Recent Questions - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange |
- Loan-word for a relaxed cultural attitude towards opening and closing times
- Are Complements of Objects Considered 'Predicative' and 'Locative'?
- Describe the agreement between model and experiments [closed]
- How can I find out how many times a word or phrase has been used in a specified time period in English-language newspapers and magazines? [closed]
- How much do native speakers use "seeking an audience"? [closed]
- What is the female equivalent of a 'monk'? [closed]
- How to understand “wouldn’t” here
- Can the idiom "fall off the wagon" be said to be "chiefly American"?
- What is the correct use of dashes in complex phrasal adjectives in British English used in scientific writing?
- Best Regards or Best regards [closed]
- Punctuation with declarative sentence in narration
- Word to describe being happy yet sad [duplicate]
- Are dashes required for adjectives ending in -ic, -al or -ive used to modify other words that collectively form a phrase modifying a noun? [duplicate]
- Unnecessary preposition "of" in qualifiers
- 'no fewer than' and 'not fewer than'
- What is finished the verb or the object?
- How do you find the subject with two groups and a who after it?
- What is the term for the name tags before dialogue in a play?
- I'm looking for a descriptive word for someone who only sees things the way they want to see them [duplicate]
- Does "expecting" mean "pregnant" exactly?
- Is "Mandation" a valid word?
- Proper way to cite Wikipedia according to the Chicago Manual of Style?
- Is the use of 'shew' and 'glew' as the past tense of 'show' and 'glow' commonplace in some areas?
- Etymology of 'doylum'
- "How big of a problem" vs. "how big a problem"
| Loan-word for a relaxed cultural attitude towards opening and closing times Posted: 20 Feb 2022 12:06 PM PST "No customers, so I closed early. Xxxxx, right?" For example, a recent visitor to Hawaii described stores closing hours before the posted times on occasional days "just because" Santa Cruz CA restaurants would bemoan the difficulty of staff attendence when the surf was up What is a good term for the cultural-wide, relative absence of punctuality? |
| Are Complements of Objects Considered 'Predicative' and 'Locative'? Posted: 20 Feb 2022 11:50 AM PST Subjects can take two types of complements: predicative (adjectives and nominals) and locative. Is this the same for objects? Examples:
Traditionally, we would call these 'object complements' (the latter possibly an adverbial complement). However, Wikipedia says that the designation of 'predicative complement' applies to both subjects and objects. There isn't much detail to explain why. My understanding is that the predicate completes the subject, so I would be interested in a more complete analysis. |
| Describe the agreement between model and experiments [closed] Posted: 20 Feb 2022 09:29 AM PST I am writing a academic proposal for a project. In the literature review, I have mentioned the advantages of the numerical model I will use for this project. The model predictions were in good agreement with the measurements of the mole fraction over a range of different distances. This come from a graph where volume fraction is plotted against distance.
I need to emphasize the model not only accurately predicts the mole fraction at each distance, but it reproduces the overall trend of data. I want to express this in a simple and concise manner. My initial thought was to say that "the model successfully reproduces value and trend of the mole fraction". However, I noticed that the word "value" is a financial term that could confuse the audience of the proposal who are fluid mechanics professors. How can I explain this with proper words? My intention is to highlight the model's accuracy for each data point and its capability to reproduce the overall trend of the data. |
| Posted: 20 Feb 2022 08:52 AM PST I am planning to do a blog about English-language usage, and would like to know how to find usage-frequency of specific words and phrases (e.g,, "in regards to" and "in regard to"). |
| How much do native speakers use "seeking an audience"? [closed] Posted: 20 Feb 2022 07:38 AM PST I wonder if native speakers use the expression "seeking an audience" on a daily basis? |
| What is the female equivalent of a 'monk'? [closed] Posted: 20 Feb 2022 07:54 AM PST I don't exactly know what the author of this task had in mind, but I am supposed to fill in female equivalents for different words and I stumbled across this. The only idea I have is a "nun" but I am not sure whether it is the same. |
| How to understand “wouldn’t” here Posted: 20 Feb 2022 09:53 AM PST
I just interpret the sentence " we wouldn't see him want anything while he was in it." as: when he was alive, he wanted nothing that we knew. That sounds strange. And I find some book will translate it to the meaning like "when he was alive, we gave all we can to him." Or "when he was alive, we never let him lack of anything" I think if the sentence can interpret like "when he was alive, he wanted nothing that we knew"(there is a under meaning that "we had given all we can give so that he wanted nothing" ) |
| Can the idiom "fall off the wagon" be said to be "chiefly American"? Posted: 20 Feb 2022 12:01 PM PST I read an answer on another site which referred to the idiom of falling off the wagon as being "chiefly American". That got me curious since I would have thought that this particular idiom is shared by both sides of the pond. I tried an NGram of fall off vs drive the wagon, and could find hits on both their BrE and their AmE corpus, but of course that isn't really conclusive as there's no way to compare. There is a hint though as I noticed that there is a clear hike in usage in BrE in the past few years (after 2000), so that could indicate that it used to be less common in BrE. This makes sense since the idiom itself is attested from 1904, but it apparently arose in the US during prohibition, so it likely was indeed more common in the US at the turn of the century. Is that still the case today? Can we still say this is "chiefly" an AmE expression or is it now simply an English language one understood and used in both AmE and BrE (and others, presumably) equally? |
| Posted: 19 Feb 2022 09:41 PM PST Are dashes used correctly according to British English rules in the phrases below that appear in published peer-reviewed scientific journals and related articles? If not, why not and what is the correct rule of grammar in British English? The answer to How should a multiple-word noun be punctuated within a compound adjective? provides rules from US style guides only and does not sufficiently clarify hyphenation rules to determine correct use in British English for the specific phrases below. Feral predator-free area (an area that is free of feral predators; also used to describe project, ecosystem, haven etc.) Feral-predator free habitat (a habitat from which feral predators have been removed) Camera trapping-survey design (the design of a survey of animals using camera-traps) Camera-trap sampling designs (designs for sampling animal populations using camera-traps) Predator baiting program (a program to reduce the number of predators, such as feral cats, through poison baiting) Feral cat control strategy (also feral cat baiting programs) Invasive predator control programs (a program to control invasive predators) Feral cat poison baiting event (a single event where poison baits were distributed to control feral cats) I am not concerned with punctuation for compound nouns or adjectives within the phrases, but rather the correct punctuation for the entire phrase as it appears in published work. Each phrase could be written as a full sentence but in scientific writing it is preferable to be concise, especially when concepts are referred to repeatedly. Sources of examples: 01) https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/topics/parks-reserves-and-protected-areas/park-management/return-of-threatened-and-declining-species/feral-predator-free-areas |
| Best Regards or Best regards [closed] Posted: 20 Feb 2022 06:25 AM PST My Gmail suggests using the following I do not understand why "Regards" is capitalized in this case. Should it not be: |
| Punctuation with declarative sentence in narration Posted: 19 Feb 2022 02:28 PM PST I have two versions of this sentence:
Or should it be
So where do the comma and exclamation point go? This comes up with comma and question marks as well. |
| Word to describe being happy yet sad [duplicate] Posted: 19 Feb 2022 02:15 PM PST What is a word that means both happy and a bit sad? As when you finish a really good book that you were totally immersed in and had the perfect ending. You are so pleased with the story yet sad that it is over. Could also apply to people and relationships. I know there is a word for this yet I can't call it forward. (not bittersweet) |
| Posted: 19 Feb 2022 03:36 PM PST The following phrases appear in scientific articles without dashes to form compound words within a phrase modifying a noun. Is the grammar correct, or should one or more dashs be used in some or all cases? Definitions for terms are provided in parentheses.
Sources of examples:
|
| Unnecessary preposition "of" in qualifiers Posted: 19 Feb 2022 06:08 PM PST I notice that people will use "of a"/"of an" when describing a quality of something, rather than "a"/"an" alone. I would only add the "of" in a quantifier. In my personal experience, it's more prevalent amongst American English speakers, which is supported by Ngram Viewer: British English and American English. It appears not to be dominant in either dialect. Some examples:
vs.
and
vs.
I see it as bad grammar but am I wrong? In a quantifier it feels natural, e.g.:
|
| 'no fewer than' and 'not fewer than' Posted: 20 Feb 2022 11:56 AM PST I'm having a little issue with 'fewer' and 'less', but looking online, I can't seem to find the answer to my particular query. The difference between 'no less than' and 'not less than' is discussed in a fair few places, but I can't find anything on the difference between 'no fewer than' and 'not fewer than'. Is 'not fewer than' grammatically incorrect, and if not, is the difference between 'no' and 'not' the same with 'fewer' as with 'no less than' and 'not less than'? |
| What is finished the verb or the object? Posted: 20 Feb 2022 11:43 AM PST Is it definitely wrong to say? A: What did you do yesterday? A: What did you do yesterday? A: What did you do yesterday? I read /rɛd/ Tom Sawyer to my son almost every night. (I didn't read the whole book every night, only several pages) "Did you read the Bible yesterday?" |
| How do you find the subject with two groups and a who after it? Posted: 20 Feb 2022 12:01 PM PST O George, the man of the year, who [IS or ARE] the bright spot of the world, lead us by your example! A friend said George is the subject and therefore it should be IS. I say Who which becomes You and so it should be ARE. Help please! |
| What is the term for the name tags before dialogue in a play? Posted: 19 Feb 2022 02:40 PM PST I remember my professor from years ago providing a specific technical term for the abbreviated name tags in front of dialogue in a play, e.g. So: The Athenians don't just call it a suit, Euthyphro, but a public indictment. Euth: What do you mean, Socrates? Someone has indicted you, I suppose, since I certainly wouldn't condemn you of the opposite, you indicting someone else. Another post asked a similar question, Term for the identification of the person speaking in a dialogue, but none of the answers (character name, character cue, interlocutor), seem to be the term I'm looking for. It might just be an obscure academic term that has since been simplified to character name, but if anyone can recall a different term, please let me know. |
| Posted: 19 Feb 2022 08:09 PM PST I'm looking for a word that refers to someone who only sees things the way they want to see them. "She just can't seem to take someone else's view into account. She's very ____." Something along those lines. |
| Does "expecting" mean "pregnant" exactly? Posted: 19 Feb 2022 02:37 PM PST The term expecting is often used as if it means "pregnant", as shown by Merriam-Webster (for the verb expect)
and Oxford Dictionaries says
but logically you can only be expecting if you are knowingly pregnant and anticipating a successful conclusion. There seem to be two issues here. One is how we should use terms that are metaphorical in origins in particular contexts where the original meaning seems to be the opposite of the derived meaning. The other is whether we should go by the dictionary when we suspect the dictionary writers were not specific enough in their definition. Note that this question was motivated by a news report that said that surgeons "discovered that [Ebony, who did not previously know she was pregnant] was expecting a baby [while she was in a coma], and I thought, "How could she be expecting a baby or anything else whilst in a coma?" |
| Posted: 20 Feb 2022 06:12 AM PST Is mandation a valid word? If it is, then what are its proper uses? I have heard people using this as a synonym to mandate; however, I am not exactly sure that it is a valid word. |
| Proper way to cite Wikipedia according to the Chicago Manual of Style? Posted: 20 Feb 2022 12:03 PM PST In The Chicago Manual of Style, 16th ed., it actually lists two ways to cite Wikipedia content. The first, in section 14.245, is of the form:
The second, in section 14.248, is of the form:
It's not clear which form to use when. That aside, what if I want to refer to a particular section for an entry. For example, assuming I use the second form above, I could do:
In order to put the name of the section in italics, I thought it best to un-italicize "Wikipedia." Thoughts? |
| Is the use of 'shew' and 'glew' as the past tense of 'show' and 'glow' commonplace in some areas? Posted: 19 Feb 2022 01:57 PM PST A friend informed me recently that in some areas of England (he named Suffolk) it is relatively common to find 'incorrect' past tenses being used. His examples were:
So, can anyone corroborate this or was he pulling my leg? And if this is true are there any other common 'incorrect' past tenses being used out there? What if, for example, in Suffolk some think the past tense of wink follows the same rules as drink and sink? It could be rather embarrassing. |
| Posted: 20 Feb 2022 02:42 AM PST Doylum was a word commonly used in Leeds, Yorkshire, North of England, where I grew up in the 1960s/70s. It basically means idiot - "What a doylum!" At the time I thought this was strictly a Leeds word, but a quick search online finds it is still used and appears to be very popular with fans of Newcastle United and Hartlepool football teams. What this says about their quality of players I really couldn't say. |
| "How big of a problem" vs. "how big a problem" Posted: 20 Feb 2022 11:40 AM PST Quite a few phrases in English are constructed like so:
This is the question form of the construction, which is often answered with the negative:
or the positive:
However, from time to time I'll hear the word 'of' inserted before the 'a', e.g.:
This usually sounds wrong to me, with the exception of the case where the adjective 'much' is used. So, this sounds fine to my ear:
whereas this doesn't:
Why is it that 'much' should be used with 'of', and other adjectives not? Is it because 'much' is seen as measuring a quantity (of something), whereas other adjectives that may be used in this construction are seen as measuring the quality of a whole thing? |
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