Recent Questions - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange |
- What's the English equivalent for the French academia-related expression "hors sujet"?
- What's the word for working on something not as good as expected to make it better?
- Do you know the meaning of this phrase:"you fracture me!" [closed]
- What's the difference between class and category?
- What's the meaning of "David Spade"? [closed]
- charge $10 from/to me?
- Is the construction "[only/merely/just + infinitive]" grammatical?
- I have a problem in inversion [closed]
- Is vs. are - which should I use when referring to multiple things
- Looking for a "thing" word
- What is the difference between "by the method "and "with the method "?
- Can I say: "Used to drink everyday, but now I've finished" (as "done with it")
- What does 'Big Hand, Small Map' mean?
- Is it possible for a sentence to have a direct object and predicate adjective?
- Simple vs Continuous in the Past Tense and in the Future Tense
- What is the meaning of "paint it black" and when to use it?
- Term to mean a different person conjugation?
- Why is a tie in Tic-Tac-Toe called a "Cat's Game?"
- Single word adjective for 'temperature-related'
- "log in to" or "log into" or "login to"
| What's the English equivalent for the French academia-related expression "hors sujet"? Posted: 20 Apr 2022 11:51 PM PDT In the French high school and university system, when students write an essay about a precise topic (e.g. "Is discussing renouncing violence?", Bac 2021), and the content of the essay is judged as not treating this precise topic (resulting in general from the misunderstanding of the topic by the student), the essay is said to be "hors sujet" ('off topic'). (1) Is there an exact same expression in English, with a similar usage (in terms of contexts of use and frequency of use)? Or is "hors sujet" a Franco-French expression, with no exact parallel in Anglo-saxon countries? (2) How to best translate the French academia-related expression "hors sujet" in English? |
| What's the word for working on something not as good as expected to make it better? Posted: 21 Apr 2022 12:07 AM PDT For example, I finished my work on a project. I though I did well and there's no need to return to working on it, but after some testing turns out I was wrong. So I need to "re-work" on the project. What's a better word for "re-work"? I'd like to emphasize that the previous work is not as good as expected. What if I also need to imply that extra time/effort is invested but it could've been avoided? On a second thought, is this possible with a single word or would it be better if I put this in a sentence? |
| Do you know the meaning of this phrase:"you fracture me!" [closed] Posted: 20 Apr 2022 07:20 PM PDT Could you please show me the meaning of "you fracture me!"? |
| What's the difference between class and category? Posted: 20 Apr 2022 07:03 PM PDT George Firican said the ER (entity relationship) is different for classification and categorization. The ERs according to him For classification
For categorization
That would mean classes are mutually exclusive, and categories aren't. There are many synonyms for this where I don't know the difference (set, class, group, category, type, kind, branch, bracket, division, etc.). |
| What's the meaning of "David Spade"? [closed] Posted: 20 Apr 2022 07:05 PM PDT I was watching "Last man standing" recently, and there was a line that confused me. Why do they talk about the David Spade after the Russian mobsters? For your information, the plot is about parents talking about their daughter wanna be a teen model. Here is the context. |
| Posted: 20 Apr 2022 06:25 PM PDT Double-object verbs can be used in two structures, e.g. He gave me this book. = He gave this book to me. What about 'charge' (in the sense of asking for payment)? For 'They charged me $10.', what should be the preposition in 'They charged $10 to/from me.'? I know 'They charged me $10.' is the usual way to say it, but sometimes the description of the person charged can be very long (e.g. They charged Mr. Smith of the operations department of ABC Company $10.). 'to' is suggested ('Please charge this amount to my credit card/my account.') here: Charge payment "to", "on", or "against" a credit card/an account; charge a credit card/account/a person "with"an amount But this sounds like an accounting context. Is it the same for the case above? |
| Is the construction "[only/merely/just + infinitive]" grammatical? Posted: 20 Apr 2022 06:07 PM PDT Consider this sentence:
Is this grammatical? Why? It's a little like a coordinating conjunction, except that the elements aren't parallel -- that is, the intended meaning is the opposite of this:
|
| I have a problem in inversion [closed] Posted: 20 Apr 2022 05:50 PM PDT Can someone please tell me... What would be the answer and why is that? Q.) Across the Chesapeake Bay from the rest of the state ________, whose farms produce beans, tomatoes, and other garden vegetables. (a) there lies Maryland's Eastern Shore (b) lies lies Maryland's Eastern Shore |
| Is vs. are - which should I use when referring to multiple things Posted: 20 Apr 2022 02:07 PM PDT I am conflicted on what is the correct/better construction of this sentence. My original phrasing was: "Upstairs, there are digital menu boards and seating for up to 15 guests." But would I not want to use "is" when referring to two things? Second construction: "Upstairs, there is seating for up to 15 guests and digital menu boards." I switched things around because putting "is" before "digital menu boards" sounded awkward. Thoughts? |
| Posted: 20 Apr 2022 10:53 PM PDT Looking for an all purpose word that can replace "thing" referring to a device or artifact. "I had a USB stick, a cable and other things in my bag." |
| What is the difference between "by the method "and "with the method "? Posted: 20 Apr 2022 10:01 PM PDT Which is gramatically correct to say? ; I have gained 500 USD by this new method. I have gained 500 USD with this new method |
| Can I say: "Used to drink everyday, but now I've finished" (as "done with it") Posted: 20 Apr 2022 05:04 PM PDT So that's pretty much my question. It's needed for a rhyme. I know it sounds better and makes more sense with "im done..", but I was just trying to fit the word "finished" in there for a rhyme scheme. In case I can't use "finished" I'll just go with "done with it", even though it's going be a lot harder to rhyme my other words ;) Thank You! |
| What does 'Big Hand, Small Map' mean? Posted: 20 Apr 2022 06:16 PM PDT I heard someone saying that a few days ago, but provided the context, I still couldn't grasp what he meant with that. By the way, I didn't find it on the internet either. |
| Is it possible for a sentence to have a direct object and predicate adjective? Posted: 20 Apr 2022 07:19 PM PDT In school, I was taught that action verbs have direct objects and linking verbs have predicate adjectives or nominatives; however, some verbs seem to use both simultaneously. For example, in "I made it blue," made seems to have both a direct object it and a predicate adjective blue. In the early stages of my adverb obsession, I suspected that "All men are created equal" should be "All men are created equally"1 mostly because it was not clear to me how equal as an adjective could be validly placed in that position. Thinking of it as "[unspecified subject] created all men equal", men seems to be the direct object. But then what to do with equal? Is it possible for a sentence to have a direct object and predicate adjective, or is something else going on here that I'm not seeing? 1I have since realized that they express distinct ideas, the equality of the process of creation and the equality of the created men respectively. |
| Simple vs Continuous in the Past Tense and in the Future Tense Posted: 20 Apr 2022 11:01 PM PDT Even though I understand the difference between the simple and the continuous aspect of the English tense system, I sometimes struggle to understand what each of these two aspects expresses in some past and future contexts. Let me give you two examples:
I get the meaning expressed by the past simple and the future simple in the above example sentences but I`m not feeling the continuous. Could you tell me what meaning does the continuous aspect convey in those? |
| What is the meaning of "paint it black" and when to use it? Posted: 20 Apr 2022 05:21 PM PDT I stumbled upon the phrase "paint it black" in a tv series (Elementary) and was wondering what does it exactly mean? Also, in which situations would you use it normally? Except when you tell the painter which color you want your oven. :p Asking Google always returns to the Rolling Stones' song and people talk about depression, but I don't feel like that really fits here. Also the person in the series is using the sentence to give his snipers the green light for an attack. Is it understandable for everyone to start firing when you hear the sentence or is it more like a codeword they must have agreed on beforehand? Any explanations and insights are mostly welcome! |
| Term to mean a different person conjugation? Posted: 20 Apr 2022 09:06 PM PDT Recently, someone said the following, in a chat room: "You're an adult and that means it's your turn to decide what that means." I knew that came from something I recognized, and it turns out it is referring to this xkcd comic, which instead says "we're grownups now, and it's our turn to decide what that means". I was trying to explain to someone I was talking to via voice that they had quoted that comic, but I couldn't find a way to easily convey the shift from the original comic's use of first person plural, and the chatter's use of second person singular. Is there a word or phrase that easily denotes that shift? |
| Why is a tie in Tic-Tac-Toe called a "Cat's Game?" Posted: 20 Apr 2022 09:29 PM PDT Back in grade school whenever we played a game of Tic-Tac-Toe (X's and O's) and the result was a tie, we would call it a "Cat's Game." I've never heard this term applied to a tie in any other circumstance and was interested in where this term came from and why it seems to be unique to Tic-Tac-Toe. |
| Single word adjective for 'temperature-related' Posted: 20 Apr 2022 03:06 PM PDT As temporal is the adjective which describes things relating to time, is there such a (non-hyphenated) word for temperature? The hyphenated 'temperature-related' works, but I'm curious about non-hyphenated ones. For context, I'm looking for an equivalent phrase to "one's culinary preferences" but with the word as described above. Google has thus far been unhelpful in my search, though it did lead me to this fantastic list: Adjectives of Relation. |
| "log in to" or "log into" or "login to" Posted: 20 Apr 2022 04:09 PM PDT When writing an instruction about connecting to a computer using ssh, telnet, etc., I'm not sure what spacing to use in this familiar spoken phrase:
Maybe this is entirely subjective or the realm of industry jargon, but I couldn't think of anywhere else to ask. Any insight? |
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