Recent Questions - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange

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• "A" or "the" – what is the difference here?
• A total of numerous objects: singular or plural? [duplicate]
• What is the X called in the "X:Y" identifier?
• Someone help in phrasing below content please [closed]
• Bored waiting or bored of waiting? [migrated]
• Word that expresses agreement of unspoken conditions
• Is the verb ‘recollect’ used in American English? How is it different from ‘remember’?
• Are there any class-changing prefixes in English?
• Primary Vs Primitive?
• Variants of the /æ/ sound?
• Is it correct to say that "sympathy" is a special case of "empathy"? [duplicate]
• Set off vs Get off [closed]
• Using upon/despite in a sentence
• Word for heavily foreign-influenced speech?
• "every" + possessive + noun
• Is "its" ambiguous in "This bucket is produced in a factory overseas. Its capacity is small"?
• Phrase origin: "You ain't got to go home but you got to get out of here."
• Correct construction for "easily protected against"
• Word between rare and common
• Obsession with the rich and famous
• Term for toddler-mispronounced words
• When was the term "Web site" (or "website") first used?
• "Me who is" or "me who am"?
• Example of future subjunctive? [closed]
• Is there a word for a road/path that splits specifically into three directions?
• 'Travel' - Place of articulation of /t/
• Is the expression "showed it what for" or "showed it one for"?
• Is "a total of 10 payments" singular or plural?
• Does "ever" apply to the future, or only the past?

"A" or "the" – what is the difference here? Posted: 04 Jul 2022 12:41 PM PDT I've been reading descriptions of methods of the JavaScript programming language. One description reads like this: The appendChild() method of the Node interface adds a node to the end of the list of children of a specified parent node. Then, another description reads like this: The normalize() method of the Node interface puts the specified node and all of its sub-tree into a normalized form. It seems that I can't figure out why the indefinite article is used in the former description (before 'specified parent node') while the definite article is used in the latter (before 'specified node'). Could you please enlighten me on what is the difference between these two cases, and which way would you prefer? Thank you!

A total of numerous objects: singular or plural? [duplicate] Posted: 04 Jul 2022 12:17 PM PDT Which of the following sentences is correct? a) A total of 12 carrots were kept on the table. b) A total of 12 carrots was kept on the table. Does this change in any case. Here, it seems that it depends on the usage.

What is the X called in the "X:Y" identifier? Posted: 04 Jul 2022 12:05 PM PDT An example from the info section of a book: Year : 1981 Author : Jean Baudrillard Subject: Postmodern Philosophy In general, it has the form X:Y. What is the left side (X) of the colon (Year, Author, Subject, etc.) called in general?

Someone help in phrasing below content please [closed] Posted: 04 Jul 2022 10:15 AM PDT my sister is going for visa interview. She got rejected trice. Interview rejection report says You have not demonstrated that you have the ties that will compel you to return to your home country after your travel to the United States. We thought of writing as below justification MAY BE I WAS NOT ABLE TO CONVINCE THE VISA OFFICER LAST TIME, UPON MY BUSINESS DEGREE COMPLETION I NEED TO RETURN INDIA AND APPLY MY BUSINESS LEARNINGS IN MY PATENTS BUSINESS MANDATORILY AS I'M THE ONLY DAUGHTER TO MY PARENTS please rephrase if Above context needs to be. Much thanks in advance!

Bored waiting or bored of waiting? [migrated] Posted: 04 Jul 2022 09:00 AM PDT Which one do you think is correct? I'm bored of/from waiting for premier league's new season Or I'm bored of/from long wait for premier League's new season

Word that expresses agreement of unspoken conditions Posted: 04 Jul 2022 09:10 AM PDT Is there a word or concept that means - "We have explicitly agreed to these terms but by making this deal, you're are also bound by implicit, unspoken ethical constraints that between us is assumed to be understood." A word that refers to just the unspoken agreement in such a context would also help.

Is the verb ‘recollect’ used in American English? How is it different from ‘remember’? Posted: 04 Jul 2022 11:09 AM PDT I (American English) am a plaintiff in a lawsuit taking place in Malta (UK English) that involves some British people as well as some Americans. When cross-examining a British person, many of his replies were: I do not recollect. I assumed that he meant I do not remember. To my ears, it sounds like it's linked to memory collection, etc. But I found the expression rather odd, and I've never heard it before. Is recollect sometimes used in American English as well? Does it have any differences with remember? Can anyone shine a light on the use of that verb?

Are there any class-changing prefixes in English? Posted: 04 Jul 2022 08:03 AM PDT Whenever I do a Google search about affixes, I find information like 'Prefixes usually do not change the class of the base word, but suffixes usually do change the class of the word' (UEfAP). As I understand there are some class-changing prefixes in English. However, when I tried to find at least one example, I always fail. Could you give me an example like 'class-changing prefix + its stem'?

Primary Vs Primitive? Posted: 04 Jul 2022 03:06 AM PDT Is "primitive" or "primary" correct here? You apply all the transformation data, so it wont reset to its primitive/primary form.

Variants of the /æ/ sound? Posted: 04 Jul 2022 02:57 AM PDT This YouTube channel asserts that the /æ/ sound has four variants depending on the consonant that follows it; /æ/ in apple and /æ/ in mango should sound a bit different, for instance. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqGr8er0VEk&t=84s Is this an accepted theory? Does it apply to at least a fraction of native speakers of American English? How about British English? If it is, I would like to see some references. Thank you!

Is it correct to say that "sympathy" is a special case of "empathy"? [duplicate] Posted: 04 Jul 2022 02:41 AM PDT empathy = to understand someone else's feeling sympathy = to share someone's sorry/sad feeling In case of "empathy", one can understand someone's happy & sad feelings, while in "sympathy" it's only about sad feeling. Does it mean that "sympathy" is a special case of "empathy"? If yes, then what's the term for the other counterpart, viz. to share/feel someone's happy feeling? Related: How can empathy be distinguished from sympathy? Does sympathy necessarily mean pity?

Set off vs Get off [closed] Posted: 04 Jul 2022 02:58 AM PDT I heard that two verbs both mean 'leave' and 'depart' Is there a difference in the shape of meaning?

Using upon/despite in a sentence Posted: 04 Jul 2022 08:10 AM PDT Recently I came upon this question in an English test: All the people hated Sally. However, ____ learning that Terry was the defense lawyer in this court case, they were on Sally's side. The given answer is "upon", but I think that "despite" should also be an acceptable answer, just that it changes the meaning of the sentence. (No additional context was provided to indicate the intended meaning.) Are "upon" and "despite" equally correct answers, considering both grammar and logic?

Word for heavily foreign-influenced speech? Posted: 04 Jul 2022 05:50 AM PDT Is there a word for when someone uses words wrongly, or uses outright nonexistent words, due to influence from foreign languages? Examples: I thought she loved me, but she bedragged me. (<- bedra(ga) in Swedish means "to deceive" and is equivalent to the prefix be-, which also exists in English, and dra(ga), cognate of English drag and draw) I'm planning to bedrive business in Australia. (<- bedriva in Swedish means "to run, to do [business]", and is equivalent to be- + driva, cognate of English drive.) I tried to drag a joke, but I couldn't think of any. (in Swedish, you'd say dra ett skämt, lit. "drag a joke", to mean "make a joke.") The erroneous words or phrasings don't necessarily have to be cognates or come from a language related to English. Note that I'm not referring to false friends per se, although they can absolutely feature in such speech: She can eventually come to the party, but eventually not. (eventuellt in Swedish/eventuell in German means "possibly".) Also note that the sentences are otherwise grammatical. The erroneous words are incorporated into the sentence in a "natural" way and inflected correctly. I'd love to know if there is a word to denote the concept of heavily foreign-influenced speech, or a person that uses such speech (preferably a native speaker of English who, for example, spent a lot of time in Sweden to the point that it affects their phrasing in English).

"every" + possessive + noun Posted: 04 Jul 2022 09:47 AM PDT I naively asked a question about the use of "every" with possessives on the ELL thinking there will be a very simple answer. I was pretty sure that saying either Every your thought is important to me. or Every thought of yours is important to me. was just a matter of language register. Well, it seems to be a matter of the age you live in! Thanks to some helpful comments I was amazed to discover that "every" + possessive + noun was grammatical in Early Modern English, apparently present in Shakespeare. I must say I couldn't find examples of it in Shakespeare, neither in the KJV Bible, but in other old books that don't exist on the net. However, I did find it on the internet in a text from Medieval times (1480 approx.): A century and a half later, the Northumberland Household Book prescribes: "Whensoever any of his Lordeship Servauntes be comaunded to ride on message in Winter...that every of theym be allowed for the tyme for his being furth in his jomay... for every meall and for every his baiting; and for his Hors every day and night of his saide jornay, ..." (Medieval Panorama, G. G. Coulton) So this use must have been grammatical in Old English. My question is: Does anyone know how "every" + possessive + noun shifted from being grammatical in Old English to not grammatical in Modern English? Is there any information on the evolution of this use of "every"?

Is "its" ambiguous in "This bucket is produced in a factory overseas. Its capacity is small"? Posted: 04 Jul 2022 04:07 AM PDT I would like to show two sentence patterns: A) The purpose of the capacitor is not to provide energy. Its capacitance therefore does not have to be large. B) This bucket is produced in a factory overseas. Its capacity is small. I think the use of "its" in A) is O.K. as "its" can refer back to capacitor only. At first glance, it could do so to "purpose" and "energy". However, as neither of them can be associated with "capacitance", it is clear that "its capacitance" is the capacitance of the "capacitor". Furthermore, I think in B), "its" is used in an ambiguous manner. Here, "capacity" can refer back to both "bucket" and the "factory overseas". Is my understanding correct?

Phrase origin: "You ain't got to go home but you got to get out of here." Posted: 04 Jul 2022 08:56 AM PDT You ain't got to go home but you got to get [the expletive] out of here. Variations of the above phrase are very popular and a common cultural reference — seen in many movies, TV shows and music lyrics. What is the origin of that phrase? Who was the first to use it and under what circumstances?

Correct construction for "easily protected against" Posted: 04 Jul 2022 12:49 PM PDT What I am trying to express is that I have a problem P and a good G and it is easy to protect G from P. However, G is not the focus of the sentence and P was described in the previous sentence. So I would like to say something like: There is the additional problem P. However, it is easily protected against. With it referring to the problem P and without going into what G is again. However, the construction seems complicated and possibly plain incorrect. What we would be a good expression? I also considered: There is the additional problem P. However, it is easy to protect against.

Word between rare and common Posted: 04 Jul 2022 11:44 AM PDT I'm searching for an adjective that is between rare and common - e.g. something that is everyday, or ordinary, or not remarkable. Can anyone help suggest some words I might try? Thank you,

Obsession with the rich and famous Posted: 04 Jul 2022 11:00 AM PDT Either a word or brief phrase describing the fixation on the part of ordinary people and the media on a small segment of society living an extravagant lifestyle. Example sentences: What's behind America's [obsession with the rich and famous]? A left-wing blogger called out the New York Times for its [glorification of the .0001%] in its lifestyle columns. Related questions: What do you call a person who craves fame and fortune? Word for people who buy things because they are more expensive/ for the brand These do not answer my question because I am interested in a word describing the way the media lavishes attention on the lifestyles of people who are wealthy but not otherwise newsworthy.

Term for toddler-mispronounced words Posted: 04 Jul 2022 06:02 AM PDT Is there a single-word equivalent to "child speech"? A term that would convey that a toddler, still learning the language, has mispronounced a word?

When was the term "Web site" (or "website") first used? Posted: 04 Jul 2022 12:04 PM PDT I've been researching the origins of the World Wide Web, so basically sifting through CERN reports and Usenet posts from 1989-1993, but I've noticed that the terms "Web site," "website," "web-site," and "web site" appear nowhere. I've tried Google ngrams, but receive way too many false positives (i.e. links from updated editions and the like). The Online Etymology Dictionary states that the first use of the term "website" was 1994. Random House Dictionary states that it was coined between 1990 and 1995. Oxford English Dictionary lists the first use in a 1993 issue of "Computer Shopper" as "WEB site" and in a 1994 issue of "Macworld" as "Web-site." Merriam-Webster puts the first use as 1992, but without citation. So what gives exactly? Is there a precise origin here at all? (My apologies if this is the wrong Stack to post this on, I will remove if it is indicated as such; thanks so much!)

"Me who is" or "me who am"? Posted: 04 Jul 2022 02:39 AM PDT Generally the verb following who agrees with the subject or object that precedes the who. This makes sense and is expected. When the subject or object that the who refers to is singular, the verb is singular; when the subject or object is plural the verb is plural Such does not seem to be the case, though, when me precedes the who. We instead treat me, in this instance, as a singular non-first-person subject: "It seems to me, who never knows anything, ...", "She kisses me, who has wanted her kiss for so long", etc. These examples are awkward but replace the italicized verbs with first person present form (know, have) and it gets even more awkward. To make sure this isn't just a personal grammatical tic and to not rely on my ear only, I went to Google Ngrams: I searched with the verb to be because it is the most easily distinguished by person; with other verbs it would be difficult to differentiate first person singular and first person plural mes—as in, whether the me is a part of a group or not. It appears that people have said both rather equally since the mid-1800s—though even before that there wasn't consensus—and then the non-agreeing took off in the 1970s. (I am well aware there might be another explanation of this graph and these patterns, but I haven't identified one.) Why does "me who" take a non-first-person singular verb form (aka an -s)?

Example of future subjunctive? [closed] Posted: 04 Jul 2022 10:02 AM PDT I received an email suggesting that we do something: "next week, when we would have been" doing something else. Would you call this an example of future subjunctive? If not, then what? Perhaps it's a present perfect subjunctive? I have been searching for an answer and have found few sites with any reference to a counterfactual statement set in the future.

Is there a word for a road/path that splits specifically into three directions? Posted: 04 Jul 2022 04:32 AM PDT According to Wiktionary.org and Dictionary.com, one of the definitions of a fork is the something that divides into two or more branches. Wiktionary.org provides an alternative definition that is more specific: "An intersection in a road or path where one road is split into two." Is there a word that specifically means: an intersection in a road or path where one road is split into three? I thought of trifurcation but am trying to find something more specific to a road or path. An example sentence would be: "Turn left at the trifurcation in the road."

'Travel' - Place of articulation of /t/ Posted: 04 Jul 2022 03:29 AM PDT What is a place of articulation which best fits the initial consonant of the word travel? It looks like the first sound is /t/ therefore it should be alveolar, but in the Longman pronunciation coach (Exercise 3) it's marked as post-alveolar. Why so?

Is the expression "showed it what for" or "showed it one for"? Posted: 04 Jul 2022 09:30 AM PDT For some reason I thought the expression was "showed him one for" but someone I know just said "showed it what for". Which is it? I have also heard the idiom as "give it what/one for". If anyone has a tip on the etymology I'm interested in that too.

Is "a total of 10 payments" singular or plural? Posted: 04 Jul 2022 12:20 PM PDT A total of 10 payments were made. OR A total of 10 payments was made. Which is correct? Or can both be correct?

Does "ever" apply to the future, or only the past? Posted: 04 Jul 2022 01:06 PM PDT As we hear in every commercial (ever?) Our best price, ever. Your thoughts please. Putting aside advertising allowances, should "ever" here mean "all time: past present and future", or should this be interpreted as "yet" (past/present). In advertising terms we must infer the latter (otherwise they'll contradict themselves next time they need a promotion), but from a linguistics perspective: what is the correct interpretation here?

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