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I am looking for a proper single work term to describe one third of a calendar year. Trimester does not seem correct as it seems to refer to a period of three months (one third of a pregnancy or one third of an academic year). Answer Tertile .

The term in(-)situ visualization denotes a visualization or graphics that is depicted in place, for instance, a sparkline that is embedded into text. As the dictionaries tell, the adjective or adverb in situ is written as two words. But for concatenated terms in scientific language, oftentimes, in-situ (with a hyphen) is placed in front of the main noun. Searching for the term in Google and Google Scholar, I find both alternatives about equally frequent. Also, the COCA Corpus lists both versions for related terms such as in(-)situ burning . What is the correct spelling of in(-)situ visualization ? Is there a specific rule that applies? Answer No hyphen needed. In situ ( adverb & adjective ) is a Latin phrase (?'borrowed phrase') with a specific meaning. The same form of the phrase can be used for all purposes. Use of the hyphen is a scholarly hypercorrection, I believe.

[Code Naming Issue] Please anyone leave me a comment. Anything will be really helpful for me now. I am working on what to name a feature which works as part of a module that generates URLs that expire when its expiration time comes. So I thought "Expirable Url module" would be okay. However, the verb 'expire' is intransitive. Is it okay to add suffix '-able' after an intransitive verb? Expirable Url is even a right word? I guess better 'expiring URL' than 'expirable URL', right? Answer First of all, expirable is a word. It's been hanging around since at least 1913. expirable Adjective That may expire; capable of being brought to an end. Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing wiktionary That said, expirable makes me t...

When I feed my cat or my dog, the package tends to say "Dog Food" or "Cat Food." In contrast, I give my chickens "chicken feed" or "poultry feed." Likewise, a cow's silage is her "feed." Why does this distinction exist? Is there an historical or grammatical explanation, or is it merely idiom? Answer Germanic languages like English inherit a distinction between eating (of people) and eating (of animals). German has two verbs, essen and fressen , that make precisely this distinction. To say that Er frisst es instead of Er isst es 'He eats it' is an insult, implying he's eating like an animal. English has lost the special verb, but has adapted the causative feed 'cause to eat, provide nourishment' to work with both senses, and its Zero-suffix nominalization feed to refer to food intended for animals. It appears in several fixed phrases: a Seed and Feed store sells food for animals plus seeds and gardening stu...

my question is about hyphenating adjectives that have more than two parts. For this example, I can find four different options: working life oriented working-life oriented working life-oriented working-life-oriented Which one is correct, according to the finest rules of British English grammar? Thanks!

I am writing software in which I would like to be able to return the groups of numerals within a large number. For example, given a number 123,456,789 , my software would return 123 then 456 then 789 . I would like to give each of the 3-digit sequences a proper name, but I cannot find what the correct one would be. Would it be groups ? I thought about thousands , but that seems imprecise. I should clarify that I know what to call each individual group ( thousands , millions , etc.). What I don’t know if there is a general term that applies to all the groups. Answer You seem to be looking for a generic term for subsets of 3 digits so if there is no specific, technical jargon for the collection of three digits within a larger number, then you might want to create/enlist/repurpose a term like "triplet" which communicates the sense of the three nature.

A construction that I have been seeing a lot lately that seems surprising to me is "The 8-foot-long bridge ...," with two hyphens. It seems surprising to me (or maybe I'm just noticing it) that there is a second hyphen between "feet" and "long". Is this considered a common construction or is it more of an accepted though less common use? Answer In the United States, most style guides that I have encountered recommend including the second hyphen in situations such as "8-foot-long bridge." Here is how some guides frame their advice. From The Associated Press Stylebook (2002): dimensions Use figures and spell out inches, feet, yards, etc., to indicate depth, height, length, and width. Hyphenate adjectival forms before nouns. [Relevant examples:] the 5-foot-6-inch man, the 9-by-12 rug From The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage (1999): long(-), (-)long ... As a suffix, long forms a solid compound when it attaches to a one-syllable wor...

In the following sentence, is using of yet correct? Inserts settlement in a duty that needs it, in the most suitable yet available place. It seems to me that I must use still instead of yet but at the same time the sentence with still does not sound right.

I would like to know what is the preferred way to indicate that I took a degree in some subject while also naming the place where I obtained the degree from: I got my master's degree from the University of Somewhere; I got my master's degree in the University of Somewhere; I took my master's degree in the University of Somewhere. I would say that "in" is more suitable to mention the particular subject (a degree in maths, for instance) than to indicate the place, but I still have doubts. By the way, is it a "master's degree" or a "Master's degree"?

Can "eponymous" be applied to a thing named after something that is not a person? For example, as we can say McAfee's eponymous anti virus software (named after John McAfee), can we also talk about Google's eponymous search engine or Pepsi's eponymous drink?

What does dead as a door nail mean? Is it used in set phrases, or is it normally used in any context? Answer Dead as a doornail is one of the many idiomatic similes used for emphasis (to intensify the adjective). Thus, it simply means dead , very dead , quite dead , certainly dead , etc. It can be used figuratively or literally in any context. Another simile that comes to mind is poor as a church mouse , which simply means dirt poor , very poor , flat broke , etc. I'm sure Cambridge and Longman still publish compendiums of English similes, proverbs and idioms. They're fun to peruse.

The following sentence is from NY Times. "Another corporate structure being exploited now more than ever is the master limited partnership." In the sentence, the concept of "master limited partnership" is first introduced. So, It does not have any contextual clues to identify what that refers to. But still it has "the" in it. However, the "the" in the sentence might not be used generically as the generic use of nouns is pretty much limited to nouns of animal, plant, or inventions. Then, what is the function of "the" there? What is the difference between the sentence and when I just say "a master limited partnership" or "master limited partnerships"? Answer The answer in John Lawler's comment is correct: It's a Definite Generic Noun Phrase . It's an abstraction. You suggest other possibilities: Another corporate structure being exploited now more than ever is a master limited partnership. This is a bit co...

I've always heard people say something like "Pronunciation is not my [for-tay]" ... but I feel that I've heard that the correct pronunciation is "Confusing people is my [fort]" What is the proper way to pronounce this word? Answer If you want to be perfectly and unimpeachably correct, you will pronounce the word forte , meaning something that is one’s strong point, identically to the word fort , and reserve the FOR-tay pronunciation only for the musical term. Most people don't know about this distinction and pronounce it FOR-tay for all senses, both the “strong point” sense as well as the musical term. Most people will not notice or care if you do that. In fact, if you say that some subject is or is not your “fort”, people will look at you quizzically and perhaps even ask “do you mean FOR-tay?”. On the other hand, if you use the pronunciation “FOR-tay” those of us who know the difference may judge you to be ignorant. In either case, you take a risk of s...

What's the difference between these two questions? Speaker A: Your car looks very clean. Have you washed it? Did you wash it? Answer There is no significant difference between the two questions. One could point out that the simple past tense used in "Did you wash it?" is prevalently used in American English, while "Have you washed it?" is more common in British English. The speaker who asks: Did you wash it? is referring to a action completed sometime in the past. Another might explain that the first statement Your car looks very clean. is uttered by a speaker who notices that the car looks clean today . The Present Perfect tense is often used to express an action that happened in the past but whose results are felt in the present: Somebody washed the car (a completed action in the past), so the car is clean now (result in the present). However, the speaker does not know when the car was cleaned; it could have been yesterday, last night, or even just ten min...

What's the difference between "that which" and "what"? Which of the following sentences is correct, and how (if at all) do they differ? We only want to free technology from that which makes it inhuman. We only want to free technology from what makes it inhuman. (example from Return to Order ch. 10, penultimate ¶) Answer There's no difference in actual meaning. "that which" is more formal, appropriate in traditional or literary writing. "what" is good for everyday use, especially in speech.

From the official Autodesk page : Create or open a document with the styles you want to copy to the style library. From the official For Dummies page : Create a new document or open a document with styles that you can recycle. (Without the in front of styles .) It seems Dummies version is an error, isn't it? Another option is that both versions are correct, with a subtle difference in the assumed meaning. But I really don't see any difference in the context of these examples, and therefore one of them should be wrong (to my opinion). Answer In the first case the styles are known to the reader, in the second one they're not. Create or open a document with the styles you want to copy to the style library. " Styles you want to copy " are predetermined in this context (since these are the ones you want to copy to the style library), and thus this sentence uses the definite article ' the '. Create a new document or open a document with styles that you can re...

Sometimes I see a comma after the proper name: Hello Mr. Black, In order to give you.... But my native language is not English and I think that the comma in this phrase should be placed before the proper name: Hello, Mr. Black. In order to give you.... What is the correct punctuation in English? Answer Both are correct. In a dialogue, a pause can be used for effect, putting emphasis on the greeting, eg: Hello, Mr. Black. "Hello" is said first, then a pause, then the name. Normally, people would say: Hello Mr. Black. Without any pauses in their speech. When writing a letter or email, it is quite common to do this: Hello Mr. Black, Bla bla bla... Or in a more formal situation: Dear Mr. Black, Bla bla bla... It is uncommon to put a comma before the title even in an informal email salutation (though quite acceptable), but it would never be done in a formal letter/email.

What is the word used for remembering something when the memory makes one emotional or sad? Like thinking of a beloved who is not there anymore or something that happened in the past. I looked and found the word reminisce, but it's used for joyful recollection of past events. But I want the word for sadness or emotional thoughts associated with the past. Please include an example sentence.

I remember there was a word which describes a word which isn't normally used in an everyday conversation . Ironically, that word isn't normally used in an everyday conversation. It's an adjective . In a sentence: That word is ??????, you don't see it often. I can distinctly remember that it is used to specifically describe words (and not general events, knowledge etc). A word which is rare/exquisite and isn't seen very often. What is a word that describes that? I remember it was quite the highbrow word.

I was looking up a definition online, as I often do, in this case the British slang word tuppence ; I got the standard "a slang reference to a coin denomination" definition from Wikipedia, but stumbled on these interesting ones given at The Urban Dictionary : tuppence Olden day word for a little girls [vagina]. Was once also slang word for money in ye olde england. Fanny wiped her tuppence with a dish rag. Tally Ho. Another word for a females Vagina. A man has a winkle and a woman has a tuppence. On one hand, those are two presumably independent contributors giving the same definition. On the other hand, you often can't trust The Urban Dictionary on some types of words, especially ones that have sexual meanings, because it's titillating for some people to give outrageous sexual definitions. Some my questions are: Are the definitions given by these two correct? If so, what's the thinking behind the term? Answer I don't know if you can call this answer "ma...

When is this correct: 'there are much to'? I was taught that much describes only noncount nouns . But NEARLY [caps mine] all uncountable nouns are singular , implies that some uncountable nouns are plural. So when, if ever, is much plural?

People say this so much (instead of "another whole" way, etc.) that I wonder how it got started. How did "another whole..." get changed to "a whole nother..."? Answer This is an example of metanalysis : taking two words that occur in close proximity, and re-analyzing them so that the word boundary changes position. In this case, the common phrase an other is reanalyzed as a nother , which then allows the insertion of the word whole to give a whole nother . Metanalysis has happened several times in English, the most common being the word apron , which was originally napron , but suffered metanalysis from a napron into an apron . For this reason, I doubt that the creation of this phrase was an example of deliberate play on words. Rather, it's an example of a process of word-formation which operates sporadically in English, and has for a long time. This metanalysis isn't complete, as most speakers, including myself, don't really use the word n...

In a video a native speaker of English said: I gotta show you something... it is important. I need to show you it. I am not a native speaker and this last sentence sounds extremely weird to me. I asked two English native speakers (both British), one of whom said it is okay and the other that it is wrong. Is this grammatical? If not, is it about to become grammatical due to frequent use? Answer In American English, “I need to show it to you” is heard more commonly than is “I need to show you it”, which in AE has the same meaning. In British English, some may say “I need to show it you” to mean “I need to show it to you”, but I doubt you'd ever hear “I need to show you it”, even if it is you that is going to be shown to it. An AE-corpus ngrams for show you it,show it you,show it to you vs. a BE-corpus ngrams for the same phrases illustrates, as Peter Shor said in comments, that show it you is rarely used in AE. Its use peaked in the early 1800's. The form is becoming rare in...

When I was at university in the late 90s, a girl I shared a flat with would use the term "halfcast" to describe people of mixed race, especially in the context of people who had a similar skin colour to Halle Berry or Melanie B (from the Spice Girls). Is this a racist or offensive term? For a bit of context - this was at a university in the British midlands (ie near Birmingham/Leicester/Nottingham), the girl was born in Dundee in Scotland but was brought up in Northampton in England. I don't consider her to be a racist. Answer The word is half-caste : half-caste noun : a person of mixed racial or cultural descent : HALF-BREED adjective : of the rank of or relating to a half-caste Many dictionaries flag half-caste as being "offensive," "often offensive," or "derogatory." Interestingly, while OxfordDictionaries.com lists a related term, mulatto ("a person with one white and one black parent") as being offensive, it doesn't fl...

There are 4 types of abbreviations I know for "versus": v v. vs vs. I generally use the last one in the list, but I want to stick to one and use only that one. Which one is more proper (or more prevalent), and why? Extra question: Which one should be preferred in scientific papers? Answer In legal contexts, the abbreviation "v." is used. Elsewhere, the most common is "vs.". In formal contexts (e.g. scientific papers), it is probably best to have the period at the end of the abbreviation. I assume you would be using this abbreviation in graphs/charts/titles and things like that; the abbreviation would be appropriate in these places, but not within normal prose of the paper.

According to dictionaries, A collection agency, also known as a debt collector , is a business that pursues payments of debts owed by individuals or businesses. But I have seen in movies that criminal organizations ( Mafias) hire some obnoxious men as ( illegal) debt-collectors whose job is to collect the payments by force and violently, if necessary! I'd like to know if there is any slang word, term , phrase or idiom among those Mafias members for calling these "debt-collectors" or not! PS: 1-I have found a British English word "bumbailiff" but it refers to officers whose job was collecting debts,in the past; so I'm sure I cannot use it for those men hired by Mafias as debt-collectors! 2-In the duplicate question, Morteza is looking for the "debt-collector", but I am looking for its slang equivalent! So please open my question! Answer juice man ( noun phrase, slang ): a hoodlum who collects money owed to a racketeer ' a ' juice man ...

I came across this sentence: "His memory was like that of a baby." I was wondering why the possessive "baby's" wasn't used and why "baby" is acceptable whereas the possessive form is required in this sentence: "Ian's car was like that of his ."

What is the level of formality in the expression “if and when” while referring to a possible happening? Googling “if and when X happen” gives me all sorts of entries, some formal some clearly informal. Answer If and when carries no direct formality implication as your search shows. Note 1: Unless you associate the complexity and precision with formalism. As in if you assume that a formal audience will more likely understand (and also correctly use) the expression in all of its subtleties. Note 2: The phrase was actually heavily criticized by Fowler (see here ) and perhaps more appropriately treated in Merriam-Webster . This complexity is something that you might not want to deal with in informal text or talk.

The takes either a singular or a plural subject. A/an only takes the singular. When we pluralize a noun preceded by an indefinite article, we simply drop the article (sometimes replacing it with some ). Why is this? 3 years later: Whilst on a separate goose-chase , I came across Greg Carlson's 1977 paper A Unified Analysis of the English Bare Plural , which addresses this issue in refreshing detail. It does not answer my question etymologically, but it substantiates the premise that the so-called null determiner is ambiguous: ABSTRACT. It is argued that the English ‘bare plural’ (an NP with plural head that lacks a determiner), in spite of its apparently diverse possibilities of interpretation, is optimally represented in the grammar as a unified phenomenon. The chief distinction to be dealt with is that between the ‘generic’ use of the bare plural (as in ‘ Dogs bark’) and its existential or ‘indefinite plural’ use (as in ‘He threw oranges at Alice’). ‘Ihe difference between th...

There are prefixes of time and order (pre-, post-), of location (sub-, super-), for expressing the reversing of an action (de-, dis-), and go on. English words may take prefixes from one or two of those groups. Words of the latter types are, for example, unpremeditated or antidisestablishment . Is there a name for words, like unpremeditated or antidisestablishment , having two prefixes incorporated? Answer After some digging, I think there is a term that can satisfy all the varied thoughts and criticism thus far. A word having two (or more) prefixes incorporated is an: Augmentation Augmentation is modification of a word by any of the language's related forms (prefixing, suffixing, etc). The OED has this definition for an Augmentitive, adj. and n. : 2.b. Grammar. Of a word: augmenting the properties of the term whence it is derived, or generally expressing augmentation of an idea. (Augmentative words are generally formed by the addition of augmentative affixes .) Emphasis mine....

I'm new to this site so i don't know the proper formatting for questions here. My friends and I were having a debate whether or not saying "I ordered it offline" was a correct way to say "I ordered it online" or "I ordered it off the internet". It seems as though its more of a preference however are they all grammatically correct, and which one do you use/hear more often? UPDATE I didn't make it clear enough, when I'm referring to "I ordered it offline" I am referring to ordering something online or off the internet Answer Saying "I ordered it offline" might lead me to ask "So, did you order it by phone, or in person?" It would not imply the same as "I ordered it online." Saying "I ordered it off the internet" means (to about 99% of US English speakers) the same thing as "I ordered it online."

Collins dictionary defines magnanimous as - 'If you are magnanimous, you behave kindly and generously towards someone, especially after defeating them or being treated badly by them.' However in the below sentence from the book - Programming Constructs in Java it seems to be used in different sense. 'We believe if the foundation of a building is strong then it is strong enough to hold a magnanimous structure. Similarly, this book has dived into the depths of concepts for its pursuers.' I am not sure what a "magnanimous structure" here means, how can a structure be kind or generous? I feel that the author may have wanted to use a grandiloquent word for magnificent, but got it mistaken for another word "magnanimous" Another usage of the the term 'magnanimous structure' from a TripAdvisor forum : “Absolutely breathtaking, magnanimous structure of gravity” Googling for "magnanimous structure" with the double quotes gives a couple of re...

I realize a lot of English expressions derive from sports: "his presentation was a slam-dunk," "she really fumbled through that," or "that's pretty much par for the course." I don't play golf, but I believe "below par" means really good. But doesn't describing something as "below par" mean really not good? Answer I don't believe the general use of this expression comes from the golf use - which would explain the discrepancy - though the two are closely related. The word par has many definitions , including average or normal amount and usual/accepted standard . Therefore something below par is below average, or below the acceptable standard - hence the usual, negative, meaning of the phrase. In golf a hole's par is the number of strokes considered average or standard to complete it, and being under par means using fewer strokes than average - which happens to be a good thing, because of how the game works.

Let’s say I write: “ Just send me these documents as is ”. Is that correct? Should it be pluralised into “ as are ”, which sounds so wrong to me? Or are they both incorrect, in which case I may write “ as they are ”? Answer Merriam Webster's Dictionary of English Usage (see page 131) says that the phrase as is is always singular, regardless of the number of items. As are is incorrect, but there is nothing wrong with using as they are . I think as is is most commonly used to do with the sale of something. ("I bought a used car, as is.")

When somebody uses the phrase "not uncommon", do they mean "common" because of the double negative? I was recently informed that "not uncommon" could imply that something was anything but uncommon (e.g. rare), whereas I thought that rare would be a subset of uncommon and that saying it was not uncommon must mean it is common. Answer First, I think a little more context may be needed to appropriately answer your question since it seems whoever you've been talking to has what I would consider to be a non-standard usage of it. That being said, here's my best cut. In standard usage, the phrase "not uncommon" typically means something to the effect of "more frequent than uncommon". That is, it occurs too frequently to be considered "uncommon", but not necessarily so frequently as to be labeled "common". However, in certain contexts where things are partitioned using discrete, well defined terms "uncommon...

I think every single one of us has experienced a dark dot in his/her sight when looking at a white surface such as a white ceiling, there's something in our eye that with a little focus we can see it, and when we move our eyes around, that thing floats around quickly in your sight. It's like a substance on eye's surface, I want to know what is it called. Hope I'm clear enough. Answer You're probably thinking of floaters . Floaters are suspended in the vitreous humour, the thick fluid or gel that fills the eye. Thus, they follow the rapid motions of the eye, while drifting slowly within the fluid. When they are first noticed, the natural reaction is to attempt to look directly at them. However, attempting to shift one's gaze toward them can be difficult since floaters follow the motion of the eye, remaining to the side of the direction of gaze. Floaters are, in fact, visible only because they do not remain perfectly fixed within the eye. Floaters are deposits of...

What is the difference between the following two? We didn't have a chance to meet, except for the campaign. We didn't have a chance to meet, except in the campaign [or "except for in the campaign"]. I would also appreciate if there is a better way of conveying the same message.

I'm looking for that word which people use to describe very random out of the blue *questions. You say the most (???) things?

OK, so I fall down on this one sometimes, but here goes, what sentence means which? from my geography paragraph; Only East Anglia was voted the most coastal part in the North London commuter belt. East Anglia was only voted the most coastal part in the North London commuter belt. East Anglia only was voted the most coastal part in the North London commuter belt. East Anglia was voted only the most coastal part in the North London commuter belt. East Anglia was voted the only most coastal part in the North London commuter belt. East Anglia was voted the most coastal part in only the North London commuter belt. East Anglia was voted the most coastal part in the only North London commuter belt. East Anglia was voted the most coastal part in the North London commuter belt only. and from my car paragraph - two separate sentences; Only Renault sold 1,450 vehicles of MPV and 8,000 of commercial vehicles in total last year. Renault only sold 1,450 vehicles of MPV and 8,000 of commercial vehicl...

What synonyms are there for "curate", as in (to quote here ) to select, organize, and present (suitable content, typically for online or computational use), using professional or expert knowledge I'm from the UK – I just passed a sentence under the eyes of a US friend who said it didn't sound quite right. The best alternative we could come up with was "pick and choose". I'm wording a press statement, so I'd like something succinct. The contexts are Blah today introduced Blah, a revolutionary experience on the Apple® iPad that curates the best ... for the user. Blah learns what you like, and curates streams of it for you Answer I ended up using variously "select", "showcase" and "compile".

Why do so many people get this wrong? “How are you? / I'm well.” How would you answer the question "How are you?" I'm well. or I'm good. I notice that in American English, the latter is normally used, but I feel that the former is grammatically correct. Same goes for questions like "How did it go?" Can one answer "It went well," or "It went good." Which is correct? Answer One key difference is that "well" can be an adverb and "good" cannot, at least not formally. This is why "it went good" is grammatically incorrect. However good is so often used as a synonym for well in vernacular English that dictionaries may mention its nonstandard equivilance. To answer your first question, it's usually preferred to say "I am well" in formal English because it specificially means "I am in good health" whereas "I am good" doesn't have that specific association. "I am good...

Are there other repeated single word sentences like the Buffalo sentence? Are there words in English like had that can be repeated while still making sense? For example, The faith that he had had, had had an affect on his life.

So you have "ursine" which means "of or pertaining to bears", and you have "jentacular" which means "of or pertaining to breakfast". Is there a word that refers to this class of words, i.e. all words that mean "of or pertaining to X", where X is any arbitrary concept?

Looking for a word to describe a person who is rich in wealth, but is poor in class. I've heard of words to describe poor people who have no class or manners, words to describe rich people who have class and manners, but I've not heard of a word to describe people who are rich in terms of wealth but lack manners and class. Is there a specific word for that? I'm looking to describe a few men in politics who clearly best exemplify this but I don't have a word to describe them besides "poor in class but filthy rich"? The sentence I wanted to use is: "Some men in politics, such as Donald Trump and Ted Cruz, have very contrasting attributes. Because they are both filthy rich, yet class is nowhere to be seen, I like to call these two _________" Answer Is there a specific word for that? Yes, yes there is. vulgarian a vulgar person, especially one whose vulgarity is the more conspicuous because of wealth, prominence, or pretensions to good breeding. http://...

I wanted to know how and when the word "bananas" came to be associated with "crazy". There was nothing detailed on Etymonline , but thanks to OED, I came to know that this book is the origin of this usage. I haven't been able to figure out the reason behind the usage, though. Is it arbitrary? Is it a random usage made popular by others, like videos that go viral on social networks? PS: Incidentally, the use of "jerk" to mean a fool also originates from the same text. Answer The 1935 definition in Albin Jay Pollock's The Underworld Speaks (apparently published by the FBI to help people spot gangsters by their speech) is: He's bananas , he's sexually perverted; a degenerate. This may be alluding to bent , the shape of a banana. Bent is 1914 US criminal slang meaning dishonest or crooked , and 1930 US slang meaning illegal or stolen . The eccentric , perverted or homosexual meaning of bent may be originally UK slang; it appears in 19...

When someone attends an event, he will be awarded some additional leave subject to his boss's approval. Therefore, he will need to submit a leave application to his boss for approval. Should I call this (action 1) apply leave , submit leave , apply new leave or something else? Note that if we use apply leave or submit leave , we will have another problem as follows. If that someone wants to use the leave that his boss had approved for action 1, he will need to submit this further application to his boss for approval. Then, should I call this (action 2) apply leave (not again?), submit leave (not again?) or something else? Answer The user is receiving a "leave credit" for attending the event. When they need to take time off, they're requesting leave. I'd use: Apply for Leave Credit Request Leave I think most English speakers will understand this.

First of all, I am not a native English speaker and not very good in English too. I had a technical problem in my software project and thus took help of somebody. She helped me to find the right way to resolve my issue. Can I say her, "You are a path shower" to show my appreciation to her ? UPDATE: She always guides me when I am in trouble. Considering this, what more can I say her. Answer It does not sound very natural to me, here are a few more alternatives - You are a saviour! Or You are a life saver. Or Thank you for enlightening me.

The word pussy is often used to mean "coward". This guy is a pussy . and I am wondering why. How are woman's genitals related to being a "coward"? Answer There is no relation between a woman's genitals and a coward. The meaning of "coward" comes from something else. Many people think that "pussy" is an diminutive of pusillanimous pusillanimous showing a lack of courage or determination; timid. but a wikipedia article suggests that "pussy" is used as an alternate spelling of an obsolete English word " pursy ". The word pussy can also be used in a derogatory sense to refer to a male who is not considered sufficiently masculine (see Gender role). When used in this sense, it carries the implication of being easily fatigued, weak or cowardly. According to OED , pussy actually comes from the word puss , a well-used name for cats at that time. It was first used to mean cat. "cat," 1726, diminutive of puss (n.1),...

I have seen these two words used to describe :) or 😀 . Are they different in any way? How could I tell when to use one or another? Answer What Seems Simple is Complicated This is a rather messy matter, particularly regarding what words to use to mark which distinction. The Encyclopedia Brittanica news article What’s the Difference Between Emoji and Emoticons? by Cydney Grannan would propose that emoticons represent component punctuation, whereas various visual depictions meant to represent them are emoji. The distinction is rather strictly delimited. This makes relatively little sense with my prior experience, speaking of which, I should probably disclose that to put a perspective on the extent of it: Relevant Experience (boring/skip) You can see that I have been a member of the internet since at least 2004 with my earliest account on record being on the Caves of Narshe, which is a Final Fantasy fansite. This is my profile there. I actually got internet access about a year or two ...

Can you tell me which of the following sentences is correct? why? a) He is too young to go to school, is he? b) He is too young to go to school, isn't he?

I've found on StackOverflow an old answer written by me, in which I've used the first form. Reading it now, it sounds weird and wrong; I am inclined to think that the second form is the only one correct, but googling "preventing it to" and "preventing it from" there are 300.000+ results for the first and 700.000+ results for the second! The 300k+ results for the first form seem way too much for a completely wrong form, hence I've decided to ask here. EDIT : The original sentence is: Add white-space: nowrap; to your .layout style declaration. This will do exactly what you need, preventing divs to wrap . Answer but googling "preventing it to" and "preventing it from" there are 300.000+ results for the first and 700.000+ results for the second! Googling is notoriously inaccurate as a way of gauging relative frequency and correctness. A better method is to use Google ngram. This is because it uses published work. You can expect the...

I'll be hosting an English activity this week. Could you share some interesting English games which impressed you the most? Answer In a Pickle . For up to six players, though I don't see any reason why it couldn't be played with more people. Can a giraffe fit in a phone booth? Does a sofa fit in a shopping cart? It all depends on how you size it up in this game of creative thinking and outrageous scenarios. Try to win a set of cards by fitting smaller things into bigger things — there's some juice in a pickle, in a supermarket, in a parking lot. Play the fourth word card to claim the set, unless one of your opponents can trump with a larger word. The player with the most sets at the end is the big winner! Includes 300 cards and instructions. I can tell from personal experience that the game is quite fun, for native and non-native speakers alike. It encourages thinking outside the box, re-interpreting words and defending your interpretation. Someone puts a president in...

What is the correct possessive for nouns ending in s? Before you vote to close as a duplicate, note that these two questions deal with similar issues to this, but none of them address all three criteria of this question: The singular already ends with an s . I am dealing with multiple of the thing. I want the possessive of all of them in general. The singular is class , and the plural is classes . The singular possessive is class's (as addressed here ). What is the plural possessive? Is it classes's , or classes' ? Answer It is classes' , which sounds the same as the singular class's . I would have thought this was a general rule for plural nouns ending -s' , -es' or -ies' .

What is the difference between a supplemental noun phrase and a absolute clause? In these examples and in general. Is it just the non-finite nature of the second example? Are they not serving a similar purpose? He won at his favourite sport, the long-jump, and brought another medal home for the U.S, the most fitting conclusion to his brilliant career in track and field. Noun phrase functioning as a supplement/ syntactically separate element. He just stood there, his face clearly revealing his disappointment. Absolute clause: called absolute because it serves no grammatical function in the sentence. It just adds supplemental information.

Consider the following sentence with a first conditional: If it rains tomorrow, I will go to the cinema. All the examples of first conditionals that I found use "will" instead of "would." Is it possible to replace "will" with "would" while retaining the same exact meaning, i.e., If it rains tomorrow, I would go to the cinema. Or, would I have to put the inflected verb in preterite form (as mentioned in this related posting ), like this: If it rained tomorrow, I would go to the cinema. [Edit 1: I clarified that I want to retain the same meaning among these examples.] [Edit 2: Corrected silly mistake where the first example was the same as the second example.] Answer You have a mixed conditional, not a first conditional. Your sentence gives advice to another person, and is not a statement of you own personal purpose. If it rains, I will go tomorrow is a statement of what you would do given the condition of If it rains . If it rains, I would go to...