Language Overflow

Færd

03:00

@JoePinsonault Thanks. So your first impression was that Fred is the addressee of the sentence. I can see that.

@user2684291 Thanks. And yes: it's another way of making it known that Fred is non-vocative. Maybe that's it.

I've seen don't you find? used as a question tag too. Not sure to what register or dialect it belongs though.

@snailplane Yes, that sounds OK. But dislocating non-vocative Fred alone (as specified) was what I wasn't unsure of.

@snailplane Yes, that's probably it. The author of the question is British after all, and seems like it doesn't sound too familiar to American ears. Thank you.

Stack Exchange

05:10

1

From an EMA guideline: This guideline lays down the non-clinical and clinical requirements for monoclonal antibody-containing medicinal products claimed to be similar to another one already authorised, i.e. similar biological medicinal products (biosimilars). The studies described here shoul...

grammaticality

QuokMoon

05:37

Good morning

CowperKettle

Morning!

Word of the day: wringability of gauge blocks

EngFan

07:09

Hello everyone!!

How to correctly use "dedicated to"?

or is it

How to use "dedicated to" correctly?

if both are correct what's the diffrence

V.V.

!!wiki/split infinitive

Ellbot

Split infinitive

In the English language, a split infinitive or cleft infinitive is a grammatical construction in which a word or phrase comes between the to and the bare infinitive of the to form of the infinitive verb. Usually an adverb or adverbial phrase comes between them. A well-known example occurs in the opening sequence of the Star Trek television series: "to boldly go where no man has gone before"; the adverb boldly is said to split the infinitive to go. Sometimes more than one word splits the infinitive, as in: "The population is expected to more than double in the next ten years". In the 19th century...

V.V.

Hope it helps.

EngFan

@Ellbot : hello

@V.V. : HI

sure

V.V.

Hi

Damkerng T.

07:22

@user2684291 I heard "coh-man-zee". If you didn't say it's corpsman, I might've thought it's a little strange pronunciation of Comanche! :-)

Hi! @V.V., @Engfan

EngFan

@DamkerngT. : hello

Damkerng T.

Ellen's Tribute to the Obamas

►

Hey, I didn't know he can dance like that!

(But maybe that wasn't really him.)

EngFan

haha

that's so funny

Damkerng T.

:D

Damkerng T.

07:41

Even though I know that we normally use the singular form of a noun when we use it attributively, it's so tempting for me to write lips rounding rather than lip rounding.

I suppose lip rounding would be more common, though.

1

Q: How do you pronounce 'rat' and 'ran'? Isn't the 'æ' sound different in these two?

I'm having a concern about how the pronunciation guides use 'æ'. As far as I know (not a native speaker here), the word 'ran' is pronounced with a long 'æ' while the word 'rat' is pronounced with a relatively short 'æ'. (Correct me if I've been speaking these words wrong - may be this is just a b...

pronunciation british-english

Haha! Exactly!

I haven't checked the audio clips, yet. It could be fun to analyze them if they use the same speaker.

> So I would pronounce "rat" as something like [ɹæˀt] (I'm using [ˀt] to represent pre-glottalized /t/), and "ran" as something like [ɹeə̯n].

> ell.stackexchange.com/a/116319/3281

Oh, interesting!

Damkerng T.

08:32

FWIW, if you search for "have any thoughts left", you'll find some results. "have any thought left", though somewhat rarer, also has some results as well. — Damkerng T. 6 secs ago

Ah, edited, edited!

Ghoti and Chips

Is it who/whom in the following dialogue:

You see them don't you? - See who? /// - See whom?

Damkerng T.

Either is fine.

Ghoti and Chips

My gut feeling tells me "whom", since it seems like it is the subjective

I mean object* (not subjective)

Damkerng T.

If someone told you that you must use whom, they might be an English teacher. (^_^)

Ghoti and Chips

Well, that's the thing, I'm trying to understand the "whom" usage with exercises like these. The dialogue I posted is straight out of Star Trek: The Next Generation - but I've caught them using "who" incorrectly, before, so I'm just wondering, for my own benefit.

Damkerng T.

08:37

People rarely use whom strictly like that anymore, I think.

Ghoti and Chips

Agreed. It is more egregious to use "whom" inappropriately than "who", because, as you say, whom has fallen out of fashion, and using it makes you sound smart, so using it incorrectly falls flat doubly.

Damkerng T.

Except for when it comes after a preposition (like to whom it may concern), not many people will use whom.

I agree.

Ghoti and Chips

Well, the rule is that "who" is used for subject (who's there?) and "whom" for object (whom do you serve?). It seems to me that in the sentence "See who?", it's an abbreviation of "Do I see who?", and then it becomes very obvious that I is the subject, so the object form whom, must be used.

I just wanted to double-check by running it through here. Grammar is not my strong suit in English.

Damkerng T.

Hmm... I think it makes more sense to think of See who? as an in situ use of these wh-words.

"I saw Kirk do this yesterday." "You saw Kirk do that in which episode and which season?"

To use your example: "You see them don't you?" "(I) See who?"

Ghoti and Chips

I mean, my question answers itself - the correct form is "See whom?". Picard asks Geordi, "You see them don't you?" - them is the object, so whom must be used. Ha! I caught those screenwriters again with their bad English grammar! Fair enough for every day plebs to get it wrong, but those guys were technically trained and do this for a living, for Kirk's sake!

Damkerng T.

08:48

I don't think it's bad grammar at all.

Ghoti and Chips

You don't have to - for the same reason a flat earther's belief doesn't stop the Earth from being an ellipsoid.

Damkerng T.

Are people who think See who? is incorrect, grammatically, those who believe in Flat Earth, or is it the other way around?

Ghoti and Chips

Well, I was just commenting on how your opinion on whether you think it's bad grammar or not doesn't change the fact that it's grammatically incorrect, that's all. Using who, when you are referring to the object of the sentence is grammatically incorrect, it's supposed to be whom. That is all :-)

Damkerng T.

FWIW, I think Flat Earth is an old belief, just like thinking See who? is ungrammatical.

We're supposed to accept the reality.

Then again, prescriptive vs. descriptive grammar is always a thing.

Ghoti and Chips

I didn't really join here for sass, I just wanted to double-check the grammar, but I figured it out anyway. It's no big deal that you didn't know the answer. Fare the well, venerable stranger.

Damkerng T.

08:56

I just wanted to point out that there are several angles to look at it, and it's unfair to those scriptwriters to say that they're bad at grammar.

For me, there is no point in winning an argument, when the argument doesn't really matter.

So, if you say See who? is fine, I'll agree with you. If you say See who? is incorrect because you think it's not supposed to be correct according to some grammar, I'll understand you. But if you say a writer who uses See who? is using bad grammar, I'll say it's unfair. That's all.

Anonymous

@GhotiandChips Who. Whom is ungrammatical.

Anonymous

Reason being, who is always selected in echo questions.

Ghoti and Chips

The grammar they used was incorrect. What I do with that information (use it to laugh in their face, figuratively, and scoff smugly at my screen, calling them bad writers etc.) is completely my business. It's not meant as disrespect, but your opinion of "unfair" has no bearing on the situation from my perspective.

Anonymous

If you haven't noticed already, the rules you gave are wrong and lead you to the wrong conclusion.

Ghoti and Chips

snailplane The rules I used are correct and lead me to the correct conclusion

Anonymous

09:04

I'm sorry, but this isn't a productive conversation. If you aren't willing to learn the basics of English grammar, this is not the place for you to act high-and-mighty about the topic.

Anonymous

And honestly, we don't need more people repeating the old myth about who being selected in subject position and whom in object position.

Ghoti and Chips

So you're claiming that, for example, grammarly's article on the who/whom distinction is incorrect?

Anonymous

Sorry, when I said this discussion wasn't productive, I meant it wasn't going to continue.

Anonymous

We can have a discussion about who and whom, but we're not going to do it right now, because you aren't interested in being reasonable about the topic.

Ghoti and Chips

09:19

I'm happy to cease the question. My conviction has only strengthened (having my question met with a ban only proved to me that there wasn't a good counter-argument), I know for sure now I was correct.

Anonymous

Well, you haven't ceased. You've returned twice now to continue the argument.

Anonymous

So you'll be taking a break now.

Anonymous

Oh, that was going to be a twenty-four hour suspension, but now it's going to be a lot longer.

Damkerng T.

Sorry you had to get involved, @snailplane. Let's move on to something else.

BTW, good morning!

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. Let's talk about who and whom in echo questions some other time :-) Well, we've already covered the topic before, but it's a fun topic.

Anonymous

09:25

Good morning :-)

Damkerng T.

@snailplane Okay! Just not now. (^_^)

Anonymous

Yeah.

Anonymous

I only just woke up, anyway.

Damkerng T.

Ahh

I feel like I should eat something, too.

Anonymous

It's one in the morning here, so it's still very early. I won't be eating for a while yet.

Damkerng T.

09:29

I still have this question in a tab:

4

Q: use a bird to write with

In this movie clip, starting at 41 seconds, Maui says: When you use a bird to write with, it's called tweeting. Does the to-infinitive clause modify "a bird"?

to-infinitive

I think the answer is on the right track, but I can't make up my mind whether it's a complement or a modifier. I think it probably is a modifier, but then again, I'm not sure what part it modifies.

I find that use is pretty tricky!

Anonymous

Oh, that's a difficult question!

Damkerng T.

(Sorry, this question is probably too heavy when we want something light! :)

Anonymous

I suppose it might be a syntactic blend.

Damkerng T.

nods -- Makes sense. I tried to convince myself; it's a complement, worked; it's a modifier of the noun phrase, worked; it's a modifier of the verb phrase, worked, too!

So, it turns out, I have no idea what it is! :D

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. Well, you can start by looking up hollow clauses in CGEL.

Damkerng T.

09:47

> ii. The new car took me quite a long time to get used to.

> iv. They came up with a rather difficult argument to refute.

In A Student's Introduction to English Grammar (Ch. 3, 2.4), [ii] is a complement licensed by the VP take.

[iv] is a complement within an NP, licensed by the attributive modifier difficult.

They aren't quite like our example (use a bird to write with), though.

Anonymous

I'll come back to it when I've had some caffeine and I'm a little more awake :-)

Damkerng T.

Hehe! Thanks in advance!

Anonymous

I think the choice of to write versus to write with is interesting there.

Damkerng T.

Indeed!

EngFan

10:53

@snailplane : HELLO!!

Anonymous

Hello again :-)

EngFan

11:19

what does like the feel of money mean? youtu.be/6L7xP4zPBeg?t=10m7s

M.A.R.

11:38

@EngFan HELLO!

Excited about screaming

EngFan

12:07

@M.A.R. : Hi

M.A.R.

Hi

EngFan

Excited about screaming?

M.A.R.

Yes. I was indicating that when you type with caps lock, LIKE THIS, it's considered screaming and a bit impolite

EngFan

Oops, thank you 😊

Hmm .. I thought it would express joyfully hello

M.A.R.

12:24

@EngFan I think the exclamation mark gets the point across well

user2684291

@M.A.R. Don't you use Caps Lock all the time, since you don't have shift? :>

Damkerng T.

1

Q: She read the book "at the desk" or "on the desk"?

I came across this question, solving some problems in an English book. She read the book ________________ the desk. (A) to (B) at (C) from (D) on I see that (A), (C) is absurd, but in the case of (B), I think that could be correct, but the answer is (D). Is it because (B) is not...

prepositions

M.A.R.

@user2684291 WELL YES BUT IT DOESN'T LOOK LIKE THIS

Damkerng T.

No, no, peep! You got it all wrong! The teacher was thinking of something like this:

user2684291

@M.A.R. The mote and the beam, bro.

Damkerng T.

12:26

That is "reading a book on the desk".

M.A.R.

@DamkerngT. between the desk

Damkerng T.

:D

M.A.R.

Towards the desk

user2684291

@DamkerngT. Um, the sentence can be construed as though the book was on the table, and the person was reading that book.

mike

hahaha - I have to admit, something like that image is the first thing I thought of too

M.A.R.

12:27

On a related note, ''afterwards'' is weird, be it an adverb or a preposition

user2684291

The reading may not even take place nowhere near the table; the person reads the book that's on the table.

Damkerng T.

@user2684291 I guess it's a bit difficult, at least for me, to read a book when standing away from the desk 1m or farther. :P

user2684291

Can't it mean that you take the book with you?

M.A.R.

Damkerng T.

@user2684291 Hmm... it would sound a bit weird to me, but I guess it's possible.

@M.A.R. Haha! I just realized that the panel in the bottom-left corner is supposed to be a building!

I thought it was a computer all along!

M.A.R.

12:32

@DamkerngT. The innocent mind of a robot

Damkerng T.

Hehe!

M.A.R.

dilbert.com/strip/2016-01-25 -- This one is good too, especially the first comment

user2684291

@M.A.R. Why is this connected with masculinity?

I've seen women do it.

M.A.R.

@user2684291 Dunno

Damkerng T.

In my defense about that panel looking like a computer ...

Definitely is a computer! :P

M.A.R.

12:39

Pfft.

Damkerng T.

Hee

M.A.R.

Obviously a building

It's HP headquarters

Damkerng T.

Haha!

Anonymous

@M.A.R. In what sense is it weird?

M.A.R.

@snailplane In the sense that it doesn't take a complement

Jerk

Damkerng T.

12:46

o_O

I guess I didn't catch up with the chat!

Damkerng T.

13:04

1

Q: "must have" for obligations

"Must (Probability)" has this structure: "must have PP". But can "Must (Obligation)" have that structure? Ok, now, must (Probability) can be used to express the high probability Ex: She must be on the bus. (I'm fairly sure this is a good guess) & in the past: She must have been on the bus yest...

word-usage word-choice

If the question didn't phrase it as Can "Must (Obligation)" have the structure "must have PP"?, I might write my answer.

Anonymous

@M.A.R. Lots of prepositions are intransitive.

Damkerng T.

In its current form, it sounds like the OP doesn't really care about the typical usage, it sounds like if it's possible, no matter how rare it is, even just 1 in 1,000,000, the OP would think it's possible.

Anonymous

Most of them are spatial prepositions, though.

M.A.R.

@snailplane Sheesh, I've been losing my touch.

A drama occurring in an ELL chat and I wasn't present?

Shame on you, MAR

CowperKettle

13:42

An ex-policeman was arrested in the Urals for killing homeless people at a cemetery in order to "create his own zombie army"

Damkerng T.

Huh?!?

CowperKettle

Bath salts (drug)

"Bath salts" is a term used in North America and Europe to describe a number of recreational designer drugs. The name derives from instances in which the drugs were sold disguised as true bath salts. The white powder, granules, or crystals often resemble true bath salts such as Epsom salts, but are very different chemically. The drugs' packaging often states "not for human consumption" in an attempt to circumvent drug prohibition laws. Bath salts have also been similarly disguised as plant food, hookah cleaner, and other products, despite only seeing regular distribution in shops selling dr...

Dirt cheap and easily available here

I saw a guy under the influence a couple of months back at a bus station

> Very little is known about how bath salts interact with the brain and how they are metabolised by the body.

Damkerng T.

I guess there's no real salt in these bath salts.

Cardinal

15:05

Caspian shore and the sky.

Cardinal

15:18

@DamkerngT. Any Ionized things can be classified as a salt. Am I right @M.A.R.? I almost forgot the Chemistry.

Damkerng T.

@Cardinal Almost surreal!

Cardinal

^_^

user2684291

@Cardinal Ionized? No, salts are neutral.

Cardinal

@user2684291 I am not sure that I used the correct terms. I meant any combinations which includes a positive ion like "Na" and a negative one like "Cl"

user2684291

Well, not any, because, as I said, they're neutral.

Cardinal

15:26

NaCl is a salt. Isn't it?

user2684291

Yeah, common salt.

Cardinal

So I recall that I read somewhere that any combination similar to NaCl is also a salt. Am I wrong?

user2684291

@Cardinal Sure.

You're not wrong.

Anonymous

16:03

@Cardinal So for example, KCl would be a salt.

Anonymous

But in terms of common English, if people talk about adding salt to their food (for example), salt probably refers specifically to NaCl.

Anonymous

So we can probably say salt has a general chemical meaning, as well as a more specific common meaning.

Cardinal

@snailplane yes. exactly.

@snailplane nod

SinNombre SinApellido

Hi guys

Is this correct? "Players need this exp amount to get this level"

(That's description of something)

Can anybody help me?

Damkerng T.

16:21

It sounds like you might want it to mean A player needs this amount of experience (measured in points?) to reach this level (in the game?), but I'm not really sure what you want it to mean.

Anonymous

@SinNombreSinApellido Yes, as long as the reader/listener can tell what this refers to in both cases.

Anonymous

This exp amount, and this level.

Anonymous

The verb reach is common. Players need 1M exp to reach level 70.

Anonymous

But you can also say get to level 70.

Anonymous

There are a bunch of ways to say it.

Damkerng T.

16:28

I wondered if this level might mean a certain level of skill, but that's probably less likely in gaming, where everything is quantifiable.

Jude

Greetings everyone!

Damkerng T.

Hi!

Jude

How are yo'al?

Damkerng T.

I'm good. How are you?

Jude

I guess that's how the natives pronounce it

@DamkerngT. Likewise! :D

Damkerng T.

16:33

There are several levels of shortening, as far as I can tell.

Jude

I heard this lot of times, when the teacher comes to the class and ask this question from the students

SinNombre SinApellido

Thank you @snailplane & @DamkerngT.!

Damkerng T.

I hope it was helpful. (^_^)

user2684291

@Jude It's usually contracted to "y'all".

Jude

@user2684291 thanks for correcting me

appreciate it

user2684291

16:41

No worries.

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. Yeah, there's probably something of a continuum between you all and y'all.

Damkerng T.

It sounds a bit odd to me when it's completely shortened (so it sounds like "yol"), even though I imagine that it's pretty common as well.

And for some reason, I still feel a bit strange when I hear "aite".

Jude

@snailplane Is there a difference between those two? o.O? I mean; while we are pronouncing them

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. Yes, y'all /jɔːl/ is common. It does not sound odd to me.

Jude

it's just simply omitting the break in between

Anonymous

16:44

@Jude That's not true.

Anonymous

You can say you all as /juː ɔːl/, with two clearly different vowels.

Jude

yes?

Anonymous

So in the contracted version y'all /jɔːl/, the first vowel is entirely missing.

Jude

ahh, yeah. correct

Damkerng T.

I feel a bit more comfortable when /j/ is a little longer, not really long, but long enough to give me the feeling that there's a short "uh" there, even though it could all happen in my head. :-)

Anonymous

16:53

@DamkerngT. Yes, when I said that I think there is probably something of a continuum, I was thinking of pronunciations where the vowel is reduced but not entirely absent.

SinNombre SinApellido

Guys, what's the difference between "otherwise" and "or else"

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. I would spell it aight :-) It's sometimes spelled a'ight.

Damkerng T.

@snailplane I'm pretty sure I've heard a version of y'all that sounds almost like "yaw"!

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. That is /l/-vocalization.

Damkerng T.

@snailplane Ah, right!

@snailplane Got me confused for some minutes :-)

@SinNombreSinApellido Hmm... they aren't very different, I think.

user2684291

16:55

I don't really hear the /l/ sound when I listen to the pronunciations in online dictionaries.

Damkerng T.

But, of course, you wouldn't think they would be interchangeable in something like "I'm glad she was here. We would otherwise be helpless."

@user2684291 Oh!

user2684291

oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/media/english/us_pron/a/all/… vs. oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/media/english/us_pron/y/y_a/… In the LDOCE I'm able to hear it more clearly.

Damkerng T.

@user2684291 I guess dark-l doesn't exist in your language.

Pandya

Are Fulfill and Fulfil both right?

Damkerng T.

I'm not sure if I remember it correctly, but IIRC, both are okay.

Yeah, a dictionary says fulfil is BrE.

Now I have to figure what happened while I was typing my -ly!

Maybe I glanced over something else beyond my monitor.

Pandya

17:05

oh! just found US fulfill, else fulfil. en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/fulfil from ell.stackexchange.com/questions/1204/…

user2684291

@DamkerngT. I think we have it.

Damkerng T.

@user2684291 Hmm... that's a bit unexpected!

user2684291

Is the /l/ in "all" a clear one, and the one in "y'all" a dark one?

Damkerng T.

I suppose it depends on the speaker.

user2684291

Great.

Damkerng T.

17:08

But others would know this better than me. :D

user2684291

Well I don't see whence you're coming, then.

D'you hear a dark /l/ in the recording of "y'all"?

Damkerng T.

@user2684291 In the links above?

Let me hear it again.

user2684291

Yeah.

Damkerng T.

Yeah, that's a dark-l for me.

user2684291

Aight, that's a no-/l/ for me.

Damkerng T.

17:12

LOL

M.A.R.

17:25

@Cardinal All ionic compounds are salts except oxides, those with hydrogen and hydroxides

user2684291

17:41

"'X' refers to part of the male anatomy." Is this a correct sentence, article-wise? (I substituted "X" for the real thing here.)

M.A.R.

@user2684291 Sure, why not?

Javed Ahmed

Hi everyone

M.A.R.

Hi

Javed Ahmed

Please help me to improve and shorten my following message

Thank you for filling out our form. Your name has been registered. We are in lack of teachers. You are put in hold. Don't worry. Once we get more teachers we will contact you back

M.A.R.

Teachers are not inanimate objects, so ''a lack of teachers'' sounds weird at best

Javed Ahmed

17:47

Could you rephrase my message

M.A.R.

@JavedAhmed Thank you for filling out our form. You have been registered. There are no available teachers right now, but don't worry. You're put on hold (?) and once a teacher becomes available we will contact you.

It's best if you remove the ''hold'' part entirely, probably

. . . don't worry. Once a teacher becomes available, we will contact you.

Javed Ahmed

So just - Once a teacher becomes available, we will contact you

M.A.R.

Mhm

Javed Ahmed

Ok

Some students are directly contacting old teachers

Without sending message or contacting head office

What message could I write for them

Contact Learning head office at +9100000000 for registration.

Is it ok

M.A.R.

It doesn't flow really well, but I don't know how to fix it

EngFan

17:55

Is this sentence grammatical If it's getting late for you, I'll talk to you later ?

M.A.R.

@EngFan Yep, it is

Stack Exchange

-1

Q: Complaint about a moderator on ELL (English language and learners)

I am a user of your site English language and learners. Today I just witnessed the suspension of a user by this moderator of yours. The user was given 30 days suspension and a same length of suspension in chats. I’m not that user by the way, nor do I know them or anything, just a concerned user ...

discussion moderators

EngFan

getting late for you? Seem a bit weird.

Joe Pinsonault

by itself, "if it's getting late for you..." sounds fairly natural to me. The "I'll talk to you later" part seems a bit awkward though. "If it's getting late for you, we can talk again later?" maybe

Damkerng T.

@StackExchange user48264 -- 48264? Hmm... I guess they just registered today and then deleted the account, and they did that just only to post this meta post.

M.A.R.

18:06

@DamkerngT. The frustration I read in the tone tells me that user was a sock puppet of the suspended account evading the ban and hence the account was destroyed

Damkerng T.

Ahh... that's also possible.

M.A.R.

I mean, they didn't remove themselves or rage-quit. They were removed by a mod.

Probably Colleen

So expect more accounts and inflammation, just in case

EngFan

@JoePinsonault : Why does it sound awkward?

M.A.R.

@EngFan It's two fixed phrases cramped together

They're usually used separately

Damkerng T.

@M.A.R. They seem to be very familiar with ELL, though. I mean, very familiar and a long way back, like they've been here all along.

Joe Pinsonault

18:10

@EngFan, what @M.A.R. said

M.A.R.

@DamkerngT. Well, that's irrelevant when you're angry about a mod, or feel like trolling more than the other days

Joe you remind me of Shoe

Joe Pinsonault

@M.A.R. haha, who's Shoe?

M.A.R.

@JoePinsonault A linguistling that roamed in these realms before

They had a reddish gravatar icon too

Joe Pinsonault

Is a linguistling like a miniature linguist?

M.A.R.

No, it's a creature from the linguist kind

It feeds on paper

Joe Pinsonault

18:17

haha

EngFan

@JoePinsonault @M.A.R. : Separated by a full stop?

M.A.R.

@EngFan Hmm?

EngFan

If it's getting late for you. I'll talk to you later

Separated by a full stop?

user2684291

No. Bad idea.

I think it's an okay sentence, I don't know why they're saying it's wrong.

M.A.R.

@EngFan No, the ''if'' part is not a separate clause (sentence)

@user2684291 Well, I said it's okay, Joe said it sounds awkward. None of us said it's ungrammatical

user2684291

18:23

A: It's getting late. B: Oh. In that case, I'll talk to you later, I guess.

It's sort of implicit there.

Joe Pinsonault

@user2684291 yeah I only say that because "I'll see you later" is a stock phrase you say when leaving.

Yeah that two person convo is perfectly natural

M.A.R.

A and B are the most famous people in history

Cardinal

@M.A.R. :-)

user2684291

@JoePinsonault Yeah, I know. I think no one actually spells it out ("If it's getting late...") because it's understood from the context.

M.A.R.

Correct me if I'm wrong

Joe Pinsonault

18:25

I mean it's fine, I'm not trying to criticize like "That's bad! Never do that!"

EngFan

@user2684291 : Actually both are said by the same person it's like * if If it's getting late then I'll talk to you later*

user2684291

@EngFan What do you need this for, anyway? Haha.

Joe Pinsonault

The meaning is clear and unambiguous

Cardinal

3

Q: Is it grammatical to write the conditionals in two separate sentences?

I was writing an essay when a question sparked in my mind: can we write conditional sentences in two separate sentences? Especially since the conditional clause is verbose and wordy. Consider: if parents teach the children how they should face with difficulties, how they can obviate the prob...

grammar sentence-construction

EngFan

@M.A.R. : Indeed A and B are the most famous .haha

@user2684291 : Just wanted to check whether it is correct nor not.

user2684291

18:35

OK. It looks like a simple conditional sentence, and you need a comma before "then".

EngFan

Earlier I used grammarly .. Every sentence I use to wrote it showed some error and I couldn't find what the error was since then I became sceptical about the sentences .

But thanks to ELL it really helps me a lot

@user2684291 ok

* use to write

user2684291

@EngFan Huh. That doesn't look correct either.

EngFan

19:03

Hmm so what should it be?

M.A.R.

@EngFan used to write

EngFan

@M.A.R. : Thanks

user2684291

I don't think it apposite at all. I suspect you want: "Every sentence I wrote was marked as incorrect.", or something of like ilk.

Joe Pinsonault

thanks to the "d" and the "t" being next to each other, people (on the west coast of america at least) tend to pronounce it "yoos too"

user2684291

Also, please give up plenking; it's disconducive to my well-being.

Færd

19:07

What's plenking?

@JoePinsonault Us too.

user2684291

What's Google? (: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plenken

M.A.R.

@Færd Space before punctuation mark I think

ColleenV

@M.A.R. They posted, then deleted their account. The only intervention I did was to move it off the main site to meta in response to community flags. Oh, and I removed the part about where they "don't give a flying f*** that it isn't on meta" because they didn't have enough rep to post there.

M.A.R.

@user2684291 What's a rotated smiley?

user2684291

An old habit.

M.A.R.

19:10

@ColleenV The point still stands -- frustrated user retaliating with a meta rant, because feeble humans need to get it off their chest

@user2684291 why ??????? .........

user2684291

Well, objectively, it's so much better.

Færd

@user2684291 Thanks. :|

user2684291

I do use this alternative set of smileys: :> and :<.

M.A.R.

Do u also liek spelling errors and txtspk and dog's bollocks ? :-

@user2684291 Every time I see it, I'm puzzled as to whether try and rotate my head 270 degrees counterclockwise or 90 degrees clockwise

user2684291

Remember to add another +2π rad for extra safety.

M.A.R.

19:16

Pi looks too robotic with this font

Færd

(π_Π)

M.A.R.

That looks like somebody knocked unconscious

Færd

Or someone who is crying and the make-up is running down their face.

user2684291

Looks like a shoddy graph of a step function.

M.A.R.

19:53

@Færd One hell of a crying. I've never seen tear drops rolling down from both sides of the eye

Færd

cries -- See?

Oops, I'm not wearing make-up.

M.A.R.

20:56

user2684291

21:56

youtu.be/UZSsYD74sMk?t=36s What does he sing after "you're the reason I'm leaving"? The lyrics say "if I'm leaving we...", but I hear it as "and by leaving we...".

Joe Pinsonault

I can't tell, I can convince myself it sounds like either

this other random, probably equally untrustworthy lyrics site says "by"

https://genius.com/Franz-ferdinand-youre-the-reason-im-leaving-lyrics

user2684291

Ah, so I'm not crazy! Haha.

Thanks.

Joe Pinsonault

yeah

user2684291

"If it wasn't for chip fat they'd be frozen" ← Here they're using some type of metaphor to say "If it wasn't for French fries they'd be frozen"?

When I google "chip fat", I get "The British term for left over oil from French fries."

Joe Pinsonault

are they burning the oil or something to stay warm?

I'm imagining a post apocalyptic scifi book that takes place entirely in a british fast food restaurant

user2684291

22:18

@JoePinsonault Actually, that occurred to me too.

It's either that, or it's a metaphor. Or they're saying they're cooking (other) food on rancid oil.

Anonymous

@user2684291 Is there any context there?

user2684291

"Girls scrabble round with no clothes on
To borrow a pound for a condom
If it wasn't for chip fat they'd be frozen
they're not very sensible"

Joe Pinsonault

I have to say that wasn't the context I was expecting

user2684291

azlyrics.com/lyrics/kaiserchiefs/ipredictariot.html This is the full song. There're some mistakes, but it's readable.

Anonymous

22:58

Well, it's clearly not very nice, but I can't honestly figure out what specifically it means.

Anonymous

Maybe it'd be clearer to a BrE speaker.

Anonymous

I tried searching online and found these: goo.gl/2j9P8r - upclosemaspersonal.blogspot.com/2012/03/lost-girls.html

Anonymous

Maybe telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/scotland/5730557/…

Anonymous

Anyway, I'm confused :-)

user2684291

Thank you for your research.

Joe Pinsonault

23:41

In 2011, 'I Predict a Riot' soundtracked a trip into the tortured psyche of Delingpole, Starkey and Dalrymple - the streets of darkest Britain delineated as a volatile, flammable under-kingdom haunted by spectres to whom junk-food is both fuel and insulation, tracksuited thugs and girl-golems clad in chip-fat.

huh, I still have no idea what it means

is it just an insult along the lines of "they eat so much fast food they're using it as clothing"?

Anonymous

23:58

@JoePinsonault I'm still lost too.

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