Monday, June 6, 2022

Recent Questions - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange

Recent Questions - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange

Grammatical errors in lyrics of Sweet Caroline [closed]

Posted: 06 Jun 2022 07:25 AM PDT

Are the following sentences free of grammatical errors?

I can't begin to knowin'

The word after "begin" should be infinitive or gerund. Is "to knowing" grammatically acceptable in lyrics?

And it don't seem so lonely

To be grammatically correct, the verb after "it" should be "doesn't". Is "it don't" grammatically correct in lyrics?

Alternative phrase for "crack the whip"

Posted: 06 Jun 2022 01:48 PM PDT

"Crack the whip" as an idiom to encourage hard work in supervisees is a problematic phrase with racist and oppressive overtones. Are there alternative phrases with a similar meaning? "Buckle down" comes to mind, but I am curious what other sayings might be out there that could be used instead.

Is there grammar error in this sentence? [duplicate]

Posted: 06 Jun 2022 06:39 AM PDT

Is this sentence correct? Does this sentence need an "and" before "has"?

He munches on junk food, avoids exercise, ignores the doctor, has another drink.

He served...............sentence for theft [closed]

Posted: 06 Jun 2022 06:00 AM PDT

He served.........sentence for theft.

Choices for the blank are:

  • a 18-month
  • an 18 month's
  • an 18 months'
  • 18 months'

I know if 'a' was replaced by 'an' in the first option, I would choose it, but it wasn't replaced, so what is the right answer?

The origin of Primogenitor, Primogenitor vs Progenitor

Posted: 06 Jun 2022 05:33 AM PDT

https://www.etymonline.com/word/primogenitor#:~:text=primogenitor%20(n.),(see%20prime%20(adj.))

In this link the origin of the word primogenitor. Loosely the same as Progenitor, and combined with Primogeniture. The word's meaning: Ancestor or forefather.

However, nowhere do I find the reason of the split from the word progenitor. Why does such word exist? Where did it first appear? When (near the 1650s) did it first appear? What is correlation to the primogeniture succession law?

In a related manner, what is the difference to progenitor? When would one use one or the other?

Edit: Is the assertion that progenitor means the ancestor of a person, while primogenitor means the initial common ancestor of a people, correct?

"Less than 7 arguments" or "Fewer than 7 arguments"? [closed]

Posted: 06 Jun 2022 05:20 AM PDT

For countable items, what is the correct question?

"Less than 7 arguments" or "Fewer than 7 arguments"?

"Less than 7 students" or "Fewer than 7 students"?

Any help (English is not my mother tongue) is appreciated!

Which article is more appropriate to use: the or a? [closed]

Posted: 06 Jun 2022 03:16 AM PDT

The paragraph goes like

You have been the best seniors we juniors could have asked for. You guided us and helped us when we were lost, when we didn't know which path to choose. When all the lights went off, you lit up the candle, even though world suffered with a pandemic, you never stopped to motivate us and always believed in us.

What would be the correct sentence?

  • When all the lights went off, you lit up a candle.

  • When all the lights went off, you lit up the candle.

The plans below show a student accommodation buildings 2010 and now [closed]

Posted: 06 Jun 2022 03:04 AM PDT

The two maps illustrate the changes of a students living place in 2010 and at present.

Overall, it is clear that there are not so much differences between a pupil accommodation in 2010 and right now. There are just a few facilities which are added while others are unchanged.

Looking at an outside area in 2010, there were three gardens areas surrounding at the top and the bottom of the accommodation, but currently, the garden on the top left-hand corner is replaced by a student bedroom while another garden which stayed in the south of the hallway is also cleared to make way for a car parking.

In 2010, there is a living room next to a student- bedroom which is at right angles to a kitchen, but at the moment, it is converted into a new bedroom, which become a double-sized bedroom. In addition, a small en-suite room is built in the south-east of the hallway. Besides, a kitchen in 2010 is also used as a social area now. enter image description here

Is there a word for the patches of forest without significant understory?

Posted: 06 Jun 2022 11:28 AM PDT

I am writing a story set mostly in a forest. One of the major location types in this story are the small patches of the forest that are dominated by the trees, and have a minimal amount of understory, so that they are easier to get through

I have yet had no luck in finding any relevant words for this idea. An example sentence could be "We walked along the new path until we reached the wide brown ______"

The word should ideally refer specifically to this concept, but I can accept more generic terms that refer to patches of a forest. The word should also not be so technical

When can we use "This/That is how we/you do it"?

Posted: 06 Jun 2022 07:59 AM PDT

I found a restaurant review while searching for google maps, and this is an excerpt from it.

This is how you do it. Delicious with a very nice outdoor space. Parking on the street was very vacant. We had the rabbit, deer and elk. Scrumptious. Texture and flavors were delicious. The casing was nice and crunchy. For the rabbit, I could taste the white wine.

I feel like I can use that expression when giving a compliment to something. But I'm not sure about when to use this expression and exact nuance.

In your mind, are feasible and viable synonyms? [closed]

Posted: 06 Jun 2022 01:52 AM PDT

Not much to add in the body -- do you think "feasible" and "viable" mean the same thing? Ideally without looking it up, do they have the same meaning to you?

In opposing vs when opposing

Posted: 06 Jun 2022 01:43 PM PDT

I'm having trouble with in, when, and where. I'd GREATLY appreciate some assistance with to the two questions below.

Q1 Which of the bolded terms should be used in the sentence below?

  • In/When opposing Bob's motion, John bears the initial burden of . . . .

Here's some context: Bob filed a motion in court (a motion is a formal request for the court to do something). John must respond to, or oppose, that motion. In/when opposing that motion, John bears the burden of demonstrating X. In other words, to successfully oppose Bob's motion, John has to satisfy this burden.

Q2 In the sentence below, is the word "where" used correctly?

  • Where, as here, the court's ruling is based on the parties' written submissions rather than an evidentiary hearing, the plaintiff need only demonstrate that X.

Context: Before issuing its ruling, the court may decide to hold a formal hearing to ask John and Bob to clarify or provide additional evidence in support of their arguments. Alternatively, the court may simply issue its ruling on the basis of Bob and John's written arguments, without the benefit of a formal hearing.

Thank you for your time.

How do you pronounce "How do you" quickly? [migrated]

Posted: 05 Jun 2022 07:51 PM PDT

It's easy to pronounce it when I speak slowly but it gets really hard when I try to speak quickly especially when it's accompanied by a long sentence.

Different usage between 'A First Generation' and 'A Second Generation' American

Posted: 05 Jun 2022 08:08 PM PDT

Here is what I have always thought: My grandparents, on both sides, immigrated from other countries. (Not sure of their citizenship status, or even if that matters.) They were the first 'generators' of future Americans, my parents, were second generation, so that makes me 3rd generation. Is this correct?

Is it considered rude or inappropriate to frequently address others as "friend" - often in a disingenuous fashion?

Posted: 06 Jun 2022 01:16 PM PDT

Recently, I have encountered (what I think is) a fairly common usage of the word "friend" that I consider to be insincere and offensive, but when I brought this up with the offending party, they said my opinion was clearly incorrect and "silly". The usage involves addressing complete strangers or random others (who have obviously opposing views) simply as "friend" (in responses or discourse).

A (simplified) example would be addressing an unknown person (e.g. in reply to a comment on YouTube) who has obviously opposing views as "friend".

Friend, are you saying that your opinion is the only correct one? (with the unspoken implication being that their opinion is questionable).

I view this as obviously condescending and insincere and therefore offensive - especially if it is done repeatedly or routinely. However, looking online, I could find very little about this usage and very few references discouraging it.

Can someone tell me what this is actually called, and if the usage is considered acceptable in English (or should it be avoided)?

Truthfully, I think it is reflexive, intended to "diffuse tension" in some cases, but it is also used sincerely in others. It is not about decorum - it strikes me as offensive because it is used so often (and frequently used in adversarial responses).

Etymology of angle shooting in poker?

Posted: 05 Jun 2022 11:31 PM PDT

angle shooting.
Intentionally using an angle to exploit an opponent such as obscuring the size of their chip stack or acting out of turn. […].
— Wikipedia

Another definition…

[Angle shooting is] various underhanded, unfair methods to take advantage of inexperienced opponents. The difference between an "angle shooter" and a "cheater" is only a matter of degree. What a cheat or thief does is patently against the rules; what an angle shooter does may be marginally legal, but it's neither ethical nor gentlemanly. Nor is it in the spirit of the game.
— pokernews.com

What is etymology and earliest occurrence of this phrase? I have googled this but nothing obvious so far.

Word or phrase for the realisation of belonging to a social group/subculture?

Posted: 05 Jun 2022 09:30 PM PDT

I am researching the impacts of the Roaring Twenties. I feel one of its biggest impacts was impressing into Americans that they were each part of a social group or subculture, however niche.

For example, the realisation of more rebellious female youth that they identified with Flapper culture. In the present, the realisation can be compared to that of bookish, introverted people that they identify with the 'bookworm' stereotype.

Is there a word or phrase for the realisation that one belongs to a certain social group and identifies strongly with said social group?

Nonstandard agreement in relative clauses (usage)

Posted: 06 Jun 2022 11:50 AM 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

Is there a verb-form of "affirmative action"

Posted: 06 Jun 2022 01:23 PM PDT

"Affirmative Action" is a noun sometimes used to describe legislation and government-programs which given women, and people of color, higher-priority in college admission decisions, than persons of white skin and males.

Is there a verb for "Affirmative Action?"

Figure of speech to help explaining a math term

Posted: 06 Jun 2022 01:07 PM PDT

I am teaching math in a community college and have to explain the idea of Vector Space that is an abstract concept but ubiquitous in high level math. I would like to explain it using a certain figure of speech but I don't know what it is.

In the most simplistic terms, in mathematics, a "space" means a collection, set or aggregate of identical objects. A "vector," as most students visualize it, is an arrow that has direction and magnitude. However, a vector space does not mean "a collection of arrows," but rather a collection of numerical objects that have the same properties as a vector. (Those properties are add-ability, scalability but not multiplicability. For example, the temperature readings have these properties.)

Is there any figure of speech to describe it? Is it metaphor or simile? I would love to get from you the experts couple of examples in daily use.

Thank you for your time and helps.

What is the past form of the modal verb "must"?

Posted: 06 Jun 2022 05:23 AM PDT

There are 9 modal verbs, and you can pair every two of them together to represent present and past forms, except must:

can ----› could

shall --› should

will ---› would

may ----› might

must ---› ????

So what's the past form of the modal verb must? Some people say it's had to, but I searched and found that had to isn't a modal verb, so what is it?

Plain language phrase for a group whose members are not interchangeable

Posted: 06 Jun 2022 08:05 AM PDT

There is a well known part of speech called "adverbs". However, many adverbs are not grammatically interchangeable with each other. From Wikipedia:

Adverbs are traditionally regarded as one of the parts of speech. However, modern linguists note that the term "adverb" has come to be used as a kind of "catch-all" category, used to classify words with various different types of syntactic behavior, not necessarily having much in common except that they do not fit into any of the other available categories (noun, adjective, preposition, etc.)

Adverbs as a "catch-all" category

  • She gave birth naturally.
  • Naturally, she gave birth. different meaning of "naturally"
  • Perry is very fast.
  • *Perry very won the race. only some adverbs can go in this position
  • The sock looks good there.
  • *It is a there beautiful sock. only some adverbs can go in this position

What can we call groups like this?

Adverbs are not always grammatically interchangeable because they are ____. This means we have to classify this word group into specific subgroups before they can be truly useful.

I'm looking for a generic term, not one specific to linguistic terminology. Noun, adjective, it doesn't matter. Feel free to completely reword the example sentence as long as the phrase is relatively simple. It would be good if the phrase could also be used as a label:

Adverbs (____)

Heterogeneous has the meaning I want (not all the members are the same, but some can be; different from all members being different), but neither it nor any of its single word synonyms are plain enough for me:

I think it's unlikely a single word will get the meaning across in a way that most people would understand, so a phrase seems more likely. The best I can come up with so far is "uneven group":

Adverbs (uneven group)

Adverbs are not always grammatically interchangeable because they are an uneven group.

Making sense of dollars and "geetus"

Posted: 05 Jun 2022 09:46 PM PDT

Of all the slang words for money, one of the oddest to me is geetus. The word appears here in an article from 2013, although the word is much older than that.

Let's make no mistake about it. The reason this Killeen landmark is going away is not complaints, it's about greenbacks, geetus, Benjamins, whatever you call that stuff we need to get through life. This money man made the landowners an offer they couldn't refuse.

Green's Dictionary of Slang defines it as US slang meaning "money" and attests the range of use from 1926 to at least 2004.

The etymology is listed as unknown, possibly from "get us." Green offers a surprisingly large number and vast range of spelling forms for such a recent word:

  • geetus
  • geetas
  • geeters
  • geets
  • ghedis
  • gietus

Dictionary.com, citing The Dictionary of American Slang, offers a somewhat different definition (though this citation is likely inaccurate. See Sven Yarg's answer):

A person who tends to reverse or alter traditional Money

Pitchman must give the store a 40 percent cut on the "geedus"/ I'm spendin' my hard-earned geets (1930s+ Underworld & hawkers)

  • Dictionary.com citing The Dictionary of American Slang, Fourth Edition by Barbara Ann Kipfer, PhD. and Robert L. Chapman, Ph.D.

The earliest uses I can find are all from California, which makes me wonder if the term originated on the U.S. west coast. One example:

Ernie Nevers followed the illustrious Wheaton iceman and made $35,000 in Florida without even looking at the liquid real estate. George Wilson followed the example of the other pair of famous All Americans but is still short three collars and a cuff of having enough "geetus" to start the haberdashy house he plans for Los Angeles.

Questions

  1. Is there any evidence beyond speculation that "geetus" possibly derived from "get us?" Is there any other etymological explanation?

  2. Did the term come from California, and is it associated with any other cultural context more specific than US?

  3. (Optional bonus): How does The Dictionary of American Slang definition fit in? What is meant by "A person who tends to reverse or alter traditional money?" Every sense of the word in use that I can find seems to refer to money itself.

What's the difference between "perchance" and "perhaps"?

Posted: 06 Jun 2022 12:33 AM PDT

I would like to know the difference between the words perchance and perhaps. I know that perchance is more literary, and a bit archaic, but that's not what I am after.

The Merriam-Webster dictionary lists perchance as a synonym of perhaps.

perchance

perhaps, possibly

The entry for perhaps.

perhaps

possibly but not certainly : maybe

I would like to know if the two words have any differences in meaning, tone, or connotation. Does perchance imply that an event is less likely than perhaps? Is the tone more wistful? Does it connote that an outcome is more desirable?

Is there a word or phrase to define several words linked by hyphens, such as in "a sit-back-and-wait-for-it attitude"

Posted: 06 Jun 2022 07:25 AM PDT

some more examples:

  • "And she gave me that aren't-I-just-gorgeous smile."

  • "The I-did-it-my-way approach."

  • "A from-this-day-forward-I-have-no-son scene."

Is there a name/term for phrasing something such that to disagree implicates yourself?

Posted: 06 Jun 2022 12:20 PM PDT

For example:

Now available in all good stores. . .

where to not agree to stock an item suggests that your store is not good, or:

All rational people agree that. . .

where to refuse to agree suggests that you are not rational, or:

Those who can, teach.

(a slogan used for encouraging people to become teachers) which suggests that if you aren't teaching a subject you are implicitly "worse" at that subject.

Obviously, all of these are subtle phrasing tricks that may be used casually or quite deliberately.

Is there a term for this type of phrasing?

Word opposite of risk but still entailing uncertainty

Posted: 06 Jun 2022 01:49 PM PDT

The word risk is used to describe a situation in which there are several possible outcomes each entailing a possible loss, and one is not certain as to which of the outcomes will happen. What I want is an opposite of the word risk, which still describes a situation in which there are several possible outcomes and one is uncertain as to which of the outcomes will happen, but this time, each outcomes entails a gain instead of a loss.

If you look for the antonyms of risk, you get words like security, safety, which I don't think entail the uncertainty as to the outcome.

Omission of "and" in headlines

Posted: 06 Jun 2022 06:52 AM PDT

What is this phenomenon called?

Is it common in all English-speaking countries?
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