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12:48 AM
My noob attempt to get some of the hiragana
My "so" looks so bad
 
I frequently ignored stroke order, oh no
my "ka" is awful too
it's too fat
 
Anonymous
1:13 AM
There's a font used in Japan called 教科書体, used in textbooks to show how students should write characters → identifont.jp/…
 
Anonymous
 
Anonymous
As you can see, it has the bottom of さ and き separated, which is how most people learn to write them by hand
 
Anonymous
Of course, your handwriting is up to you :-)
 
Anonymous
Getting the stroke order right is a good idea, though. It'll help you recognize cursive forms because those naturally develop from the stroke order taught in school, and a lot of (software) handwriting input works better if you write them in that order.
 
Anonymous
Of course, if the kana are legible, it doesn't really matter how you write them, so it's up to you!
 
Anonymous
1:17 AM
I write all my Latin letters bottom to top and spiraling from the inside out. I taught myself to do that before I started school, and they tried to force me to re-learn, which was a huge waste of time and really hard on me.
 
Anonymous
I still write them that way and the world hasn't ended :-)
 
It's hard to write or draw with such a big-nib stylus on iPad neatly.
Which makes me wanna try iPad Pen. :-)
Ah, wait, it's called iPad Pencil. Or more correctly, Apple Pencil on iPad Pro.
 
 
1 hour later…
2:52 AM
教科書体 = kyōkashotai (curriculum font?)
 
3:06 AM
Yay, my two favourite topics collide! australasianlawyer.com.au/news/…
> According to US federal law, the minimum sentence for the child pornography applies if he had a prior state conviction, “relating to aggravated sexual abuse, sexual abuse, or abusive sexual conduct involving a minor”
> The government says “involving a minor” just refers to the last part of the sentence, “abusive sexual conduct,” not to what came before. It thinks Lockhart should get the 10 years.
> But Avondale’s prior conviction was for the attempted rape of a woman, not a minor so he thinks the law doesn’t apply to him
> The statutory interpretation, or canon his lawyers point to, says that “when there is a straightforward, parallel construction that involves all nouns or verbs in a series, a prepositive or postpositive modifier normally applies to the entire series,” according to Justice Antonin Scalia.
Here's a thing from the SCOTUS blog: scotusblog.com/2015/10/…
 
@jimsug This is a good example where ellipsis could make a difference!
 
Personally, I think the government's argument was tenuous at best.
 
nods
 
But it's the kind of problem that ambiguous drafting causes.
There's no good way to make it clear without separating it into two clauses, though.
i.e.: a) ... relating to aggravated sexual abuse, sexual abuse, or abusive sexual conduct
i) or conviction referred to in a) involving a minor.
 
It could work with a colon, "relating to these following acts involving a minor: ...". I don't know if phrasing clauses with colons is common in legalese.
Using two clauses is clearer, I think.
 
3:20 AM
Right, yes.
 
 
1 hour later…
Anonymous
4:41 AM
@Nihilist_Frost 教科書 kyōkasho is 'textbook'
 
Anonymous
@jimsug That describes a lot of Scalia's arguments.
 
@snailboat Oh, not the court - I meant the prosecutor's argument that the adjunct should apply only to the last item in the list.
 
Anonymous
Oh, yeah, that's not a very good argument. I just wanted to pick on Scalia.
 
Anonymous
And now you've taken that away from me. weeps
 
Anonymous
4:58 AM
Okay, now I'm actually reading it.
 
Anonymous
Where do they come up with these arguments?
 
I think they make arguments up to support the outcome they want :P
 
Anonymous
Yeah, yeah, I know. The system is designed broken.
 
6:55 AM
@Araucaria Thank you! :-)
 
 
2 hours later…
9:19 AM
@snailboat I don't have an easy time trying to parse language that is written without spaces.
lol
 
0
A: “In an undertone” - an adverb?

Damkerng T.It's a prepositional phrase (also known as preposition phrase) because it's headed by a preposition (i.e., "in" of "in an undertone"). You can consider it an adverbial or an adverbial phrase, functioning as an adverbial of manner (you've identified the "of manner" part correctly). You can follo...

@DamkerngT. I think perhaps it's better if you put prepositional phrase in brackets, and preposition phrase outside, hence "preposition phrase (also known as prepositional phrase)" It could be somewhat clearer.
 
I'm sure everyone I've known pronounces "drive" as [d͡ʒɹaɪv]
 
9:36 AM
Random thought: I wonder if anyone ever mistakenly pronounces Ngrams [ŋɹæmz]...
 
Anonymous
Monolingual English speakers generally don't know how to produce velar nasals in onset position.
 
@Fantasier Deliberately, I think so.
 
Anonymous
@Nihilist_Frost Kanji help a lot. In all-kana writing, spaces are sometimes used.
 
Anonymous
Since they would have to learn how to pronounce initial velar nasals, I think not very many English speakers would be able to do that, whether on purpose or by accident.
 
@Nihilist_Frost Not when I'm imitating my English teacher.
 
9:52 AM
@snailboat Yeah, I meant non-natives :-P
 
Hello all! ^_^
 
Without a hyphen I could have pronounced it wrong, I guess.
I didn't though :-)
 
@Hanaa Hullo!
 
@Hanaa Hello!
 
Velar nasals?
 
9:55 AM
@Hanaa The ng sound.
 
Yes
Pronounced /nj/ @Fantasier
 
Hmm?
Is that IPA?
 
That is the phonetic transcription
 
no
 
Hello@tchrist
 
9:57 AM
/ŋ/ is the velar nasal.
Just as /ɲ/ is the palatal one.
Hi.
I hope to return to sleep.
 
A yes
/nj/ is something else not like ng
 
Anonymous
I'm typing on my phone, which is why I keep referring to sounds by name instead of using IPA
 
Yes @snailboat
 
@tchrist Isn't it around midnight there?
 
Anonymous
@Fantasier Oh! I see. :-)
 
10:03 AM
@Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ. 3am
 
(╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻
 
3 am is a very good time for learning
 
Anonymous
What few studies have been done show that learners can incorporate L2 phonotactics into their language processing fairly readily if they're taught
 
. . . sleepinamatorics.
 
Anonymous
I wonder if the likelihood of making that error would depend on how well the learner in question has internalized English phonotactics
 
10:05 AM
@snailboat, that seems too academic ^^
 
Anonymous
Or if it would be irrelevant, the learner making the error because it doesn't occur to them to read it as English
 
@Hanaa It used to be worse.
 
Anonymous
What is this "too academic"? :-)
 
What are phonotactics ?
 
Anonymous
The ways sounds combine in a language.
 
Anonymous
10:09 AM
In English, we can have a velar nasal at the end of a syllable, but never at the beginning.
 
Yes
 
Anonymous
When these rules are taught to learners, it helps them identify words more easily in speech.
 
Ignore , for example is i and g sounds
Not the nasal velar one
Oh it is impossible even to imagine a word
That begins this way gn.....
 
Anonymous
In some other languages, words can begin with that sound.
 
@Hanaa Gnat, gnome etc. but the pronunciation isn't what you want.
 
Anonymous
10:15 AM
We want the sound at the end of "ring", indicated in spelling by "ng"
 
@Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ. waw what are those words? Are they Engmish?
 
It sounds like when I'm mumbling about the exam results.
@Hanaa They're Martian.
 
Anonymous
We don't pronounce the g in gnome or gnat in English.
 
Yes.
 
Anonymous
We pronounce gnat like nat.
 
10:16 AM
Yes
Nome?
 
Yes.
 
Anonymous
Yes, sorry I can't type IPA right now, but it rhymes with home.
 
Any ways they are gn not ng
They begin with gn sound not ng like in ring and sing
No problem @snailboat
 
Only one way to find out.
 
Actually... I am convinced of the idea that english is easilly learned through oractice of real topics from life.
Sorry,i mean practice
 
Anonymous
10:22 AM
Sure. You learn language by using it.
 
Anonymous
Anything else is just supplementary.
 
Yes
 
Anonymous
No one ever learned to speak a language by sitting down and reading a textbook from cover to cover.
 
I agree with you @snailboat
 
ng                    ‎	N.G. ← N
ng                    ‎	ng ← N‎
ngaio                 ‎	‎ ‖ ngaio [n.]‎
ngaka                 ‎	ngaka [n.]‎
ngala                 ‎	‎ × Ngala → Lingala
nganasan              ‎	Nganasan [n. and adj.]‎
nganga                ‎	‎ × nganga → mganga
ngapi                 ‎	ngapi [n.]‎
ngapuhi               ‎	Ngapuhi [n.]‎
ngarara               ‎	‎ ‖ ngarara [n.]‎
ngati                 ‎	Ngati [n.]‎
ngatiporou            ‎	Ngati Porou [n. and adj.]‎
ngawha                ‎	ngawha [n.]‎
 
10:24 AM
Let's discuss a topic
Thank you for the list @Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.
 
Thank TC.
Anyways, I need to take a nap. You can download linguistic info from @Snailboat .com if you want.
 
Ok
 
Bye for now.
 
Have a good nap
What do you think about drugs? Are they beyter than natural medicines
?
@snailboat i hope you are here
 
@Hanaa Never.
 
10:32 AM
Why ? @Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.
Medecines that are chemically made are more effective fir me
For me
 
It depends on the drug. If someone comes up with a natural insulin for me, or a natural corticosteroid, I'd be happy. (0:
 
:D
The camel's milk is good for that decease of sugar
I do not know the exact word
 
Anonymous
I feel lucky I have good blood glucose levels. Diabetes runs in my family, but I don't have it.
 
Diabetes is difficult
 
Anonymous
My father has it
 
10:40 AM
I see
So he lives with the insulin drugs
I have to go. See you
 
11:05 AM
I have problems trying to find which compound with which other kanji
 
Anonymous
Can you elaborate?
 
Anonymous
If you're trying to figure out how to coin words, you're probably better off reordering your priorities :-)
 
Not coining.
 
Anonymous
Strings of kanji represent words, most of which are established in the lexicon.
 
Anonymous
You won't really know what goes with what until you've learned a bunch of words.
 
2:02 PM
@Fantasier Believe it or not, that was what first written! I switched them to match our tag.
 
2:15 PM
@Dam \o
 
2:28 PM
2
A: Subject, Verb Object (and so forth) sentence analysis. In particular: What's the Verb here?

John LawlerAspectual predicates like start, begin, continue, remain, finish, end, and stop can take either gerund or infinitive complement clauses, and they can take either A-Equi or A-Raising. Here's the Syntax Lab report on start Start 1-place with A-Raising, infinitive or gerund – aspectual pre...

The mentioning of the Syntax Lab is interesting. I wonder where or what it is.
Hmm...
I think these two instances of begin with are not the same:
> The competition began with one of the teams being disqualified.
> There were six of us to begin with, then two ​people ​left.
 
2:49 PM
0
Q: Meaning of this statment

Karan GandhiI received a message from someone that says: Person A: high time you forget things and move on What message does she want to pass on to me?

Hmm... that's another example of (It's) high time in the present tense.
1
Q: Using past simple or past perfect in a specific sentence

hbakWhen I was practising on tenses, I faced the following sentence When Sally ______ her first pay, she bought presents for her parents. the right answer was received, But I'm thinking, the first action which is receiving the pay is done before the action buying, so it's better to use had rece...

> When Sally received her first pay, she bought presents for her parents sounds okay.
> When Sally had received her first pay, she bought presents for her parents sounds weird. Why is that?
0
Q: Does the sentence "Taking a short view By Jonathan Berman" sound well in the following context?

AssiduousI'm writing a presentation about the systems of the body, and I'm talking about these issues very shortly. So, my question is if I can write in the first page of the presentation the following sentence: Body systems Taking a short vie...

Even with a colon, "Body systems: taking a short view By Jonathan Berman" still sounds outdated to me.
Perhaps, "Body systems: a short overview By Jonathan Berman".
 
The past is an aspect, right?
 
3:05 PM
@Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ. You mean the past tense is an aspect in English?
 
I think 'past' is an aspect, not a tense.
 
Past is neither to me. Past is time.
 
Oh. Seems like they refer to past as 'past tense'.
 
3:21 PM
@Dam I wrote an answer:
0
A: Why are there no "s"s added to "come"?

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.Short answer: Because subjunctive mood obligates that "the present tense third person singular drop the -s or -es so that it looks and sounds like the present tense for everything else". source. Longer answer: Well, many argue that the subjunctive mood is disappearing from English. Somewhat ri...

I'm a bit scared though, I'm not sure how much of it is correct.
 
I doubted your source at first glance because you quoted "the present tense third person singular drop the -s or -es so that it looks and sounds like the present tense for everything else".
We don't change other people's words when we quote them.
 
Oh right. Lemme edit.
 
I know you wanted the quote to have an effect, though. :-)
 
Edited.
 
+1 for JL's list!
 
3:31 PM
Nah, I wrote this answer sentence by sentence, and then put the sentences in order, like a puzzle. The first revision of that sentence wasn't supposed to be an exact source.
@DamkerngT. (づ。◕‿‿◕。)づ
May this be one of the first long answers that goes into the HNQ list. :P
 
Let's hope for that!
 
Meh, I'm just happy that FGITW didn't hit me.
 
trying to decipher 'FGITW'...
It must be 'For G in the World'...
 
Yay I got + a lot today!
 
Yay!
 
3:36 PM
I must have sacrificed my English Literature mid-term score for this lol
 
@DamkerngT. Fastest Gun In The West
 
LOL
@Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ. Ahh
 
@Fantasier I have two important exams tomorrow.
 
@Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ. Good luck. Have fun!
 
I doubt the second part.
 
3:37 PM
Are they your favourite subjects?
 
@Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ. I hope one of them includes "subjunctive mood". :P
 
@DamkerngT. Kinda. The exams are about R-C circuits and absolute value functions.
 
Well, but thinking about it again, I have the most comfortable feelings with subjects that are not my favourite. lol
Because when it comes to my favourites, I want to score high and sometimes get stressed.
The ones I feel most comfortable are probably those that I don't really care...
 
@Fantasier That's true for my chem, and I always miss half a point or something.
Of course, for stupid mistakes I tend to make.
 
nods
 
3:41 PM
@Fantasier In my metallurgy class, I'd never appeared in the class (bad example!). On the exam day, I was happy guessing answers to all multiple-choice questions. :P
 
I scored lower than I expected (although it's still an A) on the morphosyntax part of the Intro Ling mid-term exam.
Just because I misread the translation lol
 
Aww
 
@DamkerngT. Option 1 must be wrong since our house's walls are white, 2 is wrong since George Washington contributed to America's independence treaty a lot, and 4 is wrong since Earth is shaped like an egg.
 
@Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ. Yeah. It went like that. I still got a C, though. :P
 
It must be 3. IT MUST BE 3!
Somehow the link to JL's sub-site is at 200% zoom by default.
 
4:07 PM
21
Q: Can we please remove the tag 'word'?

DJ McMayhemI have seen a lot of questions recently with the tag word. The tag wiki unhelpfully states that this tag is: For questions related to words. I think we have two options. Add this tag to every single one of the site's 17,000 questions (because they are all related to words) or Burninate! ...

 
 
2 hours later…
5:40 PM
Nice question over on the dark side ...
1
Q: articles with the possessive nouns in the plural

NataliaIs there a definite rule about the use of articles with the possessive nouns in the plural? One rule says that the article in such a phrase modifies the possessive noun. So, it is correct to say "Peter's book' (not 'the Peter's book") because we do not say 'the Peter'. According to the same rule ...

 
5:53 PM
I hope you can mend her head. :P
 
Interesting question :-)
 
 
3 hours later…
9:09 PM
 
9:49 PM
What is the meaning of "without making it a consequences"? I don't see how, since getting grumpy is a consequence of not sleeping. — user3169 25 mins ago
So I wasn't the only one.
 
Anonymous
10:20 PM
@DamkerngT. Hmm!
 
Anonymous
I think they want to make it so the sentence expresses that when A happens B also happens, without saying that A causes B to happen.
 
Anonymous
But yeah, this seems like a weird example if that's the case . . . ?
 
Anonymous
I dunno.
 
Could be. Actually, that's what I was thinking. It's the most sensible interpretation, I think.
 
Anonymous
By the way, I did click the little triangle next to your comment :-)
 
10:22 PM
I mean, "When I see his picture, I get grumpy" and "When I see his picture, I'm grumpy" aren't really different in term of cause and consequence.
@snailboat Ah, thanks!
 
Anonymous
Oh, you edited! I was about to comment :-)
 
I don't know what I was thinking. :P
 
Anonymous
I'm not sure how to characterize "When I see his picture, I'm grumpy".
 
Anonymous
I guess you're right!
 
Anonymous
If we wanted to answer the question of whether cannot is actually a single word, or is simply an alternate spelling of the two words can not without a space, how would we do it?
 
10:27 PM
We could try to insert something between can and not.
 
Anonymous
But let's say I want to advocate the "it's just a spelling" bit. What if I say "of course, you can only spell it as one word when nothing comes in between"? :-)
 
And it has to mean cannot as well.
I don't know how to put it concisely.
 
Anonymous
Good point! Suddenly the spelling is sensitive to parsing. If not belongs to the following constituent and isn't post-auxiliary negation, then the spelling changes.
 
Yes, I think that's the main point.
Oh, a funny but concise way to put it: cannot and can not are interchangeable when you mean cannot. :P
 
Anonymous
What if we were to pretend writing didn't exist for a minute?
 
Anonymous
10:31 PM
Could we come up with an argument for ˈkæˌnɑt being a single word?
 
Hmm... then we probably have no point, because ... Oh, I see your point.
@snailboat Probably not, I think.
 
Anonymous
Well, if we can't, then we'll just have to admit it's nothing more than a matter of spelling :-)
 
Hmm... I tried to find can ADV not that was used in the meaning of cannot, but I couldn't find even one good example!
All can rightfully not X seem to mean can [ rightfully not X ].
The same goes to can justifiably not X.
Ah!
4
Q: "Products of unique structure" vs. "Products of _a_ unique structure"

CopperKettle In 3D printing, successive layers of material are applied under computer control in order to create a particular shape. This technology allows us to make products of a unique internal and external structure. Should there be a here? I wrote the text without the article, but a native speaker...

> a) This technology allows us to make products of a unique internal and external structure.
> b) This technology allows us to make products of unique internal and external structure.
c) This technology allows us to make products of unique internal and external structures.
 
Anonymous
How about can really not?
 
@snailboat Good adverb! I'm looking for its examples.
 
Anonymous
10:43 PM
10
Q: What is the plural of WHO?

elhoucineI can use "Who are you?" when talking to one person. But what can I use if I'm talking to a group of people?

 
Anonymous
You could say Who are you guys? in this example. — Nicolas Raoul Apr 16 '14 at 10:22
 
Anonymous
That's an interesting suggestion!
 
Anonymous
I also like "Who are you all?"
 
¿Quiénes sois?
 
Ah, you're right. Some of can really not are in the meaning of cannot.
 
Anonymous
10:46 PM
I still haven't provided a real argument that cannot is a single word. I'm curious to hear what people think about it :-)
 

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