Language Overflow

Abcd

03:29

I can't understand this quote: we make a living by what we get but we make a life by what we give

Can someone please explain it to me?

CowperKettle

06:07

Good morning! Sunny and minus 11 °C

Ha! It's dark and plus 11 °C in Los Gatos

CowperKettle

06:37

> In the first step, prepare reaction mixtures for the reverse transcription reaction.

At the first step?

As a first step?

V.V.

07:35

First.

CowperKettle

10:09

@V.V. Spasibo!

Good afternoon! Partially cloudy and minus 7 °C

CowperKettle

10:38

user62015

@CowperKettle Hi!

Ghana, Nigeria and Zambia, (a)/ each have parts to play (b)/ in the development of Africa. (c)/ No error (d) @DamkerngT. Could you please help me out.

userr2684291

10:55

@user62015 What do you think?

user62015

each have a part to play

But again I think should I use each have or each has

but if subjects are more than one then have would be a better choice

CowperKettle

@user62015 correct (0:

user62015

Thanks.

I appreciate your help

userr2684291

@snailplane ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24493633 Apparently it might help the elderly.

CowperKettle

> On the next day, spin down the cells and extract plasmid DNA using a commercially-available kit. (I wonder if I need the comma)

CowperKettle

13:12

We will climb above zero for the first time this year on Tuesday! Yay!

Damkerng T.

14:49

@CowperKettle Yay! It's gonna be sunny!

@CowperKettle I think it's better without it.

CowperKettle

15:17

@DamkerngT. Thank yoU!

The warmest day in winter are usually not sunny, but in March, yes, it will be both warm and sunny (0:

@DamkerngT. I hope weather's fine in Bangkok too

no, not fine.. too hot

Damkerng T.

16:16

@CowperKettle 25 or above is nice for a robot! :D

CowperKettle

16:27

@DamkerngT. I wonder what an average utility bill is in Thailand.

Damkerng T.

@CowperKettle It varies a lot.

CowperKettle

There's no heater water payment.

Damkerng T.

If you don't use much, the bill will be rather small.

@CowperKettle Oh, but air conditioning is normal!

CowperKettle

ahh!

Yes..

One would hardly spurn air conditioning when it's +30 in late February

Damkerng T.

Hehe! True!

CowperKettle

16:29

Swishing cold water won't help.

(0:

Damkerng T.

I have a lot of computers in my house, so it's rather expensive.

I guess most Bangkokians would pay about 1000-2500 baht a month for electricity.

Cardinal

Hi

Damkerng T.

(Mine is more.)

@Cardinal Hi!

Cardinal

Suppose the reader knows that the system X includes two subsystem.

Damkerng T.

Yes?

Cardinal

16:31

Now I want to talk about each of these subsections.

Damkerng T.

Uh-huh?

Cardinal

> Let us consider X where X1 (the first subsection) consists of B and X2 D?

Is my deletion correct?

> Let us consider X where X1 (the first subsection) consists of B and X2 {consists of} D?

Damkerng T.

I suppose it's okay, though it's probably not common in technical writing.

Cardinal

@DamkerngT. nod

CowperKettle

@DamkerngT. 3000 rubles? Not that bad. About 10% of a Russian's monthly wage.

Araucaria

16:35

2

Q: Is “may be not” correct?

Can I say something like “No, it may be not” or is that wrong? I affirmed something and then I said “No, actually it may be not” (trying to say it may actually not be like that) and somebody told me it should be “No, it may not be”, but the former still sounds better to me.

Hmm I think that question might need sending back to EL&U!

Hi all ...

Damkerng T.

Oh! Why is it so?

Hi!

Cardinal

@Araucaria Hi o/

Araucaria

@DamkerngT. It's a very complicated question. I only gave it a rough answer ... It needs a much better / longer one.

Damkerng T.

Hmm... judging from the OP's writing, I think what they need is just a simple answer.

Like a good rule of thumb or something.

I think may be not sounds good to them because we do use Maybe not sometimes.

> Friend: Blah blah blah, right?
> OP: Yeah. Wait! No, maybe not.

Araucaria

16:50

@Cardinal Hi \o

@DamkerngT. Possible, I suppose :) I thought the OP's wrting was fairly proficient ...

Damkerng T.

@Araucaria I think so, though they seem to be confused, between maybe and may be.

Araucaria

@DamkerngT. I don't think that's likely, myself. The reason is - nobody would put an it before maybe not.

I don't think ...

Damkerng T.

@Araucaria Me either. But the OP seems to come up with [...] it may be not on their own.

Which makes me think that they haven't heard native speaker's speech patterns often enough.

Araucaria

@DamkerngT. Well, it's difficult to see why it's ungrammatical if you compare it to:

It is not

It may not.

It could not.

It has not.

etc

Damkerng T.

It could be tricky for someone who has not enough language input.

I agree.

Araucaria

16:58

@DamkerngT. Students seem to have quite a bit of trouble with VP ellipsis in English.

"Do you like chocolate?"

*Yes, I like

Damkerng T.

It's related to another common error, I think. *Is not it true?, for example.

Araucaria

@DamkerngT. Ah, but that's about contractions really ...

Damkerng T.

Yes, I agree. But if you look at it like someone who doesn't know how English works, they're more or less the same problem.

I mean, making a new sentence by substitution is a common technique among language learners, I'd say.

The problem is, the substitution they choose to use might be influenced by their first languages or logic.

Araucaria

@DamkerngT. I think a native speaker might get confused about It may be not if they stare at it too long. I'm not sure whether they would with Is not it hot for example ... But that's just my intuition ... :-)

Damkerng T.

Haha!

Anonymous

17:01

In that case, the problem is that -n't is an inflectional suffix. It is part of the negative auxiliary form isn't, and that form inverts with the subject it. Not is not part of the same word as is, so it doesn't move as part of subject–auxiliary inversion.

Anonymous

Or alternatively, you can say that contraction happens before inversion.

Damkerng T.

nods

Araucaria

@DamkerngT. Yep, indeed. Second most common reaon for errors (after teacher induced errors, that is) is over-extension of a rule. That could also be the case here, I reckon ...

Damkerng T.

@snailplane I think when a learner tries to replace is with may be, they could get the same problem.

Araucaria

@snailplane Yes, indeed!

Damkerng T.

17:07

Lol I really wouldn't like to share that, but I just affirmed something and then said “No, actually it may be not” (like saying it may not be like that). — Rodrigo Pélissier 4 hours ago

Araucaria

@snailplane Ooh, er, thanks for the edits! Spellchecker thingie isn't showing on my posts from this computer ...

Damkerng T.

To me, the use of affirm is another hint about their proficiency level. :P

For some reasons, I feel like a lot of learners tend to use words or phrases that are more difficult than their real proficiency about a level or two.

(Just my subjective opinion, though.)

But more interestingly, the OP uses both may be not and may not be in the same comment!

CowperKettle

Word of the Day: nutator

I'm not sure though if this is the right word.

> Cover the gel with the denaturing solution and place it on a nutator. (my translation from Russian)

I found it on Multitran but maybe this piece of lab equipment is called elsewhat

thomassci.com/scientific-supplies/Nutator

Looks like it is a nutator

Færd

18:01

I'm guessing... !

Anonymous

18:11

Annoying how Google has never fixed the bug there.

Anonymous

Easy to work around, though :-)

Anonymous

Just click Færd's link, then click "Search lots of books", and the graph should come up.

Anonymous

Interesting graph, by the way!

Færd

Eh, you're right! It doesn't appear right away.

How you doing with the floods?

Anonymous

Well, right where I am at the moment, it isn't particularly floody.

Færd

18:17

Good.

CowperKettle

18:33

> Then place the membrane into the hybridization tube and cover with the hybridization buffer.

There's this Russian word - zalivat - which combines the meaning of "pour" and "cover". It's "pour something over something until it covers it"

I'm translating this simply as cover. Some translators translate as "pour" and then add something like "until it covers it fully".

Good evening, @Færd

Færd

Salute, Cowp!

Maybe "pour until covers" is clearer. I guess you can cover something with a liquid without having it submerged.

CowperKettle

yes, and concise

Чоткий Паца - Кто создал Майдан (2015) Пародия Тимати Баклажан УКРАИНСКИЕ КЛИПЫ УК УКРАИНСКАЯ МУЗЫКА

►

OMG a hilarious song... but hardly translatable into English

A parody on Russia, Ukraine and Belarus (0:

Foggy Finder

18:48

@CowperKettle funny

CowperKettle

@FoggyFinder Are you Russian?

Foggy Finder

no

CowperKettle

Ah. It's really funny. Turns out it's an old video (2015)

It tells how people are brainwashed by propagandists in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus

Foggy Finder

I from Ukraine but Russian is my native language

CowperKettle

Ah!

I'm from Russia (0:

Foggy Finder

18:52

I know

It seems you не подвержены propaganda

CowperKettle

Yep (0:

I'm watching it for the third time (0:

Foggy Finder

don't know how to say не подвержены

CowperKettle

I'd say "It seems like you are resistant to propaganda" (0:

Foggy Finder

third time?

@CowperKettle great, thanks

CowperKettle

Yes, very funny (0:

Foggy Finder

18:55

what was the first time?

CowperKettle

The first time was 15 min ago

Maybe it's also possible to say "I don't easily fall for propaganda", but I'm unsure

Good night!

Foggy Finder

oh, I thought that you mean other countries that suffered from Russia

night

Foggy Finder

19:16

not sure what saying rules in this chat but maybe we should keep it without politics?

Anonymous

19:35

@CowperKettle I think that works.

Cardinal

20:06

Word of the night: denigrate

2

Stack Exchange

0

Q: Why use "come" (present simple) in "here they come"?

In this context, why does he use "come"? Oh! Quick. Here they come. Oxford English Daily Conversation Episode 2 Why doesn't he use "are coming" or "have been coming" ? They are coming here / Here they are coming. They have been coming here / Here they have been coming. Upd...

tense present-continuous present-simple

Damkerng T.

20:35

Hmm... our old question doesn't seem to explain much.

1

Q: Speed (countable / uncountable)

Based on dictionaries' definitions, the noun "speed" sounds to be either countable or uncountable. So please let me know if in the sentence bellow using the determiner "a" sounds natural to you or what: That rock is coming at us at a great speed.

determiners

I just wrote, "When comparing their speeds, ..."

and paused, wondering if "their speed" could be a better choice.

So I looked around, and found people use both!

"They" could be anything, e.g., programs, disks, football players, ASDL connections, and such.

Transcript for