Friday, March 11, 2022

Recent Questions - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange

Recent Questions - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange

What's good word to indicate addition, deletion and updation of employee data?

Posted: 11 Mar 2022 02:44 AM PST

We are creating a section in the our software that shows all added, deleted and updated( personal details updated). I am not able to think of word for this. Should "Changes" work?

What to say when i am seeking help from strangers?

Posted: 11 Mar 2022 02:02 AM PST

Say I found someone on a social network (Insta/Linkedin) who is at a place/position where I need some help. What is the word/phrase that I could use/say to sound polite, formal and requesting when I have to ask this person (who doesn't know me) for help. To be more precise, when asking for help soon after connecting/befriending a person.

For example

Hi X, Thanks for accepting my invite/request. I hope this doesn't sound... that I am seeking help with this opening in your company.

I thought that I could say " I hope this doesn't sound imposing" but it doesn't sound right.

What's the verb for the mere act of saying goodbye to someone? [duplicate]

Posted: 11 Mar 2022 01:33 AM PST

In English there's a specific verb for "say hello", greet. What's the specific equivalent verb for "say goodbye"? Some of the alternatives listed here like see off and see out seem to involve physically following someone to the door. But what if I only want to refer to the act of saying alone. For example, when I tell my child to say goodbye to someone and I don't necessarily ask them to show the guest the door but do so myself. There are situations where using the phrase say hello is inappropriate and greet is a better alternative (in literary prose, or in discussions about non-English-centric cultures for example), so I wonder if there's an alternative to say goodbye.

The Italian word ciao is used both to greet and to ___ someone.

Is there an antonym for the verb 'besiege'?

Posted: 11 Mar 2022 01:48 AM PST

I am trying, and failing, to find an appropriate and succint way of describing an individual's action in occupying a secure building to the exclusion of all others as a protest.

I could say 'he besieges himself' in the building. 'Takes-over' and 'occupies' come close, but do not really explain that he has locked everyone else, including the authorities out.

My ususal online sources have failed me, and I feel like there is some word or phrasing that I am missing here. Any ideas?

How to understand 'all of which he pushes a baby stroller'

Posted: 10 Mar 2022 09:04 PM PST

I have difficulty understanding the middle part of the sentence:

He carries just a tent, a sleeping bag and a few basic supplies, all of which he pushes a baby stroller, as he found that it requires less effort than carrying a backpack.

I know it's a relative clause, but is it grammatically correct?

About sequence of tenses

Posted: 11 Mar 2022 02:30 AM PST

I assumed that coffee has a diuretic effect, but I found out that this is just a superstition.

In this sentence, should "has" and "is" respectively be changed into "had" and "was"?

What do we call a specific place we visit with a specific person?

Posted: 10 Mar 2022 11:04 PM PST

What do we call a place that we often visit with a specific person whenever we meet? For example, when I go out with my old friends, we go to the same place we used to 2-3 years before.

Unidentified word or construction

Posted: 11 Mar 2022 12:37 AM PST

There is a puzzling sequence of words in the following text (bold type).

We live in a society in which money is needed to survive. Unfortunately, many people work in no-end jobs just to have some money to get by. Petey's job is simple and pasts his time well, whether he likes it or not. Stanley, once a pianist, left his job to live by the sea. For what ever reason Stanley left, he ran away. Like Stanley, many people leave jobs behind to find something else or to escape working all together.

I first thought of a verb unknown to me, the verb "to past" used in the third person singular of the present; however, there is no such verb in the usual dictionaries.

Cambridge, Merriam-Webster, OALD, lexico

The SOED gives no further clue, except for the mention of an obsolete past participle of the verb "to pass", and anyway, this possibility, if one accounts for the ending s as a typing error, seems to be no solution, that being so in view of the resulting syntax and meaning.

There is an apparent solution if the form "pasts" is reckoned with as the preposition (again, final s would be an error), but then "well" at the end makes for a bizarre expression, while "well past his time" is difficult to understand (no interpretation seems satisfactory to me).

Would someone see a way out of this conundrum?

What is the parenthetical plural of words ending in '-is' (followed by another parenthetical plural)?

Posted: 10 Mar 2022 05:45 PM PST

For example:

A diagnosis(es) and remedy(s) remain elusive as we continue to seek help from various medical professionals.

I could reword but it sounds a little...wordy. Plus, if not also spelled out, "remedy(s)" then seems inconsistent:

A diagnosis (or diagnoses) and remedy(s) remain elusive as we continue to seek help from various medical professionals.

How to use "Some more so than others"?

Posted: 10 Mar 2022 05:51 PM PST

Consider the following sentence:

Americans all around the world felt a sense of pride, some more so than others.

Is such a usage of the phrase correct?

Can "life" be used in reference to more than one person?

Posted: 10 Mar 2022 08:04 PM PST

Is it grammatically correct to use the word life in the singular when referring to more than one person?

I found the following sentences in the Corpus of Contemporary American English.

a. we can save the life of many of these patients.

b. Clearly, CPR has been credited for saving the life of many.

Differences : get dressed/ dress up/ be dressed/ get dressed up to the nines?

Posted: 10 Mar 2022 11:04 PM PST

Which one is correct?

(1) It's a formal occasion so we'll have to get dressed to the nines - no jeans and pullovers this time.

(2) It's a formal occasion so we'll have to dress up to the nines - no jeans and pullovers this time.

(3) It's a formal occasion so we'll have to get dressed up to the nines - no jeans and pullovers this time.

CAMBRIDGE DICTIONARY - dressed (up) to the nines (informal) =to be wearing fashionable or formal clothes for a special occasion

I wonder whether the phrase " get dressed up" actually exists or not because I can't find any native material including it except some examples written by my country-non-native English speaking country.

Word for "a cluster of couches around a coffee table"

Posted: 11 Mar 2022 01:53 AM PST

Is there a word for a cluster of couches around a coffee table, as seen in nightclubs and hotel lobbies? Something like this:

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Pronunciation of "of" and "off": Is the similarity of f=/v/, ff=/f/ to Welsh a coincidence?

Posted: 10 Mar 2022 05:20 PM PST

In English, both f and ff are usually pronounced /f/, though there are of course exceptions. Probably the most common exception is of (/ɒv/ or /əv/), while off is of course /ɒf/. These two closely related words come from Old English (etymonline: of; off), in which apparently (Wikipedia) /f/ and /v/ were allophones.

This pattern matches the way Welsh is written. For example the loanword platfform will be familiar to anyone who's ever boarded a train in Wales. Wikipedia on Brittonicisms in English doesn't mention these consonants.

Is this just a coincidence, or is there some historical reason for this spelling?

'Grasshopper' as a term for a neophyte

Posted: 11 Mar 2022 01:59 AM PST

What is the origin of using the word "grasshopper" as a term for a neophyte or trainee? The most reliable reference I have is Urban Dictionary, who claims that it is from a 1970's television series called Kung Fu.

I would also be curious to know if this is a term which appears only in American English, or in other countries as well.
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