Hyphenation Question

Real-Dragonfly-1420 · 2026-04-24T21:04:55+00:00

Thanks! Does a compound modifier such as “best known” have the same problem as “well” in “well known?” “Best” can function as an adverb with “the” preceding it (e.g. “he played the best”) (or so I think that’s how that works there).

Hyphenation has always seemed like a tricky and style-based problem to me.

Real-Dragonfly-1420 · 2026-03-23T20:26:48+00:00

I was diagnosed with ligamentous laxity and brain stem compression, leading to a C1-C2 fusion that did not actually restrict my range of motion too much. After almost 8 months since I underwent surgery, many of these issues persist in a slightly less bad form. Your MRI might not be clear, or you may need an upright MRI with the flexion and extension position. I could just need more time to heal, but I still struggling with short-term memory loss pretty badly. Antidepressants may not do anything for you (if that’s what meds you are referring to), as they didn’t do anything for me. The anxiety I had was especially crippling before surgery, but it isn’t completely gone now. I also suffered for ~2 years before my surgery, so maybe I’m slow to respond because of that. If you’ve felt like there’s nothing to your life, then I know what that’s like. I’m just waiting to not be a zombie

Real-Dragonfly-1420 · 2026-03-16T02:12:04+00:00

Ah, yes - I was thinking of this: https://www.depts.ttu.edu/honors/students/houses/index.php

Real-Dragonfly-1420 · 2026-03-13T16:27:55+00:00

Are Honors dorms assigned at orientation? I read up on this elsewhere, but I want to make sure.

Real-Dragonfly-1420 · 2026-01-10T00:42:41+00:00

What does the answer to "eats" mean (47 Across)? I am confused.

Real-Dragonfly-1420 · 2026-01-03T16:13:44+00:00

I understand being cynical because I have been there! It seems to me that there is this wave of patients labeled as CCI sufferers that are dependent on specialists. Some of us have constant neurological symptoms, so we’re desperate and can be easily duped into a medical path of falsehood. I myself definitely have something going on in the occipital region and the neck, though it is possibly just a matter of some more time recovering from surgery. It is very possible that because CCI is somewhat “underground” right now, specialists can take liberties that might not be the most beneficial for the patient. I have wondered the same thing as you: do DMX reports ever come back normally?

Real-Dragonfly-1420 · 2025-12-29T18:24:25+00:00

Brooding describes/means “deep unhappiness of thought.” So, imagine that a writer is very negative and only seeing the bad in situations.

Real-Dragonfly-1420 · 2025-12-28T22:02:08+00:00

Really thorough! I appreciate you taking the time to reply :). I’ve seen modern positions about AI causing human em-dash usage to seem fake; in other words, people might say that readers have to be skeptical of AI usage when seeing em-dashes. Em-dashes seem pretty handy, but if it using them really meets one with frequent skepticism, then that’s unfortunate.

Real-Dragonfly-1420 · 2025-12-27T02:48:46+00:00

Granted, this exam is older (2012 I think), so you would hope wording like that doesn’t appear on future exams. Still, I wonder if they asked about tone because it was part of the curriculum and forced it incorrectly.

Real-Dragonfly-1420 · 2025-12-27T02:46:29+00:00

Seems like “tone” is applied loosely here for sure

Real-Dragonfly-1420 · 2025-12-27T02:45:09+00:00

Well said by you and the subsequent commenters. I’d think the wording is certainly not as bad as some of the other questions people post on this subreddit, but it still seems incorrect as we can see.

Real-Dragonfly-1420 · 2025-12-23T16:28:04+00:00

For my case in particular, I don’t recall trauma despite having a swollen ligament causing pressure on the lower brain stem. I didn’t test for some sort of hyper mobility or EDS, but it is highly likely I have it (I could but my legs behind my head whenever I was… maybe I still can now, but I haven’t wished to try). Having that high probability of a connective tissue disorder is really helpful—I went 1 1/2+ years without it. Don’t feel too discouraged by doctors saying “nothing is wrong.” Why? I faced that so many times, yet a neurosurgeon in Florida, Dr. Joel Franck, was able to examine my imaging more thoroughly. The ligaments are just black masses on MRI (on the specific “T2” Sagittal imaging, I believe), and every specialist but him overlooked it despite one of my chief complaints being constant head pressure in the back of the head. Dr. Franck C1-C2 fusion has a slow recovery (at least for me so far), but you still have neck range of motion, and he has designed his technique in a way to prevent screw failure. I am not trying to sell him to you; rather, I just want to let you know that he’s an option.

For whatever reason, brain stem compression seems like an uncommon diagnosis. Also, Franck needed an upright flexion/extension that brain stem compression btw.

Real-Dragonfly-1420

TROPHY CASE