Discussion Groups / English Usage / February 2009

Ahhhhhh...this book is driving me a little crazy...how to best
hyphenate the following (taken from the text as the author has it):
"Decisions about land acquisitions bring out critics with Seward’s
Folly-style arguments."

Anybody have an idea what this is all about?

If you are in Australia, others wait until tomorrow,
and if your are Welsh don't forget the Allium ampeloprasum var. porrum

quite aside from the fact that
what does the phase mean?
thanks

This is an inquiry about grammar.
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[It] requires that a member or candidate, in evaluating a takeover
bid, act prudently and solely in the interests of plan participants

Would the adjective "social" in connection with "person" make sense to a
native speaker? Would you think of a person who is very committed to the
well-being of others? Are there other adjectives to describe this
characteristic?

How about hyphenation for this passage?
...and of the now nearly constant rolling capital campaigns...

The sentence below appears to have three "measures" to me, but the
author of the sentence uses the phrase "two measures." What do you
think? Should I use dashes around "the subsequent insurance of its
very existence" to indicate that this is part of the previous

I just wrote this:
   Trying to [...] while struggling with [...] felt like sitting in a
   Cadillac spinning its wheels in a mud hole, being outrun by
   squeaking 3-wheeled bikes with coffee-cup logos.

From my inbox:
"You have been selected in a rigorous search for professionals involved
with financial information in securities markets, which includes
researchers, regulators, operators in bags, company directors and

What's differences between as follow and as follows?  

somewhere I read:
NUMB: numb, benumb, blunt, dull, asleep, benumbed
and now I am wondering whether this provides some insight on the
etymology of...

Here's another usage that I have a real problem with.
"Absent your protestations on this matter, we will proceed with the
vote to elect our treasurer."
"Absent Johnnny's intervention, the project will be approved soon."

The following sentence is excerpted from one of my paper:
----------------------
This example is used by Li, and it is recomputed here for a
comparison.

American to Englishman: Say, what's your job? Englishman: I'm a clerk.
American (astonished): You mean you go 'tick-tock, tick-tock-?
The above conversation seems to show one of the differences between AmE
and BrE as it shows that the "open a" doesn't exists in AmE.