Username
Dyske
Member Since
November 6, 2002
Total number of comments
114
Total number of votes received
436
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Latest Comments
I am so sorry
- May 8, 2018, 1:56pm
Merriam-Webster calls this specific usage "intensive," meaning "so" just intensifies the following adjective. It says, "The intensive use of so is widely condemned in college handbooks but is nonetheless standard." In other words, it's an informal use. Formal use of "so" must suggest a specific manner/way, as your examples do.
acclimated vs. acclimatised
- May 8, 2018, 1:42pm
According to my research, acclimate, acclimatise, and acclimatize all mean the same thing. These are just regional differences. In the US, I mostly hear "acclimate," and it's always in the passive form, "be acclimated."
What exactly is “width” in geometry?
- May 8, 2017, 11:46am
I just thought of one scenario where "width" is indeed used independently of the orientation: a carpet.
I think most people would call the shorter side "width" and the longer side "length" when describing the dimensions of a carpet regardless of where they are standing in relation to it. And, if they were to draw it on a piece of paper, they are more likely to draw it horizontally and still call the vertical side "width." This is because we write horizontally; drawing the carpet vertically on a sheet of paper would take up too much space.
So, any two-dimensional shape lying flat on the ground would use the convention where "width" is orientation-neutral. This may include a shape of land, pool, and road. It, therefore, makes sense that Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (the quote in my original post) would use "width" independently of the orientation. In fact, I can't think of another word that we could use instead of "width." In other languages, there may be an orientation-neutral word that is paired with "length" which simply means "the shorter side." In English, there isn't one.
This may be the source of confusion.
The word "height" has no ambiguities because it's not possible for us to change our standing positions in order to change the orientation. (We would have to be able to defy gravity and stand on a wall.) In contrast, with a shape lying flat on the ground, we can easily change the orientation without moving the object, hence the confusion/ambiguity.
Quotation marks for repeated items
- February 5, 2016, 10:58am
I think you are referring to "ditto mark". See this Wikipedia entry:
Question mark placement for a quote within a quote
- January 29, 2016, 3:03pm
If the question mark is inside of the inner quote, 'no substitutions?', it would imply that the menu itself was asking the question. (As if the menu is asking the customers if they want substitutions or not.)
So the right answer is b.
“Defeat to”
- November 10, 2015, 8:44am
@warsaw
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fact vs. opinion
- October 26, 2015, 10:31am
I would say the statement itself is a fact, not an opinion. It is expressing the fact that everyone expressed the same opinion (or preference).
What does “Curb your dog” mean?
- March 19, 2014, 9:54am
I didn't know that "curb your dog" was legally defined. That's interesting, and good to know. Thank you.
But what I'm curious about is how that expression came to be; the etymological origin. If "curb" means to take something to the curb to pee/poo, is it ever used for anything other than dogs? If it only applies to dogs, it would mean that this particular usage of the word "curb" was invented only for this particular situation, nothing else. If so, who invented this usage? And, why did s/he invent it? If no such usage of "curb" existed outside of this particular instance with dogs, how could this person expect the public to understand that it means to take the dog to the curb to pee and poo?
And, if it applies only to dogs, why bother saying "your dog"? "Curb" alone should suffice. Just define it as a legal term to take your dog to the curb to poo and pee.
What does “Curb your dog” mean?
- March 13, 2014, 10:42pm
I thought about this further and realized that street "curb" is put in place to control/restrain the movement of the cars. Curb is a framing device that contain/restrain what's inside of it. In that sense, "curb" as in the edge of the street and "curb" as in "control" are related. What is NOT related is the fact that it just HAPPENS TO BE a good place for dogs to poo or pee.
a comma followed by a possessive apostrophe
I think this is a stylistic difference. I don't think you'd find anyone decisively saying it's grammatically correct or incorrect. The more common conundrums are with name suffixes, like PhD and Jr. "John Doe, PhD's résumé is impressive," looks quite awkward. "Jr." is even more awkward because it has a period.
The Chicago Manual of Style says "when a word ends in an apostrophe, no period or comma should intervene between the word and the apostrophe."
http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/qanda/data/faq/topics/Punctuation/faq0018.html
But conveniently, they don't suggest a solution...