Monday, May 2, 2022

Recent Questions - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange

Recent Questions - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange

Is it correct "I have been reading the book three hours."?

Posted: 02 May 2022 08:34 AM PDT

Compare the two sentences below：

A: I have been reading the book for three hours.

B: I have been reading the book three hours.

My questions:

  • Are both correct?
  • If yes, which one is more natural?
  • If yes, is there any subtle difference between them two?

Attributive nouns in science [duplicate]

Posted: 02 May 2022 06:29 AM PDT

I see more and more articles in scientific journals, where attributive nouns use plural. To me they sound really strange and non-intuitive.

'materials science' 'materials design'

To me they should be 'material science' in general terms. Is there a rule for this?

How to use neither and nor in this sentence [closed]

Posted: 02 May 2022 05:50 AM PDT

Here is my question: I can not stand. I can not sit. We need to use connectors here (Neither and nor).

Could you please tell me the correct one and the why behind it?

I can neither stand not sit. Or Neither I can stand nor sit.

It came in my today's exam. Can they both be correct? Why?

Hearing the commercial saying “ how I was able to afforded this car” [closed]

Posted: 02 May 2022 03:05 AM PDT

It sounds like the incorrect usage of the word "Afforded"

I think "How I was afforded the opportunity to purchase this car/vehicle" sounds likely to be more correct?

Or "How I was able to afford this car/vehicle" ?

Alternative to the overused "I'm looking forward to hearing from you soon" [closed]

Posted: 02 May 2022 04:23 AM PDT

I'm looking for a good substitute for the overused:

I'm looking forward to hearing from you soon.

in formal e-mails. Would:

I hope to hear from you soon and I would be pleased to receive your feedback.

Be a good alternative?

Is "information and data" a redundant duplet in this context?

Posted: 02 May 2022 01:31 AM PDT

I understand information and data are not the same.

Here are the two main differences I have found:

Therefore it seems that "data" is a hyponym of information characterised by being discrete items collected for a purpose.

Sometimes data is also said to be a "source" of information, although I am not convinced by this explanation as it seems to convey a subjective concept of information. I'm not denying such usage but I find more useful to think about information as something objectively present in many forms (data being one of them), whether it is used by somebody or not. In this view, data is not a source of information, it is information.

So in my understanding, for most practical purposes, data is a form of information, and therefore the following duplet is redundant:

to guarantee the confidentiality of information and data

and can be safely avoided by just saying

to guarantee the confidentiality of information

Would you agree or am I missing something?

"I wonder" when we're thinking out loud

Posted: 02 May 2022 01:35 AM PDT

The phone's ringing. Who's it for, I wonder?

Or:

I wonder what time the store opens.

There are some materials I have made acquaintance with: https://youtu.be/BdaQ55-JlPg https://grammarhow.com/i-was-wondering-vs-i-am-wondering-vs-i-wonder/

The problem that all these and some other resources do not explain anything. They just state a fact: use present simple here.

The girl in the video explains:

We use "I wonder" when we're thinking out loud. But as we're thinking out loud we don't always want an answer or expect an answer.

So, this is not an exmpalation. This is just stating a fact.

From grammar point of view I could suppose the following explanations.

  1. Performative verb. You ask yourself a question. And as you ask it, the action is finished.
  2. Stative verb.
  3. A single action going on at the moment of speaking and which is not viewed in its progress.

Could you help me understand this? I mean why definitely the present simple, but not present progressive is used to express a question when we are thinking out loud.

I'm absolutely confused about this case.

Is this "upspeak" or something else?

Posted: 02 May 2022 02:22 AM PDT

I am reviewing a book (fiction) where the following type of sentence occurs frequently:

  • That dumb suggestion? That just made me angry. [That dumb suggestion just made me angry.]
  • You and I? We're in this together now. [You and I are in this together now.]
  • And on that note? I expect to meet with you two again. [And on that note, I expect to meet with you two again.]
  • The fewer things drawing attention to us? The safer our family. [The fewer things drawing attention to us, the safer our family.]

My first thought was that this is a type of upspeak, with a sentence fragment that is neither an actual nor an implied question ending with a rising pitch, as indicated by the question mark. However, this is not the stereotypical "Valley Girl" speech pattern, where a complete declarative sentence ends with a rising pitch. Instead, what could otherwise be a complete sentence is divided in two, with the first part of it emphasized by the rising pitch at the end.

Is this simply a variety of upspeak, or is this something different? Is there a name for this? Is this standard, albeit informal, English, or is it incorrect?

Should I use "portion" or "proportion"?

Posted: 01 May 2022 10:25 PM PDT

I have some balls, and some percentage q \in (0, 100%) of them are green (for example, q = 30% or 1/3). Should I say

"A portion q of the balls are green" or

"A proportion q of the balls are green"?

Or any other way I can express it clearly?

Thank you!

What is the meaning of "He scowled ahead of him"?

Posted: 02 May 2022 12:28 AM PDT

Reading Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse, I just found the expression "He scowled ahead of him" and it struck me as something I'd never heard or read before. The context is that this guy is sitting on a dinner table with a lot of other people and brooding.

But in that one sentence lay compact, like gunpowder, that his grandfather was a fisherman; his father a chemist; that he had worked his way up entirely himself; that he was proud of it; that he was Charles Tansley—a fact that nobody there seemed to realize; but one of these days every single person would know it. He scowled ahead of him. He could almost pity these mild cultivated people, who would be blown sky high, like bales of wool and barrels of apples, one of these days by the gunpowder that was in him.

Maybe I'm reading too much into this, but I've really never encountered the expression before, and I can't find any reference to it being an idiom. Is "scowl ahead [of one]" a common English expression, or is it quirky or literary?

Apostrophes in sentences with implied words

Posted: 02 May 2022 08:09 AM PDT

From a card game where the question is:

How many apostrophes are in the following sentence?

"Thats a bigger car than any of my brothers friends."

Does "friends" need an apostrophe because the implied phrase is "than any of my brother's friends' cars are."

'No turn unstoned' - what's this called?

Posted: 02 May 2022 04:06 AM PDT

I'm wondering if there's a word to describe a phrase that swaps the first part of several words in a sentence, like 'leave no stone unturned' switching to 'no turn unstoned'.

I know a spoonerism is to switch the first letter of several words ('dats and cogs'), but is it still a spoonerism if you're switching more than one letter?

What is the term for a electrical generator's present power-generation setting with respect to its nominal capacity?

Posted: 02 May 2022 07:22 AM PDT

Sometimes people refer to how much electrical power a power generator is currently generating, but not in units of power (such as Watts), but as a percentage of its maximum capability.

The first example that comes to mind is from the movie The Hunt for Red October, where a submarine captain who needs to get somewhere in a hurry asks about "going to 105 [percent] on the reactor," i.e. he wants to run the generator at 105% of its... design-maximum something so he can travel faster than the sub's normal maximum speed.

This kind of thing comes up in other fiction, especially Star Trek. But since the context provides so much, the language used (whether dialogue or narration) always seems to omit the specific term for whatever property or setting this is. The example above seems typical.

The only word I've ever heard with any consistency is "level," as in "what's the reactor level?", but it seems pretty clear to me that this is also just conversational shorthand, since it clearly omits some phrase that identifies which level.

It is irrelevant to me whether a change to this performance characteristic is accomplished by turning a single knob vs adjusting very many settings in concert. I'm looking for the term that refers to the observable outcome, not the names of the pieces of machinery that must be adjusted.

What is the correct, precise term that unambiguously for this performance characteristic?

In other words: if a nuclear reactor had a gauge that showed this value, how would it be labeled? (That is my actual use-case: I need to label a readout.)

implied subject complement

Posted: 01 May 2022 12:41 PM PDT

Can a necessary subject complement be understood from the context? It seems as if it ought to be, but I'm puzzled anyway. For example, "Vanilla is my favorite; chocolate is not."

What is it called when two words that sound similar combine into one word?

Posted: 01 May 2022 12:18 PM PDT

When English came into contact with the Vikings and the Normans, many words were borrowed. But Old Norse and Norman French had some words that were cognates with English words or sounded similar. Old English and Old Norse were similar and thus shared cognates. Norman-French was influenced by Frankish and to some extent Old Norse. Old English also borrowed a few words from Latin (some also from Greek). Some words were also recognizable Indo-European cognates. This leads to words combining to form one word. Other times the words were completely unrelated but shared similar sounds and meanings. Sometimes this also happened with 2 Old English words.

I can't think of many examples but some are in, call, give, til, die, and from Norman French + Old English, bruise. What is this process of 2 words combining to form 1 word?

What are "double negatives" in English, and are they ever correct?

Posted: 01 May 2022 01:13 PM PDT

This is a followup to a comment exchange and particularly this comment over on ELL.

One user contends that a double negative is always wrong in standard English. This user also maintains that:

First, "un"-prefixed adjectives, etc, or verbs like "disagree", are not negatives in a grammatical sense. Secondly, a double-negative occurs when somebody uses two negative terms but actually means a negative (instead of a positive) result, such as "don't promise nothing", which is logically inconsistent with what was said, and therefore wrong.

I disagree. I maintain that such sentences as:

  • He is not unattractive.
  • He is not without charm
  • He doesn't have nothing but the clothes on his back.
  • This gem is not uncommon.
  • The price of the car is not insignificant.
  • The new disease wasn't non-infectious.
  • He wasn't irresponsible about his duties.
  • I can't get no satisfaction.
  • I don't disagree"
  • Mr. Jones wasn't incompetent.
  • We can't not go to sleep!
  • Nor did they fail to take account of it.
  • We don't need no badges!.

contain double negatives, and are mostly acceptable English. Is it correct to limit the term "double negative" to the situation "when somebody uses two negative terms but actually means a negative"? Can anyone supply an authoritative source for the usage of the term? I am already aware of the Wikipedia article but its citations are not wonderful.

"But not more than (being) satisfied with your work": identical alternatives?

Posted: 01 May 2022 05:58 PM PDT

This is the original passage:

It's very hard to feel motivated when all you consider important is your salary and job security. Therefore, if you want to change your work situation, it's important to first discover what kind of work makes you feel satisfied. How much you earn may matter, but not more than being satisfied with your job.

Could "but not more than being satisfied with your job" be identical to "but not more than satisfied with your job"? Could "being" be omitted here? It sounds awkward to me. I'd like to argue against it but don't know how to do it grammatically.

Is it possible you could see "being satisfied" as a shortened phrase of "how much you are satisfied" and then you drop "how much you are"? since "how much" is redundant and "you are" can be omitted following "than" as a conjugation?

"Agriculture" including only plants and excluding animals

Posted: 01 May 2022 12:36 PM PDT

In English, "agriculture" includes the cultivation of both plants and animals for food. In some languages, a cognate such as "agricultura" (in Spanish) may contemplate only plants and exclude animals. What would be the equivalent expression in English -- could it be "crop farming" or "crop agriculture"? Also note: in such languages, a different term exists for the combination of plant and animal cultivation: "agropecuaria" (in Spanish).

“What are” or “What is” in a quiz?

Posted: 02 May 2022 06:06 AM PDT

I want to ask a typical quiz question for children.

  • In a park, there are 10 bird boxes attached to several trees.

The answer in this particular case is plural: bird boxes.

Which question is correct?

  • A: What is hanging in the trees?

  • B: What are hanging in the trees?

B sounds all wrong to me, though more grammatically correct, but then, I'm not a native speaker.

B also gives some of the answer away.

More importantly, I wonder if B would be confusing for kids as it is unusual to hear it that way?

The one UK native speaking editor I asked recommended 'are', but I'm not convinced?

Thoughts?

"One of your chip's performance" or "One of your chips' performance"

Posted: 02 May 2022 06:26 AM PDT

What I mean to say is that you have several microchips, and I'm offering to boost the performance of one of them. In that case, is it correct to say ...?

You can improve...

  1. one of your chip's performance
  2. one of your chips' performance

Option 1 seems right to me, because I'm talking about the performance of a single chip, but option 2 seems right to me also, because just within the "one of your chips," as in "one of your chips broke down" the chips are obviously plural.

I understand that I could sidestep the issue and say something like "the performance of one of your chips", but I am nevertheless curious which one of the above would be correct.

Seeking a word with specific connotations of excessive, unashamed hypocrisy

Posted: 02 May 2022 04:45 AM PDT

There is a word, which I'm sure exists, but which has eluded me for the best part of a year; it's driven me so mad as to finally buckle and write this question in the hopes of drawing it out to the surface at last.

I'd tentatively define it as follows,

Of a person's action or comment that is so hypocritical as to be unbelievable* that they'd try to take such a position. *(The word itself could be used here to describe the unbelievably hypocritical behaviour)

The idiom, "That's rich (...coming from you)", sums up the sentiment, but if normal hypocritical behavior is rich, then the word I'm looking for is the mud-cake rich version of it.

Examples of situations where the word could be used to describe the (insert word) hypocritical nature,

  1. A dubious politician takes a hard stance against a respected senior public servant for allegedly making misleading comments.
  2. A social media influencer, who gains all their wealth from posting selfies to Instagram, has a go at society for its modern revelry in vanity.
  3. A wealthy individual, who pays substantial sums to accountants to maximise what benefits they receive from government initiatives, criticises people with disabilities who receive government welfare.
  4. One person, with extremely partisan political views, has a go at another person for their holding of their own extremely partisan political views.

An example sentence referencing an above scenario would be,

Their behaviour was utterly (insert word).

I've searched through various thesauruses without luck (merriam-webster, wordhippo, Macquarie, ect.). Two words that keep blocking my mind's eye are incredulous and egregious; I believe the word in question likely sounds similar to these, therefore. However, these don't fit as it has to relate specifically to the demonstration of excessive hypocrisy which is unpalatably rich.

Describing a person who is smirking or whose lips are pursed

Posted: 02 May 2022 04:56 AM PDT

What is a way to describe a person who is smirking or whose lips are pursed? I'm looking for a simple phrase or word that describes a series of conflicting and contradicting emotions being displayed by a person. The description of the behavior is in an effort to reveal vulnerability. This is to describe the behavior of primary characters in a screenplay.

Is this an appositive?

Posted: 02 May 2022 05:05 AM PDT

Keep up the great work you're doing, fighting for both animal and human rights.

And is following sentence grammatically correct?

Keep up the great work, fighting for both animal and human rights.

Why don't Yen and Yuan add an 's' in the plural form?

Posted: 01 May 2022 03:01 PM PDT

One says 10 Dollars or 10 Euros, but 10 Yen or 10 Yuan.
Why?

What is a word for someone who verbally and physically abuses others without remorse excessively?

Posted: 01 May 2022 08:01 PM PDT

There's a mother I know of who didn't see that there was anything wrong with physically whipping her own son naked for at least 13 minutes every day during his kindergarten years.

She wasn't even bothered by the state of the skin swellings she caused. She used cords and belts. This continued pretty much every day for the next 12 years until he finally moved to his father's home who abused him by using him as a "punching bag". He moved back to his mother's home a few years later but, although the physical abuse has stopped, she still shouts at him very often and clearly does not care how it makes him feel.

I'm not looking for a word that describes a disease or disorder because she clearly knows what she's doing. She only acts this way towards her son.

"It is worth mentioning" versus "it is worth to mention"

Posted: 01 May 2022 05:15 PM PDT

What's the right way to use the phrase it is worth? Which of the following two approaches is right, and how they are different?

  1. It is worth mentioning that [. . .]
  2. It is worth to mention that [. . .]

Word to describe flavor of anise, licorice, and fennel?

Posted: 01 May 2022 05:23 PM PDT

Is there a word to describe the flavor common to anise, licorice, and fennel? It tastes kind of sweet, but has a "bite".

Edit: here it is described as "licoricelike": http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/aniseed

Are "not uncommon" and similar phrases double negatives? Should their use be avoided?

Posted: 01 May 2022 11:04 PM PDT

When I think of double negatives I think of phrases that grate on the ears, like:

I'm not going to do no homework.

I'm never going to not go visit Graceland.

There are some phrases that appear to technically be considered a double negative, but seem more common and are, in my opinion, actually pleasing to the ear. And I've seen such uses in newspaper articles, magazine articles, and other edited content.

I'm referring to phrases like:

It's not uncommon for two people to meet serendipitously.

Baseball is not unlike golf - both are boring to watch without a beer in hand.

It's not unusual to be loved by anyone.

Are the above examples of double negatives? Should their use be avoided?
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