Dinner vs. Supper ; What is the Difference? What time is Dinner?
These words are and can be used interchangeably. Usually both refer to the last meal of the day. But dinner does not necessarily refer to a particular time. It is just the main meal of the day. In agrarian societies, the main meal was during the noon time. It is still so in societies that are more farmer centric. Supper was just a light meal. Even the word origin suggests that. (Sup > >Soupe> Super (Anglo French) > Supper) But as the social habits changed especially in the west the main meal shifted to the evening. This star…
Different Ways of Cooking - Cooking Vocabulary
Baking A method of cooking by using dry heat and surrounding the foods with hot air. Typically a semi liquid dough solidifies during baking. It is a slow cooking procedure at comparatively lower temperature. While using baking setting, heat comes from the bottom of the oven. Broiling This is a way of cooking solid foods like fish meat or vegetables by a very high dry heat. Usually the heat source is above if it is done in an oven. Grilling Grilling is very similar to broiling and both words are sometimes used interchangeably. Usually …
Fears related to hospitals (Phobias)
Phobias are unusual irrational and excessive fears that are not temporary. The pandemic situation has brought on different hospital related phobias. These words are not new but their use has increased significantly in the recent times. Nosocomephobia Excessive fear of hospitals. From nosokomeion (Greek) which is from nosokomein meaning ‘to tend the sick’[nosos - sickness, komein - to take care of]. Nosocomium (Latin) means hospital. Pronounced no-so-comb-phobia Latrophobia / Iatrophobia Fear of doctors Latros(Greek) means healer. Iatros (Gr…
If text, in brackets or quotes, is in italics, should the brackets and quote marks themselves be in italics?
Parentheses and brackets should be in the same font style as the surrounding text, not same as the enclosed text. For example, it the text inside the parentheses is in italics, and the outside text is roman, the parentheses will be roman. Same is the case with quotation marks. The banana plant ( Musa ) is the largest herbaceous flowering plant. Not The banana plant (Musa) is the largest herbaceous flowering plant.
Where do we use Et al.? Is there any difference between etc., and et al.?
The Latin abbreviation Et al. means ‘and others’. Usually it is used to indicate other authors or contributors while referring to a book or article. In citations et al. is usually used when there are more than two authors. The name of the first author followed by et al. is used in text citations Baker et al. (2018) As per the findings of Baker et al. (2018),… Et al. is the abbreviation of et alia (neuter plural) or et alii (masculine plural) or et aliae (feminine plural). It refers to persons. Etc. is the abbreviation of et cetera (neuter …
Contagious vs. Infectious; Do they mean the same thing?
All contagious diseases are infectious, but all infectious diseases are not contagious. Infectious diseases are caused by pathogens or disease-causing microorganisms. When they get into the body infectious diseases happen. If the disease spreads through direct contact with the infected person it is contagious. A communicable disease is an infectious disease that is contagious that can be transmitted either directly or indirectly from source to another. Cancer, cardio vascular diseases, diabetes, etc., are noncommunicable diseases. …
Quarantine vs. Isolation. Is quarantine same as isolation?
People are put in quarantine when they are believed to have been exposed to a communicable disease. They are not currently sick. People are put in isolation when they are actually infected. Both help in preventing the spread of the disease. We have 50 quarantine centers in our district. The isolation ward of the hospital is filling up fast.
Is full stop / stop / period necessary in a title?
Be it a blog title, article title, a book title, a caption, or a subheading, never use a period at the end. Period. If the title contains more than one sentence use periods/full stops. The longest title of a book is by Vityala Yethindra (India) and it consists of 26,021 characters. There are many full stops/periods in between.
Etc etc. or etc., How to use etc. in the middle of a sentence
The Latin phrase et cetera means 'and the rest'. As 'etc.' is an abbreviation it should always be followed by a period. If 'etc.' comes at the end of a sentence, the period which is the part of the word serves as the final punctuation mark. In the middle of a sentence 'etc.' is preceded and followed by a comma. Pens, pencils, crayons, etc., will be provided by the school. The students were using pencils, paper, crayons, etc. This preceding comma which is also called a serial comma is a topic of debate Et ceter…
Quotation marks or italics for the titles of books, articles and poems
When writing by hand, all titles are enclosed in quotation marks. You can use either single quotation marks (Br E), or double quotation marks (Am E). In print, italics is used for the titles of longer works like books, films, albums, newspapers etc. For shorter works like a poem, or the chapter of a book, quotation marks are used. The Tempest is the last play of William Shakespeare "No Man is an Island" is a beautiful poem by John Donne. Titanic won eleven academy awards.
Position of period / full stop or comma at the end of a quote
Periods and commas always go inside all quotation marks. " Let us read the poem 'Mending Wall,' said the teacher." 'There is only one thing in the world worse than "being talked about," and that is "not being talked about."' You can leave a space between the adjacent single and double quotations for clarity. This is not strictly required. "I read a poem titled 'Death the Leveller.' " Mark said, "Anna shouted, 'Who are you?' "
Single Quotes or Double Quotes?
There are different opinions on this but the simple answer is You can use either single quotes or doubles quotes. Both are equally valid. Notice the following situation: Quotes within quotes If you start with a double quotation mark, use single quotation marks for quotes inside (Am E). If you start with a single quotation mark, use double quotation marks for quotes within(Br E). "There is only one thing in the world worse than 'being talked about,' and that is 'not being talked about.' " 'There is only one thing…
How to ask a question to which the answer is first, second, third etc (an ordinal number)
Donald Trump is the 45th President of the United States. How will we ask a question to which the italicized part is the answer? This is a tricky situation in English. English doesn't have a standard way of framing such a question. There are some solutions to this problem but honestly they all sound a little awkward. Anyway... I got a direct answer 45 when I asked google What number president is Donald Trump? That works. You can also ask What President / Which President ... Which Prime Minister was Indira Gandhi? Third? Mission accomplish…