The first view is about knowledge generally. But the second view is only about scientific knowledge. The second view is _____ . What word (adjective) or adjectival phrase to put in the blank? “Specific” doesn’t sound specific enough. (Pun intended) And I don’t know if “Domain-specific” can be used in the above sentence. Answer One … Read more
I am often confused when it comes to a noun that is often used as an attributive adjective, yet this noun has an adjective form and this adjective form is described as “relating to (the noun)” by any dictionary. For instance: transformational and grammatical. When I describe a section of a test that contains questions … Read more
I cannot seem to find the best way to express this, both in terms of grammar and "correct sounding" feel to English/American readers (which I am not). So, this is the scenario: the serum concentration of two peptides, peptide A and peptide B, is measured in a group of patients. The level of these peptides … Read more
Example 1: Historical economic data, meteorological data, and hydrological data were collected from various sources. Data referred here are all historical data. Should I repeat historical, and are the repeated “data” redundant? Example 2: This result can be explained by A, and by B A and B can be two clauses or nouns. Should I … Read more
For example, She is wiser than intelligent. Or She is more wise than intelligent. Although the second sounds good to me, I want to know whether there is any rule for this? Answer I agree, the second version sounds better, and I would not see anything wrong with it. The first sounds odd because a … Read more
Does “very nuanced” mean “very different” in this sentence? We are marrying the two up in a way that is very nuanced. Answer No, it doesn’t. Nuance : a subtle difference in or shade of meaning, expression, or sound. Source: https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/nuance The definition of "nuance" is a subtle difference. An example of "nuance" is the … Read more
In one of the episodes in the TV-Show “Rick and Morty”, Rick uses the word “schwifty” when he is singing. Obviously, this is just a made-up word. But my question is how is such a made-up word categorized? For example, I know some would argue that it is a “neologism”. However, it is not really … Read more
I had written The effect of traumatic experience may be graver if… and the editor has corrected it to The effect of traumatic experience may be more grave if… Surely grave conforms to the regular rules for comparatives? Am I missing something? (I note that graver is also a tool for making engravings – but … Read more
wiktionary.org offers Verb smite: 6. (figuratively, now only in passive) To strike with love or infatuation. Bob was smitten with Laura from the first time he saw her. I wonder whether this smitten is rather an adjective at least syntactically Answer smitten adjective… deeply affected with or struck by strong feelings of attraction, affection, or … Read more
Right now I am writing a technical report, where I describe asymptotic(al) curves, expansions etc. My understanding after a bit of web browsing is that asymptotic and asymptotical are near-synonymous but the former is much more common (please correct me if I am wrong), so I will replace all instances of asymptotical by asymptotic. Is … Read more
