Saturday, May 21, 2022

Recent Questions - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange

Recent Questions - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange

How do you interpret ambiguous statements involving conjunctions?

Posted: 21 May 2022 02:12 AM PDT

Can I get your opinion on this? I must've asked at least ten English majors, and there doesn't seem to be a consensus.

How do you interpret the following statement?

At this time, the general market does not appear to recognize the metaverse and its corresponding game modes in Fortnite as anything separate and apart from the video game market

Do you read the above statement as:

  • The general market does not appear to recognize the metaverse as anything separate and apart from the video game market, AND the general market does not appear to recognize metaverse game modes in Fortnite as anything separate and apart from the video game market.; OR
  • The general market does not appear to recognize the metaverse in Fortnite as anything separate and apart from the video game market.

The former interpretation would mean that the general market does not recognize the entire class of metaverse as anything separate and apart ...

The latter interpretation would mean that the general market does not recognize only those metaverse in Fortnite ...

Is there a word to describe "an important event or trial in one's life that whatever decision they take will determine their life in the future"?

Posted: 21 May 2022 02:00 AM PDT

I am looking for a word (noun, adjective, idiomatic phrase-- it is irrelevant) that describes an important event or trial period in one's life, that whatever decisions they make and what actions they take will ultimately make or break them (or to put it differently, these actions will determine what quality of life they will experience in their later years). Initially, I thought watershed, milestone, and seminal would suffice in capturing the essence of the foregoing statement; but these words do not pass my semantic muster.

Whats the difference between "Where 'you would'/'would you' like to go"?

Posted: 21 May 2022 01:34 AM PDT

I was wondering if you guys could help me with this. What is the difference there in

Where would you like to go?

and

Where you would like to go?

When is "sex" sex, and when is it "gender"? [closed]

Posted: 21 May 2022 02:02 AM PDT

There is a correction in today's edition of The Guardian - as follows:

A report referred to an employment tribunal ruling about "sexual harassment". Such cases relate to behaviour of a sexual nature; this finding was that the harassment"related to the claimant's sex" (Insult referring to a man's baldness was sexual harassment, judges say, 14 May, p14).

The correction does not indicate how such "harassment" might have been better described. Personally in any discussion of this kind where sexual issues are not involved, I would always play safe and use the word "gender". If, for example, a woman is not employed by an agricultural company, because someone thinks women are not strong enough to lift heavy weights - that has nothing whatever to do with sex. And my own preference would be to call it "gender discrimination". Though the law in the UK has not recognised this and still, so far as I am aware talks of "sex discrimination".

In my view the word "sex" is, so far as possible, better left for matters sexual - and that in instances, such as in an application form, we do not ask for the applicant's sex - but their "gender".

But I am interested here to discover any emerging practice across the English-speaking world here. Is there a movement towards restricting "sex" to that which the word immediately brings to mind and to leave the debate between men and women to matters of "gender"?

What is the meaning of "unto itself"? [duplicate]

Posted: 21 May 2022 12:58 AM PDT

I've been scrolling through Quora.com to find posts that would make it easier for me to understand the sum and substance of the stock phrase "unto itself" but there aren't a great deal of posts available. I've managed to find one post entitled "What does the phrase 'a means unto itself' mean?" wherein some Quora users stated that this phrase's meaning, something to the effect, "It simply means that someone or something can totally perform a function or do something on his or its own. It doesn't need any external help. It's capable of surviving on its own." and "'unto itself' is regarding something affecting an object but that object being itself." I am not fully convinced that these answers are satisfactory in elucidating the meaning of the aforementioned phrase clearly. It would remiss of me to omit certain details regarding my ventures into other online dictionaries: as it turns out, not a single online dictionary (such as Collins Dictionary and Cambridge Dictionary) has an entry for the stock phrase itself; these dictionaries only have entries for its variations (such as a law unto itself, a means unto itself, etc)

What does the idiomatic phrase "err on the side of" mean?

Posted: 21 May 2022 02:23 AM PDT

I've looked through several online dictionaries to ferret out the meaning of "err on the side of" ("err on the side of" in the sense of the phrase having no qualifying objects, people, or concepts to take the place of the -sth/-sb). But alas, all my efforts at understanding the preceding phrase's definition are to no avail, as no online dictionary provides me with an adequate explanation. I have also found meanings of its variations (namely, "err on the side of caution").

Take The Free Dictionary, for example (example sentences are provided by this online dictionary):

Entry 1) err on the side of (something)

"To prioritize something, perhaps excessively or unnecessarily. Often used in the phrase "err on the side of caution."

Example sentence: I like to err on the side of caution and always keep some money in my savings account.

Entry 2) err on the side of: "act with a specified bias towards something".

Entry 3) err on the side of (something):

"show slightly too much rather than too little of a quality, especially a good one"

Side note: Err is an old-fashioned word meaning 'make a mistake'.

Example sentence: When I am marking exam papers, I always try to err on the side of generosity (= I give slightly higher marks than the students may deserve). Err is an old-fashioned word meaning 'make a mistake'.

I have been stuck in a mental slump, attempting to figure out which definition (in the listed dictionary entries) is the one and true underlying definition of said phrase.

a) or b) vs i) or ii) [closed]

Posted: 20 May 2022 09:57 PM PDT

I often see constructs like:

if either a) "something something", or b) "other thing"  if either (i) "something something", or (ii) "other thing"

Is there a good reason to choose one over the other?

Also, is there a reason to use one or the other if it's "and" instead of or? i.e.

if a) "something" and b) "other thing"  if (i) "something" and b) "other thing

Also, is i) acceptable, or is it always more normal to use (i)?

What does "data trail for transactions" mean?

Posted: 21 May 2022 02:49 AM PDT

Today when reading a working paper of Auer 2021 about CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currency), I found a sentence:

Conversely, central banks in jurisdictions with a large informal ("shadow") economy may have greater interest in creating a data trail for transactions, and thus promoting use of a digital currency.

I understand that "informal economy" is a part of a country that neither be taxed or monitored by any form of governments.

However, I did not understand what does "data trail for transactions" mean here, leading to the ambiguous about the meaning of this whole sentence.

What do you call someone or something that generates insights?

Posted: 21 May 2022 03:18 AM PDT

What is the appropriate word for someone (or something) that gives you insights?

Example sentences for context:

Ann is our best ???. She always provides us with amazing insights.

This software is a good ???. It helps us to get brilliant insights into our business process.

What would you replace "???" with? Something that conveys the meaning and is commonly understood (mainly in business and formal/semi-formal environments).

Tense to use with "has always been something that..."

Posted: 20 May 2022 08:06 PM PDT

I stumbled upon the following sentence on Huffington Post and noticed that it makes use of brings instead of brought.

Music has always been something that brings people together.

However, I also came across this sentence:

Pop culture has always been something that fascinated me

Noting the use of brings in the first sentence, if we used fascinates instead of fascinated in the second sentence, would it still be correct?

Pop culture has always been something that fascinates me

If using fascinates is wrong, can somebody explain to me why? Does this have to do with the past participle of the verb?

Is this conditional correct? If so, why?

Posted: 21 May 2022 02:05 AM PDT

"If their flight hasn't been delayed, they will have arrived by now."

Is this conditional correct? If so, why?

Envision vs Envisage

Posted: 21 May 2022 03:22 AM PDT

Is there a context where envision is not a synonym of envisage, or vice versa?

Envisage's definition:

contemplate or conceive of as a possibility or a desirable future event

Envision's definiton

imagine as a future possibility; visualize:

Visualise's definition seems to be relevant to envision only in so far as it means imagine, which seems to me to be synonymous with "contemplate or conceive of".

How to understand "It takes a little bit of getting used to the idea..."?

Posted: 20 May 2022 06:18 PM PDT

The following sentence is from a mathematical lecture note here:

It takes a little bit of getting used to the idea of a function that cannot actually be evaluated at any specific point, but with some practice you will find that it will not cause any significant conceptual difficulty.

Is there anything wrong with this sentence? I guess it is supposed to be "It takes a little bit of time for getting used to the idea...". Any idea for understanding the sentence?
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