Questions tagged [vocabulary]
This tag is for questions about a body of words. It should not be used to inquire about the definition of a specific word.
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Recommended exercises and methodology for tutoring an internet friend who is a pretty much beginner
A ~20 years old person has accepted my help to improve her skills in English because her school was bad and current knowledge isn't enough to read news articles, forums and communicate with guests in ...
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Have fun or Enjoy? Which one is correct
I want to know when to use "Have fun" and when to use enjoy! Can anyone help me please?
Thanks!
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a woman who bears many children
How does the West take the word 'prolific' for a woman?
If a lady has given birth to many children, she is physically that strong, I mean, then would she like to be called 'a prolific woman'?
...
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Until something happens
Given a repeat inspection has to be done until new part will be procured, is it right to say:
"Do the recurring inspection until new parts will be delivered"
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Can I use "stink out" and "stink up" interchangeably in the context of these sentences?
He stank out/up the whole room with his revolting fart stench.
The sharp smell of his fart started to stink up/stink out the room.
"Eew! His fart stank out/up here!"
You must avoid eating ...
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Terminated action
Given crack found on specific area and so a recurrent inspection which has to be done at that area would no longer be required, is it right to say:
" the recurrent inspection at defective area is ...
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Tailor to something
Given an engineering department staff in an air carrier prepares an engineering order to customize FAA rule to Boeing 737 airplanes which are operated by the air carrier is it right to say:
"The ...
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A problem with understanding in context
everyone
I read this fragment in a book. I don't know its author and title.
Could you help me to understand the bolded fragments?
"When my father used to get angry with me, I hated him for it. ...
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a Gutter or Sewer?
The origin I live in, a place where there is a cap like this, we call it a gutter, which I don't think is right because:
“…a long curved channel made of metal or plastic that is fixed under the edge ...
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She sees her boyfriend vs She is seeing her boyfriend
I have been wondering about the meaning of "to see" in relation to visiting someone and/or having an affair. Could you confirm (or not) that I understand the difference correctly? I have ...
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Document Circulation logbook
Is "circulation log" a correct word for record of internal exchange of documents between divisions of an organization?
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Is probably going to or is going to probably
Are both of those sentences grammatically correct?
I am going to probably leave my children with a babysitter until I get employment.
Or
I am probably going to leave my children with a babysitter ...
Ali Naguib
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What is the difference between start(noun) and starting?
I'd like to know the difference between start and starting when use as a noun.
I saw the following sentence and could not understand why it shold be "to starting" instead of "to start&...
Emma
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Is "study abroad program" correct?
Is "study abroad program" correct? For me, in this phrase, "study" is a noun, "abroad" is an adverb, and "program" is a noun, so it doesn't make sense that ...
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"Shutdown Holdouts" meaning
I came across this in the New York Times:
"How the Shutdown Holdouts Have Antagonized McCarthy Before."
The first sentence says:
"Most of the House Republicans who voted against ...
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Descriptions on tenses [duplicate]
Under what linguistic category do Simple, Perfect, Continuous, and Perfect Continuous fall ?
Past Simple
Past Perfect
Past Continuous
Past Perfect Continuous
Past Subjunctive
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What to use instead of "smallest" in these contexts?
These are what I've found, so feel free to add to it.
First sentence:
It was the smallest/lowest/least significant/ value among all three categories in 1990.
The second sentence:
It reached the ...
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What Meaning of 'in which' here
What does ‘in which’ mean in the following context?
Window size (window=10000 B): receiver tells about his buffer capacity in which he has to store messages from the sender.
Source: https://www....
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The use of the word 'welcome'
We used the word 'welcome' as many things, i.e. adv, adj, noun... we may say:
You are welcome here. [adj]
We welcome you here. [verb]
Welcome home! [excl]
Thank you for your warm welcome. [noun]
Can ...
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to flip the phrase around and keep the same gist?
is that grammatically accepted to flip:
1.0 "of just enhancing the film they used a lot of technology"
as
2.0 "they used a lot of technology of just enhancing the film"
I believe ...
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What does "envelope" mean in mathematics in this context?
I stumbled upon this sentence:
Compared with the envelope [some mathematical formula] of the sinusoidal term, [some other mathematical formula] decays very fast, and the overall response is similar ...
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"Someone or other" vs "someone"
Does "someone or other" have the exact same meaning that "someone"? I don't see a difference in these two sentences:
a) Someone or other broke that window.
b) Someone broke that ...
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is this an example of acts as a prepositional phrase?
watching this interview posted on YouTube yesterday with Paul McCartney:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21pcVuPHoek
from 7:26 Paul McCartney
says: "I owe it to him and his team who were briliant ...
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Differences in job titles. "Manufacturing manager", "Production manager", "Manufacture manager"
I was given a piece of business card with a job title "Manufacture manager".
I wonder any differences between
a. "Manufacturing manager"
b. "Production manager"
c. "...
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What Meaning of 'over' here
What does 'over' mean in the following context?
Ethernet describes how network devices format and transmit data so other devices on the same LAN or campus network can recognize, receive and process ...
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Difference between employ and deploy
could someone explain why the word "employ" couldn't be the answer to this blank? since one of its meanings is: [v] to use sth such as a skill, method, etc. for a particular purpose.
As the ...
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Difference between 'like' and 'alike': - 'The tepees look alike big tents'
Could someone explain why alike is not the correct one for this blank?
They lived in tepees. These were.......(like, alike) big tents.
answer: like
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using "willing" in negative form
I built this sentence:
"I was going to go for a run after waking up from the nap, but I didn't feel willing."
and my English teacher said I should use "...didn't feel motivated" or ...
2
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Why are "double-barrelled surnames" called as such?
Why are double-barrelled surnames called "double-barrelled"? Wouldn't it make more sense if it was just referred to as "double surnames" or something like this? How did the ...
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Epithet: a qualifying title
If someone's first name is followed by another word that describes one of his qualities, can we call it 'Epithet'? This is usual in the Arabic language. An example is:
Rashid Ghani
The word Ghani ...
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Do we say "I'm at the optician's"?
You've come to visit the optician / the eye doctor and he's performing an eye test to evaluate your eye sight / sight.
So at that moment do we say "I'm at the optician's"?, similarly to ...
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Part of a cow that carries waste
What do we call the pouch like thing that carries waste material in a cow's stomach? Is it tripe? According to my knowledge tripe is the lining of any stomach chamber in a cow. So what exactly is the ...
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what is the adverb "improperly" is linked to in this sentence?
in the sentence:
"improperly Covid Aid Flowed to Fishery Businesses, New Jersey Official Finds"
is the adverb "improperly" describing "Flowed" or Covid?
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What does "to speak without notes" imply when giving praise to a speaker?
When you give praise to a speaker in German because they either spoke without notes at all or largely independently from their notes (e.g. by looking up, not sounding as if they were reading out, ...
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How to describe a simple drawing?
Looking at the two images below how to you refer to each drawing style?
In general, what is the English name of this kind of artwork, black and white and without a grey shed? Like this.
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"river and water fronts" or "riverfront and waterfront"?
I'm describing situations where urban space meet water bodies. Is it correct if I generalize as "river and water frontS" or more proper to write "riverfronts and waterfronts". The ...
Alex
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Names for each plant-based meat type
The world changes so does the language! I have seen in some vegan restaurant menus, "mylk" refers to non-Dairy milk, which I found pretty interesting and innovative. Out of curiosity, any ...
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Word Framed in Context [duplicate]
For a split second, Uncle Vernon stood framed in the doorway; then he
let out a bellow like an angry bull and dived at Harry, grabbing him
by the ankle.
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
What ...
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What does the word "bobbing" mean in this context?
They didn't meet anyone else until they reached the staircase up to
the third floor. Peeves was bobbing halfway up, loosening the carpet
so that people would trip.
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's ...
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how to interpret the ambiguity of this little text?
based on this short headline:
For These Veterans, ‘Free’ Health Care Is a 5-Hour Flight Away
Citizens of three Pacific Island nations, eligible to serve in the U.S. military, find it hard to make use ...
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Does "sheets" mean the same thing as "sheet"?
Consider the following sentence:
When Harry pulled back his sheets, he found his invisibility cloak folded neatly underneath them.
From Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
I would suppose that ...
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I've added frame grabs to give a good flavour of what the film is all about. (what is 'frame grabs'?)
I've added frame grabs to give a good flavour of what the film is all about.
I think 'frame grabs' are used in a movie or television or graphics industry.
What exactly do 'frame grabs' mean?
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what is the meaning of [had ever known] when the subject is something instead of someone?
The original sentence is
She had given him the only joy his arid life had ever known.
Usually the subject of the verb know is someone
but here
the subject of [had ever known] seems to be his arid ...
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Is there any way to learn only the 'literal' meaning of the words?
Is there any way to learn only the 'literal' meaning of the words?
I think language learners must learn directly the literal meaning of the words first before they know any derivative meanings.
I'd ...
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Agonal respiration
Death Rattle
What is the sound called that an animal makes having been pounced on and dying? Like, when a lion holds the neck of a deer, such as. The sound that a prey makes while its throat is ...
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Natural way to say "brokered volume" and "mediated customers" in a financial context?
I have a hard time to find the correct and natural English terms for the volume a broker (e. g. for an investment fund) has "contracted". I found some English texts which use "brokered ...
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What is "a barren dispute"?
What does "a barren dispute" mean?
I have looked up dictionaries for "barren" but I don't know what it means when conjoined with "dispute".
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sides vs facets vs dimensions [closed]
the [sides/facets/dimensions] of a problem.
Is there any difference between sides/facets/dimensions? Which one is more common and idiomatic?
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Can "miss" be used like in "Quantitative analyses miss qualitative aspects"? [closed]
Quantitative analyses miss qualitative aspects
What does "miss" mean exactly in the above sentence, out of its many definitions?
Do you think that "miss" is appropriately used ...
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Banned/censored books go to the "pulp mill"?
Would it be accurate to say that an author's censored books were "sent straight from the press to the pulp mill", i.e. shredded by the government? I got this translation from a translation ...
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