Language Overflow

Damkerng T.

14:00

PSA: Robusto just posted an answer on ELL. That's great news!

Lawrence

@DamkerngT. Ok.

Damkerng T.

@Lawrence Anyway, please don't take me too seriously, at least not when I'm not discussing anything serious seriously.

Jim Reynolds

@DamkerngT. Was Lawrence making a point/joke about the ambiguous meaning of this?

@Law ?

Lawrence

@JimReynolds Yes. :)

Jim Reynolds

@Lawrence Ah!

Damkerng T.

14:02

Huh? I must've missed something.

Jim Reynolds

Dam, did y'all perform that action, or say it?!!!

Damkerng T.

Oh, I see. Italicizing it can't help much.

Jim Reynolds

The mental image is . . .

Haha!

Damkerng T.

@JimReynolds Sure I did, just not in that room!

Jim Reynolds

@DamkerngT. For robots, that's just downloading

Damkerng T.

14:05

@JimReynolds The data sometimes ran very fast, even. :P

Jim Reynolds

O.O

@Law .. What's the safe word?!! :D

Damkerng T.

@JimReynolds You know, we dump data for testing and other purposes from time to time.

Jim Reynolds

O.o

Damkerng T.

I guess it's high time we changed the subject. :P

Jim Reynolds

Move up from 3rd grade to 4th grade?

Damkerng T.

14:07

Oh, not only one, but two already (Robusto's answers). Yay!

@JimReynolds To 4th floor, if possible. :)

Jim Reynolds

I had forgotten about him. Maybe mentally merged him with TRomano somehow.

Lawrence

@JimReynolds Seriously.

(Stepped away for a bit IRL.)

Damkerng T.

-4

A: Turn around for or to something?

Yes!One of these versions is correct.The correct one is, "Once, you tried out our product you won't ever turn around for XXX again". If you like you can check it out in the following link: http://www.onlinecorrection.com/

Is this a neg technique in spamming?

Lawrence

@DamkerngT. I don't think this is spam. The link goes to some kind of grammar checker. But it hasn't done a very good job of the sentence.

Jim Reynolds

1

Q: Hello everyone, I still have a question about the sentence "but of tea not a glimpse" from "Great Expectations"

I still have a question about the phrase "but of tea not a glimpse" from the novel "Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens. https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/d/dickens/charles/d54ge/chapter33.html I rang for the tea, and the waiter, reappearing with his magic clew, brought in by degrees some fifty...

@Dam The answer is elegant. Nice comment, too.

Lawrence

14:21

@DamkerngT. (It's not what Stack Exchange calls spam because it doesn't really advertise a product in the traditional sense.)

Damkerng T.

@JimReynolds nods -- Thanks!

@Lawrence I don't know. The poster seems to be sincere, both about the question and the link. But the effect is spam-like.

Jim Reynolds

@Lawrence Good safe word. You can use it for me, instead of composing an email!

(Me or @Dam, I stink I should say.)

Damkerng T.

@JimReynolds Stank!

Lawrence

@JimReynolds Ok :) . Likewise, I step over the line, feel free to reciprocate.

Jim Reynolds

@DamkerngT. :D

Lawrence

14:26

@DamkerngT. I know what you mean. I think it comes from the juxtaposition of the quote's content with the link.

Jim Reynolds

We're changing the subject gradually, to avoid shock

Damkerng T.

nods

Jim Reynolds

Stank should be our yellow safe word, seriously our red.

Stank is as stank does.

Damkerng T.

:D

Lawrence

(@DamkerngT. Feel free to delete this message after reading it. Thank you for the welcome you've given me at LO. I really appreciate it. I held you to a higher standard than other chat because you were speaking about room moderation while holding the position of primary room owner. Unless the mods step in, you da man! DEAD too, but he just wanted it temporarily to change some settings. I'm hesitant to post this because it's not my place to lecture you, but I wanted to clear the air.)

@JimReynolds sees the pun too late ... doh!

Damkerng T.

14:35

@Lawrence Like I said. No worries at all.

Lawrence

@DamkerngT. :)

Damkerng T.

I know sometimes I'm a bit too serious, sometimes I'm just too silly. But hey, I'm a friendly robot! :-)

Lawrence

@DamkerngT. I reckon you're doing a good job. :)

Damkerng T.

@Lawrence When it's really needed, I try!

Lawrence

@DamkerngT. :)

Those smilies are really expressive. Nuanced. Particularly so for something that doesn't change expression. :)

Damkerng T.

14:37

And thanks!

Lawrence

@DamkerngT. de nada.

So ... did the room come to a conclusion about Anna's watch's theft's case? :)

Jim Reynolds

Since I spoke on it, the tradition is not to contradict me or to elaborate.

Lawrence

@JimReynolds What was your pronouncement?

Damkerng T.

I thought it was concluded before I came back in. It wasn't?

Jim Reynolds

I said that it was an atypical or somewhat odd construction, but not ungrammatical.

Lawrence

14:42

(Oh, and I misspoke - Anna was the alleged thief, not the purported owner.)

@JimReynolds Very well then. Next!

Jim Reynolds

That some people would probably use it sometimes in certain contexts.

Lawrence

... :)

Jim Reynolds

Next: What is real?

Lawrence

Hmm, ellipses don't work well with smilies.

@JimReynolds Ooh. We covered that at ELU yesterday. :P

Jim Reynolds

@Lawrence And yet we use our lipsies to smile. Strange!

Lawrence

14:43

"I think, therefore I am".

Jim Reynolds

And corollaryily, I stink, therefore I am?

Lawrence

@JimReynolds It's like email vs mail (or snail mail - no relation to our friendly snail mobile).

Jim Reynolds

What is like what, now?

Lawrence

@JimReynolds Hmm, I suppose if you show any signs of existence, you exist. Now, that should have been the conclusion of the ELU chat on the topic.

Jim Reynolds

Ellipses are to email as snail is to Descartes?

Lawrence

14:46

@JimReynolds Sorry, I was distracted by your stinky comment. :)

Jim Reynolds

@Lawrence I'm going to embroider that on a pillow!

Lawrence

@JimReynolds "Ellipses" are to your "lipsies" like "email" is to "mail".

Jim Reynolds

@What I really want to know is, Did you try to pronounce corollaryily?

@Lawrence Now I need another pillow

Lawrence

@JimReynolds Like this: corollaryily.

:)

Jim Reynolds

Spot-on!

Lawrence

14:49

@JimReynolds You'll get really good with needlework, with all that ... needlework.

Jim Reynolds

@Lawrence :D

Damkerng T.

BTW, I think Bobby is who you think stole your watch (adapted from your example, Jim) sounds a bit odd.

Quite informal, at least.

(If not ungrammatical)

Jim Reynolds

Standard in some contexts.

Damkerng T.

What if I shortened it to Bobby is who stole your watch?

Jim Reynolds

Just a variant of more common ways, I think.

Damkerng T.

14:57

nods

Cardinal

> Reciler followed and the lift started to ascend automatically

What does "lift" mean here?

Hi o/

Damkerng T.

An elevator?

Cardinal

2 hours ago, by Cardinal

I think that the person who stole my watch is Ann :D

Lawrence

You know, academic research is sometimes like this: start with a one-liner, say, the existence statement. Work out the problem bits (E.g. Who's you if you haven't established its existence?) Spend 3 years going around in circles, finally realising that the first you might just be a dummy (denotationally, not ontologically). ...

... Ask around for opinions and graph them, or simulate the opinions and graph them, or prove the opinions must be what you say they are (graphing is optional for this last one). Then put the original sentence at the top, and the 10~1000 pages at the bottom, with a short version in the middle. Publish.

Jim Reynolds

@DamkerngT. Whose question mark?

Damkerng T.

14:59

@JimReynolds Mine. It's outside *...*. :D

Jim Reynolds

Standard. Not formal. Probably speech.

Damkerng T.

@Lawrence Get hired, with a big fat salary. And the circle continues. :D

Jim Reynolds

@Lawrence Just expand that. Publish.

Cardinal

And Reciler is a name? I knew one of the definitions is elevator, but I don't know why my brain was obsessed with air pressure and airplanes !

Lawrence

@DamkerngT. That's called the payoff. :)

Damkerng T.

15:01

@JimReynolds I see. It sounds a bit too colloquial to me.

Lawrence

@JimReynolds :)

Damkerng T.

@Lawrence Haha! :D

Jim Reynolds

Academic philosophers with fat salaries?

A dying breed

Damkerng T.

@JimReynolds Aww

Cardinal

@Lawrence :D

Jim Reynolds

15:03

If philosophers do die

Lawrence

@JimReynolds Now, there's a thought. :)

Jim Reynolds

Or just republish in another journal!

Damkerng T.

@Cardinal I don't know any other way to make sense of the sentence. Yes, I assumed that it's a name.

Lawrence

@JimReynolds You'll need to make some changes first, or you might get a bad rep (and I don't mean SE down-votes).

@Cardinal Where did you see this word?

Jim Reynolds

Of course. I was analogizing to Buddhist theology, in honor of @Dam's compatriots' widely shared system.

Lawrence

15:08

@DamkerngT. Since the topic has been reopened with no objection from the Speaker (ooh, more material), let me venture a rewording or two: "You thought Bobby stole your watch", or "Bobby stole your watch, you thought".

Jim Reynolds

@Lawrence :D

Damkerng T.

I think it started out from a somewhat more complicated sentence.

Lawrence

... But actually, it was the mule.

:P

Damkerng T.

(by @Færd)

3 hours ago, by Færd

> Classical music is the kind we keep thinking will turn into a tune.

Jim Reynolds

@Lawrence In London, a bobby may ask these.

This just turned into an internal affairs matter

Lawrence

15:12

@JimReynolds In London, you'd better be very certain before blaming The Bobby. :)

@DamkerngT. This is exactly like the text that Robusto recently posted about: the wording is not particularly note-worthy in certain circles, but may be completely surprising in others.

Damkerng T.

@Lawrence @CowperKettle and @Færd cleared the meaning nicely. The grammar part, however, got @Færd's curiosity (I think).

Basically (IINM), @Færd tried to insert that or that it into the sentence:

> b) Classical music is the kind we keep thinking that will turn into a tune.

> c) Classical music is the kind we keep thinking that it will turn into a tune.

Avicenna

Word if the day: penultimate

Lawrence

@Avicenna Not the final word of the day, though. :)

Damkerng T.

c) is clearly ungrammatical. b) is very odd, but personally I doubt if it's really ungrammatical.

@Avicenna Nice word!

Avicenna

@Lawrence not yet! :-)

Lawrence

15:17

@Avicenna :)

@DamkerngT. I think both (b) and (c) are ungrammatical.

It's almost a textbook when in doubt, cite ellipsis.

Avicenna

@DamkerngT. Thank you, on behalf of the word.

Jim Reynolds

Snail issued something like *ungrammatical in standard English, but native speakers would certainly understand it."

Lawrence

@JimReynolds Is it ungrammatical, though?

Jim Reynolds

And Used/accepted in some varieties of Standard English, but not others.

@Lawrence Er, which?

Lawrence

By the way, about the have discussion - I wonder whether this canonical post is relevant. I've scanned it briefly and haven't spotted anything that speaks directly to it, but with so much content, perhaps there is something of relevance.

@JimReynolds The it you quoted from Snail.

Probably this:

13 mins ago, by Damkerng T.

3 hours ago, by Færd

> Classical music is the kind we keep thinking will turn into a tune.

Damkerng T.

15:23

Or this:

7 mins ago, by Damkerng T.

> b) Classical music is the kind we keep thinking that will turn into a tune.

Jim Reynolds

youtu.be/w4S6SQGSzOQ

Damkerng T.

@Lawrence But what about have? (The canon post is a huge thread, BTW!)

@JimReynolds My ISP isn't happy with the URL.

Jim Reynolds

"Company" - Opening number with the New York Philharmonic

►

@DamkerngT. Ungrammatical

Damkerng T.

I'm going to start a CPU-intensive process. Sorry if my response may be very, very slow from this point on.

Lawrence

@DamkerngT. Yes, I think you're right - that's probably what @snailplane was referring to, in which case, I agree that it's ungrammatical. Native speakers (or readers / listeners) can often parse text that is ungrammatical and come up with some meaning - not necessarily the intended meaning, but some meaning nonetheless.

@DamkerngT. It is, but it's well-written, and broken into labelled sections.

Dare I say, it even has pictures! :P

Damkerng T.

15:28

@Lawrence nods -- I can't remember snailplane in the discussion, but I'm not very sure. (I'll scroll back to see the transcript later.)

@Lawrence Pictures are very helpful!

Lawrence

@Avicenna So that penultimate can be the penultimate word of the day, I propose ellipsis as the final word of the day. Ellipsis can be removed if you prefer. :)

Jim Reynolds

@Lawrence I was just trying to reproduce her wording for two categories. One was CGEL's.

No longer attached to a particular utterance

Oh. I'm lost. Walking two dogs.

Lawrence

@JimReynolds Sorry, I didn't follow the link. You were referring to what snailplane called it.

Avicenna

@Lawrence final is yours! :-)

Lawrence

@Avicenna :)

@Avicenna Did you catch the wordplay with ellipsis?

@Avicenna It refers to words or phrases that can be removed from sentences without changing the meaning of the sentence. Hence "removing" the ellipsis. But it can also mean removing the word "Ellipsis" (as the word of the day). This leaves yours as the final word, yet it's philosophically the penultimate word. Win-Win! :)

Avicenna

15:47

@Lawrence Are you refering to 2 penultimates you used?

Lawrence

@Avicenna No, I was referring to this. :)

Avicenna

@Lawrence Now I got it! Thanks! :-)

Lawrence

@Avicenna :)

Time for me to go. Nice chatting with you all. Bye!

Avicenna

@Lawrence Bye!

Damkerng T.

@Lawrence o/

Jim Reynolds

16:02

@Lawrence Snail issued something like *ungrammatical in standard English, but native speakers would certainly understand it."

It was some utterance unrembered. My point was to try to reproduce the way she described something.

@DamkerngT. Likely this. The previous is grammatical.

Damkerng T.

16:15

Hmm... I noticed that lately we have some downvotes that I don't understand.

-1

A: Meaning of "I understand biology a lot better now that we've got a new teacher"

A now that B This sentence pattern indicates that A has become true due to B happening. I can finally pay my rent now that I have a job. I love going to the beach now that I have learned how to surf.

This is just another example of them.

No, not an idiom, since "that" is omissible. You can say I understand biology a lot better now we've got a new teacher. with no change in meaning. — BillJ Aug 8 at 7:29

I think now (that) is an idiom.

(But what does "idiom" mean?!)

Now that I mention it, ...

> idiom: "an expression whose meaning is different from the meaning of the individual words"

Probably not this one. Let's try again...

> "a particular style in language, art, or music"

It does sound like this one.

Now that I've looked it up.

And while we're at it, if you're asked to add a comma to this sentence, where would you put it?

> I understand biology a lot better now that we've got a new teacher.

@JimReynolds Hey, some familiar faces I can recognize!

Thanks!

CowperKettle

16:42

> See Appendix 1 for a description of the study procedures. (should there be "a"?)

> When we selected the molarity and the pH of the buffer, we took into account the limitations imposed by the possible need to introduce the drug subcutaneously (this "possible need" reads awkward)

Worth a thousand words

Damkerng T.

@CowperKettle Either a or the, I think.

CowperKettle

@DamkerngT. Since the reader has no prior knowledge of this description, it's probably "a"

"non-inferiority study" is impossible to translate shortly into Russian

It would be "study showing a lack of inferiority"

So translators invented a new word, and it's now "nolesser efficacy study" (исследование неменьшей эффективности)

It's not in any dictionary yet, but is used in the field

oops, it turns out the word did exist

I always thought that it's against rules to fuse "no+lesser"

Damkerng T.

17:13

@CowperKettle Maybe it was just invented recently!

CowperKettle

maybe

> When the study administrators or automated mechanisms process the CRFs that were sent to the sponsor by local researchers, they make a note of queries. Queries are non-sensible or questionable data that must be explained.

Strange definition of "query"

Case report form

A case report form (or CRF) is a paper or electronic questionnaire specifically used in clinical trial research. The Case Report Form is the tool used by the sponsor of the clinical trial to collect data from each participating site. All data on each patient participating in a clinical trial are held and/or documented in the CRF, including adverse events. The sponsor of the clinical trial develops the CRF to collect the specific data they need in order to test their hypotheses or answer their research questions. The size of a CRF can range from a handwritten one-time 'snapshot' of a patient...

I had a headache trying to determine how to translate Russian эффективность - efficacy, efficiency or effectiveness

In Russian, is effektinvost.

Damkerng T.

@CowperKettle Indeed.

@CowperKettle For me, efficiency is like how fast or how many we can produce something. effectiveness is like how good the things we produce are.

CowperKettle

It turns out that in pharmacology, it's "efficacy" all the way until you get to assess the cost factors etc (how good the product is in real life), then it's "effectiveness". Efficiency seems to be absent from the lingo (maybe I'm wrong)

Damkerng T.

I think efficiency may not make much sense in pharmaceutical contexts.

CowperKettle

efficiency basically is efficacy?

Damkerng T.

17:26

Efficacy is almost like effectiveness, though it's more like how close we can produce the thing we aim at.

At least to me.

CowperKettle

Word of the evening: double dummy study

Damkerng T.

In computing, we aim at producing or computing something very, very fast, so efficiency is common. I don't know if we really want to produce drugs very fast. Maybe we talk about mass production from time to time, but not very often. But more importantly, I think we all want drugs that are effective.

CowperKettle

I should buy a new monitor until Sept 18. I've got the feeling that the ruble will come tumbling after the "election". The state squandered $6 billion in a month from the National Wealth Fund just to keep the economy afloat prior to the elections.

@DamkerngT. ah, it involves speed

Damkerng T.

@CowperKettle It's high time to speculate on the ruble!

@CowperKettle nods -- That's the main sense for me.

CowperKettle

@DamkerngT. I don't have the talent.. d'oh

I guess people are buying dollars now indeed.

Damkerng T.

17:37

nods

CowperKettle

Russia's largest and most renowned opinion polling foundation was declared a "foreign agent" when it announced that Putin's party is losing popularity. Just a couple of days ago. Funny.

There's a new law that if you're financed even a little from the US, you're a "foreign agent" and the book is thrown at you. You need to fill out ten times more papers and get tough taxation.

Damkerng T.

Oh!

CowperKettle

I think there must be something of the kind in Thailand, judging by what I read.

Damkerng T.

Small business owners usually don't have such a problem. They have another kind of problem, how can they get financed!

CowperKettle

So because they received some grant from a US university, for researching Russian opinion, they are a "foreign agent". They should mention it everywhere in their materials: "we are a foreign agent".

Damkerng T.

17:43

But bigger players and currency traders may have that kind of problem.

CowperKettle

Small business in Russia is quashed, judging by my father's friend. And there's a family we know that developed a furniture production business. Their factory closed at the start of this year.

Their factory worked from 1993 all the way to 2015, through all the downturns. But people stopped buying. So they closed one shop, another shop, then the factory.

Damkerng T.

That's sad.

It's quite tough over here, too.

CowperKettle

In Russia, economy grew by 2% in the last 8 (eight!) years. That's the overall growth.

Damkerng T.

@CowperKettle Well, 2% is much better than 0.3%, I think!

CowperKettle

@DamkerngT. Thailand only grew by 0.3%?

Damkerng T.

17:49

Yes, but it may depend on whose number it is.

CowperKettle

I thought you have many tourists. That's odd!

data.worldbank.org/country/thailand

Yes, there is a decline from 2013

Damkerng T.

The number is only for the last year. I think it looks much better on the average if we take several years into account.

CowperKettle

> More than 6,000 people have been killed in the fight for independence of the Muslim south from the rest of the majority Buddhist country.

Damkerng T.

@CowperKettle That's one of the big problems.

Wondering of the day: does English have plural nouns that can't be counted?

Okay, police is one such noun.

CowperKettle

Measles?

> because aggregation at a PEG content of 6% indicates insufficient colloidal stability. (MS Words commands me to remove "a" O_o)

Cardinal

18:13

@DamkerngT. I think I found your friend:

RoboKaren, West Coast, USA

28.2k 6 70 135

graduate-admissions phd job-search professors united-states etiquette faculty-application

CowperKettle

(0:

0

Q: When should I use "to have a dinner" instead of "to have dinner"?

As said in that commentary, to have a dinner isn't ungrammatical, but implies a dinner for a specific reason. Examples are: we're having a dinner in his honour we're having a birthday dinner for you but the difference is totally unclear for me. What is changed, if I'd say we're having a dinn...

meaning-in-context phrase-usage

Can we say "We're having dinner in his honor", or would this sound odd?

Damkerng T.

@Cardinal :D

Cardinal

@CowperKettle I was think to the same thing

Damkerng T.

@CowperKettle I don't know why, but I like at 6% PEG much better.

CowperKettle

@DamkerngT. Interesting!

Damkerng T.

18:18

Oops! Sorry! I forgot to delete content.

CowperKettle

"aggregation at 6% PEG" - would not that be understood as "a brand of PEG that is called 6% PEG", I wonder

I specifically used "content" to show that aggregation should not happen when the solution's PEG content is below 10%

Cardinal

I think by 6% is better, Shrug

CowperKettle

PEG is a kind of plastic that forces proteins to aggregate.

Cardinal

> because an aggregation in PEG content by 6% ...

CowperKettle

Thanks for the discussion.. (0:

Cardinal

18:24

:-)

CowperKettle

> A team of researchers has built a mathematical model that describes the molecular events associated with the beginning stage of learning and memory formation in the human brain.

2

sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/09/160907095445.htm

Damkerng T.

Do not confuse the subject and the object of a sentence with the agent (also known as actor) and the patient. I tried to explain this point once in an overlooked answer of mine: ell.stackexchange.com/a/67582/3281. — Damkerng T. 2 mins ago

Sometimes I wonder how many good answers are overlooked and how many not so good ones are praised on our site.

If only all of us read answers carefully before we cast our votes.

(I know, I know. I regret some of my votes, too!)

Cardinal

:-)

Damkerng T.

19:08

I guess I have to tell my cat that he's not a pigeon. He's cooing!

Anonymous

19:30

@DamkerngT. Nice comment :-)

Damkerng T.

@snailplane Thanks! :-)

Lawrence

21:48

@DamkerngT. Do you mean idiomatic?

An idiomatic phrase is one that 'sounds right' to a native speaker. Have a look at definition 1 in this link. — Lawrence 14 hours ago

@DamkerngT. Just before now.

@CowperKettle Efficacy relates to how well the product worked. It's not normally associated with the cost of the product.

Damkerng T.

22:04

@Lawrence Thanks! That's what I was thinking. I guess a fluent speaker would put a comma before now. I think the OP might've thought that it should be (if asked) after now, and that's why it was tricky for the OP.

@Lawrence No, I mean the phrase may be considered an idiom.

Like a stylistic choice or something.

Lawrence

@DamkerngT. There are some at this link.

2

A: When should I use "to have a dinner" instead of "to have dinner"?

A dinner is a different noun than dinner. A dinner implies a special occasion/celebration/observance. Typically this would involve a lot of people coming together for a particular purpose, at which food will be served (almost incidentally). Dinner is the meal you have at the end of the day. A...

@CowperKettle The sentence should include the indefinite article before PEG.

Damkerng T.

22:20

@Lawrence I was looking for something that's not just a plural-looking (but actually singular) noun, not a plural noun without -(e)s. To be more specific, I was looking for a plural noun ending with -(e)s, but uncountable (i.e., one X, two Xs, three Xs, etc. don't make sense), and if possible such a noun that has its singular but uncountable counterpart.

(availabilities made me wonder about this.)

Lawrence

@DamkerngT. ODO doesn't include language in its definition 2. However, if you're using the style definition of idiom, I think it should be read in a similar way to its usage in programming. That is, something like a pattern that is used for a particular effect.

I'm not going to rule out now (that) as an idiom in that sense yet since just about anything can be considered someone's style if they use it often enough, but I don't think it's idiomatic to call it an idiom, particularly with just one sample of their work. :)

Damkerng T.

@Lawrence I see. I guess that's fair. :D

Lawrence

@DamkerngT. Although they said, "Branches of knowledge like mathematics, physics, ethics, politics, or social studies are singular.", are they really countable? I think "3 mathematicses", for example, isn't idiomatic - or at least it isn't common; you'd need something like "3 specialties of mathematics". Hence uncountable.

Damkerng T.

@Lawrence Uncountable singular nouns aren't very odd to me, and probably to most if not all learners. An uncountable plural noun that also has its uncountable singular noun counterpart, however, is.

What I was thinking was that, availability was normally uncountable, and yet there are an overwhelming number of examples of availabilities everywhere, including credible sources. Then again, one availability or two availabilities doesn't quite work, I think.

Lawrence

@DamkerngT. What do you mean by an "uncountable plural noun that also has its uncountable singular noun counterpart"? That both singular and plural forms exist?

Damkerng T.

22:36

@Lawrence You could think of availability and availabilities an example, I think.

Lawrence

1

Q: In what context would I use the word "availabilities"?

In what context would I use the word “availabilities”? I believe it is a valid English word, in how could it be used? Many thanks

word-usage

(the above: related)

Damkerng T.

Unlike possibility/-ies, which most dictionaries cover both count/uncountable senses.

Hey, an answer says an availability!

Lawrence

@DamkerngT. So is what you're after a noun that comes in both singular and plural variants, but is uncountable?

Damkerng T.

Maybe I should try this another way around. Do you think two availabilities makes sense?

@Lawrence Yes. Because previously, I thought one/an availability or two availabilities doesn't make sense.

Lawrence

@DamkerngT. It's using an adjective as if it is a noun. E.g. saying "he has 3 availabilities this morning" instead of "he is available at 3 sessions this morning". Some might say it's an AmE thing, but it's nevertheless meaningful, if that's what you're asking.

Damkerng T.

22:45

@Lawrence nods -- I was thinking that it might make sense after seeing an availability in that ELU answer.

Come to think of it, I didn't check to make sure that all (or most) of the examples I found were in AmE.

In any case, your input ensures me that "3 availabilities" makes sense. Thanks! :)

Lawrence

@DamkerngT. Here's one that comes up from time to time: water and waters. E.g. a lot of water and coastal waters of Nigeria. To me, water is not countable. ...

... The standard counter-example is the restaurant usage "3 waters for table 5", but I consider that to be a shortening of "3 bottles/cups of water ..." and not a proper counter-example because otherwise, the term uncountable noun loses its meaning (every noun can be quantised and the quanta counted).

Damkerng T.

@Lawrence Nice examples!

Lawrence

:)

Lawrence

23:05

Bye!

Damkerng T.

Bye, and thanks!

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