Language Overflow

CopperKettle

15:06

How to make electricity with cat and sandwich

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Damkerng T.

Poor cat!

CopperKettle

I posted a gif of this a while ago. (0:

Would "Bananas grow in the tropical climate" be generic, I wonder.

Damkerng T.

I remember that; I still feel it's not right for the cat!

@CopperKettle It would make me feel like it's a specific type of climate, as opposed to other existing types.

CopperKettle

Johns has been studying the tropical climate.

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

@CopperKettle IIRC Honduras is not really far-away. It's just below mexico.

CopperKettle

15:15

@Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ. It's a Russian joke from the 1970s. In the 1970s in Russia, any country beyond the Iron Curtain was as far away as Mars. And Honduras was as far away as Pluto.

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

@CopperKettle Pfft. And the guys with this terrible math managed to get to the moon?

CopperKettle

@Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ. The heroes of the joke are two usual soviet guys, not kosmonauts. (0:

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

@CopperKettle I'd never thought I'd see the words "hero", "usual" and "kosmonaut" go in one sentence.

CopperKettle

nods

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

@Dam please add nods to the tags of this room.

Damkerng T.

15:22

Hah!

CopperKettle

nods

lekon chekon

okay.
I'm back.
I was on facebook.
I came across a status that some guy had put up,and it went like "Here's one of the few attempts to make my own music" (he had had a mp3 clip attachted to that status)

And i was wondering..
"one of the few attemps at making my own music"
And
"one of the few attempts to make my own music",do they mean the same? :P
Are both of them grammatically correct?

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

@lekonchekon They supposedly mean the same, while I'd imagine his version be more idiomatic.

It's like

Damkerng T.

I think attempts [to make ...] is relatively new. (when attempts is a noun)

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

> [one of the few attemps] [at making my own music]

vs.

> one of the few {attempts to make my own music}

Oh no I'll turn into @Snail in three months.

lekon chekon

15:25

it's basically simlar to how one plans to do something,and how one plans on doing something,i suppose.

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

@lekonchekon That might be different.

"to make my own music" modifies "attempt" in the version you suggested.

Wait.

lekon chekon

i see.

okay.

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

@Dam do you think both modify "attempt"?

CopperKettle

I remember that in PEU there's a mention of a difference in meaning between "try to do something" and "try doing something".

Damkerng T.

Yes, I do.

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

15:27

@CopperKettle Well, this is "attempt at gerund" versus "attempt to gerund".

CopperKettle

@Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ. "attempt to \basic form\"

"Here's one of the few attempts to make my own music"

Damkerng T.

I don't know why, but if I see someone uses "an attempt to do something", I'd think that they are relatively young. (I wrote "see and hear", but deleted the hear part, because if I heard them, I would be able to guess their age.)

CopperKettle

ell.stackexchange.com/a/75479/2127

I tried to start at kindergarten level and then pass on to the boring stuff

lekon chekon

does that link consist something i should take a look at?

consist of*

CopperKettle

It's long answer to a question on article usage. Very long. (0:

lekon chekon

15:38

the above was constructed quite poorly as well,it seems

CopperKettle

0

A: Is "Bananas grow in a tropical climate" grammatically correct?

Having read the first four answers, I'll try to describe my understanding of this issue. Imagine that you have opened a plant encyclopedia at a random page. At the top of the page, you see "Banana": the title of a long article. Then you ask your friend to read a random sentence from that articl...

You may take a look, if you want to. (0:

lekon chekon

it's 9 in the night here,and it's time for me to go out plany tennis with my friends,i'll get back,and give it a look. :'3

and thank you all,for helping me out,and stuff. :)
I really appreciate it. :)

CopperKettle

@lekonchekon It's the same time here!

lekon chekon

great :')

CopperKettle

@lekonchekon You're welcome!

I assume you are from India or Pakistan. (0:

lekon chekon

15:41

india. :|

CopperKettle

Nice! (0:

Nihilist_Frost

remember the guy that keeps posting the same question about noun adjuncts?

lekon chekon

not that nice,actually.
december is supposed to be cold. ._.
december is not supposed to have you go head out in a tank,and half pants. ._.

minus the go.

CopperKettle

minus the go?

lekon chekon

have you head out*

CopperKettle

15:43

We are having an extremely warm weather too. Minus 4C.

lekon chekon

._.

i'm amused. ._.) xD

tata,for now.
I

Nihilist_Frost

No real snow yet where I live.

CopperKettle

I too. (0:

Nihilist_Frost

Ontario

lekon chekon

i'll talk you guys later. :3

CopperKettle

15:44

Bye, Lekon!

Must be a nice place, Ontario. (0:

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

@CopperKettle Yeah I fat-fingered that.

@Nihilist_Frost TELL ME THE COLLOCATIONS IN COUGH TROUBLE, dammit.

Nihilist_Frost

@Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ. Yeah, THAT guy.

CopperKettle

"Cough out the collocations"

Nihilist_Frost

he posted that question four times in a row

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

1

Q: What is the significance of "twelve" in "worth twelve of"?

“You’re worth twelve of Malfoy,” Harry said. This is a sentence from Harry Potter I, where Harry said this to Neville. My question is what is actually meant by saying this. Is there any significance of twelve ?

Primarily Opinion-Based?

Damkerng T.

15:52

I think it's okay. Maybe the OP didn't know the meaning.

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

BTW @Dam @Copper make sure to read this stuff here:

CopperKettle

Dunno. An easy question. Just google for "meaning of number 12"

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

158

Q: Toward a philosophy of Chat

TL;DR: The Problem This keeps happening in chat: Surprise at flags on vulgar messages. Language that would invariably get your comments deleted on the main site occasionally gets flagged and deleted in chat. Confusion reigns. Controversial topics leading to bickering and name-calling. Folks b...

discussion featured chat feedback help

@DamkerngT. Is it even related to English?

Damkerng T.

@CopperKettle It's an easy one indeed.

@Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ. I tried to imagine a language that "N of someone" doesn't work. I don't know. It could exist.

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

@DamkerngT. Nitrogen of someone?

Damkerng T.

15:54

N as in number!

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

o_o 35 of someone?

Damkerng T.

Some writers may write that, though it's unlikely, I admit.

Nihilist_Frost

Speaking of Harry Potter:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WF332nbXvN8

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

Eh, are we speaking of Harry Potter?

Anyway it's a curse, I won't click on a YouTube link here.

Damkerng T.

Somehow I can't remember that scene.

Nihilist_Frost

15:58

I don't understand all of Moody's accent, lol

Draco: "Why so tense Potter? My father and I had a bet you see. I don't think you're gonna last ten minutes in this tournament. He disagrees. He thinks you won't last five."

CopperKettle

I won't downvote this, but it seems like you're overanalyzing it. I have no problem with Bananas grow in a warm climate anywhere in an article; that's just a normal way of using the word climate. Other examples (from books): Most viniferas grow best in a Mediterranean-type of climate with long, relatively dry summers and mild winters; “Cool-season” cereals (wheat, rye, barley, and oats) grow best in a moderate climate; These trees grow in a temperate climate; Several orchids which usually grow in a warmer climate will also thrive in the warmer parts of the intermediate orchid house. — J.R. ♦ 5 mins ago

Draco is one of the best actors in that movie, BTW. He has some verve.

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

0

Q: The use of the verb "comprise"

Singapore comprises one main island and several offshore islands. Singapore is comprised of one main island and several offshore islands. Are these two sentences grammatically correct and which one better?

verb-usage

Both are acceptable, no?

Nihilist_Frost

@CopperKettle BLOAAAT

CopperKettle

@Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ. Yes, both are acceptable, and there are a gazzillion articles on this issue everywhere. (0:

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

Yeah.

CopperKettle

16:04

@Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ. There are most likely answers to this question on the ELU

Damkerng T.

@CopperKettle Another speaker who uses "grow best/better in a ..." to explain "grow in a ..."

CopperKettle

@DamkerngT. Yes. (0:

Damkerng T.

I don't know, but I think it would be fairer to compare the OP's sentence with something like Viniferas grow in a Mediterranean climate.

CopperKettle

@DamkerngT. yes

Damkerng T.

Wouldn't that make it sound like viniferas grow in only a single place?

CopperKettle

16:09

@DamkerngT. I feel that it almost might be so. Maybe with some mild restructuring.

Damkerng T.

Hmm... the type in Mediterranean-type makes me think of something.

I think it's fine with type, because it's a type (of climate).

CopperKettle

BBL!

Damkerng T.

See you later!

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

@Dam Sorry to bother, I have a COCA usage question.

I just wrote a short answer to that "comprises"/"is comprised of" thingy.

I also want to add a COCA thingy there.

Damkerng T.

Yes?

You mean you wanna add a link to your COCA search, I guess?

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

16:22

So if I search for [comprise], I'll get its forms: comprised, comprises, comprising, and comprise itself.

Damkerng T.

nods

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

But I'm trying to get the query to show the frequency difference between "is comprised of" and "comprises".

Damkerng T.

I think you need two searches.

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

OK.

Damkerng T.

And account for the dup of comprised in is comprised of. Wait...

you want only comprises, right?

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

16:24

Yeah.

Damkerng T.

Still two searches, but you can be specific with comprises.

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

Interesting typo. COCA has an instance with a freq of 1 for "is comprise of".

Damkerng T.

nods

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

@Dam I wonder, would Ngram be reliable for "comprises" versus "is comprised of"? I can't imagine why it wouldn't be.

Damkerng T.

nods -- I think I agree with your idea.

BTW, I think the chat meta post is really interesting, but it's getting longer and longer, and I think there is one unstated rule: the chat engine, i.e., the software won't change.

If it's changeable, I think I may have a suggestion, but as it is, I don't know anything better that what have already been said.

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

16:33

Hey @Dave! Welcome!

Damkerng T.

o/ @Dave

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

0

A: The use of the verb "comprise"

Both of the sentences are equally acceptable. Some argue that "BE comprised of" is incorrect usage, but there's really no reason to treat it differently from other transitive verbs. Usage note Comprise has had an interesting history of sense development. In addition to its original sense...

It became more of an answer than I depicted.

Damkerng T.

I think you forgot to answer one of the OP's questions. :D

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

Damkerng T.

Though I think it's rather clear which one is better, according to your reference, which agrees with my reference (Garner's).

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

16:41

@DamkerngT. I didn't. My first sentence is the answer.

Damkerng T.

I'm not sure which one you think is better or they're equally good.

I think I should explain myself a little.

"Are these two sentences grammatically correct and which one better?"

The first part "grammatically correct?" is of the grammar department, while "which one better" is of the style department, imho.

For example, I think we wouldn't write The United States of America composes 50 states; and I think that's why people don't want to see is comprised of being used the same way is composed of is used.

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

Oh, that's not what I meant Ale. Check whether if you can contract "have" in these sentences or not: "I have a nice bicycle." & "I'll have lunch in an hour." & "I have done something terrible." — Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ. 24 secs ago

Dave

Hey guys. This might be basic, but I'm not sure. Is the following sentence passive ?

The sight of an unsolved puzzle may be catched.

Damkerng T.

It is.

Dave

My original sentence was You may also catch a sight of a puzzle that seems to be left unsolved.

I changed it for a passive but I dont like it very much

Damkerng T.

16:49

BTW, shouldn't it be caught?

Dave

woha

thanks @DamkerngT.

Damkerng T.

No problem!

I swear I've seen some teachers use I've my homework before.

But I think, theoretically, Ale is correct.

Don't speakers of British English use "I've" in the sense of "I possess"? For example, I've a fiver. — stangdon 33 secs ago

LOL -- Just what I thought!

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

@DamkerngT. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ He thought it's an easy question to answer.

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

17:10

One of the most "revolting" revisions I've done on ELL: ell.stackexchange.com/posts/75529/revisions

Damkerng T.

<3

I wish I could +1 our edits.

A must-see! This kind of record had never crossed my mind!

FURTHEST FART POWERED BALLOON DART HIT 'GINNES WORLD RECORDS

►

LOLRTF

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

Oh I'm speechless.

CopperKettle

17:34

@DamkerngT. Those Japanese!

Damkerng T.

Another world record!

CopperKettle

18:16

Among the delusions which at different periods have possessed themselves of the minds of large masses of the human race, perhaps the most curious -- certainly the least creditable -- is the modern soi-disant science of political economy, based on the idea that an advantageous code of social action may be determined irrespectively of the influence of social affection.

(I thought this was a typo)

soi-disant

Adjective: soi-disant ‎(not comparable)

Self-styled; self-proclaimed.
soi-disant m, f ‎(invariable)

Adverb: soi-disant

supposedly
soi-disant

I just tried to read Ruskin's book on a quote from which this question hinges:

2

Q: "be" or "being"? "And though absolute justice be unattainable, as much justice as we need for all practical use is attainable"

Though absolute justice being/be unattainable, as much justice as we need for all practical use is attainable by all those who make it their aim. (Ruskin, Unto this Last (1862)) which one? why? also,what does this sentence mean? source:http://marker.to/oNVg4m A quote from the text of the...

subjunctive

CopperKettle

18:40

A mild climate is a mild climate; I don't read too much into the indefinite article there. Snowmen don't like a tropical climate doesn't seem any more unusual than, say, Yesterday was a rainy day. But I wouldn't delete this answer. I may not agree with it 100%, but there are some interesting kernels to think about. — J.R. ♦ 13 mins ago

Anonymous

21:55

@Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ. Ironically, though your face is a Japanese character, the arm represented by a backslash only shows up properly if your locale is not set to Japanese. For historical reasons, \ is a yen sign in Japanese.

Anonymous

languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=22784

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