Blog

1.) I assumed you were the type who kept your promises. vs. 2.) I assumed you were the type who keeps your promises.

have, having love, loving make, making take, taking give, giving hate, hating strive, striving Etc. When a verb in its lemmatic form ends with "-e" then its present participle omits that letter. Except that the British make an exception of the word "age" and write "ageing". Are there other such exceptions? Are there any such exceptions in American usage? Answer There are a small number of words aside from ageing that retain silent e before -ing ; for some of them, this spelling is mandatory in American English as well as British English. For others, it is optional in both of these varieties of English. Retained silent e before ing seems to occur mainly after vowel letters (including y ) or after the letter g, especially in the sequence nge. Of course an e cannot be dropped when it is used as a single letter to represent a vowel sound directly before the suffix -ing, as in being or the trisyllables segueing, sauteing (or sautéing ) and appliquein...

Are there any technical terms to specifically describe the two styles (A and B) below? Also, are there any prescriptive style guides that say which is preferable? My own preference is for style B below because style A seems to be forcing a pseudo-precise legalistic tone, and I aim for the "plain English" style (i.e., avoiding legalese and bureaucratese), but that is merely my individual feeling. A the above-referenced report the above-described substance the below-cited data the below-identified person B the report referenced above the substance described above the data cited below the person identified below

Is the following sentence ambiguous? The eight queens puzzle is the problem of placing eight queens on an 8x8 chess board so that no two queens attack each other. Do we need to add "or more" as follows? The eight queens puzzle is the problem of placing eight queens on an 8x8 chess board so that no two or more queens attack each other. I am sorry, I am still confused, so let me give another example as follows: There are 4 red balls and 5 white balls in a box. Five balls are randomly taken from the box. Find the probability that no 2 balls are red. In my understanding the following configuration is allowed. 1 red and 4 white 3 red and 2 white 4 red and 1 white but only 2 red and 3 white balls is not allowed. Answer Short answer: no two queens attack each other is unambiguous; no two queens or more attack each other is confusing. Long answer: I have a slightly different interpretation than the other answerers. A common issue in mathematical communication arises over ambiguo...

I see in many of the "corporate emails" I receive the expression: " in regard to ". Sometimes, it is also written "in regards to". First, to be sure: "in regards to" (with an extra 's') is incorrect, right? " in " or " with regard to": are they strictly equivalent? Then, the expression sounds a bit too wordy to me. Is there any simpler alternative? If yes, is there any context when that simpler alternative should not been used? (i.e. when "in regard to" is actually more appropriate) Answer I think only very pedantic people would consider "in regards to" to be actually incorrect. I don't see any difference in meaning between "in" or "with regard to". This is just another example where preposition meaning is so vague that variants make little or no difference. You haven't given specific examples of the use you are thinking of, but "In regard to x" should always...

Two questions regarding the following paragraph: First question: Which meaning is grammatically true for the first bold lines? (My problem is to know what the sentence "as the Marxist critic Herbert Marcuse has proposed" refers to) According to Herbert Marcuse's belief, the reason for such behavior to Steiner was that the experience of Beauty in the eighteenth century was not an affirmation of bourgeois capitalist identity. the reason for such behavior to Steiner was that in contrast with Herbert Marcuse's belief, the experience of Beauty in the eighteenth century was not an affirmation of bourgeois capitalist identity. Second Question: Does the final sentence of the paragraph want to say: Now, does not have Steiner any role in the conflict between feminists and the Marxists? Context: Steiner may be recognising a hitherto suppressed feminine aesthetic but even to dare to speak of beauty seriously is to lay herself open to accusations of naivety, self-deception and a l...

I understand that "Under the weather" means feeling sick. I heard a rumor that this idiom may have nautical origins, but I don't know for sure. Does anyone know more about the origin of this phrase, and when it entered common usage? Answer The Phrase finder provides an explanation of the origin: : To be under the weather is to be unwell. This comes again from a maritime source. In the old days, when a sailor was unwell, he was sent down below to help his recovery, under the deck and away from the weather. ... Here's a similar one I found: "Under the weather. To feel ill. Originally it meant to feel seasick or to be adversely affected by bad weather. The term is correctly 'under the weather bow' which is a gloomy prospect; the weather bow is the side upon which all the rotten weather is blowing." From "Salty Dog Talk: The Nautical Origins of Everyday Expressions" by Bill Beavis and Richard G. McCloskey (Sheridan House, Dobbs Ferry, N.Y., 1...