texts: What's the name of the characteristic of being "open hearted"?

texts: I can not think of any another good phrase to describe the sense, "Open Hearted". This characteristic is like one who does not posses the nature of being stubborn, who has the ability to listen and in certain cases accept others' theories though they can be in opposite of his own theory. A good example would be if a person is capable of admitting if there is some bad customs in his own religion and he does not fall back to admit it in front of others and change the custom in his regular life. What is the name of this characteristic?


texts: Transforming 'Long live the King!' into a question - is it possible to keep the same meaning?

texts:
So, I was looking through my textbook, and found this question:

  Transform the sentence: 'Long live the King!' into a meaningful sentence, that expresses the same meaning (exact meaning; change the form, without changing the sense) as expressed by the given sentence. Your new sentence should end with a ? mark

My thoughts on this are:

  "The King should live long, shouldn't he?"

My textbook doesn't have answers provided, so I seek an answer.

Is my reasoning correct? Or have I misunderstood some facts of this question?


texts: What is the meaning of "...you don't know you have in ways you can't understand"?

texts:
I saw this sentence today on a hoodie:

I work at
UBS
I solve problems
you don't know you have
in ways you can't understand

What exactly is the meaning of the third and fourth segment? Speaking as a non-native English speaker, it makes zero sense to me.


texts: How common is it for a native speaker to use "i.e." in their conversation?

texts:
How common is "i.e." in everyday conversation? If so,
How do native speakers pronounce it? "id est" or something else?


texts:
Imagine a dentist implants a tooth into your gum. You would probably say: "I got a tooth implant. But what do you say when you get two teeth implantations?

Does the following sentences sound idiomatic? If not what would a native speaker would say instead:

  I implanted two teeth.
  I got two teeth implantations.
  I had two teeth implantations.

P.S. "Implantation" is marked as an incorrect word by the forum spell-checking system. But as you see in the link, it is defined as a countable or an uncountable noun.


texts: "emerge as something" or "emerge something"?

texts:
Tell me please if  the word "emerge" was used correctly in the following sentence.

  "Oleksandr Usyk emerged a serious danger to world heavyweight titleholders Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder on Saturday." (Source)

Should not it be "he emerged as a serious danger"?


texts:
A standardised “60 second hair count” is regarded as a reliable method of assessing hair shedding How to do the hair count:
wash your hair over 3 days.
On the 4th day, comb your hair forwards for 60 seconds over a contrasting colour towel or pillowcase before shampooing
then count the hair loss for three consecutive days
usually only about 10 hairs on average are lost per day in normal healthy males, regardless of whether you’re young or middle-aged
the test can be repeated on a monthly basis to keep a check on your hair health

Which means washing hair for 3 days ? or not washing hair for 3 days ?
I lost about 20~30 hairs two days after I washed my hair last time.
According to the above contents, is it hair loss disease ?


texts: What is the meaning of "question of when not if "?

texts:
Scotland voted heavily against #Brexit. question of when not if a new referendum is put forward & passes, as people will choose EU over UK

Source.

I don't understand "question of when not if ",can you explain it ? thanks.


texts: What is the "wine of their transitory powers"?

texts:
They sit, filled with the wine of their transitory powers, aloof from
the fatigues and dangers of conflict, pulling imaginary strings in
people's minds.

- The new world order by H.G. Wells
what does the author try to express by "sitting, filled with wine"?


texts: What does "without giving the courtesy" in this sentence mean?

texts:
I watched Avatar (with subtitles) recently. I've watched it a lot of times, but this time, a sentence caught my eye. When Grace comes to know that Jake hasn't got any lab training, she says,

  "You see, they're just pissing on us without even giving us the courtesy of calling it rain"

I somewhat understand this sentence. I suppose it means that they don't even bother caring for us. As a blogger and an English-learner, I always look out for new words, so that I can use it for my next post (which may help my writing). But, this phrase "without even giving the courtesy of calling it rain" is what confuses me.

I mean, I can't understand when I split the sentence. My dictionary synonimizes "courtesy" as polite behavior, remarkable or respectful act. But still, I can't get the phrase "without giving the courtesy".
So, can someone clarify this usage by giving a similar example?


texts:
He grabs the dead cop's legs and drags him away.

He grabs the legs of the dead cop and drags him away.

He grabs the dead cop by the legs and drags him away.

Are all these correct? What is the best way to phrase it?


texts: which preposition must be used "through" or "by"

texts:
In sentences :

  We can derive a closed-form expression through integration of X.

  The closed-form expression can be derived by integration of X.

  We can derive the optimal solution through optimization of X.

  The optimal solution can be derived by optimization of X.

Given to here, we are recommended that to use "through" when we have a process ( i.e., an start point + a procedure and a final result). Also, we should use "by" when we want to focus on method.

Google Results:

"through integration" = 478 k

"by integration" = 710 k

"through optimization" = 206 k

"by optimization" = 320 k

Now the question is, in above context ( Mathematics ) which one we should use? We can infer both a method and a process. ( the integration can be complex and you might need to do some complex calculations in multiple stages). However, google demonstrates the usage of "by" is more frequent.

PS : I think if we use through, we say the significant part of the following is the procedure. However, when we use by, we should expect the reader focusing on the used tool. In fact, we induct the procedure is unimportant and superficial. Am I right ?

Thanks.


texts:
I saw this sentence yesterday and wonder why it uses the bare infinitive (hang/watch) instead of the to-infinitive (to hang/to watch).

  All I did today was hang around the house and watch TV.

Any grammar rules or definitive source of this usage I can check?


texts:
Here's from the movie The Enemy Below(1957).
You can watch it on youtube.

10:35

  It might be a fishing smack or... well, it
  might be the conning tower of a sub, sir.
  - Bridge. Lieutenant Ware.
  - Mr Ware.
  We're about to lose radar contact
  at the rate we're going.
  Reduce speed to speed of target
  and get on its tail.
  At this distance, we'll
  make visual contact at daybreak.
  - Shall I shake the ship out for a standby?
  - Not much shaking out to be done.
  But ready underwater search gear.
  If this spook is a U-boat,
  he might pull the plug,
  and we'll have to go after him.

What does "pull the plug" mean?


texts: Is acceptable to say a year or a dates with each the numbers?

texts:
Shortly, is accepted if I say

  1997 => one nine nine seven

  02/10/1997 => zero two, ten, one nine nine seven

  02/10/1997 => two, ten, one nine nine seven

Thanks in advance!


texts:
Are the following sentences both correct? If so, is there any difference?

For all I know, he left last night.

For all I know, he might have left last night.


texts: Any adjective to describe that something I already have?

texts:
Is there any existing adjective to describe something I already have?
Like, I want to eat the food I already have. I don't want to buy anymore.
Is there any adjective alternative for "I already have"?


texts: Can you remove "days" from "came just days after"?

texts:
The announcement late on Monday came just days after Ma's online shopping giant Alibaba was hit with a record $2.8 billion antitrust fine.

In the above sentence, can "days after" could be replaced with "after"? If it can't be replaced, what component is "day" functioning as?


texts: Which tense should be used after "It has been a (time expression since . .."?

texts:
"It has been a year since I started consulting Dr. Wade"  or,  "It has been a year since I have started consulting Dr. Wade" ( I have found both simple past and present perfect being used on Google )

"It has been a year since I (have been/am) consulting Dr. Wade " ?


texts: What's the difference between "dismiss" and "refute"?

texts:
Trump quickly lashed out on Wednesday, dismissing the op-ed as "really
  a disgrace" and "gutless" and assailing the author and The New York
  Times for publishing the anonymous opinion piece.

Trump slams damning New York Times op-ed as 'gutless'

Look dismiss up from dictionary, it means

  to refuse to consider someone’s idea, opinion etc, because you think
  it is not serious, true, or important

I think it's similar to "refute".


texts: She seems to be sleeping. VS She seems sleeping. (What's the difference?)

texts:
She seems to be sleeping.

She seems sleeping.

What's the difference? My question will be as you see: what's the function of 'to be'?
Previous knowledge: 'to infitive' is used to imply a 'future' event like 'something is to happen'
EDIT:

She seems to be happy

She seems happy.

Question is the same: What's the function of "to be"?


texts:
I wish to write an email about a decision taken in a meeting. Of the below options, which is the correct sentence to put in the email?

It was agreed that XYZ team will conduct a monthly review meeting with PQR on their open action items.
OR
It was agreed that XYZ team will be conducting a monthly meeting with PQR on their open action items.

My confusion is around using the right set of words for an action that is planned to occur on a consistent basis in future.
Thanks.


texts: How might a native speaker refer to an object when they can't recall its real name?

texts:
Is there a short word in English for some small device or part, which the speaker has no idea what it is really called?

I mean something more sophisticated and humorous word or phrase that saying 'that something'.


texts:
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that
  whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

1.Is 'For' used as a conjunction?

2.What is the subject in the sentence?

  that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

3.Is this part of sentence used as an adverbial-that-clause? I think this clause functions as in

  I eat that I may live.


texts: What's the meaning of "look down" this student had said?

texts:
(0:00) https://youtu.be/Lo52BObqCds

  KASKY: Senator Rubio, it's hard to look at you and not look down a barrel of an AR-15 and not look at Nicholas Cruz, but the point is you're here and there some people who are not.

This video is about the town hall meeting held after the Florida School shooting. And I don't know what "look down" means here, so I'm having a difficulty understanding a whole sentence. I looked up the definition of "look down on" which means to think that you are better than someone, but I think it definitely doesn't fit this context.

What's the meaning of the sentence?

For those who don't know, Nicholas Cruz is the criminal and AR-15 is a gun he used.


texts: 'just because some moistened bint lobbed a scimitar at me' meaning

texts:
The following quote is from Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) between Denis and King Arthur.

  Oh but if I went 'round sayin' I was Emperor, just because some moistened bint lobbed a scimitar at me, they'd put me away.

I kind of understand the words one by one, but I fail getting the whole statement. For instance, 'moistened bint' seems to be a sexist word for a woman and scimitar is a kind of sword. Is it a royal tradition or something that Dennis is mocking? What does 'lobbed a scimitar at me' mean?


texts:
It is said that "in the old days" means especially "in the good old days". But are there any phrases meaning the opposite(bad old days)? When things were very tough and/or primitive/antediluvian?

I can think of "in the iron age", but I'd like to know if there exist other common sayings which are more native.


texts: How to interpret: Love of something or someone

texts:
Saw the phrase "love of fate" and found that it means the quality of loving (or rather embracing) one's fate, I got some questions.
Sentences

A. He has the love of her.
B. He has the love of hers.
C. He has her love.
D. He has the love of life.

Questions

Does A mean "He loves her?"
Does B mean "She loves him?"
Is C an equivalent to B?
D means he loves his life. Right?


texts: "safety concerns related to switching of the drug product to OTC status" - do I need "the" before "OTC"?

texts:
safety concerns related to switching of the drug product to the Over-the-Counter status.

Do I need the before "Over-the-Counter", or is it the same as with the word form, which is used without the definite article?

  Remember Alf? He's back, in pog form!


texts:
Is "enter a dance animation with" idiomatic?
It's a very new expression, because it's mostly used for video games, so I was wondering if it was idiomatic? I am not sure, but maybe there's a better way of saying it, because it sounds odd.

For example:

  My male character entered a dance animation with the female character.


texts: What are the differences between these two sentences?

texts:
I was trying to translate the description of a game in english by myself and then asked a professional translator to compare with.

I wrote :

  Connect the dots so that paths don't overlap !

He wrote :

  Connect the points without the paths overlapping!

Does his sentence sounds better than mine? Does it have the same meaning? I don't really understand the difference between them.

The original sentence is (in french) : "Connectez les points sans que les chemins ne se chevauchent !"


texts: A word that means fill it to the required quantity

texts:
The jug of milk half full, so he took a glass of water and *.

I am not sure if there's a word for it, but I guess if there lacks a word for it there's a phrase that sounds better than "fill it to the required quantity". What word or phrase would you use?


texts: How can I make clear a statement is a hyperbole or generalization?

texts:
Over on Meta Stack Overflow I wrote this answer that starts with the following statement:

  we shouldn't care about attitudes of users.

That is not a statement which is true for me or how readers should understand it.

I think I want to make clear that the statement is an hyperbole.

In my first iteration I wrote:

  In an over general way stated: we shouldn't care about attitudes of users.

which was declared as quite awkward

Other suggestions were:

  In an overly general way

In the end I decided on

  Generally (meant as an hyperbole)

but that still feels as not the correct way to state that.

How can I correctly convey in a single, short sentence that my first statement is a broad generalization/hyperbole and not (necessarily) my own opinion?


texts: Doesn't… (negative), but…. (short positive)

texts:
I've just learned a very basic way of shortening sentences:

He likes tea (positive), but she doesn't (short negative).
I haven't got a car (negative), but my sister has (short positive).

But, what about:

She doesn't like coffee (negative), but I do (short positive).

According to google results this seems not very usual. Only got 6 results for the search phrase "doesn't like coffee, but I do".
I am wondering, is the sentence above correct? or shall I have to say:

She doesn't like coffee, but I like. (?)


texts:
Could you please tell me whether the selected sentence

  We are late. The film will already be started by the time we get to the cinema.

is grammatically correct?


texts: differences between dependence and dependency

texts:
In Merriam-Webster learner's dictionary, "dependence" is defined as "the state of being dependent"
and dependency as "the quality of being dependent; dependence".
According to the meaning, I think "dependence" is more likely to be used in concrete situations and "dependency" in abstract situations. However, in the following examples, I  find out the two words are almost interchangeable. Could you please tell me the differences between the two words? Or are there any differences?


texts: Meaning of "I am excited to watch the baseball game."

texts:
I am excited to watch the baseball game

What does this sentence mean exactly?

I am excited as soon as I watched the baseball game.
I am looking forward to watching the baseball game.
Either 1 or 2 according to context.
Either 1 or 2 according to context, but 1 is more likely than 2
Either 1 or 2 according to context, but 2 is more likely than 1

And I want to know the reason why you choose the number.


texts: "the hotel where you stayed" or "the hotel where you stayed at"

texts:
Which sentence is correct?

  1. Did you like the hotel where you stayed?
  2. Did you like the hotel where you stayed at?

I am curious as to whether to use at or not.


texts: Leave / take leave - keeping in mind the context

texts:
Which of the following sentences should be used when we talk with the intention of being more respectful and/or asking permission for the sake of courtesy?

  "Should I wait or may I take leave now?"
  "Should I wait or may I leave now?"


texts: Any difference between "looked sickly" and "looked sick" in this sentence?

texts:
The boy looked pretty sickly when he arrived. (at the prison of Azkaban)

I came across the sentence in the Potter book. I'm wondering, since both sickly and sick can be adjectives, what would be the difference? For example, can I instead say in this case?

  The boy looked pretty sick when he arrived.

Any thought?


texts:
The teacher said that the exam will be held on March 20, 2021
The teacher said that the exam would be held on March 20, 2021
Which one is correct?


texts: What is the meaning of "say" in the given sentence?

texts:
I came across the following sentence:

  In practice, you might want to reduce data from 256 to 50 dimensions, say; but using lower [...]

If I rearranged the sentence to:

  In practice, you might want to reduce data from 256 to, say, 50 dimensions; but using lower [...]

Would that still mean the same thing? If not, what is the meaning of say in the first quote?


texts: Is it correct to write "I saw her hang her head crying"

texts:
I came across a video about Gif with sound on YouTube. I had not seen any videos of this kind before. But the video was very interesting and I learned a new idiom from an embedded song from Scissor Sisters in the video.

According to the Cambridge online dictionary, hang one's head means to be ashamed or unhappy.
In my diary, I have written this sentence,

  I saw her crying alone in the school lavatory on second floor yesterday.

Now I want to rewrite it this way, but I don't know whether it is correct:

  I saw her hang her head crying alone in the school lavatory on second floor yesterday.


texts: what is "increased by a factor of order 3"?

texts: The context is "Every 3 year the total area is increased by a factor of order 3 by adding more stations". I understand that "increase by a factor 10" means increase to 10 times of the original thing, but what is "a factor of order 3"? Thank you very much for your help.


texts: "little though he wanted to" meaning in this context

texts:
"What are we going to do with it?" Hermione asked.

  "Keep it safe 'til we work out how to destroy it," Harry replied, and, little though he wanted to, he hung the chain around his own neck, dropping the locket out of sight beneath his robes, where it rested against his chest beside the pouch Hagrid had given him.

  Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

I don't quite understand "little though he wanted to" in this context. What does it mean?


texts:
This is important for corporations to gain the trust of their customers which increases the profits of companies.

  This is important way for corporations to gain the trust of their customers, which increases the profits of companies.

1) Should I include comma? I think so because it is non-defining clause. If it is not please inform me what is this called?

2) Is it wrong or unclear, if I do not include "way"?


texts:
In English, when we say

  Birds don't eat durians.

or

  Birds don't eat durian.

or

  Birds don't eat a durian.

or

  Birds don't eat any durians.

or

  Birds don't eat any durian.

Which sentence is the most correct one?


texts: Why don't we use the definite article in "you have the experience of..."?

texts:
Consider these examples:

Do you have the experience of working with kids?
Do you have experience of working with kids?

From what I have learned, we can use "the" with uncountable nouns when we are referring to something specific:

I like the confidence of Luisa. (not I like confidence of Luisa)
That's the beauty of this place. (not That's beauty of this place)

Now, shouldn't we use the first example: "Do you have the experience of working with kids?"?
Why is the second example: "Do you have experience of working with kids?" even correct? And why is the first example incorrect?


texts: How to make "All clean recyclable items go into your recycling bin" passive?

texts:
I want to make the sentence "All clean recyclable items go into your recycling bin" passive.

But "all clean items are gone into your recycling bin" sounds wrong.

Can this sentence be made passive?


texts: What does "killing" mean when there is no killing?

texts:
From the xkcd comic The Economic Argument

What is the meaning of killing here? I have looked up the dictionary and the only meaning of it is making living thing dead. I think in this context, killing means a revolution, but I'm not sure if it is safely to use this word for that.


texts:
The king underwrote the journey of Spain's prince.

The king underwrote the journey of Spain's prince's.

We have a double possessive here, we are referring to the journey of the prince of Spain. How do we express that in a sentence? If I were refer, say, to a house that belongs to may uncle I would say "the house of my uncle's". For this reason I think the second sentence is correct but it sounds a bit odd. Can you help me?


texts: The usage of the verb "change", change jobs, change schools, change phones, but why not "change doctors" or "change subjects"

texts:
I found myself curious of this tricky question, being that in the dictionary, it says

to exchange one thing for another thing, especially of a similar type:
She's just changed jobs.
Let's change the subject (= talk about something different).

in another dictionary, it goes

verb
To change something means to replace it with something new or different.
If you want to change your doctor there are two ways of doing it. [VERB noun]

To me, "change my doctor" involves 2 doctors, why not "change doctors",  isn't " change the subject" about changing from the old one to the new one, so how come it gets to be "change the subject". why not "change subjects". These 2 nouns should be plurals perhaps?


texts: Should "...what are they doing" be rewritten into a declarative sentence like "...what they are doing"?

texts:
Try to underline the key information about what they are doing.
Try to underline the key information about what are they doing?

OK，we know that the sentence "what are they doing ?" is a special question. Then, shall we make the special question into a declarative sentence like "what they are doing" when the said sentence is used after the preposition "about"?   And why?
Which sentence is correct in grammar?


texts:
There is few rules and regulations.
Is it a grammatically correct sentence? I mean whether it be IS or ARE


texts: When should 'is' and when should 'can' be used in a sentence?

texts:
I was wondering which sentence seems to make more sense.

  Gel is commonly found by killing monsters that carry gel with them.

or

  Gel can be commonly found by killing monsters that carry gel with them.

'Is' is a third-person singular verb of 'be', and 'be' is defined as 'exist'. While the gel isn't really "in existence" when the person reads the sentence, I believe it should be 'can'.

All my definitions are from Google Dictionary.


texts: "I like swimming breaststroke" or "I like swimming the breaststroke"?

texts:
Tell me please if I need to use the before the types of swimming techniques when they are used as adverbs? For example:

  I like swimming (the) breaststroke.

  I prefer to swim (the) front crawl stroke.

If the sentences don't sound natural at all, how would a native English speaker say them?


texts: "Not only are they not equally intelligent" ('Not only' with a negative context)

texts:
Thanks to a previous post, I have learned that when using "not only" in a negative context, if you don't want to invert the sentence, the best way is to use the "neither...nor" construction.

For example (source):

  Not only are all humans not equally intelligent, but those who are
  truly intelligent are also not equally as intelligent in every field.

I think can be reworded to:

  All humans are neither equally intelligent, nor are those who are
  truly intelligent equally intelligent.

As far as I know, "not only... but also" sentences should be allowed to undo the inversion such as the below.

  Not only am I impressed with his talent, but I also like his
  personality.

To:

  I am not only impressed with his talent, but also like his
  personality.

With the sentence that begins with negative context, however, that is impossible. I believe you cannot say:

  All humans are not only not equally intelligent, but those who are truly
  intelligent are also not equally as intelligent in every field.

Am I correct about this? Can anyone please verify the above with the explanation please?


texts: Using pejorative adjectives as a compliment

texts:
Is it correct or usual to use pejorative adjectives when you want to say good things about something, like in the phrase:

  He can do some really nasty tricks with a coin and a scarf

Of course I'm trying to say the tricks he can do are great, everybody enjoys them.

'Nasty' is the only pejorative adjective that comes to my mind and there may be better ones to be used instead - I mean, if that kind of use is really possible.


texts: Could we replace "seem" with "seem to be" or vice versa?

texts:
Having taken into account the following- especially, italic and bold parted- would you possibly show me if we could omit to be always? in other word, could we write or say seem instead of seem to be ? or seem to be instead of seem?

Excerpted from Swan's book, Practical English Usage:

seem and seem to be

Seem is often followed by to be. We prefer seem to be when we are talking about objective facts - things that seem definitely to be true. Seem is used without to be when we are talking about subjective impressions. (The difference is not always clear-cut, and both are often possible.) Compare:

- -

-

The bus seems to be full.

She seems excited.

The doctors have done the tests, and he definitely seems to be mentally ill.

It seems crazy, but I think I'm in love with the postman. (NOT It seems t8 he
eM£y •.•)

According to the experts, the north side ofthe castle seems to be about 100 years older than the rest.

He seems older than he is. (NOT He seents ttJ he tJltler than he is - this would suggest that he might actually be older than he is.)

She doesn't seem to be ready yet. She seems (to be) very sleepy today.

Another link may be helpful: Page 42 the part B:
 enter link description here

Thanks


texts: possessive apostrophe for two things or persons

texts:
What is the difference between the two sentences below? Are they the same or different in meaning?

  Jack and Laura's new house is almost ready.

  Jack's and Laura's new house is almost ready.

To my perception, the first says two of them have one house and the second says each one has a (different) house (which is almost ready). Is my perception correct?

EDIT: If I don't use "houses" instead of "house" (for my second interpretation), does it mean the sentence is wrong?


texts:
The trade imbalance is likely to rise again next year. Hence a new set of policy actions will be required soon. (Collins Dictionary)

Is this saying that there's a need for making some actions to make 'a new set of policy'?
Is 'policy actions' used as an idiom?


texts: Does someone pronounce "cover" to be "gover"?

texts:
And nothing covers me quite enough.

I heard someone read "covers" to be "govers".
I know the pronunciation of "screen" could be "sgreen". But, the "cover" to "gover" sounds a little stange.


texts: Can I omit "of" in "faces an immediate fine (of) up to one million dollars"?

texts:
This is my question sentence.

  If a company owns a factory that introduces harmful chemicals into rivers or lakes, it faces an immediate fine of up to one million dollars.

Here, can I just delete of and write it faces an immediate fine up to one million dollars?

If not, why preposition of is necessary in this sentence?


texts:
What is the rule and meaning of does in the following sentence (I think the appear omitted by it but if I am wrong please correct the title and tag):

  The Moon illusion is an optical illusion which causes the Moon to appear larger near the
  horizon than it does higher up in the sky. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_illusion)

MORE EXAMPLES

Sound travels faster in liquids and non-porous solids than it does in air (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_of_sound).
This makes it possible for the Sun to rotate faster at its equator (about 25 days) than it does at more extreme latitudes (about 35 days near its poles) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun).
The Sun appears larger at sunrise than it does while higher in the sky, in a manner similar to the moon illusion (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunrise).


texts:
Is there any reason, historical or grammatical etc? Why isn't this tolerated like "judgement" or "blueish"?

I couldn't find related posts around here or EL&U forum as far as I searched. I'd truely appreciate your answers...


texts: 'used to' & 'had to' ... what tenses are these?

texts:
What are the tenses here?
He used to play football professionally, but he had to quit because of an injury.
The first clause, with 'used to play' and the second clause, with 'had to quit' ... are these both simple past? Is the 'had' an auxiliary verb?


texts:
which one is the correct sentence between the two and why?
Before I lost my job, I was working on some important projects.
or
Before I lost my job, I had been working on some important projects.


texts:
1: He doesn't play half as well as his sister does.

2: He doesn't play half as well as his sister.

In sentence one,  the second "as" is a conjunction. Am I right?
In sentence two, should I take the second "as" as a preposition or as a conjunction with "does" being omitted?

Thank you very much!


texts: Does "pick up" mean "sponsor" in this context?

texts:
Core PCE and the other widely cited measure of inflation, the consumer price index, use two different methods of tracking healthcare expenses,which we've noted before. CPI tracks only what Americans are spending out of pocket on their healthcare, whereas PCE takes into account the insurance costs picked up by the government via Medicaid or Medicare, and the costs private insurers pay.

source: http://www.businessinsider.com/FEDeral-reserve-inflation-PCE-CPI-healthcare-obamacare-epipen-problem-2016-9


texts:
How do you write "the nest of the (plural) goose" with correct apostrophes?

I am not sure if we say geese or geese's.

What would be the sentence structure?


texts: "triggered him" vs "triggered something in him"

texts:
I asked him this question that I thought seemed pretty harmless, but apparently it triggered something in him, 'cause all of a sudden he was crying.

  I asked him this question that I thought seemed pretty harmless, but apparently it triggered him, 'cause all of a sudden his was crying.

Are both correct? Is there any difference between the two phrases?


texts: Today's shaping up to be a good day - meaning

texts:
Today's shaping up to be a good day.

I looked up what shaping up means. I think it means, the sentence, today's turning into a good day. Am I right?

And, does today's shaping into a good day mean the same thing?


texts: What does "Happen the gin'll work" mean?

texts:
It' a quote from TV drama Gentleman Jack S1E01, a historical drama, set in England during the first Industrial Revolution.
Here are the lines:

  A: She says they were engaged.

  B: Did he know about...

  A: Yes. She says so. She said he was gonna marry her as soon as they got back to halifax. Happen the gin'll work.  She looks sick enough.

I find it strange to use the word "happen", as it certainly doesn't mean "to take place" here.


texts:
I texted my friend and said:

Hey, are you free to talk?

He said:

Sorry, I'm working on my science project.

I said: OK, I'll leave you.

Does the highlighted sentence sound correct and natural in English?


texts:
several years after father had retired on a pension ,an accountant came to india to examine.he discovered that father had never applied for overdue bonuses.

My question is...... why is he not writing in simple past only?sometime he uses simple past ,sometime past perfect?


texts: it's bad enough ( having to / to have to / to ) read

texts:
Please clarify the difference between each option in the sentence below.

  I would never use "got decapitated" in a formal report unless I was
  quoting a witness who said that, because it's bad enough having to / to have to / to
  read these things to begin with, the last thing I want is to increase
  the immediacy of the description for whomever the poor person having
  to read it is (sometimes myself in the future) and possibly
  vicariously traumatize them (even worse).


texts: What's the difference between "to have been involved" and "to be involved"?

texts:
What's the differences between the following sentences:

I'm very proud to have been involved in this project.

I'm very proud to be involved in this project.

Are they all correct?


texts: What does it mean "painting of Christians?"

texts:
What does it mean "painting of Christians" in the following text?

Does it mean that (a) the painters are Christian or it means that (b) the people in this paintings are Christians? or (c) it means that the owners are Christians? or (d) it is ambiguous?

  Where can I find authentic paintings of Christians in the
  Middle Ages?

If it is ambiguous then if I'l we add the word "image", then it means that the people in this paintings are Christians (as the second meaning above)?

  Where can I find authentic paintings with images of Christians in the
  Middle Ages?

I would like to avoid ambiguity and to know what is the normal way to talk about picture for each of the two meanings.


texts:
I don't understand the meaning of the word "sacrifice" in this sentence:

  I wish I could do fieldwork in the Ming court, observing the court citizens and asking them why state sacrifices and music played such a central role in their public and private lives.


texts:
To say Douglas Pearce’s music is “pro-Hitler” oversimplifies a complex and less than clean cut matter.

Source: Accidental Protégé – An Attempt To Clear The Confusion Over Death In June and Douglas Pearce

Can you explain to me what "less than clean cut matter" means in the context of the above clause? Is this part an attribute? The matter is "complex" and "less than clean cut"?


texts:
If you feel Judith speak while weeping, we say:

I sensed Judith speak in a choked voice
I sensed Judith speak in a choking voice
I sensed Judith's choking voice
I sensed Judith's choked voice


texts: Past Progressive or Past Perfect Progressive?

texts:
In a past narrative, I often see people using Past Perfect Progressive for things that are still true, which is odd to me, as the Past Perfect Progressive is an action that started in the past and continued up until a point in the past.
For instance

He asked calmly, scuffing his shoes on the carpet that hadn't been vacuumed for a long time

Shouldn't it be:

[...] wasn't been vacuumed for a long time

Since the Past P. is supposedly for things that stopped being true after some point in the past?


texts: Is "in which" interchangeable with "during which"? I've seen them replaced with each other in videos and articles. But no books explain the question.


texts: How do I understand Labels & Codes [ C or U ] in Cambridge dictionary correctly?

texts:
in Cambridge dictionary, [C] refers to

  Countable noun: a noun that has a plural

[U] refers to

  Uncountable or singular noun: a noun that has no plural.

What does [ C or U ] mean? Take this (https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/dinner) as our running example.

I guess that means this word could be used as Countable or Uncountable and depends on the context. However, I didn't see that in the examples in the first section.

In AMERICAN DICTIONARY section, there are indeed examples marked [ U ], all of them!

How do I understand [ C or U ] here correctly?


texts: Where does ';for which...' fit (note the ;)? (1575 Late April, UK)

texts:
Source: p 101, Lives and letters of the Devereux, earls of Essex, by Walter Bourchier Devereux

  [p 100 states that this letter was undated, but the penultimate sentence on p99 (ie the last sentence of the previous letter) contains 1575, so I think that this was the year.] No XVIII.’
  The Queen to Essex.

  Right trusty and well beloved Cousin, greeting. Having
  seen certain offers and requests made by you unto our Deputy
  in your letter of the 15th of this present directed to our Council, by the which you do not only shew yourself providently
  careful to avoid the inconvenience that might have ensued by
  the sudden giving over or the enterprize for the reformation
  of Ulster, but also, for the preventing of such mischiefs as
  were likely to ensue thereby, was content to spoil yourself of
  that reputation that birth and desert hath cast upon you,
  offering to serve under our Deputy there in place not answerable to your state and calling; [1.] for which most dutiful kind of dealing towards us, the same appearing most evidently to
  proceed of a singular and an extraordinary zeal and devotion
  you bear towards us, [2.] we could not in honor but by our
  letters make known unto you in what great good part we
  accept the same, and how sorry we were to see your honourable mind wounded with so just cause of grief as seemeth to have grown of our Deputy’s over-strait dealing towards you, to whom we have by our letters presently sent unto him signified how greatly we do mislike the same

1. Please help me to understand the sentence starting at [1.]? This relative clause 'for which ...' seems disarranged; with which main clause should it be connected?

2. I guess that here, 'but' functions as a preposition meaning 'except'. Yet how does this make sense? If the Queen truly wanted to honour the Earl, why only send a letter? At least delegate someone to visit?

Excursus: For those wondering, I was seeking examples of 'ensued by' on Google Books when I lighted upon this letter.


texts: Is there a word for 'making offending sarcastic remarks'?

texts:
Is there a word (probably a verb to describe the action) for the below situation:

When someone throws a sarcastic remark to you, especially in front of other people, not in a playful manner but rather an offensive one, meaning to dampen you.

It could be more of a slang term, an "urbandictionary-word", than a conventional English word.


texts:
My phone charger started burning up when I plugged it into the
  outlet.

  My phone charger started burning out when I plugged it into the
  outlet.

  My phone charger started burning when I plugged it into the outlet.

What's the difference between these 3 verbs, and how should I use them?


texts: all loud colors and improbable cuts -- what does "cuts" mean in this context?

texts:
Example (Putin Would Eat President Trump for Lunch):

  One is Yevgeny Chichvarkin, co-founder of the Yevroset chain of mobile phone shops. Like Trump, he is flamboyant and outspoken. Trump sold a line of rather tasteless clothes under his name until Macy's discontinued it earlier this month. Chichvarkin is famous for dressing like a pop star -- all loud colors and improbable cuts. Trump hosted "The Apprentice" on NBC; Chichvarkin was one of the five hosts of "Kapital" on Russia's TNT channel, judging   investment pitches from young entrepreneurs. Trump likes to curse, and so does Chichvarkin.

What kind of cuts is the author talking about?


texts: Is this sentence correct?: "I can leave a little irresponsible image on the people's who assign the job, mind."

texts:
I'm trying to improve my English as soon as I can. According to the online English level exams, my English level is between B1 and B2. I want to upgrade it to C1. Therefore, I write a diary every day. Also, each day I'm trying to write more complex sentences. While I was trying some sentences like that, I couldn't be sure of the sentence I made.
Basically, I just want to say: "I can leave a little irresponsible image on the people's minds.". Then I want to write a little detail about people: "people who assign the job".
My sentence:
I can leave a little irresponsible image on the people's who assign the job, mind.
In here, I am not sure at 2 points. The first one is "people's", and the second one is ",mind". Should I use comma(,) before "mind"?
Can you please help me? Your help will be really valuable for me. Thank you very much in advance.


texts:
I'm little bit confused.

What's the correct option?

  What do you think what is your best quality?

or

  What do you think what your best quality is?

If i have a question form with "do" in this part "what do you think..." should i reverse the verb to be and the subject?

I feel like second one is correct, but sounds weird. Not sure.

Thanks.


texts: What is the meaning of "with easy to understand graphs" in the following sentence?

texts:
What is the meaning of "with easy to understand graphs" in the following sentence,

  The Performance tab provides great information on how
  your computer's hardware is performing with easy to understand graphs
  . (source: How to use Windows
  10 Task Manager to monitor system performance  by Mauro Huculak )

Does "with easy to understand graphs" mean "great information is easy to understand graphs" ?
Does "with" mean "great information is" ?


texts:
Tell me please which article I need to use in the following sentence.

  John's boss menaced him with a/the fist saying that if he don't finish the project by evening he will fire him.

I am not sure which article I need to use because the boss has two fists.


texts: To excess insulin releasing / to excess releases of insulin?

texts:
I don't know which variant (the bold text) I should use.

  Sweeteners can reduce the intake of simple sugars to a level which does not provoke the pancreas to excess insulin releasing / to excess releases of insulin.


texts: In a headline should I use "Isn't it time..." or "Is it time..."

texts: I have headline and there is confusion over which is correct.  "Is it time to make the jump?" or "Isn't it time to make the jump?"


texts: He was walking through/ on / in the streets of the city?

texts:
Which preposition is the correct to put in the following sentence? For me all of them looks equal and I don't really have a reason why to choose one and not the other.

  He was walking (through/ on / in) the streets of the city?


texts: What's a word for "shout" but to convey excitement?

texts:
Example sentence:

  "What a great idea!" I __.

I searched for synonyms for blurt. Exclaim comes close, but it doesn't have a positive tone, I think. Any suggestions?


texts: Difference between (diverse / various / different / distinct / disparate)

texts:
Consider:

A person of diverse interests can talk on many subjects.
We have looked at various houses, but have decided to buy this one.
The department store sells many different things.
The criminal was charged with two distinct offenses, one being murder, the other bribery.
Don't confuse these disparate concepts.

I was wondering whether these bold words are interchangeable. I guess they have different emphases.


texts:
Can we correct this sentence?:
"When you were calling I had not had an internet connection".

I've decided that Past Perfect Tense in the second part of sentence is appropriate because an incident with a connection occurred before call starting and there was no internet connection during call. But i'm not sure.

Thanks.


texts: Does the place of past perfect change the meaning of a sentence

texts:
In this excerpt from Roald Dahl's story Lamb to the Slaughter:

  And when it was all wrapped and she had paid, she put on her brightest smile and said “Thank you, Sam. Goodnight.”

I think this sentence means that she paid first, and then it was wrapped and she put on her brightest smile.

If I write:

  She had paid and when it was all wrapped, she put on her brightest smile.

is it the same in terms of meaning?


texts:
In "Me and Cows", I mentioned having ordered "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy".

(where "Me and Cows" is an essay known to the reader)

Something feels off about this sentence. Is it grammatically correct, and natural sounding?


texts: What is the adjective for someone with cancer?

texts: What is the adjective for a person that has cancer? For example, cancerous individual, cancerous child, or something else?


texts:
They all thought he had talent; at Heidelberg they had admired his
  water colours, Miss Wilkinson had told him over and over again that
  they were 1)chasing; even strangers like the Watsons had been struck by
  his sketches. La Vie de Boheme had made a deep impression on him. He
  had brought it to London and when he was most depressed he had only to
  read a few pages to be transported into those 2)chasing attics where
  Rodolphe and the rest of them danced and loved and sang.

  Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham

What is the definition of 'chasing' here? Is the first 'chasing' a print, lithograph, engraving? Then what about the second 'chasing'?


texts:
I want to understand how to use the phrasal verb "carry out"

So my question is, Can I ask

  How do you carry out your task? Which tools do you use?

and can I ask:

  Do you still carry out your test?

Thanks.


texts: Is "This story can be true." grammatically incorrect?

texts:
I want to ask a question about the usage of an auxiliary verb "can."
I think the next sentence is grammatically incorrect.

This story can be true.

In contrast, I think the next sentence is correct.

This story could[might/may] be true.

Is my understanding right?
supplementary explanation
In a dictionary, I learned about "can" that expresses possibility (not ability or permission) as follows:

In positive sentences, "can" expresses general possibility, that is, possibility that a thing happens irregularly several times, and "can" isn't able to express specific possibility, that is, possibility that a thing happens specifically only once.
For example, the next sentence is not correct.

It can rain tomorrow.

In contrast, the following sentence is correct.

It may rain tomorrow.

(I think not only "may" but also "could"/"might" are correct.)

That's why I thought "This story can be true" is not correct. For possibility that this story is true is specific, that is, it happens specifically only once.


texts: Is it idiomatic to say "searched something on a online dictionary"?

texts:
I asked a question just now

  "except" is the word I was considering. I searched it on Oxford dict, and got the sentence above.

The Oxford dict is an online dictionary. When I searched something , is it idiomatic to say "searched something on the Oxford dictionary"?


texts:
What we have to do now is find why the accident happened.

Why can is add a verb here (find)? And I think find should be finding.


texts: Articles in the phrase "This led to revolt and war"

texts:
I would like to know what rule tells you that in the phrase
"This led to revolt and war" one does not need to put an article "a" in front of revolt and war?

I guess the above phrase is correct since I found it on wiki : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herod_the_Great#cite_note-Spino-9

Would the following phrase be grammatically correct:
"This led to a revolt and a war".  If yes, is there a difference in the meaning with the first phrase?


texts: Describing quantity: "code-length less than # lines" or "less than # lines code-length"

texts:
Which one is correct?

  code-length less than # lines

Or

  less than # lines code-length

Also, Should I write 'code-length' (with hyphen) or as separate words 'code length'?


texts:
From this passage,
None of the attempts to specify the causes of crime
explains why most of the people exposed to the
alleged causes do not commit crimes and, conversely,
why so many of those not so exposed have.

To me the bold sentence means "people who are alleged". Am I correct? I'm so skeptical about the way of using this kind of structure.

Thank you so much,


texts: The omission of articles after the preposition "of" in context

texts:
It was in this video. It is at around 2 minute and 34 second. Here is the context:

  I was in a small valley called the Korengal Valley in eastern Afganistan. It was 6 miles long. There were 150 men of (a/the) battle company in that valley.

Dictionaries say, in this context, that company is a military unit of soldiers and it is a countable noun. Then why did the speaker decide to leave any article out?


texts:
Saw your response to a question about Already Was vs Was Already.

I'm a novice writer.  A beta reader suggested that I edit to Was Already.  The discussion from which I saw your name was a bit vague for me (pardon my inexperience).  Below is the sentence in my novel:

He already was two paces away from her; he started stepping backwards as soon as he scribbled her face.

Hope you can enlighten me.


texts: Am I right about what these two words referring to?

texts:
In

  "A damaged area of the skin where it has been rubbed against something hard and rough."

The antecedent of the where clause which "where" referring to is the "damaged area" and "it" referring to "the skin"

Am I right about that?

Edit:

This sentence comes from a definition of the word "abrasion" in a dictionary. I do know what it means in a vague sense, just for reading, the job is done. what is not clear, and makes me wonder, is "where" and "it" refers to which word or phrase and if I can know this, I think I can master it completely.

This question might seem silly by native speaker, but it does worth answering for the reason to understand and generate sentence for a second language learner.

and @jacob, thanks for your explanation, it's very kind of you to spend you time to help silly learner like me. The transfer from "where it" to "that" makes the meaning clear. Can you show what both "where" and "it" refers to if you have time. Thank you.


texts:
What's the difference between these two sentences, according to their meaning and structure:

I haven't come.

I didn't come.

Do they have the same meaning?


texts:
I am trying to describe a positional relationship between a cylinder and a rectangular bar shown in the picture below.

After googling, I found some documents that describe this type of relationship. They say as follows:

  The bar is located radially outward of the cylinder.
  The bar is located radially outward from the cylinder.

Would you advise me on which is better. I understand there may be simpler ways to describe this relationship, but I would like to use the phrase "radially outward of/from".


texts: Does "being harsh on someone" make sense?

texts:
Since the meanings of the words harsh and hard are similar but not the same, does "harsh on" make sense?
For example:

Calm down you shouldn't be too harsh on him.


texts:
I would carry my darling back to my father's house in Applethwaite; where, if we lived humbly, we lived at peace. I said I had been frightened enough with the old lord's organ-playing; but now that I had seen for myself this little moaning child, all decked out as no child in the neighbourhood could be, beating and battering to get in, yet always without any sound or noise--with the dark wound on its right shoulder; and that Miss Rosamond had known it again for the phantom that had nearly lured her to death (which Dorothy knew was true); I would stand it no longer.

The above short story is written in 1852. (The Old Nurse's Story by E. Gaskell)

In dictionary, 'deck out' means 'put on special clothes to appear particularly appealing and attractive' means, which is completely out of question in the above sentence.

Then, what is the real meaning in the above sentence?

Many thanks in advance.


texts:
What is the use of "would have been" there? Is it still a third conditional?

  This would have been unthinkable last year, when North Korea was
  launching missiles and testing nuclear devices.

  Today, we see growing acceptance of gay marriage - something that
  would have been unthinkable a generation ago.

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/unthinkable
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1804/19/sn.01.html


texts:
I have some points placed on the same line, and I want to say that each side by side pair of points must be chosen to be investigated. However, the phrase "side by side" is actually adverbial, which means that I cannot use it as an adjective.

How can I explain two points that are not placed between any other points?


texts: extend to the end of Monday vs to the end of the day Monday vs to Monday

texts:
I'd like to ask my teacher if she can extend the due date for an assignment, which I was supposed to hand in by the beginning(?) of Monday, to Monday 11:59 pm.
Which one is correct?
Is there a better way to say this?

  Could you extend the due date to the end of Monday?
  Could you extend the due date to the end of the day Monday?
  Could you extend the due date to Monday?


texts:
Recently I have been trying to file a complaint where I need to include the following:

(All texts in the following blockquote are red-colored)

  Click next after 15 secs

  Click next after 14 secs

  Click next after 13 secs

  ⋮

  Click next after 1 secs

The line flashing on the screen keeps changing every passing second like given above.

I tried to describe that in the email:

  I notice that while we are on the page where we have to enter the
  names of the passengers, it flashes 'Click Next after xx secs' in red
  with a clock attached with the text where xx goes from 15 -> 0

That is pretty awkward and not very clear and visual. What would be the best way to write the same?


texts: Is the use of "one of the" correct in the following context?

texts:
I want to know what the constraints are on using the phrase one of the.

Is it used correctly in this example?

  He is one of the soldiers who fight for their country.


texts: Using ‘which’ to refer to one specific word

texts:
Being a centre of a competition, which is gripping for people from all around the world, is a tremendous boost for a promotion of the place.

I wanted to address here that the competion is gripping, not the whole "Being a centre of a competition". So, it does not seem to convey my thought, I guess.
Maybe without "which"?

  Being a centre of a competition gripping for people from all around the world is a tremendous boost for a promotion of the place.


texts: Usage of simple present tense and present continuous tense in the same sentence

texts:
The bus was travelling much faster than usual when it went through the bridge.

The bus travelled much faster than usual when it was going through the bridge.

Are there any subtle differences between the two sentences above?


texts:
The earliest copyist engraver who had worked after Mantegna's pen
  drawing had simply copied the lines that Mantegna made with his pen.

Mantegna made his drawing before it was copied. Then why is had used with the copyist and not with Mantegna in the above sentence?


texts: Can I use quotation marks to mean a word is used euphemistically?

texts:
In Italian I could write Ho visto "l'albergo" dove lavori. (I saw the "hotel" where you work.) In that sentence, I am not quoting what somebody said, but I am using albergo in an euphemistic way, probably because I don't want to really call with its name what I have seen.

Is it possible to do the same in English, or should I use something different? In the latter case, what should I write instead of I saw the "hotel" where you work?


texts:
Let's say you use electricity per day, and then the electric company increased the charge (payment) for electricity/per kilo watt of usage, and you say:

  Oh great! Because of this, I will pay higher than I normally do.

Or

  Oh great! Because of this, I will pay higher than I normally would.

I've seen someone used the sentence2 from a video to express this situation, but I am not sure why did they use "would" since it is not hypothetical (it's the truth to be exact). Whereas, the sentence1 sounds right to my ear...

Which of them should be used anyway?


texts:
I know the different uses of the verb "avail":

  1. He availed himself of the opportunity

  2. She availed herself of the opportunity

The dictionary says the use is very formal and old fashioned.

But as teachers we can not dispense with its use.

For example, The number of Casual leaves availed ( the number of days used as paid leave) and the balance of the leave in the leave account

If the use of "avail" is old fashioned as in the sentences given above and the construction is lengthy, what is the the  modern use
in its place?

How can we overcome the problem of using such constructions?

Most Indians say "I availed the opportunity" which is wrong.

Can we say, I utilized the opportunity? or are there any other better expressions used by the native speakers?


texts: What is the meaning of "spread" in this sentence?

texts:
I read a sentence in "The Hindu" which was:

This year's interim budget is being regarded as a big spread for farmers.

Does it mean "extent or amount of something" or "a large meal although not in literal sense)?


texts:
I am looking for a word stronger in meaning than the word "believe"
for example:
I trust the results of my analysis 100% so I believe that the following blabla, ... will happen.

Are there any other words than " believe" to describe this strong feeling of trust?


texts: What's the meaning of "be it" used in this sentence below?

texts: "My happiness comes from women, be it my mother, someone who had me in her womb for 9 months, then had to deal with my behavior for 13 more years, be it my sisters who have supported me and tried their best to make me happy"


texts: It's correct to call "deployment" to the group of pieces to be manufactured?

texts:
I have a product definition (furniture) that has all the subcomponents explained based on the relation with his parent product. With formulas.

The structure of this description is called "Configuration".

When I sell a unit of the defined product, I create, "deployment?" of the components, in which each formula, from Configuration, is executed and only his result is stored.

The resulting information of this process is, all data for for manufacturing. Because of this I think that this is a "Deployment of the Configuration".

I know that I can call it Composition, but this word is more near to the Configuration meaning that to the Deployment meaning. I think. And I've used Composition in other context. When I execute the formulas but not for manufacturing, instead for budgets.


texts: to prune vs to shear vs to cut back difference

texts:
Do you think they are interchangeable and  we can collate with them certain plants?

Which one is used commonly in daily life ?


texts: Can semicolon work as 'that is' in a sentence?

texts:
He took a new drug; abc, to treat the COVID.
He took a new drug that is abc to treat the COVID.

Is the first sentence correct? What if I use the colon?


texts: Could I use "whom" instead of "which" in this sentence?

texts:
More than 170 countries offer Chinese courses, 67 of ____ have incorporated Chinese into their national education systems.

the answer is "which"，I wonder whether It can be "whom".


texts: Does the word "metaphorical" have the extended meaning of "being similar or alike"?

texts:
I came across this context in which I find the word "metaphorical" is used in an unusual way,

  Yet the 440-pound silverback leaves another metaphorical gorilla in the room, raising questions that extend far beyond the particulars of the case...

I consulted dictionaries and only found the meaning connecting with  "metaphor".

I assume the word "metaphorical" have the extended meaning of "being similar or alike"? What exactly does it mean here?


texts: How can I say in this situation (buying a top-up card)?

texts:
When I buy a top up card (to recharge the phone balance ), I usually say " can I get Maxis(the company's name i use) 30$ card" but I dont know either its correct expression or not. should I say "maxis card worth of 30$"?

what would native speakers say in this situation.

thanks!


texts: In Portuguese (Brazil) Inferno means Hell, but I have seen this word in another context, like in games… but I think it does not have the same definition. Is Inferno the same as Hell?


texts:
What is this actually saying? Written sentence: “This is not a story about wine, well not totally.” The writer means "There's more to this story than just wine." It's a voiceover attempting to be clever about saying this winery has a lot more story than wine. There's people, history, etc.

And is there a much clearer way to say it while still making an attempt at a joke? Or rather than a clearer way, what I think I'm trying to get at is whether or not it is misleading and rubbing the viewer's ear the wrong way because of the seemingly double negative?

Is it more effective to write the dialogue as, "This is not a story about wine, entirely." And cutting the somewhat double negative?


texts: Singular Vs plural- Visit again and get a 20% discount on a/any beverage?

texts:
I saw a sentence written on some pamphlet of a restaurant and the sentence was like this:

  "Visit again and get a 20% discount on a beverage."
  "Visit again and get a 20% discount on beverages."

First question is what's the difference between the two sentences?

I am attaching a link here and request you to go through RegDwight's answer. He says in many cases where the indefinite article, a, is used we can replace it by any.

Based on his suggestion now look at the sentence 2 again:

  "Visit again and get a 20% discount on (a=)any beverage".

You see, now this sentence (3)  where I have used any in place of a sounds okay to me. But if I read the sentence (1) with a, then it doesn't sound that okay. Why is it so?


texts: what does appropriately throttling the right amount of innovation mean?

texts:
IT departments that aim to stifle user-led innovation
  are often perceived as authoritarian and militaristic,
  and at odds with their line of business counterparts.
  Controlling risks, as the “organizational watchdog”
  is an important role, but only if it’s coupled with the
  unleashing of new opportunities.
  Developing a core competency of appropriately
  throttling the right amount of innovation, coupled with
  the appropriate privacy and security constraints is a
  skill that must be further developed and refined.
  Decades ago, any organization that initially prohibited
  Internet access ultimately understood it couldn’t be
  controlled. It required new approaches to blending
  the hiring of the right people with appropriately
  extended autonomy, trust, and empowerment.


texts: How to understand the following quotes of Edmund Burke?

texts:
Can anyone please shed some light on the following quotes of Edmund Burke?

  Society cannot exist unless a controlling power upon will and appetite be placed somewhere, and the less of it there is within, the more there must be without. It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things, that men of intemperate minds cannot be free.

The part I fail to apprehend is bold-faced. I guess "it" in that part refers to the "controlling power". But then what does "there is within" mean? Also "there must be without" what?

Thanks in advance for any help!


texts: Difference between "diurnal" and "daily"?

texts:
I want to describe some data which are measured every one hour (Fig. 1).

They fluctuate during "one day" (i.e. 24h). They also fluctuate everyday (e.g. magnitude on 1/17,1/18 differs largely).

And I was wondering, (1) when I describe the fluctuation of "1/17 0:00 ~ 1/17 24:00", should I use "diurnal fluctuation" ? (2) when I describe the fluctuation of "1/17,1/18,1/19,1/20...", should I use "daily fluctuation" ?

I compared the meanings I found in a dictionary - "diurnal" means "1. belonging to or active during the day; 2. having a daily cycle or occurring every day; ". I think meaning 1 is ruled out. However, meaning 2 contains the word "daily", which brings confusion to me.


texts: What is the word for starting to do things the people you live with do?

texts:
I was told I was nice because I was Canadian. I wanted to say "I am not Canadian, but maybe I have learnt being nice after living in Canada for a while". I came up with this sentence, but I believe "take" and "habit" might not be the best words to use. What can I use instead?

Maybe after years of living in Canada, I have taken that habit.


texts: A way to say "in any direction" with the phrase "all 360 angles"?

texts:
The casters allow the chair to rotate freely.
The casters allow the chair to rotate ___ all 360 angles.

I am wondering how to say this grammatically? I think "to" and "in" are ungrammatical and even if they were grammatical, the sentences wouldn't make sense, because there's more than 360 angles in a circle?
Is there a way to say "in any direction" with "all 360 angles" or "360 angles" or "360 degrees"?


texts:
When I was young, I was unwillingly brought along due to follow my parents' dreams.

I was taught due to has two meanings. When you use it as 'because of', nouns or gerunds should follow. On the other hand, you put it with Be-verb to talk about things that are expected in a way of 'be due to verb'. But I never saw this kind of due to (pic related). Could someone explain it please?


texts: What's difference between opinion and concept

texts: When I try translating these two words into Chinese, I find they have the same meaning in Chinese. But how do natives use the two words?


texts:
What are verbs that we can use  in a collocation with the noun habit? Particularly, Is using "to grow" correct as in the following example sentence? Is it standard English?

  When people can realize that using the machine can be much more time-saving,
  they will grow a habit to use it eventually.

I saw  in Longman Dictionary that the verbs create,form,develop are used and make/get into the habit of doing something are more common patterns but I also saw many times that "growing  a habit" is used on the Internet.


texts: Use of "however" and "yet" in a sentence

texts:
Consider this scenario

  A can help B. However, A is limited by Z, yet he can help B by ...

Sorry if the example is very abstract. But I guess you got my meaning.

Can however and yet be used in one sentence? "However" wants to bring an exception to the previous sentence, while "Yet" tries to say that this exception is not so rigid.


texts: How can this head-line be interpreted as?

texts:
Here's the source.

  Clinton savors moment and 'a milestone'

It means either 'she savored a moment and a milestone' or 'she savored a moment and it is a milestone'.

The second one is like titles, "Tom and a jacket" which can mean a story of tom and a jacket.Is it like that or a complete sentence?

Another example:

  India's Modi brings message of friendship to Washington -and a little humor.

Well that should be 'friendship in Washington'?


texts: What is a "loft living" and does it mean good or bad?

texts:
We had gone back to Patrick’s house, a new-build flat on the edge of
    town. It had been marketed as ‘loft living’, even though it
    overlooked the retail park, and was no more than three floors high.

  Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

I am a little confused about what a "loft living" should be looked like, as in my understanding and among my peers, "loft" is not some premier or fancy flat, either a very small-sized skip-floor flat/apartment, or an restored/reconstructed old factory, or a barn, or maybe as a storeroom?

If so, then why "market it" with "loft living"? Isn't it supposed to market a product with something smart and fancy?
And in the sentence it also suggests the actual flat is not as good as it marketed. So could anyone help me to picture this "loft living"?


texts:
The animals would hunt for food and bring it to the lion and the lion in turn would distribute the food to all.

Is it all right to use bring with would which is a past tense form of will or it should be changed to brought ? Also someone suggested to use amongst in last part of sentence i.e. distribute the food amongst all  Is it required or to is fine here ?


texts: What does 'self-denying ordinance' mean?

texts:
It is interesting that previous conservative thinkers have suggested that the whole
  concept of parliamentary sovereignty is itself a product of the self-denying ordinance of
  the common law. Consequently, they suggested that it was open to a subsequent, more
  robust judiciary, confi dent in its own position and powers within the developing constitution,
  to reassert its equality with the other two elements of the polity.

Source: p 38, The English Legal System 2012-2013, Gary Slapper

The linked definition above, referring to 1645, doesn't cohere with the context. So I tried self-denying, but I'm still confused by the idea of an ordinance denying itself something. How does this make sense?


texts: How to say "in the lowest time" he/she wakes up?

texts:
He wakes up by 6:00 at the earliest" or maybe "at the latest",

I would like to say one wakes up at 6 o clock or after it. how to say this in different forms?

Thanks


texts:
What is the right preposition in the following context, on or in?

  Please place the paper on the tray.

or

  Please place the paper in the tray.

Which of these would be grammatical? If both, is there any difference in meaning?


texts: Why should we use "the" in "the political implications"?

texts:
Which of the following expressions is correct?:

The political implications of ...
Political implications of ...

Is the The necessary here? When I search the web using Google, in most cases The is used. Here is an Ngram comparison of the two terms:

We can see from this that sentences starting with "The political implications of ... " are, according to these figures, over 10,000% more prevalent than sentences beginning with "Political implications of ... " in printed books available on Google. Why?


texts: How to use idiom "Not a moment too soon"

texts:
The meaning of idiom not a moment too soon  is almost too late
It is used as-

  The ambulance arrived not a moment too soon.

If I form the sentence in the following-

  The ambulance did not arrive a moment too soon.

Would this be grammatical or idiomatic?


texts: "This (should present/show/other) the (best/other) contrast of all"

texts:
While posting an answer on UX.stack (then moved to Graphic Design) I found out I wasn't sure about how to express this:

  The Go button size should be bigger and present the best contrast
  of all since it's the primary one.

1) Is present used correctly? Should I have used another verb instead?
2) Is best the correct adjective for contrast, or would highest be better?
3) Is there anything else to correct in the sentence?


texts: What is the idiomatic form of use to convey the following meaning

texts:
background: I was having an online debate regarding the recent call for recount in US election. In the process, I used the following sentence:

  What Trump would say had the table turned?

It came off as very unnatural and I am pretty sure that I messed up the subjunctive mood. Would appreciate greatly if someone can help me out here and if you could in the meantime share the grammatical reasons behind it it would be even better.


texts: Relative clauses: "The day that Rose left ...", "The day when Rose left", "The day Rose left" - are these all correct?

texts:
Version 1: The day Rose left me...
  Version 2: The day that Rose left me...
  Version 3: The day when Rose left me...

I am pretty sure that versions 1 and 3 are correct. Version 1 uses the day as if it is a conjunction indicating time; version 3 uses a relative clause to specify which day is being talked about. As for version 2, I cannot find a reliable source to verify its correctness. Anyone can help?


texts: What is the appropriate word for something like "to do an action heavily, with a special effort, intensity, pressure, enthusiasm"?

texts:
Someone is playing a piano with his fingers heavily hitting the keys to make a great noise.
Someone is painting, his hands energetically waving in all directions. Is there a verb for both of the situations?

To give a notion, it is something like "to do an action heavily, with a special effort, intension, pressure, enthusiasm".


texts:
XYZ was named the new Senior Vice President Human Resources for the Group from October 1, 2015.
  XYZ was appointed as the new Senior Vice President Human Resources for the Group from October 1, 2015.

I have two question: In the translation dictionay, "named" just means the post is reserved for the guy. So does this mean "named" is different from "appointed as", which mean the gus has actually take the post.

Another, should we choose "named" or "named as"?


texts:
This is from a talk on agile teams/enterprises at Microsoft Academy:

  Embrace chicken-ness
  - Leaving the pigs alone is a tough job, but somebody’s got to do it

The slide is about how to not manage a team, so I guess it means to keep your hands off but I couldn't find anything on the web so I'm wondering if there is an additional notion and where this comes from.


texts: What does "which" refer to in this sentence?

texts:
“The theatrical fools of the end of the sixteenth century were only
  one manifestation of a long tradition of fooling, more or less continuous since at least the Middle Ages, which evolved alongside the theater but was by no means dependent upon it”

Does which in "which evolved" refers to theatrical fools?


texts: Can I use "as" instead of "because of" ? Would it be right?

texts:
For example,

  Air pollution is on the increase as many reasons.

Actually my sentence was

  Air pollution is on the increase because of many reasons . . .

but I replaced 'because of' with 'as'. Is it right?


texts: Excuse me, excuse myself, excuse yourself?

texts:
I would like to know how to use the excuse myself/yourself idioms.
Also would be nice to know the possible situation for these sentences.

I know, if I caused any trouble I can say "Excuse me" for it. (I'm sorry because I did something wrong.)

But what about the "excuse myself?"
And yourself?

Any answer will be appreciated:).


texts:
I found this via Glenn Sacks.  (June 17, 2008
Family secrets: I wish I had married for money, not love.)

It's a true story of a series of articles from The Times called "Family Secrets," which are unsigned and fictitious names, and in which readers of the newspaper confess a secret.

Anyway, I can't understand this part.
What does it mean?

  "Feminism's fine, but there's a lot to be said for having your bills paid"


texts:
I have a simple question of English.
This is correct?

  The type "red" doesn't exist.

Or "not" or "don't"? And why?

  The type "red" ______ exist.

  doesn't
  not
  don't

I know what "does" is use if the person is "he, she, it".


texts:
Can we make long tag question forms like:

  She knows you, does she not?

And if we make the short one, does it mean we ask the tag question informally?

  She is here. = formal

  She's here. = informal

  She isn't here. = informal

  She's not here. = informal

  She is not here. = formal

  She is here, is she not? = double formal

  She is here, isn't she? = formal-informal

  She is not here, is she? = double formal

  She's not here, is she? = informal-formal

  She's here, isn't she? = double informal


texts:
Excerpted from chronicle.com:

  Plato gave arguments for why Greeks, under the pressures of war, couldn’t treat other Greeks in abominable ways, pillaging and razing their cities and taking the vanquished as slaves.

Though these sentences read fluently and are understandable, I think grammatically it should be those vanquished, because it then can be paraphrased to those who are vanquished. If it uses the, then vanquished become a noun which it's not.

Am I correct? Or it's OK to use like the original.


texts: The meaning of "about" in this specific sentence

texts:
On The Blacklist episode, an character says this for another character:

  My name is Asher Sutton. What's yours? And please, don't tell me it's
  Wainwright,because that is about as phony as that watch you're
  wearing.

I know that he's trying to say which his name is as fake as their watch.
but my questions is what would be the meaning "about" in this context, is it something idiomatic?


texts:
“Reckon old Dill’ll be coming home tomorrow.” (Harper Lee, To Kill
  A Mockingbird)

How do you pronounce ‘ll after ll?
(Would you let me get the IPA (phonetic alphabet))


texts: What is a "pod"? Something like an apartment, perhaps?

texts:
Usage example (from the movie Automata (2014) starring Antonio Banderas):

  Have you ever considered how fortunate you are? You got a good job. You live in a great pod. You have health insurance that allows you and Rachel to have a beautiful baby girl. It's a good life, Jacq.

Audio version: http://vocaroo.com/i/s0OByLEq8o8o (in case you're not sure if he really says "pod")

What do you think it is? My guess is he's talking about a type of apartment, but I'm not really sure about that. And I couldn't find any definitions for this word online.


texts: Is there any term used to denote singular and plural form

texts:
In our Nepali language a term वचन(read as: bachan) is used to denote singular and plural form. Is there any term used for this in English?

What do I mean is :

Singular -> one
Plural -> more than one
SOME_TERM -> Singular and/or Plural

Does the SOME_TERM exists in English?


texts: Open the door. How to change this into indirect speech?

texts:
Open the door.
Can we make its indirect speech?

Example:Open the door.
He ordered me to open the door.
He requested me to open the door.


texts:
I frequently noticed that sentences in a bullet-point list do not start with articles like 'a' or 'the'. For example, today I saw the usage below:

Professor is coming around 3:00 PM.

Rather than below:

The professor is coming around 3:00 PM.

Is there any rule to omit articles in front of the sentences in bullet-pointed lists?


texts: Dangling participle "Growing up in Missouri, they would kind of take us out into the woods"?

texts:
Growing up in Missouri, they would kind of take us out into the woods.  (From TED, beginging at the first 16 second )

I think this sentence is not syntactically right as it makes the mistake of "dangling participle." The subject of "growing" should be the narrator or his peers, instead of the unidentified "they."


texts: "You didnt painted the house" or "you didnt paint the house" And why?

texts:
Which of the following is the correct sentence?

  You didn't painted the house.

  You didn't paint the house.

If I have to guess the second sentence is correct because did is past tense and painted also past tense. In a sentence we should not use two past tense? Am I correct?


texts:
“Shut up,” said the man with the gun in her face.

Here are my interpretations of this sentence.

the man who has the gun said "shut up" to her directly.

the man while aiming the gun to her face said: "shut up".

Which one is correct? or Can both interpretations be possible to depend on the situation?


texts:
I think I really don't know well about the word 'Of'.

The ball flew out of the window.
The ball flew out the window.

Are those sentences the same?

Does the word 'Of' mean a thing like a criteria?

Please let me know the exact concept of the 'Of'.

Thank you so much.


texts: In this “putting a price /pʊtɪŋ-ə- prʌɪs/”, is there /g/ in between?

texts:
“Putting a price on carbon emissions has taken a heavy political toll in Australia.“
  (here the presenter’s voice is linked; this is originally from Aussie ABC)

I hear, or I may be bewitched to hear, /g/ sound between /ŋ/ and /ə/ (schwa), in ‘putting a price’. Is there really /g/ or am I bewitched? If there is, can it be a certain pronouncing pattern concerning the /ŋ/ sound?


texts: Using two past tense words in a sentence

texts:
Somewhere I read that we should not use 2 past tense words in a sentence. Which among the following two statements are correct?

  The files did not get processed by the system.

  The files did not get process by the system.


texts:
I don't understand why second being is progressive.

  He went from being a poor student to being an outstanding one.


texts: Does"grinning from ear to ear" mean they have a big smile?


texts: "Do you know what time does the film begin?" vs "Do you know what time the film begins?"

texts:
Do you know what time does the film begin?

  Do you know what time the film begins?

Which one is correct?


texts: "Where'd he learn that." "Where'd he learned that."

texts:
Where'd he learn that.
  Where'd he learned that.

Which is correct? And please explain.


texts:
here are four sentences. I mark the words that I believe are stressed with bold.

I'll call you back.
I'll call you back in a minute.
I'll call you back in a few minutes.
I'll call you back as soon as I can

Did I apply the stress correctly? The last content word gets the most stress.Right? If yes, my question is this: is it necessary to apply some stress to the verb "call" or just stress the last content words? The verb is also a content word.


texts: What tenses can we use aside the simple present in clauses introduced by when, as soon as, the minute etc.?

texts:
I know we can use the simple present in those clause, with a potential (irrealis) meaning, but is there any other tense we can use?

ex:

  Text me when you get there.

What other tenses can we use after "when"? And why?


texts: What does the idiom be such as to infinitive mean?

texts:
Education proceeds ultimately from the patterns furnished by institutions, customs, and laws.  Only in a just state will these be such as to give the right education.

(Source: Democracy and Education By John Dewey)

I think the second sentence means that the patterns (=these) will give the right education only in a just state.  Did I understand the sentence correctly?  Could you please help me clarify it?


texts: Is this 'of anything' a complement or adverbial?

texts:
Simon thereupon went to his father and said:

  “You are rich, batiushika [little father], but you have given nothing to me. Give me one-third of what you possess as my share, and I will transfer it to my estate.”

  The old man replied: “You did not help to bring prosperity to our household. For what reason, then, should you now demand the third part of everything? It would be unjust to Ivan and his sister.”

  “Yes,” said Simon; “but he is a fool, and she was born dumb. What need have they of anything?”

  -- Ivan the Fool, tr. by Count Norraikow

Is of anything the complement for need or does it have adverbial role as prepositional phrase?


texts: Babies - are we talking about their birth, arrival or delivery?

texts:
What is the right word here?

  Traditionally, fathers usually give names to their babies after 3 days of their birth\arrival\delivery.


texts: what's the meaning of "from up high" & "from down low"?

texts:
One of my friend wrote a sentence like this:

  We should have a correct attitude toward Trump. We should not value him from
  up high or dismiss him from down low.

I'm not sure whether "value from up high" and "dismiss from down low" make sense here. My friend said they mean "think highly of" & "think lowly of." Is he right?


texts: Confusion about word tense when ordering in a restaurant

texts:
When ordering in a restaurant, which of the following are ways to order tea?

I would like to have a tea.
I will have a tea.
Can I get a tea?
Could you get me a tea?
Tea.

I think they mean the same thing. Are any of them incorrect?


texts:
Today, also representing nations and other political entities, flags
  are used to represent youth groups, athletic competitions, and
  international bodies.

In this sentence the use of 'also' should be replaced by 'in addition to'. Is the choice based on 'ear approach' or are there specific cases where any one of them should be used?


texts: The grammar and meaning of "Surveying the slow parade..." and onward

texts:
I was riding my bike through a small town when traffic slowed to
  crawl. Peering ahead, I saw an officer beside his patrol car holding
  what appeared to be a gun. But as I got closer, I realized that it was
  really a hair dryer. "what's up with that?" I asked. "our gun is being
  repaired," said Coup. Surveying the slow parade of the cars, he
  added, "But they don't know that."

I understood all grammar and meaning in this text except the part where it starts with the word surveying? So, I need the grammar and meanings of them.


texts:
I'm watching a movie about an asteroid colliding with the Earth. At some point I saw a caption:

  10 days until impact

Why isn't it

  10 days until the impact

There is one particulat impact that the screenwriter meant. Why can we skip the article? It isn't an uncountable substance.  Why is it correct? It sounds to me like

  Could you lend me pen?

which is incorrect.


texts:
India’s concern is that if it takes a decision that irks Generals in Myanmar, China would get closer to the junta and use the opportunity to hurt India’s interests in Myanmar.

I studied that would is used in subjunctive or hypothetical sentences. But here, Is the first part of the sentence “India’s concern is that If it takes a decision”  hypothetical? I don’t think so. Then why would is used in later part?


texts: What is the difference: "go" vs "will go"

texts:
I was doing an exercise and came across this:

  My friends ... a leaving party before they ... abroad.(have, go)

So what would be the correct one and why:

  My friends will have a leaving party before they go abroad.

  My friends will have a leaving party before they will go abroad.

Seems that the first one is more natural, but could you please give some explanation?


texts: How do you interpret this english sentence?

texts:
On a message board where we discuss English grammar in our native language (which is Japanese), there is a discussion about how to interpret this sentence:

  You'll be frustrated with anything less than a desktop operating system and as much processing power as you can get.

This is obviously originally coming from Engadget.

My read is that "in order not to be frustrated with a tablet computer the following two have to be satisfied:

It has a desktop OS, and
It has as much processing power as you can get

Do you think there are any other ways to read the sentence?

Some people there are trying to make other interpretations through a (to me weirdly) complicated analysis of the grammatical structure of the sentence. The issue is whether the latter part "as much as ..." can be connected with "anything less than" and say "anything less than as much as ...".

Probably the writing style of this online magazine article is a bit too casual to deserve such serious discussion, but I'd appreciate any thoughts and comments.


texts: possessive apostrophe and THE for academic phrases

texts:
I am applying for PhD. In university's site I have seen several possessive phrases which have completely confused me. Which of these are correct?

1- UCI EECS Department / UCI Department of EECS / UCI's EECS's Department / UCI's EECS Department / UCI EECS's Department) (in this link, as you see, they have used UCI EECS Department and here, they have written "The UCI Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science". Should I use always THE before UCI which is abbreviation? For example, they have written somewhere the UCI department and somewhere else they have written "UCI engineering" (without THE)). Which one is correct?

(The?) UCI EECS’s graduate program / UCI's EECS’s graduate program / UCI EECS graduate program? This part is somewhat like above. Should I igonre s in s in EECS's write it EECS'? it ends up with S!
EECS faculty/EECS's faculty/EECS' faculty? Also in this page they have not used THE for EECS despite it is sth specific (EECS, home to more than 50 percent of ...). It seems wrong!
faculty members/members of faculty/faculty's members? I have not seen two latter, but I don't know that how first one describes possession relationship between two words??

Sorry for lengthy question. Thanks for reading my question. Thanks again.


texts: Could anybody explain basketball terms on points?

texts:
He was raggedy as...
Went two for 15. Seven points.

He finished with 16 points on six of 14.

'Went two for 15'
'six of 14'

I guess it's about points but I can't really understand what they mean.
Please explain what those numbers mean.


texts: What is the order of events? "I had milk and played computer games."

texts:
I saw the sentence on the internet like "I had milk and played computer games."

There are two events occurring in the sentence.

I had milk
I played computer games.

I would love to know what is the precedent event and the after event in the sentence above. (What is the previous event? No 1 sentence or No 2 sentence?)
Or simultaneous event?

Please, tell me the answer.


texts: they are all happy VS they all are happy

texts:
They are all happy
They all are happy
All they are happy

What is the difference among them?


texts: Is there a verb that means make a satirical imitation of something?

texts:
I feel like there is a verb that means exactly that, but I don't quite remember what it is. Is there's no verb that means exactly that, there must be a verb that means something similar, and I don't mean "satirize", because the meaning is different and doesn't imply an imitation.

For example:

  This comic ____ a real life person who is known to be obnoxious and
  self-centered.


texts: Can you say something like "I support that X be Y"

texts:
I am sure that this is grammatically correct, but can you say a phrase like "... that Harold be king." Apparently you HAVE to use "should be", and that works, but does just 'be' work?

The context which was in the PowerPoint was "X and X supported that Harold be King", meaning they both believed that he should have the throne.


texts: How to avoid repeating a word too often when there are few synonyms for it

texts:
I am trying to avoid repeting the word "sonnet" 3 times in a row in the same sentence. Given all the attributes and commas and also the fact that there are not many appropriate e specific synonyms for "sonnet, I am struggling a lot to do it.

This is what I think I should avoid:

  The two traditional and most popular forms of sonnets are the Italian,
  or Petrarchan, sonnet and the English, or Shakesperean, sonnet.

Would this version be ok?

  The two traditional and most popular forms of sonnets are the Italian,
  or Petrarchan, and the English, or Shakesperean, sonnet.

Or should I maybe try to use "one" instead of sonnet?

  The two traditional and most popular forms of sonnets are the Italian,
  or Petrarchan, one and the English, or Shakesperean, one.


texts:
Is the use of "for the first time" in the following sentence correct grammatically and conceptually? If it is not, kindly suggest ways to make it clearer.

  The main goal of this study is to highlight the effect of the blade
  thickness on the entropy generation analysis of the Wells turbine for
  the first time.


texts: No faces or hands vs no faces and hands vs no faces and no hands

texts:
Electric clocks have no faces and hands.
  Electric clocks have no faces or hands.
  Electric clocks have no faces and no hands.

Which is suitable?


texts: Could somebody please help me explain the grammar structure used in this sentence?

texts:
Links are created using the  element which has an attribute called href.

I don't understand how they put "using" verb after "created". If it's a kind of reduced structure, how does it work?. Because I saw many times the term "created using" but I do not understand. Please help me and solve my question. Thanks a lot.


texts: Does this sentence sound ok? "this" or "those"

texts:
This sentence is an summarization after a meeting for three people:

  We three agreed on those two problems will be an interesting problem
  to study next.

I want to state the following fact:

We agree those two problems is interesting
We will study those two problems from now on.

I feel weird on reading this sentence...Any improvement can you guys suggest?

Moreover, should I say this two problems or those two problems?

Thank you!


texts: Is it polite to ask teacher "Wasn't it supposed to start 30 minutes ago"?

texts:
An poster is trying to ask their teacher the following question, who seems late for class.

  Wasn't it supposed to start 30 minutes ago

Is it polite to ask the teacher that way?


texts: "To improve 'the' independent living skills among people with visual loss, vision rehabilitation is important"

texts:
To improve 'the' independent living skills among people with visual loss, vision rehabilitation is important.

In the above sentence, can I put 'the' in front of independent, or there should not any article there. If I write "skill" as singular, is it okay with article 'an'?


texts:
What does "retail vertical" mean in this context?:

  If the barcode is used in the retail vertical then the barcode will be
  unique. Since all retail items need to be unique so the databases used
  will never get "confused" as to which product is being sold, the
  barcodes have to be unique. However, in closed systems where barcodes
  are used for serial numbers, part numbers etc., there can be identical
  numbers. These types of barcodes only have a use within the system in
  which they were originally printed for. They have no value outside
  that closed system. An example would be a circuit board with a serial
  number barcode on ...


texts: "by the sounds of it" VS "by the sound of it"

texts:
"It's no good nagging me, it's done," he said firmly. "Fred and George have got the gold - spent a good bit of it, too, by the sounds of it - and I can't get it back from them and I don't want to. So save your breath, Hermione."

  Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

I only find "by the sound of it" in dictionaries. I suppose "by the sounds of it" here means the same as "by the sound it". So I'm wondering if "by the sounds of it" is legitimate?


texts: Mixing tenses in reported speech sentences

texts:
When I use reported/indirect speech when dealing with some sentence that states a general fact or is still true, the present tense can be retained, right? As in:

  I told him that I work for HP.

But can I retain other tenses as well, given they represent an ongoing situation?

  He asked how long we've been together, and I told him we've been married for two years.

Is use of the present perfect here even correct?

Also, is it possible to use both past and present forms, when only one part of a sentence is still true?

  Mr. Brown asked why you were absent, and I told him that was because you are ill.

And

  Mike asked me why you didn't come to the party with me, and I explained to him that you had been working hard for the past two weeks, and once you're free, all you want to do now is get some rest.

I feel like I should use present perfect rather than past perfect, but not being sure, I left it that way.


texts: Can I use ‘could’ to talk about Simple Future Tense?

texts:
As far as I know there are two ways to use the simple future tense: we can use either “will” or “be going to”.
For example:

It will rain tomorrow( it’s going to rain tomorrow)

It could rain tomorrow (it’s possible that it will rain tomorrow)

“It could rain tomorrow” isn’t the simple future tense?


texts:
What is wrong with this sentence?

In this method, All Controls which needs to be filtered, must be initiated.


texts:
Example sentence (from my own writing):

  Last week, I spent it sending letters, pretending to be someone else.

The the bolded part grammatical? Why or why not?

If it's not grammatical, what's the correct alternative?


texts:
When talking about pages, which preposition is correct, at / on / in?

This subject starts at / on / in p. 55 and ends at / on / in p. 65.


texts: I have learnt a usage of "would have" past  participle is that, it is used to explain past  feeling that I wanted to do but could not. But this below sentence written in news paper is not matching with that definition "alone would have compelled another state to hit the pause button"


texts:
Suppose the context is soccer (association football).

For these three sentences using "from", "off", and "on":

to score a goal from a long pass
to score a goal off a long pass
to score a goal on a long pass

do "from", "off", and "on" have different meanings?


texts: Do English speakers *really* routinely/widely use complex tenses?

texts:
My language (Russian) has just three tenses: past, present, future. Very convenient and simple.

Instead of

  I will have been studying English for three years this summer.

we say (literally)

  I will study English for already three years this summer.

And it's perfectly comprehensible, thanks to the context. Note the word already which is normally added in this case, but it can even be omitted and the sentence remains comprehensible, because there is only one way to interpret this sentence.

How often do native English-speakers use peculiar tenses like
future perfect continuous or present perfect continuous, etc.? Can they occasionally be avoided/ignored because it may be hard to say/comprehend them? Can they sometimes be replaced with simpler forms (like in my Russian example above).