Language Overflow

Man_From_India

2:03 PM

Obviously that sentence is fine.

Usernew

Hello

Jim Reynolds

The question was closed for a reason, I don't completely understand.

Usernew

o/

Jim Reynolds

hello

Usernew

How do I say the location of the USB ports?

Jim Reynolds

2:06 PM

On the side?

Usernew

Should I say USB port on the bottom right ? that seems wrong to me

yes

Jim Reynolds

Do you need something more specific or techincal?

Usernew

I am writing a review and want to let the readers know the exact location of the ports

Jim Reynolds

I'm not especially technical, but I think most people who would read it would understand something more simple.

Damkerng T.

"Bottom right" sounds wrong to me.

Usernew

2:07 PM

I can say they are on the right side or left side, butt :D how do I say, get it?

Jim Reynolds

Because we all know where such ports generally are.

Usernew

yes, that's why came here. @DamkerngT.

Jim Reynolds

Just "On the right side, near the front." Maybe?

Damkerng T.

Or "On the right side, near the user-end" perhaps.

Usernew

dunno :D

google.co.in/…

this has ports on the left side in the middle

Jim Reynolds

2:09 PM

Just because a verb usually has a complement, doesn't mean it always requires one.

Usernew

I need to be specific because the wire of a cooling pad is short.

Jim Reynolds

This notebook has one USB port on the right-rear.

Because cooling pads have short wires.

That's a more common way to say that.

Usernew

rear would be this

Damkerng T.

Hmm... I'm stuck with this word (which I know but can't recall). It's a technical word for typos that swap two consecutive characters, like typing "noetbook" for "notebook".

Jim Reynolds

Yes. Good point, Usernew. Rear-right!

transposition, @Dam

Damkerng T.

2:12 PM

A-ha! Transposition! Thanks!

Jim Reynolds

Usernew, maybe it would be best then to say it in a more clear, but longer way.

Usernew

It has one port on the right rear side and one port on the right side, near the screen. would that be correct? @DamkerngT. @JimReynolds

Damkerng T.

Hmm... I don't think you need "side" after "rear".

Jim Reynolds

Where is the diagram for that?

Do you mean right and right?

Or right and left?

Usernew

the laptop has two ports

one on the rear and one on the right

Jim Reynolds

2:15 PM

I'd say "one on the back"

Usernew

the users there are quite duff :D so they won't care much about language @DamkerngT.

Damkerng T.

Hehe!

Usernew

again, back would mean the rear, wouldn't it?

Jim Reynolds

Well, either one should be ok.

Yes.

Usernew

:D

Damkerng T.

2:15 PM

Roughly, yes.

Jim Reynolds

:D

Kicks Damkerng T. in the rear.

Usernew

Well, I will tell them to look for the ports themselves on google Images. Problem solved.

Damkerng T.

I guess that wasn't my back. :P

Usernew

Rear = butt

Jim Reynolds

Haha! Creative solution!

Usernew

2:17 PM

back = backbone area

Who cares, what's important is Dam got kicked in the rear/back.

I will go and finish my review. Bye! @DamkerngT. @JimReynolds

Hi @StoneyB
Bye @StoneyB

StoneyB

That was brief but intense!

Damkerng T.

@Usernew o/

StoneyB

Hi,@Dam, @JimReynolds

Damkerng T.

Hi!

Breaking news: @Man_From_India just survived a car crash

Jim Reynolds

Aloha, as they say in Gnome.

@Man_From_India, please stay alive and ... warm, until ... you know.

Man_From_India

2:22 PM

@JimReynolds I will not fall prey to your mouth :D

Jim Reynolds

7

Q: Is "A Star Shoots" a complete sentence?

A star shoots. I read something like this somewhere. Can this be thought of as a complete sentence? How does one analyze this, grammatically? It looks as though it is missing some phrase. On the other hand we do say shooting star, so it isn't very clear if this is a complete sentence or not....

StoneyB

@DamkerngT. @Man_From_India, is this a literal or figurative car crash?

Jim Reynolds

Araucaria is quite passionate about her point of view, here!

Man_From_India

Literal actually.

@JimReynolds HER? :O

Jim Reynolds

Oh. Why did I suppose that?

Him?

Man_From_India

2:24 PM

Not very sure after u said "SHE" :-)

Jim Reynolds

lol !

It's funny how we decide these things in our heads sometimes.

Man_From_India

Now spare me and attack Aru :D

Damkerng T.

@JimReynolds Your language forces you to.

StoneyB

@Man_From_India I hope you're OK ... Somebody's got it in for ELL. I'm sitting in a motel room now cause a little old lady in a Buick peeled off half of the back wall of my house.

Jim Reynolds

Gosh.

Were you home?

Damkerng T.

2:26 PM

Oh, no!

Man_From_India

@StoneyB God! I am fine. My car absorbed all the impact, and badly damaged. Why did she do that? :O

StoneyB

I was at home, and my son was in the front running a D&D game. They had just kicked in a door and were really impressed with the sound effects he provided!

Jim Reynolds

Please tell us some more, if you are inclined to.

StoneyB

@Man_From_India I am very happy to hear it ... her accelerator jammed and she ran through a T-intersection, managed to steer through the trees and hit my back wall at about 15 degrees, ran along the wall about 2' inside the house and ended up hitting my bathtub -- which is now in my bedroom. Great fun for all (except obviously her). But she was wearing a seatbelt and her airbag deployed, so she's ok.

Jim Reynolds

I'll never bathe again!

Damkerng T.

2:31 PM

Whoa! jaw dropped

Jim Reynolds

Not in StoneyB's house, anyway.

StoneyB

Not in that bathtub, you won't!

Damkerng T.

Everybody in your house is okay, right?

Jim Reynolds

Well, these things can shake one.

Man_From_India

@StoneyB God...

StoneyB

2:33 PM

Everybody's fine, except the D&D players ran out of the house without shoes and got very cold feet.

Damkerng T.

Phew!

Nihilist_Frost

dictionary.reference.com/browse/ear?s=t

does the vowel sound like /ɪə/ or /i/?

Man_From_India

This two incidents remind me of a phrase well know to religious people - As above so below. Well our experiences are different, but there is a similarity. Both are ACCIDENTS :-) One happened in East and the other happened in the West :P

StoneyB

@Nihilist_Frost Where I come from, neither.

Nihilist_Frost

@StoneyB I was talking about the pronunciation on the site

if the audio and IPA were in sync

Man_From_India

2:36 PM

@StoneyB I am impressed the way you decorated such bad news with linguestic jewels :P

Jim Reynolds

It sounds a bit funny. Our expectations and experiences will influence how we hear it.

StoneyB

@Man_From_India I've had practise! I spent most of last night telling people about it.

Jim Reynolds

It sounds like /i/ to me, but I think that vowel sound is pronounced for a longer duration than we normally would give it.

Maybe that stretching, if it really exists, is why it might sound like long a, or more like long a.

StoneyB

... and there's the insurance adjustor who wants to come by and look at the place. Gotta run!

Man_From_India

@StoneyB I first head it in Dan Brown's book :-)

@StoneyB Take care.

StoneyB

2:40 PM

@Man_From_India Take care of yourself -- that sort of thing can have "aftershocks"!

Damkerng T.

Run safely!

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

3:41 PM

@JimReynolds I also first thought @Arau is a she. :P

This proves that by internet standards, he does look like a she, haha

Jim Reynolds

O.O

CopperKettle

@Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ. Is Araucaria a he?

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

Yeah

CopperKettle

(pardon my intrusiveness)

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

LOL

Too bad he's not pingable.

CopperKettle

3:44 PM

Tomorrow - Yoon Si Young

►

(a nice song)

(many decibels, too)

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

I don't hate Christmas, but I do hate hats. If you wants to know why, ask my girl fiend (sic), and have a look at my bank account. — Araucaria Dec 14 '15 at 0:08

Jim Reynolds

Hello @RayWu

@Cop, I deem her performance: mawkish, sentimental, over-sentimental, cloying, sickly, saccharine, sugary, syrupy, sickening, nauseating, banal, and trite.

CopperKettle

@JimReynolds Fine with me.

Jim Reynolds

Well, not really, but I wanted to be provocative.

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

@JimReynolds You sounds like those guys that review movies without even watching them first.

CopperKettle

3:48 PM

@JimReynolds Fine with me! (0:

Jim Reynolds

:D

I'm still working on my review of @Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.: The Online Sensation.

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

Good luck with that.

Jim Reynolds

O.o

O.0

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

O.O

Man_From_India

4:06 PM

Now that everyone thought that Arau is a SHE, so I started to have serious doubt about my impression of his being a "HE".

Damkerng T.

4:17 PM

2

A: Is introducing yourself with "Myself" completely wrong English?

Numbers 2, 3, and 5 are standard ways to introduce yourself (if your name is John!). Number 5 is less formal that the other two, and requires a particular kind of situation to be socially appropriate. It also requires certain pronunciation features and probably nonverbal behaviors to seem conve...

@JimReynolds Wouldn't 3 be safer than 2?

(i.e., "Hello! I'm John." rather than "Hello! My name is John.")

Jim Reynolds

2 is quite standard.

Damkerng T.

Did you imply that 3 ("Hello! I'm John.") is less standard?

Jim Reynolds

I didn't mean to. Did I?

Let me look again.

Ha. Ok I saw it. Thanks!

Damkerng T.

Phew! -- I thought I got it wrong! No problem!

Jim Reynolds

Always have a machine check your work. Never heard better advice.

Damkerng T.

4:24 PM

LOL

Jim Reynolds

You are truly GIGO.

(Even if garbage is put in, gold comes out.)

Damkerng T.

Oh, I'd love to have some gold!

Bring me more garbage. :P

Jim Reynolds

Oh! You should let us have pulls on your arm and try to get three 7s!

Damkerng T.

I'm no slot machine!

0

Q: Pronunciation practice(making 'also' 'all' sound correct)

I'm having a hard time to make 'also' and 'all' sound correct. My native American tutor told me my 'also' sounds like 'arso' and 'all' sounds like "or". He says I have no trouble with making "L" and "R" sounds correct when R and L is the first consonant of the word - for example, look, room, ...

pronunciation accent

I have my own tip but I don't know if it works for the OP.

I think pronunciation or speech coaching is better done person-to-person.

Jim Reynolds

Yes. Like giving singing lessons by keyboard. A challenge.

I have seen some YouTube videos that are helpful for some people.

When I'm working with students, I find that helping them to really hear distinctions is the most useful thing I can do.

Damkerng T.

4:34 PM

nods -- Fix the ear, fix the mouth.

You could try this. Step 1: keep saying, "La-la-la-la-la-..."; try to make them sound like one long word instead of breaking them into one-syllable words. Step 2: blend those "La-la-la-la-..." into "lalalala..."; try to make those l's sound like they are at the end of the previous syllable and the beginning of the next at the same time. Step 3: try to blend step 2 into "al-al-al-al-..." instead. (Now you should have a good "al"!) Step 4: do the same with other vowels (such as /ɔ/, to get "all"!) -- Hope this helps a little! — Damkerng T. 7 secs ago

I tried anyway!

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

@DamkerngT. You forgot to add "make sure you do this in a bathroom"

CopperKettle

> Genetic testing of villagers in a remote part of China has shown that nearly two thirds of their DNA is of Caucasian origin, lending support to the theory that they may be descended from a 'lost legion' of Roman soldiers.

Damkerng T.

@Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ. Haha!

CopperKettle

(source)

Damkerng T.

@CopperKettle Oh, I've seen that on Discovery Channel!

CopperKettle

4:37 PM

I heard about the lost legion, in late Antiquity. I'll read the article now.

Damkerng T.

Those Chinese people look a bit Roman-like indeed.

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

@DamkerngT. Why did that ping me 7 times?

CopperKettle

Ah, it's dated 2010, that explains why there was a Discovery documentary on them.

Damkerng T.

@Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ. Because it was "la-la-la-la-la-la-la", perhaps. :P

CopperKettle

4:56 PM

Flight Over Dwarf Planet Ceres

►

Araucaria

5:08 PM

@Marilou Yes, I know, I know! :) The original Araucaria was a famous cryptic crossword setter from the Guardian with a cult following. He wrote amazing crosswords for almost 50 years. His puzzles were extremely witty and sometimes a bit political (leftish). Araucaria is a pun because it's the Latin name for Monkey Puzzle Tree. For me, that's what Linguistics is, a puzzle about a certain group of primates. I'm hoping to use that as my official academic pseudonym ;). Here's a link about the original Auracaria: John Graham/Araucaria — Araucaria Sep 24 '14 at 10:59

3

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

@Araucaria :D

Oh, actually it's been like 6 months since I last used that emoticon.

Araucaria

@Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ. Hi @Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ. Not stopping, just clearing up the name, for those who are wondering why my name ends in an A ... Ciao!

Jim Reynolds

5:40 PM

I think it's only like Spanish and Italian, as far as I know, that tends to associate final a/e with feminine names. I don't know if other languages also do.

Is it true for names or most names in English?

Maybe.

Monkey Puzzle Tree. Hmm.

O.O

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

@JimR hasn't seen something weirder than him before.

Damkerng T.

@CopperKettle Looks almost like CGI!

Is that an alien in the middle of the crater at 0:53?! :P

And that must be his home (at 1:39). :D

CopperKettle

5:59 PM

Bright spots on Ceres

Several bright surface features (also known as faculae) were discovered on the dwarf planet Ceres by the Dawn spacecraft in 2015. The brightest cluster of spots ("Spot 5") is located in an 80-kilometer (50 mi) crater called Occator. The largest and brightest component of the cluster is in the center of the crater, with dimmer spots located towards this crater's eastern rim. Early in the orbital phase of the Dawn mission, the high albedo of these spots was speculated to be due to some kind of outgassing, and subsequent closer images helped scientists determine that it is material with a high level...

Damkerng T.

Aww... just some sort of salt? I was hoping that we had found an E.T.!

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

@DamkerngT. But is it some sort of salt? #Tinfoil

Damkerng T.

The X-Files' theme song is blowing in the wind...

youtube.com/watch?v=6gkiuVz-Ryo (In case you want to listen to it for several hours.)

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

BTW I'm changing.

Damkerng T.

Into what?

The Terminator (1984) Theme, the glory of techno music.

BTW, your faithful robot proudly presents...

(It's from my old answer: ell.stackexchange.com/a/69829/3281. A new question the rules of tense backshifting urges me to search for it. I thought it was a different OP, but it turned out they're the same OP, so I probably don't have to post a comment to link to my old answer.)

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

6:42 PM

@DamkerngT. New name, same guy.

CopperKettle

> “I **must** go to work,” said Nick to Nellie.
> Nick said to Nellie that he **must** go to work.

I wonder if we may retain must in this kind of reported speech, or it's better to use had to.

Damkerng T.

If must still holds true, I think.

CopperKettle

Ah. Yes.

pearsonlongman.com/ae/azar/grammar_ex/message_board/archive/…

Damkerng T.

Wait, what? -- The answer there seems to imply that must can mean "had to"!

(I just skimmed through it quickly, so I could read it wrong.)

CopperKettle

The explanation ends with sayding that had to is used more often.

Damkerng T.

6:48 PM

Yes, but it didn't say anything about the subtly different implication.

I'm sure that that answer wasn't written by L.G. Alexander!

With answers like that, and grammar books written like that, no wonder that a lot of learners find that English is confusing.

CopperKettle

nods

@DamkerngT. Nice!

I also love the theme to the movie "In Search of Capt. Grant", composed by Dunayevsky

The Children of Captain Grant (film)

The Children of Captain Grant (Russian:Deti kapitana Granta) is a 1936 Soviet adventure film directed by Vladimir Vaynshtok and David Gutman and starring Nikolai Cherkasov, Ivan Chuvelyov and Yuri Yuryev. It is an adaptation of the novel In Search of the Castaways by Jules Verne. The film was popular on its release, and was followed in 1941 by another Verne adaptation Mysterious Island. In the 1860s, two Scottish children go on a global search for their missing father, the sailor Captain Grant. == Cast == Nikolai Cherkasov as Jacques Paganel Yakov Segel as Robert Grant Olga Bazarova as Mary Grant...

An old Soviet adventure film based on a Jules Verne novel

Музыка Дунаевского к фильму "Дети капитана Гранта"

►

It rivals the theme to Indiana Jones, a great adventure music.

In the movie, they go round the globe along the 37th parralel after finding a half-discernible message in a bottle, with only the parrallel readable and not the meridian.

Damkerng T.

7:21 PM

@CopperKettle Nice music! It reminds me of some dancing scenes in Anastasia.

Araucaria

@DamkerngT. Hi!

Damkerng T.

Hi!

Araucaria

@ⱮᏁℛ Hi mr, er, hmmm, how do you get your name up without an 'autocue'?

ⱮᏁℛ

@Araucaria Since the first character of my name isn't something you can type easily, you get the suggestion as soon as you type @.

Damkerng T.

I have a hunch that it was because of TeX.

ⱮᏁℛ

7:28 PM

And @Dam that was the change I was talking about.

@DamkerngT. What how what?

Damkerng T.

I thought you used TeX to generate those characters.

Araucaria

@ⱮᏁℛ Yes, that' true!

ⱮᏁℛ

That's certainly an option, but I only use the corresponding Unicode chars.

Araucaria

@ⱮᏁℛ But you have to wait for it instead of being able to carry on typing ...

ⱮᏁℛ

@Araucaria Then don't ping me, just write @MAR. I already see the messages.

didgocks

7:30 PM

how to use chats?

ⱮᏁℛ

Hullo @didgocks! Welcome to LO!

@didgocks You just used chat.

Araucaria

@ⱮᏁℛ Ok, I'll try that ..

didgocks

Hi!

Do i talk about the topic?

ⱮᏁℛ

@didgocks You are the topic.

@Araucaria Pssht, @Arau using the reply function? Wow.

Just talk about anything you please.

The normal everyday conversation etiquette applies.

Damkerng T.

@didgocks The topic is "language". BTW, welcome to the room!

didgocks

7:32 PM

oh I thought it said language so I thought I had to talk about that @ⱮᏁℛ

oh thanks

ⱮᏁℛ

@didgocks Well, yeah, we prefer to sound languagy.

Damkerng T.

But out of band stuff is welcome, too.

didgocks

oh

how many languages can you guys speak?

ⱮᏁℛ

I can speak three and half.

didgocks

what are they @ⱮᏁℛ ?

Damkerng T.

7:33 PM

Me? Two. Hmm... maybe three. Hmm... maybe four. Hmm...

I think it depends on how we count them.

didgocks

what are they?

ⱮᏁℛ

@DamkerngT. Two hundred and thirty four?

Damkerng T.

@ⱮᏁℛ I didn't count machine languages. :D

ⱮᏁℛ

@didgocks Arabic, Persian, Turkish and English.

Damkerng T.

@didgocks English, and Tinglish.

Wait, no, that doesn't sound right. Thai and Tinglish. :D

didgocks

7:36 PM

oh nice

ⱮᏁℛ

I am a native speaker of Turkish Persian English.

Turpenglish, they call it.

Damkerng T.

:D

ⱮᏁℛ

7:50 PM

What do you think of the new name @Dam? Did you like the old one better?

Damkerng T.

8:04 PM

@ⱮᏁℛ I find them equally difficult to ping!

ⱮᏁℛ

@DamkerngT. Such feedback

Damkerng T.

:D

ⱮᏁℛ

How hard is it to type @ and press tab?

Damkerng T.

But the new one is rounder. Though I don't think you really are a rounder. :D

ⱮᏁℛ

8:26 PM

@DamkerngT. Curved is beautiful.

Ain't that right Newton? CC @Stoney

StoneyB

8:46 PM

@ⱮᏁℛ Ah, @ⱮᏁℛ, you don't catch me that way! It's been forty years but I remember that in the play it's actually Kneller, cribbed from the later Hogarth.

Anonymous

@ⱮᏁℛ I can ping you without typing your name in chat, but it doesn't work in comments, so your name really can make things unnecessarily difficult for people.

ⱮᏁℛ

@snailboat I can't change names for a month now.

Damkerng T.

10:36 PM

1

Q: When to use "Me" and "I" in comparative sentences?

He is taller than me/I? Also, what is the difference between the two: 1 - I love you better than him. 2 - I love you better than he.

pronouns

It should be a duplicate. Someone has voted to close it as a duplicate. Too bad that the answer in the suggested question that we're going to vote the new one as a duplicate of isn't that great.

(It suggests that He is taller than me is incorrect.)

sad

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