "e" to use but English doesn't even differentiate between an open and closed e. In "Schrödinger" the "ö" sound isn't used at all in English. Native dictionaries don't consider these diactrics in ordering words which means their role is merely to indicate pronounciation.

Why not simply write "Ampere" or "Schrodinger"?

What is the origin of "huge"?

Posted: 22 Jan 2022 08:04 PM PST

What is the origin of the word huge (adj. and adv.) meaning "very great, large, or big; immense, enormous, vast"?

Both OED and Etymonline say that it might be from an Old French word which has an unknown origin.

Etymonline:

mid-12c., apparently a shortening of Old French ahuge, ahoge "extremely large, enormous; mighty, powerful," itself of uncertain origin.

OED:

Middle English huge, hoge, apparently aphetic < Old French ahuge, ahoge, ahoege, in same sense, of unknown origin. It is, however, noteworthy that no connecting link in the form of huge in Old French, or ahuge in early Middle English, has as yet been found.

Would it be possible to find further details?

Additionally, OED mentions "aphetic" in the etymology of the word. In phonetics and phonology, apheresis (or aphesis) is defined as the loss of a word-initial vowel producing a new form called aphetism. Was this historical sound change common when borrowing words from Old French? This might help to find an answer to the origin of the word.

When to use “staffers” vs “staff”?

Posted: 22 Jan 2022 05:57 PM PST

For example:

  1. "The company told its staff to take Friday off."
  2. "The company told its staffers to take Friday off."
  • Do both of these sentences mean exactly the same thing?
  • Is one preferred or maybe less ambiguous than the other?
  • Is there ever a situation where "staff" and "staffers" are not interchangeable?

Edit for clarification:

I am aware that a "staffer" (singular) is a single person while "staff" refers to a group. I'm specifically asking about "staffers" (plural) vs "staff".

Is an object of a verb a complement of a verb or of a verb phrase (a predicate)?

Posted: 22 Jan 2022 09:04 PM PST

a. I love you.

Here, you is the object of the verb love. It's also a complement, because it completes the meaning of the sentence.

Per Wikipedia, complement is defined as:

In grammar, a complement is a word, phrase, or clause that is necessary to complete the meaning of a given expression.

What is the given expression in (a)? Is it love or love you? Does you complete the meaning of the verb itself or the meaning of the predicate?

Just because example (a) is elementary doesn't mean the question also is. By the same token, just because the above sentence is quoted from a wiki doesn't mean it's a bad idea to start a question based on the sentence.

I believe the quoted sentence is a good place to start a serious question because it cites three authoritative references:

Crystal, D. 1997. A dictionary of linguistics and phonetics, 4th edition, Oxford, UK: Blackwell. (75).

Matthews, P. 1981. Syntax. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. (142f.)

Huddleston, R. 1988. English grammar: An outline. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.(note 2)

Can the phrase "there's no such thing as..." be used in context of time?

Posted: 23 Jan 2022 04:33 AM PST

I was wondering if the idiomatic phrase can be altered as follows...

...There's no such time as one [when/where] child rearing is easy...

I'm also uncertain which word bracketed above is more appropriate, assuming this usage even makes any sense.

What's a drum cabinet?

Posted: 23 Jan 2022 06:46 AM PST

I stumbled upon this word "drum cabinet" and although I guess what it means I'm not 100% sure. There is a guy who is a background singer and he says he was placed behind the main singer and in front of the "drum cabinet". Does it simply mean that he was in front of the drums? Just curious, because I don't find a translation in none of the dictionaries.

Correct word for a little toy that always stands up?

Posted: 23 Jan 2022 05:36 AM PST

In Spanish, we have a word for a little toy that always stand up, "tentetieso".

I want to search for those toys in English, but I can't find the correct word or specific description to find them.

image of a children's toy, a clown, that cannot be knocked down

Word for a person who always looks as if they are smiling when in fact they are not happy

Posted: 22 Jan 2022 06:40 PM PST

I wonder if there is term for a person who seems as if they are smiling when in fact not actually in a happy mood.

There was a classmate of mine who never looked serious. When he failed an exam, (though he was saying he was upset over that) still he looked like he had a slight smile.

Is there any term for the person who regardless of any predicaments or failure, seems to be smiling?

Does any native English word contain the 'ñ' sound?

Posted: 23 Jan 2022 05:13 AM PST

I've seen that English dictionaries contain a number of Spanish-imported words that contain the character ñ, such as piñata, piña colada and jalapeño. You find the same sound in other languages, such as French and Italian (the gn group as in the Italian word pugno), but that gn group does not represent the same sound in English (gnome, sign) where it represents just an n sound.

So I was wondering, does the sound the ñ character represents exist in any native English word? Take as "native" a word that was already present in English dictionaries in the 18th century that didn't come from a Latin-derived language. If there are still none, what were the closest approximations to that sound?

Does "sallow complexion" include bad meaning?

Posted: 23 Jan 2022 06:05 AM PST

I'm non-native speaker and I live in Australia. When I filled out the form of a driving license, the officer made me fill sallow in the blank. I didn't know the meaning of sallow at that time, I did. Sallow means unhealthy, yellowish. I'm asian. Does it include racism? Or can be used often as describe complexion?

"has scientists excited" or "has excited scientists"?

Posted: 22 Jan 2022 03:42 PM PST

I saw the following on the Facebook page of Time. Is "has scientists excited" or the perfect version "has excited scientists" correct?

What's the difference if both are correct?

The recent discovery of a subterranean sea, deep inside earth, has scientists excited.

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