Language Overflow

Damkerng T.

00:51

Oh, 24 v. 3 in 4 states!

Damkerng T.

01:57

Word of the Day: equably

ColleenV

03:04

@CowperKettle I like this picture a lot. That tree inspires me :)

CowperKettle

03:48

@ColleenV Thank you! (0:

I equably like it.

@Færd Probably yes, because it is mostly evergreens there

Is Trump winning?

> With Trump and Clinton Both in NYC, Cue the (Managed) Mayhem

Word of the day: cue

Never saw it used this way

Yay!

bbc.com/news/election-us-2016-37916967

CowperKettle

04:24

On today's weather:
- "Gandalf!"
- "Yes, my friend"
- "Are you sure that it is the shorter way through Yekaterinburg?"

(from the local website)

user62015

05:00

Hi!

Damkerng T.

05:55

Hi!

@CowperKettle He needs only 26 more votes to win, according to BBC at the moment.

CowperKettle

06:09

Sawasdee khrap!

CowperKettle

06:20

> A(pr): absorbance at the wavelength of 280 nm;

I'm not sure.

Should not it be

> A(pr): absorbance at a wavelength of 280 nm;

Or

> A(pr): absorbance at the 280 nm wavelength;

Free Tea

I'll go jogging. When I return from my race, Trump will have probably won his race.

yubraj sharma

06:36

Hi .....

Do We use "would" to mean "The regular habit/practice" ? For example: I would write capital letter when I write "america"

Please tell me

@DamkerngT.

Damkerng T.

Well, you could say that.

yubraj sharma

But This meaning of would hasn't been listed in the dictionary.

Damkerng T.

Meaning and implication are the same thing.

yubraj sharma

Nods ....

But why It's not listed in the dictionary that we use' would' for regular practice or habit

Damkerng T.

Dictionaries are more about meanings, not implications or how the words are really used in all cases.

yubraj sharma

06:50

For example: I would never write "america".

Damkerng T.

For example, I would capitalize the A in America isn't necessarily about my habit. It could just be a one time thing. "You wrote it 'america'. I would capitalize A in America."

How should dictionaries cover things like this?

They can't, right?

yubraj sharma

Umm ...... But why did we us "would" and in which sense ?

Damkerng T.

"You wrote it 'america'. I would capitalize A in America, if I wrote it."

In what sense?

Hmm... for someone like me, there is practically only one sense of would, and that is "would".

yubraj sharma

But that's conditinal or with if clause

Damkerng T.

I told you it's better to "feel" the language, remember? :-)

So whether the conditional is overt or not (i.e., implied), it doesn't really matter.

yubraj sharma

06:55

Umm ....Nods ....

You mean" if clause" was implied there in that use of would?

Damkerng T.

In most cases, yes.

yubraj sharma

But can't we just say "I capitalize 'A' in america.' Instead of saying "I would capitalize "A' in "america"?

Damkerng T.

Sure we can.

Anything we say or write reflects our thoughts.

yubraj sharma

Why Native speaker frequently uses "would" instead of directly writing .For example: I capitalize 'A' in america.'

Damkerng T.

It's handy as a form of hedging.

"You wrote it 'america'. I write capitalize A in America." could sound wrong.

Not wrong as in ungrammatical, but wrong as in "Who the hell are you daring to teach me?"

yubraj sharma

07:05

I think it doesn't sound wrong

Do native speaker understand like as if they are being teached roughly if we don't use would?

Damkerng T.

It depends on a lot of factors. That's why I used could. See? :-)

yubraj sharma

Hedging of "would" mean it softens the sentence.

Damkerng T.

In a way, yes.

yubraj sharma

Sorry for being persistent but I need to know it to Better communicate with natives

Damkerng T.

Read more, listen more, and soon you'll be better at it. :D

Not grammar books, I mean.

yubraj sharma

07:13

Hedging means" Giving openion without being forcefull" isn't it ? If so, we don't need any other definitions as to "would" as I told before

Damkerng T.

Yes, you could think of hedge as described in the quoted definition.

yubraj sharma

We don need this definition too which I told you earlier, This defination: Do We use "would" to mean "The regular habit/practice" ? For example: I would write capital letter when I write "america"

Damkerng T.

I'm not sure I understand what you mean.

Where's the definition?

"would = a regular habit"?

yubraj sharma

The definition is that we use would for regular habit

Yes

Damkerng T.

It doesn't sound like a definition in any dictionary, so I didn't think you meant that, sorry.

I think most dictionaries would include a definition "would = habit in the past" or something sounds similar.

yubraj sharma

07:18

So do I think , But it might be a kind of use of "would"

Damkerng T.

[ A kind of use of "would" ]?

yubraj sharma

I have found in dictionary and in book that " would" is used as past habit, But I have never found that "would" is used as regular habit or practice

V.V.

Being less direct

We often use would with verbs such as advise, imagine, recommend, say, suggest, think to make what we say less direct.

Anonymous

@yubrajsharma It is used that way, but it might not be especially common.

Anonymous

You'll run into it eventually.

yubraj sharma

07:28

Nods .....I know about would is used for being less direct but What about the use and meaning of would in "I would capitalize'A' in america'

It's also being less direct or it's conditinal?

Or regular practice/ habit?

Damkerng T.

Why does it have to have only one exact, rigid meaning?

Anonymous

(If it were me writing the word) I would capitalize the 'A' in America.

Anonymous

The thing is, your sentence can be interpreted either way in theory.

Anonymous

It could mean:

Anonymous

(When I was a kid), I would capitalize 'A' in America (on a regular basis).

Anonymous

07:33

But, well, that's kinda silly, don't you think? :-)

Anonymous

So you just need to understand it with the meaning that makes sense in context.

Anonymous

People use would to make suggestions more polite by making them less direct.

Anonymous

If I say "Capitalize the 'A' in America", that is quite direct.

Anonymous

If I say that I'd personally choose to capitalize it, I'm not ordering you around so much as indirectly telling you what I think is best.

Anonymous

But just try to understand it based on the surrounding context.

Anonymous

07:36

If a particular meaning seems unlikely or particularly silly, it's probably not that one :-)

CowperKettle

(0:

yubraj sharma

Nods ......

Is this sentence more direct and rude : I capitalize' A' in america?

Damkerng T.

Is it still November 8 in the US?

Oh, it still is!

CowperKettle

Odd country, US. It lives in the previous day compared with us, and still in the next century compared with us.

Damkerng T.

A-ha! Clinton won in California (like many guessed).

@CowperKettle LOL

CowperKettle

07:43

@DamkerngT. Hopefully Trump will decrease this gap

Because Putin only seems to increase it

Anonymous

@yubrajsharma I wouldn't go so far as to say it's "rude".

Anonymous

Hmm, maybe you can understand the would there like this instead:

Anonymous

> (If I were you) I would capitalize the 'A' in America.

yubraj sharma

@snailplane you have again used "I would go"

Damkerng T.

"There are no cats in America"

►

Turns out, there are cats everywhere!

Anonymous

07:45

Yes, I'm not paraphrasing, I'm just adding an understood if.

CowperKettle

@DamkerngT. My sister has two kittens in her JNU campus

She called them Mephistopheles and Apocalypse

Damkerng T.

What names!

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. There was basically no chance of anyone else winning here.

CowperKettle

The third kitten, Lucifer, died, sadly

Anonymous

It's a really depressing election. The worst in decades.

Damkerng T.

07:47

@CowperKettle Aww

CowperKettle

@snailplane America is such a strong country that it would take millions of Trumps to wreck it

Damkerng T.

@snailplane I'm not sure what's going on, but I guess social media could be a factor.

yubraj sharma

@snailplane I wouldn't go so far" here means you're giving me advice by saying" If Yo were me'?

Anonymous

Ooh, I see what you mean. I didn't notice I used would :-)

Anonymous

Modal auxiliaries are so hard to explain ;-(

Anonymous

07:50

I think would there was volitional. I don't want to go as far as saying it's "rude".

Anonymous

It's actually a good question what exactly would is doing in that sentence.

Anonymous

I have to catch up on some moderatorly things tonight.

Anonymous

Today's been a busy day.

yubraj sharma

"I would go" means you don't want to go, right ?

Anonymous

It always depends on context, since every modal auxiliary has multiple meanings.

Anonymous

07:53

I'm not confident I can explain how would is used in this case.

yubraj sharma

I have asked many questions about" would" in ELL but I often confuse in this meaning of would before you told me

Anonymous

I apologize, I'm not being very helpful :-(

Damkerng T.

I told you, would means "would". Once you get this, you'll stop worrying. :D

yubraj sharma

@snailplane No, you're being helpfull but I'm not being helpfull

Damkerng T.

Do you like movies?

yubraj sharma

07:57

Yes ! Who wouldn't like movies ?

I'm here using "would" in hypothetical sense

Damkerng T.

When you watch, say, Hollywood movies, do you use subtitles?

yubraj sharma

Subtitles?

Damkerng T.

When a character says something in a movie, you can read the translation of his or her line, usually at the bottom of the screen. That's a subtitle.

CowperKettle

@snailplane ah, you probably visited your doc

Anonymous

@CowperKettle Yes

yubraj sharma

08:07

@DamkerngT. Yes ! It would be helpful for me to understand all the language that characters speak in the movie

Damkerng T.

@yubrajsharma Great! You could try watching a movie (English) you like with subtitles in your first language.

yubraj sharma

It would be difficult to understand all thing without subtitles

Anonymous

Watch with subtitles first, then without :-)

Damkerng T.

:D

Anonymous

Or: native language subtitles, then English subtitles, then no subtitles.

yubraj sharma

08:09

Umm ....Nods...

Subtitles with English would also be helpful to understand any movie

Damkerng T.

When you use the subtitles in your first language, try to observe what the characters say in English and what their lines are translated into.

Deo

Hi all

I assume everyone has heard the news already?

Damkerng T.

@yubrajsharma Most people seem to think that's the best approach. It's a good approach, but sometimes subtitles in your first language can be more useful.

@Deo I haven't checked the news like 30 minutes already.

yubraj sharma

Nods ....

Damkerng T.

Imagine there are ten lines in a movie you're watching with would.

Let's assume that you got a decent version of subtitles in your first language.

Deo

08:13

@DamkerngT. It happened a bit more than 30 minutes ago

Damkerng T.

Wouldn't that be very useful to understand all those samples of would?

@Deo Oh! Could you tell me the news?!

Deo

@DamkerngT. Is there irony somewhere?

Damkerng T.

@Deo No, no, no irony!

yubraj sharma

@DamkerngT. Yes ! That would be helpful too !

Deo

@DamkerngT. Well, I'm talking about certain elections in certain country...

Damkerng T.

08:15

@yubrajsharma Truth be told. That's how I learned to "feel" most usages in English.

yubraj sharma

@DamkerngT. Nods..

Damkerng T.

@Deo Oh! So it's decided!

The last time I checked, 25 more votes were still needed.

Deo

@DamkerngT. I've lately watched movie "I Married a Witch". Subtitles were totally different from what actors said

@DamkerngT. Can you guess who's won?

Damkerng T.

One has to be careful with the quality of the subtitles of the movie they're watching, I suppose! :D

yubraj sharma

"Would" is like 'potato" which can be mixed in almost all kind of foods

Damkerng T.

08:17

@Deo The Red, I think. :D

yubraj sharma

"Would" has more meanings or uses than any other models" right ?@DamkerngT. I will be wachina a Hollywood movie next day

Damkerng T.

Hmm... it may depend on how you count.

Anonymous

Does it? I mean, it sounds plausible, but I don't know that it's actually true.

Damkerng T.

@yubrajsharma Sounds like fun!

Deo

@yubrajsharma Witch one? wink

CowperKettle

08:21

@snailplane I hope everything is okay. I refreshed my memory re: TSH and levels up to 4.0 are considered acceptable

yubraj sharma

Fun for what ?

Damkerng T.

@yubrajsharma Um, having fun watching a movie. You're gonna watch a movie tomorrow, right?

yubraj sharma

@DamkerngT. I think I will

@DamkerngT. My question about" after all " got 12 votes, it's the highest votes I have ever gotten in my questions ell.stackexchange.com/questions/108591/…

Damkerng T.

@yubrajsharma Yay!

Nov 6 at 8:12, by Damkerng T.

Three spoons of anyway, two spoons of the bottom line, and a few drops of at last.

yubraj sharma

What is the best idea to get more votes?

Damkerng T.

08:33

^My goofy explanation for after all. :P

@yubrajsharma I think the point is not to think about the number of votes, but think about what you can learn.

yubraj sharma

@DamkerngT. What kind of defininition is that of yours ?

CowperKettle

> - How to solve the world terrorism problem?
- Persuade the Chinese that dried and powdered ___ of terrorists are good medicine.

I'm too shy to include the marked out word

Damkerng T.

@yubrajsharma A definition of an intuitive kind. :D

@CowperKettle I'm sure that that powder doesn't have much qi. :-)

CowperKettle

@DamkerngT. (0:

yubraj sharma

Intuitive means knowing with feelings, but without any proof or logic. Right ?

Damkerng T.

08:38

More or less, yes.

Cardinal

@CowperKettle :))))))

Jim's candidate won the election!

yubraj sharma

I'm going to ask two questions one about meaning of " Typical" and other about "having to" @DamkerngT. Do you have any suggestions?

Cardinal

It takes time to get used to the president Trump. Good for Putin @CowperKettle

Damkerng T.

@yubrajsharma nods

CowperKettle

> I prayed to God to send me a good husband. And God did send me a good husband. However, my husband did not pray to God to send him a good wife, thus he has me.

Damkerng T.

08:43

Just ask it the way you want to ask. I think you must know how to ask a question the right way on ELL by now.

@CowperKettle Is that from lyrics or a speech?

CowperKettle

@DamkerngT. A Russian joke

Damkerng T.

Hah!

yubraj sharma

@DamkerngT. What do you mean?

Damkerng T.

I'm sorry. What did I mean in what message? (scratching head)

yubraj sharma

@DamkerngT. Sorry for being persistent!

Damkerng T.

08:50

Don't worry! I just didn't know which message you were referring to. That's all.

yubraj sharma

Ok

CowperKettle

@Cardinal I'm not sure it is good for Putin. We shall see. Russia's economy is projected to decline by 1% this year, and a recent report says it is "degrading", i.e. the processing industries are shrinking, the raw material industries are growing in percentage.

So Trump or no Trump, Putin may find ruling tough in a year's time.

Araucaria

09:16

0

Q: What's the word for when you keep on checking the date to see if it's April Fool's Day?

Is there a word for when you have to keep on repeatedly checking the date to see if it's April Fool's Day? [By the way, in case it helps, it's the 9th November, 2016]

single-word-requests

yubraj sharma

10:57

Having to ell.stackexchange.com/questions/108883/correct-use-of-having-to

CowperKettle

11:40

@snailplane I'm visiting one doc on monday, after an MRI scan (0:

Araucaria

12:36

The future is bright. The future is orange.

Irony

CowperKettle

13:09

Hillary Clinton got 100 000 votes more compared with Trump

The USA should abandon the antique system of voting.

In favor of direct voting.

Anonymous

13:30

Trumpocalypse :-(

CowperKettle

Now

California should secede and join Russia

You won't need a visa then to visit St. Petersburg

CowperKettle

13:46

Los Gatos could be renamed into Большие Коты (Bolshye Koty = Big Cats)

There is already such a village near Lake Baikal, but two is better

CowperKettle

14:52

Ha! Someone has started a thread on the local Yekaterinburg forum: "Let's accept California as part of Russia after it secedes

Now this is LOL

CowperKettle

15:44

I'm unsure how to name an Appendix

> Tables with results
Result tables

The document I'm translating includes several different tests (temperature stability, colloidal stability etc)

The Appendix has several huge tables with the results

"Tables with results" looks odd

"Result tables" less so

Maybe I should just disengage from the Russian "Tablitsy resultatov" and write "Data tables" or just "Tables"

yubraj sharma

16:16

Hi

@Man_From_India why off topic? And close votes

Hi

Man_From_India

I already pointed out the meaning. It's from the same online dictionary. I commented under your question.

yubraj sharma

Yeah !!! I have just commented there !

I would think This meaning of 'would' could be confusing to any English Learner" who often see it being used by native speakers.

user62015

16:38

@Man_From_India @yubrajsharm Hi

Could you help me out with a question?

yubraj sharma

Hi

Okey

user62015

He presented me a book on my birthday.
(A) He presented me a book for my birthday
(B) He presented me with a book on my
birthday
(C) He presented a book for my birthday
(D) No improvement

Please help me out

yubraj sharma

What's this ?

No improvement? @user62015

user62015

Please check carefully

Answer says option B which seems wrong. Did you understand the question or not?

Jan Kowalski

Hi! :)

user62015

16:42

Direction: In Question nos. 161 to 167, a
sentence/ a part of the sentence is bold. Below
are given alternatives to the bold part at (A),
(B), (C) which may improve the sentence. Choose
the correct alternative. In case no
improvement is needed your answer is (D).
Mark your answer in the Answer Sheet.
161. He presented me a book on my birthday.
(A) He presented me a book for my birthday
(B) He presented me with a book on my
birthday
(C) He presented a book for my birthday
(D) No improvement

Jan Kowalski

I'm working on a feature that allow company create a candidate. - Is this correct?

user62015

No @JanKowalski

Jan Kowalski

@user62015 can you help me?

user62015

I'm working on a feature that allows a company to create candidates. @JanKowalski

I'm working on a feature that allows companies to create a candidate.

Both options are possible @JanKowalski

Jan Kowalski

@user62015 Thank you so much!

yubraj sharma

16:46

@user62015 I think all are correct on their own

user62015

@JanKowalski Welcome

@yubrajsharma ok

CowperKettle

17:26

> The results are provided in summary Table 2

Is this okay to use an adjective ("summary") and then to use the number (2)? Would not the definite article be necessary?

> The results are provided in the summary Table 2. (this looks odd, because the use of the number usually prohibits the use of 'the')

yubraj sharma

HAVING TO ell.stackexchange.com/questions/108883/…

yubraj sharma

17:54

@snailplane Hi

We talked about' would' before some hours and I asked about it in ELL afterall.

V.V.

Vecher, Kettle.

CowperKettle

Evening, V.V.!

> How Human Brains Do Language

V.V.

Is "summary "an attribute?

CowperKettle

yes, сводная таблица

Maybe I'll translate it as "The aggregate/summary results are presented in Table 2"

The same overall meaning.

V.V.

Noun plus noun?

CowperKettle

18:02

No, I used the slash sign (/) to indicate that "aggregate" might also fit, instead of "summary"

A table that provides the results of several different tests for several different drug compositions.

V.V.

Is it cold?

CowperKettle

In my room, it is hot. But outside, it is okay, minus 14.9°C

It will be minus 20C tomorrow

V.V.

They are promising up to plus eleven.

CowperKettle

That's odd, only 500 km south of Yekaterinburg. Probably due to being far to the West you have the warmer clime

V.V.

Rains every day.

CowperKettle

18:08

I wish it rained in NOvember here.

V.V.

But it was cold some days ago, I showed you. And it snowed.

CowperKettle

There's a million people in your city. I thought it was smaller. Yekaterinburg reached 1.5 million this September

V.V.

It's not huge,cosy.

CowperKettle

Noyabrsk was cosy, with only 100 000 people.

But London had 100 000 people in the time of Shakespeare

V.V.

I don't like very big cities.

Though one should have better opportunities.

CowperKettle

18:17

My father was almost sent to Novy Port in the late 1970s, but then was reassigned to Noyabrsk. Now, Novy Port would have been uber-cosy, there are only 1700 people there.

Novy Port

Novy Port (Russian: Но́вый Порт) is a settlement in Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Russia, located on the mouth of the Ob River. Population: 1,790. Along with Dikson, it is the main port on the Kara Sea. Its main industry is a fish factory. In the 1930s, Novy Port was an interim coal bunkering port for providing power to vessels traversing the Northern Sea Route. The Northern Sea Route is so long that the Soviets tried to power each leg of the voyage by locally mined coal. The coal bunkered at Novy Port was, at that time, mined from other Soviet Arctic ports. == Climate == Novy Port has a severe...

Average July temperature: plus 15C

(0:

V.V.

A cold place

CowperKettle

yes

V.V.

Translating anything?

CowperKettle

A report on the development of appropriate drug formulation.

Selection of excipients and tests of different combinations of excipients with the active pharmaceutical ingredient.

I've translated the text and am now proofreading.

V.V.

I am trying to understand

Why don't you use participles?

CowperKettle

18:27

You have the active ingredient. You choose several excipients (additive substances to increase the stability of the drug). You then test them in different combinations.

V.V.

Can it be ex.selection?

CowperKettle

What participles?

V.V.

Selecting,testing.

CowperKettle

Excipient selection,

Hmm

Selecting excipients, testing different combinations of excipients with the API.

V.V.

I don't like "of"

CowperKettle

18:30

That would sound as if it were me who did the selection and the testing.

Maybe a native speaker would put it more elegantly

In a more elegand fashion

They abbreviated сахароза as "SACH", but it is Sucrose in English, not "SACHAROSE"

V.V.

Google for different exc.combination

CowperKettle

THere is the word saccharose, but I don't know how many English speakers would recognize it.

V.V.

Don't abbreviate

CowperKettle

It's complicated. This SACH is part of a complicated letter/number combination, so I cannot de-abbreviate it. Thus I wrote a note for the authors.

Good night!

Anonymous

19:09

@CowperKettle I would not recognize saccharose as referring to sucrose specifically.

Anonymous

I must have heard it before at some point, though, and it does sound like a sugar. Everyone knows saccharine.

Færd

20:37

What's a light that doesn't work anymore called?

In Farsi it's a burnt bulb, but I don't imagine that works in English?

Gone-out, out-of-order, broken, etc don't sound right either.

Aha!

20

Q: How do native speakers say 'the light bulb has stopped working'

Lets say, I want to tell my roommate that one of the lightbulbs has stopped working, I usually say The light bulb is gone or broken down. I did some search related to these expression and it seems that they are not very common and will sound odd to the natives.

word-request phrase-request

Damkerng T.

22:46

Word of the Day: outfox

Araucaria

23:25

@DamkerngT. Nice word ...

@Færd It's called a "spent match" ....

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