But what does the phrase mean? Ms Ramaswamy says it means something like ‘a habit of saying something today and something entirely different tomorrow’

I must confess the phrase is new to me. I don’t remember coming across it in ordinary prose. The dictionary gives the meaning of protoplasm as ‘the semi fluid translucent substance that constitutes the living matter of plant and animal cells.’ It is composed of ‘proteins, fats and other molecules suspended in water and includes the nucleus and ectoplasm’— American Heritage college Dictionary, 4th ed.

I guess the phrase, if found at all, is confined to biologists and other professionals of the life sciences. It cannot be a part of common language.  I hope Ms Ramaswamy will throw some light on this matter.
This apart the use of ‘strongly technical’ words in ordinary usage invites ridicule (even when the hearer understands it). Cf. I’m in a febrile state as against I feel feverish. Also: Do you have an analgesic? As against Do you have a pain killer?

(Oxymoron is a figure of speech in which apparently contradictory terms appear; bitter sweet; darkness visible. (For a detailed analysis see my Structure, Style, and Usage. P.156; and for an entertaining account Current English pp.175-177.)

2. Parthasarathi: What is the distinction between proportional and proportionate?)
The meanings are close enough to be confusing but a distinction can be made.  Proportionate emphasises balance and symmetry;  proportionate suggests a ratio; e.g. losses proportionate to investment.
The Cambridge Guide to English usage says that proportionate can only appear after a noun: profits proportionate to investment while proportional can appear either before or after a noun: proportional representation; representation proportional to population. But this is not quite correct; cf. Oil prices have risen.  I suppose there will be a proportionate fall in the sale of cars.

The position of proportionate seems to depend on the position of the deciding factor.  If it comes at the end, proportionate appears after the noun: profits proportionate to investment. If it (the deciding factor) comes first, proportionate will precede a noun (cf. my sentence on oil prices). There is more to be said on this but this will do for the present.

3. D K Rama Rao    I have had forgotten — what tense is it?
I suppose Mr. Rao was tempted to construct this sentence in the context of the extensive discussions in recent weeks on had had.

The verbal phrase in Rao’s sentence is impossible. In English tense occurs only once and is shown on the first element of the verb phrase. I have forgotten /I had forgotten. Have shows the present tense in the first sentence; had shows the past tense in the second.

Such being the case, how can we have I have had forgotten where both have and had show tense? The interested reader may look up the entry under ‘structure of the verb phrase’ in my book Structure, Style, and Usage for a full discussion.

4. A.K. Murthy has two related questions: 1. What is an embedded sentence? 2. Does it begin before or after a verb in the sentence?

An embedded sentence is just a subordinate clause. It is called ‘embedded ‘because it ‘depends’ on another word/phrase which is its ‘head’. Thus relative clauses depend on their antecedents (=are ‘embedded ‘under them). In The article which I wrote last week.

The relative clause (in bold) depends on ‘the article’. In: The fact that prices are raising, the noun clause depends on the fact. And in: She said that she was going to LA, the clause is the object of said and so depends on that. Embedded is a word in current grammatical systems explicating the meaning of ‘subordinate’

Such being the case embedded clause can appear after the verb (object clauses), be dependent on a noun phrase which may appear before or after a verb as in: The fact that he got a job surprised every one. / The parrot which could speak a few English words flew away.

In cases like That congress lost surprised no one, it is not clear straightaway on what the clause depends.  In an earlier analysis (Rosenbaum, P.S. :The Grammar of English Predicate Complement Constructions MIT,1967), the subject clause was supposed to be embedded under It. When the clause is extaposed (=moved to end position) the word it appears. It surprised no one that congress lost.

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