English Language Learners

Anonymous

12:00 AM

It does not respect word boundaries, as it is not morphologically parsed

Anonymous

(The non-free Chūnagon tool is parsed.)

Anonymous

There are a few more advanced options, which I can describe if you like, but that's enough to get you searching.

Anonymous

Click red button, click OK, type search term, click 検索

Anonymous

（検索 is けんさく "search", the same text you'll see on google.co.jp)

Damkerng T.

And presto! I got my search results!

Anonymous

12:02 AM

You can restrict it to particular sub-corpora using the checkboxes down below (which are expandable so you can be rather detailed about it), and at the very bottom you can restrict results to those that were published within specific year(s)

Anonymous

There is also a small link you might not notice (the blue underlined こちら) which brings up two additional search boxes

Anonymous

Labeled 前文脈 (previous context) and 後文脈 (following context)

Anonymous

In these two additional fields, you can use perl-like regular expressions to filter the results.

Anonymous

(You can't use REs in the main search field.)

Damkerng T.

Oh! Perl-like, in Japanese!

Anonymous

12:04 AM

So you can search for, for example, 空を飛, then enter in the following context field ^[ば-ぼん] to get possible conjugations of 飛ぶ

Damkerng T.

Eh? Isn't that even more cool than COCA!?

Anonymous

It is pretty cool. :-)

Anonymous

COCA is on the whole more featureful than this tool, although there is a non-free tool which is quite advanced

Anonymous

COCA has another advantage.

Anonymous

In Japan, there's no Fair Use.

Damkerng T.

12:05 AM

Ahh

Anonymous

That means the compilers of the corpus had to talk to every single copyright holder

Anonymous

And the corpus isn't as big as one would like

Anonymous

It is the corpus of written Japanese at the moment, however

Anonymous

It's over a hundred million words

Anonymous

And it's balanced, carefully curated.

Damkerng T.

12:08 AM

They count words, not characters, I guess. (Which could be quite tricky, imo.)

Anonymous

Corpora are usually counted in words

Anonymous

This one is, too

Anonymous

There might be a character count somewhere

Anonymous

They're working on larger corpora, one historical and one web-based

Anonymous

There are other corpora available

Anonymous

12:12 AM

Such as the Oxford Corpus of Old Japanese (OCOJ)

Anonymous

Most of the other professionally compiled corpora I think you'll need to pay for, like the Corpus of Spontaneous Japanese (CSJ)

Damkerng T.

nods

Anonymous

More information about BCCWJ: www2.ninjal.ac.jp/kikuo/Yonsei_KM20070129.pdf

Damkerng T.

It sounds like the copyright laws are more strict in Japan.

Somehow kotonoha reminds me of konoha.

Anonymous

I think they are.

Anonymous

12:17 AM

It does sound like konoha!

Anonymous

Do you know what konoha is?

Damkerng T.

I'm not sure, but I know that it's the name of the village Naruto lives in. :-)

Anonymous

木の葉（このは）is interesting. The genitive particle の relates こ "tree" to は "leaves".

Anonymous

So literally, it's "tree leaves" (or "leaves of trees" or "trees' leaves")

Damkerng T.

Ahh... So it means what it's named. (They call it "The leaves village".)

Anonymous

12:18 AM

But 木 "tree" by itself is き rather than こ.

Anonymous

In Japanese, certain nouns have dependent forms that only appear in compounds.

Anonymous

木の葉 is a lexical compound, and even though it contains の, you can treat it as a single word

Anonymous

Like the lexicalized genitives we discussed in English the other day

Damkerng T.

I think it was used as a metaphor. People in the village are leaves, and everyone as one is the tree.

Anonymous

Ahh

Anonymous

12:21 AM

You'll find that same dependent form 木（こ） in the word 木漏れ日（こもれび）, which we discussed here recently and was the topic of an ELU question

Damkerng T.

(It goes so far as "When leaves work together, they become strong.")

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. ことのは is a similar word. It's 言の葉 in kanji

Anonymous

The は is again "leaves"!

Damkerng T.

Hah!

Anonymous

In Modern Japanese, the compound ことば is used instead

Anonymous

12:22 AM

ことば means "word(s)"

Anonymous

and is spelled with the same kanji: 言葉

Anonymous

It's basically the same word, but without the genitive particle in-between.

Damkerng T.

Ahh

Anonymous

ことば is an important word for you to know! You'll be likely to use it if you ask questions about Japanese in Japanese :-)

Damkerng T.

Definitely important!

0

Q: Base Themselves In

I have a question about the verb "base": link He and Kate are planning to base themselves at Anmer Hall, on the Sandringham Estate, which lies midway between the air ambulance service bases at Norwich and Cambridge. When some company (business) base themselves in some place, it means th...

I think this question makes Macmillan, once again, a better dictionary for learners.

Maulik bases his answer on Oxford Dictionary "Situate at a specified place as the centre of operations"

Anonymous

12:30 AM

I'm always happy to recommend Macmillan to learners :-)

Damkerng T.

Macmillan simply says "if you are based somewhere, you have it as your main office or place of work, or the place where you live".

Anonymous

Though in this case I'm not sure what base is supposed to imply, so I wouldn't be able to answer the question myself

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. Oh, that sounds helpful!

Damkerng T.

Problem solved. :D

Anonymous

Hey, look! Listenever branches out into generative linguistics

Anonymous

12:31 AM

0

Q: Are both of these Raising’s?

[i] Equi Bill1 wants [[(for) Bill2] to leave at noon] [Bill1 wants [ __ 2 to leave at noon]] [ii] Raising [[(For) the casserole] to be done] seems The casserole seems [to be done] (Prof.John Lawler's article) [case 1] She was last to arrive.(OALD) [i] Equi: She was last [[for her...

infinitive

Damkerng T.

Oh, I think I need to read JL's papers before I can be sure about what Equi and Raise are.

Eh? Isn't that quite similar to our "want to" discussion earlier?

Anonymous

Oh, you're branching out into generative linguistics! Might I suggest asking this on English.SE instead? I think John Lawler frequents ELU more than ELL, and he might be the best one to answer the question. — snailplane 25 secs ago

Damkerng T.

Yay! (I +1)

> For X to arrive was (the) last.

Anonymous

Though probably anyone with a copy of Syntactic Phenomena could answer it if they took a few minutes to look it up.

Damkerng T.

Both versions sound odd to me. (Though understandable. Probably fit for the poetic domain.)

Anonymous

12:37 AM

> Every contestant expects [to win].

Anonymous

> Every contestant expects [he will win].

Anonymous

> Every contestant expects [for him to win].

Anonymous

You can come up with rules trying to relate these things to one another…

Anonymous

Oh, she hasn't asked a question on ELU since February!

Damkerng T.

Eh? Since Feb? I think I helped her a bit back in Feb.

Anonymous

12:41 AM

I guess she treats ELL as her home here on Stack Exchange.

Damkerng T.

Me too. And I treat ELL so, too. :D

Anonymous

I treat Japanese.SE as my home.

Anonymous

But ELL.SE is my home away from home.

Damkerng T.

Just a walk away. Hee.

Anonymous

12:55 AM

1

Q: Are both of these Raising’s?

[i] Equi Bill1 wants [[(for) Bill2] to leave at noon] [Bill1 wants [ __ 2 to leave at noon]] [ii] Raising [[(For) the casserole] to be done] seems The casserole seems [to be done] (Prof.John Lawler's article) [case 1] She was last to arrive.(OALD) [i] Equi: She was last [[for her...

infinitive subject

Damkerng T.

1:06 AM

Yay!

Anonymous

1:28 AM

Apropos of nothing, found while reading John Wells' blog:

Anonymous

Damkerng T.

1:42 AM

Hmm... I think we don't have those guys here, though we might have their relatives that like to eat rice and silk. :-)

> “Here's the HTML we're shooting to generate”
http://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/30255/the-meaning-of-shooting-in-this-sentence-heres-the-html-were-shooting-to-ge

Would anyone really talk like that?!

Anonymous

2:01 AM

@DamkerngT. I thought I saw weevils before, but I also thought they were microscopic, not, well, giant!

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. Sure. Like "aiming to" = "our goal is to"

Anonymous

Same metaphor, I think

Anonymous

Probably not too common.

Damkerng T.

I suspected that, but I still can't believe that people really use shoot for aim, particularly in writing.

> He is shooting to continue his education at such and such.

Anonymous

Umm, that sentence looks odd.

Anonymous

2:03 AM

I think it'd be most common in shooting for = aiming for

Anonymous

> And our standards at this point for typical buildings are to prevent collapse, not to make sure that the building is usable after an earthquake.
> CONAN: But to make sure that the people who are in it can walk away from it.
> Prof-WALLACE: That's right. And you have to ask: Is that the standard we should be shooting for?

Damkerng T.

Will it still sound good if I changed it to...

Anonymous

> "Isn't that something?" Her mother's eyes remained calm. "Just think of the career opportunities he'll have for scrubbing bathrooms in some reservation casino."
> "Yeah, Mom, I'm sure that's what he's shooting for."

Damkerng T.

> Is that the standard we should be shooting for having?

Anonymous

Well, no :-)

Damkerng T.

2:06 AM

> Is that the standard we should be shooting to have?

Well, that writer wrote "shooting to generate (the HTML)".

Anonymous

Shooting to have is better than shooting for having

Anonymous

> Valentino said he is shooting to have some of those operations up and running within a few weeks.

Anonymous

> We are shooting to have 50 percent of the students get the questions right on the next test, and then to hit 85 to 100 percent by the end of the year.

Damkerng T.

Ahh... So it's common enough.

Anonymous

> "I'm shooting to have my own plant, start retail stores like Hallmark, and go public on the stock exchange," she says.

Damkerng T.

2:08 AM

I was wondering, "What dialect is this?" :-)

I mean, it looks strange, but at the same time, it doesn't sound non-native.

Anonymous

be shooting to <verb> could probably be considered an idiom

Anonymous

I think it's always progressive

Damkerng T.

nods

Anonymous

I think the OP's example is okay (perfectly believable that a native speaker would write it), but at the same time, if asked for my personal opinion, I might say it's not the best phrasing

Damkerng T.

0

Q: "as" as a conjunction or preposition

1: He doesn't play half as well as his sister does. 2: He doesn't play half as well as his sister. In sentence one, the second "as" is a conjunction. Am I right? In sentence two, should I take the second "as" as a preposition or as a conjunction with "does" being omitted? Thank you very much!

word

It's interesting. (But probably a different "interesting" from one you might think of.)

It also reminds me of the case between than her and than she (does).

Anonymous

2:18 AM

More interesting: "as she does" versus "as she/her" — snailplane 10 secs ago

Damkerng T.

Hah!

Anonymous

I was typing that.

Damkerng T.

Someone might google for it and post an answer to that question. :-)

I think I just realize why I think recent questions on ELL appear to be less interesting than before.

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. Why is that?

Damkerng T.

I think most questions of late are tree-questions in one way or another.

I think we had more forest-questions just a few months ago.

Hmm... I'm glad I found this question. Sometimes good comments and answers can turn a tree-question into a forest one.

> ell.stackexchange.com/q/23199/3281

Anonymous

2:40 AM

I appear to have upvoted most of the answers to that question

Anonymous

I don't see how this question is any different from the question you asked yesterday. I'm voting to close as a duplicate. — snailplane 2 mins ago

Anonymous

@snailplane It is very different. — meatie 25 secs ago

Damkerng T.

@snailboat That's a strange response.

Anonymous

Wow! Meatie has accepted answers to 0 out of 91 questions

Damkerng T.

It also reminds me of what I ran into (or it ran into me) several hours ago. :-)

Anonymous

2:46 AM

Oh?

Anonymous

0

Q: ? Your boss tells you not to bother taking off your coat

I read about this sentence "Your boss tells you not to bother taking off your coat" in a joke book. But I cannot catch the ethos of this kind of humor. Could someone please unravel it?

sentence-meaning

Anonymous

Umm… I don't get it :-)

Damkerng T.

Me either! There probably ware more words in the joke.

Anonymous

> You can tell it's going to be a bad day when: Your boss tells you not to bother taking off your coat.

Damkerng T.

Ahh

Anonymous

2:48 AM

Now it sounds like they got fired.

Anonymous

(Or are otherwise being sent out the door right after arriving!)

Damkerng T.

It sounds bad either way!

Anonymous

These are neither sentences nor phrases. It's hard to assign meaning to them. — snailplane 31 secs ago

Damkerng T.

The joke question is good. I think it's a forest question. (It wasn't too much focused on a specific word.)

I feel a bit bad that I think I can't help the OP, but I think it's not easy to make the OP understand.

Ah, I just can recall!

8 hours ago, by Ice Girl

@DamkerngT. You always on hold my questions

Now I think I know why she used always and plural questions.

It probably was about that plagiarism one rather than the one I recently voted to close on.

That might explain the upset and rage.

@snailboat I figured out why it's very different. This one asks specifically "Does any native speakers object to ..."; the other one doesn't ask that.

Anonymous

3:05 AM

@DamkerngT. Of course, that's not an actual difference.

Damkerng T.

:D -- I tried to analyze it from the OP's point of view, and I think that's it; that's the difference.

Anonymous

Damkerng T.

Hee!

Does this guy have a name yet?

Anonymous

Snails do this thing where they let their shell sort of hang back, and then they pull it forward :-)

Anonymous

3:10 AM

This is Moon!

Damkerng T.

Ah, Moon!

Anonymous

As you can see, Moon is a stripey snail.

Damkerng T.

nods

Moon looks almost translucent!

Anonymous

Their feet and shells both are more translucent when they're younger

Anonymous

When they get older, they're less translucent.

Anonymous

3:12 AM

A bright enough light source can always shine through them…

Damkerng T.

Ahh

Anonymous

…but then, that's true of humans, too :-)

Damkerng T.

Umm... It must be very bright for humans. :-)

Anonymous

Try putting a bright flashlight up to your hand

Damkerng T.

My flashlight is not bright enough. I can see something faintly, though. :D

Anonymous

3:16 AM

You can find some pictures if you search for sub-surface scattering and flashlight

Anonymous

See how light diffuses through the flesh, which is almost but not quite totally opaque?

Damkerng T.

nods

Anonymous

If you shine a bright light through a snail

Anonymous

You can see its heart beat

Anonymous

3:18 AM

Of course, snails don't like very bright lights.

Damkerng T.

Ah, poor snail! (Wouldn't it feel naked!?)

Anonymous

Hehe! I don't think they can tell :-)

Damkerng T.

It might be too hot (or too warm) for them too.

Anonymous

Their eyesight is only good enough to tell if one direction is brighter than another.

Anonymous

But it's true, they don't like bright light or heat.

Anonymous

3:19 AM

That's why they avoid direct sunlight in the wild.

Anonymous

(Of course, in captivity they do too, but in captivity you generally keep them away from direct sunlight to begin with)

Anonymous

But still, sometimes you can find a snail out in broad daylight.

Anonymous

If you do, try positioning yourself such that the snail is between you and the sun.

Damkerng T.

Ah, I find them often enough!

Anonymous

(I know, easier said than done, since snails tend to crawl on the ground!)

Anonymous

3:21 AM

You'll see the snail's heart beating. When I did, I counted 20 beats per minute.

Anonymous

I've only done it once.

Anonymous

I don't know if that's slow or fast.

Damkerng T.

Hah!

Anonymous

They have a lung, too. (Just the one.)

Anonymous

The lung opens directly to the air.

Anonymous

3:22 AM

Damkerng T.

Oh, I didn't know that they have one!

Anonymous

Can you see the hole on the left?

Damkerng T.

Near the shell?

Anonymous

That is called a "pneumostome" (basically "lung hole")

Anonymous

Yes

Anonymous

3:23 AM

It opens directly into the shell, where the lung is hidden

Anonymous

The shell holds the lung open so air can enter.

Damkerng T.

Ahh... do they have any sort of filter?

Anonymous

A snail can't survive without its shell. One reason is that the lung would collapse and they would suffocate

Anonymous

They can close the opening.

Anonymous

Things can get in, though.

Damkerng T.

3:24 AM

Ahh...

Anonymous

They're quite unhappy when water gets inside.

Damkerng T.

Imagining a snail sneeze!

Anonymous

As you can see, there is a sort of solid layer across the opening of the shell. That is called the mantle.

Anonymous

(Like a cape!)

Anonymous

The mantle secretes the shell very slowly.

Anonymous

3:25 AM

So the shell gets bigger and has more whorls as they grow.

Anonymous

You can see another, much smaller, opening to the right of the pneumostome

Damkerng T.

Oh, I guess that's how they grow their shells.

Anonymous

Yup! :-)

Anonymous

They can pull the mantle in or out.

Anonymous

It's not permanently attached to the lip of the shell.

Anonymous

3:26 AM

But they can't come all the way out of the shell, or they'd die.

Anonymous

So in that sense, the shell is part of them.

Damkerng T.

Aha! And that's why it has to be spiral!

It's only natural, but I haven't really thought about it.

Anonymous

Uh-huh! :-)

Anonymous

See, the shells start out with barely any whorls.

Anonymous

3:37 AM

Actually, the first whorl is usually complete when they hatch.

Anonymous

(Called the nepionic whorl)

Anonymous

If you look at an adult snail, you can see at the very tip of the spiral the part of the shell they made while they were still inside an egg. It looks different.

Anonymous

See the part of the shell Dee had as a baby?

Damkerng T.

At the center!

Maybe it's the lighting, but I find it rather difficult to tell how deep that glass is!

Probably not a shallow glass, but it's Dee who is good at climbing. :-)

Anonymous

3:42 AM

It's probably the angle. It's a jar.

Anonymous

That was the day I caught Dee. :-)

Damkerng T.

Aww...

Anonymous

I picked her up off a leaf and put her in a jar. She didn't like that very much, but it's safer carrying her that way

Anonymous

She probably thought I was a predator.

Damkerng T.

Hahaha!

Anonymous

3:44 AM

Of course, being a snail, the first thing she did was climb to the top of the jar.

Anonymous

And she made a couple circles around the top :-)

Anonymous

Such a good snail.

Damkerng T.

Probably she was trying to look for a way down.

Anonymous

I put the jar into the snail cage.

Damkerng T.

I helped some bees to get to the outside of my house sometimes. With a piece of paper. :-)

Anonymous

3:46 AM

Damkerng T.

Hee!

Anonymous

Oh, I have another angle

Anonymous

Damkerng T.

Oh! This one is a clear shot!

Anonymous

Dee was visiting the dining room in that picture.

Damkerng T.

3:50 AM

Hi @skullpatrol!

skullpatrol

Hi everybody :-)

How are you @Damkerng T. ?

Damkerng T.

I'm okay. Thanks. How about you?

skullpatrol

Fine thanks.

Damkerng T.

It's nice to see a familiar avatar. Suddenly, everyone seems to change their avatar around here. :-)

skullpatrol

:-)

Anonymous

3:57 AM

Moon is having a slice of apple for what I imagine is the first time ever.

Damkerng T.

Isn't apple a bit harder than banana or lettuce?

Anonymous

A little bit.

Anonymous

It's not terribly tough.

Anonymous

Remember that a snail can eat a solid block of chalk.

Damkerng T.

Eww!

Anonymous

4:02 AM

Well, to snails it's nutritious! :-)

Anonymous

If you feed a snail a piece of chalk, they turn it into a shell.

Damkerng T.

Oh, for calcium!

Anonymous

Uh-huh! Assuming it's actual chalk, I mean, with calcium carbonate.

Damkerng T.

How do they get calcium in their natural habitat?

Anonymous

Largely by eating soil.

Anonymous

4:04 AM

There are other sources, but…

Anonymous

In general, the snail population in an area is proportionate to the calcium content of the soil.

Anonymous

Sometimes when I see "marked as duplicate by J.R.♦" I instinctively look for the +1 button to click

Anonymous

But there is none

Damkerng T.

Ah, I just saw your in-situ edit.

Anonymous

It's not really in its original position once he's copy-and-pasted it onto another site :-)

Damkerng T.

4:10 AM

Hee. :-)

Anonymous

Of course, we have site in English

Anonymous

And situate

Anonymous

But we also have situs in medical terminology

Anonymous

Situs inversus

Situs inversus (also called situs transversus or oppositus) is a congenital condition in which the major visceral organs are reversed or mirrored from their normal positions. The normal arrangement is known as situs solitus. In other rare cases, in a condition known as situs ambiguus or heterotaxy, situs cannot be determined. The term situs inversus is a short form of the Latin phrase "situs inversus viscerum", meaning "inverted position of the internal organs". Dextrocardia (the heart being located on the right side of the thorax) was first seen and drawn by Leonardo da Vinci in 1452–1519, and...

Damkerng T.

Oh!

Anonymous

4:17 AM

Humans aren't quite symmetrical, but we appear to be largely symmetrical superficially, so that condition is non-obvious

Anonymous

But snails undergo torsion and are obviously chiral (twist one way)

Anonymous

Land snails are almost exclusively right-handed.

Anonymous

A very few species are typically left-handed.

Anonymous

(Dextral and sinistral being the technical terms)

Anonymous

But!

Anonymous

4:18 AM

Even in an all-dextral species

Anonymous

Very rarely (one in ten thousand -ish?), a Snail King is born

Anonymous

That's what you call it when you get a sinistral snail in a dextral species :-)

Damkerng T.

Ahh

Anonymous

molluscs.at/gastropoda/terrestrial/helix.html?/gastropoda/…

Damkerng T.

One in ten-thousand!

We have a well-known singer here. One of her popular songs was "My Right-Sided Heart Is Like Having Special Tissues". (Never mind the title. :-)

The title also sounds odd in Thai. :-)

Anonymous

4:21 AM

Ha

Anonymous

Learning language from lyrics is an interesting endeavor.

Anonymous

Sometimes you come across a phrase and wonder if it's an idiom

Anonymous

And it turns out to be something no one else has ever said :-)

Damkerng T.

It was her debut song, and she really has her heart on the right side!

Anonymous

Ah!

Anonymous

4:22 AM

Situs inversus is interesting!

Anonymous

When I was in grade school, I had a teacher who tried to teach us lots of things that were wrong.

Anonymous

She insisted that the heart was not on the left side of the body

Anonymous

And the life-size figure with removable plastic organs meant to demonstrate human anatomy? Wrong! She said it was wrong.

Anonymous

She claimed that the heart was in the exact center.

Damkerng T.

Oh!

Anonymous

4:24 AM

If that were true, it would ruin the song. :-)

Damkerng T.

It is really sorta in the middle. :)

Anonymous

Sorta! :-)

Damkerng T.

Hmm... Have your Thai friend happened to mention Suriyothai (a movie)?

Anonymous

I don't think so

Damkerng T.

Ahh... Never mind that. I mentioned it because she who has her heart on the right side sings the theme song of the movie. :-)

Anonymous

4:34 AM

Do you mean that Bill1 and Bill2 are the same person or two different people? If you use indices, you should use identical ones to indicate identical people. As for cases 1 and 2, these sentences have already been done things to. Put back all the stuff that was taken out before you worry about Equi and Raising. I'll answer presently, but this is a chance to figure out the logic and what other concepts are involved. — John Lawler 2 hours ago

Anonymous

This is an interesting sentence:

Anonymous

> As for cases 1 and 2, these sentences have already been done things to.

Damkerng T.

I just noticed the examples. This is not really a sentence, I think: [[(For) the casserole] to be done] seems

Anonymous

4:50 AM

Well, not without something after seems it's not

Anonymous

Aw, two close votes already

Damkerng T.

Oh! As F.E. said!

F.E.

6:21 AM

@snailboat Tiger gave it an upvote! :D

What do you guys think about the acceptability of this sentence? CGEL page 170:

> He claims that fewer and fewer students are knowing how to write English when they come up to university.

I've marked it in the margin as "BrE?" :D

skullpatrol

I agree :-)

F.E.

CGEL says the progressive is usable for waxing and waning situations (page 167), but still . . .

skullpatrol

Interesting comment.

F.E.

I already kinda assume the example sentence to be BrE due to "they come up to university".

But that usage of the progressive, er, . . . maybe academic register uses it?

Tiger on page 176 in CGEL. :)

I'm not so sure how acceptable that usage of the progressive ("are knowing") in that example sentence is to AmE ears . . . ?

2

Q: If you or somebody you know ... are/is ...?

What is the correct grammar for a sentence such as the following: "If you or somebody you know is an experienced such-and-such, please contact us." Vs.: "If you or somebody you know are an experienced such-and-such, please contact us." I primarily want to know which of "are" or "is" is the ap...

grammar sentence

0

Q: "If you or somebody you know" vs "If somebody you know or you"

The following sentence makes sense: If you or somebody you know is an experienced such-and-such, please contact us. However, reversing the subjects (and choosing "are" based on the proximity rule) makes it sound extremely awkward: If somebody you know or you are an experienced such-and-such...

grammar sentence-structure

Hmm . . .

user116848

6:43 AM

@F.E. , @skullpatrol Hello! pals

F.E.

Hello back! :)

user116848

:)

user116848

Is this avatar okay? This was my avatar when I joined ELU and ELL.

user116848

:D

user116848

But now you will be talking to scenery :)

F.E.

6:49 AM

Well . . . as long as you're happy with it :)

user116848

I am.
Where did you find your tiger pic?

F.E.

@Arrowfar I took the picture myself.

user116848

Wow! Very good resolution!

user116848

It looks like a toy tiger :)

F.E.

iMac photo . . .

@Arrowfar Who you calling a "toy"?!?!

user116848

6:52 AM

Your avatar haha

user116848

Why not actual tiger pic?

user116848

Mine is from google images

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