Language Overflow

Damkerng T.

12:22 AM

@snailplane Let's make it another word of the day!

Word of the Day: escargatoire

2

Man_From_India

1:54 AM

@snailplane I was searching a bit about existential there vs prepositional there. On page no. 278 of English Syntax and Argumentation by Bas Aarts I found something -

> The prime-minister allowed there to be a tax-raising round.

It says -

> These data undermine the view that NPs following allow are arguments of that verb: as we have seen several times now, dummy it and existential there cannot be analysed as Direct Objects when they occur in postverbal position, because they cannot enter into a thematic relationship with a verb.

Though that book was talking about something else, but it's clear that it analyses there in that sentence to be existential there.

And that sentence is similar to our sentence -

> She is there for me.

Damkerng T.

Hmm...

I don't think they are quite similar.

Man_From_India

So if there in the book's example sentence is an existential there, I have trouble considering there in our example sentence to be a locative there.

Damkerng T.

I think Bas Aarts's example can be rephrased as The prime-minister allowed that there be a tax-raising round.

Man_From_India

@DamkerngT. Yes I understand that they are not similar in that in the book's example sentence it's a lexical verb, and in our example sentence is a copular verb, that generally allows a locative complement.

She is there for me -> There is she for me (doesn't sound quite okay)

> A well is there in our village -> There is a well in our village.

Damkerng T.

There she is for me would.

Man_From_India

2:04 AM

@DamkerngT. looks like locative complement.

Damkerng T.

So is There in our village a(the?) well is.

A well is there in our village is probably problematic.

Somehow it feels really weird with the article a.

Man_From_India

nods

So that confuses me a lot.

Damkerng T.

The well is there in our village (pointing) is fine.

Man_From_India

@DamkerngT. non pointing is also possible, I guess.

We don't normally say a well is in our village.

Damkerng T.

It's a bit strange.

Man_From_India

2:10 AM

Though SnailP said yesterday, there is no there insertion going on here.

Damkerng T.

In which sentence? (I'm sorry, I wasn't in the discussion.)

Man_From_India

In this well sentence - A well is in our village.

Damkerng T.

Hmm... snailplane was okay with this sentence?

Man_From_India

I mean I said meaningless there is inserted to that sentence to make it grammatically correct.

she said such thing is not true.

Damkerng T.

Huh?

"Where is my kid?" "She's in my office."

Wouldn't that be fine?

Man_From_India

2:13 AM

@DamkerngT. No she didn't say so. she just said that in sentences like that there implies an absurd location

It's idiomatic.

Damkerng T.

"Where is my kid?" "She's there in my office."

This is fine, too.

Man_From_India

right.

So that is why it's a bit confusing.

Damkerng T.

Hmm... I'm not sure why it's confusing.

Maybe serial prepositions (I made that term up!) are a bit unfamiliar?

"She's in my office upstairs behind the main hall."

"Where is Dorothy?" "She's somewhere over the rainbow!" :-)

Anonymous

@M.A.R. Please see meta.ell.stackexchange.com/a/3276/230

Man_From_India

Okay I have to study a bit before I can clear up my mind :-) Gotta go.

Damkerng T.

2:21 AM

Have a nice day!

@snailplane Yay!

Hmm... a strange suggested edit:

ell.stackexchange.com/review/suggested-edits/47684

Anonymous

2:56 AM

@DamkerngT. Rejected

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. Ooh, I like it. Serial prepositions.

Jim Reynolds

@Man_From_India Not to correct you for the sake of correcting you, but this raises an interesting issue in my mind: reply you needs to be reply to you. Reply needs an object (I don't know the modern way to describe this).

But what's interesting to me is how common and persistent this error is among my students. The first theory that comes to mind is that its synonym answer needs an object in this common type of verb phrase. That reply doesn't have an object (at least explicitly) in something like She didn't reply might be another reason, but that would apply to many similar verbs, and this error with reply seems to me exceptionally common!

@CowperKettle The entity previously known as snailboat

@Man_From_India MFI studies bits.

Anonymous

3:26 AM

@JimReynolds Or rather, reply needs a to-phrase as a complement :-)

Anonymous

@JimReynolds Tell and say seem to be big ones, too.

Jim Reynolds

@snailplane Thanks

So ELLs often say st like tell to me or more often say me? Matches my sense of my experience, too. I wonder about L1 contingencies.

What say you? O.O

@DamkerngT. Is there any there there?

Which has a different meaning than Is there any there there?

Anonymous

3:51 AM

@Man_From_India That is definitely an existential there.

Anonymous

@Man_From_India That sentence is not similar.

Anonymous

One has the form of a non-finite (to-infinitival) existential clause. The other, well, doesn't.

Anonymous

For me isn't a to-infinitival clause.

Anonymous

It's just a preposition phrase.

CowperKettle

@V.V. Wow, thank you very much!

Good morning all!

2

A: Meaning of "passing surmisal" in a poem by Francis Thompson

You understand this correctly: passing surmisal means 'beyond (the ability of our merely human minds to) conjecture'. As you have probably learned from dictionaries, surmisal is a rare noun form of surmise, as (even rarer) devisal is of devise. Thompson's poetry seems to me to be driven mostly b...

So my surmisal was correct

> I found a wallet on the street today. I thought: "What would have Jesus done?" And I turned it into wine.

Their "Top Poems" list looks nice

emule.com/poetry/?page=poem;poem=1994

On some other sites, top poems are horrible, non-rhyming crap

> Never seek to tell thy love,
Love that never told can be;
For the gentle wind does move
Silently, invisibly.

I told my love, I told my love,
I told her all my heart;
Trembling, cold, in ghastly fears,
Ah! she did depart!

Soon as she was gone from me,
A traveler came by,
Silently, invisibly
He took her with a sigh.

What is the meaning of "love that never told can be"?

> Once upon a midnight dreary, fingers cramped and vision bleary,
System manuals piled high and wasted paper on the floor,
Longing for the warmth of bed sheets, still I sat there doing spreadsheets.
Having reached the bottom line I took a floppy from the drawer,
I then invoked the SAVE command and waited for the disk to store,
Only this and nothing more.

LOL

> Deep into the monitor peering, long I sat there wond'ring, fearing,
Doubting, while the disk kept churning, turning yet to churn some more.
But the silence was unbroken, and the stillness gave no token.
"Save!" I said, "You cursed mother! Save my data from before!"
One thing did the phosphors answer, only this and nothing more,
Just, "Abort, Retry, Ignore?"

Jim Reynolds

4:22 AM

@CowperKettle I love this. So far, it seems to match in cadence or prosody, or whatever it is. Meter? Except I think "monitor" in line 1, stanza 2 is better display

CowperKettle

@JimReynolds The next stanzas are not so good, but the idea is nice

Jim Reynolds

Very fun

CowperKettle

I like "save my data from before" and "the phosphors" - because of the archaic feel

Jim Reynolds

It's interesting how it evokes in me a very similar emotional response to reading the original!

CowperKettle

(0:

Jim Reynolds

4:23 AM

So the rhythm of the poem, or whatever it is, is firm-wired into me

CowperKettle

I never finished reading Poe's original poem, because I dislike the overuse of Greek goddess names and stuff, and the constant repetition of "Nevermore", but I memorized the beginning, because it is beautiful

Jim Reynolds

I'm Pavlov's dog salivating to a gong instead of the conditioned bell.

I think its a good poem for people who are novices in poetry.

CowperKettle

> A light exists in spring
Not present on the year
At any other period.
When March is scarcely here

A color stands abroad
On solitary hills
That science cannot overtake,
But human nature feels.

It waits upon the lawn;
It shows the furthest tree
Upon the furthest slope we know;
It almost speaks to me.

Then, as horizons step,
Or noons report away,
Without the formula of sound,
It passes, and we stay:

A quality of loss
Affecting our content,
As trade had suddenly encroached
Upon a sacrament.

What is the meaning of "horizons step"?

Jim Reynolds

The horizon moves, indicating passing time, that's all, I think.

CowperKettle

horizon moves?

Jim Reynolds

4:28 AM

The world spins. The horizon marks the point one can see in the distance.

The horizontal line where earth meets sky is the horizon, right?

The location on the globe that it marks moves with the passage of time, the earth's rotation relative to the sun.

CowperKettle

The horizon moves only when the observer moves

Jim Reynolds

That depends on how you define it.

Suppose the line is anchored to a point in the ocean "up ahead"

CowperKettle

nods

The area where Miass River starts, in the Ural mountains

Miass River

Miass River (Russian: Миасс; IPA: [mʲɪˈas], Bashkir: Мейәс) is a river on the eastern side of the Ural Mountains. It flows through Bashkortostan, Chelyabinsk Oblast, and Kurgan Oblast. It forms part of the Ob River system. Chelyabinsk is located on the river. == References == == External links == Sunrise photo near Chelyabinsk- NASA...

Jim Reynolds

astronomynotes.com/nakedeye/s4.htm

I'm not sure what that "position" on the globe that "moves" from whatever perspective the poet has in mind is called.

V.V.

5:11 AM

Mor-rrr-ning, it's cold outside

CowperKettle

Cryopreservation

Cryopreservation or cryoconservation is a process where organelles, cells, tissues, extracellular matrix, organs or any other biological constructs susceptible to damage caused by unregulated chemical kinetics are preserved by cooling to very low temperatures (typically -80 °C using solid carbon dioxide or -196 °C using liquid nitrogen). At low enough temperatures, any enzymatic or chemical activity which might cause damage to the biological material in question is effectively stopped. Cryopreservation methods seek to reach low temperatures without causing additional damage caused by the formation...

it is only -2.8°C here

А вот они условия, а вот она среда!

►

> Thus, cell banks are kept in quarantine storage until these cell banks are qualified and the host cell line has a certificate of analysis. (can we say that a cell line "has" a certificate, meaning that the personnel produced such a certificate for the cell line?)

M.A.R.

6:14 AM

@DamkerngT. ʕ ⊃･ ◡ ･ ʔ⊃︵┻━┻

@CowperKettle You use 'cell banks' in the first part and 'these cell backs' in the second. Why?

Anonymous

I wrote my first answer in a while on the main site today :-)

M.A.R.

@snailplane Yay, linky?

Cowp I mean it's so generic in the first and so definitive in the second. It sounds weird. I'd use 'they' instead of the second one.

CowperKettle

@M.A.R. Just trying to follow the original closely

fixed

Good morning!

Anonymous

@M.A.R. Oh, it was this one: ell.stackexchange.com/a/107085/230

Anonymous

Good morning :-)

M.A.R.

6:21 AM

Mornin

CowperKettle

> The cryovials should also be hermetically sealed.
The cryovials should also have hermetic seals.

Which is better, I wonder

M.A.R.

@snailplane Nice question with one good answer . . . So ELL does still get some of those.

@CowperKettle I like 'have'

CowperKettle

Thanks!

Anonymous

They both seem okay to me.

CowperKettle

Thanks!
Thanks!

Anonymous

6:24 AM

They communicate slightly different things, but in most cases I think both are appropriate.

CowperKettle

It's a beautiful sunny morning, from all the glittering snow

M.A.R.

@snailplane I was gonna say they don't differ in the slightest until I got the feeling that see the 'have' version more often.

Or maybe that's only because 'hermetically' is too large to chew.

user62015

6:44 AM

@JimReynolds @M.A.R. 2. You need not come unless you want to.

A. You don't need to come unless you want to
B. You come only when you want to
C. You come unless you don't want to
D. You needn't come until you don't want to
E. No correction required

Could you help me out with the question? @JimReynolds @M.A.R.

Jim Reynolds

Is this for school or?

M.A.R.

@CowperKettle It's sunny here too, but no snow (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻

@user62015 What do you think the answer is?

Hello?

@JimReynolds or

user62015

A but what is wrong with the question itself @JimReynolds @M.A.R.

Jim Reynolds

@user62015 Where does the question come from? If it's part of a test or quiz, what is the purpose of the test or quiz? What are the instructions?

user62015

@JimReynolds For competition exam

M.A.R.

6:48 AM

@user62015 It isn't wrong or ungrammatical, but 'need not' is old like Jim.

user62015

@JimReynolds @M.A.R. Goverment

job

M.A.R.

1 min ago, by M.A.R.

@user62015 It isn't wrong or ungrammatical, but 'need not' is old like Jim.

This is the answer to your confusion

Jim Reynolds

MAR is right. It must be a Persian Leopard stepping on his keyboard, hopefully while eating him.

M.A.R.

One can only hope

Jim Reynolds

No correction is required, but A, for example, is also ok, and could be considered "better" or more common in some situations.

The more we know about the test, where it came from, who made it, what they want, what they know or think they know, etc., the better we can guess what answer they want.

indiabix.com/verbal-ability/sentence-correction

Which of phrases given below each sentence should replace the phrase printed in bold type to make the grammatically correct? If the sentence is correct as it is, mark 'E' as the answer.

The best answer is E.

The best answer to MAR is total brain removal.

M.A.R.

6:57 AM

Concur.

Jim Reynolds

O.O

That is not a satisfying response

M.A.R.

Exactly.

Jim Reynolds

Fortunately, I know you are in tears now

M.A.R.

Sorry to turn you down Jim

user62015

@JimReynolds

Thanks.

Jim Reynolds

7:00 AM

I'm not old. I just seem to have had a few parts fall off. Looks under pile of dirty clothes for missing parts.

Can't see. Gives up.

You're welcome. If you become minister of the treasury, don't forget me and MAR.

@snailplane You answered it in a whale?

Isn't there a silver medal for that? The Jonah Achievement?

Anonymous

7:46 AM

🐳

CowperKettle

(0:

> If the MCB is used to prepare a WCB less than 5 years after its creation, the data on the viability, growth properties and productivity obtained using the thawed MCB cryovial may be counted as periodic inspection data. (is this officialeze-sounding enough?)

The Russian original says "may be used as"

CowperKettle

8:15 AM

I translated it as "may be used instead"

M.A.R.

8:26 AM

@CowperKettle May count as

CowperKettle

8:41 AM

Thanks!

Cardinal

9:09 AM

> The magistrate of the divorce court peered down curiously as the aged couple approached the bench, their steps faltering and uncertain.

What is , from the grammar or style point view, "their steps faltering and uncertain." called?

I know that's adverbial phrase, but I expected to see "were".

M.A.R.

A reduced clause

Cardinal

Hi mamad!

M.A.R.

Hey

I'm not sure, but it might be a reduced clause

I'm not sure because I haven't read a CGEL-related section.

Cardinal

Can we always do that, elision I mean.

or more rhythmic!

M.A.R.

@Cardinal There are some exceptions.

Usually, this stuff occurs to you instinctively and without previous thought.

Cardinal

9:14 AM

yop.

CowperKettle

10:01 AM

Which is proper: virological tests or virologic tests?

CowperKettle

10:31 AM

> These tests serve to confirm the physiological stability of the cell line throughout the manufacturing process. (is this okay: "throughout the manufacturing process"? The Russian original says "over the whole length of the manufacturing process", but it sound okay in Russian)

CowperKettle

11:07 AM

Can we call a document "a conclusion"?

This document describes the conclusions made on the results of a test.

> For each such test, the company has developed and approved a standard operating procedure (SOP) describing the methodology of the test, cell bank acceptance criteria and providing standardized forms of working protocols and conclusions.

Or is it better to write "summary statements"?

> For each such test, the company has developed and approved a standard operating procedure (SOP) describing the methodology of the test and cell bank acceptance criteria, and providing standardized templates of working protocols and summary statements.

I'm also unsure of "forms"

Maybe "templates" is better.

Is it a "template" - I mean the unfilled document that is given to the employee where he/she may add the actual test results, change a thing or two, and then submit this document?

hmm

maybe "standardized templates for the production of working protocols and summary statements"

Here are examples:

proz.com/kudoz/russian_to_english/…

proz.com/kudoz/russian_to_english/law_contracts/…

They seem to translate it as "finding" or "report" or "statement"

Damkerng T.

11:28 AM

@CowperKettle I suppose we can. It's not that uncommon to see "requests", "recommendations", "standards", etc.

@JimReynolds Nice example!

@snailplane Hehe!

@JimReynolds I have a theory why it's common among your students, considering that Thai and Mandarin might not be that different. Their language might not have two words for the similar actions: one to answer, and another to reply.

So naturally, they'd expect reply to work the way answer works.

CowperKettle

@DamkerngT. Thank you!

Damkerng T.

As for say me, I'll blame that on Say You, Say Me. :-)

@CowperKettle My pleasure!

Damkerng T.

11:48 AM

0

Q: Is there any difference in meaning between "in numbers of" and "in the numbers of"?

Is there any difference in meaning between the following two sentences? There was a decline in numbers of certain fish in this pond a few years ago. There was a decline in the numbers of certain fish in this pond a few years ago.

singular-vs-plural

I think the tag isn't right, but I have no good idea about the right tag.

What's this numbers of?

M.A.R.

12:11 PM

@snailplane Yeah, I do get notifications. Thanks though.

I'm starting to like meta.ELL now.

@yubraj please don't tag your questions as grammar. Thank you

Færd

LDOCE5 says spoilt is BrE (and the squiggly line beneath it indicates that the AmE-tuned automated editor of my browser agrees), but: books.google.com/ngrams/… .

And M-W lists spoilt without restricting it to any particular dialect.

Also LDOCE5 says the progressive form of awe is aweing, but: books.google.com/ngrams/…

You can't trust any dictionary completely.

Damkerng T.

12:26 PM

@Færd That's very wise! :-)

Færd

Yeah.

Færd

12:37 PM

@DamkerngT. They seem to be used somewhat similarly: goo.gl/BMFY3p .

Damkerng T.

nods -- But what is it?

A quantifier or something else or what?

Færd

I don't know.

Damkerng T.

Me either! :D

Færd

I'm not sure I understand what you mean.

Damkerng T.

I was looking for a good tag for the question.

Færd

12:39 PM

Ah.

It's an expression. :P

Damkerng T.

Haha!

Færd

I would have thought the definite article was to be included or not according to the general rules.

But apparently they are exchangeable.

"In numbers of" and "in the numbers of", I mean.

Damkerng T.

nods

Færd

> declines in the numbers of people employed by large firms

> the increase in numbers of people with dementia

Damkerng T.

I think the usual factors that influence the choice between definite and indefinite articles are at work.

Færd

12:42 PM

How so?

Damkerng T.

the numbers of people employed by large firms sounds more definite than numbers of people with dementia.

Færd

> The scale of impacts has grown with the rise in numbers of people living in desert areas

Damkerng T.

I guess most of the examples we can find out there would be more or less similar.

Færd

But, skimming the examples, I think in general those without the article tend to be less definite.

Damkerng T.

nods

Færd

12:46 PM

shakes

That would be a useful one too!^

flies away

Damkerng T.

waves

Damkerng T.

3:01 PM

1

Q: There is nothing to talk about + noun

There is a question on French SE asking for a translation of There is nothing to talk about. Multiple answers give a translation for There is nothing to talk about followed by a noun, for example There is nothing to talk about this book. I find these constructions ungrammatical and this QA (The...

grammaticality verbs

This is an interesting question for me.

> a) There is nothing to talk about. (I think this is fine.)

> b) There is nothing to talk about this book. (We have an extra noun (phrase).)

> c) There is nothing much to talk about this book. (should be similar to (b))

> d) There is not much to talk about this book. (Somehow it's not as bad as (b) or (c) to me!)

> e) Can you talk about your book a little? (Probably related)

I wonder if (d) is really okay.

Man_From_India

3:26 PM

@DamkerngT. I didn't find anything wrong with it. hmmm, why do you think it might not be okay?

Damkerng T.

It's unclear what that much is.

If (c) is not good, maybe (d) is not, either. (At least that's what I thought at that moment.)

Man_From_India

So is it only because of that much?

Damkerng T.

Never only. I was just thinking out loud in those alternatives.

Usually, if I'm still in a "maybe" state, "only" never or rarely occurs to me.

Man_From_India

DT at first when I read #c and #d, I didn't notice that. But now that you mentioned much, I now have problem with sentence #c.

Well, nothing much is idiomatic, I think.

And #d is fine.

In #d the determinative much is fused-determiner.

I mean the head and the determinative is fused :-)

Damkerng T.

I'm thinking I like (d) less and less. :-)

It sounded okay the first time, but right now it does not.

Man_From_India

3:33 PM

bbl

Damkerng T.

See you later!

> g) There's two rooms to clean.

> h) There's no room left to clean.

> i) There's not much to clean.

> j) There's not much to clean this room.

I think (j) (in an attempt to convey (i)) is probably ungrammatical.

Man_From_India

(j) is not grammatical.

in this room.

Damkerng T.

(j) is a contrived example following the pattern of (b), (c), and (d).

Man_From_India

Anyways there is two rooms is informal. Some might criticize it and say that are should replace is.

Damkerng T.

@Man_From_India There is and There's aren't the same thing.

Man_From_India

3:39 PM

's -> has here?

Damkerng T.

No. Hmm... it could be better if you think of There's as a unit.

Man_From_India

okay.

Damkerng T.

Maybe like, Howdy, though it might be related to How do you do?, they aren't the same.

Man_From_India

But in (b) talk is followed by a PP about the book. But in (j) clean takes the NP.

Damkerng T.

@Man_From_India In (b), this book is the extra (and thus (b) is probably ungrammatical). In (j), this room is the extra.

Man_From_India

3:44 PM

Regarding this book, we have noting to talk. We might talk about something else. (for #b)

(for #a) we have nothing to talk, be it about book or anything else.

Damkerng T.

Nothing to talk about

It sounded weird when about was clipped.

Even weirder! I thought it ("There's nothing to talk.") might work as an echo to "You and I need to talk." -- But all the 3 hits of "You and I need to talk there's nothing" use about!

> “You and I need to talk.” “There's nothing for us to talk about.”

> “You and I need to talk.” “There's nothing to talk about. I'm fine.”

Man_From_India

Now I see your point, after reading Stoney's answer.

Damkerng T.

Yay!

Man_From_India

hmm what about there is nothing to stop you?

And there is nothing to stop.

It's not okay because we don't say He talks.

Damkerng T.

There is nothing to stop sounds odd, I think.

@Man_From_India I think we say that, too, but not in that kind of context/meaning.

M.A.R.

3:59 PM

@DamkerngT. My brain inserts a second 'about' in c.

Damkerng T.

@M.A.R. Nice!

@DamkerngT. Agreed. Concrete examples are best. Don't just tell, show as well. — Mick 35 mins ago

Ah, but if I did that, it would make the question a proofreading request, I think!

And it's probably beyond just proofreading, even.

Where is that note on copy-editing again?!

Anonymous

@M.A.R. Sorry, I didn't realize she'd left a comment when I left my chat message.

Damkerng T.

A-ha!

Apr 26 at 6:46, by Damkerng T.

Damkerng T.

4:21 PM

Either I'm becoming more like a cat every day or my cat is becoming more like a person every day! I rebuked him (he was biting my box of stuff; it's a paper box), and he blew a short breath!

Damkerng T.

4:40 PM

Word of the Day: bicameral

2

> According to Jaynes, language is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for consciousness: language existed thousands years earlier, but consciousness could not have emerged without language.

> en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicameralism_%28psychology%29

Anonymous

Oct 10 '15 at 11:27, by snailboat

There's a famous theory, widely regarded as a masterpiece of crackpottery: The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind by Julian Jaynes

Anonymous

Oct 10 '15 at 11:27, by Damkerng T.

A two-chambered mind!

Anonymous

The United States Congress is divided into two houses.

Damkerng T.

4:55 PM

A-ha!

So unicameral and bicameral are words of the day. I wonder if tricameral exists. :-)

Anonymous

I went back and starred unicameral :-)

Anonymous

Tricameral is certainly a word.

CowperKettle

> Fill with mingled cream and amber,
I will drain that glass again.
Such hilarious visions clamber
Through the chamber of my brain

Edgar Allan Poe had no consciousness

Only one chamber

Man_From_India

@DamkerngT. You were right about there is nothing to talk about the book. It's ungrammatical.

Anonymous

5:12 PM

@Man_From_India Yeah, about usually only takes one complement :-)

Man_From_India

@snailplane Thanks for confirming. It took some time for me to come to a conclusion.

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. (b) (c) (d) all sound bad to me.

Man_From_India

Now that I got the reason, I would say the same thing. It's bad. Ungrammatical.

As for nothing, it's a compound determinative. It is used as a fused determinative head in nothing much to talk about. That head takes a modifier much (a determinative) and forms a NP - nothing much.

Hello @JimReynolds how is it going for you?

CowperKettle

> If viral particles are detected in the test sample, it is important to determine their concentration and appropriately attribute them up to family level. (is this correct? or should it be "up to the family level"?)

> If viral particles are detected in the test sample, it is important to determine their concentration and appropriately classify them up to family level.

"classify" seems better

maybe it is "down to family level"

> -You have infection, but can only say down to family level what type of virus it is. (from the internet)

I recall my old question about Salinger's sentence with "at eye level"

meduza.io/news/2016/10/21/…

the Sciaparelli lander is found on Mars

Damkerng T.

5:34 PM

@snailplane Thanks for confirmation!

@CowperKettle nods

Anonymous

@CowperKettle I like the.

Anonymous

@CowperKettle Non-native English?

Anonymous

@CowperKettle That's different :-)

CowperKettle

@snailplane Why?

Anonymous

Err. Umm. Well. Umm.

Anonymous

5:36 PM

'Cause.

CowperKettle

Because "family" is precise?

And "eye level" is vague?

> We managed to classify the detected virus down to the family level.

@snailplane I think someone hijacked Snail's computer. There's "Err. Umm." instead of "Open Quirk et al. on page 215"

CowperKettle

5:51 PM

Anyway, thank you!

CowperKettle

6:16 PM

good night

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