Thursday, June 2, 2022

Recent Questions - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange

Recent Questions - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange

I _______ 50 industrial drawings since morning. (have drawn/have been drawing)

Posted: 02 Jun 2022 03:44 AM PDT

Can anyone tell me which is the right sentence?

  1. I have drawn 50 industrial drawings since morning.
  2. I have been drawing 50 industrial drawings since morning.

The Reasons for diversification is to increase organizational capabilities. Why "is" is used when "Reasons" is a plural word?

Posted: 02 Jun 2022 01:13 AM PDT

The word 'reason' is singular and the word 'Reasons' is plural. In the sentence that follows, why is 'is' used?

The Reasons for diversification is to increase organizational capabilities.

How does the expression "to blot out" something apply literally?

Posted: 02 Jun 2022 01:05 AM PDT

In the Bible there is a references to having one's sins "blotted out" [Acts 3:19 KJV]. This expression made me think about how a writer might "blot out" an error on a manuscript, where it was written on parchment or paper in ink.

I know that sand was used to dry ink in days gone by, but how would a scribe "blot out" words in order to make them disappear?

Knowing how words would literally be "blotted out" when written with a quill and ink, for example, would help me to grasp the significance of the expression to have sins "blotted out".

P.S. I am unfamiliar with the correct tags to use for this question, or even if this is the right site to ask. Any suggestions on how to improve this question would be appreciated.

What is Saturday equivalent of Sunday-funday? [closed]

Posted: 02 Jun 2022 01:15 AM PDT

I see people posting on social media with the tag: Sunday-funday on sundays. I was wondering what would be a saturday equivalent for this?

Thanks, Zian

Demonstrative pronoun neither

Posted: 01 Jun 2022 10:58 PM PDT

Question regarding the demonstrative pronoun "neither"

"Neither of his parents work there."

Why is this the incorrect usage?

Neither functions as a singular demonstrative pronoun.

Interrogatives and which vs. that

Posted: 01 Jun 2022 10:01 PM PDT

The same question is posted on Stack Exchange English Language Learners and I have not heard back from anyone yet.

Is the following sentence grammatically correct?

How would I know what things you think are not going well if you do not say anything?

The context is that someone said that things are not going well.

The other sentence posed to ask the similar question to ask about those things which are not going well is the following:

How would I know the things which/that you think are not going well if you do not say anything?

Another formation can be done by the removal of what before things and the insertion/replacement of those before things, as showed in the following sentence:

How would I know those things which/that you think are not going well if you do not say anything?

What is the word to express 'remove the need for'?

Posted: 01 Jun 2022 10:34 PM PDT

Creating a spare disk will remove the need for more disk space.

What is the replacement for 'remove the need for'?

Can an entity act as a person? [migrated]

Posted: 01 Jun 2022 06:04 PM PDT

Can an organization or a place act as a person? My example:

My office and I wrote down some possible topics to discuss for the meeting tomorrow

I was told that this is incorrect because an "office" can't write. Could anyone direct me to this rule?

Nonstandard agreement in relative clauses (usage)

Posted: 01 Jun 2022 03:21 PM PDT

Kimball and Aissen (1971) describe a dialect of English in which the matrix verb may agree with the embedded subject when it is relativized. That is, this dialect admits both (1a), with thinks agreeing with John, and (1b), with think agreeing with The girls. The matrix subject has to be lexical, though: no dialect admits (1c), with think agreeing with The girls across a pronoun.

(1a) The girls who John thinks are in the garden

(1b) The girls who John think are in the garden

(1c) The girls who he think are in the garden ✘

This nonstandard agreement seems to be able to cross indefinitely many subjects if lexical:

(2) The girls who John think Bill expect to be late

My question is this: for those of you who think (1b) sounds "better" than (1c), possibly even as good as (1a), do you feel there is any noticeable contrast between (3a) and (3b)? Is one better than the other?

(3a) The girls who he thinks John expect to be late

(2b) The girls who John think he expects to be late

What is the extra /l/ sound extended to "Evans"? So that "Neal Evans" becomes /niːl levəns/ in British pronunciation

Posted: 01 Jun 2022 10:16 PM PDT

It seems that the /h/ sound would be replaced by the /l/ sound in the case of "will have" /wɪl ləv/ in British English.

In another case, Neal Evans would be pronounced as /niːl levəns/, so the /l/ extended to Evans.

Could this be the same case as the connected or extended /n/ in "an apple"? So, instead of saying /ən 'æpəl/, it would be /ən næpəl/?

May I know what is the technical term for the extended /l/ sound?

And, are there any other cases? For example, would you extend the /l/ for "pull over", "peel off" or "fill in"?

If so, what is the pattern? (knowing the pattern could be important to language learners)

Does it apply to all the phrases with a similar consonant and vowel allocation?

Which article is correct in the phrase "impose __ limit of"? [closed]

Posted: 01 Jun 2022 11:14 AM PDT

I have tried to search both 'impose a limit of' and 'impose the limit of' on Google and got more results with the indefinite article. However, the definite article is also used in this phrase. We have a strict limit here, so it's probably better to use the definite article, which is also more common in constructions with 'of'.

So the question is which article I should use in this sentence and why:

This hosting plan imposes a/the disk usage limit of 40 GB.

Using semicolons in lists

Posted: 01 Jun 2022 10:11 AM PDT

I am trying to write a business article where I need to use a signal phrase/cite/mention the credibility of the authors. I'm having trouble with a certain sentence, and was hoping to get some feedback on the correct sentence structure. Right now, it is written as the following:

According to research conducted by Hannah Payne, research associate; Marin Christensen, research associate; and Dr. Susan Madsen, a professor at Utah State University, Utah ranked last among the 50 states for women's equality in 2021.

I'm not very familiar with using semicolons within lists, and I'm not sure if there is a better way to phrase this sentence... any suggestions? Normally in a paper I would leave out the titles, but I just know my professor would take points off by saying something like, "Who is this?" Or "Fallacious appeal to anonymous authority" or something.

Is it correct to say “things are looking up for my travel plans” [closed]

Posted: 01 Jun 2022 09:11 AM PDT

Is it correct to say "things are looking up for my travel plans" to indicate that I am ready to start planning my travel after so many problems.

Subject verb agreement conjunction-countable and uncountable nouns [duplicate]

Posted: 01 Jun 2022 07:55 AM PDT

There were grapes and coffee on the table. There were coffee and grapes on the table. There was grapes and coffee on the table. There was coffee and grapes on the table. The ones in bold sound correct to me. Couldn't find grammar rule. Please help.

Need help with a gym membership description "available up until 30th June 2022" [duplicate]

Posted: 01 Jun 2022 02:01 PM PDT

I bought a university gym summer membership last week which on the website is described as "£33.99 for two months (available up until 30th June 2022)".

I thought it means that this type of membership is only available to purchase before 30th June, and if one buys it on say 29th June, the membership will expire on 29th August.

However today I received a membership renewal reminder email telling me that my membership will expire on 30th June. Did I misunderstand the description? If it's my fault then I guess I won't argue with them (but I still think they shouldn't provide this membership type if there's only one month left).

What does "in the evening" refer to in "Read the letter that I wrote in the evening"?

Posted: 02 Jun 2022 04:02 AM PDT

Read the letter that I wrote in the evening.

Is the above sentence read as:

(Read the (letter that I wrote in the evening)).
or
(Read the (letter that I wrote) in the evening)?

And is there a different way to write the same sentence without causing such confusion in both scenarios?

Etymology of the word "erre" in English

Posted: 01 Jun 2022 02:25 PM PDT

I'm currently working on Bible translations and have stumbled accross the word "erre" in James (1: 2-18) of the King James Bible.

To be more specific in verse 16:

Doe not erre, my beloued brethren.

In the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible the same verse is written as:

Do not be deceived, my beloved.

I have the following questions:

Did "erre" always denote the state of believing something that is not true or was this meaning ascribed to the word later on?

Did the word "erre" use to have a different meaning in the 17th century?

Does this word come from French? (There's also the word "erre" in French. It means "momentum" or "inertia")

How did the meaning of "hectic" become precisely the opposite of its meaning 100 years ago?

Posted: 01 Jun 2022 07:42 PM PDT

I found, a while ago, a small pocket dictionary published in 1921. There were several interesting words I found, but the word "hectic" caught my attention. I cannot remember the precise wording, but their definition essentially said it meant "slow; measured pace". Whatever it was, I remember it being pretty much a perfect antonym for its present meaning!

How did the meaning of "hectic" become precisely the opposite of its meaning 100 years ago?

Why did ‘brainwash’ develop to be a negative word?

Posted: 01 Jun 2022 07:02 PM PDT

I was pondering this recently. Why didn't the word develop to have positive meaning, as in: you wash your brain from the toxic thoughts, and instead come to mean indoctrination?

Are there other words which I can use that have the meaning of improving the mind's condition?

When did "sink" start referring to the tap as well?

Posted: 01 Jun 2022 12:03 PM PDT

A current TikTok trend involves someone asking another person to "turn off the sink". In a play with the term "turn off", the second person then goes to the sink and says something repellant enough for the sink to stop the faucet's flow.

While some videos refer to the tap or faucet, most refer to the sink, which presumes that sink describes the faucet, as well as the drain.

The NOAD somewhat ambiguously agrees:

a fixed basin with a water supply and a drain

Merriam-Webster allow for a water supply, but distance it from the meaning of sink:

a stationary basin connected with a drain and usually a water supply for washing and drainage

The Cambridge dictionary eschews the supply altogether:

a bowl that is attached to the wall in a kitchen or bathroom in which you wash dishes or your hands, etc.

Dictionary.com brings the supply back into the definition, though still in a secondary way:

a basin or receptacle, as in a kitchen or laundry, usually connected with a water supply and drainage system, for washing dishes, clothing, etc.

In all these definitions, the basin is clearly the important part – a faucet alone does not make a sink – but the definitions differ in whether and how they include a faucet. Is a sink a basin that includes a water supply? Is a sink a basin that is accompanied by a water supply, which is itself not a part of the sink? Is a water supply relevant at all, as long as there is a basin and a drain for water to sink into?

According to the TikTok trend, many of us understand sink to include the faucet. This is certainly my own definition, as an American born in the 1990s. For Americans I've asked over 50, though, the sink definitively does not include the faucet.

Is this a matter of time, or perhaps of region? When and where did sink begin referring to the water supply as well, and how widely used is this meaning today?

What is finished the verb or the object?

Posted: 01 Jun 2022 10:17 AM PDT

Is it correct to say?

A: What did you do yesterday?
B: I woke up, had a shower, wrote a book and then went to work. (I didn't write the whole book) 1:03 --- 1:10 a teacher from YouTube, please have a look

A: What did you do yesterday?
B: I went to the library and read some books. (I didn't read the books in their entirety)

A: What did you do yesterday?
B: Well, many things. I knitted my sweater, read some books, built a wooden ship. (I'm going to finish them in the future)

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?"

Ad hominem for non persons

Posted: 01 Jun 2022 11:07 AM PDT

An ad hominem argument is typically, according to Wikipedia, "a rhetorical strategy where the speaker attacks the character, motive, or some other attribute of the person making an argument rather than attacking the substance of the argument itself." It is in the name that this type of argument is an attack on a person.

What if the entity being attacked is not a person? Perhaps it's a legal entity like a business (and the 'argument' being made is about the quality of their offerings if you want to be pedantic). "The services offered by X are bad because their reviews are bad and they were fined recently for breaking a bunch of regulations." Or "don't trust Y, recall that Y used to be called Z but they rebranded to Y because their reputation was so bad." I'd give a real life example of the latter, but that might be a little... meta.

Does the term ad hominem still apply? Is there a better alternative?

Why do “would” and “could” make questions polite?

Posted: 01 Jun 2022 11:54 PM PDT

An excerpt of the article from thoughtco.com:

Key Words That Make Direct Questions More Polite
In informal situations, one could use the word "can" in a direct sentence. In the United States, "can" is considered to be incorrect for written English in particular because, in the past, it was not a word used when asking for something. Saying "May I have" instead of "Can I have" is preferred in the U.S. In the United Kingdom, the word is not frowned upon. Cambridge University publishes English teaching materials with the phrase "Can you lend me," "Can I have," etc.

In both countries, questions with "can" are made more polite by using "could:"

Excuse me, could you help me pick this up? Pardon me, could you help me? Pardon me, could you give me a hand? Could you explain this to me?

"Would" can also be used to make questions more polite:

Would you lend me a hand with the wash? Would you mind if I sat here? Would you let me borrow your pencil? Would you like something to eat?

"Would" in Oxford English Dictionary:

Expressing a polite request.

'would you pour the wine, please?'
'Would you please turn around?'
'Would you mind clarifying your comment, Alison?'
'Ruth, would you go with me to London?'

"Could" in Oxford English Dictionary:

Used in making suggestions or polite requests.
'you could always ring him up'
'could I use the phone?'
'We had a letter to say they had not received the form and could I make a request for a new one.'
'Where did you find the information that you used to write it, and could you suggest a few books for me?'
'I would be grateful if any readers could tell me more.'
'Is there a small heater you could recommend for when the icy weather returns?'

Why do "would" and "could" sound more polite than "will" and "can"?

'Ruth, would you go with me to London?' Why not: 'Ruth, will you go with me to London?'

'Could I use the phone? Why not: 'Can I use the phone?

What tense or mood do "would" and "could" belong to?

Is it the subjunctive mood or the past tense, or something else?

From grammar-monster.com:

The subjunctive mood is the verb form used to explore a hypothetical situation (e.g., If I were you) or to express a wish, a demand, or a suggestion (e.g., I demand he be present).
…
If it were me, I'd go. (As this explores a hypothetical situation, was becomes were.)
I wish it were real. (As this expresses a wish, was becomes were.)
It is imperative that the game begin at once. (As this expresses a demand, begins becomes begin.)
I propose he work full time. (As this expresses a suggestion, works becomes work.)

Do requests with "would" and "could" seem hypothetical and therefore more polite? And with "will" and "can" they look more affirmative and therefore more rude?

'Ruth, would you go with me to London?' – seems hypothetical and therefore more polite.
'Ruth, will you go with me to London?' – seems affirmative and therefore more rude.

'Could I use the phone?' – seems hypothetical and therefore more polite.
'Can I use the phone?' – seems affirmative and therefore more rude.

It was my guess.

What are the reasons for using "would" and "could" instead of "will" and "can" to impart politeness to requests? Perhaps there is some psychological explanation for this. Maybe some ways of people's thinking are reflected in it.

what does the "cope" mean here

Posted: 01 Jun 2022 01:32 PM PDT

It's from a tweet:

AI/crypto hybrid idea: estimates the amount of authentic cope in your tweets and emits you COPE tokens

I looked up the "cope" in dictionaries and google. Seems none of its meaning makes sense here.

With object adjective

Posted: 01 Jun 2022 11:00 PM PDT

I just watched a movie in which someone more or less says "Oh yeah, with him dead, you want me hacking the computer" My question: to what extent can I use this construction? Is it grammatically right to say "with them mad at me, I wanna do it"

Direct and indirect object with "give" and "buy"

Posted: 01 Jun 2022 02:19 PM PDT

I have been studying Longman's English grammar book, and something is really confusing me:

  • We can put it and them after the verb: Give it to me. Buy them for me. Do it for me.

  • With e.g. give and buy, we can say: Give me it. Buy me them. (But not *Do me it.)

  • We say: Give it to John. Buy them for John. (Not *Give John it - *Buy John them.)

Why can't I say Buy John it or Give John them?

There is another post related to it that talks about the same topic: Direct and Indirect Objects with the verbs: Give, Buy, and Bring. However, the most voted answer was, indeed, useful for me, but didn't get everything clear.

What's the main rule for inverting the position and dropping the preposition?

As far as I managed to understand, if the direct object is it or them and the indirect object is a pronoun, the normal construction's placement is necessary, i.e.: Subject + Verb + Direct object + To/For + Indirect object

Is this right?

Why "smashed avocado" rather than "mashed avocado"?

Posted: 01 Jun 2022 05:29 PM PDT

In the context of gastronomy, what is the difference, if any, between "smashed" and "mashed"? I'm familiar with "mashed" being used, such as in "mashed potato", but hadn't heard of "smashed" being used this way, until "smashed avocado" become a buzzword for young people spending too much money rather than saving up for a house:

I have seen young people order smashed avocado with crumbled feta on five-grain toasted bread at $22 a pop and more. I can afford to eat this for lunch because I am middle-aged and have raised my family. But how can young people afford to eat like this? Shouldn't they be economising by eating at home? How often are they eating out? Twenty-two dollars several times a week could go towards a deposit on a house.

Why do verbs end with "oke" while their corresponding nouns are written with "c"?

Posted: 01 Jun 2022 03:54 PM PDT

I was wondering about this for a while now. Could anyone explain this phenomenon or is it just "English quirks"?

Examples:

  • invoke/invocation
  • provoke/provocation
  • revoke/revocation

Pre-planning vs planning

Posted: 02 Jun 2022 12:24 AM PDT

The Oxford online dictionary defines "pre-plan" as to "plan in advance". But isn't that generally the point of planning - to do it in advance?

Terminology for fake photograph

Posted: 01 Jun 2022 11:30 AM PDT

I think there is a good chance that a new word or phrase has been coined to mean fake photograph.

Is there a single word to express it?
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)