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Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
00:59
Let's do a short chatblog ...
1
Q: 'she will always complain' versus 'she is always complaining' - any difference?

user5577Is there any difference between she will always complain and she is always complaining Does the first mean that it is bad habit that she always does in any time and does the second mean in some very precise occasions.

modal-verbs present-progressive
The question above reminds me of one main pattern that's common in a lot of ELL questions.
This kind of question usually comes in the form of a couple alternatives and then asks about the difference between the alternatives.
Presumably, the learner has heard or seen one of the alternatives and then tries to vary the sentence.
Usually, the variation is not about vocabulary, not at a word or phrase level, but it would be about some function words. The most popular ones are the tense part, and sometimes an article, sometimes a preposition.
I think it's obvious that when we get one of this question, we can assume that the learner is either an adult learner or a grammar-based learner.
Why? Because, IMHO, these two groups are the most likely ones who will make a variation out of context.
(I've coined a term for this. It's "hacking" a sentence.)
A few points that may be worth thinking are: a) why does this happen? b) is it useful (for the learners themselves)? c) if no, what is a better approach for them?
(end of chatblog)
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
01:18
6
Q: Is "says you" grammatically correct?

TheoYouSo I heard it from a character in a movie, and looked it up. If it's correct, why add '-s' to say when the subject is "you"?

grammaticality idioms
Now I'm curious about the origin of the phrase.
Is it like the 'd confusion?
Nihilist_Frost
Nihilist_Frost
gameofthrones.wikia.com/wiki/Pronunciation_guide
gonna try to convert to IPA, lol
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
LOL
Nihilist_Frost
Nihilist_Frost
01:36
Daenerys Targaryen = dəˈnɛrɪs tɑ(ɹ)ˈgɛəɹiən
Catelyn = kætlɪn
they pronunciation-respell Daenerys as "Duh-NAIR-iss" though
though I think it is due to Mary-merry-marry merger
Kurzd
Kurzd
02:36
@DamkerngT. Turns out memorizing tenses wasn't really necessary. I am supposedly ready to get a B2 level. Yay. German shall follow.
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
@Kurzd Yay!
Kurzd
Kurzd
@DamkerngT. Glad you remember the context and that my ghosting has been seemingly forgiven.
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
Ahh... no need to worry at all. Ghosting is what everyone does. :D
Kurzd
Kurzd
Forgot pinging stops being necessary. My face went from :D to :|
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
Aww
BTW, here is a secret of ghosting. :P
user image
Kurzd
Kurzd
02:45
Had to read that twice. Quite resonating but that image may be biasing me
If I had to bet, I'd say you last saw that image within this week. Or it's your wallpaper.
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
@Kurzd Ah, no. It's a line from a movie, so I'm kinda able to remember it. :D
Kurzd
Kurzd
03:13
Aw. What movie?
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
After Earth
(Taglines: Danger is real. Fear is a choice.)
:D
Kurzd
Kurzd
Hmm. I can see two meanings in those taglines. Somewhat like YOLO, which got the wrong one
Found it! "The fearless are merely fearless. People who act in spite of their fear are truly brave.", attributed to James A. LaFond-Lewis according to the first result
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
03:33
Nice one!
Kurzd
Kurzd
After Earth's praises fearlessness, the other one praises bravery. When I started looking for it I felt they were the same thing. Whoops.
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
Swaddee khrap!
Kurzd
Kurzd
03:52
Did you...sneeze while looking at your roof?
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
@CowperKettle Zdorovo! (and 'waddee khrap!)
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
Zdovovenki buli! ^_^
@DamkerngT. Fear is a choice, unless you have an anxiety disorder. Or depression. Or pheochromocytoma. Or pituitary tumor. Or PTSD.
IMDB rating: 4.9
Not impressive.
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
@CowperKettle From what I heard, many didn't like that the father and son in the movie were really father and son in real life.
Visual is great. Story is also good, if you asked me.
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
I recall seeing a street ad for the movie some years back..
Daymn typos.
Kurzd
Kurzd
04:19
How does the letter 'c' work in Latin? K as in key?
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
04:49
What if I say: "John, I have seen a lot of wrong formulas used by my students to calculate the Gibbs free energy of this reaction. You are using a wrong formula too, but a formula that I have never come across yet". — CowperKettle 39 secs ago
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
05:31
You are confusing human rationality (rationality 1) with logic (rationality 2) (reference)‌​. Rationality 2 has little to do with language. — Matt E. Эллен ♦ Aug 8 '12 at 10:12
Word of the day: attributive wrong, courtesy of Bernhard Schwarz
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
05:46
Great question! This Google Ngram suggests that "a wrong person" might have been correct in 1800, but that the idiom has since become "the wrong person". And because it's changed over time, there probably isn't any logical reason it should be "the" rather than "a". — Peter Shor Aug 8 '12 at 4:35
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
06:06
The amazing race Canada season 3 Ep 09
►
I couldn't recognize his Kolkata!
@CowperKettle Yay!
For some reason, the wrong X is very, very special! (at least it's so to me)
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
To me too. It is very, very counterintuitive and odd.
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
(Hence, "I pushed #a wrong button".)
nods
0
Q: Meaning of the word "FINE" in the sentence - "100% FINE JAMAICAN RUM"

Dirty HippyIn what sense the word "FINE" is used here? ps Sorry, I'm a little drunk.

word-usage
Note the PS!
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
06:22
^_^
(I'm lurking; translating some stuff)
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
07:04
I wonder why there's no dictionary entries for "In a first for"
> In a first for both the expo and the Russian market, a new set of 3D printing equipment capable of .. was presented at Stand 34.
Maybe it's not idiomatic?
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
I guess we can think of it literally.
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
07:23
Juno Captures the 'Roar' of Jupiter
►
That might interest you
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
Bow shock!
Cardinal
Cardinal
07:45
hi Damkerng
when we can use of with alive things ?
for example,
Lives of people
or
Peoples' Live
with things which are alive, infact
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
I don't see any problem with saying "The lives of people"
Good noon, Cardinal!
Cardinal
Cardinal
08:09
Hi Cop
I though we should use of with inanimate objects when we want to construct a possessive form
or, lives of people is not a possessive form?! nods I am not sure
@CowperKettle
Man_From_India
Man_From_India
Good afternoon @DamkerngT. @CowperKettle @Cardinal
Cardinal
Cardinal
@Man_From_India Thank you
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
Good afternoon!
@Cardinal I can't think of a clear rule or guideline, but generally you can use either.
Man_From_India
Man_From_India
I prefer the lives of people over people's lives for no other reason than just my personal choice or preference.
Cardinal
Cardinal
but I think It is not very correct to say "the job of Bob is dealing with food"
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
08:23
I guess it depends a lot on context.
We'd say It's my life, but for the life of me.
Then again, we also say in my life.
Man_From_India
Man_From_India
I don't think there is any rules or guidelines. But the best advice to a learner here is to always take a note of what natives use.
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
nods
Cardinal
Cardinal
So, the strict rule is for using apostrophe ? - avoid using apostrophe with objects which/who are alive
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
No, I don't think you have to avoid that.
In fact, I'm thinking that maybe using the apostrophe s is probably the default.
Cardinal
Cardinal
I know we can say system's elements
I mean in a very general speaking
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
08:27
If there is any rule against 's, it would be something like: don't use 's with non-living things.
Cardinal
Cardinal
So we should memorize all of them ?

The wheel of bicycle
The car's radio
....
Man_From_India
Man_From_India
And there is - system element.
Cardinal
Cardinal
@DamkerngT. I said the same thing
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
@Cardinal I wouldn't say we should memorize any of them, but somehow we'll "know".
Cardinal
Cardinal
Oh, I forgot to type
not alive
My bad
sorry
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
08:28
@Cardinal Oh, I see!
Don't worry! I make a lot of typos myself!
Man_From_India
Man_From_India
@Cardinal with practice and experience you'd be a master of this in no time. In these type of situation, you can take help of Google N-gram.
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
BTW, the "don't use 's with non-living things" rule is not a very good rule.
Cardinal
Cardinal
nods
Man_From_India
Man_From_India
Anyway this 's and of-progressive and attributive rules are all kind of restrictive and limited. They produce lot of exceptions. And it's best avoided. I don't think a good teacher will consider these rules as something real.
Cardinal
Cardinal
@Man_From_India I see
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
08:40
user image
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
@Cardinal This might be interesting to you: motivatedgrammar.wordpress.com/2009/02/23/…
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
> Dale Carnegie has published a book titled "How to get rid of the friends you got thanks to my previous book"
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
:D
Cardinal
Cardinal
:)
Which is the difference between washing powder and laundry detergent ?
user image
What is the difference in fact :)
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
I know one difference. Nobody knew what I was talking about when I told them I wanted laundry detergent when I was in Frankfurt. :-)
Cardinal
Cardinal
09:02
:))
Cardinal
Cardinal
09:14
consider:

A woman is in a grocery store. Packaging and advertising serves to importune her to buy one brand rather than others.

I found this definition of **serve** the most closest in meaning:
**to be used for a particular purpose, especially not the main or original purpose**

But, I think **serve** means that something is used just for an specific reason and this thing has no other significance. Am I right? If so, why the dictionary says **especially not the main or original purpose** ?
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
09:25
Hmm... serve is probably okay. I think importune there is more problematic. Chances are, the sentence was written by a non-native speaker.
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
09:37
oregonlive.com/the-spin-of-the-ball/index.ssf/2013/11/…
^Old news, but interesting.
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
The Japanese spent 10 years to complete "Minesweeper" on 777 m level
meganewsweb.com/en/news/…
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
o_O
V.V.
V.V.
10:04
Good afternoon!
Cardinal
Cardinal
@DamkerngT. It is a book, especially a vocabulary book

https://books.google.nl/books?id=QtJoCwAAQBAJ&pg=RA16-PR95&dq=1100+words+you+need+to+know+serves+to+importune+her+to+buy+one&hl=nl&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjhgKOjy97NAhXHNhoKHecuBPEQ6AEIJDAA#v=onepage&q=1100%20words%20you%20need%20to%20know%20serves%20to%20importune%20her%20to%20buy%20one&f=false
@V.V. hi
V.V.
V.V.
Struggling with connection all morning
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
@Cardinal nods -- It's possible then. But I don't think this usage is very common.
I wonder who wrote it.
Cardinal
Cardinal
@DamkerngT. nods I see
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
It's not ungrammatical, but it's unfamiliar, a bit strange, even, IMHO.
Cardinal
Cardinal
10:08
I think the word that fits the context is cajole
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
For one thing, I'd expect the subject of importune to be a person.
Cardinal
Cardinal
But, again, the common subject is a person, he/she cajoled him to(into) ...
@V.V. Where are you from? I have the same problem with the internet yesterday ? Are you from Russia ?
I say this, since I think Russia's internet and Iran's have some relations, I am not sure
V.V.
V.V.
Mine depends on weather. If there's wind, thunderstorms, downpour, you shouldn't expect anything good.
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
Mine costs $5 a month, runs at 10 mbit/sec without any problems.
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
@CowperKettle Hey, that's cheaper than mine!
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
10:20
(0:
That's because the ruble dropped below ground.
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
LOL
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
It was $10 a month a couple a years back, and in rubles it's the same figure still.
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
Mine is at $20 a month. It's claimed to be 10 Mbps, but in real life it's only about 6 Mbps.
Correction: it's more like $17, according to the current exchange rate.
Cardinal
Cardinal
@CowperKettle Don't have any limit on total amount of bits you upload or download?
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
Mine is officially 10 Mbps, but from about 1 a.m. it can reach 50 Mbps
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
10:22
@CowperKettle Hah! Cool!
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
@Cardinal No, since about 2007 or 2008 there has been no limit
Cardinal
Cardinal
@CowperKettle Wow, sounds like heaven !
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
Note to self: buy more stocks of internet providers ...
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
@Cardinal You'll get used to it soon. (0:
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
behemothically bad — TRomano 5 mins ago
Cardinal
Cardinal
10:27
mine is 512Kbit per second, 5 Gigabyte download upload limit a month, $6 a month. It is really expensive
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
LOL
Cardinal
Cardinal
while being suck
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
@Cardinal It's cheaper than mine, still, though slower.
Cardinal
Cardinal
does behemothically means very enormous and giant ?
what does that mean?
V.V.
V.V.
Funny
If it originates from "hippo "
Right?
Neologism
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
10:37
I don't know about "hippo", but yes it usually means enormous.
BTW, ...
user image
Mothra is behemothic!
:P
> en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godzilla_vs._Mothra
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
> A cow is a big animal with a leg in each corner.
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
A rectangular cow!
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
It's from children school essays (in Russian)
There are collections of such quotations making rounds over the years in Russia.
> And the dog went away, wiggling its tail with gratitute. Not every man could do the same!
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
How could we?!
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
> But how did the revolutionaries hid their secret documents? Their suitcases had double soles.
> The train engineer himself could not explain how he ended up on top of Anna Karenina.
> But the soldier suddenly recalled that there was a rifle in his pocket.
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
10:51
O_o"
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
> A black man entered the room, his cheeks rozy from the frosty weather outside.
Cardinal
Cardinal
what a description with a leg in each corner ! :)) :X
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
@DamkerngT. Don't you have such collections of funny sentences from school essays?
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
School essays? Hmm...
I don't have much memory about school essays.
(trying so hard to forget them!)
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
> In the hall, everything was as quiet as if everyone were dead. How beautiful it was!
> A pig has a little squigly tail in the back, used for distinguishing it from the other animals.
> The density of population in Australia is four square persons per kilometer.
Cardinal
Cardinal
10:55
ha ha ha
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
^_^
> Pierre Bezukhov (a key character in "War and Peace") had little to boast about from a love standpoint: he married right away.
> Her eyes were staring at each other with love.
Cardinal
Cardinal
:))
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
(0:
Cardinal
Cardinal
>-<
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
> She never heard a kind word from him, except the word "stupid".
> In this cage I keep my feathered friend, a hamster.
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
11:05
Hamsters want to fly, too!
V.V.
V.V.
My school teacher used to quote such sentences.
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
So did mine!
V.V.
V.V.
There was a question on RSE about a cup of tea, how to say "chaya" or "chayu".
I liked one of the comments. "Drink coffee instead, coffee doesn't change according to cases."
Cardinal
Cardinal
11:22
Wow, we say in Persian Chayee :))
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
(0:
> What would the world be, once bereft
Of wet and of wildness? Let them be left,
O let them be left, wildness and wet;
Long live the weeds and the wilderness yet.
Cardinal
Cardinal
You can add:

/'este ka:n/ :)))
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
?
Cardinal
Cardinal
استکان
استکان (به روسی: Стакан) ظرفی شیشه ای یا سفالی -لعابی است که برای نوشیدن چای و قهوه استفاده می‌شود. استکان معمولاً از جنس شیشه ساخته می‌شود و دارای دیواره‌ای استوانه‌ای یا مخروطی با کفی تخت است. معمولاً نوشیدنی داغ را درون استکان می‌ریزند و استکان را با نعلبکی استفاده می‌کنند. == ریشه‌شناسی == مطابق فرهنگنامه دهخدا، واژه استکان، واژه‌ای روسی به معنی پیاله است.. واژه روسی стакан نیز برگرفته از زبان‌های ترکی (مقایسه کنید واژه جغتایی tostakan به معنی کاسه چوبی) است. و خود این زبان‌های ترکی این واژه را درنهایت از واژهٔ فارسی «دوستکان»، «دوستگان»، یا «دوستکام» گرفته شده است که یعنی «معشوق»، «شرابی که...
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
ah
stakan
Cardinal
Cardinal
11:36
^-^
Стакан
Стака́н — обычно стеклянный сосуд, близкий по форме к цилиндру или усечённому конусу, без ручки. Применяется для холодных и горячих напитков. В последнем случае часто используется подстаканник. == Этимология == Слово достаканъ встречается в русской грамоте 1356 года и в Духовной грамоте Ивана Калиты (умер в 1340 году). Предполагается, что это заимствование от тюркской деревянной посуды — tostakan (низкая круглая посуда типа пиалы). В современном казахском языке тостаган}} представляет собой чашу для питья. По мнению ряда филологов, именно от слова тостаган происходит также и слово тост, а не от…
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
> According to the Encyclopedia Dehkhoda, wine word, a word line means Crater. [1] стакан Russian word derives from Turkish (cf. Dictionary Chagatai tostakan means wooden bowl) is. [2] and the Turkish the word Finally, from the Persian word "Dvstkan", "Dvstgan" or "Doostkam" is taken to mean "beloved", "wine lover eat" and "large cup"
Cardinal
Cardinal
lol :))
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
> The nonik (or nonic, pronounced "no-nick") a variation on the conical design, where the glass bulges out a couple of inches from the top; this is partly for improved grip, partly to prevent the glasses from sticking together when stacked, and partly to give strength and stop the rim from becoming chipped or "nicked".
Cardinal
Cardinal
sounds tea-stuff in Iran have something with Russia :))
Man_From_India
Man_From_India
The first part of this answer looks strange to me. Where he explains about "that". Though without context I don't know what that "that" is. (I haven't read the source though).
0
A: Can you explain the composition of this sentence?

JavaLatteWe use the word that to indicate that we are quoting somebody, so when I say that back home, we often refer to him as Shams Tabrizi it is equivalent to When I say "Back home, we often refer to him as Shams Tabrizi" In this context, affected means artificial and not sincere, and lot m...

Cardinal
Cardinal
11:41
@Man_From_India I left a comment there, and then I deleted it
Man_From_India
Man_From_India
I feel the first part is not correct. That's why I brought it up here. Let's see how others think of it.
Cardinal
Cardinal
back home means, in the "I"'s home which could be their house or country they pronounce it as /Shams Tabrizi/ which is very close to what the Persian say. /Shams {a roughly imperceptible /e/ sound} Tabrizi/
Man_From_India
Man_From_India
That's correct, but from there it's hard to guess what "that" is.
I am too lazy to read the source.
(while changing tv channel, that's my equivalent of watching tv, I ran into an ad titled "smiles of Africa" and it was showing the natives smiling. Instantly it reminded me of a young participant of this chatroom - Hanah.)
Cardinal
Cardinal
12:00
who is .... ?
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
@Man_From_India It's a that that joins a content clause to the main clause, I think.
 
2 hours later…
Man_From_India
Man_From_India
13:50
@DamkerngT. Ummm the text in OP's sentence gave me a different meaning. I might be wrong. But this is what I think it means -
> Back home when I say that (anything that refers to the things already mentioned, might be, my guess, the things about their discussion), she retorts, ‘You Indians are obsessed with the British, want to rhyme everything with Angrezi — affected lot!’
Sorry @DamkerngT..
You were right.
With more context, it made sense. It's exactly what you said.
The writer is famous for her witty funny remarks and writing. She is the wife of a famous bollywood actor. And a daughter of bollywood actor couples.
That letter was hilarious. I once used to read her articles on paper whenever it was published, but now I don't enjoy her cheap jokes anymore. But she is too pretty, or that is what I feel and so I like her. She once was an actress herself, but with so many flops she decided to stop doing films.
 
1 hour later…
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
15:30
0
Q: Does English have the grammatical concept of topic similar to Japanese?

Iam ToadDoes English have the grammatical concept of topic similar to Japanese? I think this is explained easier with an example. Some ask the question: What is the first thing you do in the morning? And people reply: Turn off the alarm, rub my eyes, and check reddit to make sure the world hasn't exp...

grammar
@snailplane alert, snailplane alert!
(0:
It would take a Japanese expert to understand this question.
Man_From_India
Man_From_India
:-)
GforOevOerD
GforOevOerD
16:05
Hi all. I'm practicing with an English tutorial book named "Passages" and I came to a question which is as so: "Complete sentences with (not) had to , was (not) supposed to, should(not) have, or (not) needed to and the correct form of the verb parentheses."

I'm wondering, what does (not) had to mean?
I have never ever heard (not) had to before whole my life.
V.V.
V.V.
They didn't want to give you correct negative forms.
GforOevOerD
GforOevOerD
What do you mean?
I don't think if not had to is correct.
V.V.
V.V.
Had to +infinitive, its negative form is didn't have to + infinitive
GforOevOerD
GforOevOerD
@V.V. Thanks!
V.V.
V.V.
Did you get the idea?
GforOevOerD
GforOevOerD
16:14
Yes
The negative form of had to is didn't have to and the book was trying to be clever which is a really wrong idea to teach beginners
V.V.
V.V.
You should make all these expressions negative
Can you write the rest of tbem?
Them
GforOevOerD
GforOevOerD
16:31
I think (not) there means to make verbs negative depending on the state.
Sure I should take a picture though.
user image
Araucaria
Araucaria
17:35
@GforOevOerD They want you to supply the did on your own ;)
GforOevOerD
GforOevOerD
@Araucaria Thanks
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
Neckbending pictures (0:
 
1 hour later…
GforOevOerD
GforOevOerD
18:57
@CowperKettle Haha I'm sorry. Next time I'll take correct pictures.
Nihilist_Frost
Nihilist_Frost
19:38
Last year there was a math problem involving Tyrion and Cersei in my textbook.
I couldn't stop ROFLing
And my whole class interpreted Tyrion as "Tyrone" except me.
 
2 hours later…
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
21:36
(High Valyrian) Word of the Day: valonqar
 
2 hours later…
Araucaria
Araucaria
23:25
@DamkerngT. "cuz they can't"
:)
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
It sounds almost like "cause they camp", right? :)
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
23:58
2
Q: As I have ever seen IT?

whitedevil The environment now is as toxic and destructive as I have ever seen it. (Source: Why I Am Leaving Goldman Sachs by Greg Smith (March 14, 2012). The New York Times.) I wonder. Why does the sentence not end with "....ever seen"? There is this strange it at the end, and I do not know the gr...

grammar sentence-structure
Interesting!

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