Language Overflow

Man_From_India

04:23

@DamkerngT. I think in Khan's seem vs seem to be answer the gradable-nongradable stuff comes from the usage note in Collins Cobuild dictionary (I don't have that dictionary, but I found that note in Free Dictionary). Or that's what I guess. But I don't think that is all very correct. They claimed that we don't say He seems alone.

But in COCA you will find 8 hits for seem alone, compared to 14 for seem to be alone. The usage note could safely say seem alone is not so common as against seem to be alone.

That usage note also says that before NP you can optionally use to be. Khan in his answer also mentioned that, but what he missed in his answer is mentioned near the end of the usage note, and that's a very important information, I think.

Link to the usage note

Anonymous

I'm not sure which answer to give the bounty to!

Man_From_India

:O

Anonymous

Can you quote a relevant example of seem alone from COCA?

Man_From_India

I admit no answer actually says much about the difference in meaning, neither mine.

> In the hall he pushed at her shoulder with his shoulder and they seemed alone, despite the swarm of people.

Anonymous

I like some parts of the new answer laugh just posted, but I don't think I'll have time to respond about the parts I disagree with before the bounty grace period expires. I'm still thinking about awarding the bounty to that answer anyway since I think it adds some useful things to the discussion :-)

Man_From_India

04:32

> She seemed alone in the room despite the two dozen men and the waitresses in their skimpy dresse

Anonymous

Thanks, those seem like good examples!

Man_From_India

@snailboat But you have 24 hours time, even after it expires.

Yes I also like the way he showed the difference.

I upvoted it :-) But I don't think it includes the key question when to use to be and when not to.

(that is also OP asked in title)

CowperKettle

Good morning, Snails, Man!

> Chloral, also known as trichloroacetaldehyde or trichloroethanal, is the organic compound with the formula Cl3CCHO.

I wonder if we can use "is an organic compound" here.

Man_From_India

Good morning Kettle

Damkerng T.

@snailboat I like the information about ascriptive in Man_From_India's answer, but I'm not sure about the last section.

Man_From_India

04:41

I would write an there.

Damkerng T.

Good morning, everyone!

CowperKettle

Good morning, @DamkerngT.!

Man_From_India

@DamkerngT. That's simply taken from PEU :-) (examples copied) :P

I mean the meaning difference.

Damkerng T.

@Man_From_India Oh, I see!

But I think I tried PEU a few days ago, but couldn't find anything related to seem (to be).

Man_From_India

I mean the last section.

One sec. I think I bookmarked it.

Page no. 513 (sec 490)

490.2 seem and seem to be

Damkerng T.

04:44

Hmm... in my edition, 490 is rather: adverb of degree.

Man_From_India

Oh yes we have different edition. Well you can find in the index.

I searched seem in the index.

Damkerng T.

Ah, found it! It's 507.2 in my edition.

Man_From_India

yay :-)

Damkerng T.

Interesting ...

> It seems insane, but I think I'm in love with the postman. [NOT It seems to be insane]

It's It seems crazy, ... in my edition!

Man_From_India

haha

Yes it's insane in my edition.

Damkerng T.

04:50

If you add the note "The difference is not always clear-cut, and both are often possible" and fix the typo The doctors have done the tests, ..., I'll upvote your answer!

(I haven't upvoted any answer in that question.)

Man_From_India

Actually I made that point

> Though most of the times there is no difference in meaning between seem to be and seem, there are certain cases where there indeed is.

Damkerng T.

Wait, maybe it's another difference between editions.

> Yours: The doctors have done all the test, and he definitely seems to be insane.

Man_From_India

No no. That's my wordings.

Damkerng T.

> Mine: The doctors have done the tests, and he definitely seems to be mentally ill.

Man_From_India

@DamkerngT. Oh right, It's in my edition.

Damkerng T.

04:53

@Man_From_India Hmm... I think it sounds a little different from the way PEU puts it.

(I haven't walked through the examples in my PEU yet.)

(A bit busy with the maintenance of my air conditioners right now.)

Man_From_India

@DamkerngT. Yes it's. I was not very careful. Let me change it.

done

Anonymous

05:13

@DamkerngT. I think Man From India's answer contains some good information, too.

Anonymous

05:31

@Man_From_India I know, but we're already partway into those hours, and I think I will be busy :-(

johnchae

Good afternoon @DamkerngT., @snailboat ^^

Damkerng T.

Good afternoon!

Anonymous

@Joe It's none of our business why Brian wants or needs this. — Iain Holder 13 hours ago

Anonymous

@IainHolder: I wish more SE users thought like you. — Mehrdad 7 mins ago

Anonymous

But I think it's really very common for people on SE to ask a question in order to solve an unstated problem, and for them to provide very little information related to the actual problem, so they end up asking the wrong question to solve that problem, but the way the question is asked makes it difficult to point this out.

Damkerng T.

05:43

nods -- I disagree with them.

But a lot of people think like this.

> Issuing touch blank.pdf produces an empty PDF file.

Oh! What kind of "empty" is that?!

I guess it's empty-empty, not blank-empty.

A lot of questions can be improved if a missing piece of information, usually non-obvious, is clarified.

Oh, I see! It's Unix & Linux.SE.

Hmm... is Ghostscript automatically installed with we install ImageMagick on a Linux distro?

People seem to assume that in all answers.

CowperKettle

Word of the day: Texas carbon

Damkerng T.

LOL

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. That's probably unanswerable unless we pick a particular distribution . . .

Anonymous

05:58

On Ubuntu, ImageMagick has a "recommends" (but not a "depends on") relationship with Ghostscript.

Damkerng T.

Ah, s/with/when/!

@snailboat nods -- I remember that ImageMagick is supposed to be usable without PS/PDF stuff if a user choose to do so.

(stumbled upon) cmd.to/fm

Damkerng T.

06:23

0

Q: I wish you would speak louder.... vs I wish you spoke louder....?

I'm confused between two versions of a sentence I came across in a test. Which one is correct and why? I wish you would speak louder as I can't hear what you say? Or I wish you spoke louder as I can't hear what you say?

@user3169 This is a question from a test I came across. Checked the answers, its the second one. But, still can't understand why? — Random Codemonkey 2 hours ago

Haha!

Learning a language by memorizing grammar rules is sad, imo.

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. relationship when Ghostscript?

Damkerng T.

@snailboat It was in my message: with we install ImageMagick

Anonymous

06:41

Oh! I see it now :-)

Anonymous

I didn't notice that earlier.

Anonymous

09:12

Community deleted this question a few hours ago: ell.stackexchange.com/q/41199/230

CowperKettle

09:53

> Alkyl groups can also be removed in a process known as dealkylation.

Shouldn't it be "in the process"?

0

Q: "in a process known as" vs. "in the process known as"

From Wikipedia: Alkyl groups can also be removed in a process known as dealkylation. What if we use the instead of a? Would that be a mistake here? I did an Ngram search and the result is curious:

articles

There's a curious Ngram

johnchae

10:45

@DamkerngT. "Learning a language by memorizing grammar rules is sad" Totally agreed! Though I used to learn new words by memorizing them (not anymore since you recommended learning vocabulary in context).

Especially today, I have come to realized that TOEIC test is a joke. It doesn't mean anything. I say that since today I saw a guy who claimed he got a 990 score (which is a maximum score for a TOEIC test) failing to chose the right answer to a extremely easy question.

Here is the question: Fill the blank space: "Orders for specialty flower arrangements
from Thyme Orchid can be placed ------- the phone or online"

(A) if
(B) in
(C) either
(D) on

Anonymous

What is significant about this question?

Anonymous

@CowperKettle Well, they're both grammatical. A would work if you're introducing dealkylation as a new thing the listener isn't expected to be familiar with.

Anonymous

The expectation, then, is probably that you'll go on to talk about the process.

johnchae

And he was like, picked the answer (C): either, immediately, which he explained to me shortly after that: "I chose (C) because there was a signal word in the question, it's 'or' , "the phone or online"". Which really "triggered" me, since the correct answer here is (D).

CowperKettle

@snailboat I see. It was a drive-by question, just to refresh my memory while I'm reading chemistry. (0:

Anonymous

10:56

Oh, I see, you asked it on the site itself!

Anonymous

@johnchae That is pretty ridiculous, yeah.

johnchae

He also said, the question there has "or" so the answer must be "either", as in "either A or B", "neither C nor D" and so on. I can't believe a guy with a maximum score in TOEIC test (which is very popular in my country to determine your English skills) could make a mistake like that.

I also learned TOEIC is nothing and cannot prove anything.

So yes, like @DamkerngT. said: "Learning a language by memorizing grammar rules is sad"

Truly sad

Anonymous

How is the test scored? You can get the maximum possible score even if you get some answers wrong?

johnchae

He got the TOEIC certificate before (which is valid for 2 years), and the test contains 200 questions iirc.

Anonymous

Wow, you have to take it again after two years?

johnchae

11:06

But if you have around 195 correct answers then you still get a max score on it.

Yes

Anonymous

Seems like kind of a racket.

Anonymous

in three days sounds very odd to me. But for three days seems fine to me. Do you prefer for or in there? — Man_From_India 2 hours ago

Anonymous

@Man_From_India It's probably not worth leaving another comment since J.R. already responded, but I'll add this as a chat message: I think in three days sounds perfectly fine in the original sentence.

Anonymous

I think it could be worth posting a question about that topic.

johnchae

Btw, @snailboat, do you watch anime?

Anonymous

11:11

Sure.

johnchae

Mostly by streaming or downloading?

Anonymous

Well, there are a bunch of sites that let you watch anime for free in the U.S. :-)

Anonymous

I have some DVDs too.

johnchae

Have you ever "torrented"?

Anonymous

Why, are you looking for advice on how to torrent anime?

johnchae

11:15

No, in fact, I want to invite you to some torrent site if you want :p

Anonymous

Haha, well, thank you for the offer :-)

johnchae

It's called AnimeBytes

Anonymous

I don't belong to any sites like that.

johnchae

Ah ok :p

But if you ever need something say, say, an anime in better quality, just let me know, and maybe I can help you

:)

Or and OST album?

Anonymous

Thanks, I appreciate the offer :-) That's very kind.

johnchae

11:19

You, @DamkerngT., and Skill Patrol, and some other guys in this channel have been very kind to me, so I just thought I could do something in return

:p

So yeah

Man_From_India

11:39

@snailboat when I delete the negation I don't have any problem. But strangly with negative it sounds odd to me. Can't explain though.

Anonymous

@Man_From_India I've slept in three days is odd.

Anonymous

I haven't slept in three days is okay.

Man_From_India

@snailboat i mean to say i slept two times in the last two days.

@snailboat yes this is odd, right.

Anonymous

> 1a. I slept for three days.
> 1b. *I slept in three days.
>
> 2a. *I slept twice for the last three days.
> 2b. I slept twice in the last three days.
>
> 3a. I haven't slept for three days.
> 3b. I haven't slept in three days.

2

Man_From_India

Thanks.

Anonymous

11:44

You could add 've to 2b.

Man_From_India

Ah right.

Anonymous

12:21

johnchae

how cute ^^

is it yours?

Anonymous

12:34

Yes, she is :-)

Anonymous

This is her sister:

Anonymous

johnchae

CUTE

:D

Anonymous

Her sister is very shy :-)

Anonymous

She let me give her a cashew this morning, though.

Damkerng T.

15:16

@snailboat Yay!

Both of them are very cute!

@johnchae LOL

Anonymous

15:56

@DamkerngT. Aren't they, though? :-)

Damkerng T.

They are!

BTW, I must've upset Earth!

Anonymous

I accidentally surprised the darker colored girl yesterday. She wasn't prepared to interact with a human! She ran away very quickly and hid in her box.

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. Oh no!

Damkerng T.

I'm now sitting in the dark because something happened during the AC maintenance.

Anonymous

The sun is up here.

Anonymous

15:58

I just finished cleaning the snail cage and giving them new food.

Damkerng T.

Right now, my ACs are working fine, computer equipment too, but I've got no light!

Anonymous

Snails and hamsters like the dark, but the snails are snailing about excitedly right now :-)

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. Oh, I see!

Anonymous

I wonder what happened.

Damkerng T.

@snailboat Yay! I'm happy for them, and you too!

Anonymous

15:58

Do you have circuit breakers?

Damkerng T.

@snailboat I think one of them tripped the breaker or something.

Yes!

Anonymous

We have breakers here, too. I have to go outside to flip them back!

Damkerng T.

Tomorrow I may know what happened exactly.

Come to think of it, my room right now is a bit like those scenes in horror movies. :P

Anonymous

That doesn't sound good!

Damkerng T.

@snailboat I wonder if snails (and hamsters too) can tell the time.

Anonymous

16:02

@DamkerngT. I think light helps them regulate their day to some extent. I'm not really sure. Snails and hamsters both have very poor vision, but they can tell when things are generally bright or dark.

Damkerng T.

@snailboat Your hamsters might've read Thurber's A Box to Hide In! :P

Anonymous

Some hamsters seem to keep a pretty regular schedule.

Anonymous

Not these hamster sisters though. They respond much more to the amount of light in their environment.

Anonymous

Sometimes they get up as early as eight in the evening, and sometimes well after midnight.

Damkerng T.

nods -- Most chickens over here are fooled by our artificial light, too. I guess maybe it's the same almost everywhere.

Anonymous

16:06

The species of snail I have here are generally photophobic.

Anonymous

Right now they're more concerned with eating tasty food than hiding from the light, though :-)

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. Oh, that's a real book!

Damkerng T.

@snailboat Yes!

It's hilarious, too!

Anonymous

Well, maybe book is the wrong word. Is it a short story?

Damkerng T.

I'm not sure. I learned about that story because of this video I used for my read-aloud practice:

Thurber Reading - A Box to Hide In - Countdown with Keith Olbermann

►

I wish I could read stories the way he does!

LOL -- 277 views. I'm one of them! :D

BTW, have I told you that there is a rooster near my place that crows every morning?

(I suppose that 'crow' is the right word. I can't think of anything better.)

Anonymous

16:12

I think it is. Roosters crow, but crows caw?

Damkerng T.

Hehe!

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. I don't think you did!

Damkerng T.

Okay, there is a rooster near my place that crows every morning! :-)

Anonymous

Oh!

Anonymous

Neat :-)

Anonymous

16:15

I like to say hello to animals.

Damkerng T.

Something I wouldn't think exists before buying this house.

Anonymous

There isn't a rooster near here, though, as far as I can tell.

Damkerng T.

I mean, roosters? In Bangkok? :-)

Anonymous

Oh! See, I don't have a concept of whether that's strange.

Anonymous

So I didn't realize!

Anonymous

16:17

We have some animals here I didn't expect, like coyotes.

Damkerng T.

I'm happy that my place is far away from the heart of the city.

Oh, coyotes could be dangerous, I suppose.

Anonymous

I think so, but I haven't seen them myself.

Anonymous

There are occasionally deer, too!

Damkerng T.

Hah! That's something!

Is you place a cabin in the woods? :P

CowperKettle

There are moose here on the roads.

Anonymous

16:18

The animals I get to say hi to most often are squirrels, lizards, snails, cats, and crickets. Bees, too.

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. It's fairly urban!

Damkerng T.

Hehe!

@CowperKettle That's something, too!

Anonymous

I love seeing rabbits, but they usually stay out of sight.

Damkerng T.

Hmm... maybe having deer and moose walking around is normal in most cities.

CowperKettle

A moose was hit by a car yesterday near Yekaterinburg

Anonymous

16:20

Los Gatos isn't like a real city, not like San Francisco or Chicago or such.

CowperKettle

They dart across the road blindly and get hit.

Damkerng T.

@snailboat Rabbits are cute, too!

Anonymous

I guess you could say it feels like of suburban.

Anonymous

@CowperKettle Sad! :-(

CowperKettle

Yes.

Damkerng T.

16:20

Aww

Anonymous

Once in a while I get to see a field mouse, too.

Damkerng T.

Ah, I have some mice around my house, too!

Anonymous

This morning I met a crane fly.

CowperKettle

Wow.

That's great.

Anonymous

We call them "mosquito hawks" out here for some reason.

Damkerng T.

16:21

I'm not sure if there are rats or mice. They are fast.

@snailboat Neat!

Anonymous

It's the size of the palm of my hand. I accidentally let it indoors!

CowperKettle

The Cranes Are Flying

The Cranes Are Flying (Russian: Летят журавли, translit. Letyat zhuravli) is a 1957 Soviet film about World War II. It depicts the cruelty of war and the damage suffered to the Soviet psyche as a result of World War II (known in the Soviet Union as the Great Patriotic War). It was directed at Mosfilm by the Georgian-born Soviet director Mikhail Kalatozov in 1957 and stars Aleksey Batalov and Tatiana Samoilova. It won the Palme d'Or at the 1958 Cannes Film Festival, the only Soviet film to win that award, although The Turning Point (1946) was one of eleven films awarded that year's Grand Prix, the...

> It won the Palme d'Or at the 1958 Cannes Film Festival,[1] the only Soviet film to win that award

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. My friend had deer mice move in.

Anonymous

They're really adorable:

Anonymous

CowperKettle

16:23

(0:

Damkerng T.

@snailboat Wait, a crane of the size of your palm?! That's a small crane!

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. A crane fly.

Damkerng T.

@snailboat That's cute, too!

Anonymous

A crane fly is neither a crane nor a fly, nor a mosquito nor a hawk.

Damkerng T.

@snailboat Ahh... I see!

Anonymous

16:23

One of those things I just said is a lie.

CowperKettle

@snailboat Ah. It's a fly!

Anonymous

A crane fly really is a fly.

CowperKettle

> This morning I met a crane fly.

Damkerng T.

A crane fly of the size of your palm?! That's huge!

CowperKettle

I thought that meant "I saw a crane fly"

Anonymous

16:24

Oh! That would be a rare sight for me :-)

CowperKettle

(0:

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. Yeah, they're giant!

Anonymous

I don't have a picture, but I found a picture online of a similar one earlier.

Anonymous

This picture is from Google Image Search.

CowperKettle

16:25

Sometimes I get giant flies like that inside the apartment. The cat tries to hunt them.

Damkerng T.

@snailboat I thought you meant "crane", and I was trying to find my old photo of the cranes resting at the top of a tree in my garden some years ago.

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. I don't know that I've ever seen a crane in person. Maybe at a zoo?

Damkerng T.

@snailboat Ugh! That's really huge!

Anonymous

The pictures I've seen of them are beautiful though.

Damkerng T.

They flew gracefully, the way I remember them.

Anonymous

16:27

Oh! I forgot about birds. We have plenty of tiny birds around here. I say hi to them all the time :-)

Damkerng T.

I wonder what happened that year. I wanted to see them the next year, but they never came back.

Anonymous

I usually say "Hello, tiny dinosaur!" because calling them dinosaurs is more fun than calling them birds.

Damkerng T.

@snailboat Haha!

CowperKettle

Anonymous

@CowperKettle That must have taken the bird a really long time!

CowperKettle

16:29

(white stork)

@snailboat Yes, that is quite a nest!

Anonymous

A robin built a nest over my bedroom.

Anonymous

It's a much smaller nest :-)

CowperKettle

@snailboat Don't they reply "hello, giant chimp!"?

Damkerng T.

@CowperKettle Santa Claus is filing a complaint!

CowperKettle

(0:

Anonymous

16:30

@CowperKettle Hey, I'm not that kind of great ape! :-)

CowperKettle

@snailboat Birds are not very versed in taxonomy. (0:

Anonymous

It's true. We have to do something about the bird education problem.

2

CowperKettle

(0:

Damkerng T.

@snailboat Be careful, you know what comes after a robin?

It's a batman. :P

CowperKettle

(0:

Damkerng T.

16:37

I've never seen a real robin in my life, though I used to see a robin in a logo almost every day. It's the logo of my T-square I used in my technical drawing classes.

IIRC, I bought this brand because it was very cheap, and it was quite good. (It was about half a buck.)

-1

Q: What is meant by this sentence?

It takes great delight in tripping one when success is almost within reach. Also what does tripping mean here? Didn't it means that It takes great delight in moving quickly when success is almost within reach ?

meaning meaning-in-context word-meaning

Oh, such a mean sentence!

Aha! It doesn't sound as mean in context!

> “Failure is a trickster with a keen sense of irony and cunning. It takes great delight in tripping one when success is almost within reach”
― Napoleon Hill

Anonymous

It also sounds much more natural when it isn't taken out of context.

Damkerng T.

nods

CowperKettle

16:57

By the way, where's Muhammad?

Has he been absent long?

Anonymous

Yes, about four days.

CowperKettle

I hope he enjoys some off-computer life.

Anonymous

Maybe he has to take exams!

CowperKettle

He was overindulging on the interwebs.

Yes, exams. I'd plug him off the web if I were his dad, and make him study. (0:

Good evening, Katyusha!

(0:

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