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09:01
@CowperKettle Get well soon!!!
@snailplane You too, get well soon!!!
Anonymous
Oh, thank you, I'm doing okay :-)
Really happy for you! Keep it this way and improve it. :-)
@Deo Yes. But this chatroom is not for proofreading.
> she was as voluble as her husband was silent
Is there any pun in that sentence?
I dunno why I cannot imagine the situation fast!
Does it mean:
she was as voluble as her husband who was silent
> she was as voluble as her husband, but he was silent at the moment.
Deo
Deo
09:19
@Cardinal I think it means: she was voluble and her husband was opposite to voluble in same extent
@Cardinal and "opposite to voluble" is just replaced by "silent"
@JimReynolds That's why I'm looking for volunteers )
@Cardinal as here means to the same degree.
@Deo Thanks, but I think that contrasts with the as verbal animals as pattern.
:-)
Deo
Deo
@Cardinal I don't understand. "As verbal animals as"? What does it mean?
I think without having a decisive context it would be hard to judge the sentence
verbal animals comprise adjectives, adverb, noun as well as their families- adjective phrases, ...
o_O
:-)
I learned that terminology from Jim
Oh, keep a cool distant from him
He is highly intelligent
He is dangerous
Deo
Deo
@Cardinal It is always dependant on context, but I would expect different prhasing to say "they both are usually voluble, but her husband was silent"
09:29
@Deo I see, I was think alike
However, I thought that might say something different
for example, to show an anomaly: he was so talkative, but now he is so reticent surprisingly.
Anonymous
For some reason, the term uncount noun strikes me as odd.
Anonymous
I'm used to noncount. What's un- about a non-count noun?
My dictionary marks them as "uncountable"
@JimReynolds Oy! Trouble-maker. :P
Anonymous
@Cardinal That sounds fine to me.
Anonymous
09:33
In that case, un- is negating countable.
Deo
Deo
@Cardinal shouldn't it be "she was as voluble as her husband who was silent" then? My english skills are lacking, but I feel that the grammar is off for this interpretation as is.
nods
Anonymous
That is, it's un-[count-able], not [un-count]-able.
Anonymous
The latter seems nonsensical to me. How can it be possible to uncount something? :-)
Deo
Deo
Also, still have no idea what all that verbal animals are about :)
09:34
@Deo I already asked the same question
@snailplane I usually use that abbreviation to save space when writing definitions on my books
uncountable noun => uncount :D
even unct
Deo
Deo
@Cardinal Oh, right. Then I can't add anything to this discussion.
@Deo You already have added many things to this discussion bro
Deo
Deo
@Cardinal But they just repeated your own thought process, so no new value.
@Cardinal You've got to be careful with that one. In class, I'm sure he's professional. Here, he's a bit loose with the animals. :)
20 mins ago, by Deo
@Cardinal I think it means: she was voluble and her husband was opposite to voluble in same extent
I didn't mention that
09:42
@snailplane It may be an inappropriate shortening of uncountable based on seeing non-count somewhere. Where did you find it?
@Lawrence :-) Loose? What would he do?
@Cardinal @JimReynolds doesn't keep a tight leash on his mules and cows. He points them at people and allows them to kick unsuspecting bystanders. Even when said bystanders aren't there. Especially then. :)
@Cardinal (You'll have to trawl the transcripts. I've deliberately pinged @JimReynolds so that he can have a quiet chuckle when he reads this. Don't say anything about the goat. :P)
@Lawrence ha ha ha
@Deo I think he was speaking metaphorically.
A mule is the offspring of a male donkey (jack) and a female horse (mare). Horses and donkeys are different species, with different numbers of chromosomes. Of the two F1 hybrids between these two species, a mule is easier to obtain than a hinny, which is the offspring of a female donkey (jenny) and a male horse (stallion). The size of a mule and work to which it is put depend largely on the breeding of the mule's female parent (dam). Mules can be lightweight, medium weight, or when produced from draft horse mares, of moderately heavy weight. Mules are more patient, hardy and long-lived than horses...
I haven't heard about this animal up to know, what an animal.
Deo
Deo
09:49
@Cardinal You can start your own bestiary :)
@Deo Pet shop sounds more welcoming. But it's more appropriate for smaller animals, ones that people actually keep as pets.
@Deo Yay!
Hi @Rizze
Hi
I'm new here, I'm a few n00b lol
Hi! Welcome to the room!
09:55
Hi @DamkerngT. Swasdee Khrap!
Thanks @DamkerngT.
Salam and sawasdee khrap!
If I do some errors, Tell me it. I've been studying English for 1 year.
@DamkerngT. Yes, like that. Is that a dictionary entry, or a legend (key) to their abbreviations? Or is it something contributed by the public?
@Lawrence Looks like an ordinary entry to me.
09:57
@Rizze Here's a corrected version: "If I make any errors, tell me []. I've only been studying English for one year."
Nice correction!
Thank @Lawrence :)
@Rizze Hello and welcome!
@Rizze :)
"I just do" or "I do just"?
@Rizze Are you familiar with the chat room controls?
09:58
@snailplane No one has any business counting, if they can't uncount. That is why numbers keep getting higher and higher these days!
@Rizze It depends. You'll need to provide more context. Try presenting a full sentence or two.
I don't know what are controls.
Oh, main site is under maintenance!
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@Lawrence "I play chess just from 2 years" or " I just play chess from 2 years"
Or when I tell "I am just a student" or "I just am a student"
I'm just a student. I've been playing chess for just two years.
10:02
@Rizze It's a fancy user-interface term :) . Here, we can have multiple conversations going on at the same time. To help keep things a little more orderly, the site has provided a few tricks. Hover over any message. A triangle will appear on its left. If you want to reply to that message, click "reply to this message", and so on.
(Looks like Lawrence is busy with something.)
(And he's back. :)
@Rizze You've been playing chess for just two years.
@DamkerngT. Exactly
Why I can't use "from"?
@Law I once used the expression That's a different animal entirely and explained it to Car, who now talks about verbal animals, etc. Sigh.
10:03
@Rizze You should use say there, instead of *tell. "Do I say X or Y?"
@Lawrence Why I've to use "been"?
@Rizze Both can be used, depending on context. The first is self-deprecating, and the second sounds a bit annoyed. Let me know if you can work out why. Better still, see if you can ask an appropriate question that would give you each sentence.
ok :)
@DamkerngT. I can take a while when thinking about stuff. I wrote more, then thought it would be unkind to Jim, so deleted it before posting.
@Rizze I'm not sure which message you're referring to. Please use the reply-to control.
@Lawrence To you.
10:07
@JimReynolds :)
@Rizze That's because you want to talk about the whole period of the past 2 years.
Instead, Can I use "I play chess from 1 day"?
Guys, would you have a look at this:
54 mins ago, by Cardinal
> she was as voluble as her husband was silent
@Rizze Ok, but which message? When you use the link-to control, a little bent arrow appears after you send your message. Clicking on that arrow shows which message you linked to. (Have a look at the start of this message, and then click on that bent arrow to try it out.)
@Lawrence Instead, Can I use "I play chess from 1 day"?
Bingo
10:11
@Law Please contact me via email anytime you may want to talk with me privately. I am prone to expressing myself impulsively and enjoy teasing so much I easily forget that many of my utterances can very reasonably be interpreted as mean or just tiring. I rely on friend to help me step back. I have ADHD. I am still responsible for my behavior, of course, but I will make mistakes. On the other hand, I'm almost impossible to offend or insult if it can be interpreted as a joke, or jest made in fun.
"Bingo" @Cardinal What does it mean?
@Rizze No. "From" requires a definite time. "1 day" is a duration.
@Lawrence I just thought you were chatting in several rooms or busy at work. Sorry if I was meddling.
My email is on my profile, methinks.
@Lawrence So, Can I use "I play chess from 1 hour, 23 minutes and 17 seconds"?
10:13
@JimReynolds Pointing spammers to Jim's profile... :)
@Cardinal As = to the same degree as
@JimReynolds No problem :) . I appreciate your note, and I'll let you know if I think you've crossed the line.
@DamkerngT. Not at all - thanks for stepping in!
@Rizze It's an exclamation.
Ok.
Jim is as smart as he is handsome = If his smartness is level 100 million, so is his handsomeness level 100 million.
10:16
@JimReynolds Ok. I tend to use visual cues. If you see a smilie at the end of my message, consider your linked message to have been taken in good humour.
@Rizze No. I should be able to get some kind of date and time from the phrase. E.g. "yesterday" - I know which day you mean; "2 days" - I don't know which 2 days.
@Lawrence I tend to think that the edge of my humor will be lost if I add the smile! O.O
@Lawrence Yes, please do, even if it approaches a line, or just to share information. :)
@JimReynolds Yeah, I've been wondering about that for mine as well :) . But there's precious little to go by, so every bit counts. Maybe put the emoticon on the next line.
(Time for me to go. Bye!)
0
Q: we let's try or we try?

RizzeWhat is the difference between "We let's try" and "we try"? Is there any difference? Here is one examples: We let's try to speak or We try to speak

10:20
@DamkerngT. Very funny. I know quite well that those messages "Provide credit card number to clean malware from your computer" are coming from you.
@JimReynolds Oh, I thought you couldn't guess that!
@DamkerngT. Thanks to my sophistication, I've only complied a few times.
@JimReynolds Caret?
@JimReynolds Thank you for your cooperation. :)
@Rizze Where did you see those sentences?
Especially, "We let's try .."
10:28
verbix.com/webverbix/English/try.html I don't get the difference between imperative and perfect
You're comparing apples and oranges. You may want to consider imperative vs. indicative or present vs. perfect instead. But the terms aren't that important.
Oh
@Cardinal Yes. In this case, it means an arrow pointing up. I forgot to reply to you, so I pinged you to say Look up a line or a few lines. I wrote something to you.
@JimReynolds I see, thanks
Is "We let's try ..." correct? I haven't seen that before.
0
Q: we let's try or we try?

RizzeWhat is the difference between "We let's try" and "we try"? Is there any difference? Here is one examples: We let's try to speak or We try to speak

10:42
@Rizze See, Saw, Seen; I see your point.
I meant, "I seen" is not correct; you should say either "I saw it" or "I have seen"
Oh ok
I'm sorry
You don't need to be sorry
ok
10:45
@Rizze I think so.
ok, btw, when I need to use do and when don't. E.g.: Do I am or Am I?, or Have I or Do I have?
10:57
I'm sure there are better explanations out there, but this is the best I can find at the moment.
11:12
I am really a bad reader.
I just read the first two line of Rizze's answer and said I think he was right.
Sorry @Rizze, I should've been more precise.
11:31
@Cardinal Aww... If it helps, I misread questions and answers sometimes, too.
@DamkerngT. Thank you
55 mins ago, by Cardinal
Is "We let's try ..." correct? I haven't seen that before.
@Cardinal I think it was a misunderstanding.
Awo
I see (now).
The site uses an unfortunate layout!
@DamkerngT. (Y)
12:18
> "Classical music is the kind we keep thinking will turn into a tune."
(a quote from Kin Hubbard)
What does it mean "to turn into a tune"? Does it have an oblique meaning ?
The meaning is, classical musis often has no discernible melody
How tasteless.
It's too complex for the simple ear. You keep thinking: "where's the melody? maybe it will start just now"
What tasteless?
12:21
The remark.
A nice funny remark
You're right about its meaning.
I'm bored by music without a melody that I could reproduce in my mind..
I can hardly stop anything I hear from being reproduced in my mind sometime later.
I rejected the literal meaning of the quote at first because I didn't know there's any point to it.
Thanks for your explanation, @CowperKettle. :)
No problem! I'm lurking.. translating a piece of news (0:
Done.
Now a next piece of news.
12:30
The structure of that sentence is curious though.
> Classical music is the kind we keep thinking will turn into a tune.
> *Classical music is the kind we keep thinking that will turn into a tune.
> ?Classical music is the kind we keep thinking that it will turn into a tune.
I don't know if the third sentence is grammatical. The second one is not, I think.
"we keep thinking it will turn into a tune" is a modifier for "kind"
The word "that" is omitted right after "kind"
That's another that. The verb think can have a that of its own, but maybe not here.
> Classical music is the kind (that) I keep thinking (that) I will pursue in the future.
That's alright ^, for example.
I shouldn't have said curious. The original sentence is interesting, grammatically. The next two sentences are curious.
Now that I think again, the third one seems wrong too.
> Anna is who I think stole my watch.
> *Anna is who I think that stole my watch.
> *Anna is who I think that she stole my watch.
Only the first one seems correct.
12:49
I think it is Anna who stole my watch.
News done. 5000 characters with spaces. Good evening, V.V.!
I think that the person who stole my watch is Ann :D
@CowperKettle Good job, I should go o/.
V.V.'s is the most basic structure. Faerd'a #1 is ok and would tend to be used in particular contexts.
> A: Bobby stole your watch.
> B: No, Anna is who I think stole my watch.
Or
> B: No, I think it is Anna who stole my watch.
Both fit almost the same context apparently.
> My watch has been stolen
It's Anna I think
She let my heart sink
So it's police I'm calling
13:01
It seems to me that Anna is who I think stole my watch is unconventially styled, and relatively unlikely. But not ungrammatical.
True.
Maybe more like, Was it Bobby who you think stole your watch?
In response to that, someone might reply with the sentence.
@JimReynolds And then I want to answer with No, Anna!, and then suddenly decide to complete the sentence with is who I think ... .
Whatever.
@Færd :)
(:
13:04
Yes. A native speaker might utter it without much forethought.
Or think it without much foreutter.
Are there really native speakers of English? That is one of the facts that never ceases to amaze me.
In speech, it's clearly understandable, and we probably wouldn't notice that it's a bit odd.
@Færd Why so?
ugh! I just ran into ham flower. It makes me think how long an average non-native speaker will learn or use English before running into it!
When we come out of the box, the package is marked English speaker. (Poor soul.)
What does it mean?
13:07
@JimReynolds Well, you know what it means!
Wait, or didn't you?
A decorative ham cut into a flower shape?
I don't know
Not to be confused with Computer speaker. A PC speaker is a loudspeaker built into most IBM PC compatible computers. The first IBM Personal Computer, model 5150, employed a standard 2.25 inch magnetic driven speaker. More recent computers use a piezoelectric speaker instead. The speaker allows software and firmware to provide auditory feedback to a user, such as to report a hardware fault. A PC speaker generates waveforms using the programmable interval timer. == Usage == === BIOS error codes === The PC speaker is generally the first output device to be activated during the boot process. Since it...
It's like Uranus. :P
The most native speaker. (0:
@CowperKettle That's a native PC speaker!
13:11
It was called PC screaper in Russian, from the verb "screap", to creak
@JimReynolds Good question. Maybe because I've always encountered it in artificial media, not real life.
@CowperKettle Haha! That fits! The native speaker of my PC still creaks. :)
Maybe virtual media is better.
It's specialized terminology. Normally only people who talk about ESOL education a lot would use it.
I meant not-that-real mediums.
13:16
But Are you a native speaker (of English)? might be said in ordinary conversation.
Partial reality
Are you analyzing the grammaticality of the statement of my amazement?
No. Its ontology.
Ontology is the philosophical study of the nature of being, becoming, existence or reality as well as the basic categories of being and their relations. Traditionally listed as a part of the major branch of philosophy known as metaphysics, ontology often deals with questions concerning what entities exist or may be said to exist and how such entities may be grouped, related within a hierarchy, and subdivided according to similarities and differences. Although ontology as a philosophical enterprise is highly theoretical, it also has practical application in information science and technology, such...
Ontology and Semantic Web. Find out more at semanticweb.org.
I heard about semantic web, but the concept is too complex for me
13:23
Am I a character in a movie that your movie character is watching?
@Rizze That's example is not "We Let's try". It has poor formatting, but I think it's trying to say "For we (first person plural), use Let's try, where let's means let us in this context".
@Rizze I don't see your answer. Did you delete it? I also can't edit any further. There may be an edit already in the queue, and my rep count on Learners isn't high enough for me to work around that until the edit in the queue is approved or rejected.
@JimReynolds I fail to see how calling things dreams or characters in movies renders them less/un- real. How is imagination the opposite of reality? What do you mean by reality?
I'm not speaking seriously
Oh, alright. :)
@Færd We'd somewhat more often pluralize that to media, but both plural forms are acceptable.
13:30
Yeah. But when I use media for mediums I feel as if I'm gonna be misunderstood.
It's grammatical. But what did you mean by real or not-that-real?
@Færd Oh. This statement.
I wanted to say when I think that there are people who feel as much real about English as I feel about my mother tongue, it amazes me.
When I see someone on TV falling to the ground and saying Ouch! it doesn't make me feel the pain as much as آخ does.
Ah!
Like swearing or profanity, often.
Like everything. English has not penetrated my heart yet.
Saying fuck, etc., seems to illustrate that concept.
My Taiwanese friends will react to it much more mildly than me, generally.
13:36
Heh.
Or the most objectionable things, eg, something sexually insulting about someone's mother.
They take it lightheartedly in English and seriously in Taiwanese, right?
To hear it in a later learned language will generally evoke the same response as hearing it in our native language.
@CowperKettle Did anyone expect a different kind of PC speaker?
No. The opposite.
13:38
(0:
@JimReynolds Ah.
@Lawrence I have a couple of non-native PC speakers installed, not to mention my headset!
:P
Certainly different individuals feel differently about such words, within each culture or language group.
Some Americans say it often and to mean all kinds of things.
@JimReynolds I still tend to think Sh-t! in my head (as opposed to some other choices in my native tongue) when my code or my hardware fails.
Hmm... Why, do you suppose?
13:41
@DamkerngT. What mental image ensues it, if any?
@CowperKettle Gentle introduction (if someone else knows what they're talking about on this topic, and it's different from mine, feel free to correct me) - building blocks of automated language understanding. How do we get computers to understand that pudding and cake have a closer relation than pudding and puddle, or pudding and poodle? Answer: we build a network of words and say which ones relate to which (and perhaps how they relate). Ontology is basically the study of existence.
You've had so much exposure. You probably have a similar experience to me when using it that way.
@JimReynolds Must be because when I was in Frankfurt, we Sh-t! like 10-20 times an hour (me and my friends in our coding room)!
*we Shat!
Actually, they Sh-t!'ed way more often that I did. :P
13:43
(just joking)
@Færd Hehe!
@Lawrence Nicely said. I can understand it easily, and I had a much vaguer idea of what they are.
@Færd It depends on context. Mediums can also mean a type of person who engages in certain paranormal activities. Now, that's a whole 'nother can of misunderstanding. :)
@Lawrence I knew you were going to write exactly that, before you did so!
@Lawrence I can hear some haunting music now!
13:45
Q: What do you call a child fortune-teller who has escaped from prison?
@Lawrence Oh, good to know!
Thinks
A: A small medium at large.
You didn't let me think.
@DamkerngT. :) . The 'other' other PC stands for Politically Correct. Which I think some of the foregoing messages weren't.
@DamkerngT. The food was that bad? :P
@Lawrence Ahh... I guess I've made some PICs. :P
13:48
@JimReynolds Thank you. :)
@Færd I was thinking about letting people think, but I thought no one might want to. And it's quite difficult, too.
I wouldn't have thought of at large. Nice one.
@JimReynolds I'm getting predictable, then. Or else we're starting to understand each other better.
And sometimes it'a conventional to give the question and answer to a riddle at the same time
@Lawrence The food was great, but the smoke was another thing, and then there always was the sound of keyboard smacking, with some swearing happened periodically. :)
13:49
@DamkerngT. Very punny.
@Lawrence Hee
Sometimes we say, Wait. Don't tell me! If we want to try to guess.
@JimReynolds Aww... I was hoping for a small medium free at last :P
@DamkerngT. :-)
@DamkerngT. It was a reference to a reinterpretation of your note, about elimination. Not particularly PC. :)
13:52
@Dam So saying shit! was an aspect of a socializing process.
@Lawrence I knew. I wondered why the room wasn't full of bleep, so I could've had my holidays sooner. :)
@JimReynolds Or 'a loose underage medium' (as opposed to those that are for adults).
Participating in shared experiences
@JimReynolds Well, I think they tried to hypnotize me to join them or something. :P
@Færd That works.
13:53
@DamkerngT. Room owners are the ones who set the standard.
I'll out now. Nice chatting widjall.
... That's intended to be conveyed as an expectation, not license.
@DamkerngT. So somewhat successfully, at least in this aspect
@Færd o/
@Lawrence I think you're indirectly telling me that I shouldn't've added DEAD as a room owner. :)
@Færd Bye!
13:55
@Færd See you soon!
@DamkerngT. Not at all.
Now, that was an ambiguous statement.
@Lawrence I guess so. But don't worry!
@Lawrence I'm willing to adjust my personal standards to most individual's preferences.
Rather my behavior in relation to standards
@DamkerngT. I was trying to say that you set the standard as the room owner.
@Lawrence I was trying to put that aside. :P
FWIW, I think I had a very good reason to include the word "random" in the room topic before we merged the rooms. Hehe!

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