Wednesday, January 5, 2022

Recent Questions - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange

Recent Questions - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange

What does it mean by the phrase "is its own"?

Posted: 05 Jan 2022 08:18 AM PST

I know someone asked this question before, I personally didn't find the answers helpful for some reason. I was hoping someone can share a clearer explanation of the phrase "is its own" because like what the OP of the similar question said, it is confusing.

For context, I found this sentence in a poem titled World and it began with this sentence,

Home is its own geography.

Even though it sounds easy to understand, I couldn't, especially with the phrase "is its own". Can someone please explain more about it?

In modern grammar, why are gerunds and participles grouped?

Posted: 05 Jan 2022 08:13 AM PST

As I have delved deeper into the world of modern grammar, I have noticed frequent references to 'gerund-participial' clauses. Most resources would divide gerunds and participles (past and present) into their own categories, stating that they have different functions. Notably, a gerund can act as a subject or object, whereas a participle cannot. However, I have not seen an accompanying explanation as to why modern grammarians have stopped making the distinction.

I have accepted this new categorisation, but I don't fully grasp the reasoning. Could someone who is knowledgeable about modern grammar explain?

Grammar Analysis needed

Posted: 05 Jan 2022 07:40 AM PST

We human beings are responsible for natural disaster.

What is the function of 'Human beings' here? Is it a appositive of "We"?

take something for granted as something [closed]

Posted: 05 Jan 2022 04:45 AM PST

Is it poor style to say the following?

  • A lot of things we take for granted as trash, such as newspapers, magazines, old computers and cellphones, can actually be recycled in one way or another.

Future Perfect and Future Perfect Progressive for past assumptions

Posted: 05 Jan 2022 02:26 AM PST

I would greatly appreciate your help with resolving one doubt I have and have been struggling to clear up.

It concerns the Future Perfect's and Future Perfect Progressive's more advanced usage - expressing past assumptions.

According to:
https://english.lingolia.com/en/grammar/tenses/future-perfect-simple
https://english.lingolia.com/en/grammar/tenses/future-perfect-progressive

Future Perfect - assumptions about something that has probably happened

Example:

He will probably have noticed that his bike is broken.

Future Perfect Progressive - assumptions about what was happening at a certain time in the past.

Example:

There was an accident last week. The driver won't have been paying attention to the road signs.

From the above description, it seems this usage in the simple form is more connected to the present - as in talking about what has happened by now. In the progressive form it appears to refer to any time in the past - also finished events and periods, things which happened before specific points in the past. Would this be correct? This seems to be a pretty major and unusual difference of usage between the simple and progressive form. Or perhaps Future Perfect Simple for assumptions could also work with past tenses? Would it be correct to say:

He will probably have noticed that his bike was broken.
He will probably have noticed that his bike was being stolen.

Opposite of invariant

Posted: 05 Jan 2022 01:25 AM PST

I look for the opposite of "invariant" in the context of scientific language. If you look at this example sentence:

[...] Although it is translationally and rotationally invariant, it is not permutationally invariant. [...]

There is a repetition of the word "invariant" and a double negation. ("not" and "in-" as prefix)

Since I could not find any example of people saying "variant" for "not invariant", I do not know how to nicely write this sentence.

If I look at Merriam Webster and list the possible antonyms:

changing, deviating, nonuniform, unsteady, varying

I think none is fitting, but I am also not of English mother tongue.

"I saw the job ad at..." or "I saw the job ad in..." [duplicate]

Posted: 05 Jan 2022 12:42 AM PST

Which preposition should I use when referring to the possibly abstract place where I saw a job ad? E.g.

I am writing to apply for XYZ. I saw the job advertisement at LinkedIn. OR I saw the job advertisement in LinkedIn.

Hyphenation of well-known compound nouns used adjectivally

Posted: 04 Jan 2022 10:46 PM PST

Which is correct: high society networking, or, high-society networking?

Chicago Manual of Style gives a middle-class neighborhood/the neighborhood is middle class as an example of a generic rule that adjective + noun compounds should be hyphenated if modifying another noun. However, many common terms like "real estate agent" or "criminal justice major" look very weird to me when hyphenated as "real-estate agent" and "criminal-justice major," and Ngrams seems to agree.

Is there anything going on other than "the commonest forms don't use hyphens"?

What is the difference between remark vs. sentence? [closed]

Posted: 04 Jan 2022 11:03 PM PST

Instead of "I agree with your first sentence", can I write, "I agree with your first remark" as a reply to an online posting.

What does "three of the apartment units on the ground floor" mean in this context? [closed]

Posted: 05 Jan 2022 04:05 AM PST

My firm is interested in purchasing the building at 1210 Prince Street. Since this property has been on the market for almost five years, it has fallen into disrepair. Regal Properties is willing to invest what is necessary to update the building

In addition, we would like to convert three of the apartment units on the ground floor facing the street into space for businesses.

So this is the whole letter text I got from the textbook. According to the answer sheet, the bold part means 'three single storey apartments'. I thought 'apartment units on the ground floor' meant the group of rooms on the ground floor, not the entire building. Can anyone explain this part for me?

What is the meaning of the phrase "striving for effect"?

Posted: 05 Jan 2022 12:38 AM PST

This phrase seems to be well established in English. I just don't know exactly what it means, beyond the fact that it is used to define "affectation".

It may be something that people learn about in literary criticism or art history classes. To strive for effect is a defect in a work of art. There's an ambiguity here, because effects are wanted—so apparently it's the (strained-seeming) striving that's bad? If the phrase refers to "tryhard" behaviour, is there an elitism to it: a valorization of effortlessness?

Example:

Jones wins us over early on, and we warm to her voice — thoughtful, earnest, with a lifelong editor's aversion to the slightest striving for effect.

https://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/04/style/tmagazine/04tbrubach.html

How to pronounce Corps' with the apostrophe

Posted: 05 Jan 2022 07:35 AM PST

I came across the phrase "Apple Corps' London office". I know I should pronounce corps the same as "core", but how should I do it with the s'?

The whole sentence is:

But Jackson was stunned by what he saw that first week, watching it from morning till night at Apple Corps' London office and being brought a daily Big Mac.

Extracted from The Guardian article: I just can't believe it exists.

Terminology for "line with orientation"

Posted: 04 Jan 2022 11:16 PM PST

I'd like to know if there is a single word I could use to define a "line with an orientation".

This question is related to the one in "Terminology for diagonal line that also indicates orientation" but not quite the same as I might have an horizontal line pointing to the right or to the left.

I really want to convey the idea of an infinite line in both directions (hence different than ray or segment) but with a given direction, meaning that if you take a point and add a positive length you will always move in the direction defined along the line.

What does 'good room' mean in Irish English?

Posted: 04 Jan 2022 10:27 PM PST

Listening to an Irish podcast, I heard the expression 'good room', and though I'm a native (UK—England) English speaker, I had no idea what it meant as a discrete noun (as opposed to just good+room. The quotation was something like:

Not many houses have a good room anymore, but this might be an occasion to use it.

Is "luggage" becoming a countable noun?

Posted: 05 Jan 2022 06:19 AM PST

When I learned English, I learned that "luggage" an uncountable noun, meaning the collection of all your bags and suitcases (and/or their contents). From https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/luggage :

luggage (usually uncountable, plural luggages)

  1. (uncountable) The bags and other containers that hold a traveller's belongings.
  2. (uncountable) The contents of such containers.
  3. (countable, nonstandard or obsolete) A specific bag or container holding a traveller's belongings.

Recently I have been noticing it being used more and more for a single large bag used for travel, what I would call "a piece of luggage", or "a bag". First I heard it used this way by my former roommate, who is not a native speaker, but more recently, I have heard it from my girlfriend, who is a native speaker, and I have seen/heard it used this way more and more. To be fair, I learned mostly British English, and I heard it used in this other way in the United States, so maybe it is a regional difference?

Here is an example: https://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics-Hardside-Spinner-Luggage-20-Inch/dp/B071NJ24R9/ :

Hardside spinner luggage for work travel, weekend getaways, or as international carry-on

Here is a Google Ngram for "a luggage" vs. "piece of luggage", I realize that "a luggage" also finds "a luggage cart", etc. but there is an increased use of it since 1980, and a sharp decline in the use of "piece of luggage" since 2012. https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=a+luggage%2Cpiece+of+luggage&year_start=1800&year_end=2019&corpus=26&smoothing=3

Is this a change that is happening, and what is causing it? Or have I just been wrongly pedantic about the word (I have never corrected anyone, but using "luggage" as a countable noun does sound wrong to me)?

Why do we use the possessive in "doctor's appointment"?

Posted: 04 Jan 2022 09:06 PM PST

Doctors seem to be unique among professions in that we use the possessive when referring to their appointments. "Doctor's appointment" is many times more common than "doctor appointment" according to ngrams. However, for every kind of specialty it seems to be the reverse:

What makes "doctor" different? Is this actually specific to that word, or are there other cases I haven't considered where we would use a possessive form?

Synonyms for 'lalochezia'

Posted: 05 Jan 2022 06:54 AM PST

I learnt a new word the other day: lalochezia:-

The use of vulgar or foul language to relieve stress or pain. [English Wiktionary]

I have been indulging in this for in excess of fifty years without knowing this word, so I started to wonder, how is the word so rare when the thing it describes is so common? Is there a synonym for it that I can't think of?

Similarity between future perfect and future perfect continuous

Posted: 04 Jan 2022 11:17 PM PST

I had an assignment given before some days. I tried to do it and got some answers right, but it was not satisfactory. Can you tell me the similarity between future perfect and future perfect continuous? It is preferable if you give me some examples.

Thematic comparison of 'collaborative' vs 'collective' in literature or culture

Posted: 05 Jan 2022 05:50 AM PST

I'm trying to brand a product with either the word 'collaborative' or 'collective', but I am having trouble imagining what the well known thematic usage is with either word. I've always seen them used interchangeably.

The definitions seem pretty similar:

  • collaborative: produced or conducted by two or more parties working together.

    • "collaborative research"

  • collective: done by people acting as a group.

    • "a collective protest"

My guess is that someone with a literature or world history background would be able to help me parse the difference or nuance I'm trying to identify.

How can you tell the difference between subjunctive and contrary to fact?

Posted: 04 Jan 2022 10:01 PM PST

My GMAT book, GMAT Ultimate Grammar, has different sentence structures for present subjunctive form and present contrary to fact form. However, they both seem identical to me because in the examples given of each form, they both talk about something that isn't true. The book gives an example of each:

  • Subjunctive: She would rather that the plane leave early in the morning.
  • Contrary to fact: Debby would rather that her boyfriend spent Friday nights with her.

After stating the contrary to fact example, the book says that the sentence implies that Debby's boyfriend does not spend Fridays with her. However, couldn't you argue that their example for the subjunctive case implies that the plane will not leave early, making it contrary to fact?

What does steel beams mean here?

Posted: 05 Jan 2022 07:24 AM PST

From Legend by Marie Lu:

It's early evening, but it's already pitch-black outside, and the JumboTrons' reflections are visible in the street's puddles. I sit on a crumbling window ledge three stories up, hidden from view behind rusted steel beams. This used to be an apartment complex, but it's fallen into disrepair. Broken lanterns and glass shards litter the floor of this room, and paint is peeling from every wall. In one corner, an old portrait of the Elector Primo lies faceup on the ground. I wonder who used to live here—no one's cracked enough to let their portrait of the Elector sit discarded on the floor like that.

What are the rusted steel beams here ? I can't imagine what the the author is saying here.

Expression for "intend to help but instead making things worse"

Posted: 04 Jan 2022 09:03 PM PST

I want to say "someone (or something) intends to help, but instead it makes things worse". Is there any succinct expression or phrase for this?

What's the difference between direction and orientation? [closed]

Posted: 05 Jan 2022 06:22 AM PST

I frequently see these two words in 3D programming. For example:

the direction of the directional light

the orientation of camera

So, what's the difference between them?

What's the idiom for getting lost in a (malfunctioning) bureaucracy?

Posted: 05 Jan 2022 04:29 AM PST

In German, the noun "sand"1 has a verb form, versandet, which is used to express how items get completely lost in the bureaucracy of administration, and even are not done at a later stage. Is there a direct English equivalent of this verb? Failing that, what's the closest idiom?

I am trying the following translation:

  • German: Die Anfrage ist im Gebtriebe der Bürokratie versandet.
  • English: The request got lost in the bowels of the administration.

But I am not happy with it because my impression is that the verb got lost expresses that something unexpected happened, whereas the original German meaning is that the administration is not properly functioning. Also, I want to make it clear that the problem is not with the request - it's not getting lost because it's too complicated or anything like that.

1 Yes, it's exactly the same word, with the same meaning, in German and English

"To start" vs "to get started"

Posted: 05 Jan 2022 04:30 AM PST

What are the differences in meaning and usage between "to start" and "to get started"?

Are there any cases in which these variants are not interchangeable? I feel that there are. For example, this page looks less natural with its Start tab than it would with a Getting Started tab. I cannot see why there is a difference. Could you please explain?

Future perfect progressive

Posted: 04 Jan 2022 11:18 PM PST

When is the future perfect progressive used? I am trying to understand in which cases it should be used, but I cannot find any practice examples of sentences using that tense.

I will have been loving.
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