Help with English

Discussion in 'Linguistics' started by Saint, Aug 24, 2011.

  1. Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

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    24,690
    An accolade is any form of praise, including simply saying, "You did a very good job of washing the car." Nonetheless, the word is generally reserved for something a little more formal; at the very least, to praise someone when several other people are present to hear it.

    And no, it's not a title.
    "The demand for..." is correct. It means that the demander wants or needs more solar energy. This is often used in the plural: "The demands for solar energy greatly exceed the capacity of today's technology to provide it."
     
    Last edited: Jan 10, 2017
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  3. Saint Valued Senior Member

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    accrue to someone or something
    [used of interest paid on money] to be credited to an account or to a person's account. Interest will accrue to your account as long as the account is active.

    Can I write:
    Interest will accumulate in your account as long as the account is active.
     
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  5. Sarkus Hippomonstrosesquippedalo phobe Valued Senior Member

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    To accrue means to be credited to an account for monies earned on an on-going basis but not yet paid. So interst accrues each day the account is open and is paid on a regular basis (e.g. monthly).

    To accumulate means to gather things in to an increasingly larger pile or sum.
    So with regards interest, this will only accumulate in your account if you never withdraw it, as it will slowly build up into an ever larger sum.

    So while your proposed sentence is grammatically correct, I'm not sure it is saying what you intend (or perhaps it is?).
     
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  7. Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

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    No. The verb "accrue" and the noun "accrual" have specific meanings in the banking industry. Interest accrues at a steady rate, so you can predict how quickly your account will grow, based on the current interest rate.
     
  8. Saint Valued Senior Member

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    Russia has 'compromising and salacious' information on Donald Trump, CNN reports

    Intel chiefs briefed Trump, Obama on unverified, salacious allegations concerning Russia and president-elect


    salacious = arousing or appealing to sexual desire or imagination

    In this case, why use the word salacious pertaining to the hacking of election system?
     
  9. Ophiolite Valued Senior Member

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    The hacking of the electoral system is not salacious. The suggestion is that Russia has obtained information about Trump that is salacious. ie the suggestion is that they have evidence that he has been engaged in bizarre or illegal sexual practices. Thus, it is his behaviour that is alleged to be salacious.
     
  10. Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

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    24,690
    "Salacious" has a more general meaning; it isn't just about sex and other prurient interests. It can also mean simply gross indecency. "Indecency" (just like "decency") can be used for many kinds of bad things.
     
  11. Saint Valued Senior Member

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    4,752
    • A debit is an accounting entry that either increases an asset or expense account, or decreases a liability or equity account. It is positioned to the left in an accounting entry.
    • A credit is an accounting entry that either increases a liability or equity account, or decreases an asset or expense account. It is positioned to the right in an accounting entry.
    When I make payment to my credit card, my debt is reduced, right?
    But why the payment amount is shown on the Credit column?

    What is liability, equity?
    Debt is liability?
     
  12. Sarkus Hippomonstrosesquippedalo phobe Valued Senior Member

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    Yes, when you make a payment to your credit card you are paying off some of the debt that you have built up, so your debt is reduced.
    The statement you receive is shown from the bank's position, and in double-entry terms, when you buy something using a credit card, the bank will Debit your account with them, and Credit their own cash balance.
    So your debt to the bank increases.
    When you pay off some of that debt, the bank will Debit their cash balance and Credit your account, thereby reducing the debt that you owe them.

    From your point of view, however, the bank is who you owe money to, so they are a creditor, a liability. Every time you use the card you are increasing that liability. So if you were keeping records you would increase the Credit amount to the bank and Debit your asset account with whatever you have bought. When you pay off the debt to the bank you would Debit the amount you owe and Credit your own cash account.

    But the statement you get from the bank is from their perspective, not yours. Hence it will seem the other way round to what you might expect.
    A debt is simply a sum of money (or other consideration) that is due from one party to another.
    A liability is what you owe someone. It is a debt owed by you to someone.
    An asset would be a debt owed from someone to you.
    So if you owe me some money then that debt is an asset for me and a liability for you.

    Equity is what you own of a certain class of assets. E.g. The shareholder's equity is the total equity they hold in the business and is the net of all assets less all liabilities.
    Similarly the equity someone holds in their house would be the value of the asset less any mortgage they might have still to pay.
     
  13. Saint Valued Senior Member

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    4,752
    So credit and debit must balance each other, therefore it is called Balance Sheet, right?
     
  14. Sarkus Hippomonstrosesquippedalo phobe Valued Senior Member

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    Yes, for a Balance Sheet to be accurate it is necessary for it to balance.
    The balance sheet has 3 main components: Assets, Liabilities and Shareholder's funds (which includes accumulated net profit).
    The net of Assets and Liabilities should balance with Shareholder's funds. The equation is often stated as Equity = Assets - Liabilities.

    In terms of Drs and Crs, the balance sheet should net to zero, but bear in mind that profit is a credit balance.

    So if you sell something to someone for $10 that cost you $6 then you have $4 profit.
    On your balance sheet you would have cash of $10 (a debit balance) but until you pay the $6 cost then you will have a liability of $6 (a credit balance).
    This is a net $4 debit position, and balances against the $4 credit position of the profit.

    It can get a tad confusing but this double-entry bookkeeping system has been in use since the 14th Century, and works well.
     
  15. Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

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    24,690
    This is true, but debts from other people are not the most common kinds of assets. Your house (if you own it rather than rent it), the land your house is on (again, assuming that it's your land, no someone else's), your car, your furniture, your tools, everything else that you own, and of course your money, both in your pocket and in a bank account.

    Most people do not have very many debts owed to them by other people. If you loan a friend two dollars for a subway ticket because he spent all his money on lunch, then of course, that is a debt owed to you, and therefore an asset. But this is a trivial case that you probably wouldn't even think about, until your friend comes back next week to give you back your two dollars.
    Yes, but I think that the way we are analyzing the principles of economics is not going to help Saint learn very much, very fast.

    What we've somehow got him studying is accounting, rather than economics. Accounting is more useful for studying individuals, whereas if he wants to look at an entire country (or the whole world) he will need to understand economics.
     
  16. Sarkus Hippomonstrosesquippedalo phobe Valued Senior Member

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    Yes, I know - if you note the context of that statement it was with regard clarifying the term "debt" - when is a debt an asset and when is it a liability.
    Should we really be questioning why he is seeking the answers he does (unless it is not clear from what he types)?
    Also, if you are learning economics then you are quite likely to get a grounding in basic accounting principles and techniques. Or at least should get one.
     
  17. Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

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    I've done a lot of teaching, so it's second nature to guide a student in the direction in which he seems to want to go, while at the same time introducing him to other directions.
    I did undergraduate work in both accounting and economics. I was surprised to find that, in fact, there was very little overlap. I hope this has changed in the last fifty years!
     
  18. Saint Valued Senior Member

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    4,752
    Haha, thanks for the lecture, I am an engineer, it is very confusing to me.
    I just need to know how to read my credit card statement.

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    Why do we call it "credit card"? Whenever you use the card, you owe bank money, is it credit?
    How about debit card?
     
  19. Sarkus Hippomonstrosesquippedalo phobe Valued Senior Member

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    When you get a Credit card, the bank is granting you a "line of credit". This means that you can spend up to that amount. Every time you use the credit card you reduce (credit) the bank's own cash balance. They will balance this by setting you up as a debtor to them (a debit balance) until you have paid it off.

    A Debit card does not use a line of credit but instead is based on how much liability the bank already has to you (I.e. How much they owe you). When you deposit money into the bank, the bank debits its own cash balance and balances it with a credit balance on a liability account - you are owed that money by the bank.
    Every time you spend money on a Debit card the bank will Debit the liability account and thereby reduce the amount they owe you. This is balanced by a credit to their own cash account.

    So a Credit card is called a Credit card because the limit is determined by how much the bank will Credit their own cash account before you can no longer use the card.
    A Debit card is called a Debit card because the limit is determined by how much the bank can Debit your liability account before you can no longer use the card.
     
  20. Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

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    When you use a credit card, you are borrowing money from the bank. In other words, the bank has agreed in advance that they will grant you credit, at least up to a certain limit which was negotiated when you applied for the card.

    When you use a debit card, you are taking your own money out of your account. The bank is simply giving you the money in a way that is much more convenient than writing a check. Writing a check takes more time, and the store you give the check to may not be certain that you have enough money in your checking account to cover the check. But when you use a debit card, you put it into a device that automatically communicates with the bank. The bank checks your balance to make sure you have enough money in your account before it gives permission for the transaction.
     
  21. Saint Valued Senior Member

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    How about "overdraft" ? Is it a credit too?
     
  22. Sarkus Hippomonstrosesquippedalo phobe Valued Senior Member

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    Yes.
    An overdraft is effectively a line of credit from the bank once you have exhausted your own funds, and is usually much smaller and more expensive (especially if not pre-arranged with the bank) than other forms of credit.
     
  23. Saint Valued Senior Member

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    to spawn = to create?
     

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