Language Overflow - 2016-09-05

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Lawrence

01:49

@JimReynolds I've posted a comment. Possibly a non-sequitur, though.

@DamkerngT. Ah, this is fundamentally a question about consciousness. There is one camp that says that consciousness is an emergent property. Take away enough neurons, and it's gone; add enough into a system, and it's there.

There is another camp that says that consciousness is a non-material property. It can be disrupted by the removal of neurons (just as 'life' can be disrupted by the removal of critical organs), but adding more neurons to a system just makes it do more processing, more quickly etc. It doesn't lead to consciousness, just as adding one or more organs to a dead person doesn't lead to the person reviving.

I suspect this is sufficiently unprovable by science (regardless of which camp you're in) that you make your choice based on factors other than the science (objectively demonstrable conjectures) of the matter.

@Cardinal Yes, the phrase is idiomatic. Possibly an example of metalepsis or some other figure of speech. Some might say metonymy, but strictly-speaking, wealth isn't part of the person.

Lawrence

02:30

@DEAD There is a view that after you've gone down the chain of fundamental particles fully (ad infinitum), what you end up with is nothing, structured in very interesting ways.

@DamkerngT. You might be right about that. :P

in English Language & Usage, Sep 1 at 12:31, by Lawrence

Help. I find some of the simplest questions hardest to answer. I submitted an answer to a Learners question. I'm not satisfied with the last paragraph of my answer and would like some input. The phrase under consideration is "one of (the) only five that were accepted". Is there a nuanced difference between the version with "the" and the version without? I think there is, but I'm finding it hard to pin down.

(just referring to the second sentence)

Sometimes, it can feel like I'm just talking to myself.

:)

shuts the door quietly to avoid waking everyone up

CowperKettle

03:00

Sawasdee khrap, overflowers.

2

Jim Reynolds

03:30

@DEAD You don't do enough studying. Get back to work instead of vandalizing SE.

Anonymous

@CowperKettle But are we overflow-ers, or over-flowers?

Jim Reynolds

04:00

@Cardinal If _____, I would ______. The use of would in your sentence suggests that your action will only happen if some condition is met.

@DEAD Please do not make threats that might injure chatroom participants. Thank you.

@Lawrence Just try to remember that I make the funny ones in here, ok?

Jim Reynolds

04:38

@snailplane Or bloomin' overflowerers?

Avicenna

05:32

PC chat is different from phone chat. While I was using PC I was infirmed if there were new questions on ELL.

Lawrence

@JimReynolds Heh, funny one. :P

@Avicenna Well, there's call-waiting.

@CowperKettle Oh, hello @CowperKettle. I'm so glad I checked what sawasdee khrap meant. I was almost led off the trail completely by @snail's flowers.

Hi @Avicenna, looks like a brief visit this round.

DEAD

05:48

Don't worry, my friends. For I am here to post random comics again

Lawrence

Hello @DEAD. Saw you come in.

DEAD

\o

Lawrence

I look forward to your philosophical frames.

DEAD

user image

Lawrence

@DEAD But in Round #2, the economist's perspective has changed. The stock market gets in early, sending the price of dirt skyrocketing. And the politicians sit back and relax, content that they've improved the economy. The alchemist takes up gardening, complaining about the price of dirt.

DEAD

05:56

Yeah I guess that's 2016.

You should go to ELU chat. They're having a very philosophical discussion I wouldn't want to understand.

Lawrence

Ok, I'll take a quick look. Bye!

DEAD

\o

Lawrence

Before I leave it too long - @JimReynolds: peace. :)

Lawrence

06:24

@DEAD Thanks, interesting discussion.

I'm heading off now. Bye!

Cardinal

@Lawrence Thanks

Hello I guys

I got sick severely

I don't know why

My body is fatigue, sorry if I didn't your comments

@JimReynolds It wasn't a conditional sentence, but a hypothetical one

Lawrence

06:51

@Cardinal :)

Hope you feel better soon, @Cardinal.

Damkerng T.

@Cardinal Get well soon!

@Lawrence Thanks for the feedback. This is interesting!

DEAD

@Cardinal Allergies?

Hope you get well soon

CowperKettle

@snailplane That's a tough question.. lemme think.. I chat a lot, so I'm an overflow-er. You're an over-flower! (0:

@Cardinal Get well soon! Same here. Fatigue is international. (0:

Damkerng T.

07:10

@CowperKettle I hope you feel better soon!

DEAD

Fatigue International Enterprises (FIE) is a company based on Histamine, US.

user image

2

Cardinal

07:34

@DEAD @DamkerngT. @CowperKettle @Lawrence thank you, my friends ^_^

CowperKettle

07:51

@DamkerngT. I'll try jogging now.

@DEAD That reminded me!

julia ecklar - the eternal flame

V.V.

08:44

What's that? Autumn? @Cardinal, get well soon.

Damkerng T.

09:34

2

Q: transformation of the object clause into "ing form"

1. I believe that John will be acquitted in the end. 2. I believe in John's being acquitted in the end. I would like to ask whether I can change sentence 1 into sentence 2. I am not sure if the second sentence with "ing form" is formulated properly and if indicates the future tense.

Though it's understandable and would be grammatical, it's not idiomatic.

The question is why. The why part is always hard.

(I tried to rephrase it several ways and wasn't able to come up with a good one that counters the OP's idea. I wonder if we have to fall back to "It just is" this time again.)

CowperKettle

10:10

@V.V. A poem written in Autumn 1917

> God's World

by Edna St. Vincent Millay

O world, I cannot hold thee close enough!
Thy winds, thy wide grey skies!
Thy mists, that roll and rise!
Thy woods, this autumn day, that ache and sag
And all but cry with colour! That gaunt crag
To crush! To lift the lean of that black bluff!
World, World, I cannot get thee close enough!

Long have I known a glory in it all,
But never knew I this;
Here such a passion is
As stretcheth me apart, - Lord, I do fear
Thou'st made the world too beautiful this year;

I never understood the precise meaning of "That gaunt crag to crush! To lift the lean of that black bluff!", but the poem is beautiful.

Damkerng T.

11:03

0

Q: Can anybody explain this for me, please?

"Earlier this year, Sam Stovall, U.S. equity strategist at S&P Global Market Intelligence, noted that the S&P 500 has a fairly good record of predicting election results. Since 1944, the incumbent person or party was reelected 82% of the time when the S&P 500 rose between July 31 and Oct. 31, ac...

meaning-in-context

Hmm... shouldn't it be of the times?

DEAD

Hmm, dunno

Damkerng T.

It's strange to use of the time like this in this context.

0

A: Is it ok to say "Improved the RBT's deletion operation's implementation"?

It is grammatical but awkward.

Hmm...

I'm not sure if it's qualified as an answer on ELL.

Jim Reynolds

11:26

@Cardinal What was the sentence again? I think you shouldn't have used would.

DEAD

@DamkerngT. Don't be unsure.

It's not an answer.

But considering how low the bar is for an answer on ELL, I won't dare flag.

Lawrence

@CowperKettle For kettles, metal fatigue is very serious :) . Maybe we're just spending too much time on Stack Exchange. I feel very tired as well.

@DamkerngT. Because sometimes you want to talk about the doing and the being, not just the result. (And yes, I could have referred to the action and the state. :) )

Damkerng T.

I'm not quite sure how to apply the doing/being idea to the OP's example.

(I'm not even sure if saying I believe in his acquittal is very idiomatic, but I guess it's passable.)

Lawrence

11:43

@CowperKettle Both might be continuations of the starting idea (hold thee = hug / embrace). A crushing embrace of the crag, and a gentle hold of the leaning black bluff. That last might be an allusion to ballroom dancing, where the female leans back, away from the male, but the male still has his arm around her - 'lifting' her 'lean', so to speak.

@DamkerngT. It's idiomatically singular when applied to the percentage: "82% of the time", like "the sky is grey some of the time". It may be plural if applied to the instances described later.

Damkerng T.

@Lawrence I'm okay with the sky example. This one is not like the sky examples, I think.

Lawrence

... Even if you extend the sentence to "The sky is grey some of the time when it rains.", it's still linked to some and is singular - it means that when it rains, sometimes the sky is grey. But you can say "The sky is grey some of the times it rains.", in which case, the thing you have some of is "the times it rains".

Damkerng T.

Especially when it's obvious that they mean 82% of the number of times.

(that they predict the results.)

Lawrence

@DamkerngT. I know what you mean, but "of the time" in the OP's question seems to stick closer to "was reelected 82%" than to the "when ..." part.

@DEAD Were you the one who was really keen on the tagging issue?

DEAD

I was.

I no longer am.

I think. I hope.

Lawrence

11:56

@DEAD Helmar's proposal has a chance, particularly if it pops up when writing the question. Otherwise, having it as a FAQ or blog or something easily found can help with cut-and-paste prompts to add tags. Retagging is a different matter, but Helmar's idea looks good. (If you've already tried something like that, then please ignore this message.)

DEAD

@Lawrence I haven't.

I started doing it, but people on meta.ELL aren't interested.

Assuming there are anyone left.

Lawrence

@DEAD Oh. Are the mods interested?

DEAD

They have people that get things done.

I'm admittedly jealous of meta.ELU'ers.

@Lawrence They don't seem to be either.

Lawrence

@DamkerngT. On ELU that would likely either be deleted or changed to a comment.

DEAD

The mods from the previous election have literally disappeared.

I only see Snail around.

And she's either not interested or waiting for other input.

So anyway, any attempt at coordinating the site to do some heavy tag-lifting fails.

Lawrence

12:08

@DEAD Oh, well. I suppose that's that, then.

CowperKettle

@Lawrence Thanks a million! Maybe I should ask this question on main site, and you would reply, so that other learners might find the explanation in the future.

There'll be some downvotes for "literary critique", but we'll do that quickly.

(0:

Lawrence

@CowperKettle I don't know about Learners, but on ELU it might be closed for being literary criticism.

CowperKettle

Aww. Okay.

Lawrence

@CowperKettle Haha :) . Looks like it's the same here.

@CowperKettle What you can do is bookmark the conversation.

CowperKettle

@Lawrence are there good examples of "lift the lean" in texts devoted to dancing? I came across quotations from the poem when I try googling.

Lawrence

12:13

@CowperKettle I doubt it. Possibly just "the lift".

CowperKettle

nods

Lawrence

@CowperKettle Actually, "the lift" seems to refer to actually lifting the other dancer up - it might be an even better fit for the "hug" theme.

CowperKettle

It fascinates me because it was published in 1917, the blackest year for Russia, probably the worst year since 1237.

And across the globe, it was just a beatiful autumn.

Damkerng T.

12:41

"That gaunt crag; To crush! To lift the lean of that black bluff!" -- I read this as "To crush that gaunt crag! To lift that black bluff's lean!"

(Robot is as robot does, BTW. :)

CowperKettle

12:58

@DamkerngT. (0:

Damkerng T.

@CowperKettle :D

CowperKettle

Crag crushed. Bluff lifted. Visual dectection: zero falling leaves. Aural detection: no calling birds. Mission accomplished.

Avicenna

Hi

CowperKettle

Hi, Avi!

Avicenna

Evening @CowperKettle

:-)

Damkerng T.

13:00

Hi!

@CowperKettle Haha!

Avicenna

@DamkerngT. 55

:D

Damkerng T.

IC!

CowperKettle

Do we use this sign to mean "approximately"? ~ 5 mg/ml

The curvy line

Damkerng T.

In math classes, yes.

CowperKettle

nods

Just checking. It's from a procedure explanation.

> The examined samples with a protein concentration of ~ 5 mg/ml were divided into 2 parts of 200 µL each and placed into separate tubes:

Avicenna

13:16

0

Q: Comparison of "in terms of, in regard of, with respect to, concerned with"

in terms of in regard to/of in respect to/of with regard to/of with respect to/of concerned with These a number of expressions mean "about" as far as i have learned by heart. but are they always interchangeable and perfectly the same meaning? If not, could you expl...

difference idiom-meaning

Do they really mean about?

CowperKettle

I hate questions with such lists, frankly

Each expression can have multiple meanings and usages.

What's the use of concocting such lists, instead of just memorizing and reading books?

Avicenna

But I don't think they mean about. Even in informal English.

@CowperKettle I don't really know.

CowperKettle

The OP is a non-native speaker, and he chose the word that came to his mind. (0:

Avicenna

I have never tried to memirize any expressions.

I mainly learn them in context.

CowperKettle

Wow.

I threw away a cardboard box stuffed with copy books a couple of years back, all filled with words and expressions.

Avicenna

13:21

If you ask me I cannot really tell the meanings of words in that list. But I know how and when to use them.

CowperKettle

nods

Avicenna

@CowperKettle Once I tried memorizing about 3000 words by leitner box. It didn't work. But my friend told me she learnt a lot of words that way. I guess these systems never work with me.

CowperKettle

@Avicenna Did you use the actual paper? Or a piece of software?

Avicenna

I maid a box and had some cards cut.

CowperKettle

nods

I used copy-books and little bits of paper with list of words

Avicenna

13:28

How was it. You learnt lots of new words?

CowperKettle

Yes. I checked myself: how many words I managed to answer right, and wrote down the figure on the page opposite the "word page"

Then I tried to recall the full list (20 words) each day in a 10 minute session. When I managed to recall the full list, I considered this portion "finished" and moved on.

Just to recall from memory.

Lawrence

@CowperKettle If it's important or dangerous, though, use the whole word: "... of about 5 mg/mL ..."

Avicenna

@CowperKettle 20 in just 10 minutes! Fascinating!

Hi @Lawrence!

CowperKettle

@Lawrence okay! thank you!

@Avicenna What is so fascinating? O_O Just to recall previously learned words. (0:

Avicenna

@CowperKettle when it comes to words I am really slow learning them. And after a lot of effort I just forget them easily.

Lawrence

13:33

@Avicenna If I read your question and the OP's correctly, I think they're using about as with "Let's talk about this", or in similar contexts.

Avicenna

@CowperKettle Yes, 4 me it is fascinating.

@Lawrence This way it's OK.

Lawrence

@Avicenna Hi! (I'm reading through in sequence - sorry if my replies seem out of order. :P)

@Avicenna Have you tried reading the classics?

Avicenna

@Lawrence I am getting used to it :D

Lawrence

:)

Avicenna

@Lawrence Classics?

Damkerng T.

13:37

Word of the Day: pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis

DEAD

Example sentence!

I ate a pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis yesterday.

Damkerng T.

LOL

Avicenna

@DamkerngT. I think I posted it once.

Damkerng T.

Or, I stumbled upon pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis on Child Genius.

@Avicenna A-ha! I've forgotten that!

Avicenna

Jul 2 at 9:40, by Sina

Word of the day: pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis :D

Damkerng T.

13:41

I 30! 555 :)

Avicenna

I 30 2. 5555

:D

Damkerng T.

:D

Jim Reynolds

@DEAD :D

DEAD

:E

Jim Reynolds

o.o

Avicenna

13:44

@JimReynolds This is a coincidence. I just thought where is JimReynolds. And you just appeared! O.o

DEAD

@Avicenna Gives you a hint of his ubernatural powers

Jim Reynolds

In philosophy classes, they teach, Jim is everywhere.

Damkerng T.

@DEAD Zoidberg's smiley?

DEAD

@DamkerngT. I didn't check, but I think E follows D in the letters.

Oh wait, actually, d follows D.

Or maybe not.

Jim Reynolds

wonders to self: How can I nearly sexually harass @DEAD, yet not elicit a warning from the robot?

replies to self: Why, I think I've just done it!

Avicenna

13:48

@JimReynolds Jim is ubiquitous!

Jim Reynolds

@Avicenna No profanity!

Avicenna

@JimReynolds ?

CowperKettle

a song about Jim ( Jim Hawkins from the Treasure Island)

DEAD

user image

Jim Reynolds

@Avicenna I was pretending not to know what ubiquitous means, and subtlety hinting that it kind of looks like bitch.

Avicenna

13:53

@JimReynolds Sorry for not understanding your pretending!

BTW, I was pretending I didn't understand too.

;-)

Jim Reynolds

@Avicenna O.O

Damkerng T.

@JimReynolds That's not correct. Ubiquitous is another spelling of Rubik Cute Thus. :)

Jim Reynolds

@CowperKettle Highly enjoyable. I was dancing along with the pirates!

@DamkerngT. XD

CowperKettle

@JimReynolds It's a quite psychedelic remake of Treasure Island, late Soviet period. There are cartoons mixed with such video-clips

Avicenna

@DamkerngT. o.O

Jim Reynolds

13:58

@Avicenna I didn't at all understand you were pretending not to understand that I was pretending not to understand what I understood. Understand?

CowperKettle

In the song, they say that Jim abstains from Gin and takes excercise and thus will beat the pirates who drink and smoke.

Avicenna

@JimReynolds Pretending to understand your pretending not to understand your as well as my pretending.

Damkerng T.

@CowperKettle Wow, what a power of Gin abstinence! :)

@Avicenna Don't worry. I was just being silly. :)

Jim Reynolds

@CowperKettle Curing pirates of bad habits. What a sisyphean endeavor!

Avicenna

@DamkerngT. I was pretending to be silly 2 just like you were!

CowperKettle

14:02

(0:

Jim Reynolds

@Dam is programmed to produce silliness at random intervals.

Damkerng T.

:D

Jim Reynolds

It may need a little adjusting, if you ask me

Damkerng T.

clank, clank, clink! (A robot is installing a new module onto itself.)

Jim Reynolds

Don't break your pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis!

Damkerng T.

14:03

LOL

Avicenna

Oh, a dangerous self-upgrading robot!

Damkerng T.

;-)

Jim Reynolds

Haha. Looks nervously around for signs of @Lawrence.

@Avicenna Yes. We've had chatbots for some time. But a chatroom moderating chatbot? Shivers with dread.

Avicenna

@JimReynolds :D

Damkerng T.

Strangely enough. A chatbot moderating a chatroom is about the same thing as a chatroom moderating chatbot.

BTW, I just heard bacon as naked today!

> youtube.com/watch?v=qZ0GRY7F_lg

Avicenna

14:11

@DamkerngT. :D

Lawrence

I've just been at ELU's chat, engaging in that philosophical discussion previously mentioned. This room has woken up since then! (Starting where I left off and working forward again.)

Damkerng T.

@Lawrence This room is some room. :-)

DEAD

This room usually wakes up.

It never really goes to sleep.

Damkerng T.

Sometime it could detect people's presence.

Lawrence

@Avicenna This kind of happened to me as well. In a much more awkward way. Might even have caused consternation.

@JimReynolds hello

@DEAD Could'a fooled me. :P

12 hours ago, by Lawrence

Sometimes, it can feel like I'm just talking to myself.

DEAD

14:19

@Lawrence I never feel that way.

Instead, I hear HISTORY listening

The ground rumbles as I speak

CowperKettle

One of my favorite cartoons as a kid, with English subtitles

Lawrence

@DEAD :P

Jim Reynolds

@Lawrence o/

Lawrence

@Avicenna Books that have been recommended over the years for people learning English - including native speakers. I'm sure @JimReynolds will have a set at the ready to list for you.

Jim Reynolds

I encourage extremely interesting reading that is very easy to understand, and not looking up words, unless one feels a strong and genuine interest in doing so.

Damkerng T.

14:29

@Lawrence Like Dr. Suess' stories?

Lawrence

@DamkerngT. For rhymes and rhythm, perhaps, but there's a lot of nonsense and silliness there as well.

Damkerng T.

One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish, android fish, cyborg fish, robofish.

@Lawrence ^An example of silliness. :P

Jim Reynolds

@Cardinal I got It's fun to be funny from Dr. Suess.

Lawrence

Some of the classics include The 39 Steps, The Count of Monte Cristo, almost anything from authors like Shakespeare, Jane Austen, etc. The only problem is that these are pitched at a somewhat advanced level.

Jim Reynolds

m.facebook.com/…

Lawrence

14:35

Have a read of Jim's profile, last paragraph before he lists his publications.

@DamkerngT. :)

Jim Reynolds

That is all cover stories. I'm KGB.

DEAD

@Lawrence We're all doomed

Damkerng T.

Let's quote Jim!

> I am better at using English than I am at explicitly understanding and explaining grammar. I have come to learn more about it explicitly only since becoming an English teacher. I strongly believe that we learn languages (native and later-acquired) almost entirely from use, and that learning grammar directly and explicitly is only useful for people who love it or need to learn it for a clear purpose. I think that most or many people who learned English in large part by studying grammar, essentially learned English incidentally in using English around the topic, and that most or many would …

I agree with all that.

Jim Reynolds

Terribly wordy. Tortuous. Labrynthine. Overwrought. Prolix. Turbid!

Lawrence

Dr Seuss uses more complicated rhymes, with cadence - more like: Fishing for the android // Whooshing past an asteroid // Wishing to re-interoid // Jimbo's English is on ste-ri-oids.

(I don't recommend abuse of steroids, though.)

Damkerng T.

14:41

@JimReynolds It flows nicely. Overflow-ish, even!

Jim Reynolds

The Call of the Wild is a good book. My Side of the Mountain.

@DamkerngT. Like a clogged toilet?

Damkerng T.

@JimReynolds I came to know it (The Call of the Wild) because of The Night of.

@JimReynolds Like whatever the reader has in mind. :-)

Jim Reynolds

@DamkerngT. O.O

drive.google.com/file/d/0B_hivi_ChoizQ1d6YVJDb1FOSk0/…

Damkerng T.

According to the series, it's the most frequently borrowed book in prisons. I wonder why. I might try to find it and read it some day.

DEAD

@DamkerngT. A clogged toilet

Damkerng T.

14:45

@DEAD Heh!

@JimReynolds Never saw this one!

Lawrence

sees that Jim has the floor; time to go; shuts the door with a quiet click

Damkerng T.

@Lawrence See you soon!

Jim Reynolds

:-)

CowperKettle

15:46

> We added 1 ml of water to a vial containing 5 mg of carboxypeptidase B and mixed to full dissolution. (What are good alternatives for "to full dissolution"?)

"until fully dissolved"?

> 0.5 ml microtubes were filled with 0.5 µL of the carboxypeptidase solution and stored at minus 20°C. (how does one stress that each tube was filled with this amound of solution?)

> 0.2 ml microtubes were each filled with 0.5 µL of the carboxipeptidase solution and put into storage at minus 20°C. (probably thus)

Jim Reynolds

16:15

@CowperKettle Yes.

@CowperKettle 0.2 or 0.5 tubes? Otherwise, yes, if it really needs to be stressed.

1 hour later…

Cardinal

17:36

@V.V. Thank you V.V

@JimReynolds The sentence was: "However, I think I would never forget that "gone" in my life."

Theodor Seuss Geisel (/ˈsɔɪs/ /ˈɡaɪzəl/; March 2, 1904 – September 24, 1991) was an American writer and illustrator best known for authoring popular children's books under the pen name Dr. Seuss (/suːs/). His work includes several of the most popular children's books of all time, selling over 600 million copies and being translated into more than 20 languages by the time of his death. Geisel adopted his "Dr. Seuss" pen name during his university studies at Dartmouth College and the University of Oxford. He left Oxford in 1927 to begin his career as an illustrator and cartoonist for Vanity Fair...

Jim Reynolds

@Cardinal We will use will.

Consider I think I would/will go to bed soon.

@Car drive.google.com/file/d/0B_hivi_ChoizNUdyQ1phSkxVOWs/…

@Cardinal Oh. Do you think you won't forget it, or you think you wouldn't forget it if a hypothetical condition was true?

@Law got kicked on the chin by a mule. (If it had been me who was kicked) I think I would never forget that mule. That's correct.

Cardinal

17:56

@JimReynolds I see, you say that in this case since I am sure that I wont forget that, I must use "will"

Avicenna

Oh, my God! I wrote made as maid, and write as right. O.o

I don't know why!

What happens that I make such mistakes!?

Damkerng T.

@Avicenna C'est la vie!

Avicenna

18:11

@DamkerngT. J'aime le français.

Damkerng T.

@Avicenna It's a well-known phrase in English, too.

Avicenna

There is a point, when I am tired, stressed, or sad, I make such mistakes!

@DamkerngT. I didn't know that.

Jim Reynolds

@Cardinal Yes. There's nothing hypothetical about it. It's your belief or opinion.

@Avicenna You could have blamed your maid. I was dictating to my maid, who was typing in chat. Stupid maid!

My maid made me do it!

Write?

Cardinal

@JimReynolds I read that book. It has a interesting style of using limited vocabulary

The Senator (tree)

The Senator was the biggest and oldest bald cypress tree in the world, located in Big Tree Park, Longwood, Florida. At the time of its demise, it was 125 feet (38 m) tall, with a trunk diameter of 17.5 feet (5.3 m). The tree was thought to have been destroyed by a fire from a lightning strike, but it was later discovered that the fire was started by an arsonist. == History == The Seminoles and other Native American Indians who lived throughout Central Florida used this tree as a landmark. In the late 19th century, the tree attracted visitors even though much of the surrounding land was swamp;...

So sad

Avicenna

@JimReynolds :D

Waw! You read minds.

Impressive!

@Lawrence I see. Thanks.

Jim Reynolds

18:43

@Cardinal Reading large quantities of interesting/enjoyable, easily-understandable English does a lot for language development. I read half our town library's mystery/detective novels in my early teens. And I think quite little classical literature for a supposedly educated person. But I started reading relatively complex and sophisticated non-fiction in my early 20s.

V.V.

Good evening!

Jim Reynolds

@V.V. o/

Damkerng T.

Good evening!

V.V.

I opened a new school year two days ago.Aw!

Damkerng T.

@V.V. Congrats! That sounds exciting!

V.V.

18:48

Like a bottle of champaign. It's so hard after vacations.

Damkerng T.

Aww... things will get in shape soon, I hope.

V.V.

I hope so.

Anything interesting? I'll read a bit.

Damkerng T.

5

Q: We have seen them in 2011. Present perfect ok?

Source: http://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/kashmir-unrest-curfew-without-end-condition-of-kashmiri-life-halt-schools-shutdown-shop-3010712/ Please look at the following emphasized sentence. Neither of these — the government’s curfew and restrictions, or the protest programmes of ...

grammar tense present-perfect past-simple perfect-aspect

This one is very interesting.

V.V.

19:03

Very interesting.

One vote was mine

Avicenna

@JimReynolds I have some questions, but don't answer if you don't like them. How do you teach? If you use a textbook, what is it? Do you teach conversation? If so, how do you teach it? Do you use your students' native language? I am really curious about your method of teaching, 1st because you are a native English teacher, 2nd you teach to people with a different first language, I mean I teach to students that I know their 1st language because it's my 1st language too.

V.V.

19:19

But I would use past simple.(talking to myself ).

Damkerng T.

@V.V. I think I'm okay with the perfect if a comma is added. Then again, commas are just punctuation marks.

V.V.

19:42

To be honest, it's the first time I have seen such a sentence.

2 hours later…

Damkerng T.

21:54

It's happened time and time again. It's happened last year. It's happened in March. It's happened just last week. What makes you think it's been extinguished? Seems natural to me. — Jim Reynolds 3 hours ago

This is too strange to me.

It's as if saying It's happened yesterday is fine. (If that's not strange enough, perhaps try It's been happening just yesterday.)

(Of course time and (time) again and in March are fine with me, too.)

Then again, She don't know that she's a lucky girl is natural enough to native speakers that it appears in a song.

(note: it's not she doesn't know)

Anonymous

22:15

That's grammatical in non-standard varieties of the language which native speakers are sure to be familiar with.

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