Language Overflow

Man_From_India

03:43

I don't get time to read ELL very often these days. But whenever I do, I see a sharp decline in quality questions.

Even most old folks have been very irregular these days, just like me :(

M.A.R.

05:48

@Man_From_India that's natural

CowperKettle

09:02

@DamkerngT. This is really amazing and a bit frightening.

Sawasdee khrap!

SmokeDetector

10:23

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Bad keyword in link text in answer: What do they mean with "Hi, how are you doing"? by danylancaster on ell.SE

user62015

@SmokeDetector Hi

Will you able to help me?

Anonymous

@user62015 Hello! SmokeDetector is a bot (a computer program), not a real person, so it can't help you with English.

user62015

Every one of us should realize that any act of negligence will cause a great harm to our country's security.

Okay.

But you are not a bot.......hahahahahhahaha

Just joking........

Every one of us should realize that any act of negligence will cause a great harm to our country's security. @DamkerngT.

Anonymous

10:45

Yes, I'm here :-) I was just deleting some spam.

Anonymous

@user62015 It would usually be cause harm, not cause a harm.

user62015

Will cause great harm

Anonymous

@Man_From_India I love good questions, and it'd be great if we could get better ones, but what we really need in my opinion is to make sure our answers are good.

CowperKettle

11:08

We should introduce payments to answerers

$1 per each point

Anonymous

Good morning :-)

CowperKettle

Good early evening (0:

M.A.R.

11:33

\o all

CowperKettle

11:46

\о

Damkerng T.

11:56

Good evening!

userr2684291

13:26

"They would usually be understood as meaning that the person he refers to is mentally strong, and the speaker are not as mentally strong as he is." Should it be "is" instead of "are"?

Man_From_India

@snailplane nods

@snailplane What do you think about my answer here? I am new to this subject, so need your opinion.

0

A: "not as ... as I crave" or "not as ... as what I crave?

I wanted to build my knowledge through a variety of opportunities, but at my current school these opportunities aren’t as vast as (what) I crave. This is a comparative construction, containing a Comparative Phrase - as vast as (what) I crave. It is a Scaler comparison, It falls under Equali...

Damkerng T.

13:48

@userr2684291 I think so. The speaker are is just weird.

Man_From_India

Good evening DT

how is it going?

Damkerng T.

15:00

@Man_From_India It's going okay. How are you?

Word of the Day: military

Don't confuse military the adjective with military the noun.

And no, no, when it's an adjective, it may have nothing to do with military the noun.

> military (adj.) happening with precision and in a manner in which it's being done very, very clearly

> talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/…

userr2684291

Same with "minute".

The pronunciation is also different.

Damkerng T.

Not in the case of military, I think.

userr2684291

@DamkerngT. I can't find the definition in the OED.

Or in Webster's dictionary.

Damkerng T.

@userr2684291 The definition I quoted above was from five days ago. Maybe it's too new for OED. :P

userr2684291

The headline: "Trump Was Using..." – closes the tab.

"I know words. I have the best words."

CowperKettle

15:31

> A giant neuron found wrapped around entire mouse brain

userr2684291

@CowperKettle Do you know about this site? gallantlab.org/huth2016

CowperKettle

No

I used to frequent PubMed, neuroscience.ru, and other neuro and psychiatric sites. It's interesting to read how the brain works

Now I only scan across headlines

Damkerng T.

15:47

0

Q: meaning of "Who do Dirk and Jake expect to see them in dreams?"

This is a example sentence from the linguistic course "The ling space". They've used this sentence to explain that the subject can shift when we change the sentence. Dirk and Jake expect to see them in dreams to "Who do Dirk and Jake expect to see them in dreams?" But what does it mean?

Hmm...

The analysis sounds somewhat weird to me.

"that the subject can shift when we change the sentence"

Subject?

Let's see the original article (or website).

thelingspace.com/episode-3

> So we want to start by looking at the second part of each of these sentences. Each of them have a second, infinitive verb in their latter half: "to see them in dreams." But in both cases, there's no immediately apparent subject in this sentence: we don't know from just the words that are there who exactly is doing the seeing. It's just not there.

Because it's a "ling space", I suppose it should be rigorous at least at a certain level.

He seems to confuse "sentence" with "clause".

And though I'm not 100% sure, I think analyzing Dirk and Jake expect to see them in dreams as a sentence with an infinitive clause with its own subject is a bit strange.

Maybe I should review the catenative construction.

Okay, after a quick review, I think it's much safer to simply say to see them (in dreams) is a complement.

Man_From_India

16:31

@DamkerngT. I'm fine, thanks :-))

Man_From_India

16:44

@DamkerngT. not only strange, it's wrong. That infinitive clause doesn't have an explicit subject.

And you are right that infinitive clause is only analyzed as a complement.

Damkerng T.

@Man_From_India Thanks!

Man_From_India

Precisely, a subject is also a kind of complement. But this particular complement in this sentence is a complement of the verb - expect.

CowperKettle

17:21

Damkerng T.

17:50

Neat!

M.A.R.

@CowperKettle At first I thought it's a bug

CowperKettle

():

user62015

I am too impatient ——— ?
A. aren’t I? B. amn’ t I?
C. isn’t I? D. do I?

I chose A

M.A.R.

You're right

user62015

Thanks.

M.A.R.

18:03

@CowperKettle Fish mouth

user62015

Ever since they got married, they ——— here.
A. have been living
B. were living
C. had lived
D. had been living

A

M.A.R.

Yup

user62015

Thanks

V.V.

Good evening all.

M.A.R.

@V.V. \o

user62015

18:22

VGE

She is unhappy because he———any friends.
A. has
B. hasn’t
C. have
D. haven’t

B

CowperKettle

yes

Good evening, V.V.!

M.A.R.

@user62015 What does VGE mean?

user62015

Very Good Evening!!!! @V.V.

CowperKettle

I recall VGA

M.A.R.

OK, weird acronym

CowperKettle

18:25

Yes, Very Good Afternoon

It was popular in the 1990s

Until it was supplanted by Super-Very Good Afternoon (a.k.a. SVGA)

SVGA is backwards compatible with VGA though

M.A.R.

0

A: "Confusing" Vs "Confused"

Damkerng, thank you for your explanation, which is interesting. So, could I please understand as such: "a confusing something may not be confused" because this something to one who might find it confused but to another who might not. In other words, a confusing something may confuse one but not a...

Thanking @Dam

M.A.R.

19:03

0

Q: "We are going inside to the someone's heart" vs "We are going into someone's heart"

When we love someone, what's more appropriate for use? "we are going inside her heart" or "We are going into her heart"?

prepositions style

"We're scuba diving into her heart"

user62015

You should (1)/ avail of every opportunity(2)/ to practise your skills (3)/ No error.(4)

avail yourself of

or improve your skills

M.A.R.

19:39

@user62015 Dang, that sentence is like 300 years old

user62015

Yep

M.A.R.

@user62015 Yes, this is prolly what they're looking for

user62015

But still important

V.V.

indian english to make use of something:
Over a thousand learners have already availed the opportunity to study at our college.
To avail this offer, please click here.

user62015

Thanks.

V.V.

19:43

No "of"

M.A.R.

22:40

Lalala

First SE post I used mobile to post

The only downside was me not feeling like leaving fancy links to confusing Wikipedia pages

Natalie Lauren

I need ideas for a 3-5 pg narrative, pg rated material please

M.A.R.

Hullo @Nat! Welcome to our chatroom

@NatalieLauren what are your options?

Natalie Lauren

?

M.A.R.

I mean, what context?

Does it need to be modern? Happening in the medieval era?

Or something else?

Does it need to be emotional, inspirational, or what?

Natalie Lauren

I perfer modern, but anything is cool

really any idea is game, it just has to pg rated and can be rapped up in 3-5 pg

M.A.R.

22:55

Hmm, I like the premise behind Elephant man

A really smart guy that looks hideous because of an illness

But he/she does something to save a lot of lives or something similar

What do you think?

Natalie Lauren

IDK, but i would perfer it to be a lot simplar, that sounds like a 1000 pg story

has to be more of a FIVE PG story

FIVE

M.A.R.

@NatalieLauren usually, 1000 page stuff is just 5 pages long if you know what you can pick to write

Natalie Lauren

...

M.A.R.

If you're looking for something five pages long, you'll find it's finishing in page 2

Natalie Lauren

just simple ideas please

M.A.R.

23:00

So you'll have to make stuff up

Natalie Lauren

damn

M.A.R.

OK OK

Lemme think of something else

Is this due tomorrow?

Natalie Lauren

I mean i have a story but it's like already 10 pg long

damn teacher wants the whole thing doubl space

M.A.R.

@NatalieLauren 10 pages is really good! We can easily reduce that to five

Natalie Lauren

so dumb

M.A.R.

23:01

@NatalieLauren O.o

Natalie Lauren

The images floated across the sky as the child commanded, the deer and the birds playing in the meadow. The tot was unnaturally beautiful, that laughed and giggled like bells at the magic, as the girl waved her hands in the air. The spell that told the story was beautifully simple one, a wave of the hand and a vibrant imagination. The woman smiled to her, as looked upon the children; at the siren and the angel. Born with no magic herself, the woman learned to love the girl’s gift, but saddened at the day when she would go out into the world; fearing that the child would view as freak. But f…

thats the story

M.A.R.

That's ten pages?

Natalie Lauren

im not even done w/ said story, and its has to a begining middle and end

i was exagerartiong before

it's 6pg

M.A.R.

OK, now that's a story that can go on forever

Natalie Lauren

what do you mean?

M.A.R.

23:07

You/we need to define an end, as well as a beginning. You defined a beginning, and rolled with it

That's why it's 6 pages and counting

Natalie Lauren

im baiscally gonna cut every thing after "IF they only knew the half of it."

and hit it into the action

im also gonna gut the part bout magic

M.A.R.

Yeah, that seemed inconsistent.

Natalie Lauren

...

M.A.R.

What does your teacher actually want from you anyway?

Something formal?

Natalie Lauren

a short 5 pg narrative thats supposed to be creative

M.A.R.

23:09

Does he/she take the assignment very seriously?

@NatalieLauren it was really good actually.

Natalie Lauren

it an honors teacher, so OF COURSE

thanks

the teacher won't bugde on the # of pg

M.A.R.

I wouldn't expect to enjoy any writing at 2:40 a.m., but it was enjoyable

Natalie Lauren

was gonna submit five best pg, but no

where are you in the world

2:40 AM

M.A.R.

@NatalieLauren No, don't do that

Natalie Lauren

!!

k

M.A.R.

23:11

@NatalieLauren the other corner

Natalie Lauren

anyways, the dumb teach won't bugde on pg#s

so i gottat figure out how to round it down to five

the only reason the itallics dont make, was because they were going to come later in the story

M.A.R.

@NatalieLauren I can help with that, but I should definitely sleep now.

Natalie Lauren

k, bye dude

M.A.R.

I would be able to help tomorrow, i.e. in 7 hours or something

But if it's already due tomorrow . . .

Natalie Lauren

that won't work

it's not due tommarrow

i just need ideas

M.A.R.

23:14

Well I gave you one

Natalie Lauren

thanks though

M.A.R.

And it wasn't long, believe me

But anyway, your choice

Natalie Lauren

k, bye dude

M.A.R.

Night

Catija

23:27

@NatalieLauren Please, don't ask questions a second time when they have already been closed once.

ColleenV

23:55

@NatalieLauren I did a quick search for "writing ideas" and found some possibilities, like creativewritingprompts.com and thinkwritten.com/365-creative-writing-prompts

There is lots of help on the Internet - writer's block is a very common problem :)

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