Thursday, June 9, 2022

Recent Questions - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange

Recent Questions - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange

Meaning of "got up pride away"

Posted: 09 Jun 2022 01:37 PM PDT

I woke up at six and got up pride away.

What is the meaning of "got up pride away" in a sentence?

Please someone explain it to me?

"I will have been running, lest they have been catching me."?

Posted: 09 Jun 2022 01:35 PM PDT

The phrase in the title is obviously incorrect; however, I'm having difficulties figuring out how it could actually be grammatically constructed. To be clear, I'm aware this is a ridiculous construction, but given that such a tense could theoretically (as far as I'm aware) be combined with the word "lest", I feel that there has to be some technically correct construction.

Here's what I know so far:

"Lest" is an unusual word in English. Wikipedia tells me it's in the subjunctive mood, and requires the use of the following verb in its bare form (the infinitive minus "to"). While this makes sense for basic sentences, I'm not convinced that it's sufficient for constructing sentences where the first clause has a complicated verb tense.

Here are some example sentences I've been thinking about; I'm not sure how many of these are correct, but I've tried to do what seems best:

  1. "I run, lest they catch me."
  2. "I will run, lest they catch me."
  3. "I must run, lest they catch me."
  4. "I ran, lest they should catch me."
  5. "I had run, lest they should have caught me."
  6. "I have been running, lest they should catch me."
  7. "I had been running, lest they should have caught me."
  8. "I should have been running, lest they catch me."
  9. "I should have run, lest they might have caught me."
  10. "I should have been running, lest they might have caught me."
  11. "I must have been running, lest they should have caught me."
  12. "I will have been running, lest they have been catching me." Or perhaps more likely: "I will have been running, lest they should catch me."

One difficulty I see is that some sentences with the first clause in the past tense simply don't seem to make sense with the second clause in the infinite. For instance:

  1. "I had been running, lest they should have caught me." vs.

7.1. "I had been running, lest they should catch me."

To me it seems like 7 makes more sense than 7.1, but I can't grammatically articulate why this would be the case (if it is), beyond the notion that using the bare infinitive in the second sentence confuses the order of events (e.g., running happened in the past, but "lest they should catch me" implies the catching hasn't happened yet). Other example also seem to include temporal context, such as the differences between 4, 10, and 11.

  1. "I must have been running, lest they should have caught me." vs.

11.1 "I must have been running, lest they should catch me."

Again, 11.1 seems not to make sense, as 11 implies some degree of uncertainty regarding the speaker's prior actions. E.g.:

"How did you escape?"

"Well, I must have been running, lest they should have caught me."

To wrap back around to the original question, I can imagine almost no scenario in which this would be used, but consider the following:

"By the time you get here, I will have been working on the project for an hour, lest I have nothing to show you."

In this case, the bare infinitive seems natural. Perhaps this means the correct form is indeed, "I will have been running, lest they catch me."

That said, I still have questions about the other examples above, particularly 4 through 11.

Specifically:

  • Which of these, if any, are correct?
  • What would be the grammatically correct ways of formatting these sentences?
  • Is there a grammatical rule that can be used to understand the use of the word "lest" in any possible context? (Whenever I look this up, I can only find people providing example sentences, never an actual rule.)

If anyone has any insight to offer, I would be very appreciative. Please let me know if there are any clarifications I should add, lest I unduly confuse anyone. :)

Is this considered a lie or are they telling the truth? [migrated]

Posted: 09 Jun 2022 08:53 AM PDT

So if person A is fed false information by person B, and person A goes on to tell this information to person C in the best way possible in the exact way they heard it are they lying? Person A would be telling the truth if the information was correct but unbeknownst to them it is incorrect information.

Is person A lying to person C?

Edit: I found this site for the purpose of asking this question so if this is not the right place to do this please kindly warn me. If you have a better idea of what stack exchange site to ask this question, please say so.

Using the word “Triumphant” [migrated]

Posted: 09 Jun 2022 07:00 AM PDT

Let's say the outcome of focusing on quality over quantity produced a better result. Is it correct to say that "Quality is still the triumphant factor of ensuring consumer's trust"?

Looking for a word to describe "all" of a given book: all printings, all editions, etc [closed]

Posted: 09 Jun 2022 06:55 AM PDT

So I've come across this problem when constructing a database schema.

So an individual book is a book ("copy 101 of the first printing of the first edition of Catcher in the Rye").

An individual print of a book, is a print of a book ("any individual book belonging the first printing of the first edition of Catcher in the Rye").

An individual edition of a book, is an edition of a book ("any individual book belonging to the first edition of Catcher in the Rye").

But I can't seem to find a term to describe all of the above ("any individual book which is Catcher in the Rye"). Basically this is to avoid double-counting in the database-- if an individual copy is an instance of a book, and the collection of all books of that kind is also an instance of a book, then they'd be counted twice which would mess up totals. A compound word or phrase would be acceptable in this case, just to differentiate an individual book and all books of that "type".

Any help would be much appreciated!

Which one is correct? "The one that has a pet is me" or "the one that has a pet is I " [duplicate]

Posted: 09 Jun 2022 06:47 AM PDT

I doubt about which example is correct

Looking for word ("ism") which states everyone does things with good reason even if they are bad people

Posted: 09 Jun 2022 05:08 AM PDT

I am looking for word something "ism" (for ex: cultural relativism) or some is "ist" (ex: activist) which states that

Everyone has right reasons to do things they do. Even the bad people when they do bad things, they do it for the good reason because of their own beliefs and for right reason (even if it is their opinion).

Any idea what this word might be? I remember using it but I forgot the word.

Where should I place comma? "and thus"

Posted: 09 Jun 2022 09:02 AM PDT

I am a masters student studying wireless communication in Korea. While writing my paper, I have encountered a problem about how to use English punctuation (the inclusion or not of a comma).

Can you tell me if I need a comma in the sentence I wrote, and if so, where I should put it – in front of or behind the "and thus"?

The development and rapid growth of two-way interactive applications such as video call, real-time games, and Internet-of-Things (IoT) make it worse and thus we urgently need to find solutions to increasing the UL capacity.

Can an adverb be the subject in a sentence?

Posted: 09 Jun 2022 03:59 AM PDT

Does 'carefully' function as the subject in the below sentence?

Carefully does it.

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

Posted: 09 Jun 2022 10:12 AM 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 the word order in "know what's what" correct?

Posted: 09 Jun 2022 03:00 PM PDT

There's an expression: "to know what's what", as in: "He's been around for a long time - he knows what's what." (ref: Cambridge Dictionary).

But recently I started wondering: isn't it an embedded question? If so, shouldn't it actually be: "He's been around for a long time - he knows what what is."?

What's the imperial equivalent to "royalty" in the sense of "members of the imperial family"?

Posted: 09 Jun 2022 02:48 PM PDT

Saying "members of the imperial family of Japan" is quite a mouthful, so I'd like something more succinct, like how you say "British royalty". "Imperiality" seems nice, but the only dictionary that lists "imperial person" is Lexico, so I'm not quite sure whether it could be easily understood as "members of the imperial family". Also the definition "imperial person" listed by Lexico is kind of vague, I'm not sure if it means "a member of the imperial family", or "an imperialist" which could be bad.

Sample sentence:

The Okimi no Tsukasa is a government department in charge of attending to members of the imperial family.

Which saying means to sell a part as the whole?

Posted: 09 Jun 2022 01:42 PM PDT

I'm looking for an English (or foreign saying often used in English) which mean that it is made to believe that part of a thing can achieve what the whole thing only can achieve.

Examples :

To sell a wheel as if it was a car. I don't know what a car is but I'm sold its concept (a mean to transport quickly) in the form of one of its part, the wheel. Only later I will realize that I can't do what was claimed without the other parts.
To sell weights as if they were a full gym.
To sell bricks as if they were a house.
To sell a spacesuit as if it was a spaceship.

It's the notion of benefit rather than quantity that is to be expressed.

The real case that brought this question is sellers of online courses (or books) who sell incomplete knowledge to achieve what is claimed. It is different from selling a miracle product.

"ruled off into squares" — What does that mean?

Posted: 09 Jun 2022 06:28 AM PDT

I don't know what the phrase means in the following context:

A procedure that is guaranteed to lead to the desired output in a finite sequence of steps is called an "algorithm" or "effective procedure." Turing envisioned a machine consisting of a read/write head operating on an indefinitely extendable tape ruled off into squares. — Irreducible Mind: Toward a Psychology for the 21st Century

Meaning of "the field in which I grow my [expletive]"

Posted: 09 Jun 2022 10:29 AM PDT

Lately, I read the following sentence:

Behold! The Field In Which I Grow My Fucks

On the first I understood it as if it meant:

Behold! The Field In Which I make my own business

The reason why I thought this is that, in my native language, the expression:

I make my fucks

or better

I make my dicks

means

I make my own business

or better

it is my business, not yours

Anyway, I suspect that the sentence of which I'm talking about doesn't have the same meaning.

You can please help me to grasp its meaning.

Could it be that 'an another' is acceptable usage?

Posted: 09 Jun 2022 06:21 AM PDT

It is well known that, as CGEL puts it (p. 391),

Determinative another derives historically from the compounding of the indefinite article and the adjective other; the consequence of this for the modern language is that the existence of the determinative another blocks the co-occurrence of the indefinite article and other as separate syntactic constituents: *an other book.

Thus, an another would, in effect, contain two indefinite articles in sequence ('an an other'). Therefore, it should be unacceptable. It is indeed condemned as such here, here, here, here, and here.

Nevertheless, published literature seems to contain a surprising number of usages of an another. In what follows, I will try to include only works that 1. are likely written by native speakers; 2. do not contain other obvious errors nearby that would signal substandard editing; 3. are from not too-distant past. One could dismiss these as simple mistakes, except... when a mistake becomes widespread enough, it ceases to be a mistake, and becomes an acceptable alternative usage. Here, then, are ten examples of an another from published literature:

[1] If not, place it in a̲n̲ ̲a̲n̲o̲t̲h̲e̲r̲ pile, to be reviewed again. (source)

[2] Because the meaning of the words that are used to express thoughts are unique to each individual, there is a̲n̲ ̲a̲n̲o̲t̲h̲e̲r̲ unbridgeable gap between one person's thoughts and those of another. (source)

[3] In a̲n̲ ̲a̲n̲o̲t̲h̲e̲r̲ embodiment, the kit further includes a peripheral vascular access structure for peripheral implantation in a patient. (source)

[4] The deliberate indifference standard is met when a person knows of, and yet disregards or ignores, an excessive risk to a̲n̲ ̲a̲n̲o̲t̲h̲e̲r̲'̲s̲ health or safety. (source)

[5] Skinner saw no reason to relate his data to data arrived at a̲n̲ ̲a̲n̲o̲t̲h̲e̲r̲ level of observation by other sciences. (source)

[6] Croce diagnoses Hegel's confusion about distincts as what anglophone philosophers since Ryle have called a 'category mistake.' To think of a piece of art as evil, an intellectual achievement as useful, or a properly functioning object as beautiful is like thinking of the university as an additional building on campus, team-spirit as a̲n̲ ̲a̲n̲o̲t̲h̲e̲r̲ player on the team, or the Average Tax Payer as a fellow-citizen. (source)

[7] In a̲n̲ ̲a̲n̲o̲t̲h̲e̲r̲ study, 24 patients status post hysterectomy received postoperative IMRT... (source)

[8] In September 1795, she returned to England, but finding Imlay living with a̲n̲ ̲a̲n̲o̲t̲h̲e̲r̲ woman, she again attempted suicide, this time jumping into the Thames River. (source)

[9] Pertaining to an organism that lives as a parasite on a̲n̲ ̲a̲n̲o̲t̲h̲e̲r̲ animal. (source)

[10] More suspicious was the discovery by the U.S. Office of Strategic Services (OSS) that De Amuedo had purchased, in cash, a $7,500 draft and a̲n̲ ̲a̲n̲o̲t̲h̲e̲r̲ $500 in traveler's checks at the San Juan branch of the Bank of Nova Scotia. (source)

As best as I can tell, in all of these examples, one can (and probably should?) drop the an in front of another. Even allowing for the possibility that sometimes an another could be acceptable, in these examples, I can't detect any believable change in meaning if the an is dropped.

The above is hardly an exhaustive list; I am sure there are many more examples. I have only gone through a fraction of hits from this search on gooogle books (note that most of these hits are false positives, though, usually consisting of an' another, which in reality is and another).

Question:

Can we really dismiss examples like these as mere mistakes? I am tempted to say 'yes', and yet... there seem to be too many of them. Could it be that an another is at least marginally acceptable now?

American phrase for "drop litter"

Posted: 09 Jun 2022 06:19 AM PDT

When I google "drop litter", only results from British websites appear. What is/are typical phrases used in America against littering? Is it simply "do not litter" or is the verb "drop" also used?

Question tag for "many a ..."

Posted: 09 Jun 2022 10:25 AM PDT

Consider the sentence "Many a rose bloomed in the garden."

If you had to substitute "many a rose" with a pronoun, what would it be?

"Many a ..." takes a singular verb. Does that mean it can be substituted by the singular pronoun it?

If you had to add a question tag to "Many a rose bloomed in the garden", what would it be? Is "Many a rose bloomed in the garden, didn't it?" grammatical?

"at hand" vs "at issue"

Posted: 09 Jun 2022 03:13 AM PDT

We can talk about "the matter at hand" or "the matter at issue" and they seem to mean just about the same thing: something along the lines of "the matter currently under discussion." Is there a difference between these two phrases?

I think it's clear that "the issue at hand" is way better than "the issue at issue" but is there a reason for this?

Maybe you just want to avoid the confusion of using two meanings of a word so close to each other. Or maybe calling something an issue already implies that it is "at issue," so in that case saying "the issue at issue" would be redundant.

Name for an electrical element to use multiple appliances on the same plug

Posted: 09 Jun 2022 04:51 AM PDT

Sorry, I don't know what is this element called in English. It is an electric power cord with multiple sockets to allow multiple appliances to be plugged into it. In Spanish it is said to be informally a "zapatilla", but in English?

Socket Strip

or

Extension Lead

Which one is correct to say: "It's me" or "It's I"?

Posted: 09 Jun 2022 02:03 PM PDT

I was taught at school that the following expression is not grammatically correct:

Who is there? It's me.

The correct one is:

Who is there? It's I.

Can you let me know which one is accurate?

Here is a good explanation about both forms.
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